A.Sklyarenko:
"Among the servants, fifteen at least were of French
extraction — descendants of immigrants who had settled in America after England
had annexed their beautiful and unfortunate country in 1815. (1.40)"
Because Napoleon is not mentioned in Ada, we can assume that he did not exist on
Antiterra (Earth's twin planet on which Ada is set). Anyway, Josephine de
Beauharnais (Napoleon's first wife) is known on Demonia as "Queen Josephine"
(1.5) The Napoleonic Wars were described by Tolstoy in War and Peace (1862-69).
I wonder if anybody has pointed out that the novel's title was borrowed from
Pushkin's Boris Godunov (Night. Cell in the Monastery of Chudov):
Jansy Mello:
There
are several references to "Wellington" in ADA to point
to trees, mountain, city, Grace Erminin's
married surname (no wellies, though)
Wouldn't these indicate Napoleon's
existence in Antiterra?