QUELQUES FLEURS + CHOSE + DUMAS +
BELLE = QUELQUE CHOSE + LES FLEURS DU MAL + BES
Quelques Fleurs - in Ada, commercial name
of Aqua's and Marina's talc powder (1.3)
Chose - Chose University, Van's alma mater
(1.30)
Dumas - A. Dumas pere (1802-70) and A. Dumas
fils (1824-95), French dramatists and novelists; cf. "AAA explained... to a
Negro lad... that Pushkin and Dumas had
African blood" (1.24)
Belle - Fr., "beautiful"; Lucette's name of her
governess (1.14)
quelque chose - Fr., something
Les fleurs du mal - The Flowers of Evil, a
book by Baudelaire
bes - Russ., demon; cf. Bellabestia ("Bess"), old
Dan's nurse (2.10), and Russian saying sedina v borodu, bes v
rebro ("one's beard is turning grey, a demon settles in one's
rib")
Alexey Sklyarenko