In his essay "The Texture of Time" (1922) Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the horn of abundance whose stucco pineapple just missed his head:
Describing his scuffle with Percy de Prey at the picnic on Ada’s sixteenth birthday, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) compares Percy to a dying gladiator:
How did the scuffle start? Did all three cross the brook stepping on slimy stones? Did Percy push Greg? Did Van jog Percy? Was there something — a stick? Twisted out of a fist? A wrist gripped and freed?
In VN's novel Pale Fire (1962) Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) nicknamed his black gardener “Balthasar, Prince of Loam:”
In VN's novel Pale Fire (1962) Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) nicknamed his black gardener “Balthasar, Prince of Loam:”
Reading about poisons in an encyclopedia, Martha and Franz (the characters in VN’s novel “King, Queen, Knave,” 1928) find out that Roman law saw in venefitsiy (deliberate toxication) a blend of murder and betrayal:
Drei being German for “three,” the name Dreyer (of the king in VN’s novel “King, Queen, Knave,” 1928) seems to hint at troyka (the three), one of the three magic cards in Pushkin’s story Pikovaya dama (“The Queen of Spades,” 1834):
In “King, Queen, Knave,” the English version of VN’s novel Korol’, dama, valet (1928), the inventor mentions “voskin” (a portmanteau combining vosk, Russian for “wax,” and skin):
Новое дело Драйера, точно, отличалось некоторой таинственностью.
According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955), his wife Charlotte (Lolita’s mother) is a very mediocre mermaid:
According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955), his wife Charlotte (Lolita’s mother) is a very mediocre mermaid:
