Subject
Annotations to ADA: 1.28
From
Date
Body
"The year 1880 (Aqua was still alive - somehow, somewhere!) was to prove to be the most retentive and talented one in his long, too long, never too long life... He could solve an Euler-type problem or learn by heart Pushkin's "Headless Horsemsn" poem in less than twenty minutes."
Cf. "Это было в 1880 году. Этот год был самый тяжёлый в жизни Ивана Ильича." ("It was in 1880. This year was the hardest one in Ivan Ilyich's life." Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Chapter Three).
Ivan Ilyich's surname is Golovin. It comes from голова, "head". Голова, the still alive part of the body of a giant knight who was beheaded by his brother, the dwarf Chernomor, is a character in Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820). The name Черномор,* of the evil dwarf and sorcerer (whose power is concealed in his long beard), comes from Чёрное море, the Black sea,** and reminds one of Черномордик, the chemist in Chekhov's story "Аптекарша" (The Chemist's Wife, 1886). His comedy name comes from чёрная морда, "black mug".
ЧЕРНОМОРДИК - ЧЕРНОМОР = ДИК [= KID]
Дик is a short form of the adjective дикий (wild), as well as Russian spelling of the name Dick. Dick (Lord C.[hose]) is Van's fellow student at Chose, the unfortunate шулер (card sharper) who cheats at poker but meets in Van an even more cunning cheat in this very chapter of Ada (1.28). Note that the name Ван Вин (Van Veen), of Ada's protagonist, looks like a "decapitated" version of the name Иван Головин (Ivan Golovin). In fact, Ван Вин + и (and) + логогриф (logogriph) = Иван Головин + гриф (gryphon; vulture).
Speaking of голова, I already mentioned Funt's phrase "Бриан - это голова!" ("Briand*** has a good head indeed!") in Ilf and Petrov's The Golden Calf. The novel's setting is Chernomorsk (the invented city that resembles Odessa). The words головотяпство ("bungling"; from голова, head, and тяпать, "to chop", "to hit") and головотяп ("bungler") several times occur in The Golden Calf.
Chateau**** + Briand = Chateaubriand, Van's and Ada's beloved writer who is mentioned many times in Ada. According to Ivan Gavrilovich Golovin (1816-90), Russian emigre author who used the pen-name Nivolog ("Golovin" backwards) when publishing his book Geographic Studies (1860), his contemporaries called him "Russian Chateaubriand".*****
Голова (the mayor) is also a character in Gogol's fairy story "Ночь перед Рождеством" (Christmas Eve, 1832). Its title reminds one of Chekhov's story "Ночь перед судом" (The Night before the Trial, 1886) that I discuss in my soon-to-be-published article "Nabokov's Antropomorphic Zoo: The Leporine Family of Doctors in Ada". In its turn, the title of Chekhov's story reminds one of Blok's inspired poem "Перед судом" (Before the Judgment Day, 1915) addressed to the poet's wife.
Unlike Cervantes' Don Quixote, Ada isn't a cruel book (but one should read it carefully, if one wants to enjoy it). Of course, it has nothing to do with de Sade's fantasies (btw., the name de Sade comes from dosada, "disappointment").
*Черномор is also морской дядька (marine tutor) of the thirty three knights all of whom live in the sea (under water) in Pushkin's Fairy Tale about the Tsar Saltan... (1831). On the other hand, морской дядька (who remained nameless) is mentioned in "the extraordinary lines, among his greatest, that Pushkin added in 1824... to the beginning of Ruslan and Lyudmila" (VN's Commentary to EO, vol. Two, p. 139): "И 30 витязей прекрасных / Чредой из вод выходят ясных, / И с ними дядька их морской". These famous lines begin with the mention of a green oak: "У лукоморья дуб зелёный; / Златая цепь на дубе том: / И днём и ночью кот учёный / Всё ходит по цепи кругом". Cf. Ada's "Quercus ruslan Chat." "Chat." no doubt hints at Chateaubriand, but chat is also French for "cat".
**note that морить means "exterminate" and мор, "wholesale deaths"
***Aristide Briand (1862-1932)
****castle (Fr.)
*****see Golovin's "Записки" (Memoirs, Leipzig, 1859), p. 58.
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
Cf. "Это было в 1880 году. Этот год был самый тяжёлый в жизни Ивана Ильича." ("It was in 1880. This year was the hardest one in Ivan Ilyich's life." Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Chapter Three).
Ivan Ilyich's surname is Golovin. It comes from голова, "head". Голова, the still alive part of the body of a giant knight who was beheaded by his brother, the dwarf Chernomor, is a character in Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820). The name Черномор,* of the evil dwarf and sorcerer (whose power is concealed in his long beard), comes from Чёрное море, the Black sea,** and reminds one of Черномордик, the chemist in Chekhov's story "Аптекарша" (The Chemist's Wife, 1886). His comedy name comes from чёрная морда, "black mug".
ЧЕРНОМОРДИК - ЧЕРНОМОР = ДИК [= KID]
Дик is a short form of the adjective дикий (wild), as well as Russian spelling of the name Dick. Dick (Lord C.[hose]) is Van's fellow student at Chose, the unfortunate шулер (card sharper) who cheats at poker but meets in Van an even more cunning cheat in this very chapter of Ada (1.28). Note that the name Ван Вин (Van Veen), of Ada's protagonist, looks like a "decapitated" version of the name Иван Головин (Ivan Golovin). In fact, Ван Вин + и (and) + логогриф (logogriph) = Иван Головин + гриф (gryphon; vulture).
Speaking of голова, I already mentioned Funt's phrase "Бриан - это голова!" ("Briand*** has a good head indeed!") in Ilf and Petrov's The Golden Calf. The novel's setting is Chernomorsk (the invented city that resembles Odessa). The words головотяпство ("bungling"; from голова, head, and тяпать, "to chop", "to hit") and головотяп ("bungler") several times occur in The Golden Calf.
Chateau**** + Briand = Chateaubriand, Van's and Ada's beloved writer who is mentioned many times in Ada. According to Ivan Gavrilovich Golovin (1816-90), Russian emigre author who used the pen-name Nivolog ("Golovin" backwards) when publishing his book Geographic Studies (1860), his contemporaries called him "Russian Chateaubriand".*****
Голова (the mayor) is also a character in Gogol's fairy story "Ночь перед Рождеством" (Christmas Eve, 1832). Its title reminds one of Chekhov's story "Ночь перед судом" (The Night before the Trial, 1886) that I discuss in my soon-to-be-published article "Nabokov's Antropomorphic Zoo: The Leporine Family of Doctors in Ada". In its turn, the title of Chekhov's story reminds one of Blok's inspired poem "Перед судом" (Before the Judgment Day, 1915) addressed to the poet's wife.
Unlike Cervantes' Don Quixote, Ada isn't a cruel book (but one should read it carefully, if one wants to enjoy it). Of course, it has nothing to do with de Sade's fantasies (btw., the name de Sade comes from dosada, "disappointment").
*Черномор is also морской дядька (marine tutor) of the thirty three knights all of whom live in the sea (under water) in Pushkin's Fairy Tale about the Tsar Saltan... (1831). On the other hand, морской дядька (who remained nameless) is mentioned in "the extraordinary lines, among his greatest, that Pushkin added in 1824... to the beginning of Ruslan and Lyudmila" (VN's Commentary to EO, vol. Two, p. 139): "И 30 витязей прекрасных / Чредой из вод выходят ясных, / И с ними дядька их морской". These famous lines begin with the mention of a green oak: "У лукоморья дуб зелёный; / Златая цепь на дубе том: / И днём и ночью кот учёный / Всё ходит по цепи кругом". Cf. Ada's "Quercus ruslan Chat." "Chat." no doubt hints at Chateaubriand, but chat is also French for "cat".
**note that морить means "exterminate" and мор, "wholesale deaths"
***Aristide Briand (1862-1932)
****castle (Fr.)
*****see Golovin's "Записки" (Memoirs, Leipzig, 1859), p. 58.
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/