Speaking of Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy and possible allusions
to his works in Ada, the slang phrase propustit' cherez
tabak* ("use violence," apparently a pun on passer à tabac,
"to beat up") occurs in Tolstoy's novel "The Émigrés"
and several short stories. Tabak is, of course, Russian for
"tobacco." In Ada, Tobak is Cordula's
first husband, the shipowner. Lucette goes on her last journey onboard his
liner Tobakoff (3.5).
Passer à
tabac brings to mind the Russian phrase nyukhat' kobylu ("to
smell at a punishment-bench") used by Pushkin in Boris Godunov.
Because kobyla is Russian for "mare" (cf. Zemski's
jument), this phrase is rather ambiguous.
Alexey
Sklyarenko