Alexey Sklyarenko:At the beginning of the next chapter of Klyuch an alkaloid of the belladonna type is mentioned: §¡§Ý§Üa§Ý§à§Ú§Õ §â§à§Õa §Ò§Ö§Ý§Ýa§Õ§à§ß§ß§í, - §ç§Þ§å§â§ñ§ã§î §Ú §Þ§à§â§ëa §Ý§à§Ò, §á§à§Ó§ä§à§â§Ú§Ý §Ó§ã§Ý§å§ç §Á§è§Ö§ß§Ü§à. (The police believes that Fisher was poisoned. Fedosiev suspects Braun of the murder.)  Don Pedro is a St. Petersburg journalist who becomes a movie man in emigration. On Antiterra, Belladonna is a movie magazine: Van had seen the picture [the Hollywood version of Four Sisters, as Chekhov's play is known on Antiterra] and had liked it. An Irish girl, the infinitely graceful and melancholy Lenore Colline - Oh! qui me rendra ma colline /Et le grand ch¨ºne and my colleen!  //- harrowingly resembled Ada Ardis as photographed with her mother in Belladonna, a movie magazine which Greg Erminin had sent him, thinking it would delight him to see aunt and cousin, together, on a California patio just before the film was released. (2.9)  'Your father,' added Lucette, 'paid a man from Belladonna to take pictures - but of course, real fame begins only when one's name appears in that cine-magazine's crossword puzzle. We all know it will never happen, never! Do you hate me now?'/ 'I don't,' he said, passing his hand over her sun-hot back and rubbing her coccyx to make pussy purr. 'Alas, I don't! I love you with a brother's love and maybe still more tenderly. Would you like me to order drinks?' (3.5)

 

Jansy Mello: I¡¯d like to bring up again the curious and unsolved mystery created by VN¡¯s referral to both ¡°beladonna¡± and ¡°acetylcholine¡± using an indirect reference to the nightshade plant (cf. the innocent name of the beautiful lady (belladonna) ¡°Lenore Colline¡±, or Colleen¡­). What is VN¡¯s intention, here?
Belladona drops were used in the past by women who planned to add an extra shine and darkness to their eyes, since they cause pupil dilatation. Beladonna is also a deadly poison, and its effectiveness derives from acting as an ¡°acetylcholine receptor antagonist¡± (cf. cholinergic and anticholinergic drugs).

 

 

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