Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016704, Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:50:49 +0400

Subject
Abraham Milton
Date
Body
Speaking of the name Abraham, I belatedly realized that its Arabic counterpart, Ibrahim, links Abraham Milton, the founder of Amerussia, to Pushkin's African ancestor, Ibrahim (Abram Petrovich*) Gannibal, and, on the other hand, to Ilf and Petrov's hero, Ostap Bender, or, rather, his father, "a Turkish subject" named Ibrahim (in "The Golden Calf" Bender is often respectfully addressed by other members of the Antelope Gnu crew "Ostap Ibragimovich"). I don't remember, if I mentioned (in connection with "gory Mary") that there was Maria in Bender's "full" name: Ostap Suleiman Ibrahim Berta Maria Bender bey.

*Ibrahim was the god-son of the tsar Peter I, hence the patronymic (see Pushkin's "The Negro of Peter the Great," 1827).

To JM: There is also a logogriph in Jules Verne's "Voyage to the Center of the World."

Alexey Sklyarenko

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