Vladimir Nabokov

Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Description

Please read Alexey Sklyarenko's annotations on Pale FireAda and other Nabokov works here.

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 10 January, 2025

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):

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 10 January, 2025

On Demonia (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Earth's twin planet also known as Antiterra) 'Russia' is a quaint synonym of Estoty (the American province extending from the Arctic no longer vicious Circle to the United States proper) and Canada (a country in North America) is known as Canady:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 8 January, 2025

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), it took Shade twenty days to write Pale Fire:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 7 January, 2025

Describing Shade's murder by Gradus, 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 his fury and hurry:

 

We had reached the Goldsworth side of the lane, and the flagged walk that scrambled along the side lawn to connect with the gravel path leading up from Dulwich Road to the Goldsworth front door, when Shade remarked, "You have a caller."

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 6 January, 2025

In a conversation at the Faculty Club a professor of physics whom 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) calls Pink says that King Charles ("that sorry ruler," as Pink calls him) is known to have escaped disguised as a nun:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 5 January, 2025

Describing the King’s escape from Zembla (and then again at the end of his Commentary), 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 a red-capped Steinmann:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 4 January, 2025

When Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) visits Philip Rack (Lucette's music teacher who was poisoned by his jealous wife Elsie) in Ward Five of the Kalugano hospital (where hopeless cases are kept), Rack tells Van that he sent his last flute melody, and a letter for all the family, and no answer has come: