Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008340, Tue, 5 Aug 2003 12:17:00 -0700

Subject
Fw: Fw: response to Alexey Sklyareno's note on the name Durmanov
inADA
Date
Body
EDNOTE. Evgenii Belodubrovsky of St. Petersburg is a specialist on literary
Petersburg.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Евгений Белодубровский" <profpnin@mail.ru>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (43
lines) ------------------
>
>
> Chto zhe kasaetsija Durmanovih- to eta familija i bes
> Antona Pavlovitcha i dribo ona dovolno rasprostranena - i imenno
> v Peterburge
> TaK CHTO TUT BOUS^ CHTO nach unii drug p e r e b r a l
> Edinstvennoi sazepkoi tut moczhet sliczhit^ DURMANOV NIKOLAI
> NIKOLAEVITH - usvestnii sdes^ v te i v inie sovetskie godi
> pravoved u sakonnik, kotorii bil konechno uzvesten v krugu kolleg
> V.D. Nabokova
>
> VASH -Evgenii
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EDTRANS. As for the name "Durmanov," there is no reason to link it to
Chekhov's character. It is common in S-P. The only link is Nikolai
Nikolaevich Durmanov, a jurist well known in the circle of V.D. Nabokov's
colleagues.










>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 17:12:18 -0700
> Subject: Fw: response to Alexey Sklyareno's note on the name Durmanov
inADA
>
> > response to Alexey's Durmanov
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Carolyn Kunin
> > To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
> > Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 2:11 PM
> > Subject: response to Alexey's Durmanov
> >
> >
> > Dear Alexey,
> >
> > I hope you will not mind if I share some information with the List
regarding the Russian word
> > "durman" since you are yourself were the most generous source of that
information.
> >
> > Alexey & Brian Boyd are correct to note that "durman" means an
intoxicating, possibly habit-forming drug, as in the apropos quote from
Chekhov's Chaika ( which I also detected lurking in the odd spelling of
Tschaikovsky somewhere in Ada). But "durman" is also a particularly nasty
plant, "datura stramonium," which has been implicated as "zombie poson" in
Haiti, and I believe has implications in Ada (as the primary of "yady Ady"
[Ada's poisons]) as well.
> >
> > Carolyn
> >
> > p.s. Marina is not the only failed actress in Ada. Her daughter isn't
very
> > successful either. And come to think of it, Van turns out to be
something of
> > a mediocrity on the world stage as well.
> > ---------------------------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. I would add that the Russian root "dur'" also supplies the
common word for "Fool" (durak)--certainly an apt characterization for
Marina.
> >
> >