Subject
Re choice of the name "Ada"
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I don't know Byron's oeuvre well, so I just confused "Manfred" with "Cain."
Victor Fet, whose wonderful long poem "Nabokov i Kholodkovsky" can be read
on Zembla, certainly knew that "Ada gordaya tsaritsa" is Proserpina, so he
didn't search that line in the Internet. Proserpina is also the title of
Pushkin's poem (which happens to be a translation or, rather, paraphrase, of
a fragment in Parny's "Les Deguisements de Venus"). The poem's theme is
love-making in Hades (in Russian, "aid" ) and its last line is "Snovideniy
lozhnyi roy" (The false swarm of dreams). ADA is set on Demonia (a name that
sounds like hell), love-making plays a prominent part in it and, in the end,
the whole novel turns out to be a monstrous dream, or, rather, a series of
dreams. I'm deeply thankful to Victor Fet for drawing my attention to this
poem. I begin to understand now how the initial title "Villa Venus" mutated
in Nabokov's mind, via "The Veens," to "Ada."
Alexey Sklyarenko
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2005 11:51 PM
Subject: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
> The erudite lists of Ada's namesakes in literature and myths are very
> impressive but I think the most important prototype is missing. Though
Lord
> Byron has been mentioned several times, everyone seems to ignore his drama
> "Cain" in which beautiful Adah is Cain's beloved sister and wife who tries
> to save him from Lucifer and other demons. In Russia this drama is well
> known thanks to Ivan Bunin's excellent translation.
>
> By the way, in Pushkin's line "Ada gordaia tsaritsa" Ada is not a name but
> a genitive case of "ad" (hell).
>
> Alexander Dolinin
> ---------------------------------
> EDNOTE. I HEARTILY CONCUR and, indeed, pointed it out VN's debt to Byron's
play
> _Cain_ in my _Worlds in Regression_ , p. 116. Sasha D.is, of course, right
> about "Ada gordaia tsaritsa." The Pushkin citation is a slendid example of
the
> hazards of computer searches (as well as the extreme flexibilty of
Russian
> syntax). Curiously enough, the Pushkin phrase, taken in isolation, is
perfectly
> grammatical and can be read, wrongly, as "Ada proud tsaritsa" or,
correctly, as
> "proud tsarita of hell" --- not an inapt characterization of VN's heroine.
> --------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:05 AM 2/20/05 -0800, Victor Fet wrote:
>
> >Dear List,
> >
> >Here is my two cents worth:
> >
> >
> >Adah, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "ornament". There are two Adahs in
> >the Old
> >Testament:
> >
> >(1) Adah wife of Lamech [the fifth in descent from Cain]. Genesis 4.19:
"And
> >Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah, and the
> >name of
> >the other Zillah". In rabbinical literature: The Midrash interprets Adah
> >as the
> >"deposed one" and Zillah, as "she shaded herself". It states in
explanation
> >that the immoral generation before the Deluge was in the habit of
marrying two
> >wives; one for the perpetuation of the race [Adah], the other for
> >indulgence in
> >sensual pleasure [Zillah].
> >Adah had two sons, Jabal ("the father of such as dwell in tents and have
> >cattle", Gen. 4:20) and Jubal (the inventor of "the harp" (Heb. kinnor,
> >properly "lyre") and "the organ" (Hebrew: 'ugab, properly "mouth-organ"
or
> >Pan's pipe) (Gen. 4:21).
> >
> >(2) Adah wife of Esau (who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage;
Gen.
> >25):
> >"Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of
Elon the
> >Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the
Hivite,
> >and Basmath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to
Esau
> >Eliphaz; and Basmath bore Reuel.(Gen. 36: 2-4)". "The sons of Adah in the
land
> >of Edom" (Gen. 36:16) were grandsons of Esau.
> >
> >Adar, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "fire".
> >
> >Adena, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "tender"
> >
> >Adina, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "adorned; voluptuous; dainty"
> >
> >
> >Terre Adelie, part of East Antarctic, named in 1840 by Dumont-d'Urville
after
> >his wife.
> >[sort of Antiterra?]. Cf. early Nabokov's interest in Antarctic in "The
Pole".
> >
> >
> >Ada Byron King, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Lord Byron and
Anne
> >Isabelle Milbanke, the founder of scientific computing. "Is thy face like
thy
> >mother's, my fair child! Ada! sole daughter of my house and of my heart?
When
> >last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled' And then we parted,- not as
now we
> >part, but with a hope..."
> >
> >
> >Adelle Alexandrovna Davydova (addressed, when she was 14, in the famous
> >Pushkin's "Adeli": "Igrai, Adelle, ne znai pechali..."(1824))
> >
> >
> >Adelina Patti (18431919), the famous Italian singer who toured Russia,
> >mentioned in many Russian literary sources. Alexander Kuprin has a story,
"A
> >Future Patti" (1895). Andrei Bely in his memoirs says that the poet
Fyodor
> >Sologub who heard Patti in the 1880s could never forget her voice (G.V.
> >Adamovich).
> >
> >
> >Adelina Adalis (Efron) (1900-1969), a Russian poet and translator, first
poem
> >published in 1913, had a tragic love affair with Valery Bryusov at age 17
(see
> >memoirs of her granddaughter Ekaterina Moskowskaya,
> >http://www.moscowskaya.com/pages/05r.htm).
> >
> >
> >Ada group of manuscripts: a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts,
dating
> >from the last quarter of the 8th century, the earliest examples of the
art of
> >the Court School of Charlemagne. The group is named after a Gospel book
(c.
> >750; Trier, Cathedral Treasury) commissioned by Ada, supposed half-sister
of
> >Charlemagne.
> >
> >
> >Adelle, a young married lady in Pushkin's (1828) fragment/plan for a
comedy
> >(Translation of Casimir Bonjour's "Le mari a bonnes fortunes", 1824).
Adelle
> >loves not her husband D'Orville but her chilhood friend and cousin
> >Charles, but
> >remains faithful to her husband. (L.I. Volpert, Russko-francuzskie
> >literaturaturnye svyazi konca XVIII-pervoi poloviny XIX veka,
> >http://www.ruthenia.ru/volpert/intro.htm)
> >
> >
> >and finally:
> >
> >"Ada gordaya tsaritsa
> >vzorom yunoshu zovyot.."
> >(Pushkin, "Pleshchut volny Flegetona...")
> >
> >----- End forwarded message -----
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
Victor Fet, whose wonderful long poem "Nabokov i Kholodkovsky" can be read
on Zembla, certainly knew that "Ada gordaya tsaritsa" is Proserpina, so he
didn't search that line in the Internet. Proserpina is also the title of
Pushkin's poem (which happens to be a translation or, rather, paraphrase, of
a fragment in Parny's "Les Deguisements de Venus"). The poem's theme is
love-making in Hades (in Russian, "aid" ) and its last line is "Snovideniy
lozhnyi roy" (The false swarm of dreams). ADA is set on Demonia (a name that
sounds like hell), love-making plays a prominent part in it and, in the end,
the whole novel turns out to be a monstrous dream, or, rather, a series of
dreams. I'm deeply thankful to Victor Fet for drawing my attention to this
poem. I begin to understand now how the initial title "Villa Venus" mutated
in Nabokov's mind, via "The Veens," to "Ada."
Alexey Sklyarenko
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2005 11:51 PM
Subject: Query: the choice of the name "Ada"
> The erudite lists of Ada's namesakes in literature and myths are very
> impressive but I think the most important prototype is missing. Though
Lord
> Byron has been mentioned several times, everyone seems to ignore his drama
> "Cain" in which beautiful Adah is Cain's beloved sister and wife who tries
> to save him from Lucifer and other demons. In Russia this drama is well
> known thanks to Ivan Bunin's excellent translation.
>
> By the way, in Pushkin's line "Ada gordaia tsaritsa" Ada is not a name but
> a genitive case of "ad" (hell).
>
> Alexander Dolinin
> ---------------------------------
> EDNOTE. I HEARTILY CONCUR and, indeed, pointed it out VN's debt to Byron's
play
> _Cain_ in my _Worlds in Regression_ , p. 116. Sasha D.is, of course, right
> about "Ada gordaia tsaritsa." The Pushkin citation is a slendid example of
the
> hazards of computer searches (as well as the extreme flexibilty of
Russian
> syntax). Curiously enough, the Pushkin phrase, taken in isolation, is
perfectly
> grammatical and can be read, wrongly, as "Ada proud tsaritsa" or,
correctly, as
> "proud tsarita of hell" --- not an inapt characterization of VN's heroine.
> --------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------
>
> At 10:05 AM 2/20/05 -0800, Victor Fet wrote:
>
> >Dear List,
> >
> >Here is my two cents worth:
> >
> >
> >Adah, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "ornament". There are two Adahs in
> >the Old
> >Testament:
> >
> >(1) Adah wife of Lamech [the fifth in descent from Cain]. Genesis 4.19:
"And
> >Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one [was] Adah, and the
> >name of
> >the other Zillah". In rabbinical literature: The Midrash interprets Adah
> >as the
> >"deposed one" and Zillah, as "she shaded herself". It states in
explanation
> >that the immoral generation before the Deluge was in the habit of
marrying two
> >wives; one for the perpetuation of the race [Adah], the other for
> >indulgence in
> >sensual pleasure [Zillah].
> >Adah had two sons, Jabal ("the father of such as dwell in tents and have
> >cattle", Gen. 4:20) and Jubal (the inventor of "the harp" (Heb. kinnor,
> >properly "lyre") and "the organ" (Hebrew: 'ugab, properly "mouth-organ"
or
> >Pan's pipe) (Gen. 4:21).
> >
> >(2) Adah wife of Esau (who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage;
Gen.
> >25):
> >"Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of
Elon the
> >Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the
Hivite,
> >and Basmath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. And Adah bore to
Esau
> >Eliphaz; and Basmath bore Reuel.(Gen. 36: 2-4)". "The sons of Adah in the
land
> >of Edom" (Gen. 36:16) were grandsons of Esau.
> >
> >Adar, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "fire".
> >
> >Adena, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "tender"
> >
> >Adina, a female name (Hebrew), meaning "adorned; voluptuous; dainty"
> >
> >
> >Terre Adelie, part of East Antarctic, named in 1840 by Dumont-d'Urville
after
> >his wife.
> >[sort of Antiterra?]. Cf. early Nabokov's interest in Antarctic in "The
Pole".
> >
> >
> >Ada Byron King, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Lord Byron and
Anne
> >Isabelle Milbanke, the founder of scientific computing. "Is thy face like
thy
> >mother's, my fair child! Ada! sole daughter of my house and of my heart?
When
> >last I saw thy young blue eyes they smiled' And then we parted,- not as
now we
> >part, but with a hope..."
> >
> >
> >Adelle Alexandrovna Davydova (addressed, when she was 14, in the famous
> >Pushkin's "Adeli": "Igrai, Adelle, ne znai pechali..."(1824))
> >
> >
> >Adelina Patti (18431919), the famous Italian singer who toured Russia,
> >mentioned in many Russian literary sources. Alexander Kuprin has a story,
"A
> >Future Patti" (1895). Andrei Bely in his memoirs says that the poet
Fyodor
> >Sologub who heard Patti in the 1880s could never forget her voice (G.V.
> >Adamovich).
> >
> >
> >Adelina Adalis (Efron) (1900-1969), a Russian poet and translator, first
poem
> >published in 1913, had a tragic love affair with Valery Bryusov at age 17
(see
> >memoirs of her granddaughter Ekaterina Moskowskaya,
> >http://www.moscowskaya.com/pages/05r.htm).
> >
> >
> >Ada group of manuscripts: a group of about 10 illuminated manuscripts,
dating
> >from the last quarter of the 8th century, the earliest examples of the
art of
> >the Court School of Charlemagne. The group is named after a Gospel book
(c.
> >750; Trier, Cathedral Treasury) commissioned by Ada, supposed half-sister
of
> >Charlemagne.
> >
> >
> >Adelle, a young married lady in Pushkin's (1828) fragment/plan for a
comedy
> >(Translation of Casimir Bonjour's "Le mari a bonnes fortunes", 1824).
Adelle
> >loves not her husband D'Orville but her chilhood friend and cousin
> >Charles, but
> >remains faithful to her husband. (L.I. Volpert, Russko-francuzskie
> >literaturaturnye svyazi konca XVIII-pervoi poloviny XIX veka,
> >http://www.ruthenia.ru/volpert/intro.htm)
> >
> >
> >and finally:
> >
> >"Ada gordaya tsaritsa
> >vzorom yunoshu zovyot.."
> >(Pushkin, "Pleshchut volny Flegetona...")
> >
> >----- End forwarded message -----
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----