Victor Fet: By the way, this line might also point at Jens Boot, the
main hero of a rather forgotten Ilya Ehrenburg's 1923 futuristic novel "Trust
D.E. (Destruction of Europe)".
Boot is German for "boat" (the King escapes from
Zembla in a powerful motorboat).
As to Ehrenburg, I mentioned him in my old post on
Amphitheatricus ("a not unkindly writer of fugitive poetry in the liberal
gazettes," see K.'s note to line 71). In Amhiteatrov's story "Точка
опоры" (Point of Rest), Professor Einstein appears astride Il'ya
Ehrenburg (see also the rather improbable illustration by
Golubev-Bagryanorodnyi, the name's second part meaning
"Purple-born"):
"Мелькнул, как метеор профессор Эйнштейн, верхом
на Илье Эренбурге, — погрозил Слюзину кулаком, прокричал: «ну, брат Дмитрий
Алексеевич, воля твоя, а это свин...» и, не досказав, умолк под обломками
рухнувшаго откуда-то сверху Павла Николаевича Милюкова."
VN's father was killed by the terrorists who assassinated P.
N. Milyukov (who, too, is mentioned in the above quote).
Bryusov (who dreamed of being capable to turn
Russian literature to a certain number of degrees, na stol'ko-to
gradusov) is mentioned at the end of Amphiteatrov's
story, when the hero wakes up:
Правда, наяву, оказалось также что Дмитрий
Алексеевич не определил квадратуры круга, не изобрел perpetuum mobile и точка
опоры ведома ему не более, чем каждому смертному, за исключением г. Валерия
Брюсова.
Alexey Sklyarenko
