Sig Leymanski, the name of a character in Van's
novel Letters from Terra, is an anagram of Kingsley Amis, "a waggish
British novelist keenly interested in physics fiction" (Vivian Darkbloom). On
the other hand, sig is Russian for "lake white-fish," Coregonus
clupeaformis, of the salmon family, while Leymanski
suggests to a Russian ear "of lake Leman."
Cиг, the lake
whitefish, was immortalized by Saltykov-Shchedrin in his Господа ташкентцы
(Gentlemen of Tashkent, 1873):*
В Шлюшине, сказывают, этого сига множество! -
возражал Михайло Семёныч Рыбников. - Помилуйте, батюшка! какой же в Шлюшине сиг!
Ладожский ли сиг или наш невский! - Ну, да и кусается же этот невский сижок! -
вставляла своё слово Анна Михайловна, - Зина! Евлаша! Леля! сестрицы! что ж вы!
с сижком! - обращалась она к сёстрам, которые, в качестве сущих девиц, не были
свободны от некоторого жеманства. - Они у меня скромницы! - шутил старик
Рыбников, - при людях не едят, а вот после обеда на кухню заберутся, так уж там
и с сижком, и с кашкой, и с рисцем... пожалуй, и платья-то расстегнут! (Dr.
Siegmund Freud freut sich! Sorry, I leave this quote untranslated: a task too
difficult for me. The place name Шлюшино must derive from шлюха,
"whore." Ladoga and the Neva are also mentioned.)
Копчёный сиг, "smoked whitefish," is mentioned in Saltykov's Пошехонские
рассказы ("The Gothamite Tales"), 1884. In Ada, Van, Ada, Demon
and Marina enjoy wall-eyed pike, or 'dory,' with Tartar sauce and boiled young
potatoes (1.38). Cf. Van's words to Demon: "That's not real sudak
[pike-perch], papa, though it's tops..." In his youth, Demon was a
great fisherman. One remembers that it took a perch clocked by Daniel Veen,
Demon's cousin, half an hour to cross diagonally Lake Kitezh (1.1). One also
remembers the lady perfume "Ombre Chevalier," which, according to Mlle
Larivière, is nothing but a fish (1.39). Indeed, ombre is French for
"grayling, umber."
*in my article THE
NAKED TRUTH, OR THE READER’S SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION IN ADA’S
QUELQUE
CHOSE
UNIVERSITY
(available in Zembla) I argue that the phrase "rukuliruyushchiy month
at Kitezh" in Ada (1.3) can be traced back to the verb
rukulirovat' (Franco-Russ., "to coo") used by Saltykov in Gentlemen
of Tashkent. Saltykov's best-known novel (that I also discuss in my
article) is "Господа Головлёвы" (The
Golovlyovs, 1875-80). The family name Golovlyov comes from голавль
(or головель), Russian for "chub," the freshwater fish Leuciscus
cephalos. Shchedrin is also the author of "Карась-идеалист," Crucian
the Idealist, a story of the fish life (1884). On the other hand, a crucian
is the hero of Chekhov's stroy "Рыбья любовь" (The Piscine Love,
1892).
Alexey
Sklyarenko