Ada's sister-in-law, Dorothy Vinelander "married a
Mr Brod or Bred... who traveled in eucharistials and other sacramental objects
throughout the Severnïya Territorii..." (Ada, 3.8)
Brod ("ford; the shallow of the river") brings to mind
the Russian saying ne znaya brodu, ne lez' v vodu ("look before you
leap"). Voda being Russian for "water" and
bred meaning "delirium; ravings," one is reminded of Demon Veen
(Van's and Ada's father) who married, "out of spite and pity," poor
mad Aqua, the twin sister of Marina Durmanov (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's
mother).
In many respects Aqua resembles Mar'ya Lebyadkin, Stavrogin's insane wife
in The Possessed. There is an interesting dialogue between Shatov
and Stavrogin in Dostoevski's novel (Part Two, Chapter One, VII):
[Shatov:] "But you want a hare?"
[Stavrogin:] "Wh-a-t?"
"Your own nasty expression," Shatov laughed spitefully, sitting down again.
"To cook your hare you must first catch it, to believe in God you must first
have a god. You used to say that in Petersburg, I'm told, like Nozdryov, who
tried to catch a hare by his hind legs."
"No, what he did was to boast he'd caught him. By the way, allow me to
trouble you with a question though, for indeed I think I have the right to one
now. Tell me, have you caught your hare?"
"Don't dare to ask me in such words! Ask differently, quite differently."
Shatov suddenly began trembling all over.
"Certainly I'll ask differently." Nikolay Vsevolodovich looked coldly at
him. "I only wanted to know, do you believe in God, yourself?"
"I believe in Russia.... I believe in her orthodoxy.... I believe in the
body of Christ.... I believe that the new advent will take place in Russia.... I
believe..." Shatov muttered frantically.
"And in God? In God?"
"I... I will believe in God."
Dorothy Vinelander is a namesake of Dorothy Hare, the heroine
of Orwell's novel The Clergyman's Daughter. Eric Blair (a
namesake of Eric Veen, the young author of "Villa Venus: an Organized
Dream") chose his pen name (George Orwell) because of his
love for the River Orwell in East England. The Antiterran Severnïya
Territorii are also known as "Severn Tories" (1.1). Severn is a river in
Great Britain and a river in Canada, while "Tories" are members of the
Conservative Party in Great Britain or Canada.
Btw., in LATH Ada Bredow is Vadim's first cousin whom he flirted
with as a boy of eight. It was Ada's (and Vadim's) grandmother, Baroness
Bredow (born Tolstoy), who would cry to her grandson: "Stop moping! Look at the
harlequins!" (1.2)
Alexey Sklyarenko