Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In Canto Three of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes his visit to Mrs. Z. who mentioned Shade’s poem about Mon Blon that appeared in the Blue Review:

Describing his meeting with Lucette (Van’s and Ada’s half-sister) in Paris, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions ‘Alphonse Cinq,’ the concierge at Alphonse Four (Lucette's hotel) who told Van that he had just seen Mlle Veen in the Récamier room where Vivian Vale’s golden veils were on show:

The characters in VN's novel Ada (1969) include Kim Beauharnais, a kitchen boy and photographer at Ardis whom Van Veen (the narrator and main character) blinds for spying on him and Ada and attempting to blackmail Ada.

Describing Gradus (Shade's murderer), 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 killer's somewhat mesmeric organs of vision:

According to 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), his landlord, Judge Goldsworth, resembles a Medusa-locked hag:

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 four sets of different Children's Encyclopedias:

Describing his second arrival at Ardis in June 1888, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) calls Percy de Prey (a country gentleman who courts Ada) "a stoutish, foppish, baldish young man:"

The narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada (1969), Van Veen is the author of Letters from Terra, ‘a philosophical novel:’

Ada’s letters breathed, writhed, lived; Van’s Letters from Terra, ‘a philosophical novel,’ showed no sign of life whatsoever.

(I disagree, it’s a nice, nice little book! Ada’s note.)

Describing his last visit to Villa Venus (Eric Veen's floramors), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions a maidservant, Princess Kachurin:

Describing the King’s escape from Zembla, 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 a steinmann (a heap of stones erected as a memento of an ascent) that had donned a cap of red wool in his honor: