Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In a letter to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) written after the suicide of Lucette (Van's and Ada's half-sister who jumps into the Atlantic from Admiral Tobakoff) Demon Veen (Van's and Ada's father) mentions Howard Hool, a Hollywood actor who played the protagonist in Don Juan's Last Fling (a film that Van and Lucette watch in the Tobakoff cinema hall) and who complained that he had been made to play an impossible cross between two Dons:

Son:

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969), his novel Letters from Terra came out under the imprint of two bogus houses, ‘Abencerage’ in Manhattan, and ‘Zegris’ in London:

Describing his novel Letters from Terra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions the Tsars, conquerors of Tartary and Trst:

In Canto Four of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes shaving and mentions old Zembla's fields where his gray stubble grows:

Describing the family dinner in “Ardis the Second,” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions Lord Byron’s Hock:



‘Tell me, Bouteillan,’ asked Marina, ‘what other good white wine do we have — what can you recommend?’ The butler smiled and whispered a fabulous name.

After his first night with Ada in “Ardis the Second” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) tells Ada that he has paid her eight compliments, as a certain Venetian:

The butler, now fully dressed, arrived with the coffee and toast. And the Ladore Gazette. It contained a picture of Marina being fawned upon by a young Latin actor.

Describing his performance in variety shows as Mascodagama (Van's stage name), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions his partner Rita, a Crimean cabaret dancer who sang the tango tune in Russian:  

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969), the ancestor of Ada's husband, Andrey Vinelander, was the first Russian to taste the labruska grape:

Had she cabled him? Cancelled or Postponed? Mrs Viner — no, Vingolfer, no, Vinelander — first Russki to taste the labruska grape.

‘Mne snitsa saPERnik SHCHASTLEEVOY!’ (Mihail Ivanovich arcating the sand with his cane, humped on his bench under the creamy racemes).

‘I dream of a fortunate rival!’ (2.8)

In March 1905 Demon Veen (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Van's and Ada's father) perishes in a mysterious airplane disaster above the Pacific. In the same year, soon after his father's death, Van is elected to the Rattner Chair of Philosophy in the University of Kingston:

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:

Chance looked after the seating arrangement.