In Russian "one-armed bandit" would be odnorukiy bandit (not sure though that VN knew the slotmachine's Russian name). The epithet used by Pushkin and Dostoevsky is bezrukiy (armless; one-armed).

Btw., the hero and narrator in Dostoevsky's Podrostok (""The Adolescent," 1875) is Arkadiy Dolgorukiy (who does not belong to the historical princely family). Dolgorukiy means "long-armed" (the first Dolgorukiy, Prince Yuri, who founded Moscow in 1147, received his nickname because of his wide connections). In my article "Grattez le Tartar..." (The Nabokovian ## 59, 60) I suggest that Ada's Kim Beauharnais (a spy and blackmailer who is blinded by Van) is the illegitimate son of Arkadiy Dolgorukiy. Incidentally, Knyaginya Natalia Borisovna Dolgorukaya ("Princess Natalia Borisovna Dolgorukaya," 1828) is a poem by the blind poet Ivan Kozlov (pity I did not know it when I wrote my article).

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.

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