My previous post (¡°mutes, etc., in Ada¡±) can be continued as follows:
According to Marina, at Van¡¯s age she would have poisoned her governess, if forbidden to read Turgenev's Smoke:
Puzzled Mlle Larivi¨¨re would have consulted the Master of Ardis, but she never discussed with him anything serious since the day (in January, 1876) when he had made an unexpected (and rather halfhearted, really - let us be fair) pass at her. As to dear, frivolous Marina, she only remarked, when consulted, that at Van's age she would have poisoned her governess with anti-roach borax if forbidden to read, for example, Turgenev's Smoke. (1.21)
Susanna, the main character of Turgenev¡¯s story Neschastnaya (¡°An Unhappy Girl,¡± 1868), took poison or, more likely, was poisoned by her relatives. In the epilogue the narrator mentions Napoleon:
§±§â§à§ê§Ý§à §ß§Ö§ã§Ü§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §Ý§Ö§ä. §´§×§ä§å§ê§Ü§Ñ §Þ§à§ñ §ã§Ü§à§ß§é§Ñ§Ý§Ñ§ã§î; §ñ §Ú§Ù §®§à§ã§Ü§Ó§í §á§Ö§â§Ö§ã§Ö§Ý§Ú§Ý§ã§ñ §Ó §±§Ö§ä§Ö§â§Ò§å§â§Ô. §£ §±§Ö§ä§Ö§â§Ò§å§â§Ô §á§Ö§â§Ö§Ö§ç§Ñ§Ý §Ú §¶§å§ã§ä§à§Ó. §°§ß §á§à§ã§ä§å§á§Ú§Ý §Ó §Þ§Ú§ß§Ú§ã§ä§Ö§â§ã§ä§Ó§à §æ§Ú§ß§Ñ§ß§ã§à§Ó, §ß§à §ñ §Ó§Ú§Õ§Ö§Ý§ã§ñ §ã §ß§Ú§Þ §â§Ö§Õ§Ü§à §Ú §ß§Ö §ß§Ñ§ç§à§Õ§Ú§Ý §å§Ø§Ö §Ó §ß§Ö§Þ §ß§Ú§é§Ö§Ô§à §à§ã§à§Ò§Ö§ß§ß§à§Ô§à. §¹§Ú§ß§à§Ó§ß§Ú§Ü §Ü§Ñ§Ü §Ú §Ó§ã§Ö, §Õ§Ñ §Ú §Ò§Ñ§ã§ä§Ñ! §¦§ã§Ý§Ú §à§ß §Ö§ë§× §Ø§Ú§Ó §Ú §ß§Ö §Ø§Ö§ß§Ñ§ä, §ä§à, §Ó§Ö§â§à§ñ§ä§ß§à, §Ú §Õ§à§ã§Ö§Ý§Ö §ß§Ö §Ú§Ù§Þ§Ö§ß§Ú§Ý§ã§ñ: §ä§à§é§Ú§ä §Ú §Ü§Ý§Ö§Ú§ä, §Ú §Ô§Ú§Þ§ß§Ñ§ã§ä§Ú§Ü§à§Û §Ù§Ñ§ß§Ú§Þ§Ñ§Ö§ä§ã§ñ, §Ú §ã§Ö§â§Õ§è§Ñ §á§à§Ø§Ú§â§Ñ§Ö§ä §á§à-§á§â§Ö§Ø§ß§Ö§Þ§å, §Ú §¯§Ñ§á§à§Ý§Ö§à§ß§Ñ §Ó §Ý§Ñ§Ù§à§â§Ö§Ó§à§Þ §Þ§å§ß§Õ§Ú§â§Ö §â§Ú§ã§å§Ö§ä §Ó §Ñ§Ý§î§Ò§à§Þ§í §á§â§Ú§ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§î§ß§Ú§è.
Several years passed by. My aunt was dead; I had left Moscow and settled in Petersburg. Fustov too had moved to Petersburg. He had entered the department of the Ministry of Finance, but we rarely met and I saw nothing much in him then. An official like everyone else, and nothing more! If he is still living and not married, he is, most likely, unchanged to this day; he carves and carpenters and uses dumb-bells, and is as much a lady-killer as ever, and sketches Napoleon in a blue uniform in the albums of his lady friends. (chapter XXVIII)
The characters of Ada include Kim Beauharnais, the kitchen boy and photographer at Ardis whose surname hints at Napoleon¡¯s first wife. As a youth, Kim vaguely resembles a janizary in some exotic opera:
During her dreary stay at Ardis, a considerably changed and enlarged Kim Beauharnais called upon her. He carried under his arm an album bound in orange-brown cloth, a dirty hue she [Ada] had hated all her life. In the last two or three years she had not seen him, the light-footed, lean lad with the sallow complexion had become a dusky colossus, vaguely resembling a janizary in some exotic opera, stomping in to announce an invasion or an execution. (2.7)
In Turgenev¡¯s story Mr. Ratsch (Susanna¡¯s step-father) criticizes Susanna¡¯s playing of a Beethoven sonata and uses the phrase Janitscharen Musik (Germ., the janizary music):
-- §Á §Ó§ã§Ö§ç §Ý§å§é§ê§Ú§ç §Ó§Ú§â§ä§å§à§Ù§à§Ó §ã§Ñ§Þ§à§Ý§Ú§é§ß§à §ã§Ý§í§ê§Ñ§Ý,-- §á§â§à§Õ§à§Ý§Ø§Ñ§Ý §Ô. §²§Ñ§ä§é, §Ó§ß§Ö§Ù§Ñ§á§ß§à §ß§Ñ§ç§Þ§å§â§Ú§Ó§ê§Ú§ã§î,-- §Ú §Ó§ã§Ö §à§ß§Ú §á§Ö§â§Ö§Õ §á§à§Ü§à§Û§ß§í§Þ §¶§Ú§Ý§î§Õ§à§Þ -- §ä§î§æ§å! §¯§å§Ý§î! §Ù§Ö§â§à!! Das war ein Keri! Und ein so reines Spiel! §ª §Ü§à§Þ§á§à§Ù§Ú§è§Ú§Ú §Ö§Ô§à -- §ã§Ñ§Þ§í§Ö §á§â§Ö§Ü§â§Ñ§ã§ß§í§Ö! §¡ §Ó§ã§Ö §ï§ä§Ú §ß§à§Ó§í§Ö "§ä§Ý§å-§ä§å-§ä§å" §Õ§Ñ "§ä§â§Ñ-§ä§Ñ-§ä§Ñ", §ï§ä§à, §ñ §á§à§Ý§Ñ§Ô§Ñ§ð, §Ò§à§Ý§î§ê§Ö §Õ§Ý§ñ §ê§Ü§à§Ý§ñ§â§à§Ó §á§Ú§ã§Ñ§ß§à. Da braucht man keine Delicatesse! §·§Ý§à§á§Ñ§Û §á§à §Ü§Ý§Ñ§Ó§Ú§ê§Ñ§Þ §Ü§Ñ§Ü §á§à§á§Ñ§Ý§à... §¯§Ö §Ò§Ö§Õ§Ñ! §¹§ä§à-§ß§Ú§Ò§å§Õ§î §Ó§í§Û§Õ§Ö§ä! Janitscharen-Musik! §±§ç§Ö! (§ª§Ó§Ñ§ß §¥§Ö§Þ§î§ñ§ß§í§é §å§ä§×§â §ã§Ö§Ò§Ö §Ý§à§Ò §á§Ý§Ñ§ä§Ü§à§Þ.) §£§á§â§à§é§Ö§Þ, §ñ §ï§ä§à §Ô§à§Ó§à§â§ð §ß§Ö §ß§Ñ §Ó§Ñ§ê §ã§é§×§ä, §³§å§ã§Ñ§ß§ß§Ñ §ª§Ó§Ñ§ß§à§Ó§ß§Ñ; §Ó§í §Ú§Ô§â§Ñ§Ý§Ú §ç§à§â§à§ê§à §Ú §Þ§à§Ú§Þ§Ú §Ù§Ñ§Þ§Ö§é§Ñ§ß§Ú§ñ§Þ§Ú §ß§Ö §Õ§à§Ý§Ø§ß§í §à§Ò§Ú§Ø§Ñ§ä§î§ã§ñ.
-- §µ §Ó§ã§ñ§Ü§à§Ô§à §ã§Ó§à§Û §Ó§Ü§å§ã,-- §ä§Ú§ç§Ú§Þ §Ô§à§Ý§à§ã§à§Þ §Ù§Ñ§Ô§à§Ó§à§â§Ú§Ý§Ñ §³§å§ã§Ñ§ß§ß§Ñ, §Ú §Ô§å§Ò§í §Ö§Ö §Ù§Ñ§Õ§â§à§Ø§Ñ§Ý§Ú,-- §Ñ §Ó§Ñ§ê§Ú §Ù§Ñ§Þ§Ö§é§Ñ§ß§î§ñ, §ª§Ó§Ñ§ß §¥§Ö§Þ§î§ñ§ß§í§é, §Ó§í §Ù§ß§Ñ§Ö§ä§Ö, §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §à§Ò§Ú§Õ§Ö§ä§î §ß§Ö §Þ§à§Ô§å§ä.
'I have heard all the best performers with my own ears,' pursued Mr. Ratsch, suddenly frowning, 'and compared with the late Field they were all--pfau! nil! zero!! Das war ein Kerl! Und ein so reines Spiel! And his own compositions the finest things! But all those now "tloo-too-too," and "tra-ta-ta," are written, I suppose, more for beginners. Da braucht man keine Delicatesse! Bang the keys anyhow... no matter! It'll turn out some how! Janitscharen Musik! Pugh!' (Ivan Demianych wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.) 'But I don't say that for you, Susanna Ivanovna; you played well, and oughtn't to be hurt by my remarks.'
'Everyone has his own taste,' Susanna said in a low voice, and her lips were trembling; 'but your remarks, Ivan Demianych, you know, cannot hurt me.' (chapter XIII)
According to Mlle Larivi¨¨re (Lucette¡¯s governess), in his novel about a certain Crimean Khan, 'A Great Good Man,' the British writer Richard Leonard Churchill twice mistranslates a trite French phrase, chacun ¨¤ son gout, as 'everyone has his own taste' (1.38).
According to Mr. Ratsch, he is a Bohemian:
§¶§å§ã§ä§à§Ó §ß§Ñ§Ù§Ó§Ñ§Ý §ã§á§Ö§â§Ó§Ñ §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ, §á§à§ä§à§Þ, §å§Ü§Ñ§Ù§Ñ§Ó §ß§Ñ "§Ó§Ö§ä§Ö§â§Ñ§ß§Ñ §Õ§Ó§Ö§ß§Ñ§Õ§è§Ñ§ä§à§Ô§à §Ô§à§Õ§Ñ", §á§â§à§Þ§à§Ý§Ó§Ú§Ý: "§ª§Ó§Ñ§ß §¥§Ö§Þ§î§ñ§ß§í§é §²§Ñ§ä§é, §á§â§Ö§á§à§Õ§Ñ§Ó§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§î... §â§Ñ§Ù§ß§í§ç §á§â§Ö§Õ§Þ§Ö§ä§à§Ó".
-- §ª§Þ§Ö§ß§ß§à, §Ú§Þ§Ö§ß§ß§à §â§Ñ§Ù§ß§í§ç §á§â§Ö§Õ§Þ§Ö§ä§à§Ó,-- §á§à§Õ§ç§Ó§Ñ§ä§Ú§Ý §Ô. §²§Ñ§ä§é.-- §¹§Ö§Þ§å, §á§à§Õ§å§Þ§Ñ§Ö§ê§î, §ñ §ä§à§Ý§î§Ü§à §ß§Ö §å§é§Ú§Ý, §Õ§Ñ §Ú §ä§Ö§á§Ö§â§î §ß§Ö §å§é§å! §ª §Þ§Ñ§ä§Ö§Þ§Ñ§ä§Ú§Ü§Ö, §Ú §Ô§Ö§à§Ô§â§Ñ§æ§Ú§Ú, §Ú §ã§ä§Ñ§ä§Ú§ã§ä§Ú§Ü§Ö, §Ú §Ú§ä§Ñ§Ý§Ú§ñ§ß§ã§Ü§à§Û §Ò§å§ç§Ô§Ñ§Ý§ä§Ö§â§Ú§Ú, §ç§Ñ-§ç§Ñ-§ç§Ñ-§ç§Ñ! §Ú §Þ§å§Ù§í§Ü§Ö! §£§í §ã§à§Þ§ß§Ö§Ó§Ñ§Ö§ä§Ö§ã§î, §Þ§Ú§Ý§à§ã§ä§Ú§Ó§í§Û §Ô§à§ã§å§Õ§Ñ§â§î? -- §ß§Ñ§Ü§Ú§ß§å§Ý§ã§ñ §à§ß §Ó§Õ§â§å§Ô §ß§Ñ §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ.-- §³§á§â§à§ã§Ú§ä§Ö §¡§Ý§Ö§Ü§ã§Ñ§ß§Õ§â§Ñ §¥§Ñ§Ó§í§Õ§í§é§Ñ, §Ü§Ñ§Ü§à§Ó§à §ñ §ß§Ñ §æ§Ñ§Ô§à§ä§Ö §à§ä§Ý§Ú§é§Ñ§ð§ã§î? §¬§Ñ§Ü§à§Û §Ø§Ö §ñ §Ò§í§Ý §Ò§í §Ó §á§â§à§ä§Ú§Ó§ß§à§Þ §ã§Ý§å§é§Ñ§Ö §Ò§à§Ô§Ö§Þ§Ö§è, §é§Ö§ç §ã§Ú§â§Ö§é§î? §¥§Ñ, §ã§å§Õ§Ñ§â§î, §ñ §é§Ö§ç, §Ú §â§à§Õ§Ú§ß§Ñ §Þ§à§ñ -- §Õ§â§Ö§Ó§ß§ñ§ñ §±§â§Ñ§Ô§Ñ! §¬§ã§ä§Ñ§ä§Ú, §¡§Ý§Ö§Ü§ã§Ñ§ß§Õ§â §¥§Ñ§Ó§í§Õ§í§é, §é§ä§à §Ó§Ñ§ã §Õ§Ñ§Ó§ß§à §ß§Ö §Ó§Ú§Õ§Ñ§ä§î? §¥§å§ï§ä§Ö§è §Ò§í §â§Ñ§Ù§í§Ô§â§Ñ§Ý§Ú... §ç§Ñ-§ç§Ñ! §±§â§Ñ§Ó§à!
Fustov mentioned my name first, then, indicating the 'veteran of the year twelve,' he pronounced: 'Ivan Demianych Ratsch, professor of... various subjects.'
'Precisely so, various they are, precisely,' Mr. Ratsch chimed in. 'Come to think of it, what is there I haven't taught, and that I'm not teaching now, for that matter! Mathematics and geography and statistics and Italian book-keeping, ha-ha ha-ha! and music! You doubt it, my dear sir?'--he pounced suddenly upon me--'ask Aleksandr Davydych if I'm not first-rate on the bassoon. I should be a poor sort of Bohemian--Czech, I should say--if I weren't! Yes, sir, I'm a Czech, and my native place is ancient Prague! By the way, Aleksandr Davydych, why haven't we seen you for so long! We ought to have a little duet... ha-ha! Really!' (chapter IV)
It is a Bohemian lady who involuntarily helped Demon Veen (Van¡¯s and Ada¡¯s father whose first name is a form of Demian or Dementius) to find out the name of Marina¡¯s lover:
Next day Demon was having tea at his favorite hotel with a Bohemian lady whom he had never seen before and was never to see again (she desired his recommendation for a job in the Glass Fish-and-Flower department in a Boston museum) when she interrupted her voluble self to indicate Marina and Aqua, blankly slinking across the hall in modish sullenness and bluish furs with Dan Veen and a dackel behind, and said:
'Curious how that appalling actress resembles "Eve on the Clepsydrophone" in Parmigianino's famous picture.'
'It is anything but famous,' said Demon quietly, 'and you can't have seen it. I don't envy you,' he added; 'the naive stranger who realizes that he or she has stepped into the mud of an alien life must experience a pretty sickening feeling. Did you get that small-talk information directly from a fellow named d'Onsky or through a friend of a friend of his?'
'Friend of his,' replied the hapless Bohemian lady. (1.2)
After the duel with Demon d¡¯Onsky married the Bohemian lady:
The challenge was accepted; two native seconds were chosen; the Baron plumped for swords; and after a certain amount of good blood (Polish and Irish - a kind of American 'Gory Mary' in barroom parlance) had bespattered two hairy torsoes, the whitewashed terrace, the flight of steps leading backward to the walled garden in an amusing Douglas d'Artagnan arrangement, the apron of a quite accidental milkmaid, and the shirtsleeves of both seconds, charming Monsieur de Pastrouil and Colonel St Alin, a scoundrel, the latter gentlemen separated the panting combatants, and Skonky died, not 'of his wounds' (as it was viciously rumored) but of a gangrenous afterthought on the part of the least of them, possibly self-inflicted, a sting in the groin, which caused circulatory trouble, notwithstanding quite a few surgical interventions during two or three years of protracted stays at the Aardvark Hospital in Boston - a city where, incidentally, he married in 1869 our friend the Bohemian lady, now keeper of Glass Biota at the local museum. (ibid.)
According to Winston Churchill, Stalin was ¡°a great good man.¡±
The characters of Ada include Philip Rack, Lucette¡¯s teacher of music who dies in the Kalugano hospital (where Van recovers from the wound received in a pistol with Captain Tapper). According to Dr Fitzbishop, Rack was poisoned by his jealous wife:
The poor guy had always had a bad liver and a very indifferent heart, but on top of that a poison had seeped into his system; the local 'lab' could not identify it and they were now waiting for a report, on those curiously frog-green faeces, from the Luga people. If Rack had administered it to himself by his own hand, he kept 'mum'; it was more likely the work of his wife who dabbled in Hindu-Andean voodoo stuff and had just had a complicated miscarriage in the maternity ward. Yes, triplets - how did he guess? (1.42).
It was Dr Ecksreher (X-rayer) who predicted that Elsie would soon present her husband with ¡°driplets:¡±
The melancholy young German was in a philosophical mood shading into the suicidal. He had to return to Kalugano with his Elsie, who Doc Ecksreher thought 'would present him with driplets in dry weeks.' (1.32)
As she speaks to Van, Lucette mentions driblets:
'I only meant,' she continued, 'that he was a handsome Hispano-Irish boy, dark and pale, and people mistook them for twins. I did not say they were really twins. Or "driblets."
Driblets? Driblets? Now who pronounced it that way? Who? Who? A dripping ewes-dropper in a dream? Did the orphans live?' But we must listen to Lucette. (2.5)
Van¡¯s, Ada¡¯s and Lucette¡¯s mother Marina had the twin sister Aqua who went mad and committed suicide (1.3). The name Aqua means ¡°water.¡± In Turgenev¡¯s poem in prose Bliznetsy (¡°The Twins,¡± 1878) the twins are as identical ¡°as two drops of water¡± and hate each other relentlessly:
§Á §Ó§Ú§Õ§Ö§Ý §ã§á§à§â §Õ§Ó§å§ç §Ò§Ý§Ú§Ù§ß§Ö§è§à§Ó. §¬§Ñ§Ü §Õ§Ó§Ö §Ü§Ñ§á§Ý§Ú §Ó§à§Õ§í §á§à§ç§à§Õ§Ú§Ý§Ú §à§ß§Ú §Õ§â§å§Ô §ß§Ñ §Õ§â§å§Ô§Ñ §Ó§ã§Ö§Þ: §é§Ö§â§ä§Ñ§Þ§Ú §Ý§Ú§è§Ñ, §Ú§ç §Ó§í§â§Ñ§Ø§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö§Þ, §è§Ó§Ö§ä§à§Þ §Ó§à§Ý§à§ã, §â§à§ã§ä§à§Þ, §ã§Ü§Ý§Ñ§Õ§à§Þ §ä§Ö§Ý§Ñ §Ú §ß§Ö§ß§Ñ§Ó§Ú§Õ§Ö§Ý§Ú §Õ§â§å§Ô §Õ§â§å§Ô§Ñ §ß§Ö§á§â§Ú§Þ§Ú§â§Ú§Þ§à.
On the other hand, Bliznetsy (¡°Twins,¡± 1852) is a poem by Tyutchev. It was Turgenev who looked after the publication of Tyutchev's only lifetime book of poetry. In his poem ¡°To Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin¡± (1868) Tyutchev says that in our days verses do not live long and mentions ruka zabven¡¯ya (the hand of oblivion) that will do its proof-reading work:
§³§ä§Ú§ç§à§Ó §Þ§à§Ú§ç §Ó§à§ä §ã§á§Ú§ã§à§Ü §Ò§Ö§Ù§à§Ò§â§Ñ§Ù§ß§í§Û, ¨C
§¯§Ö §Ù§Ñ§Ô§Ý§ñ§ß§å§Ó §Ó §ß§Ö§Ô§à, §Õ§Ñ§â§ð §Ú§Þ §Ó§Ñ§ã,
§¯§Ö §ã§à§Ó§Ý§Ñ§Õ§Ñ§Ý §ã §Þ§à§Ö§ð §Ý§Ö§ß§î§ð §á§â§Ñ§Ù§Õ§ß§à§Û,
§¹§ä§à§Ò§í §à§ß§Ñ §ç§à§ä§î §Ó§ã§Ü§à§Ý§î§Ù§î §Ú§Þ §Ù§Ñ§ß§ñ§Ý§Ñ§ã§î...
§£ §ß§Ñ§ê §Ó§Ö§Ü §ã§ä§Ú§ç§Ú §Ø§Ú§Ó§å§ä §Õ§Ó§Ñ-§ä§â§Ú §Þ§Ô§ß§à§Ó§Ö§ß§î§ñ,
§²§à§Õ§Ú§Ý§Ú§ã§î §å§ä§â§à§Þ, §Ü §Ó§Ö§é§Ö§â§å §å§Þ§â§å§ä...
§° §é§×§Þ §Ø§Ö §ç§Ý§à§á§à§ä§Ñ§ä§î? §²§å§Ü§Ñ §Ù§Ñ§Ò§Ó§Ö§ß§î§ñ
§¬§Ñ§Ü §â§Ñ§Ù §ã§Ó§Ö§â§ê§Ú§ä §ã§Ó§à§Û §Ü§à§â§â§Ö§Ü§ä§å§â§ß§í§Û §ä§â§å§Õ.
Tyutchev spent almost quarter of a century abroad. In June of 1822 his relative, Count Osterman-Tolstoy (a hero of the anti-Napoleon war who lost his arm in the battle of Kulm, 1813), took Tyutchev to Munich where he became a diplomat at the Russian legation. In Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (1874) Ivan Aksakov (Tyutchev¡¯s son-in-law and first biographer) quotes the poet¡¯s words from a letter (written in 1867) to his brother:
§³§å§Õ§î§Ò§Ö §å§Ô§à§Õ§ß§à §Ò§í§Ý§à §Ó§à§à§â§å§Ø§Ú§ä§î§ã§ñ §á§à§ã§Ý§Ö§Õ§ß§Ö§Û §â§å§Ü§à§Û §´§à§Ý§ã§ä§à§Ô§à (§Ó§ã§á§à§Þ§Ú§ß§Ñ§Ö§ä §¶§×§Õ§à§â §ª§Ó§Ñ§ß§à§Ó§Ú§é §Ó §à§Õ§ß§à§Þ §Ú§Ù §á§Ú§ã§Ö§Þ §ã§Ó§à§Ú§ç §Ü §Ò§â§Ñ§ä§å §Ý§Ö§ä 45 §ã§á§å§ã§ä§ñ), §é§ä§à§Ò §á§Ö§â§Ö§ã§Ö§Ý§Ú§ä§î §Þ§Ö§ß§ñ §ß§Ñ §é§å§Ø§Ò§Ú§ß§å.
¡°Fate equipped itself with Tolstoy¡¯s last arm [in Russian, ruka means ¡°arm¡± and ¡°hand¡±] in order to resettle me to a foreign land.¡±
Kulm (Chlumec) is a town in northern Bohemia. The son of d¡¯Onsky and the Bohemian lady is a person with only one arm. According to Ada, at Marina¡¯s funeral ¡°d'Onsky's son, a person with only one arm, threw his remaining one around Demon and both wept comme des fontaines¡± (3.8). Fontan (¡°The Fountain,¡± 1836) is a poem by Tyutchev.
Alexey Sklyarenko