Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

When Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) and Greg Erminin meet in Paris, Van asks Greg if his wife, born Maude Sween, is the daughter of the poet:

According to Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father), Norbert von Miller (“the Black Miller”) has a head like a kegelkugel:

According to Marina (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother), Norbert von Miller is echt deutsch:

At the end of VN’s novel Ada (1969) Van Veen calls Ada “a truly unusual gamine:”

Describing his convalescence after a stroke, Vadim Vadimovich (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Look at the Harlequins!, 1974) mentions Reality:

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), to the King’s question "how long will you be absent" the guard replied "yeg ved ik [I know not]:"

When Ada (now married to Andrey Vinelander) refuses to leave her ill husband, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) hopes that Andrey (who has tuberculosis) will live only a few months longer, po pal’tzam (finger counting):

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) mentions Repburg, a landscaper of genius:

Line 49: shagbark

At the picnic on Ada’s sixteenth birthday Marina (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother) calls Hollywood “Houssaie, Gollivud-tozh:”

Imagining his duel with Andrey Vinelander (Ada’s husband), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that the bullet of his adversary caused a slight fourmillement (excited ants) in his foot: