Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In Canto One of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) mentions Sherlock Holmes:

And then the gradual and dual blue

As night unites the viewer and the view,

And in the morning, diamonds of frost

Express amazement: Whose spurred feet have crossed

From left to right the blank page of the road?

Reading from left to right in winter's code:

A dot, an arrow pointing back; repeat:

In Canto Three of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) mentions empires of rhyme and Indies of calculus:

But who can teach the thoughts we should roll-call

When morning finds us marching to the wall

Under the stage direction of some goon

Political, some uniformed baboon?

We'll think of matters only known to us -

Empires of rhyme, Indies of calculus;

In a conversation at the Faculty Club John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) tells Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) that Judge Goldsworth (Kinbote's landlord who is on sabbatical in Europe) is "one of us:"

Shade [smiling and massaging my knee]: "Kings do not die - they only disappear, eh, Charles?"

"Who said that?" asked sharply, as if coming out of a trance, the ignorant, and always suspicious, Head of the English Department.

Describing Gradus's visit to Oswin Bretwit (the former Zemblan consul in Paris), 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 an uncertain V-for-Victory sign made by Gradus (Shade's murderer):

Describing Gradus's visit to Oswin Bretwit (the former Zemblan consul in Paris), 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 an uncertain V-for-Victory sign made by Gradus (Shade's murderer):

Describing IPH (a lay Institute of Preparation for the Hereafter) in Canto Three of his poem, John Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962) mentions l’if, lifeless tree:

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

Describing his enforced twelve-year-long separation (1893-1905) with Ada, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions the pyramids of Ladorah:

He traveled, he studied, he taught.

Describing the discovery of a secret passage that leads from the Onhava Palace to the Royal Theater, 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 a game of chess played by Monsieur Beauchamp (the Prince’s French governor) and Mr. Campbell (the Prince’s Scottish tutor):

In his commentary to Shade's poem Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) says that conchologists among the kings can be counted on the fingers of one maimed hand:

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), Samuel Shade (the poet's father) had studied medicine in his youth and was vice-president of a firm of surgical instruments in Exton: