55: Volapük – An international, constructed language created in 1880 by Johann Schleyer.
55: commissariats – French word for a governmental organization, usually related to the police or military. Also used in the Soviet Union.
55: Valuta – Russian for currency or cash
55: “thus an anonymous imbecile…my first translator” – Possibly an allusion and jab at Nabokov’s first translator, Winifred Roy, who published Laughter in the Dark in 1936. Nabokov was so displeased he translated the work himself two years later.
56: “prosperous but ephemeral purveyors of ‘crime fiction'” – the Twenties are often refereed to as the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction.” One famous French crime writer was Georges Simenon, who Iris likely read.
57: “Every author believes…envious rouges and nonentities.” – The narrator’s personal grudge against critics contrasts with Fyodor in Nabokov’s The Gift, who says,” At first I wanted to write you a letter of thanks – you know, with a touching reference to undeservingness and so on – but then I thought that this would have introduced an intolerable human smell into the domain of free opinion. And besides – if I produced a good book I should thank myself and not you.”
57: Samovar – A traditional heated metal container used to boil water and make tea in Russia and Eastern Europe.
58: Demian Basilevski, Hristofor Boyaraski, Boris Morozov – These are all fictional author names created by Nabokov.
58: “would they really defenestrate the poor chess player?” – a reference to Nabokov’s book The Defense. The plot of the fictional narrator’s book Pawn takes Queen seems to follow its plot closely. At the end of the novel the main character jumps out a window.
58: “a line of Tyutchev or Blok” – Tyutchev (1803 – 1873) was a famous Russian romantic poet and a contemporary of Pushkin. Alexander Blok (1880 – 1921) was also a famous Russian poet known for his lyrical poems. Few Russians would mistake the poetry of one for the other.
58: “la vue etait assez baroque” – Translates to “the view was rather baroque.”
59: General Wrangel – Commander of White Russian forces during the Russian Civil War
Annotated by Toby Aicher