The first mention of “shtanga” I could find in VN’s Russian works is in Korol, dama, valet (Ch. 3), where Franz is riding Berlin subway, “gliadia na blestiashchie shtangi” (looking at shining poles).  

 

In Podvig (Ch 9), there is a “shtanga lampy”, a (ceiling) lamp pole, in the room Martyn shares with Chernosvitov in Athens. (This is a rather outdated usage now.)

 

Also in Podvig (Ch 27), “shtanga” is used as a vertical football goalpost.

 

Finally, in Lolita (Ch. 16, last sentence) HH climbs into Lolita’s “chaste bed” where, in Russian version, “emal’ soshla tam i siam s zheleznykh shtang izgolovya” (literally, “enamel had come off here and there from iron posts of the bedstead”);  in the English original, “The enamel had come off the bedstead, leaving black, more or less rounded, marks on the white”.

 

 

Victor Fet