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Re: more dogs
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Alexey Sklyarenko: From Chekhov's story Pripadok ("A Nervous Breakdown," 1888):But...it would be nice to touch this man's hair, to see whether it was soft or coarse. It must be coarse like a dog's.One wonders if this dog-faced flunkey isn't red-haired, like Red Vaska,* the bouncer in a brothel in a story by Chekhov's friend Gorky?
JM: I see that it's urgent that I read Ilf & Petrov's "The Golden Calf" to profit from Alexey Sklyarenko's associations. Chekhov is, of course, a dear literary friend but, in spirit, quite distinct from Nabokov (Van suffered from 'Dackelophobia' and I ignore how fond young Vladimir was of his parents's Box II - a descendant of Chekov's dachs?) .
Returning to Red Veen and dogs, through Boyd (cf. afternote ch.11 part I): "When Dan visits “the other Ardis,” hoping to catch a few sexual crumbs from Demon’s full table, he ends up bringing together the two parents and two children who emphasize how his own gullibility has been taken advantage of..."Why these quiet links between Dan’s 1878 visit to “the other Ardis,” Dan’s first visit to Ardis in 1884 while Van is there, and Demon’s visit to Ardis in 1888 while Van is there? The presence of Van and Ada with Demon or Dan raises the question of the children’s paternity, a question that troubles Dan, as doubts about whether she is Van’s mother fatally disturb Aqua"
Brian Boyd is so thorough and his arguments so tightly woven and illustrated that I often avoid reading them, for fear of exhausting my readings or loosing the thrill of a discovery (everything is there in Boyd!) This time, I had to sort out parents and children all over again:
Red Dan and Marina are 'officially' Ada's and Lucette's parents.Demon and Aqua are 'officially' Van's parents. Inbreeding may produce infertility (Van is sterile) but external features, such as gestures or hair coloring, may easily be shared. Why should these encounters serve to indicate to Dan that Ada is Demon's, not his own, child? There must be something wrong with his red hair (or Mary Trumbell's hypothetical adventures?)
Van's Memoirs bear, in its title, "a family chronicle" and they also start with a kind of official genealogical tree. How are its characters inter-related?
Lucette's,Van's and Ada's shared ancestors are: Prince Zemsky and Sofia Temnosinyi, who had two children, Peter and Olga Zemsky.
Peter had only one daughter, Dolly, who married Ivan Durmanov and had three children, Ivan, Marina and Aqua (Zemsky/Durmanov).
Olga had two boys with Erasmus Veen, Dedalus and Ardelion Veen *(Zemsky/Veen). Ardelion fathered Daniel Veen and Dedalus fathered Demon Veen.
Daniel is Demon's cousin (but Demon's child, Van Veen, calls him "Uncle Dan", probably because Dan married his "aunt" Marina) Lucette inherited the Veen blood through Erasmus/Ardelion Veen (but did she?) and the Zemsky/ Durmanov genes through Marina.
Was Ardelion betrayed by Mary Trumbell? In that case Dan would not carry either Durmanov nor any Veen blood. Then, Lucette would have inherited only the Zemsky/Durmanov's share through her mother.
However Dan is often related to a Dutch inheritance and to Bosch/Erasmus (Veen).
Back to the initial puzzzle. Why is Van's blood dangerous to his half-sister, the red-haired Lucette?* Unless she was fathered by another red-haired guy and Mary Trumbell, a faithful wife...Are there any hints dropped by Van who was very sure of cousinage matters and genealogy?
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
* "Van was still being suckled by a very young wet nurse, almost a child, Ruby Black, born Black, who was to go mad too: for no sooner did all the fond, all the frail, come into close contact with him (as later Lucette did, to give another example) than they were bound to know anguish and calamity, unless strengthened by a strain of his father’s demon blood."
btw: Ruby Black reminds one of red and dark...
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JM: I see that it's urgent that I read Ilf & Petrov's "The Golden Calf" to profit from Alexey Sklyarenko's associations. Chekhov is, of course, a dear literary friend but, in spirit, quite distinct from Nabokov (Van suffered from 'Dackelophobia' and I ignore how fond young Vladimir was of his parents's Box II - a descendant of Chekov's dachs?) .
Returning to Red Veen and dogs, through Boyd (cf. afternote ch.11 part I): "When Dan visits “the other Ardis,” hoping to catch a few sexual crumbs from Demon’s full table, he ends up bringing together the two parents and two children who emphasize how his own gullibility has been taken advantage of..."Why these quiet links between Dan’s 1878 visit to “the other Ardis,” Dan’s first visit to Ardis in 1884 while Van is there, and Demon’s visit to Ardis in 1888 while Van is there? The presence of Van and Ada with Demon or Dan raises the question of the children’s paternity, a question that troubles Dan, as doubts about whether she is Van’s mother fatally disturb Aqua"
Brian Boyd is so thorough and his arguments so tightly woven and illustrated that I often avoid reading them, for fear of exhausting my readings or loosing the thrill of a discovery (everything is there in Boyd!) This time, I had to sort out parents and children all over again:
Red Dan and Marina are 'officially' Ada's and Lucette's parents.Demon and Aqua are 'officially' Van's parents. Inbreeding may produce infertility (Van is sterile) but external features, such as gestures or hair coloring, may easily be shared. Why should these encounters serve to indicate to Dan that Ada is Demon's, not his own, child? There must be something wrong with his red hair (or Mary Trumbell's hypothetical adventures?)
Van's Memoirs bear, in its title, "a family chronicle" and they also start with a kind of official genealogical tree. How are its characters inter-related?
Lucette's,Van's and Ada's shared ancestors are: Prince Zemsky and Sofia Temnosinyi, who had two children, Peter and Olga Zemsky.
Peter had only one daughter, Dolly, who married Ivan Durmanov and had three children, Ivan, Marina and Aqua (Zemsky/Durmanov).
Olga had two boys with Erasmus Veen, Dedalus and Ardelion Veen *(Zemsky/Veen). Ardelion fathered Daniel Veen and Dedalus fathered Demon Veen.
Daniel is Demon's cousin (but Demon's child, Van Veen, calls him "Uncle Dan", probably because Dan married his "aunt" Marina) Lucette inherited the Veen blood through Erasmus/Ardelion Veen (but did she?) and the Zemsky/ Durmanov genes through Marina.
Was Ardelion betrayed by Mary Trumbell? In that case Dan would not carry either Durmanov nor any Veen blood. Then, Lucette would have inherited only the Zemsky/Durmanov's share through her mother.
However Dan is often related to a Dutch inheritance and to Bosch/Erasmus (Veen).
Back to the initial puzzzle. Why is Van's blood dangerous to his half-sister, the red-haired Lucette?* Unless she was fathered by another red-haired guy and Mary Trumbell, a faithful wife...Are there any hints dropped by Van who was very sure of cousinage matters and genealogy?
........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
* "Van was still being suckled by a very young wet nurse, almost a child, Ruby Black, born Black, who was to go mad too: for no sooner did all the fond, all the frail, come into close contact with him (as later Lucette did, to give another example) than they were bound to know anguish and calamity, unless strengthened by a strain of his father’s demon blood."
btw: Ruby Black reminds one of red and dark...
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/