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Mike M writes:
Gamaliel appears five times, I believe, in Ada. Known in the
New Testament for his wait-and-see approach, he ought to epitomize the
prudent politician, but such expectations are confounded if Gamaliel
does represent one real-life individual only.
First of all, Demon Veen wants to duel with Baron d'Onsky in Europe:
"(decrepit but indestructible Gamaliel was said to be doing his best to
forbid duels in the Western Hemisphere - a canard or an idealistic
President's instant-coffee caprice, for nothing was to come of it at
all)". Is Nabokov getting at something neurological? Gamaliel suggests
Harding at first blush, but nothing else fits, so he's a red herring, a
proxy for poxy politicians. "Idealistic President": Wilsonian idealism
springs to mind, but so does Theodore Roosevelt, as both were advised
by Herbert Croly, devotee of German idealism. The instant-coffee
caprice certainly applies to Roosevelt, since the Maxwell House slogan
-- "Good to the last drop" -- was attributed to Roosevelt when he
complimented the beverage when visiting the Maxwell House Hotel. Can
Roosevelt be brought into alignment with a duel? I do believe that on
one occasion he was challenged to a duel by a French emigre to the wild
west (perhaps t!
hat's the meaning of western hemisphere), something to do with cattle
rustling; the belligerent Frenchman said or wrote something like "you
know where to find me", and Roosevelt replied that "you know where to
find me too, any time" or something like that. I'm afraid I'm fuzzy on
the details, but it fizzled out, and in this, Ada is
consistent: "nothing was to come of it at all''. Perhaps the use of a
word of French origin - canard - is not irrelevant, though the canard
may apply to the Maxwell House attribution, which has been challenged
as apocryphal.
Second, "(old Gamaliel was by now pretty gaga)". Roosevelt was never
gaga.
Third: "Gamaliel (then a stout young senator)". That will do nicely.
Fourth: "Gamaliel, on his (no longer frequent, alas) trip to Paris".
Anyone?
Fifth: "(recently abdicated upon Gamaliel's suggestion in favor of a
republican regime..)". Roosevelt was a Republican, and one imagines a
republican.
Gamaliel is usually parenthetical. On the other hand, he is
indestructible.