The hero and narrator of Look at the Harlequins!,
Vadim Vadimovich Blonsky feels that his life is "the non-identical
twin, a parody, an inferior variant of another man's life, somewhere on this or
another earth." (LATH, 2.3)
In his poem Svoemu dvoyniku (Leonidu
Ledyanomu), To my Double (Leonid Ledyanoy), 1917, Andrey
Bely calls his own double "Harlequin Jaloux":
Не публицист и не философ,
А просто Harlequin
Jaloux,
Вы – погрузили ряд вопросов
В казуистическую
мглу...
Leonid Ledyanoy ("Mr. Isaac Icecold") is the
hero of Bely's autobiographical tale Zapiski chudaka ("An Eccentric's
Notes", 1922). According to the author, his tale is сатира
на самого себя, на пережитое лично (a sitire on myself, on my personal
experience).
Bely's tale was fiercely criticized by Osip Mandelshtam:
Танцующая проза «Записок чудака» — высшая школа литературной
самовлюбленности. Рассказать о себе, вывернуть себя наизнанку, показать себя в
четвёртом, пятом, шестом измерении... «Записки чудака» свидетельствуют о
культурной отсталости и запущенности берлинской провинции и художественном
одичании даже лучших её представителей. All the same, Mandelshtam does
not forget that Bely is the author of Petersburg: А над Белым смеяться не хочется и грех: он написал
«Петербург».
"Vadim Vadimovich" sounds almost like "Vladimir
Vladimirovich" in slovenly ponunciation, but this name and patronymic also
reminds one of Apollon Apollonovich Ableukhov, a character in Bely's Petersburg. Ableukhov's prototype, the
Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev (1827-1907), is mentioned
by Blok in his verse epic Vozmezdie ("Retribution," 1910-21):
Pobedonostev nad Rossiey / Prostyor sovinye kryla (Pobedonostsev over
Russia / Has spread his owlish wings).
Btw., Bely's Petersburg was published by
"Sirin" in 1913-14. In Chapter Five of LATH Vadim Vadimovich describes his
visit to Leningrad (St. Petersburg's name in 1924-91). Ninel (a friend of
Vadim's second wife Annette Blagovo) is Lenin backwards.
Alexey Sklyarenko