Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

At the beginning of Canto Three of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) mentions l’if, lifeless tree, the grand potato and Yewshade:

L'if, lifeless tree! Your great Maybe, Rabelais:

According to John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962), his daughter always nursed a small mad hope:

I think she always nursed a small mad hope. (Line 383)

In Canto Three of his poem Shade tells about IPH (a lay Institute of Preparation for the Hereafter) and, at the end of the Canto, mentions "faint hope:"

Here is a revised (much more interesting) version of my post of Oct. 10, 2015, “Nova Zembla & Judge Goldsworth in Pale Fire.” Enjoy!

Professor Pardon now spoke to me: "I was under the impression that you were born in Russia, and that your name was a kind of anagram of Botkin or Botkine?"

From Kinbote’s Commentary to Shade’s poem:

Line 247: Sybil

John Shade's wife, nee Irondell (which comes not from a little valley yielding iron ore but from the French for "swallow"). She was a few months his senior. I understand she came of Canadian stock, as did Shade's maternal grandmother (a first cousin of Sybil's grandfather, if I am not greatly mistaken).

Describing Kim Beauharnais’ album, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the Knabenkräuter and other pendants of Ada’s lovers:

Nonchalantly, Van went back to the willows and said:

‘Every shot in the book has been snapped in 1884, except this one. I never rowed you down Ladore River in early spring. Nice to note you have not lost your wonderful ability to blush.’

Describing his novel Letters from Terra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the testibulus (test tube):

Describing his contacts with publishers, Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) compares himself to an exiled prince who is unaware of the Golconda in his cuff links:

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 arrived in America descending by parachute:

In his Commentary and Index to Shade’s poem Kinbote (who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Nitra and Indra, the twin islands off Blawick (a pleasant seaside resort on the Western Coast of Zembla):

Describing his escape from Zembla, Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions the Bera Range, a two-hundred-mile-long chain of rugged mountains: