When in early September Van Veen left
Manhattan for Lute, he was pregnant. (Ada, Part One,
43)
Vivian Darkbloom: the last paragraph of
Part One imitates, in significant brevity of intonation (as if spoken by an
outside voice), a famous Tolstoyan ending, with Van in the role of Kitty
Lyovin.
L. N. Tolstoy, "Anna Karenin" (Part Five, XX, "Death"): The doctor confirmed his suppositions in regard to Kitty. Her
indisposition was a symptom that she was with child.
But there is more to it. In a letter of April 4, 1866, to M.
S. Bashilov Tolstoy confirms his earlier hypothesis that he was
pregnant (with "War and Peace"): "Вы, как видно из
присланного вами, в хорошем духе работать. И я тоже не ошибся, говоря вам, что я
чувствую себя очень беременным." (I didn't err either when I told you
that I felt very pregnant.)
Alexey Sklyarenko