A. Sklyarenko: As I pointed out in several
articles (Russian and English), "the ha-ha of a doubled ocean" hints at the
absence of the Bering Strait on a globe which drove mad the geography teacher in
Ilf and Petrov's "The Golden Calf" (chapter XVI: "Jahrbuch fuer
Psychoanalytik").
JM: Nabokov, in ADA, showed a great
interest in navigatory matters (related to the importance of the Bering
Strait) and
to others concerning Russian Arctic fur traders.
There are also references to the antipodal Capitain Horn,
Verne, Magellan and Lisianski (a circumnavigator, if memory
serves me right). Perhaps in this instance Nabokov didn't have "The Golden Calf"
in mind? (it's almost impossible to check that...)
btw:When I quoted Boyd's example about the "ha-ha," I
was referring to the religious insight of the
"ah-ha"