Valiadis, the name of one of the piqué waistcoats in "The
Golden Calf," rhymes with Vanadis (epithet of Freya, the Scandinavian Venus) but
also brings to mind Ardis and Vaniada (Van and Ada compressed to one word).
When asked about his take on Snowden, Valiadis says:
Я скажу вам откровенно... Сноудену пальца в рот
не клади. Я лично свой палец не положил бы.
(I'll tell it to you straight: Snowden is not to be
trifled with... Personally, I wouldn't trifle with him.)
In the original two anatomical terms are mentioned: палец
(finger) and рот (mouth).
палец + скит = скиталец + п
скит - small and secluded monastery
(one is reminded of Father Sergius who "chops off the wrong
member in Count Tolstoy's famous anecdote" 3.5)
скиталец - wanderer (VN is the
author of "Скитальцы," "The Wanderers," a play in verse)
Скиталец was the penname of Stepan Petrov (1869-1941), the
writer mentioned in VN's story "Lips to Lips." A character in Skitaletz's story
"Октава" ("The Low Bass"), a chorister, mispronounces the name Vasco
da Gama Vas'ka-gde-gamma ("Vaska, where is the
gamut?")
Chernomorsk, the native city of the piqué waistcoats, reminds
one of Chernomor, the evil sorcerer in Pushkin's Ruslan and Lyudmila.
One of the poem's characters is Голова (Head), Chernomor's beheaded (but
still alive) brother.
Speaking of Mascodagama: Van's stage name also evokes
Дамаск (Damascus) and Йокогама (Yokohama).* Yokohama's indigenous part Benten (called thus after the sea
goddess) is mentioned in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days."
The Benten lamp is out of kerosene when, soon after the Night of the
Burning Barn, Van, Ada and Lucette play Scrabble (1.36).
*Маскодагама + йок = Дамаск +
Йокогама (йок - Tatar, no)
Alexey Sklyarenko