Speaking of Dr Nattochdag (nicknamed
Netochka), I forgot to mention that Dostoevsky, the author of "Netochka
Nezvanov", was also the author of Belye nochi ("White Nights", 1848).
Incidentally, the oxymoron belaya noch' makes one think of
its opposite, chyornyi den' (idiomatically: "rainy day", literally:
"black day"). One also remembers the critic
Belinsky, Andrey Bely (the author of Petersburg, 1912), and Sasha
Chyorny (satirical poet, VN's teacher of poetry).
Alexey Sklyarenko