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Dear Alexey,

I hope you will not mind if I share some information with the List regarding the Russian word
"durman" since you are yourself were the most generous source of that information.

Alexey & Brian Boyd are correct to note that "durman" means an intoxicating, possibly habit-forming drug, as in the apropos quote from Chekhov's Chaika ( which I also detected lurking in the odd spelling of Tschaikovsky somewhere in Ada). But "durman" is also a particularly nasty plant, "datura stramonium," which has been implicated as "zombie poson" in Haiti, and I believe has implications in Ada  (as the primary of "yady Ady" [Ada's poisons]) as well.

Carolyn

p.s. Marina is not the only failed actress in Ada. Her daughter isn't very
successful either. And come to think of it, Van turns out to be something of
a mediocrity on the world stage as well.

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EDNOTE. I would add that the Russian root "dur'" also supplies the common word for "Fool" (durak)--certainly an apt characterization for Marina.