Subject
Ruinen
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Date
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Ruinen is German for "ruins". Heine said: "Wir begreifen die Ruinen nicht eher, als bis wir selbst Ruinen sind" (we understand the ruins not earlier than by the time we ourselves are ruins).
As I pointed out earlier, Heine spent most of his life's second half in Paris and was bedridden for the last eight years. Lamenting his lot, he writes in his Gestaendnisse ("Confessions", 1854): "Was nuetzt es mir, dass alle Rosen von Schiras so zaertlich fuer mich gluehen and duften - ach, Schiras ist zweitausend Meilen entfernt von der Rue d'Amsterdam, wo ich in verdrisslicher Einsamkeit meiner Krankenstube nichts zu riechen becomme als etwa Parfuems von gewaermten Servietten."
Heine's Parisian lodgings were thus on the rue d'Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the home land of "Velvet" Veen (David van Veen's nephew and heir, "the ecstatic Neverlander", whose home town is the invented Ruinen). Besides, New Amsterdam (New York, known on Antiterra as Manhattan or simply Man) is mentioned in the "Flavita" chapter of Ada: "It [Flavita] was fashionable throughout Estoty and Canady around 1790, was revived by the 'Madhatters' (as the inhabitants of New Amsterdam were once called) in the beginning of the nineteenth century..." (1.36).
On Antiterra, Paris is also known as Lute. Heine is the author of Lutetia, a series of articles about Parisian life, art and politics that appeared as a book in 1854.
Amsterdam + a = master + Adam = madam + starets - ts = drama + mesta = mast + dream + a = sram + tea + mad
Adam, madam - cf. about David van Veen hundredth floramor: "a Robert Adam-like composition (cruelly referred to by local wags as the 'Madam-I'm-Adam house')" (2.3)
starets - Russ., venerable old man; elderly monk
ts - Cyrillic letter ц in transliteration;
mesta - Russ., places
sram - Russ., shame; cf. "styd i sram of our county" (as Demon calls the new kerosene distillery in the vicinity of Ardis Hall); private parts
tea, mad - cf. a Mad Tea-party in Alice in Wonderland
Alexey Sklyarenko
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As I pointed out earlier, Heine spent most of his life's second half in Paris and was bedridden for the last eight years. Lamenting his lot, he writes in his Gestaendnisse ("Confessions", 1854): "Was nuetzt es mir, dass alle Rosen von Schiras so zaertlich fuer mich gluehen and duften - ach, Schiras ist zweitausend Meilen entfernt von der Rue d'Amsterdam, wo ich in verdrisslicher Einsamkeit meiner Krankenstube nichts zu riechen becomme als etwa Parfuems von gewaermten Servietten."
Heine's Parisian lodgings were thus on the rue d'Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the home land of "Velvet" Veen (David van Veen's nephew and heir, "the ecstatic Neverlander", whose home town is the invented Ruinen). Besides, New Amsterdam (New York, known on Antiterra as Manhattan or simply Man) is mentioned in the "Flavita" chapter of Ada: "It [Flavita] was fashionable throughout Estoty and Canady around 1790, was revived by the 'Madhatters' (as the inhabitants of New Amsterdam were once called) in the beginning of the nineteenth century..." (1.36).
On Antiterra, Paris is also known as Lute. Heine is the author of Lutetia, a series of articles about Parisian life, art and politics that appeared as a book in 1854.
Amsterdam + a = master + Adam = madam + starets - ts = drama + mesta = mast + dream + a = sram + tea + mad
Adam, madam - cf. about David van Veen hundredth floramor: "a Robert Adam-like composition (cruelly referred to by local wags as the 'Madam-I'm-Adam house')" (2.3)
starets - Russ., venerable old man; elderly monk
ts - Cyrillic letter ц in transliteration;
mesta - Russ., places
sram - Russ., shame; cf. "styd i sram of our county" (as Demon calls the new kerosene distillery in the vicinity of Ardis Hall); private parts
tea, mad - cf. a Mad Tea-party in Alice in Wonderland
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/