Subject
Colonel Gusev and King Alfin
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A very special monoplane, Blenda IV, was built for him [King Alfin] in 1916 by his constant 'aerial adjutant,' Colonel Peter Gusev (later a pioneer parachutist and, at seventy, one of the greatest jumpers of all time), and this was his bird of doom. (Kinbote's note to line 71)
The name Gusev comes from gus' (Russian for "goose") and hints at Utochkin (from utochka, "little duck"), a pioneer of Russian aviation (1876-1916).
The avian theme is very important in Pale Fire. Shade's poem begins: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain / By the false azure in the windowpane. 24 lines into the poem Shade mentions another bird, a pheasant:
Dot, arrow pointing back... A pheasant's feet!
Torquated beauty, sublimated grouse,
Finding your China right behind my house.
Was he in Sherlock Holmes, the fellow whose
Tracks pointed back when he reversed his shoes?
Sherlock Holmes is "a hawk-nosed, lanky, rather likable private detective, the main character in various stories by Conan Doyle," including The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892). As I pointed out before, the precious stone in it was fed to a goose and the bird was sold to the landlord of the Alpha Inn. The first letter of the Greek alphabet, alpha also brings to mind Alphina, the youngest daughter of Judge Goldsworth, Kinbote's landlord. The alphabetically increasing age of Judge Goldsworth's four daughters (Alphina is nine, Betty ten, Candida, twelve, and Dee, fourteen) is a mystery. Is there a Holmes on the List who would solve it? 9 + 10 + 12 + 14 = 45; Kinbote (Charles the Beloved, b. 1915) is only forty-four in 1959 when he writes his Commentary...
Shade's parents were ornithologists. According to Kinbote, the maiden name of Shade's wife, Irondell, comes from the French for "swallow" (hirondelle). The names of several characters in Ilf and Petrov's "The 12 chairs" also come from various birds. The name Vorobyaninov, of one of the three diamond hunters in the novel, comes from vorobey (sparrow), and the name Petukhov, of Vorobyaninov's mother-in-law who hid her jewels in a chair, comes from petukh (cock). The "joint authors of genius," Ilf and Petrov* are mentioned by Shade in one of his conversations with Kinbote.
Ilf and Petrov's diamond hunters remind one of Andronnikov and Niagarin, the two Soviet experts hired by Zemblan government to find the crown jewels. In my (unpublished) note KINBOTE'S CORONA OF MADNESS: WHERE THE CROWN JEWELS ARE HIDDEN IN NABOKOV'S PALE FIRE? I suggest that the crown jewels that Baron Bland, the Keeper of the Treasure, succeded in hiding before he jumped or fell from the North Tower were turned into stars. Among the Northern constellations there are Corona Borealis and several birds (the Swan, the Eagle). Note that Niagarin rhymes with Gagarin, the space pioneer whose name comes from gagara (orn., loon, diver). Alfin = final
*The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (ABC) was Ilya Ilf's favorite Conan Doyle (CD) story, the fact mentioned in the book of reminiscences of Ilf and Petrov (which appeared only in 1963).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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The name Gusev comes from gus' (Russian for "goose") and hints at Utochkin (from utochka, "little duck"), a pioneer of Russian aviation (1876-1916).
The avian theme is very important in Pale Fire. Shade's poem begins: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain / By the false azure in the windowpane. 24 lines into the poem Shade mentions another bird, a pheasant:
Dot, arrow pointing back... A pheasant's feet!
Torquated beauty, sublimated grouse,
Finding your China right behind my house.
Was he in Sherlock Holmes, the fellow whose
Tracks pointed back when he reversed his shoes?
Sherlock Holmes is "a hawk-nosed, lanky, rather likable private detective, the main character in various stories by Conan Doyle," including The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892). As I pointed out before, the precious stone in it was fed to a goose and the bird was sold to the landlord of the Alpha Inn. The first letter of the Greek alphabet, alpha also brings to mind Alphina, the youngest daughter of Judge Goldsworth, Kinbote's landlord. The alphabetically increasing age of Judge Goldsworth's four daughters (Alphina is nine, Betty ten, Candida, twelve, and Dee, fourteen) is a mystery. Is there a Holmes on the List who would solve it? 9 + 10 + 12 + 14 = 45; Kinbote (Charles the Beloved, b. 1915) is only forty-four in 1959 when he writes his Commentary...
Shade's parents were ornithologists. According to Kinbote, the maiden name of Shade's wife, Irondell, comes from the French for "swallow" (hirondelle). The names of several characters in Ilf and Petrov's "The 12 chairs" also come from various birds. The name Vorobyaninov, of one of the three diamond hunters in the novel, comes from vorobey (sparrow), and the name Petukhov, of Vorobyaninov's mother-in-law who hid her jewels in a chair, comes from petukh (cock). The "joint authors of genius," Ilf and Petrov* are mentioned by Shade in one of his conversations with Kinbote.
Ilf and Petrov's diamond hunters remind one of Andronnikov and Niagarin, the two Soviet experts hired by Zemblan government to find the crown jewels. In my (unpublished) note KINBOTE'S CORONA OF MADNESS: WHERE THE CROWN JEWELS ARE HIDDEN IN NABOKOV'S PALE FIRE? I suggest that the crown jewels that Baron Bland, the Keeper of the Treasure, succeded in hiding before he jumped or fell from the North Tower were turned into stars. Among the Northern constellations there are Corona Borealis and several birds (the Swan, the Eagle). Note that Niagarin rhymes with Gagarin, the space pioneer whose name comes from gagara (orn., loon, diver). Alfin = final
*The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (ABC) was Ilya Ilf's favorite Conan Doyle (CD) story, the fact mentioned in the book of reminiscences of Ilf and Petrov (which appeared only in 1963).
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/