When brought to a mad house (or,
as he believes, to Madrid), Poprishchin, the hero of
Gogol's Madman's Notes who imagines himself to be the Spanish King
Ferdinand VIII, discovers that China and Spain are one and the same
land:
Я открыл, что Китай и Испания совершенно одна и
та же земля, и только по невежеству считают их за разные государства. Я советую
всем нарочно написать на бумаге Испания, то и выйдет
Китай.
"I discovered that China and Spain
were essentially the same land [sovershenno odna i ta zhe
zemlya] and only through ignorance they are believed to be
different countries. I recommend everybody to put down on paper Spain and
it will come out China."
I'm not sure if there is a connection to Botkin's
madness in Pale Fire. If there is a connection, does it suggest
that Zembla = Appalachia? Zembla = Russia? Zembla = Sweden? America =
Russia?
Alexey Sklyarenko