Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing his departure from Manhattan, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that Demon (Van’s and Ada’s father) dyed his hair a blacker black:

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) an important personage made donos vtoroy stepeni (a second-degree complaint) against Cincinnatus:

When Marthe’s family visits Cincinnatus in the fortress, Cincinnatus's brother-in-law, the wit, suggests that Cincinnatus reads the word ropot (murmur, grumble) backward:

Возьми-ка слово "ропот", - говорил Цинциннату его шурин, остряк, - и прочти обратно. А? Смешно получается? Да, брат, - вляпался ты в историю. В самом деле, как это тебя угораздило?

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) the death sentence is announced to Cincinnatus in a whisper:

Сообразно с законом, Цинциннату Ц. объявили смертный приговор шёпотом. Все встали, обмениваясь улыбками. Седой судья, припав к его уху, подышав, сообщив, медленно отодвинулся, как будто отлипал.

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) the mausoleum and the statue of Kapitan Sonnyi (Captain Somnus) are mentioned:

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) young Cincinnatus spent the evenings in the Floating Library, in memoriam of Dr Sineokov:

Describing Ada’s eyelids, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) uses the phrase v skladochku (pleaty):

In VN’s novel Look at the Harlequins! (1974) Other Books by the Narrator include The Red Top Hat (1934):

Since 1925 I had written and published four novels; by the beginning of 1934 I was on the point of completing my fifth, Krasnyy Tsilindr (The Red Top Hat), the story of a beheading. None of those books exceeded ninety thousand words but my method of choosing and blending them could hardly be called a timesaving expedient. (2.2)

At the dinner in Bellevue Hotel Dorothy Vinelander (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Ada’s sister-in-law) invites Van to her brother’s ranch and uses the phrase massa interesnago (heaps of interesting stuff):

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) Cincinnatus’s brother-in-law sings from an opera: