Subject
Mme Vagabundov & Eleonora Shnap in The Event; Son in The Waltz
Invention
Invention
From
Date
Body
The characters of The Event include Mme Vagabundov, an old lady whose portrait Troshcheykin hastens to finish, and Eleonora Shnap, Lyubov's former mid-wife who appears at Antonina Pavlovna's birthday patry. The name and patronymic of Lyubov's mother hints at Chekhov. In his letters to his wife Chekhov several times mentions Shnap, Olga Knipper's dog who held his head nabok (on one side) after he had been run over by a carriage.
Ein Kind, ein Hund, ein Vagabund ("A Child, a Dog, a Tramp," 1934), also known as Vielleicht war's nur ein Traum ("Perhaps it was only a Dream"), is an Arthur Maria Rabenalt film that VN could have watched in Berlin. The characters of The Waltz Invention include the reporter Son (in the English version, Trance) whose name means "dream; sleep." In Berlin VN could also have seen Ein Walzer um den Stephansturm ("A Waltz around the St. Stephen's Tower, 1935), a movie in which Olga Chekhov (Olga Knipper's niece who married Mikhail Chekhov, an actor of genius and stage director, the writer's nephew) played Silvia von Polonski.
On the eve Lyubov's lover Ryovshin met Barbashin on his way home from the cinema where he watched Camera Obscura, the best film of the season:
Рёвшин. Одним словом... Вчера около полуночи, так, вероятно, в три четверти одиннадцатого... фу, вру... двенадцатого, я шёл к себе из кинематографа на вашей площади и, значит, вот тут, в нескольких шагах от вашего дома, по той стороне, -- знаете, где киоск, -- при свете фонаря, вижу -- и не верю глазам -- стоит с папироской Барбашин.
Трощейкин. У нас на углу! Очаровательно. Ведь мы, Люба, вчера чуть-чуть не пошли тоже: ах, чудная фильма, ах, "Камера обскура" -- лучшая фильма сезона!.. Вот бы и ахнуло нас по случаю сезона. Дальше! (Act One)
According to Eleonora Shnap, she always was znakoma zapanibrata (on intimate terms) with Monsieur Barbashin, and of course he will do something terrible:
Элеонора Шнап. Я с мосье Барбашиным всегда была немножко знакома запанибрата, и, конечно, он сделает что-либо ужасное. (Act Two)
Barbashin and Barboshin (the private detective hired by Troshcheykin to protect himself from Barbashin) seem to be two incarnations of the devil. In his poem Svyatochnaya shutka (A Christmas-Tide Joke, 1830) Vyazemski says that he used to live zapanibrata (in close intimacy) with the devil. In his poem Vyazemski asks a society woman if she saw the devil, if the devil was German or Russian, if he spoke nonsense in verse or in prose (as some of our literary magazines do):
Что, говорил ли он стихами
Иль чертовщину прозой драл,
Не хуже, как и между нами,
Дерёт её иной журнал?
At Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party Mme Vagabundov speaks in verse (the fact that puzzled Hodasevich, one of the first reviewers of VN's play).
Troshcheykin tells his wife that he must be dreaming of that room, that wild night, that furiya (fury):
Трощейкин. Это, вероятно, мне всё снится: эта комната, эта дикая ночь, эта фурия. Иначе я отказываюсь понимать. (Act Three)
In his poem K vel'mozhe ("To a Grandee," 1830) Pushkin mentions soyuz uma i furiy (the union of intellect and Furies) and Voltaire who did not find rest even in his grobovoe zhilishche (grave) and still wandres from cemetry to cemetry:
Всё изменилося. Ты видел вихорь бури,
Падение всего, союз ума и фурий,
Свободой грозною воздвигнутый закон,
Под гильотиною Версаль и Трианон
И мрачным ужасом смененные забавы.
Преобразился мир при громах новой славы.
Давно Ферней умолк. Приятель твой Вольтер,
Превратности судеб разительный пример,
Не успокоившись и в гробовом жилище,
Доныне странствует с кладбища на кладбище.
Soyuz uma i furiy brings to mind Griboedov's comedy in verse Gore ot uma (Woe from Wit, 1824). After Waltz blows up the mountain, Grib (the door-keeper at the ministry) exclaims: "Gore, gore (A woe, a woe)!"
Швейцар министерства Гриб. Горе, горе... Пришли времена бед великих и потрясений многих... Горе! (The Waltz Invention, Act One)
As I pointed out before, Griboedov is the author of two waltzes.
In his poem Unvollkommenheit ("Imperfection") Heinrich Heine mentions Voltaire's Henriade:
Ha?liche Fu?e hat der stolze Pfau.
Uns kann die amusant geistreichste Frau
Manchmal langweilen wie die Henriade
Voltaire’s, sogar wie Klopstock’s Messiade.
The characters of VN's novel Dar ("The Gift," 1937) included the Chernyshevski couple whose son committed suicide. The day before Yasha Chernyshevski's death his parents went to see Eine alte Geshichte ("An Old Story"):
Eine alte Geschichte: название фильма, который мы с Сашей смотрели накануне его смерти.
Eine alte Geschichte: the name of a film Sandra and I went to see the day before his death. (Chapter Three)
The film's title was borrowed from Heine's poem Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen ("A boy loves a girl," 1827) included in Buch der Lieder ("The Book of Songs"):
Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen,
Die hat einen Andern erwahlt;
Der Andre liebt eine Andre ,
Und hat sich mit dieser vermahlt.
Das Madchen heiratet aus Arger
Den ersten besten Mann,
Der ihr in den Weg gelaufen;
Der Jungling ist ubel dran.
Es ist eine alte Geschichte,
Doch bleibt sie immer neu;
Und wem sie just passieret,
Dem bricht das Herz entzwei.
...This is an old story,
but it remains always new;
and to whom it happens,
his heart breaks in two.
As he speaks over the 'phone to general Berg (Anabella's father who gave Waltz his recommendation), the Minister of War uses the phrase staraya istoriya (an old story):
Входит полковник и передает министру в машинальную руку письмо.
Понёс такую дичь, что пришлось его выпроводить чуть ли не силой. Какое там открытие! Старая история о фантастической машине, которая будто бы производит взрывы на расстоянии. (Act One)
"A discovery? Not a bit! An old story about the fantastic machine that produces distant explosions."
According to Waltz, his machine ("Telemort") is in his breast.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
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The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
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Ein Kind, ein Hund, ein Vagabund ("A Child, a Dog, a Tramp," 1934), also known as Vielleicht war's nur ein Traum ("Perhaps it was only a Dream"), is an Arthur Maria Rabenalt film that VN could have watched in Berlin. The characters of The Waltz Invention include the reporter Son (in the English version, Trance) whose name means "dream; sleep." In Berlin VN could also have seen Ein Walzer um den Stephansturm ("A Waltz around the St. Stephen's Tower, 1935), a movie in which Olga Chekhov (Olga Knipper's niece who married Mikhail Chekhov, an actor of genius and stage director, the writer's nephew) played Silvia von Polonski.
On the eve Lyubov's lover Ryovshin met Barbashin on his way home from the cinema where he watched Camera Obscura, the best film of the season:
Рёвшин. Одним словом... Вчера около полуночи, так, вероятно, в три четверти одиннадцатого... фу, вру... двенадцатого, я шёл к себе из кинематографа на вашей площади и, значит, вот тут, в нескольких шагах от вашего дома, по той стороне, -- знаете, где киоск, -- при свете фонаря, вижу -- и не верю глазам -- стоит с папироской Барбашин.
Трощейкин. У нас на углу! Очаровательно. Ведь мы, Люба, вчера чуть-чуть не пошли тоже: ах, чудная фильма, ах, "Камера обскура" -- лучшая фильма сезона!.. Вот бы и ахнуло нас по случаю сезона. Дальше! (Act One)
According to Eleonora Shnap, she always was znakoma zapanibrata (on intimate terms) with Monsieur Barbashin, and of course he will do something terrible:
Элеонора Шнап. Я с мосье Барбашиным всегда была немножко знакома запанибрата, и, конечно, он сделает что-либо ужасное. (Act Two)
Barbashin and Barboshin (the private detective hired by Troshcheykin to protect himself from Barbashin) seem to be two incarnations of the devil. In his poem Svyatochnaya shutka (A Christmas-Tide Joke, 1830) Vyazemski says that he used to live zapanibrata (in close intimacy) with the devil. In his poem Vyazemski asks a society woman if she saw the devil, if the devil was German or Russian, if he spoke nonsense in verse or in prose (as some of our literary magazines do):
Что, говорил ли он стихами
Иль чертовщину прозой драл,
Не хуже, как и между нами,
Дерёт её иной журнал?
At Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party Mme Vagabundov speaks in verse (the fact that puzzled Hodasevich, one of the first reviewers of VN's play).
Troshcheykin tells his wife that he must be dreaming of that room, that wild night, that furiya (fury):
Трощейкин. Это, вероятно, мне всё снится: эта комната, эта дикая ночь, эта фурия. Иначе я отказываюсь понимать. (Act Three)
In his poem K vel'mozhe ("To a Grandee," 1830) Pushkin mentions soyuz uma i furiy (the union of intellect and Furies) and Voltaire who did not find rest even in his grobovoe zhilishche (grave) and still wandres from cemetry to cemetry:
Всё изменилося. Ты видел вихорь бури,
Падение всего, союз ума и фурий,
Свободой грозною воздвигнутый закон,
Под гильотиною Версаль и Трианон
И мрачным ужасом смененные забавы.
Преобразился мир при громах новой славы.
Давно Ферней умолк. Приятель твой Вольтер,
Превратности судеб разительный пример,
Не успокоившись и в гробовом жилище,
Доныне странствует с кладбища на кладбище.
Soyuz uma i furiy brings to mind Griboedov's comedy in verse Gore ot uma (Woe from Wit, 1824). After Waltz blows up the mountain, Grib (the door-keeper at the ministry) exclaims: "Gore, gore (A woe, a woe)!"
Швейцар министерства Гриб. Горе, горе... Пришли времена бед великих и потрясений многих... Горе! (The Waltz Invention, Act One)
As I pointed out before, Griboedov is the author of two waltzes.
In his poem Unvollkommenheit ("Imperfection") Heinrich Heine mentions Voltaire's Henriade:
Ha?liche Fu?e hat der stolze Pfau.
Uns kann die amusant geistreichste Frau
Manchmal langweilen wie die Henriade
Voltaire’s, sogar wie Klopstock’s Messiade.
The characters of VN's novel Dar ("The Gift," 1937) included the Chernyshevski couple whose son committed suicide. The day before Yasha Chernyshevski's death his parents went to see Eine alte Geshichte ("An Old Story"):
Eine alte Geschichte: название фильма, который мы с Сашей смотрели накануне его смерти.
Eine alte Geschichte: the name of a film Sandra and I went to see the day before his death. (Chapter Three)
The film's title was borrowed from Heine's poem Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen ("A boy loves a girl," 1827) included in Buch der Lieder ("The Book of Songs"):
Ein Jungling liebt ein Madchen,
Die hat einen Andern erwahlt;
Der Andre liebt eine Andre ,
Und hat sich mit dieser vermahlt.
Das Madchen heiratet aus Arger
Den ersten besten Mann,
Der ihr in den Weg gelaufen;
Der Jungling ist ubel dran.
Es ist eine alte Geschichte,
Doch bleibt sie immer neu;
Und wem sie just passieret,
Dem bricht das Herz entzwei.
...This is an old story,
but it remains always new;
and to whom it happens,
his heart breaks in two.
As he speaks over the 'phone to general Berg (Anabella's father who gave Waltz his recommendation), the Minister of War uses the phrase staraya istoriya (an old story):
Входит полковник и передает министру в машинальную руку письмо.
Понёс такую дичь, что пришлось его выпроводить чуть ли не силой. Какое там открытие! Старая история о фантастической машине, которая будто бы производит взрывы на расстоянии. (Act One)
"A discovery? Not a bit! An old story about the fantastic machine that produces distant explosions."
According to Waltz, his machine ("Telemort") is in his breast.
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L
Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L