Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In VN's novel Ada (1969) twelve-year-old Ada confesses that she is sentimental:

‘I am sentimental,’ she said. ‘I could dissect a koala but not its baby. I like the words damozel, eglantine, elegant. I love when you kiss my elongated white hand.’

Describing the torments of poor mad Aqua (the twin sister of Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother Marina), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution:

The narrator and main character in VN's novel Dar ("The Gift," 1937), Fyodor Konstantinovhich Godunov-Cherdyntsev would have never met and fallen in love with Zina Mertz, if he did not move to 15 Agamemnonstrasse (the Shchyogolevs' Berlin address):

«Здравствуйте, – сказал Федор Константинович, кланяясь телефону, – мне Александра Яковлевна…»

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 the Amerussia of Abraham Milton:

After the L disaster in the beau milieu of the 19th century electricity was banned on Demonia (Earth's twin planet also known as Antiterra) and even its name became unmentionable:

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), the King escaped from the palace by the secret passage that leads to the theater’s green room. Describing the discovery of the secret passage, Kinbote mentions the three transverse streets, Academy Boulevard, Coriolanus Lane and Timon Alley:

At the end of his manuscript Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955) mentions the secret of durable pigments and prophetic sonnets:

Describing his dinner with Ada (now married to Andrey Vinelander) and her family in Bellevue Hotel in Mont Roux, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the ‘Swiss White’ page of the wine list and uses the phrase ‘passing the buck:’  

Chance looked after the seating arrangement.

The characters in VN's novel Ada (1969) include Valerio, a waiter at the 'Monaco' (a good restaurant in the entresol of a tall building crowned by Van's penthouse and its spacious terrace):

Describing the suicide of his and Ada's half-sister Lucette (who jumps from Admiral Tobakoff into the Atlantic), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the ‘ectric’ light (a surrogate creeping back into international use):