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Re: ruka
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A. Sklyarenko: "...ruka (rhymes with reka, "river") means both "arm" and "hand"... During d'Onsky's sword duel with Demon (who I think is also a horse) the shirtsleeves of both seconds, charming Monsieur de Pastrouil and Colonel St. Alin, a scoundrel, are blood-bespattered (1.2). Note that Stalin (whose arms were по локоть в крови, "blood-stained up to the elbows") had a withered arm. A.S. also notes that "On the other hand, Ruka was the nickname of VN's maternal uncle Vasiliy Ivanovich Rukavishnikov: "French and Italian friends, being unable to pronounce his long Russian surname, had boiled it down to 'Ruka' (with the accent on the last syllable), and this suited him far better than did his Christian name." (Speak, Memory, Chapter Three, 3)."
JM: It's almost a conjuror's trick when one-armed men think about contraries saying "on the other hand" and blindmen "see their point"
Perhaps it would be interesting to distinguish those that are one-armed(handed) by illness, from those who've lost their arms(hands) by accident.
I think that the one-armed d'Onskys are of interest for VN when they, somehow, suggest Stalin, not soldiers or factory-workers.
The connection of "ruka" and the other "Ruka" must be considered but, again, ranged in another category as the others (closer to rivers and noisy brooks?) .
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JM: It's almost a conjuror's trick when one-armed men think about contraries saying "on the other hand" and blindmen "see their point"
Perhaps it would be interesting to distinguish those that are one-armed(handed) by illness, from those who've lost their arms(hands) by accident.
I think that the one-armed d'Onskys are of interest for VN when they, somehow, suggest Stalin, not soldiers or factory-workers.
The connection of "ruka" and the other "Ruka" must be considered but, again, ranged in another category as the others (closer to rivers and noisy brooks?) .
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/