In Canto Three of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes his heart attack (during which he saw a tall white fountain) and his visit to a Mrs. Z. (who saw a tall white mountain during her heart attack):
It was a story in a magazine
About a Mrs. Z. whose heart had been
Rubbed back to life by a prompt surgeon's hand.
She told her interviewer of "The Land
Beyond the Veil" and the account contained