- Nabokov next tells us about his sensory hallucinations, which sometimes take the form of distant voices, shadows, and colored dots.
- He also experiences what he calls "colored hearing" (2.2.1), which plainer, more medical-minded folks would call synesthesia. For him, the sound of each letter comes with a color. M is a "fold of pink flannel," Y is a bright gold. (2.2.3)
- His mother also had synesthesia, and the two discover their shared traits when six-year old Vladimir mentions some colored, lettered blocks are nice, but feature the wrong colors for the wrong letters. (Weirdly, there's no note saying whether these are the letter blocks the revolutionary schoolmaster brought them, or not.)
- For Vladimir's mother, it is music, and not letter sounds, that bring about colors. (Want to see if you and Vladimir and his mom have something in common? Try this quiz to find out.)
- Because of this heightened sensitivity, Vladimir's mother encourages him to pay attention to color and the sensory world.