Subject
AAA in ADA
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Date
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AAA (ААА, aaa)
AAB (ААБ, aab)
AAC (ААВ, aav)
AAD (ААГ, aag)
The first four letters of the Russian alphabet (corresponding to English A, B, C, D) are A (pronounced like Ada's initial), Б (pronounced like English B), В (pronounced like English V) and Г (pronounced like G in "Gogol"). Hence, AAA = AAA = aaa, AAB = ААБ = aab, AAC = ААВ = aav, AAD = ААГ = aag.
AAA is Andrey Andreevich Aksakov, Van's Russian tutor. If we now continue the series (and capitalize the lower-case letters), AAB is Andrey Andreevich Bozhko (Gogol's schoolmate in Nezhin), AAV is Andrey Andreevich Vinelander (Ada's husband who physically looks like Kosygin, the mayor of Yukonsk who may - or may not - look like Alexey Kosygin, the Prime Minister in Brezhnev's government) and AAG is Andrey Andreevich Gromyko (the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Brezhnev's government). Gromyko reminds one of Gromeko, the maiden name of Zhivago's wife in Pasternak's novel (known on Antiterra as Les Amours du Docteur Mertvago and Mertvago Forever). The daughter of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Gromeko (AAG), Antonina (Tonya) Zhivago is a "female namesake" of Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovski (AASD), the mayor in Gogol's play The Inspector.
AAD = ADA
AASD = ADA + S = A + SAD (Russ., garden)
S is the initial of Skvoznik, the first part of the twofold surname of Gogol's mayor. It plays on skvoznyak (draught, a current of air). In his poem Nerodivshemusya chitatelyu (To an Unborn Reader, 1930) VN mentions skvoznyak iz proshlogo (a draught from the past):
Ты, светлый житель будущих веков,
ты, старины любитель, в день урочный
откроешь антологию стихов,
забытых незаслуженно, но прочно.
И будешь ты, как шут, одет на вкус
моей эпохи фрачной и сюртучной.
Облокотись. Прислушайся. Как звучно
былое время -- раковина муз.
Шестнадцать строк, увенчанных овалом
с неясной фотографией... Посмей
побрезговать их слогом обветшалым,
опрятностью и бедностью моей.
Я здесь с тобой. Укрыться ты не волен.
К тебе на грудь я прянул через мрак.
Вот холодок ты чувствуешь: сквозняк
из прошлого... Прощай же. Я доволен.
I feel like I was that "bright inhabitant of future centuries" who suddenly sensed a creepy cold: a draught from the past. VN's shade must be pleased.
AAA are also the initials of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova (penname of Anna Gorenko, 1889-1966) and AAB are the initials of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok (1880-1921). While Ada's husband resembles dull Kosygin, her brother and lover Van Veen has the romantic appeal of a "Renaissance Florentine" (florentiets epokhi Vozrozhdeniya, as Blok is described by Gorky in Notes from the Diary).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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AAB (ААБ, aab)
AAC (ААВ, aav)
AAD (ААГ, aag)
The first four letters of the Russian alphabet (corresponding to English A, B, C, D) are A (pronounced like Ada's initial), Б (pronounced like English B), В (pronounced like English V) and Г (pronounced like G in "Gogol"). Hence, AAA = AAA = aaa, AAB = ААБ = aab, AAC = ААВ = aav, AAD = ААГ = aag.
AAA is Andrey Andreevich Aksakov, Van's Russian tutor. If we now continue the series (and capitalize the lower-case letters), AAB is Andrey Andreevich Bozhko (Gogol's schoolmate in Nezhin), AAV is Andrey Andreevich Vinelander (Ada's husband who physically looks like Kosygin, the mayor of Yukonsk who may - or may not - look like Alexey Kosygin, the Prime Minister in Brezhnev's government) and AAG is Andrey Andreevich Gromyko (the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Brezhnev's government). Gromyko reminds one of Gromeko, the maiden name of Zhivago's wife in Pasternak's novel (known on Antiterra as Les Amours du Docteur Mertvago and Mertvago Forever). The daughter of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Gromeko (AAG), Antonina (Tonya) Zhivago is a "female namesake" of Anton Antonovich Skvoznik-Dmukhanovski (AASD), the mayor in Gogol's play The Inspector.
AAD = ADA
AASD = ADA + S = A + SAD (Russ., garden)
S is the initial of Skvoznik, the first part of the twofold surname of Gogol's mayor. It plays on skvoznyak (draught, a current of air). In his poem Nerodivshemusya chitatelyu (To an Unborn Reader, 1930) VN mentions skvoznyak iz proshlogo (a draught from the past):
Ты, светлый житель будущих веков,
ты, старины любитель, в день урочный
откроешь антологию стихов,
забытых незаслуженно, но прочно.
И будешь ты, как шут, одет на вкус
моей эпохи фрачной и сюртучной.
Облокотись. Прислушайся. Как звучно
былое время -- раковина муз.
Шестнадцать строк, увенчанных овалом
с неясной фотографией... Посмей
побрезговать их слогом обветшалым,
опрятностью и бедностью моей.
Я здесь с тобой. Укрыться ты не волен.
К тебе на грудь я прянул через мрак.
Вот холодок ты чувствуешь: сквозняк
из прошлого... Прощай же. Я доволен.
I feel like I was that "bright inhabitant of future centuries" who suddenly sensed a creepy cold: a draught from the past. VN's shade must be pleased.
AAA are also the initials of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova (penname of Anna Gorenko, 1889-1966) and AAB are the initials of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok (1880-1921). While Ada's husband resembles dull Kosygin, her brother and lover Van Veen has the romantic appeal of a "Renaissance Florentine" (florentiets epokhi Vozrozhdeniya, as Blok is described by Gorky in Notes from the Diary).
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/