15: Moody, the London specialist: perhaps a reference to Freud, who lived out the end of his life in London. Nabokov thought Freud’s theory was extremely moody and absurd. Nabokov goes on to say that Moody’s works are filled with “ludicrous inaccuracies,” so this could be a subtle dig at Freud and all psychoanalysts whom Nabokov detested
15: Numerical Nimbus: a reference to VV’s illness. In a short story, Signs and Symbols, Nabokov writes about a mentally ill young man who suffers from “referential mania,” an illness where the patient believes that everything happening around him is a reference to his existence. This sounds strikingly similar to the problems we see VV develop later in the novel
15: That “nimbus” means nothing: The word nimbus actually refers to the halo or cloud that that surrounds a supernatural being or saint. Perhaps a reference to how Nabokov often associated madness with genius, as well as his skepticism of an afterlife.
15: not “32” but 22: The fact that 32 is in quotations seems to imply that Mr. N seems to think he is 22 while Dr. Moody implied that he is, in fact, 32.
15: A Mr. V.S.: a man who is supposedly suffering the same symptoms as our hero, VV. Later in the book we meet Lieutenant Vladimir Starov-Blagidze (Mr. V.S.?) who takes a job that VV almost took, may have the same father as VV, and is infatuated with Iris Black. Perhaps Mr. VS and Mr. VV are two aspects of one mentally ill man.
15: Fatuous: Silly and pointless. This confirms that Dr. Moody is a way for Nabokov to mock Dr. Freud and other psychoanalysts who he finds silly and pointless
15: An intruder whose sensations are mixed with mine: The blurring between Mr. VS and Mr. VV continue…perhaps they really are just one person
15: Old Mead or Chartreuse—types of alcohol
15: wake in: a clever twist on the phrase “wake up,” as the narrator wakes into an episode of his illness
16: fatidic: prophetic
16: bosquet: French for a formal plantation of trees
16: The initial of Being: The Cyrillic letter “B” is phonologically equivalent to the Latin letter “V,” the initials of both our narrator and our author. Perhaps this is why Nabokov is so obsessed with the letter B. In his book Speak Memory, Nabokov described the letter B as having “the tone called burnt sienna by painters.”
17: Neuralgia: a stabbing pain in the nerves, often in the face or neck
17: Pustulous: characterized by pustules
17: Cannice: an amalgamation of the French beach towns Cannes and Nice
17: Professor Junker: Perhaps a subtle reference to Carl Jung, another psychoanalyst
17: The two analyzed each other: sexual games.
17: W.C.: water closet, a term for bathroom
17: an absurd vial: a jar for a urine sample
18: His name was Molnar with that n like a grain in a cavity: without the n the name would be molar, a perfect name for a dentist!
18: A Kingdom by the Sea: A reference to Nabokov’s novel Lolita and Poe’s poem Annabel Lee. See Introduction
18: Casse-tete: French word for puzzle
19: soubtrette: a female stock character in opera and theater. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means “conceited” or “coy.”
19: partie de plaisir: Pleasure party, a reference to a French film about a writer in an unhappy marriage that ends in tragedy… sounds familiar!
19: oneiric: related to dreams or dreaming.
20: Pre-Cantabrigian: refers to something that came before things pertaining to Cambridge University
20: but the soldier really did collapse in the path of the fugitive king: The term fugitive king is often used in reference to King David, the shepherd boy who became King over the Israelites.