Subject
adultery in Ada and Tolstoy's Anna Karenin
From
Date
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Astraddle, she [Cordula] resembled a child braving her first merry-go-round. She made a rectangular moue as she used that vulgar contraption. Sad, sullen streetwalkers do it with expressionless faces, lips tightly closed. She rode it twice. (3.2)
This and a steeplechase picture of 'Pale Fire with Tom Cox Up' above Cordula's and Tobak's bed made me think of Karenin's reply to Betsy Tverskaya's jocular question if he participates in the steeplechase: моя скачка труднее ("My horse-race is more difficult"). Karenin is a deceived husband and it is his wife's lover, Vronsky, who takes part in the steeplechase (and falls with his horse).
In Ada, G. A. Vronsky (the movie man) is one of Marina's former lovers. The name of another lover, d'Onsky (nicknamed Skonky), suggests that he is a horse (the Don stallion). Fire is the element that destroys Marina (3.1).
Also, Stiva Oblonsky (Anna's brother) loves to misquote Pushkin's lines:
Узнают коней ретивых
по каких-то их таврам
(The spirited horses
are recognized by their brands)
implying that, like Pushkin, he can recognize happy lovers by their eyes.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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This and a steeplechase picture of 'Pale Fire with Tom Cox Up' above Cordula's and Tobak's bed made me think of Karenin's reply to Betsy Tverskaya's jocular question if he participates in the steeplechase: моя скачка труднее ("My horse-race is more difficult"). Karenin is a deceived husband and it is his wife's lover, Vronsky, who takes part in the steeplechase (and falls with his horse).
In Ada, G. A. Vronsky (the movie man) is one of Marina's former lovers. The name of another lover, d'Onsky (nicknamed Skonky), suggests that he is a horse (the Don stallion). Fire is the element that destroys Marina (3.1).
Also, Stiva Oblonsky (Anna's brother) loves to misquote Pushkin's lines:
Узнают коней ретивых
по каких-то их таврам
(The spirited horses
are recognized by their brands)
implying that, like Pushkin, he can recognize happy lovers by their eyes.
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/