In VN¡¯s novel Pale Fire (1962) the last (unwritten) line of Shade¡¯s (unfinished) poem seems to be:
By its own double in the windowpane.
Dvoynik (¡°The Double¡±) is a novel (1846) by Dostoevski and a poem (1914) by Blok. In his poem O net, ne raskolduesh¡¯ serdtsa ty¡ (¡°Oh no ! You cannot disenchant my heart...¡± 1912) Blok mentions his shade that will appear on the ninth and on the fortieth day after his death:
§ª §ä§Ö§ß§î §Þ§à§ñ §á§â§à§Û§Õ§×§ä §á§Ö§â§Ö§Õ §ä§à§Ò§à§ð
§£ §Õ§Ö§Ó§ñ§ä§í§Û §Õ§Ö§ß§î, §Ú §Ó §Õ§Ö§ß§î §ã§à§â§à§Ü§à§Ó§à§Û -
§¯§Ö§å§Ù§ß§Ñ§ß§ß§à§Û, §Ü§â§Ñ§ã§Ú§Ó§à§Û, §ß§Ö§Ø§Ú§Ó§à§ð.
§´§Ñ§Ü§à§Û §Ó§Ö§Õ§î §ä§í §Ú§ã§Ü§Ñ§Ý§Ñ? - §¥§Ñ, §ä§Ñ§Ü§à§Û.
And suddenly you¡¯ll see my shade appear
Before you on the ninth and fortieth day:
Unrecognized, handsome and drear,
The kind of shade you looked for, by the way!
By the way, in the Russian Lolita (1967) the name of Clare Quilty¡¯s co-author who wrote her memoirs about him, Kumir moy (¡°My Idol¡±),* is Vivian d¡¯Amor-Blok (d¡¯Amor was her stage name, Blok was the name of one of her first husbands). Rhymed translations are awful, by the way.
The last line of Shade¡¯s poem (Line 1001) is its coda. According to G. Ivanov, when he asked Blok if a sonnet needed a coda, Blok replied that he did not know what a coda was. In his poem Kak v Gretsiyu Bayron, o, bez sozhalen¡¯ya¡ (¡°Like Byron to Greece, oh, without regret¡¡± 1927) G. Ivanov mentions blednyi ogon¡¯ (pale fire). The title of a section in G. Ivanov¡¯s book Stikhi (¡°Verses,¡± 1948-58), Rayon de rayonne (¡°A Ray of Artificial Silk¡±), brings to mind John Ray, Jr., the author of the Foreword who tells us about Humbert Humbert¡¯s and Lolita¡¯s deaths. Incidentally, ray is Russian for ¡°paradise.¡±
At the end of his poem [Poet idyot]: otkryty vezhdy (¡°The poet goes: his eyes are wide open¡±) quite arbitrarily inserted by the editors in the gap of his unfinished novella Egipetskie nochi (¡°The Egyptian Nights,¡± 1835) Pushkin compares the poet to Desdemona who herself, without asking anybody, chooses kumir (the idol) for her heart:
§´§Ñ§Ü§à§Ó §á§à§ï§ä: §Ü§Ñ§Ü §¡§Ü§Ó§Ú§Ý§à§ß
§¹§ä§à §ç§à§é§Ö§ä, §ä§à §Ú §ß§à§ã§Ú§ä §à§ß ¡ª
§°§â§Ý§å §á§à§Õ§à§Ò§ß§à, §à§ß §Ý§Ö§ä§Ñ§Ö§ä
§ª, §ß§Ö §ã§á§â§à§ã§ñ§ã§î §ß§Ú §å §Ü§à§Ô§à,
§¬§Ñ§Ü §¥§Ö§Ù§Õ§Ö§Þ§à§ß§Ñ §Ú§Ù§Ò§Ú§â§Ñ§Ö§ä
§¬§å§Þ§Ú§â §Õ§Ý§ñ §ã§Ö§â§Õ§è§Ñ §ã§Ó§à§Ö§Ô§à.
The name of the woman who marries Charles the Beloved (the last King of Zembla), Disa, Duchess of Payn, of Great Payn and Mone, seems to blend Shakespeare¡¯s Desdemona with Leonardo¡¯s Mona Lisa. The Leonardo is the English title of VN¡¯s story Korolyok (1933). Korolyok is a diminutive of korol¡¯ (¡°king¡±). VN¡¯s novel Korol¡¯, dama, valet (¡°King, Queen, Knave,¡± 1928) was criticized by G. Ivanov in an offensive article that appeared in the Paris ¨¦migr¨¦ review Chisla (Numbers, #1, 1930).
* My Cue by Vivian Darkbloom in the English version
Alexey Sklyarenko