Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

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 Erasmus Veen (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's great-grandfather, 1760-1852), the inventor of the clockwork luggage carts:

Describing Flavita (the Russian Scrabble), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that at chess Ada was not as good as at Flavita and mentions Lalla Rookh chessmen, which not even cretins would want to play with:

Leaving Ardis after his first summer there, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) asks Bouteillan (the French butler at Ardis) not to quote Delille to him:

On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A., to spend a fortnight there with his father and three tutors before returning to school in cold Luga, Mayne.

On Demonia (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Earth's twin planet also known as Antiterra) England had annexed France in 1815:

When, after a long separation, they meet in 1905 in Mont Roux, Ada (now married to Andrey Vinelander) tells Van "Sbrit’ usï! (that mustache must go):"

Describing the visit of an Andalusian architect to Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the Russian ‘hrip’  (Spanish flu) that Uncle Dan had caught:

A gong bronzily boomed on a terrace.

Describing Kim Beauharnais’s album, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the kimera (chimera, camera):

When Ada refuses to leave her sick husband, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) walks some ten kilometers along soggy roads to Rennaz and thence flies to Nice, Biskra, the Cape, Nairobi, the Basset range: 

On Demonia (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Earth's twin planet also known as Antiterra) the Iron Curtain (a term used by Winston Churchill in his Fulton speech on March 5, 1946) is known as the Golden Curtain:

Describing his last evening at Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions a group of brilliantly pictured gross orchids whose popularity with bees depends ‘on various attractive odors ranging from the smell of dead workers to that of a tomcat:’