AB: The same situation was used much earlier in
The Defense
You mean, a
similar situation. Thanks for reminding me of it. I do still think
that Rimbaud, the author of Le Bateau ivre, and a surprised
Russian traveler in Abyssinia (who can be none other than Gumilyov, the
author of Заблудившийся трамвай) meet not accidentally in Vadim's
delirium. I also think that VN, like a billiard virtuoso who plays more than one
ball in the pockets at a stroke, often alludes to several books
simultaneously.
Correction of an
earlier error: Sirin is mentioned once in Odoevtseva's On the Banks of the Seine
(1987). Ivan Bunin (the envious Nobel laureate who seldom
spoke well of his colleagues, especially if they were alive)
mentions him, in a conversation with Odoevtseva, saying that "victors
need never explain." The same words, победителей не судят, Bunin uses only
when speaking of Chekhov, who had been his idol since youth. By
the way, like Goethe, Chateaubriand and Byron, young Bunin was in love with his
sister. If I'm not mistaken, LATH's Morozov is a portrait of Bunin. LATH's
Basilevski is a portrait of both Georgiy Adamovich (the critic who had only
two passions in life: Russian poets and French sailors) and Georgiy Ivanov
(Odoevtseva's first husband). The two Georges were earlier portrayed as
Euphratski (aka Tigrin) in VN's story Lips to
Lips.
To return
to Severyanin ("the devine Igor") & Mayakovsky (the future
ex-futurist "Vladim Vladimych"). Forgot to mention that, at the dawn of
their career, they traveled in Russia, with public readings of their poetry,
together.
Alexey
Sklyarenko