Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In Canto Three of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes his visit to a Mrs. Z. who glimpsed a tall white fountain ["fountain" turns out to be a misprint of "mountain"] during her heart attack:

It was a story in a magazine

About a Mrs. Z. whose heart had been

Rubbed back to life by a prompt surgeon's hand.

She told her interviewer of "The Land

Beyond the Veil" and the account contained

A hint of angels, and a glint of stained

In Canto Two (begun "early in the morning" on July 5, 1959) of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) says "Today I'm sixty-one:"

And finally there was the sleepless night

When I decided to explore and fight

The foul, the inadmissible abyss,

Devoting all my twisted life to this

One task. Today I'm sixty-one. Waxwings

Are berry-pecking. A cicada sings. (ll. 177-182)

Describing the King's escape from Zembla, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions the Rippleson Caves, sea caves in Blawick, where a powerful motorboat was prepared for him:

In his commentary and index to Shade's poem Kinbote (in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Fleur de Fyler, Queen Disa's favorite lady-in-waiting:

In his commentary to Shade’s poem Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Roman Tselovalnikov, a maternal uncle of Jakob Gradus (Shade’s murderer):

Line 17: And then the gradual; Line 29: gray

Investigating the phenomena in the Haunted Barn, Hazel Shade (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, the poet’s daughter) asked the luminous circlet if it were a will-o-the-wisp:

In Canto Two of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) speaks of his dead daughter and says:

Alas, the dingy cygnet never turned
Into a wood duck. (ll. 318-319)

In his commentary Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) writes:

Describing his first meeting with Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) in the faculty club, Kinbote (a confirmed vegetarian) mentions the usual questions that were fired at him about eggnogs and milkshakes being or not being acceptable to one of his persuasion:

According to Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla), he and Shade were talking one day about Prejudice:

According to Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla), when alluding to him in public, Sybil Shade (the poet's wife) used to call him "an elephantine tick; a king-sized botfly; a macaco worm; the monstrous parasite of a genius:"

Line 247: Sybil