They [the
Robinsons] invited Lucette to a Coke with them - proselytical
teetotalists - in their cabin, which was small and stuffy and badly insulated,
one could hear every word and whine of two children being put to bed by a silent
seasick nurse, so late, so late - no, not children, but probably very young,
very much disappointed honeymooners. (Ada, 3.5)
Robinson's Sweet Shop is mentioned in Ilf and
Petrov's The Golden Calf (Chapter Five, "The Underground
Kingdom"): И с улыбкой превосходства он глядел на
одиноких нэпманов, догнивающих под вывесками: "Торговля товарами камвольного
треста Б. А. Лейбедев", "Парча и утварь для церквей и клубов" или "Бакалейная
лавка X. Робинзон и М. Пьятница". (And he
[Koreiko] smiled blissfully as he looked at the lonely NEP-men, rotting
under their signs: Trade in Combed Woolen Goods, B. A.
Leibedev, Brocade and Ceremonial Vessels For Clubs and Churches, or
H. Robinson and M. Friday Sweet Shop). Robinson's partner is
P'yatnitsa, an Ilfopetrovian name combining
pyatnitsa (Friday) with p'yanitsa (drunkard).
"Teetotalists" (instead of "teetotallers") seems to hint at
totalitarianism. Ilf and Petrov are the authors of Kak sozdavalsya
Robinzon (How the 'Soviet' Robinson Crusoe was Written, 1933).
On their way to Chernomorsk the members of the Antelope Gnu
crew meet two American tourists who are searching for a good recipe of
samogon ("moonshine," the USA being under Prohibition at the time).
Incidentally, in his article Samogon krovi (The Unauthorized Spilling
of Blood, 1919) Max Voloshin (the poet whom VN met in the Crimea) attempts
to prove that the bloodshed in the Civil War in Russia was caused by the
abolition of capital punishment after the February Revolution. samogon krovi + on = mnogo vina skoro (on - Russ., he; mnogo vina skoro
- Russ., a lot of vodka soon)
The bad insulation in Robinsons's cabin brings to mind thin
veneer partitions in the "Brother Berthold Schwartz" hostel where we also find a
fire-proof safe and a spiral staircase (reminiscent of the night of
the Burning Barn and the spiral stairs leading to the library in Ardis
Hall):
The partners wound their way up a spiral staircase to the
large attic,
which was divided by plyboard partitions into long slices five
feet wide.
The rooms were like pencil boxes, the only difference being that
besides
pens and pencils they contained people and primus stoves as
well.
"Are you there, Nicky?" Ostap asked
quietly, stopping at a central
door.
The response
was an immediate stirring and chattering in all five
pencil
boxes.
"Yes," came the answer from behind the
door.
"That fool's guests have arrived too
early again!" whispered a woman's
voice in the last box on the
left.
"Let a fellow sleep, can't you!" growled box
no. 2.
There was a delighted hissing from the third
box.
"It's the militia to see Nicky about that
window he smashed yesterday."
No one spoke in the
fifth pencil box; instead came the hum of a primus
and the sound of kissing.
(The Twelve Chairs, chapter XVI)
Alexey Sklyarenko