According to Kinbote, the Zemblan Revolution had
flickered first at the famous Glass Factory (Pale Fire, note to Line
130). The regicide Yakob Gradus was in the glass business. Sudarg of Bokay, a
mirror maker of genius, is mentioned in the Index to PF.
I'm sorry if it was pointed out before,
Stekol'nyi gorod ("Glass city") was an old Russian corruption of
Stockholm. It is mentioned, for instance, in Tynyanov's story Voskovaya
persona ("Wax Person," 1931):
- Наука там большая, - говорил
шестипалый, - большая наука. И конь
там крылат, и змей рогат. И
наука вся как есть уставлена по шафам; те шафы
немецкого дела и
деланы в самом Стекольном городе. Камни честные - те
в
шафах замкнуты, чтобы не покрали, их не видать. А другая
наука - та вся в
скляницах, винных. И вино
там всякое: есть простое вино, есть
двойное
вострое.
Note the mention
of vino (ethyl alcohol used for conservation of monsters in the
Kunstkammer). Voskovaya persona (wax person) is the famous
post-mortem model of Peter I by Carlo Rastrelli (see blow). St. Petersburg
was founded by Peter I in 1703 and renamed Leningrad in 1924, after
Lenin's death. Kinbote mockingly calls Gradus Vinogradus
and Leningradus.
As to wax,
it reminds one of the opening lines of Shade's poem:
I was the shadow
of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the
windowpane...
Alexey
Sklyarenko
