Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Before the family dinner in “Ardis the Second” Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father) mentions his aunt Kitty who married the Banker Bolenski after divorcing that dreadful old wencher Lyovka Tolstoy, the writer:

‘I don’t know if you know,’ said Van, resuming his perch on the fat arm of his father’s chair. ‘Uncle Dan will be here with the lawyer and Lucette only after dinner.’

‘Capital,’ said Demon.

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), he overheard Shade say that a person who deliberately peels off a drab and unhappy past and replaces it with a brilliant invention is not a lunatic, but merely turns a new leaf with the left hand:

Describing a conversation at the Faculty Club, 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) compares Gerald Emerald (a young instructor at Wordsmith University) to a disciple in Leonardo's Last Supper:

In his Commentary to Shade’s poem 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) cites a discarded variant and wonders if some obscure intuition, some prophetic scruple prevented Shade from spelling out the name of an eminent man who happened to be an intimate friend of his:

A beautiful variant, with one curious gap, branches off at this point in the draft (dated July 6):

In his Foreword to Shade’s poem 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 good old Frank, his present publisher:

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 the King’s repeater that he pressed to find out what is the time:

Describing the poltergeist phenomena in Shades’ 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 the moskovett, a cold wind that blows on Zemblan eastern shores throughout March:

When Charles the Beloved (the last self-exiled King of Zembla) visits his wife, Queen Disa, at her Mediterranean villa, he brings her a bouquet of flowers-of-the-gods:

In VN’s novel Pale Fire (1962) Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) quotes a Zemblan saying in which a beautiful woman is compared to a compass rose:

In his apology of suicide 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 cell in the luminous waffle, room 1915 or 1959: