I focused, in my previous post, on Ehrenburg and
overlooked the fact that Einstein (who is also mentioned in Amfiteatrov's story)
was one of the scientists who were responsible for making
the atomic bomb (in the American Uranograd). Here is one of the three illustrations by Leonid
Golubev-Bagryanorodnyi to Amfiteatrov's story, Eynshteyn, verkhom na Il'e
Erenburge ("Einstein straddling Ilya Ehrenburg"). I thought that the
artist's double-barrelled name was also of interest. While Golubev (another
"avian" name) comes from golub', "pigeon, dove",
Bagryanorodnyi means "Purple-born" reminding one of Konstantin
Bagryanorodnyi (Constantine Porphyrogenitus, 905-59), the
Byzantine Emperor. His nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial
palace, decorated with the stone porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning
emperors were normally born.
L. N. Golubev-Bagryanorodnyi (1890-1934) also
illustrated Maximilian Voloshin's book Stikhi o terrore ("Verses about
Terror", 1923). From 1922 to his death he lived in Berlin where he
portrayed (in pencil) many emigre artists. I wonder if he also did a
portrait of VN? Did VN ever meet him? May be, he served as a model of the
painter Troshcheykin, the snobbish hero of VN's play Sobytie ("The
Event", 1938)? Most of G-B.'s paintings are now in Russkiy
Kul'turno-Istoricheskiy musey in Prague. G-B is also the author of
six books of poetry.
Speaking of Einstein, note that
Eystein (btw., Eystein was the name of several kings of Norway) is
a Zemblan court portraitist, master of trompe l'oeil (see Kinbote's
note to line 130).
The title of Amfiteatrov's story, Tochka opory
("The Point of Rest"), reminds one of the term "Archimedean point"
(Archimedes is among the great geniuses of the past who are mentioned in
Tochka opory), a hypothetical vantage point from which an observer can
objectively perceive the subject of inquiry, with a view of totality. One
remembers Tyutchev's lines: Schastliv v nash vek, komu pobeda / Dalas' ne
krov'yu, a umom, / Schastliv, kto tochku Arkhimeda / Syskat' umel
v sebe samom ("In our days happy's he who managed to gain victory
using his brain, without spilling a drop of blood; happy's he who
managed to find in himself the Archimedean point") from his poem Da, Vy
sderzhali Vashe slovo ("Yes, you have kept your word...",
1870).
Alexey Sklyarenko