In an attempt to save his life Clare Quilty offers Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955) the in folio de-luxe Bagration Island by the explorer and psychoanalyst Melanie Weiss:
“Now look here, Mac,” he said. “You are drunk and I am a sick man. Let us postpone the matter. I need quiet. I have to nurse my impotence. Friends are coming in the afternoon to take me to a game. This pistol-packing farce is becoming a frightful nuisance. We are men of the world, in everything - sex, free verse, marksmanship. If you bear me a grudge, I am ready to make unusual amends. Even an old-fashioned rencontre, sword or pistol, in Rio or elsewhere - is not excluded. My memory and my eloquence are not at their best today, but really, my dear Mr. Humbert, you were not an ideal stepfather, and I did not force your little protégé to join me. It was she made me remove her to a happier home. This house is not as modern as that ranch we shared with dear friends. But it is roomy, cool in summer and winter, and in a word comfortable, so, since I intend retiring to England or Florence forever, I suggest you move in. It is yours, gratis. Under the condition you stop pointing at me that [he swore disgustingly] gun. By the way, I do not know if you care for the bizarre, but if you do, I can offer you, also gratis, as house pet, a rather exciting little freak, a young lady with three breasts, one a dandy, this is a rare and delightful marvel of nature. Now, soyons raisonnables. You will only wound me hideously and then rot in jail while I recuperate in a tropical setting. I promise you, Brewster, you will be happy here, with a magnificent cellar, and all the royalties from my next play - I have not much at the bank right now but I propose to borrow - you know, as the Bard said, with that cold in his head, to borrow and to borrow and to borrow. There are other advantages. We have here a most reliable and bribable charwoman, a Mrs. Vibrissa - curious name - who comes from the village twice a week, alas not today, she has daughters, granddaughters, a thing or two I know about the chief of police makes him my slave. I am a playwright. I have been called the American Maeterlinck. Maeterlinck-Schmetterling, says I. Come on! All this is very humiliating, and I am not sure I am doing the right thing. Never use herculanita with rum. Now drop that pistol like a good fellow. I knew your dear wife slightly. You may use my wardrobe. Oh, another thingyou are going to like this. I have an absolutely unique collection of erotica upstairs. Just to mention one item: the in folio de-luxe Bagration Island by the explorer and psychoanalyst Melanie Weiss, a remarkable lady, a remarkable work - drop that gun - with photographs of eight hundred and something male organs she examined and measured in 1932 on Bagration, in the Barda Sea, very illuminating graphs, plotted with love under pleasant skies - drop that gun - and moreover I can arrange for you to attend executions, not everybody knows that the chair is painted yellow” (2.35)
Princess Marie Bagration is a mysterious figure featured in the semi-autobiographical book La Vie en fleur ("The Bloom of Life," 1922) by Anatole France, where she is described as a Russian princess living in Paris who creates sculptures and later tragically dies by suicide. Chapter VI of France's book is entitled "Bifurcation." Anatole France (François-Anatole Thibault, 1844-1924) is the author of L'Île des Pingouins ("Penguin Island," 1908), a satirical and allegorical novel. A near-sighted monk named Maël mistakes a group of penguins for humans and baptizes them, forcing God to turn them into real people. In his poem Karlik bezrukiy vo frake ("Armless dwarf in a tailcoat," 1917) VN describes a penguin in a zoo:
Карлик безрукий во фраке,
глупый, неловкий пингвин,
помнишь сиянье во мраке,
синие выступы льдин?
Помнишь зарницы ночные,
кольца и складки огня?
Помнишь туманы седые
длинного, длинного дня?
Грустная птица, смешная,
глядя на нас, на людей,
плачешь ли ты, вспоминая
ласковых черных моржей?
Помнишь ли птицу-подругу,
встречи на высшей скале,
вьюгу, волшебную вьюгу,
снежные вихри во мгле...
Ах, эти встречи! А ныне:
душный, искусственный грот,
имя твое по-латыни,
пятиалтынный за вход...
In VN's poem Lilith (1928) the hero is wearing tot samyi frak (the same tailcoat) he had on when murdered last night:
И вот теперь, в том самом фраке,
в котором был вчера убит,
с усмешкой хищною гуляки
я подошел к моей Лилит.
La Fille de Lilith ("The Daughter of Lilith," 1887) is a story by Anatole France. According to Humbert, he was perfectly capable of intercourse with Eve, but it was Lilith he longed for:
But let us be prim and civilized. Humbert Humbert tried hard to be good. Really and truly, he did. He had the utmost respect for ordinary children, with their purity and vulnerability, and under no circumstances would he have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row. But how his heart beat when, among the innocent throng, he espied a demon child, “enfant charmante et fourbe,” dim eyes, bright lips, ten years in jail if you only show her you are looking at her. So life went. Humbert was perfectly capable of intercourse with Eve, but it was Lilith he longed for. The bud-stage of breast development appears early (10.7 years) in the sequence of somatic changes accompanying pubescence. And the next maturational item available is the first appearance of pigmented pubic hair (11.2 years). My little cup brims with tiddles. (1.5)
In his Mir iskusstva note Eshchyo o D. S. Merezhkovskom ("More on D. S. Merezhkovski," 1903) V. V. Rozanov (1856-1919) quotes the words of Nikolay Mikhaylovski (a radical critic, 1842-1904) "karlik Merezhkovski (dwarf Merezhkovski):"
В "письме в редакцию", по поводу "пигмеев" и "гигантов", Д.С. Мережковский как будто несколько сетует за передачу мною слов его из частного разговора. Конечно, я приношу ему в этом извинение. Далее, ни в каком случае я не думаю и ни в какие годы не думал, чтобы он был "пигмеем" перед "Полифемом" - Михайловским и, хоть средней величины, мною. Вообще печатные измерения друг друга не красивы. Все мы малы перед Богом, а в отношении друг друга - "равны", "равны, как люди", по прекраснейшему выражению Мережковского. Безвкусная идея мерить аршином или своим "демократическим вершком" сотоварища-писателя пришла г. Михайловскому ("карлик Мережковский"), к которой я не только не присоединился, но именно негодование на которую и вызвало мою статью. Далее, не могу у Мережковского не отметить с крайним сочувствием его слова об отношении нашей публики к Л.Н. Толстому, отношении, в котором не было сохранено ни ума, ни гордости, а уж любви к великому человеку было всего меньше.
In his philosopical essay Zhanna d'Ark ("Joan of Arc," 1938) Dmitri Merezhkovski (1865-1941) mentions Gilles de Rais (c. 1405-1440), a companion-in-arms to Joan of Arc and notorious serial killer who tortured children:
«Нет ни добра, ни зла; предадимся же дьяволу!» — говорил темный народ, а первые люди Франции, такие, как Маршал Жиль де Ретц из дома герцогов Бретонских, этого не говорили, но хуже — делали.
Древняя, похожая на ведьму старуха с черной, полуопущенной на лицо рединой, подстерегая маленьких детей в сумерки в уединенных местах, заманивала их ласками в замок де Ретца, где была великолепная часовня с большим хором мальчиков и девочек, потому что маршал славился ревностью к благолепию церковному. В хор поступали и заманенные дети, а потом де Ретц, служа на крови их «черные обедни» дьяволу, замучивал их медленно, в сладострастных пытках. Люди окрестных селений были им так напуганы, что никто не смел на него донести, и четырнадцать лет предавался он злодействам своим безнаказанно. Судя по найденным костям, было замученных детей до полуторы сотен. И когда уже осудили его, то все еще не смели исполнить над ним приговор — сжечь на костре: задушили прежде, чем пламя коснулось тела его, и благородные дамы похоронили его в святой кармелитской обители с почестью.
Встреченная в сумерки в поле старою ведьмою с черной на лице рединой заблудившаяся маленькая девочка Жанна — Святая душа Франции. (Chapter X)
Baron Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard's "real" name) and Konstantin Merezhkovski's pedophilic utopian novel Ray zemnoy, ili Son v zimnyuyu noch' ("The Earthly Paradise, or A Midwinter Night's Dream," 1903) bring to mind John Ray, Jr. (the author of the foreword to Humbert's manuscript and Humbert Humbert's "real" name).