Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In reply to Ada’s question how many times has he been unfaithful to her since September, 1884, Van says “six hundred and thirteen times” and mentions "obmanipulations" (sham, insignificant strokings by unremembered cold hands):

‘But let me ask you, dear Van, let me ask you something. How many times has Van been unfaithful to me since September, 1884?’

In the Night of the Burning Barn (when Van and Ada make love for the first time) Ada drops the shoe lost by Blanche (a French maid at Ardis) in a wastepaper basket and, after joining Van on the divan, mentions a soldier who thought that ‘Tartuffe’ was a tart or a stripteaser:

In my old article “Ada as a Triple Dream” (The Nabokovian, #53, Fall 2004) I argue that, like Lermontov’s poem Son (“A Dream,” 1841), Ada is a triple dream (a dream within a dream within a dream) dreamt by three different people: Eric Veen (the young author of an essay entitled “Villa Venus: an Organized Dream”), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in Ada) and VN himself.

In his essay "The Texture of Time" (1922) Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions his eighth birthday and uses the word “eureka:”

In his essay "The Texture of Time" (1922) Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions a mental uranium and its dream-delta decay:

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) mentions Amphitheatricus, a writer of fugitive poetry who dubbed Onhava (the capital of Zembla) "Uranograd:"

In his essay "The Texture of Time" (1922) Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the horn of abundance whose stucco pineapple just missed his head:

Describing his scuffle with Percy de Prey at the picnic on Ada’s sixteenth birthday, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) compares Percy to a dying gladiator:

How did the scuffle start? Did all three cross the brook stepping on slimy stones? Did Percy push Greg? Did Van jog Percy? Was there something — a stick? Twisted out of a fist? A wrist gripped and freed?

‘Oho,’ said Percy, ‘you are playful, my lad!’

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) nicknamed his black gardener “Balthasar, Prince of Loam:”

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) nicknamed his black gardener “Balthasar, Prince of Loam:”