Dear List,
I'm sure this item must have been brought
up in the Nab-L already, but recent postings about Fet and Botkin awakened my
curiosity in relation to Dr. Eugene Botkin and any link connecting him
to Kinbote's fantasies about Zembla and Charles, the Beloved.
I tried to search the Nab-archives with no
success. Can anyone guide me to older postings in which a discussion about
this particular Dr. Botkin took place?*
..........................................................................................................
* In the wikipedia, in the biography
of the Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, we learn
that a Dr. Eugene Botkin was shot to death together with the
last Romanovs: "Yurovsky, who had been a professional
photographer, directed the family to take different positions as a photographer
might. Alexandra, who had requested chairs for herself and Alexei, sat to her
son's left. The Tsar stood behind Alexei, Dr. Botkin stood to the Tsar's right,
Tatiana and her sisters stood behind Alexandra along with the
servants....Yurovsky ...ordered them to stand, and read the sentence of
execution. Tatiana and her family had time only to utter a few incoherent sounds
of shock or protest before the death squad under Yurovsky's command began
shooting. It was the early hours of 17 July 1918.[71]The initial round of
gunfire killed only the Tsar, the Empress and two male servants, and wounded
Grand Duchess Maria, Dr Botkin and the Empress' maidservant, Demidova. At that
point the gunmen had to leave the room because of smoke and toxic fumes from
their guns and plaster dust their bullets had released from the walls. After
allowing the haze to clear for several minutes, the gunmen returned. Dr Botkin
was killed, and a gunman named Ermakov repeatedly tried to shoot Tsarevich
Alexei, but failed because jewels sewn into the boy's clothes shielded
him..."