129: Slaughter in the Sun – An article by British journalist John Prebble, published in 1958, and was the basis for the film Zulu. See introduction.
129: Kingdom by the Sea – A reference to “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe, a poem which tells of an illicit love. “Lee” was an influence for Nabokov when he wrote Lolita. It is also the title of one of VV’s works in English. See introduction.
130: amerikanskiy dyadyushka, oncle d’Amérique – Russian and French for American uncle.
130: Zoilus – A Greek grammarian and Cynic (c. 370 BCE); also the name of a Catholic Saint who was martyred in Córdoba in 304 CE
130: Botticelli – famous early Renaissance painter whose Vatican fresco of a woman inspires Swann to fall in love with Odette in Proust’s Swann’s Way
130: dacha – Russian country house, a second home
131: My goverim po-russki. Vy govorite? Pogovorimte togda – Translation: “We are speaking Russian. Do you speak it? Then let’s talk.”
131: A Marxist History of America – prescient, given that Howard Zinn did not publish “A People’s History of the United States” until 1980
132: Esmerelda and Her Parandrus – A title of one of VV’s works. See introduction.
132: our Great Ally – a not-so-subtle dig at the Soviet–US allegiance during World War, and what came next
133: The Tractor in Soviet Literature – a spoof of Marxist/socialist realism, a movement which believed that art should advance the cause of communism. Like many émigrés, Nabokov despised socialist realism.
134: sdobnyy – Translation: “mellow”