Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

At the beginning of VN's novel Ada (1969) Van Veen (the narrator and main character) says that his maternal grandfather, General Ivan Durmanov (1801-72), Commander of Yukon Fortress and peaceful country gentleman, had lands in the Severn Tories (Severnïya Territorii), that tesselated protectorate still lovingly called ‘Russian’ Estoty, which commingles, granoblastically and organically, with ‘Russian’ Canady, otherwise ‘French’ Estoty:

The characters in VN's novel Ada (1969) include Marina Durmanov (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother) and her twin sister Aqua. The surname Durmanov comes from durman (thornapple; intoxicant). In Pavel Bazhov's skaz (folk tale) Kamennyi tsvetok ("The Stone Flower," 1938) Danilo the Craftsman (a namesake of Daniel Veen, Marina's husband) is given an order to make a fine-molded cup, which he creates after a thornapple.

Describing the library of Ardis Hall, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) calls Daniel Veen (Van's and Ada's Uncle Dan, Lucette's father) "the Master of Ardis:"

Describing his novel Letters from Terra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Khan Sosso and his ruthless Sovietnamur Khanate:

Ada’s letters breathed, writhed, lived; Van’s Letters from Terra, ‘a philosophical novel,’ showed no sign of life whatsoever.

(I disagree, it’s a nice, nice little book! Ada’s note.)

Accroding to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), in some fertile parts of Estoty the izba windows of large peasant families in which up to a dozen people of different size and sex slept on one blin-like mattress were ordered to be kept uncurtained at night:

Describing his failed visit to Villa Venus (Eric Veen's floramors), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) metnions peripatetic Russian newspaper readers slowing down to a trance stop and then strolling again behind their wide open Estotskiya Vesti:

Describing his novel Letters from Terra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Khan Sosso and his ruthless Sovietnamur Khanate:

Ada’s letters breathed, writhed, lived; Van’s Letters from Terra, ‘a philosophical novel,’ showed no sign of life whatsoever.

(I disagree, it’s a nice, nice little book! Ada’s note.)

At the beginning of VN's novel Ada (1969) Van Veen (the narrator and main character) mentions Pontius Press (a publishing house) and 'Russian' Estoty (an American province):

Describing his reunion with Ada in 1922, after their longest, seventeen-year-long, separation, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) compares himself to a Cartesian glassman:

Describing the difference between Terra and Antiterra (Earth's twin planet also known as Demonia), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions Estoty (the American province extending from the Arctic no longer vicious Circle to the United States proper):