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Re: Fwd: RE: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
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Dear Brian,
Sorry. By "everyone" I didn't mean previous scholarship but only recent
postings on Nabokov-L that often demonstrate ignorance of critical
literature on the subject.
Sasha.
At 08:41 AM 2/21/05 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear Sasha,
>
>Everyone does not ignore "Cain." The name Ada is glossed in the second
>note on ADAonline:
>
>"Ada" combines the Russian a, da, "Oh, yes," and the rather less
>affirmative Russian ada, "of hell" (see 29.27-28, "teper' iz ada ('now
>is out of hell')" and 332.26, "iz ada (out of Hades)").
>
>Ada is also the first name of a character in Bleak House (1852-53) by
>Charles Dickens (1812-70), which Nabokov taught at Cornell and Harvard
>from 1950 to 1958. Ada Clare marries her cousin Richard Carstone; Ada
>Veen is the love of her "cousin's" (actually brother's), Van Veen's,
>life, and they live together for four and a half decades.
>
>Adah, in the verse tragedy Cain: A Mystery (1821), by Lord Byron, is
>both wife and twin sister of Cain, who becomes a pupil of Lucifer; Ada
>Veen is sister and wife in all but name of Van, a pupil, in matters of
>personal style and conduct, of his father, Demon.
>
>Brian Boyd
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
>Behalf Of Donald B. Johnson
>Sent: Monday, 21 February 2005 9:51 a.m.
>To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>Subject: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
>
>The erudite lists of Ada's namesakes in literature and myths are very
>impressive but I think the most important prototype is missing. Though
>Lord Byron has been mentioned several times, everyone seems to ignore
>his drama "Cain" in which beautiful Adah is Cain's beloved sister and
>wife who tries to save him from Lucifer and other demons. In Russia this
>drama is well known thanks to Ivan Bunin's excellent translation.
>
>By the way, in Pushkin's line "Ada gordaia tsaritsa" Ada is not a name
>but a genitive case of "ad" (hell).
>
>Alexander Dolinin
>---------------------------------
>EDNOTE. I HEARTILY CONCUR and, indeed, pointed it out VN's debt to
>Byron's play _Cain_ in my _Worlds in Regression_ , p. 116. Sasha D.is,
>of course, right about "Ada gordaia tsaritsa." The Pushkin citation is a
>slendid example of the hazards of computer searches (as well as the
>extreme flexibilty of Russian syntax). Curiously enough, the Pushkin
>phrase, taken in isolation, is perfectly grammatical and can be read,
>wrongly, as "Ada proud tsaritsa" or, correctly, as "proud tsarita of
>hell" --- not an inapt characterization of VN's heroine.
>--------------------------------------------
>------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:05 AM 2/20/05 -0800, Victor Fet wrote:
>
> >Dear List,
> >
> >Here is my two cents worth:
> >
> >
> >Adah, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "ornament". There are two Adahs
> >in the Old
> >Testament:
> >
> >(1) Adah wife of Lamech [the fifth in descent from Cain]. Genesis 4.19:
>
> >"And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah,
> >and the name of the other Zillah". In rabbinical literature: The
> >Midrash interprets Adah as the "deposed one" and Zillah, as "she shaded
>
> >herself". It states in explanation that the immoral generation before
> >the Deluge was in the habit of marrying two wives; one for the
> >perpetuation of the race [Adah], the other for indulgence in sensual
> >pleasure [Zillah].
> >Adah had two sons, Jabal ("the father of such as dwell in tents and
> >have cattle", Gen. 4:20) and Jubal (the inventor of "the harp" (Heb.
> >kinnor, properly "lyre") and "the organ" (Hebrew: 'ugab, properly
> >"mouth-organ" or Pan's pipe) (Gen. 4:21).
> >
> >(2) Adah wife of Esau (who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage;
>Gen.
> >25):
> >"Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of
> >Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of
> >Zibeon the Hivite, and Basmath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of
> >Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basmath bore Reuel.(Gen.
> >36: 2-4)". "The sons of Adah in the land of Edom" (Gen. 36:16) were
>grandsons of Esau.
> >
> >Adar, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "fire".
> >
> >Adena, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "tender"
> >
> >Adina, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "adorned; voluptuous; dainty"
> >
> >
> >Terre Adelie, part of East Antarctic, named in 1840 by Dumont-d'Urville
>
> >after his wife.
> >[sort of Antiterra?]. Cf. early Nabokov's interest in Antarctic in "The
>Pole".
> >
> >
> >Ada Byron King, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Lord Byron and
> >Anne Isabelle Milbanke, the founder of scientific computing. "Is thy
> >face like thy mother's, my fair child! Ada! sole daughter of my house
> >and of my heart? When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled' And
> >then we parted,- not as now we part, but with a hope..."
> >
> >
> >Adelle Alexandrovna Davydova (addressed, when she was 14, in the famous
>
> >Pushkin's "Adeli": "Igrai, Adelle, ne znai pechali..."(1824))
> >
> >
> >Adelina Patti (1843-1919), the famous Italian singer who toured Russia,
>
> >mentioned in many Russian literary sources. Alexander Kuprin has a
> >story, "A Future Patti" (1895). Andrei Bely in his memoirs says that
> >the poet Fyodor Sologub who heard Patti in the 1880s could never forget
>her voice (G.V.
> >Adamovich).
> >
> >
> >Adelina Adalis (Efron) (1900-1969), a Russian poet and translator,
> >first poem published in 1913, had a tragic love affair with Valery
> >Bryusov at age 17 (see memoirs of her granddaughter Ekaterina
> >Moskowskaya, http://www.moscowskaya.com/pages/05r.htm).
> >
> >
> >Ada group of manuscripts: a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts,
> >dating from the last quarter of the 8th century, the earliest examples
> >of the art of the Court School of Charlemagne. The group is named after
>a Gospel book (c.
> >750; Trier, Cathedral Treasury) commissioned by Ada, supposed
> >half-sister of Charlemagne.
> >
> >
> >Adelle, a young married lady in Pushkin's (1828) fragment/plan for a
> >comedy (Translation of Casimir Bonjour's "Le mari a bonnes fortunes",
> >1824). Adelle loves not her husband D'Orville but her chilhood friend
> >and cousin Charles, but remains faithful to her husband. (L.I. Volpert,
>
> >Russko-francuzskie literaturaturnye svyazi konca XVIII-pervoi poloviny
> >XIX veka,
> >http://www.ruthenia.ru/volpert/intro.htm)
> >
> >
> >and finally:
> >
> >"Ada gordaya tsaritsa
> >vzorom yunoshu zovyot.."
> >(Pushkin, "Pleshchut volny Flegetona...")
> >
> >----- End forwarded message -----
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
Sorry. By "everyone" I didn't mean previous scholarship but only recent
postings on Nabokov-L that often demonstrate ignorance of critical
literature on the subject.
Sasha.
At 08:41 AM 2/21/05 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear Sasha,
>
>Everyone does not ignore "Cain." The name Ada is glossed in the second
>note on ADAonline:
>
>"Ada" combines the Russian a, da, "Oh, yes," and the rather less
>affirmative Russian ada, "of hell" (see 29.27-28, "teper' iz ada ('now
>is out of hell')" and 332.26, "iz ada (out of Hades)").
>
>Ada is also the first name of a character in Bleak House (1852-53) by
>Charles Dickens (1812-70), which Nabokov taught at Cornell and Harvard
>from 1950 to 1958. Ada Clare marries her cousin Richard Carstone; Ada
>Veen is the love of her "cousin's" (actually brother's), Van Veen's,
>life, and they live together for four and a half decades.
>
>Adah, in the verse tragedy Cain: A Mystery (1821), by Lord Byron, is
>both wife and twin sister of Cain, who becomes a pupil of Lucifer; Ada
>Veen is sister and wife in all but name of Van, a pupil, in matters of
>personal style and conduct, of his father, Demon.
>
>Brian Boyd
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On
>Behalf Of Donald B. Johnson
>Sent: Monday, 21 February 2005 9:51 a.m.
>To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>Subject: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
>
>The erudite lists of Ada's namesakes in literature and myths are very
>impressive but I think the most important prototype is missing. Though
>Lord Byron has been mentioned several times, everyone seems to ignore
>his drama "Cain" in which beautiful Adah is Cain's beloved sister and
>wife who tries to save him from Lucifer and other demons. In Russia this
>drama is well known thanks to Ivan Bunin's excellent translation.
>
>By the way, in Pushkin's line "Ada gordaia tsaritsa" Ada is not a name
>but a genitive case of "ad" (hell).
>
>Alexander Dolinin
>---------------------------------
>EDNOTE. I HEARTILY CONCUR and, indeed, pointed it out VN's debt to
>Byron's play _Cain_ in my _Worlds in Regression_ , p. 116. Sasha D.is,
>of course, right about "Ada gordaia tsaritsa." The Pushkin citation is a
>slendid example of the hazards of computer searches (as well as the
>extreme flexibilty of Russian syntax). Curiously enough, the Pushkin
>phrase, taken in isolation, is perfectly grammatical and can be read,
>wrongly, as "Ada proud tsaritsa" or, correctly, as "proud tsarita of
>hell" --- not an inapt characterization of VN's heroine.
>--------------------------------------------
>------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:05 AM 2/20/05 -0800, Victor Fet wrote:
>
> >Dear List,
> >
> >Here is my two cents worth:
> >
> >
> >Adah, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "ornament". There are two Adahs
> >in the Old
> >Testament:
> >
> >(1) Adah wife of Lamech [the fifth in descent from Cain]. Genesis 4.19:
>
> >"And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah,
> >and the name of the other Zillah". In rabbinical literature: The
> >Midrash interprets Adah as the "deposed one" and Zillah, as "she shaded
>
> >herself". It states in explanation that the immoral generation before
> >the Deluge was in the habit of marrying two wives; one for the
> >perpetuation of the race [Adah], the other for indulgence in sensual
> >pleasure [Zillah].
> >Adah had two sons, Jabal ("the father of such as dwell in tents and
> >have cattle", Gen. 4:20) and Jubal (the inventor of "the harp" (Heb.
> >kinnor, properly "lyre") and "the organ" (Hebrew: 'ugab, properly
> >"mouth-organ" or Pan's pipe) (Gen. 4:21).
> >
> >(2) Adah wife of Esau (who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage;
>Gen.
> >25):
> >"Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of
> >Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of
> >Zibeon the Hivite, and Basmath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of
> >Nebaioth. And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basmath bore Reuel.(Gen.
> >36: 2-4)". "The sons of Adah in the land of Edom" (Gen. 36:16) were
>grandsons of Esau.
> >
> >Adar, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "fire".
> >
> >Adena, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "tender"
> >
> >Adina, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "adorned; voluptuous; dainty"
> >
> >
> >Terre Adelie, part of East Antarctic, named in 1840 by Dumont-d'Urville
>
> >after his wife.
> >[sort of Antiterra?]. Cf. early Nabokov's interest in Antarctic in "The
>Pole".
> >
> >
> >Ada Byron King, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Lord Byron and
> >Anne Isabelle Milbanke, the founder of scientific computing. "Is thy
> >face like thy mother's, my fair child! Ada! sole daughter of my house
> >and of my heart? When last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled' And
> >then we parted,- not as now we part, but with a hope..."
> >
> >
> >Adelle Alexandrovna Davydova (addressed, when she was 14, in the famous
>
> >Pushkin's "Adeli": "Igrai, Adelle, ne znai pechali..."(1824))
> >
> >
> >Adelina Patti (1843-1919), the famous Italian singer who toured Russia,
>
> >mentioned in many Russian literary sources. Alexander Kuprin has a
> >story, "A Future Patti" (1895). Andrei Bely in his memoirs says that
> >the poet Fyodor Sologub who heard Patti in the 1880s could never forget
>her voice (G.V.
> >Adamovich).
> >
> >
> >Adelina Adalis (Efron) (1900-1969), a Russian poet and translator,
> >first poem published in 1913, had a tragic love affair with Valery
> >Bryusov at age 17 (see memoirs of her granddaughter Ekaterina
> >Moskowskaya, http://www.moscowskaya.com/pages/05r.htm).
> >
> >
> >Ada group of manuscripts: a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts,
> >dating from the last quarter of the 8th century, the earliest examples
> >of the art of the Court School of Charlemagne. The group is named after
>a Gospel book (c.
> >750; Trier, Cathedral Treasury) commissioned by Ada, supposed
> >half-sister of Charlemagne.
> >
> >
> >Adelle, a young married lady in Pushkin's (1828) fragment/plan for a
> >comedy (Translation of Casimir Bonjour's "Le mari a bonnes fortunes",
> >1824). Adelle loves not her husband D'Orville but her chilhood friend
> >and cousin Charles, but remains faithful to her husband. (L.I. Volpert,
>
> >Russko-francuzskie literaturaturnye svyazi konca XVIII-pervoi poloviny
> >XIX veka,
> >http://www.ruthenia.ru/volpert/intro.htm)
> >
> >
> >and finally:
> >
> >"Ada gordaya tsaritsa
> >vzorom yunoshu zovyot.."
> >(Pushkin, "Pleshchut volny Flegetona...")
> >
> >----- End forwarded message -----
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----