A. Sklyarenko: "...ruka (rhymes with
reka, "river") means both "arm" and "hand"... During d'Onsky's sword duel with
Demon (who I think is also a horse) the shirtsleeves of both seconds, charming
Monsieur de Pastrouil and Colonel St. Alin, a scoundrel, are blood-bespattered
(1.2). Note that Stalin (whose arms were по локоть в крови, "blood-stained up to
the elbows") had a withered arm. A.S. also notes that "On the other hand, Ruka
was the nickname of VN's maternal uncle Vasiliy Ivanovich Rukavishnikov: "French
and Italian friends, being unable to pronounce his long Russian surname, had
boiled it down to 'Ruka' (with the accent on the last syllable), and this suited
him far better than did his Christian name." (Speak, Memory, Chapter Three,
3)."
JM: It's almost a conjuror's trick
when one-armed men think about contraries saying "on the other hand" and
blindmen "see their point"
Perhaps it would be interesting to
distinguish those that are one-armed(handed) by illness, from those
who've lost their arms(hands) by accident.
I think that the one-armed
d'Onskys are of interest for VN when they, somehow, suggest Stalin, not
soldiers or factory-workers.
The connection of "ruka" and the
other "Ruka" must be considered but, again, ranged in another category as
the others (closer to rivers and noisy brooks?) .