Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In VN's novel Dar ("The Gift," 1937) Yasha Chernyshevski neatly defined the mutual relationship between him, Rudolf and Olya as treugol'nik, vpisannyi v krug (“a triangle inscribed in a circle”):

As a Christian, 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) knows that suicide is a sin:

The following note is not an apology of suicide – it is the simple and sober description of a spiritual situation.

Describing his rented house, 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 Judge Goldsworth's four daughters (Alphina, Betty, Candida and Dee):

In his autobiography Speak, Memory (1951) VN mentions his grand aunt, Praskovia Nikolaevna Tarnovski (the author of works on psychiatry, anthropology and social welfare, 1848-1910):

One of the three main characters in VN's novel Pale Fire (1962), Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) nicknamed his black gardener “Balthasar, Prince of Loam:”

In Canto Two of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) asks "why scorn a hereafter none can verify" and mentions the seraph with his six flamingo wings:

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 Sudarg of Bokay (Jakob Gradus in reverse), a mirror maker of genius:

Describing the Night of the Burning Barn (when he and Ada make love for the first time), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions elettricità (It., electricity) banned on Demonia (aka Antiterra, Earth's twin planet on which Ada is set) after the L disaster in the beau milieu of the 19th century:

‘I wannask,’ she repeated as he greedily reached his hot pale goal.

In Canto One of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes his childhood fit when he felt distributed through space and time and says that his foot was upon a mountaintop: 

                                A thread of subtle pain,

Tugged at by playful death, released again,

But always present, ran through me. One day,

When I'd just turned eleven, as I lay

Prone on the floor and watched a clockwork toy -

Describing King Alfin’s death in an aviation accident, 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 angels who netted King Alfin's mild pure soul: