Alexey Sklyarenko: In my previous posts on the subject I
forgot to point out that the phrase k chertyam
sobach'im occurs in Ada at least thrice. For the
last time sobach'i cherti (the canine devils) are mentioned in the
chapter on uncle Dan's death (2.10):Especially so now - when
everything had gone to the hell curs, k chertyam sobach'im, of Jeroen
Anthnizoon van Äken and the molti aspetti affascinati of his
enigmatica arte, as Dan explained with a last sigh to Dr Nikulin and to
nurse Bellabestia ('Bess') to whom he bequeathed a trunkful of museum catalogues
and his second-best catheter. The connection between red dog and Red Veen
is not arbitrary as Jansy Mello thinks.
JM: Thank you, Alexey. You convinced me about the
connection bt. uncle Dan and hell's hounds! I searched for the other two
instances of "k chertyam sobach'im". The first is in connection to Aqua and the
"miserable gadgets that were to replace those that
had gone k chertyam sobach’im (Russian ‘to the devil’) with the banning
of an unmentionable ‘lammer.’" and the second is definitely linked
to Dan, a terrier and a red liptstick or crayon that was "tossed out by Marina k chertyam sobach’im,
to hell’s hounds — and it did remind one of Rose’s terrier that had kept
trying to hug Dan’s leg."
Now the next step is to discover what the connection shows (or
doesn't show) to the general reader. One detailed explanation about a
wider picture, one that includes the link between "dogged" Dan, Bosch
and chastisement, is present in Brian Boyd's Annotations to Ada,
particularly Part One, Chapter 11 Afternote - www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/ada111aft.htm