3: Gogol’s Inspector: An 1836 satirical play written by Gogol. Known for its artistic quality and for Khlestakov, the carefree main character marked by meaningless action. Traditionally translated as The Inspector General, Nabokov continues his tradition of “correcting” the English titles of original Russian works, cf. Anna Karenin vs the expected Anna Karenina.
3: Glowworm Group: The name of the group Ivor Black directs. Also a reference to a type of insect larvae that glow.
3: Ivor Black: Ivory Black? D. Barton Johnson notes that the “BL” sound is “Nabokov’s private emblem for the incest theme”. VV, Ivor and Iris may in fact all be Count Starov’s children, which would make VV’s marriage to Iris an incestuous relationship. Nabokov himself gave weight to this theory when he said “Actually I don’t give a damn for incest one way or the other. I merely like the ‘bl’ sound in siblings, bloom, blue, bliss, sable” (Time, 1969). Ivor also shares a first name with Quilty in Nabokov’s Lolita. cf. D. Barton Johnson’s essay, “Inverted Reality in Nabokov’s Look at the Harlequins!” by D. Barton Johnson
3: The Pitt: An all-male political and social club founded in 1835 at the University of Cambridge. Nabokov also references the Pitt in The Real Life of Sebastian Night while describing Sebastian, writing “He had lunched at the Pitt (which, I understood, was a kind of club, probably with horsey pictures on the walls and very old waiters asking their eternal riddle: thick or clear?).
3: Revizor: Russian for “Inspector.”
4: Cannes: A city in France. Also where Nabokov confessed to an affair with Irina Guadanini.
5: Bennett: Mr. Bennett is the main character in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
5: Barbellion: W.N.P. Barbellion was the pseudonym for English author Bruce Frederick Cummings, who wrote on zoology.
5: Carnavaux: the incorrect plural of “carnaval” (French for carnival). Used as a joke in Jean-Marie Blanche’s poems to go with Saint-Saëns’ “Hémiones” in “Le Carnaval des Animaux”. Blanche rhymes “carnavaux” with the plurals for “cheval” and “animal” – “…si l’hémione est un cheval / si les hémiones sont des chevaux / il a, comme tout animal / ils ont, comme tous les animaux / leur place dans notre carnaval / comme dans tous les carnavals.”
5: Villa Iris: Villa Iris is the first destination in the book, of which VV later confesses his recollections are distorted. Iris is also the name of VV’s first wife. Iris also contains, when spelled backwards, four of the five letters of Sirin, Nabokov’s penname for his Russian novels.
5: Cannice: A combination of the French cities Cannes and Nice created by Nabokov