Alexey Sklyarenko: One of the guests at
Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party, the famous writer Pyotr
Nikolaevich, says that he is an antidulcinist, a person who
doesn't like sweets ("The Event," Act Two). According to A. Babikov,
"antidulcinist" hints at Dolce stil novo (the literary movement of
the 13th century in Italy) and at Eugene Onegin... More likely,
though, the allusion is to Don Quixote's Dulcinea...
JM: In his lectures on Quixote, Nabokov carefully
discerns a host of circunstancial details. In contrast JLBorges refers
to the complete absence of any feeling for natural things in it
("I think that in Quixote it never rains") or actual geographical locations
besides the conventional brooks and lakes. It all depends on how we
look at it...A link to Cervantes' Dulcinea may simply derive from the
sweet meaning of her name, but we may equally keep in my who
Dulcinea is.
To save time, I'll merely reproduce a google shosrt-cut
to her: "In Cervantes' book we never meet Dulcinea. She
exists only in Alonso Quixano's mind...after he stepped into some rusty
armor in 1605... to become the immortal Don Quixote de la Mancha.Believing
himself to be a knight and a peasant girl of his village to be the magnificent
Princess Dulcinea, every deed, every journey and every quest is made in her
name. But the girl, Aldonza Lorenzo by name, is utterly unaware of these events
as Don Quixote never speaks to her and loves her only from afar. But his 'Lady
Dulcinea' plays a vital role in Alonso's life and her presence is felt
throughout the book."
"Her name is Dulcinea, her kingdom, Toboso, which is in La Mancha, her
condition must be that of princess, at the very least, for she is my queen and
lady, and her beauty is supernatural, for in it one finds the reality of all the
impossible."