In a message dated 1/30/2007 9:26:47 PM Central Standard Time, jansy@AETERN.US writes:

I don't think that the two Vivian references must necessarily take us to Vivian Darkbloom (female or male, Lolita or ADA), but they might indicate Alfred Hitchcock who usually makes cameo appearances in his movies.
There are many references to Hitchcock in KQK, from the title of one of his movies "Shadow of a Doubt" (page 847) to "Psycho": there is Frau Kamelspinner, the taxidermist's wife ( page 759) and the obvious inexistent wife of Enricht Pharsin. Her first appearance: "There she is', cried the landlord. 'Sitting there in the arm-chair. Have a look.' He opened the door wider and over the back of the chair Franz glimpsed a grey head with something white pinned to its crown." (page 822) And, at last, on page 899: "The old woman whose face he had never seen sat with her back to him in her usual place.'I'm leaving; I want to say good-bye," he said, advancing toward the armchair. There was no old woman at all - only a grey wig stuck on a stick and a knitted shawl....Old Enricht came out from behind a screen. He was stark naked and had a paper fan in his hand. 'You no longer exist, Franz Bubendorf,'...
There is also another sentence: " I made friends with a squirrel. We'll meet at the Siren café" (page 909).

The Hitchcock refs in KQKn would have to have been anachronistically added, though the scene with Enricht's wife is eerily like Psycho. Someone who has the Russian text would have to address this. The addition of the anagrammatic name of the couple at the seaside appears only in the translation; they were unnamed in the original.

What edition do your page numbers refer to?

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