Subject
konskie deti in Ada
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With glowing cheekbones and that glint of copper showing from under her tight rubber cap on nape and forehead, she [Lucette] evoked the Helmeted Angel of the Yukonsk Ikon whose magic effect was said to change anemic blond maidens into konskie deti, freckled red-haired lads, children of the Sun Horse. (3.5)
As I pointed out before, the Sun Horse hints at Hors, the Slavic sun god mentioned in "The Song of Igor's Campaign." The Slavic Hors brings to mind Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of light and poetry, but also Pegasus, the winged horse of inspirarion.
Apollo and nichtozhnye deti mira (the world's humble children) are mentioned by Pushkin in Poet, a celebrated poem (1827) dealing with inspiration:
Пока не требует поэта
К священной жертве Аполлон,
В заботах суетного света
Он малодушно погружён;
Молчит его святая лира;
Душа вкушает хладный сон,
И меж детей ничтожных мира,
Быть может, всех ничтожней он.
Но лишь божественный глагол
До слуха чуткого коснётся,
Душа поэта встрепенётся,
Как пробудившийся орёл.
Тоскует он в забавах мира,
Людской чуждается молвы,
К ногам народного кумира
Не клонит гордой головы;
Бежит он, дикий и суровый,
И звуков и смятенья полн,
На берега пустынных волн,
В широкошумные дубровы...
While the poet is not required
For holy sacrifice unto Apollo,
Within the bustling worldly cares
He is faint-heartedly immersed;
Silent is his sacred lyre;
His soul lies deep in wintry sleep,
And of the humble children of this world,
He is, perhaps, most humble.
But as soon as Word divine
To his sentient hearing touches,
The poet's soul arouses
Like an eagle awakening.
He pines amid the world's amusements,
Rumors from the crowd he shuns,
To the feet of peoples' idols'
He bows not his proud head;
But runs he, wild and austere,
With sounds and with confusions full
To the shores of lonely seas,
To wide-murmuring forests.
(transl. Nick & Dimitri Derkatch)
In his apologetic note to Lucette Van uses "apollo" instead of "apologize":
That sort of game will never be played again with you, darling firebird. We apollo [apologize]. (2.8)
Ada is not satisfied with Van's note:
'I call this pompous, puritanical rot,' said Ada upon scanning Van's letter. 'Why should we apollo for her having experienced a delicious spazmochka? I love her and would never allow you to harm her. It's curious - you know, something in the tone of your note makes me really jealous for the first time in my fire [thus in the manuscript, for "life." Ed.] Van, Van, somewhere, some day, after a sunbath or dance, you will sleep with her, Van!' (ibid.)
When their letter is finished Van suggests that they go out for a breath f crisp air:
'Now let's go out for a breath of crisp air,' suggested Van. 'I'll order Pardus and Peg [sic] to be saddled.' (ibid)
One is reminded of Pushkin's poem Zimnee utro (A Winter Morning, 1829):
Мороз и солнце; день чудесный!
Еще ты дремлешь, друг прелестный –
Пора, красавица, проснись:
Открой сомкнуты негой взоры
Навстречу северной Авроры,
Звездою севера явись!
Вечор, ты помнишь, вьюга злилась,
На мутном небе мгла носилась;
Луна, как бледное пятно,
Сквозь тучи мрачные желтела,
И ты печальная сидела –
А нынче … погляди в окно:
Под голубыми небесами
Великолепными коврами,
Блестя на солнце, снег лежит;
Прозрачный лес один чернеет,
И ель сквозь иней зеленеет
И речка подо льдом блестит.
Вся комната янтарным блеском
Озарена. Веселым треском
Трещит затопленная печь.
Приятно думать у лежанки.
Но знаешь: не велеть ли в санки
Кобылку резвую запречь?
Скользя по утреннему снегу,
Друг милый, предадимся бегу
Нетерпеливого коня
И навестим поля пустые,
Леса, недавно столь густые,
И берег, милый для меня.
Hard frost and sunshine – a day of pleasure!
You are still drowsy at your leisure –
It’s time, my beauty, ope your eyes!
Let you get free of blissful dreaming,
To meet the North Aurora, deeming
The Star of North, let you arise!
Last eve the blizzard howled angry,
The ghostly sky struck all and sundry,
The vapid moon was scarcely seen
Among dark drear clouds drifting;
Your mood was cheerlessly shifting -
Look now – what a change has been!
Under a bright blue vault of heaven
Like a beautiful carpet, soft and even,
The snow glitters in sunlight;
Transparent woods are soly dark,
The firs through hoarfrost nicely sparkle
And under ice brooks' torrents slide.
With amber light the entire room
Is being lit up. What a boon
Is a merry crackle of the stove’s flame.
How swell to ponder near a fire!
But listen, wouldn’t we desire
To ride in our open sleigh?
While sliding over morning snow
Be drawn into a run in tow
Of an impatient mare, trotting hard?
And visit fields that now are empty,
And woods – a recent horn of plenty,
And the bank - dear to my heart.
(transl. V. Chistyakov)
Onboard Tobakoff, as they cross the Atlantic, Van compares Lucette to Aurora (the Roman goddess of the dawn mentioned by Pushkin in Zimnee utro):
'Come with me, hm?' she suggested, rising from the mat.
He shook his head, looking up at her: 'You rise,' he said, 'like Aurora.'
'His first compliment,' observed Lucette with a little cock of her head as if speaking to an invisible confidant. (3.5)
To Van's proposal of a ride Ada replies that she is afraid of being recognized:
'Last night two men recognized me,' she said. 'Two separate Californians, but they didn't dare bow - with that silk-tuxedoed bretteur of mine glaring around. One was Anskar,* the producer, and the other, with a cocotte, Paul Whinnier, one of your father's London pals. (2.8)
Like Demon's London pal (whinny means "to utter a characteristic cry of a horse; neigh") and Baron d'Onsky (Demon's rival and adversary in a duel whose nickname Skonky is an anagram of konsky, "of a horse", and whose name reminds one of Onegin's donskoy zherebets, "Don stallion"), Demon Veen (Van's and Ada's father) seems to be a horse. After all, according to Marina (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother), 'the Zemskis [Demon's and Marina's common ancestors] were terrible rakes (razvratniki), one of them loved small girls, and another raffolait d'une de ses juments and had her tied up in a special way - don't ask me how' (double hand gesture of horrified ignorance) - 'when he dated her in her stall.' (1.37) This suggests that Demon's children, Van and Ada are konskie deti. No evidence seems to exist that Marina is a bitch (except that Aqua, Marina and Daniel Veen - all mention sobach'i cherti, "hell curs" or "canine devils"), which would make her children sobach'i (or sukiny) deti.
*His name seems to hint at the scars that Demon's sword duel with d'Onsky and Van's pistol duel with Captain Tapper had left on their bodies.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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As I pointed out before, the Sun Horse hints at Hors, the Slavic sun god mentioned in "The Song of Igor's Campaign." The Slavic Hors brings to mind Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of light and poetry, but also Pegasus, the winged horse of inspirarion.
Apollo and nichtozhnye deti mira (the world's humble children) are mentioned by Pushkin in Poet, a celebrated poem (1827) dealing with inspiration:
Пока не требует поэта
К священной жертве Аполлон,
В заботах суетного света
Он малодушно погружён;
Молчит его святая лира;
Душа вкушает хладный сон,
И меж детей ничтожных мира,
Быть может, всех ничтожней он.
Но лишь божественный глагол
До слуха чуткого коснётся,
Душа поэта встрепенётся,
Как пробудившийся орёл.
Тоскует он в забавах мира,
Людской чуждается молвы,
К ногам народного кумира
Не клонит гордой головы;
Бежит он, дикий и суровый,
И звуков и смятенья полн,
На берега пустынных волн,
В широкошумные дубровы...
While the poet is not required
For holy sacrifice unto Apollo,
Within the bustling worldly cares
He is faint-heartedly immersed;
Silent is his sacred lyre;
His soul lies deep in wintry sleep,
And of the humble children of this world,
He is, perhaps, most humble.
But as soon as Word divine
To his sentient hearing touches,
The poet's soul arouses
Like an eagle awakening.
He pines amid the world's amusements,
Rumors from the crowd he shuns,
To the feet of peoples' idols'
He bows not his proud head;
But runs he, wild and austere,
With sounds and with confusions full
To the shores of lonely seas,
To wide-murmuring forests.
(transl. Nick & Dimitri Derkatch)
In his apologetic note to Lucette Van uses "apollo" instead of "apologize":
That sort of game will never be played again with you, darling firebird. We apollo [apologize]. (2.8)
Ada is not satisfied with Van's note:
'I call this pompous, puritanical rot,' said Ada upon scanning Van's letter. 'Why should we apollo for her having experienced a delicious spazmochka? I love her and would never allow you to harm her. It's curious - you know, something in the tone of your note makes me really jealous for the first time in my fire [thus in the manuscript, for "life." Ed.] Van, Van, somewhere, some day, after a sunbath or dance, you will sleep with her, Van!' (ibid.)
When their letter is finished Van suggests that they go out for a breath f crisp air:
'Now let's go out for a breath of crisp air,' suggested Van. 'I'll order Pardus and Peg [sic] to be saddled.' (ibid)
One is reminded of Pushkin's poem Zimnee utro (A Winter Morning, 1829):
Мороз и солнце; день чудесный!
Еще ты дремлешь, друг прелестный –
Пора, красавица, проснись:
Открой сомкнуты негой взоры
Навстречу северной Авроры,
Звездою севера явись!
Вечор, ты помнишь, вьюга злилась,
На мутном небе мгла носилась;
Луна, как бледное пятно,
Сквозь тучи мрачные желтела,
И ты печальная сидела –
А нынче … погляди в окно:
Под голубыми небесами
Великолепными коврами,
Блестя на солнце, снег лежит;
Прозрачный лес один чернеет,
И ель сквозь иней зеленеет
И речка подо льдом блестит.
Вся комната янтарным блеском
Озарена. Веселым треском
Трещит затопленная печь.
Приятно думать у лежанки.
Но знаешь: не велеть ли в санки
Кобылку резвую запречь?
Скользя по утреннему снегу,
Друг милый, предадимся бегу
Нетерпеливого коня
И навестим поля пустые,
Леса, недавно столь густые,
И берег, милый для меня.
Hard frost and sunshine – a day of pleasure!
You are still drowsy at your leisure –
It’s time, my beauty, ope your eyes!
Let you get free of blissful dreaming,
To meet the North Aurora, deeming
The Star of North, let you arise!
Last eve the blizzard howled angry,
The ghostly sky struck all and sundry,
The vapid moon was scarcely seen
Among dark drear clouds drifting;
Your mood was cheerlessly shifting -
Look now – what a change has been!
Under a bright blue vault of heaven
Like a beautiful carpet, soft and even,
The snow glitters in sunlight;
Transparent woods are soly dark,
The firs through hoarfrost nicely sparkle
And under ice brooks' torrents slide.
With amber light the entire room
Is being lit up. What a boon
Is a merry crackle of the stove’s flame.
How swell to ponder near a fire!
But listen, wouldn’t we desire
To ride in our open sleigh?
While sliding over morning snow
Be drawn into a run in tow
Of an impatient mare, trotting hard?
And visit fields that now are empty,
And woods – a recent horn of plenty,
And the bank - dear to my heart.
(transl. V. Chistyakov)
Onboard Tobakoff, as they cross the Atlantic, Van compares Lucette to Aurora (the Roman goddess of the dawn mentioned by Pushkin in Zimnee utro):
'Come with me, hm?' she suggested, rising from the mat.
He shook his head, looking up at her: 'You rise,' he said, 'like Aurora.'
'His first compliment,' observed Lucette with a little cock of her head as if speaking to an invisible confidant. (3.5)
To Van's proposal of a ride Ada replies that she is afraid of being recognized:
'Last night two men recognized me,' she said. 'Two separate Californians, but they didn't dare bow - with that silk-tuxedoed bretteur of mine glaring around. One was Anskar,* the producer, and the other, with a cocotte, Paul Whinnier, one of your father's London pals. (2.8)
Like Demon's London pal (whinny means "to utter a characteristic cry of a horse; neigh") and Baron d'Onsky (Demon's rival and adversary in a duel whose nickname Skonky is an anagram of konsky, "of a horse", and whose name reminds one of Onegin's donskoy zherebets, "Don stallion"), Demon Veen (Van's and Ada's father) seems to be a horse. After all, according to Marina (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother), 'the Zemskis [Demon's and Marina's common ancestors] were terrible rakes (razvratniki), one of them loved small girls, and another raffolait d'une de ses juments and had her tied up in a special way - don't ask me how' (double hand gesture of horrified ignorance) - 'when he dated her in her stall.' (1.37) This suggests that Demon's children, Van and Ada are konskie deti. No evidence seems to exist that Marina is a bitch (except that Aqua, Marina and Daniel Veen - all mention sobach'i cherti, "hell curs" or "canine devils"), which would make her children sobach'i (or sukiny) deti.
*His name seems to hint at the scars that Demon's sword duel with d'Onsky and Van's pistol duel with Captain Tapper had left on their bodies.
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
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/