In his Commentary Kinbote quotes in full Shade¡¯s poem "The Nature of Electricity" that appeared in the New York magazine The Beau and the Butterfly after the poet¡¯s death:
The dead, the gentle dead--who knows?--
In tungsten filaments abide,
And on my bedside table glows
Another man's departed bride.
And maybe Shakespeare floods a whole
Town with innumerable lights,
And Shelley's incandescent soul
Lures the pale moths of starless nights.
Streetlamps are numbered, and maybe
Number nine-hundred-ninety-nine
(So brightly beaming through a tree
So green) is an old friend of mine.
And when above the livid plain
Forked lightning plays, therein may dwell
The torments of a Tamerlane,
The roar of tyrants torn in hell.
Science tells us, by the way, that the Earth would not merely fall apart, but vanish like a ghost, if Electricity were suddenly removed from the world. (note to Line 347)
In the last line of his poem Ugasshim zvyozdam (¡°To the Extinguished Stars,¡± 1890) Fet mentions prizraki zvyozd (the ghosts of stars) to which he will fly even after his death with the ghost of a sigh:
§¥§à§Ý§Ô§à §Ý§î §Ó§á§Ú§Ó§Ñ§ä§î §Þ§ß§Ö §Þ§Ö§â§è§Ñ§ß§Ú§Ö §Ó§Ñ§ê§Ö,
§³§Ú§ß§Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ö§Ò§Ñ §á§í§ä§Ý§Ú§Ó§í§Ö §à§é§Ú?
§¥§à§Ý§Ô§à §Ý§Ú §é§å§ñ§ä§î, §é§ä§à §Ó§í§ê§Ö §Ú §Ü§â§Ñ§ê§Ö
§£§Ñ§ã §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ö§ä §Ó§à §ç§â§Ñ§Þ§Ú§ß§Ö §ß§à§é§Ú?
§®§à§Ø§Ö§ä §Ò§í§ä§î, §ß§Ö§ä §Ó§Ñ§ã §á§à§Õ §ä§Ö§Þ§Ú §à§Ô§ß§ñ§Þ§Ú:
§¥§Ñ§Ó§ß§ñ§ñ §Ó§Ñ§ã §á§à§Ô§Ñ§ã§Ú§Ý§Ñ §ï§á§à§ç§Ñ, ¡ª
§´§Ñ§Ü §Ú §á§à §ã§Þ§Ö§â§ä§Ú §Ý§Ö§ä§Ö§ä§î §Ü §Ó§Ñ§Þ §ã§ä§Ú§ç§Ñ§Þ§Ú,
§¬ §á§â§Ú§Ù§â§Ñ§Ü§Ñ§Þ §Ù§Ó§×§Ù§Õ, §Ò§å§Õ§å §á§â§Ú§Ù§â§Ñ§Ü§à§Þ §Ó§Ù§Õ§à§ç§Ñ!
The poem¡¯s last word, vzdokha (Gen. of vzdokh, ¡°sigh¡±), rhymes with epokha (epoch). Epokha (¡°The Epoch¡±) was the name of the review (edited by brothers Dostoevski) in which Turgenev¡¯s story Prizraki (¡°The Ghosts,¡± 1864) appeared. Turgenev¡¯s story (subtitled ¡°A Fantasy¡±) has the epigraph from Fet¡¯s poem Fantaziya (¡°A Fantasy,¡± 1847):
§®§Ú§Ô §à§Õ§Ú§ß¡ §Ú §ß§Ö§ä §Ó§à§Ý§ê§Ö§Ò§ß§à§Û §ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ü§Ú,
§ª §Õ§å§ê§Ñ §à§á§ñ§ä§î §á§à§Ý§ß§Ñ §Ó§à§Ù§Þ§à§Ø§ß§í§Þ.
One moment ¨C and the fairy tale has vanished,
And the soul again is full with the possible.
In the lines that immediately precede those quoted above Fet mentions raduzhnye kraski (the iridescent colors) that irritate the eye with a false light:
§±§Ö§â§Ö§ç§à§Õ§ñ§ä §â§Ñ§Õ§å§Ø§ß§í§Ö §Ü§â§Ñ§ã§Ü§Ú,
§²§Ñ§Ù§Õ§â§Ñ§Ø§Ñ§ñ §à§Ü§à §ã§Ó§Ö§ä§à§Þ §Ý§à§Ø§ß§í§Þ¡
¡°The iridescent colors¡± and oko (obs., the eye) bring to mind Iris Acht, the mistress of Thurgus the Third (the king of Zembla whose name and surname seem to hint at Turgenev):
Acht, Iris, celebrated actress, d. 1888, a passionate and powerful woman, favorite of Thurgus the Third (q.v.), 130. She died officially by her own hand; unofficially, strangled in her dressing room by a fellow actor, a jealous young Gothlander, now, at ninety, the oldest, and least important, member of the Shadows (q.v.) group. (Index to PF)
Thurgus the Third, surnamed The Turgid, K's grandfather, d. 1900 at seventy-five, after a long dull reign; sponge-bagcapped, and with only one medal on his Jaeger jacket, he liked to bicycle in the park; stout and bald, his nose like a congested plum, his martial mustache bristling with obsolete passion, garbed in a dressing gown of green silk, and carrying a flambeau in his raised hand, he used to meet, every night, during a short period in the middle-Eighties, his hooded mistress, Iris Acht (q.v.) midway between palace and theater in the secret passage later to be rediscovered by his grandson, 130. (ibid.)
Acht is German for ¡°eight¡± (Turgenev was born in 1818 died in 1883; cf. Thurgus the Third). Zinaida Hippius¡¯ poem Chisla (¡°Numbers,¡± 1902) ends in the line:
2, 26 and 8.*
Zinaida Hippius is the author of Elektrichestvo (¡°Electricity,¡± 1901), a poem quoted in full by Lev Shestov (the philosopher whose penname comes from shest¡¯, ¡°six¡±) in Vlast¡¯ idey (¡°The Power of Ideas,¡± 1905), a review of the second volume of Merezhkovski¡¯s ¡°Tolstoy and Dostoevski¡± (1902):
§¡ §ä§Ö§á§Ö§â§î §ã§á§â§à§ã§Ú§Þ, §ß§Ñ§Ü§à§ß§Ö§è, §Ó §é§×§Þ §Ø§Ö §á§à§ã§Ý§Ö§Õ§ß§Ú§Û §ã§Ú§ß§ä§Ö§Ù §Ô. §®§Ö§â§Ö§Ø§Ü§à§Ó§ã§Ü§à§Ô§à? §µ §ß§Ö§Ô§à §ß§Ñ §ï§ä§à§ä §Ó§à§á§â§à§ã §Ö§ã§ä§î §à§é§Ö§ß§î §à§á§â§Ö§Õ§Ö§Ý§×§ß§ß§í§Û §à§ä§Ó§Ö§ä: §Ó §é§×§Þ §Õ§â§å§Ô§à§Þ, §Ñ §Ó §ß§Ö§ñ§ã§ß§à§ã§ä§Ú §Ö§Ô§à §å§á§â§Ö§Ü§ß§å§ä§î §ß§Ö§Ý§î§Ù§ñ. §µ§Ø§Ö §ã §ß§Ñ§é§Ñ§Ý§Ñ 5-§Û §Ô§Ý§Ñ§Ó§í §à§ß §á§â§Ú§Ó§à§Õ§Ú§ä §ã§ä§Ú§ç§à§ä§Ó§à§â§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §©.§¯. §¤§Ú§á§á§Ú§å§ã - "§¿§Ý§Ö§Ü§ä§â§Ú§é§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§à", §ã§ä§Ú§ç§à§ä§Ó§à§â§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö, §Ü§à§ä§à§â§à§Ö §Ö§Þ§å §Ü§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ä§ã§ñ §Õ§à §ä§Ñ§Ü§à§Û §ã§ä§Ö§á§Ö§ß§Ú §á§à§Ý§ß§à §Ú §å§Õ§Ñ§é§ß§à §Ó§í§â§Ñ§Ø§Ñ§ð§ë§Ú§Þ §Ö§Ô§à §à§ã§ß§à§Ó§ß§å§ð §Þ§í§ã§Ý§î, §é§ä§à §à§ß §Ù§Ñ§Ü§Ý§ð§é§Ú§ä§Ö§Ý§î§ß§í§Ö §Ö§Ô§à §ã§ä§â§à§Ü§Ú §è§Ú§ä§Ú§â§å§Ö§ä §Õ§à §Õ§Ö§ã§ñ§ä§Ú §â§Ñ§Ù. §³§ä§Ú§ç§à§ä§Ó§à§â§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §ß§Ö§Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§à§Ö, §Ú §ñ §Ö§Ô§à §á§â§Ú§Ó§Ö§Õ§å §è§Ö§Ý§Ú§Ü§à§Þ §Ó§Ó§Ú§Õ§å §ä§à§Û §Ù§ß§Ñ§é§Ú§ä§Ö§Ý§î§ß§à§Û §â§à§Ý§Ú, §Ü§à§ä§à§â§å§ð §à§ß§à §Ú§Ô§â§Ñ§Ö§ä §Ó §Ü§ß§Ú§Ô§Ö §Ô. §®§Ö§â§Ö§Ø§Ü§à§Ó§ã§Ü§à§Ô§à.
§¥§Ó§Ö §ß§Ú§ä§Ú §Ó§Þ§Ö§ã§ä§Ö §ã§Ó§Ú§ä§í,
§¬§à§ß§è§í §à§Ò§ß§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ß§í.
§´§à "§Õ§Ñ" §Ú "§ß§Ö§ä" §ß§Ö §ã§Ý§Ú§ä§í,
§¯§Ö §ã§Ý§Ú§ä§í - §ã§á§Ý§Ö§ä§Ö§ß§í.
§ª§ç §ä§×§Þ§ß§à§Ö §ã§á§Ý§Ö§ä§Ö§ß§î§Ö
§ª §ä§Ö§ã§ß§à §Ú §Þ§Ö§â§ä§Ó§à;
§¯§à §Ø§Õ§×§ä §Ú§ç §Ó§à§ã§Ü§â§Ö§ã§Ö§ß§î§Ö,
§ª §Ø§Õ§å§ä §à§ß§Ú §Ö§Ô§à:
§¬§à§ß§è§í §ã§à§á§â§Ú§Ü§à§ã§ß§å§ä§ã§ñ,
§±§â§à§ã§ß§å§ä§ã§ñ "§Õ§Ñ" §Ú "§ß§Ö§ä".
§ª "§Õ§Ñ", §Ú "§ß§Ö§ä" §ã§à§Ý§î§ð§ä§ã§ñ,
§ª §ã§Þ§Ö§â§ä§î §Ú§ç §Ò§å§Õ§Ö§ä §ã§Ó§Ö§ä. (VI)
¡the ends will touch each other,
¡®yes¡¯ and ¡®no¡¯ will wake up.
And ¡®yes¡¯ and ¡®no¡¯ will merge,
and their death will be a light.
Shestov¡¯s essay has for epigraph the opening and closing lines of Paul Verlaine¡¯s poem Art Po¨¦tique (1885):
De la musique avant toute chose...
Et tout le reste est litt¨¦rature.
Of music before everything¡
And all the rest is literature.
Avant toute chose brings to mind Chose, Van¡¯s English University in VN¡¯s novel Ada (1969). One of Van¡¯s Professors there is old Paar of Chose:
As Van Veen himself was to find out, at the time of his passionate research in terrology (then a branch of psychiatry) even the deepest thinkers, the purest philosophers, Paar of Chose and Zapater of Aardvark, were emotionally divided in their attitude toward the possibility that there existed ¡®a distortive glass of our distorted glebe¡¯ as a scholar who desires to remain unnamed has put it with such euphonic wit. (Hm! Kveree-kveree, as poor Mlle L. used to say to Gavronsky. In Ada's hand.) (1.3)
¡°Paar of Chose¡± and ¡°old Paar¡± (as he is referred to elsewhere) suggest ¡°old pair of shoes,¡± a phrase that brings to mind Bashmachkin, the main character in Gogol¡¯s story Shinel¡¯ (¡°The Overcoat,¡± 1841) whose surname comes from bashmachok (little shoe). According to Kinbote (the author of a wonderful book on surnames), Botkin is one who makes bottekins, fancy footwear (note to Line 71). In his article on Fet, Stikhotvoreniya of A. A. Feta (¡°The Poems of A. A. Fet,¡± 1857), V. P. Botkin (1811-69) mentions Gogol¡¯s play Revizor (The Inspector, 1836) and ¡°all this poetry of laughter that elektricheskoy struyoy (like an electric current) runs through the comedy:¡±
§®§í, §ß§Ñ§á§â§Ú§Þ§Ö§â, §Ó§à§Ó§ã§Ö §ß§Ö §Õ§å§Þ§Ñ§Ö§Þ, §é§ä§à§Ò§í §¤§à§Ô§à§Ý§î §Ú§Þ§Ö§Ý §Ó §Ó§Ú§Õ§å §Ú§ã§á§â§Ñ§Ó§Ý§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §ß§â§Ñ§Ó§à§Ó, §Ü§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ §á§Ú§ã§Ñ§Ý §ã§Ó§à§Ö§Ô§à "§²§Ö§Ó§Ú§Ù§à§â§Ñ". §¦§Ô§à §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Ô§à §á§â§Ö§Ø§Õ§Ö §Ó§ã§Ö§Ô§à §Ó§à§ã§ç§Ú§ë§Ñ§Ý§Ñ §Ü§à§Þ§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§Ñ§ñ §ã§ä§à§â§à§ß§Ñ §Ö§Ô§à §Ô§Ö§â§à§Ö§Ó, §Ú§ç §á§à§ê§Ý§à§Ö, §Õ§à§Þ§Ñ§ê§ß§Ö§Ö §á§à§ß§Ú§Þ§Ñ§ß§Ú§Ö §Ô§à§ã§å§Õ§Ñ§â§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§í§ç §Ú§ß§ä§Ö§â§Ö§ã§à§Ó, §Ú§ç §ß§Ñ§Ú§Ó§ß§Ñ§ñ §Ò§Ö§Ù§ß§â§Ñ§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§à§ã§ä§î, §Ò§Ö§ã§ã§à§Ù§ß§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§î§ß§Ñ§ñ §á§à§Õ§Ý§à§ã§ä§î; §Ñ §Ö§ã§Ý§Ú "§²§Ö§Ó§Ú§Ù§à§â" §Ú§Þ§Ö§Ö§ä §Ó§í§ã§à§Ü§Ú§Û §ß§â§Ñ§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§í§Û §ã§Þ§í§ã§Ý, §ä§à §ã§Þ§í§ã§Ý §ï§ä§à§ä §ñ§Ó§Ú§Ý§ã§ñ §ã§Ñ§Þ §ã§à§Ò§à§ð, §Ü§Ñ§Ü §ß§Ö§Ó§à§Ý§î§ß§à§Ö §à§ä§â§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §ä§à§Ô§à §Ó§í§ã§à§Ü§à§Ô§à §ß§â§Ñ§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§à§Ô§à §Ú§Õ§Ö§Ñ§Ý§Ñ, §Ü§à§ä§à§â§í§Û §Ó§Ö§Ý§Ú§Ü§Ú§Û §ç§å§Õ§à§Ø§ß§Ú§Ü §ß§à§ã§Ú§Ý §Ó §Õ§å§ê§Ö §ã§Ó§à§Ö§Û §Ú §Ü§à§ä§à§â§í§Û §á§à§Þ§Ú§Þ§à §Ó§à§Ý§Ú §ç§å§Õ§à§Ø§ß§Ú§Ü§Ñ §Ó§ã§Ö§Ô§Õ§Ñ §à§ä§â§Ñ§Ù§Ú§ä§ã§ñ §Ó §Ü§Ñ§Ø§Õ§à§Þ §Ö§Ô§à §á§â§à§Ú§Ù§Ó§Ö§Õ§Ö§ß§Ú§Ú. §¿§ä§à§ä §ß§â§Ñ§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§í§Û §Ú§Õ§Ö§Ñ§Ý §à§Õ§Ú§ß §á§à§Þ§à§Ô§Ñ§Ý §¤§à§Ô§à§Ý§ð §ã §ä§Ñ§Ü§à§ð §ß§Ö§ã§Ý§í§ç§Ñ§ß§ß§à§ð §ä§à§ß§Ü§à§ã§ä§Ú§ð §á§à§Õ§Þ§Ö§é§Ñ§ä§î §á§à§ê§Ý§í§Ö §ã§ä§à§â§à§ß§í §Ø§Ú§Ù§ß§Ú. §¦§Ô§à §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Ô§à §ã§Þ§Ö§ê§Ú§Ý§Ú §ï§ä§Ú §á§à§ê§Ý§í§Ö §ã§ä§à§â§à§ß§í: §Ú§ß§Ñ§é§Ö §à§ä§Ü§å§Õ§Ñ §Ò§í §Ó§Ù§ñ§Ý§Ñ§ã§î §ï§ä§Ñ §ß§Ö§å§Õ§Ö§â§Ø§Ú§Þ§Ñ§ñ §Ó§Ö§ã§×§Ý§à§ã§ä§î, §ï§ä§à§ä §å§Þ§Ú§Ý§ñ§ð§ë§Ú§Û §Õ§å§ê§å §ð§Þ§à§â, §ï§ä§à §Ô§Ö§ß§Ú§Ñ§Ý§î§ß§à§Ö §ê§å§ä§à§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§à, §ã§Ý§à§Ó§à§Þ, §Ó§ã§ñ §ï§ä§Ñ §á§à§ï§Ù§Ú§ñ §ã§Þ§Ö§ç§Ñ, §Ü§à§ä§à§â§í§Û §ï§Ý§Ö§Ü§ä§â§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§à§Û §ã§ä§â§å§×§Û §Ò§Ö§Ø§Ú§ä §á§à §Ü§à§Þ§Ö§Õ§Ú§Ú?
The word struyoy (Instr. of struya, ¡°jet, spurt, stream; current¡±) used by Botkin brings to mind dyadya Struy (Uncle Spurt), a character in Zhukovski¡¯s Undina. Starinnaya povest¡¯ (1831-36). Zhukovski¡¯s fairy tale is a rendering in hexameter of a prose novella (Undine, 1811) by Friedrich de La Motte Fouqu¨¦. According to VN, La Motte Fouqu¨¦¡¯s Pique-Dame (¡°Reports from the Madhouse. From the Swedish,¡± 1826) was known to Pushkin when he wrote Pikovaya dama (The Queen of Spades, 1833). The three magical cards in Pushkin¡¯s story are Three, Seven and Ace. In VN¡¯s novel Dar (¡°The Gift,¡± 1937) Fyodor in one of his poems addressed to Zina Mertz mentions tuz voobrazhen¡¯ya (the ace of fancy):
§¬§Ñ§Ü §Ù§Ó§Ñ§ä§î §ä§Ö§Ò§ñ? §´§í §á§à§Ý§å-§®§ß§Ö§Þ§à§Ù§Ú§ß§Ñ, §á§à§Ý§å-§Þ§Ö§â§è§Ñ§ß§î§Ö §Ó §Ú§Þ§Ö§ß§Ú §ä§Ó§à§×§Þ, ¨C §Ú §ã§ä§â§Ñ§ß§ß§à §Þ§ß§Ö §á§à §ã§å§Þ§â§Ñ§Ü§å §¢§Ö§â§Ý§Ú§ß§Ñ §ã §á§à§Ý§å§Ó§Ú§Õ§Ö§ß§î§Ö§Þ §ã§ä§â§Ñ§ß§ã§ä§Ó§à§Ó§Ñ§ä§î §Ó§Õ§Ó§à§×§Þ. §¯§à §Ó§à§ä §ã§Ü§Ñ§Þ§î§ñ §á§à§Õ §Ý§Ú§á§à§Û §à§ã§Ó§Ö§ë§×§ß§ß§à§Û¡ §´§í §à§Ø§Ú§Ó§Ñ§Ö§ê§î §Ó §ã§å§Õ§à§â§à§Ô§Ñ§ç §ã§Ý§×§Ù: §ñ §Ó§Ú§Ø§å §Ó§Ù§à§â §ã§Ö§Û §Ø§Ú§Ù§ß§î§ð §Ú§Ù§å§Þ§Ý§×§ß§ß§í§Û §Ú §Ò§Ý§Ö§Õ§ß§à§Ö §ã§Ú§ñ§ß§Ú§Ö §Ó§à§Ý§à§ã. §¦§ã§ä§î §å §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §ã§â§Ñ§Ó§ß§Ö§ß§î§Ö §ß§Ñ §á§â§Ú§Þ§Ö§ä§Ö, §Õ§Ý§ñ §Ô§å§Ò §ä§Ó§à§Ú§ç, §Ü§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ §è§Ö§Ý§å§Ö§ê§î §ä§í: §ß§Ñ§Ô§à§â§ß§í§Û §ã§ß§Ö§Ô, §Þ§Ö§â§è§Ñ§ð§ë§Ú§Û §Ó §´§Ú§Ò§Ö§ä§Ö, §Ô§à§â§ñ§é§Ú§Û §Ü§Ý§ð§é §Ú §Ó §Ú§ß§Ö§Ö §è§Ó§Ö§ä§í. §¯§à§é§ß§í§Ö §ß§Ñ§ê§Ú, §Ò§Ö§Õ§ß§í§Ö §Ó§Ý§Ñ§Õ§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ, ¨C §Ù§Ñ§Ò§à§â, §æ§à§ß§Ñ§â§î, §Ñ§ã§æ§Ñ§Ý§î§ä§à§Ó§å§ð §Ô§Ý§Ñ§Õ§î ¨C §á§à§ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ú§Þ §ß§Ñ §ä§å§Ù§Ñ §Ó§à§à§Ò§â§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ß§Ú§ñ, §é§ä§à§Ò §è§Ö§Ý§í§Û §Þ§Ú§â §å §ß§à§é§Ú §à§ä§í§Ô§â§Ñ§ä§î! §¯§Ö §à§Ò§Ý§Ñ§Ü§Ñ ¨C §Ñ §Ô§à§â§ß§í§Ö §à§ä§â§à§Ô§Ú; §Ü§à§ã§ä§×§â §Ó §Ý§Ö§ã§å, ¨C §ß§Ö §Ý§Ñ§Þ§á§Ñ §å §à§Ü§ß§Ñ¡ §° §á§à§Ü§Ý§ñ§ß§Ú§ã§î, §é§ä§à §Õ§à §Ü§à§ß§è§Ñ §Õ§à§â§à§Ô§Ú §ä§í §Ò§å§Õ§Ö§ê§î §ä§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §Ó§í§Þ§í§ã§Ý§å §Ó§Ö§â§ß§Ñ¡
What shall I call you? Half-Mnemosyne? There¡¯s a half-shimmer in your surname too. In dark Berlin, it is so strange to me to roam, oh, my half-fantasy, with you. A bench stands under the translucent tree. Shivers and sobs reanimate you there, and all life¡¯s wonder in your gaze I see, and see the pale fair radiance of your hair. In honor of your lips when they kiss mine I might devise a metaphor some time: Tibetan mountain-snows, their glancing shine, and a hot spring near flowers touched with rime. Our poor nocturnal property¡ªthat wet asphaltic gloss, that fence and that street light¡ªupon the ace of fancy let us set to win a world of beauty from the night. Those are not clouds¡ªbut star-high mountain spurs; not lamplit blinds¡ªbut camplight on a tent! O swear to me that while the heartblood stirs, you will be true to what we shall invent. (Chapter Three)
After the L disaster in the beau milieu of the 19th electricity was banned on Antiterra (aka Demonia, Earth¡¯s twin planet on which Ada is set). The Antiterran L disaster seems to correspond to the mock execution of Dostoevski and the Petrashevskians on Jan. 3, 1850 (NS). January 3 is the birthday of Lucette, Van¡¯s and Ada¡¯s half-sister whom Van calls ¡°our Esmeralda and mermaid¡± (2.8). Esmeralda is a gipsy girl in Victor Hugo¡¯s novel Notre Dame de Paris (1831). At the beginning of his essay on Fet Botkin quotes Prosper M¨¦rim¨¦e¡¯s words in his article written a propos of the new volume of Hugo¡¯s poetry:
§¥§Ñ§Ø§Ö §Ý§Ú§ä§Ö§â§Ñ§ä§à§â§í §Ó§à§ã§ã§ä§Ñ§ð§ä §ß§Ñ §á§à§ï§Ù§Ú§ð, §Ú §ß§Ö§Ü§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ §ä§Ñ§Ý§Ñ§ß§ä§Ý§Ú§Ó§í§Û §Ñ§Ó§ä§à§â §ß§Ö§Þ§ß§à§Ô§Ú§ç §á§â§Ö§Ó§à§ã§ç§à§Õ§ß§í§ç §â§Ñ§ã§ã§Ü§Ñ§Ù§à§Ó -- §Ñ §ß§í§ß§Ö §ã§Õ§Ö§Ý§Ñ§Ó§ê§Ú§Û§ã§ñ §ß§Ñ§á§à§Ý§Ö§à§ß§à§Ó§ã§Ü§Ú§Þ §ã§Ö§ß§Ñ§ä§à§â§à§Þ -- §±§â§à§ã§á§Ö§â §®§Ö§â§Ú§Þ§Ö §ß§Ñ§á§Ú§ã§Ñ§Ý §ß§Ö§Õ§Ñ§Ó§ß§à §Ó "§®§à§ß§Ú§ä§×§â§Ö" §è§Ö§Ý§å§ð §ã§ä§Ñ§ä§î§ð §à §ä§à§Þ, §é§ä§à §á§à§ï§Ù§Ú§ñ §Ó§à§Ù§Þ§à§Ø§ß§Ñ §ä§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §Ó §Õ§Ú§Ü§à§Þ §ã§à§ã§ä§à§ñ§ß§Ú§Ú §à§Ò§ë§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ §Ú §é§ä§à §ä§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §Ó §ï§ä§à§Þ §ã§é§Ñ§ã§ä§Ý§Ú§Ó§à§Þ (?) §ã§à§ã§ä§à§ñ§ß§Ú§Ú §á§à§ï§ä §Þ§à§Ø§Ö§ä §Ò§í§ä§î §ß§Ñ§Ú§Ó§ß§í§Þ §Ò§Ö§Ù §Ô§Ý§å§á§à§ã§ä§Ú §Ú §Ö§ã§ä§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§í§Þ §Ò§Ö§Ù §á§à§ê§Ý§à§ã§ä§Ú; §é§ä§à §Ó §á§Ö§â§Ó§à§Ò§í§ä§ß§à§Þ §à§Ò§ë§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ö §á§à§ï§ä §Ò§í§Ó§Ñ§Ý §Ó§à§Ö§ß§Ñ§é§Ñ§Ý§î§ß§Ú§Ü§à§Þ, §Ù§Ñ§Ü§à§ß§à§Õ§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§Ö§Þ, §à§â§Ñ§Ü§å§Ý§à§Þ, §Ñ §ä§Ö§á§Ö§â§î, §é§å§Ø§Õ§í§Û §á§â§Ñ§Ü§ä§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§à§Û §Ø§Ú§Ù§ß§Ú, §à§ß §ã§ä§Ñ§Ý §à§Õ§ß§Ú§Þ §Ú§Ù §ã§Ñ§Þ§í§ç §Ò§Ö§ã§á§à§Ý§Ö§Ù§ß§í§ç §é§Ý§Ö§ß§à§Ó §à§Ò§ë§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ, §é§ä§à §Ô§à§Ó§à§â§Ú§ä §à§ß §ß§Ö§Ö§ã§ä§Ö§ã§ä§Ó§Ö§ß§ß§í§Þ §ñ§Ù§í§Ü§à§Þ, §Ü§à§ä§à§â§à§Ô§à §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§Ñ§ñ §é§Ñ§ã§ä§î §Ö§Ô§à §ã§à§Ó§â§Ö§Þ§Ö§ß§ß§Ú§Ü§à§Ó §ß§Ö §á§à§ß§Ú§Þ§Ñ§ð§ä, §Ú §á§â§à§é. §£§ã§× §ï§ä§à §Ü§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ä§ã§ñ §à§ã§ä§â§à§å§Þ§ß§à, §à§ã§à§Ò§Ö§ß§ß§à §Ö§ã§Ý§Ú §á§à§Õ§å§Þ§Ñ§Ö§ê§î, §é§ä§à §ã§ä§Ñ§ä§î§ñ §ß§Ñ§á§Ú§ã§Ñ§ß§Ñ §á§à §á§à§Ó§à§Õ§å §ß§Ö§Õ§Ñ§Ó§ß§à §Ó§í§ê§Ö§Õ§ê§Ú§ç §ã§ä§Ú§ç§à§ä§Ó§à§â§Ö§ß§Ú§Û §£§Ú§Ü§ä§à§â§Ñ §¤§ð§Ô§à §Ú §é§ä§à §ß§à§Ó§í§Û §ã§Ö§ß§Ñ§ä§à§â §Õ§à§Ý§Ø§Ö§ß §Ò§í§Ý §Õ§à§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§ä§î §é§Ö§Þ-§ß§Ú§Ò§å§Õ§î §ã§Ó§à§× §ß§à§Ó§à§Ö profession de foi.
In her memoir essay on Voloshin, Zhivoe o zhivom ("A Living Word about a Living Man," 1932), Marina Tsvetaev uses the phrase au beau milieu (right in the middle) as applied to Victor Hugo's poem Napol¨¦on II (1832):
§ª §Ó§ß§Ö§Ù§Ñ§á§ß§à ¨C au beau milieu Victor Hugo §¯§Ñ§á§à§Ý§Ö§à§ß§å II ¨C §å§Ø§Ö §ß§Ö §Ó§Ü§â§Ñ§Õ§é§Ú§Ó§à, §Ñ §ã§â§à§é§ß§à: ¨C §¡ §ß§Ö§Ý§î§Ù§ñ §Ý§Ú §Ò§å§Õ§Ö§ä §á§à§Û§ä§Ú §Ü§å§Õ§Ñ-§ß§Ú§Ò§å§Õ§î §Ó §Õ§â§å§Ô§à§Ö §Þ§Ö§ã§ä§à? ¨C §®§à§Ø§ß§à, §Ü§à§ß§Ö§é§ß§à, §Ó§ß§Ú§Ù §ä§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ, §ß§à §ä§Ñ§Þ §ã§Ö§Þ§î §Ô§â§Ñ§Õ§å§ã§à§Ó §Ú §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§Ö §ß§Ö §Ò§í§Ó§Ñ§Ö§ä.
To Voloshin¡¯s question if they can talk in some other place, Marina Tsvetaev replied that they could go downstairs where the temperature was never above sem¡¯ gradusov (seven degrees). Sem¡¯ gradusov bring to mind Gradus (Shade¡¯s murderer).
Roman number L corresponds to Arabic 50. On the other hand, L is the initial of Lermontov (the author of the prophetical Prediction, 1830, and of The Demon, 1829-40) and Lenin.
Lermontov + Arbenin + gradus = Leningrad + rab/bar + noster/Nestor + ovum
Arbenin - the main character in Lermontov¡¯s drama in verse Maskarad (¡°The Masquerade,¡± 1835)
gradus - degree
Leningrad - St. Petersburg¡¯s name in 1924-1991 (Kinbote mockingly calls Gradus ¡°Leningradus¡±)
rab - slave
noster - Lat., our; cf. Pater noster (a prayer)
Nestor - Nestor the Chronicler (c. 1056 - c. 1114), one of the authors of Povest¡¯ vremennykh let (the earliest Slavic chronicle)
ovum - Lat., egg; cf. ab ovo (from the very beginning)
In his article on Fet Botkin compares Fet¡¯s talent to those of Pushkin and Lermontov:
§³§à §Ó§â§Ö§Þ§Ö§ß§Ú §±§å§ê§Ü§Ú§ß§Ñ §Ú §§Ö§â§Þ§à§ß§ä§à§Ó§Ñ §Þ§í §ß§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§Ö§Þ §Þ§Ö§Ø§Õ§å §â§å§ã§ã§Ü§Ú§Þ§Ú §ã§ä§Ú§ç§à§ä§Ó§à§â§è§Ñ§Þ§Ú §ä§Ñ§Ý§Ñ§ß§ä§Ñ §Ò§à§Ý§Ö§Ö §á§à§ï§ä§Ú§é§Ö§ã§Ü§à§Ô§à, §Ü§Ñ§Ü §ä§Ñ§Ý§Ñ§ß§ä §Ô. §¶§Ö§ä§Ñ. §³§Ü§Ñ§Ø§Ö§Þ §Ò§à§Ý§Ö§Ö, §á§à §Ý§Ú§â§Ú§Ù§Þ§å §é§å§Ó§ã§ä§Ó§Ñ §Ö§Ô§à §Þ§à§Ø§ß§à §á§à§ã§ä§Ñ§Ó§Ú§ä§î §ß§Ñ§â§ñ§Õ§å §ã §á§Ö§â§Ó§à§Ü§Ý§Ñ§ã§ã§ß§í§Þ§Ú §á§à§ï§ä§Ñ§Þ§Ú.
In the first (which is also the last) stanza of his ¡°Fantasy¡± Fet mentions styokla okon (the windowpanes):
§®§í §à§Õ§ß§Ú; §Ú§Ù §ã§Ñ§Õ§Ñ §Ó §ã§ä§×§Ü§Ý§Ñ §à§Ü§à§ß
§³§Ó§Ö§ä§Ú§ä §Þ§Ö§ã§ñ§è... §ä§å§ã§Ü§Ý§í §ß§Ñ§ê§Ú §ã§Ó§Ö§é§Ú;
§´§Ó§à§Û §Õ§å§ê§Ú§ã§ä§í§Û, §ä§Ó§à§Û §á§à§ã§Ý§å§ê§ß§í§Û §Ý§à§Ü§à§ß,
§²§Ñ§Ù§Ó§Ú§Ó§Ñ§ñ§ã§î, §á§Ñ§Õ§Ñ§Ö§ä §ß§Ñ §á§Ý§Ö§é§Ú.
Shade¡¯s poem begins:
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane¡ (1-2)
It seems that, to be completed, Shade¡¯s unfinished poem needs two lines:
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By its own double in the windowpane. (1000-1001)
Dvoynik (¡°The Double,¡± 1846) is a short novel by Dostoevski. Shade¡¯s, Kinbote¡¯s and Gradus¡¯ ¡°real¡± name seems to be Botkin (an American scholar of Russian descent, Professor Vsevolod Botkin went mad after the suicide of his daughter Nadezhda). V. P. Botkin is the author of Pis¡¯ma ob Ispanii (¡°Letters about Spain,¡± 1851). In Gogol¡¯s story Zapiski sumasshedshego (¡°A Madman¡¯s Notes,¡± 1835) Poprishchin imagines that he is the king of Spain Ferdinand VIII. Kinbote believes that he is the last self-exiled king of Zembla, Charles the Beloved. In his fragment Rim (¡°Rome,¡± 1842) Gogol mentions Italian ¡°tailed sonnets¡± (con la coda) and explains what a coda is. The last line of Shade¡¯s poem, ¡°By its own double in the windowpane,¡± and Kinbote¡¯s Foreword, Commentary and Index are the coda of Shade¡¯s Pale Fire.
Kinbote completes his work on Shade¡¯s poem and commits suicide on Oct. 19, 1959. In his poem ¡°To A. A. Fet, 19 October 1884¡± V. Solovyov (whose name comes from solovey, ¡°nightingale¡±) compares Fet to a swan and calls Pushkin oryol poezii rodimoy (the eagle of native poetry).
In his poem Memorabilia (1855) alluded to in Ada (1.23) Browning mentions Shelley and an eagle-feather:
Ah, did you once see Shelley plain,
And did he stop and speak to you?
And did you speak to him again?
How strange it seems, and new!
But you were living before that,
And you are living after,
And the memory I started at¡ª
My starting moves your laughter!
I crossed a moor, with a name of its own
And a certain use in the world no doubt,
Yet a hand's-breadth of it shines alone
'Mid the blank miles round about:
For there I picked up on the heather
And there I put inside my breast
A moulted feather, an eagle-feather¡ª
Well, I forget the rest.
In Robert Brown¡¯s poem Peter and Margaret that Van makes Lucette to learn by heart the visitor tells to the guide that he is the ghost:
¡®Here, said the guide, was the field,
There, he said, was the wood.
This is where Peter kneeled,
That¡¯s where the Princess stood.
No, the visitor said,
You are the ghost, old guide.
Oats and oaks may be dead,
But she is by my side.¡¯ (1.23)
In the ¡°entomological¡± chapter (6.3) of his autobiography Speak, Memory (1967) VN quotes Fet¡¯s poem Babochka (¡°The Butterfly,¡± 1884) and Browning¡¯s By the Fire-Side. In Browning¡¯s poem hazel-trees and ¡°green degrees¡± are mentioned:
The outside-frame, like your hazel-trees:
But the inside-archway widens fast,
And a rarer sort succeeds to these,
And we slope to Italy at last
And youth, by green degrees. (V)
Shade wrote his poem "The Nature of Electricity" after the suicide of his daughter Hazel (whose ¡°real¡± name seems to be Nadezhda Botkin).
The current issue of The Beau & the Butterfly is also mentioned in Ada:
Next day, in their little drawing room, with its black divan, yellow cushions, and draftproof bay whose new window seemed to magnify the slow steady straight-falling snowflakes (coincidentally stylized on the cover of the current issue of The Beau & the Butterfly which lay on the window ledge), Ada discussed her ¡®dramatic career.¡¯ (2.9)
In their old age Van and Ada translate Shade¡¯s poem into Russian:
They had spent most of the morning reworking their translation of a passage (lines 569-572) in John Shade's famous poem:
...Sovety my dayom
Kak byt' vdovtsu: on poteryal dvuh zhyon;
On ih vstrechaet - lyubyashchih, lyubimyh,
Revnuyushchih ego drug k druzhke...
(...We give advice
To widower. He has been married twice:
He meets his wives, both loved, both loving, both
Jealous of one another...) (5.6)
In VN¡¯s novel Look at the Harlequins! (1974) Vadim Vadimovich mentions The Beau and the Butterfly, ¡°the kindest magazine in the world:¡±
Although I was adequately remunerated for my two weekly lectures on European Masterpieces and one Thursday seminar on Joyce's Ulysses (from a yearly 5000 dollars in the beginning to 15,000 in the Fifties) and had furthermore several splendidly paid stories accepted by The Beau and the Butterfly, the kindest magazine in the world, I was not really comfortable until my Kingdom by the Sea (1962) atoned for a fraction of the loss of my Russian fortune (1917) and bundled away all financial worries till the end of worrisome time. (3.1)
Vadim¡¯s novel The Dare (1950) brought out by the Turgenev Publishing House (New York) includes a biography of Dostoevski:
Inset in the middle part is a complete version of the book my Victor wrote "on a dare:" this is a concise biography and critical appraisal of Fyodor Dostoyevski, whose politics my author finds hateful and whose novels he condemns as absurd with their black-bearded killers presented as mere negatives of Jesus Christ's conventional image, and weepy whores borrowed from maudlin romances of an earlier age. (2.5)
Vadim¡¯s first wife, Iris Black, was assassinated by a madman (1.13). The name of the killer¡¯s wife (a friend of Iris) is Nadezhda Gordonovna Starov.
At the end of Part Two of LATH Vadim mentions a coda:
The neuralgia in my right forearm was a gray adumbration compared to the solid black headache that no pill could pierce. Annette rang up James Lodge, and he, out of the misdirected kindness of his heart, had an old little physician of Russian extraction examine me. The poor fellow drove me even crazier than I was by not only insisting on discussing my symptoms in an execrable version of the language I was trying to shed, but on translating into it various irrelevant terms used by the Viennese Quack and his apostles (simbolizirovanie, mortidnik). Yet his visit, I must confess, strikes me in retrospect as a most artistic coda. (2.10)
In Part Five of LATH Vadim describes his visit to Leningrad. He is accompanied in his trip by Oleg Orlov (a Soviet spy whose surname comes from oryol, eagle). As he speaks to Vadim, Oleg mentions Fyodor Mikhaylovich:
"Ekh!" he exclaimed, "Ekh, Vadim Vadimovich dorogoy (dear), aren't you ashamed of deceiving our great warm-hearted country, our benevolent, credulous government, our overworked Intourist staff, in this nasty infantile manner! A Russian writer! Snooping! Incognito! By the way, I am Oleg Igorevich Orlov, we met in Paris when we were young."
"What do you want, merzavetz (you scoundrel)?" I coldly inquired as he plopped into the chair on my left.
He raised both hands in the "see-I'm-unarmed" gesture: "Nothing, nothing. Except to ruffle (potormoshit') your conscience. Two courses presented themselves. We had to choose. Fyodor Mihaylovich [?] himself had to choose. Either to welcome you po amerikanski (the American way) with reporters, interviews, photographers, girls, garlands, and, naturally, Fyodor Mihaylovich himself [President of the Union of Writers? Head of the `Big House'?]; or else to ignore you--and that's what we did. By the way: forged passports may be fun in detective stories, but our people are just not interested in passports. Aren't you sorry now?" (5.3)
Fyodor Mikhaylovich is, of course, Dostoevski's name-and-patronymic.
*Merezhkovski¡¯s, Filosofov¡¯s and Hippius¡¯ birthdates
Alexey Sklyarenko