Фиальта + камень + Вера = фиалка + мать/тьма + варенье

Фиальта + яма + волк + небо + обида + Ленинград + ветер + весна = Ялта + фильма + Набоков + лебеда + виноград + интерес + Нева/вена

Фиальта - Fialta

камень - stone

Вера - Vera (the name of VN’s wife); вера - faith

фиалка - violet

мать - mother

тьма - darkness

варенье - jam

яма - pit

волк - wolf

небо - sky

обида - offense; Obida (A Bad Day), a story by VN

Ленинград - Leningrad (St. Petersburg’s name in 1924-91)

ветер - wind

весна - spring

Ялта - Yalta

фильма - obs., film, movie

Набоков - Nabokov

лебеда - orache (a story by VN)

виноград - vine; grapes

интерес - interest

Нева - the Neva

вена - vein; Вена - Vienna

VN’s story Obida (“A Bad Day,” 1931) was dedicated to I. A. Bunin, the writer whose ancestor was the father of the poet Vasiliy Zhukovski. In Vesna v Fialte (the Russian original of VN’s story “Spring in Fialta”) the name of the protagonist/narrator is Vasiliy. Vasiliy Zhukovski was in love with Maria Protasov, his half-sister’s daughter who married Dr Moyer and died in childbirth. At the end of Marina Tsvetaev’s poem Evridika – Orfeyu (“Eurydice to Orpheus,” 1923) Eurydice says:

Не надо Орфею сходить к Эвридике

И братьям тревожить сестёр.

Orpheus shouldn’t go down to Eurydice,

Brothers shouldn’t disturb their sisters.

In VN’s story Nina (who dies in a car crash near Fialta; note that Segur’s car resembles zhuk, a beetle) is associated with Eurydice. One is tempted to assume that Nina (who was born in 1900 and is Vasiliy’s coeval) is the narrator’s half-sister.

Бунин + анаграмма = бумага + Нина + Марн

Бунин - Bunin

анаграмма - anagram

бумага - paper

Нина - Nina

Марн - Marne (a river in NE France)

Alexey Sklyarenko