Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Investigating the phenomena in the Haunted Barn, Hazel Shade (the poet’s daughter in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) asked the luminous circlet if it were a will-o-the-wisp:

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.

At the family dinner in “Ardis the Second” Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father) tells Marina (Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother) ‘vous me comblez’ (you overwhelm me with kindness):

‘Ah!’ said Demon, tasting Lord Byron’s Hock. ‘This redeems Our Lady’s Tears.’

Describing his love life in the years of his last separation with Ada, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Lucy Manfristan, a red-haired English virgin:

Describing his departure from Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions undulating fields of wheat speckled with the confetti of poppies and bluets:

Before the family dinner in “Ardis the Second” Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father) tells Ada that Dr Pearlman (the family dentist) has married his receptionist and mentions Ada’s pumps na bosu nogu (on bare feet):

Here Ada herself came running into the room. Yes-yes-yes-yes, here I come. Beaming!

In VN’s novel Pale Fire (1962) the first word of Shade's poem is "I":

I was the shadow of the waxwing slain

By the false azure in the windowpane;

I was the smudge of ashen fluff - and I

Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky. (ll. 1-4)

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), with braided hair Ada resembles the young soprano Maria Kuznetsova in the letter scene in Tschchaikow's opera Onegin and Olga:

It was the first time he had seen her in that luminous frock nearly as flimsy as a nightgown. She had braided her hair, and he said she resembled the young soprano Maria Kuznetsova in the letter scene in Tschchaikow’s opera Onegin and Olga. (1.25)

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), his favorite purple passage remained the one concerning the name ‘Guermantes,’ with whose hue his adjacent ultramarine merged in the prism of his mind, pleasantly teasing Van’s artistic vanity:

Re the ‘dark-blue’ allusion, left hanging:

Describing his dialogues with Ada in "Ardis the First," Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Giorgio Vanvitelli (an opera singer):