Poprishchin: "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?
I think I have solved this problem:
Zembla (Semberland, a land of reflections) = Russia (but also Latvia,
Estonia, Lithuania... etc.). See Kinbote's note to Line 615.
Incidentally, the name Poprishchin, of Gogol's mad
hero, comes from поприще, the obsolete word meaning "field, walk of
life". One remembers Uvarov's famous words about Pushkin: Писать
стишки не значит ещё проходить великое поприще ("To write verses doesn't yet mean to be a great
man").* Both Pushkin and Uvarov (the Minister of Education, a
target of Pushkin's epigrams) are mentioned by Belinsky in
his famous letter to Gogol. Btw., the critic also says in
it:
Некоторые остановились было на мысли,
что Ваша книга есть плод умственного расстройства, близкого к положительному
сумасшествию.
(Some people have been inclined to regard your book
[Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends] as the result of
mental derangement verging on sheer madness.)
*He said it soon after the poet's
death
Alexey Sklyarenko