Subject
one-armed Baron in ADA
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[At Marina's funeral] D'Onsky's son, a person with only one arm, threw his remaining one around Demon and both wept comme des fontaines. (Ada: 3.8)
Soon after his duel with Demon (Baron Veen, Van's and Ada's father), Skonky (Baron d'Onsky, one-armed d'Onsky's father) married the Bohemian lady (1.2). "Bohemian" being a synonym of "Gypsy," one is reminded of Pushkin's "southern" poems "Бахчисарайский фонтан" ("The Fountain of Bahchisaray," 1823) and "Цыганы" ("The Gypsies," 1824). Soon after his arrival in Kishinev (September 21, 1821) Pushkin met Alexander Ypsilanti (1792-1828), a Phanariot who served in the Russian army and lost his right arm in the Battle of Dresden (1813). Pushkin mentions безрукий князь (one-armed prince) in a poem written in Kishinev (c. Apr. 5, 1821) and addressed to Vasiliy Davydov ("While General Orlov, Hymen's recruit with shaven head..."):
И с горя на брегах Дуная
Бунтует наш безрукий князь
(and on the Danube's bank to drown his grief
our one-armed prince stirs strife),
in Canto Ten (IX: 3-4) of Eugene Onegin:
Безрукий князь друзьям Мореи
Из Кишинёва уж мигал
(the one-armed prince to the friends of Morea
from Kishinev already winked),
and, this time by name, in the last sentence of "Выстрел" ("The Shot"), a story about the postponed duel included in Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin* (1830):
Сказывают, что Сильвио, во время возмущения Александра Ипсиланти, предводительствовал отрядом этеристов и был убит в сражении под Скулянами.
(It is said that Silvio commanded a detachment of Hetaerists during the revolt under Alexander Ypsilanti, and that he was killed in the battle of Skoulana.)
In the same story (chapter two) there is a pun on пьяница с горя (a drunkard who drowns his grief in alcohol)/горький пьяница (a bitter drunkard), and local topers are referred to by the epithet gor'kiy (bitter):
Принялся я было за неподслащённую наливку, но от нее болела у меня голова; да признаюсь, побоялся я сделаться пьяницею с горя, то есть самым горьким пьяницею, чему примеров множество видел я в нашем уезде. Близких соседей около меня не было, кроме двух или трёх горьких, коих беседа состояла большею частию в икоте и воздыханиях.
(I tried drinking unsweetened fruit liqueur, but it made my head ache; and moreover, I confess I was afraid of becoming a drunkard who drowns his grief in alcohol, that is to say, the saddest kind of drunkard, of which I had seen many examples in our district. I had no near neighbors, except two or three bitter [sots], whose conversation consisted for the most part of hiccups and sighs.)**
Maxim Gorky ("Maxim Bitter") was a penname of A. M. Peshkov (1868-1936). Baron is a character in Gorky's play "На дне" ("At the Bottom," 1902). The hero of Gorky's last novel, "The Life of Klim Samgin" (1925-36), is a namesake of Baron Klim Avidov,*** Marina's old lover who gave her children a set of Flavita (1.36). Samgin = Smagin. A. I. Smagin was a Ukrainian friend of Chekhov, the author of "The Duel" (1891). A friend of young Gorky, Anton Chekhov is a namesake of Baron Anton Delvig, Pushkin's best friend at the Lyceum (and later).
Gorky had a God-child: Yakov Sverdlov's elder brother Zinoviy Peshkov (1884-1966), a French General and diplomat, de Gaulle's friend, who lost his right arm in the Battle of Verdennes (1915).
*Pushkin finished Eugene Onegin and wrote Tales of Belkin in Boldino, his family estate in the Province of Nizhniy Novgorod. NN was renamed Gorky in 1931 (while Gorky was still alive).
**In vino veritas. Btw., another Davydov, the poet and General Denis (the addressee of Pushkin's poem "To you, the bard, to you, the hero..." 1836), sang mainly Bacchus.
***D + Avidov = Davidov. Jesus Christ (who is believed to be a descendant of King David) was sometimes called syn Davidov (son of David). In April 1821 Pushkin wrote Gavriliada, a frivolous long poem on the mystery of Christ's conception. In the above quoted poem addressed to Vasiliy Davydov (written at the same time) Pushkin refers to Christ as syn ptichki i Marii ("son of a little bird and Mary").
On the other hand, a character in Chekhov's "The Duel" is Aleksandr Davidovich (son of David) Samoylenko.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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Soon after his duel with Demon (Baron Veen, Van's and Ada's father), Skonky (Baron d'Onsky, one-armed d'Onsky's father) married the Bohemian lady (1.2). "Bohemian" being a synonym of "Gypsy," one is reminded of Pushkin's "southern" poems "Бахчисарайский фонтан" ("The Fountain of Bahchisaray," 1823) and "Цыганы" ("The Gypsies," 1824). Soon after his arrival in Kishinev (September 21, 1821) Pushkin met Alexander Ypsilanti (1792-1828), a Phanariot who served in the Russian army and lost his right arm in the Battle of Dresden (1813). Pushkin mentions безрукий князь (one-armed prince) in a poem written in Kishinev (c. Apr. 5, 1821) and addressed to Vasiliy Davydov ("While General Orlov, Hymen's recruit with shaven head..."):
И с горя на брегах Дуная
Бунтует наш безрукий князь
(and on the Danube's bank to drown his grief
our one-armed prince stirs strife),
in Canto Ten (IX: 3-4) of Eugene Onegin:
Безрукий князь друзьям Мореи
Из Кишинёва уж мигал
(the one-armed prince to the friends of Morea
from Kishinev already winked),
and, this time by name, in the last sentence of "Выстрел" ("The Shot"), a story about the postponed duel included in Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin* (1830):
Сказывают, что Сильвио, во время возмущения Александра Ипсиланти, предводительствовал отрядом этеристов и был убит в сражении под Скулянами.
(It is said that Silvio commanded a detachment of Hetaerists during the revolt under Alexander Ypsilanti, and that he was killed in the battle of Skoulana.)
In the same story (chapter two) there is a pun on пьяница с горя (a drunkard who drowns his grief in alcohol)/горький пьяница (a bitter drunkard), and local topers are referred to by the epithet gor'kiy (bitter):
Принялся я было за неподслащённую наливку, но от нее болела у меня голова; да признаюсь, побоялся я сделаться пьяницею с горя, то есть самым горьким пьяницею, чему примеров множество видел я в нашем уезде. Близких соседей около меня не было, кроме двух или трёх горьких, коих беседа состояла большею частию в икоте и воздыханиях.
(I tried drinking unsweetened fruit liqueur, but it made my head ache; and moreover, I confess I was afraid of becoming a drunkard who drowns his grief in alcohol, that is to say, the saddest kind of drunkard, of which I had seen many examples in our district. I had no near neighbors, except two or three bitter [sots], whose conversation consisted for the most part of hiccups and sighs.)**
Maxim Gorky ("Maxim Bitter") was a penname of A. M. Peshkov (1868-1936). Baron is a character in Gorky's play "На дне" ("At the Bottom," 1902). The hero of Gorky's last novel, "The Life of Klim Samgin" (1925-36), is a namesake of Baron Klim Avidov,*** Marina's old lover who gave her children a set of Flavita (1.36). Samgin = Smagin. A. I. Smagin was a Ukrainian friend of Chekhov, the author of "The Duel" (1891). A friend of young Gorky, Anton Chekhov is a namesake of Baron Anton Delvig, Pushkin's best friend at the Lyceum (and later).
Gorky had a God-child: Yakov Sverdlov's elder brother Zinoviy Peshkov (1884-1966), a French General and diplomat, de Gaulle's friend, who lost his right arm in the Battle of Verdennes (1915).
*Pushkin finished Eugene Onegin and wrote Tales of Belkin in Boldino, his family estate in the Province of Nizhniy Novgorod. NN was renamed Gorky in 1931 (while Gorky was still alive).
**In vino veritas. Btw., another Davydov, the poet and General Denis (the addressee of Pushkin's poem "To you, the bard, to you, the hero..." 1836), sang mainly Bacchus.
***D + Avidov = Davidov. Jesus Christ (who is believed to be a descendant of King David) was sometimes called syn Davidov (son of David). In April 1821 Pushkin wrote Gavriliada, a frivolous long poem on the mystery of Christ's conception. In the above quoted poem addressed to Vasiliy Davydov (written at the same time) Pushkin refers to Christ as syn ptichki i Marii ("son of a little bird and Mary").
On the other hand, a character in Chekhov's "The Duel" is Aleksandr Davidovich (son of David) Samoylenko.
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/