Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

According to Lake (in VN’s novel Pnin, 1957, one of Victor’s teachers at St. Bart’s), the order of the solar spectrum is not a closed circle but a spiral of tints from cadmium red and oranges through a strontian yellow and a pale paradisal green to cobalt blues and violets, at which point the sequence does not grade into red again but passes into another spiral, which starts with a kind of lavender grey and goes on to Cinderella shades transcending human perception:

In a conversation with Van Ada pronounces on purpose (so as to play on an obscene Russian verb) the French word ébats (frolics) with the Russian accent:

According to Ada, Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father) called Dorothy Vinelander (Ada’s sister-in-law) l'impayable ("priceless for impudence and absurdity") Dorothy:

‘You never loved your father,’ said Ada sadly.

On Demonia (aka Antiterra, Earth’s twin planet on which Ada is set) Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary (1857) is known as Floeberg’s Ursula:

Van reached the third lawn, and the bower, and carefully inspected the stage prepared for the scene, ‘like a provincial come an hour too early to the opera after jogging all day along harvest roads with poppies and bluets catching and twinkle-twining in the wheels of his buggy’ (Floeberg’s Ursula). (1.20)

Describing his first tea party at Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions pheasants in a big cage and his mother [Marina’s poor mad twin sister Aqua] somewhere in a cage of her own:

According to Ada, Vanda Broom (Ada’s lesbian schoolmate at Brownhill) was shot dead by the girlfriend of a girlfriend on a starry night, in Ragusa of all places:

Describing his first day in “Ardis the Second,” Van mentions Ada’s mournful magdalene hair:

In an interview to Alfred Appel (included in Strong Opinions, 1974) VN says that the Zemblan crown jewels (vainly looked for by the two Soviet experts) are hidden in the ruins of some old barracks near Kobaltana:

And as a closing question, sir, may I return to Pale Fire: where, please, are the crown jewels hidden?

In the ruins, sir, of some old barracks near Kobaltana (q.v.); but do not tell it to the Russians.

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), in her tight rubber cap Lucette (Van’s and Ada’s half-sister) evokes the Helmeted Angel of the Yukonsk Ikon whose magic effect is said to change anemic blond maidens into konskie deti, freckled red-haired lads, children of the Sun Horse:

Describing Ardis Hall, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions cobalt sailing boats that adorn the white tiles of a stove: