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Re: Krolik and other animals
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Krol also means king on Polish. It is kral in Czech (I am an American currently living in Prague...). It is also my understanding that Krol comes from all those words like Caesar, Kaiser, Tsar, Karl, Charles, Carol, etc.
btw, I recently revisited the grave of VN's mother, which is here in Prague in a local cemetery.
And now for my particular interest in the word Krol??
Best to all from Prague,
David Krol
Director of Development
Lobkowicz Palace
Prague Castle.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alexey Sklyarenko <skylark05@MAIL.RU>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Wed, Aug 4, 2010 12:32 pm
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Krolik and other animals
A short addendum to my "leporine" article in Zembla:
Not everybody whose name is Krolik ("rabbit") belongs to the leporine family. In A. I. Ertel's novel "The Gardenins" ("Гарденины, их дворня, приверженцы и враги", 1889) Krolik is a racehorse (кровный рысак, thoroughbred trotter). Similarly, Dr Krolik's brother in Ada, Karol, or Karapars, Krolik, a doctor of philosophy, born in Turkey, isn't a rabbit, but rather a black panther (as his Turkish name Karapars suggests). It seems that he, not Van, was Ada's first lover who "deflowered" her when she wasn't yet twelve. Ada must be thinking of him when she complains, after their violent love-making, that Van hurt her "like a tiger Turk" (2.8).
Btw., Gardenin + L = Leningrad (St. Petersburg's name in 1924-91)
A few more examples of krolik (all of them from my "in-vino-veritas" article) in Russian literature: Чехов: «Удав и кролик», 1887; Ильф и Петров, о пассажирах парохода «Скрябин»: «Львы из тиражной комиссии спали. Спали ягнята из личного стола, козлы из бухгалтерии, кролики из отдела взаимных расчётов, гиены и шакалы звукового оформления и голубицы из машинного бюро»;[3] Мандельштам: «Чаплин, кролик, пробивайся в роль»; Горький: «Я тогда ещё не знал, что науке можно служить в роли кролика»;[4] Набоков: «чёрный салат, жевавший зелёного кролика»;[5] плодовитый человек; ср. Пушкин: «Какова бабёнка, и каков красноглазый кролик Смирнов?»;[6]
[3] «Двенадцать стульев», Глава XXXII: «Нечистая пара».
[4] «Мои университеты».
[5] «Волшебник».
[6] См. письмо Н. Н. Пушкиной от (не позднее) 27 июня 1834 г.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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