Poor Dan's erotic life was neither complicated nor beautiful, but somehow or other (he soon forgot the exact circumstances as one forgets the measurements and price of a fondly made topcoat worn on and off for at least a couple of seasons) he fell comfortably in love with Marina, whose family he had known when they still had their Raduga place (later sold to Mr Eliot, a Jewish businessman). (1.1)

Marina Tsvetaev's memoir essay on Bryusov (the author of Sem' tsvetov radugi, "Seven Colors of Rainbow," 1912-15) is entitled Geroy truda ("The Hero of Toil," 1925). Like Bryusov, T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) was an antisemite. In his Commentary to Shade's poem (Lines 347-348) Kinbote writes:

One of the examples her father gives is odd. I am quite sure it was I who one day, when we were discussing "mirror words," observed (and I recall the poet's expression of stupefaction) that "spider" in reverse is "redips," and "T. S. Eliot," "toilest." But then it is also true that Hazel Shade resembled me in certain respects. (Pale Fire, p. 154 of the Penguin edition)

One of the colors in Bryusov's Sem' tsvetov radugi is Red (Krasnyi). Daniel Veen is known as Durak Walter or Red Veen:

The 'D' in the name of Aqua's husband stood for Demon (a form of Demian or Dementius), and thus was he called by his kin. In society he was generally known as Raven Veen or simply Dark Walter to distinguish him from Marina's husband, Durak Walter or simply Red Veen. Demon's twofold hobby was collecting old masters and young mistresses. He also liked middle-aged puns. (1.1)

Daniel Veen is the father of Lucette, Van's and Ada's half-sister who commits suicide (3.5), as Marina's mad twin sister Aqua (Demon's wife) did (1.3). Bryusov (who, according to Marina Tsvetaev, failed to call out the demon) is the author of Demon samoubiystva ("The Demon of Suicide," 1910).

With the exception of Mr and Mrs Ronald Oranger, a few incidental figures, and some non-American citizens, all the persons mentioned by name in this book are dead. [Ed.]

The editor of Ada, Mr Ronald Oranger marries Violet Knox, old Van's secretary (5.4). Oranzhevyi (Orange) and Fioletovyi (Violet) are the first and the last colors in Sem' tsvetov radugi. The last poem in the Orange part of Bryusov's book is Ultima Thule (1915):

Где океан, век за веком стучась о граниты,
Тайны свои разглашает в задумчивом гуле,
Высится остров, давно моряками забытый,-
Ultima Thule.

Вымерли конунги, здесь что царили когда-то,
Их корабли у чужих берегов затонули.
Грозно безлюдье вокруг, и молчаньем объята
Ultima Thule.

Даже и птицы чуждаются хмурых прибрежий,
Где и тюлени на камнях не дремлют в июле,
Где и киты проплывают все реже и реже...
Ultima Thule.

Остров, где нет ничего и где всё только было,
Краем желанным ты кажешься мне потому ли?
Властно к тебе я влеком неизведанной силой,
Ultima Thule.

Пусть на твоих плоскогорьях я буду единым!
Я посещу ряд могил, где герои уснули,
Я поклонюсь твоим древним угрюмым руинам,
Ultima Thule.

И, как король, что в бессмертной балладе помянут,
Брошу свой кубок с утёса, в добычу акуле!
Канет он в бездне, и с ним все желания канут...
Ultima Thule!

Ultima Thule (1942) is a story by VN. Like Solus Rex (1940), it has a lot in common with Pale Fire (1962) and Kinbote's Zembla.

Ada. Van. Ada. Vaniada. Nobody. Each hoped to go first, so as to concede, by implication, a longer life to the other, and each wished to go last, in order to spare the other the anguish or worries, of widowhood. One solution would be for you to marry Violet.

'Thank you. J'ai tâté de deux tribades dans ma vie, ça suffit. Dear Emile says "terme qu'on évite d'employer." How right he is!' (5.6).

Nathalie, the diarist in Bryusov's Last Pages from a Woman's Diary (1910), is bisexual. Her diary ends as follows:

Лидочка едет со мной. Её преданность, её ласковость, её любовь - последняя радость в моём существовании. О, я очень нуждаюсь в нежном прикосновении женских рук и женских губ.