Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In Canto Two of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) tells about his dead daughter. Asking her mother what this or that word means, Hazel Shade mentions the word sempiternal:   

She was my darling - difficult, morose -

But still my darling. You remember those

Almost unruffled evenings when we played

Mah-jongg, or she tried on your furs, which made

Her almost fetching; and the mirrors smiled,

The lights were merciful, the shadows mild,

In his Commentary and Index 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 the king Thurgus the Third, surnamed The Turgid (grandfather of Charles the Beloved), and his mistress Iris Acht (a celebrated actress):

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), King Alfin's question "What emperor?" has remained his only memorable mot:

In his Foreword and 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 Gerald Emerald, a young instructor at Wordsmith University who gives Gradus (Shade's murderer) a lift to Kinbote's rented house in New Wye:

As he speaks to Van, Demon Veen (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s and Ada’s father) mentions his young mistress, Cordelia O'Leary:

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) quotes Conmal's sonnet in which Conmal (the Zemblan translator of Shakespeare) says that he is not a slave and calls Shakespeare "Master:"

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), in Nice Gradus (Shade’s murderer) stayed at Hotel Lazuli:

Telling Van about Uncle Dan's odd Boschean death, Demon Veen (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Van's and Ada's father) says: "but you are not following me, you want me to go, so that you may interrupt her beauty sleep, lucky beast:"

Describing his first night with Ada in “Ardis the Second,” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Blanche, a French handmaid at Ardis who wears a miniver cloak that Ada had lost in the woods:

After his first night with Ada in “Ardis the Second” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) calls Ada "my phantom orchid" and compares himself to a certain Venetian (Giacomo Casanova, 1725-98):

The butler, now fully dressed, arrived with the coffee and toast. And the Ladore Gazette. It contained a picture of Marina being fawned upon by a young Latin actor.