Notes to Ada

by Vivian Darkbloom

p. 9. All happy families etc: mistranslations of Russian classics are ridiculed here. The opening sentence of Tolstoy’s novel is turned inside out and Anna Arkadievna’s patronymic given an absurd masculine ending, while an incorrect feminine one is added to her surname. ‘Mount Tabor’ and ‘Pontius’ allude to the transfigurations (Mr G. Steiner’s term, I believe) and betrayals to which great texts are subjected by pretentious and ignorant versionists.

p. 9. Severnï ya Territorii: Northern Territories. Here and elsewhere transliteration is based on the old Russian orthography.

p. 9. granoblastically: in a tesselar (mosaic) jumble.

p. 9. Tofana: allusion to ‘aqua tofana’ (see any good dictionary).

p. 10. sur-royally: fully antlered, with terminal prongs.

p. 10. Durak: ‘fool’ in Russian.

p. 10. Lake Kitezh: allusion to the legendary town of Kitezh which shines at the bottom of a lake in a Russian fairy tale.

p. 11. Mr Eliot: we shall meet him again, on pages 361 and 396, in company of the author of ‘The Waistline’ and ‘Agonic Lines’.

p. 11. Counter-Fogg: Phileas Fogg, Jules Verne’s globetrotter, travelled from West to East.

p. 11. Goodnight Kids: their names are borrowed, with distortions, from a comic strip for French-speaking children.

p. 13. Dr Lapiner: for some obscure but not unattractive reason, most of the physicians in the book turn out to bear names connected with rabbits. The French ‘lapin’ in Lapiner is matched by the Russian ‘Krolik’, the name of Ada’s beloved lepidopterist (p. 13, et passim) and the Russian ‘zayats’ (hare) sounds like ‘Seitz’ (the German gynecologist on page 181); there is a Latin ‘cuniculus’ in ‘Nikulin’ (‘grandson of the great rodentiologist Kunikulinov’, p. 341), and a Greek ‘lagos’ in ‘Lagosse’ (the doctor who attends Van in his old age). Note also Coniglietto, the Italian cancer-of-the-blood specialist, p. 298.

p. 13. mizernoe: Franco-Russian form of ‘miserable’ in the sense of ‘paltry’.

p. 13. c’est bien le cas de le dire: and no mistake.

p. 13. lieu de naissance: birthplace.

p. 13. pour ainsi dire: so to say.

p. 13. Jane Austen: allusion to rapid narrative information imparted through dialogue, in Mansfield Park.

p. 13. ‘Bear-Foot’, not ‘bare foot’: both children are naked.

p. 13. Stabian flower girl: allusion to the celebrated mural painting (the so-called ‘Spring’) from Stabiae in the National Museum of Naples: a maiden scattering blossoms.

p. 16. Raspberries; ribbon: allusions to ludicrous blunders in Lowell’s versions of Mandelshtam’s poems (in the N. Y. Review, 23 December 1965).

p. 16. Belokonsk: the Russian twin of ‘Whitehorse’ (city in N. W. Canada).

p. 17. en connaissance de cause: knowing what it was all about (Fr. ).

p. 18. Aardvark: apparently, a university town in New England.

p. 18. Gamaliel: a much more fortunate statesman than our W. G. Harding.

p. 19. interesting condition: family way.

p. 19. Lolita, Texas: this town exists, or, rather, existed, for it has been renamed, I believe, after the appearance of the notorious novel.

p. 20. penyuar: Russ., peignoir.

p. 20. beau milieu: right in the middle.

p. 20. Faragod: apparently, the god of electricity.

p. 20. braques: allusion to a bric-à -brac painter.

p. 23. entendons-nous: let’s have it clear (Fr. ).

p. 24. Yukonets: inhabitant of Yukon (Russ. ).

p. 25. lammer: amber (Fr: l’ambre), allusion to electricity.

p. 25. my lad, my pretty, etc: paraphrase of a verse in Housman.

p. 25. ballatetta: fragmentation and distortion of a passage in a ‘little ballad’ by the Italian poet Guido Cavalcanti (1255-1300). The relevant lines are: ‘you frightened and weak little voice that comes weeping from my woeful heart, go with my soul and that ditty, telling of a destroyed mind. ’

p. 27. Nuss: German for ‘nut’.

p. 28. Khristosik: little Christ (Russ. ).

p. 28. rukuliruyushchiy: Russ., from Fr. roucoulant, cooing.

p. 29. horsepittle: ‘hospital’, borrowed from a passage in Dickens’ Bleak House. Poor Joe’s pun, not a poor Joycean one.

p. 30. aujourd’hui, heute: to-day (Fr., Germ. ).

p. 30. Princesse Lointaine: Distant Princess, title of a French play.

p. 31. pour attraper le client: to fool the customer.

p. 34. Je parie, etc.: I bet you do not recognize me, Sir.

p. 35. tour du jardin: a stroll in the garden.

p. 36. Lady Amherst: confused in the child’s mind with the learned lady after whom a popular pheasant is named.

p. 36. with a slight smile: a pet formula of Tolstoy’s denoting cool superiority, if not smugness, in a character’s manner of speech.

p. 37. pollice verso: Lat., thumbs down.

p. 39. Sumerechnikov: the name is derived from ‘sumerki’ (‘dusk’ in Russian).

p. 42. lovely Spanish poem: really two poems — Jorge Guillé n’s Descanso en jardin and his El otono: isla).

p. 44. Monsieur a quinze ans, etc.: You are fifteen, Sir, I believe, and I am nineteen, I know.... You, Sir, have known town girls no doubt; as to me, I’m a virgin, or almost one. Moreover...

p. 44. rien qu’une petite fois: just once.

p. 45. mais va donc jouer avec lui: come on, go and play with him.

p. 45. se morfondre: mope.

p. 45. au fond: actually.

p. 45. Je l’ignore: I don’t know.

p. 45. cache-cache: hide-and-seek.

p. 46. infusion de tilleul: lime tea.

p. 48. Les amours du Dr Mertvago: play on ‘Zhivago’ (‘zhiv’ means in Russian ‘alive’ and ‘mertv’ dead).

p. 48. grand chê ne: big oak.

p. 49. quelle idé e: the idea!

p. 50. Les malheurs de Swann: cross between Les malheurs de Sophie by Mme de Sé gur (né e Countess Rostopchin) and Proust’s Un amour de Swann.

p. 53. monologue inté rieur: the so-called ‘stream-of-consciousness’ device, used by Leo Tolstoy (in describing, for instance, Anna’s last impressions whilst her carriage rolls through the streets of Moscow).

p. 56. Mr Fowlie: see Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud (1946).

p. 56. soi-disant: would-be.

p. 56. les robes vertes, etc.: the green and washed-out frocks of the little girls.

p. 56. angel moy: Russ., ‘my angel’.

p. 57. en vain. etc.: In vain, one gains in play

The Oka river and Palm Bay...

p. 57. bambin angé lique: angelic little lad.

p. 59. groote: Dutch, ‘great’.

p. 59. un machin etc.: a thing as long as this that almost wounded the child in the buttock.

p. 60. pensive reeds: Pascal’s metaphor of man, un roseau pensant.

p. 61. horsecart: an old anagram. It leads here to a skit on Freudian dream charades (‘symbols in an orchal orchestra’), p. 62.

p. 61. buvard: blotting pad.

p. 62. Kamargsky: La Camargue, a marshy region in S. France combined with Komar, ‘mosquito’, in Russian and moustique in French.

p. 63. sa petite collation du matin: light breakfast.

p. 64. tartine au miel: bread-and-butter with honey.

p. 64. Osberg: another good-natured anagram, scrambling the name of a writer with whom the author of Lolita has been rather comically compared. Incidentally, that title’s pronunciation has nothing to do with English or Russian (pace an anonymous owl in a recent issue of the TLS).

p. 65. mais ne te etc.: now don’t fidget like that when you put on your skirt! A well-bred little girl...

p. 65. trè s en beauté: looking very pretty.

p. 66. calè che: victoria.

p. 66. pecheneg: a savage.

p. 67. grande fille: girl who has reached puberty.

p. 69. La Riviè re de Diamants: Maupassant and his ‘La Parure’ (p. 73) did not exist on Antiterra.

p. 70. copie etc.: copying in their garret.

p. 70. à grand eau: swilling the floors.

p. 70. dé sinvolture: uninhibitedness.

p. 70. vibgyor: violet-indigo-blue-green-yellow-orange-red.

p. 72. sans faç ons: unceremoniously.

p. 72. strapontin: folding seat in front.

p. 73. dé charné: emaciated.

p. 73. cabane: hut.

p. 73. allons donc: oh, come.

p. 73. pointe assassine: the point (of a story or poem) that murders artistic merit.

p. 73. quitte à tout dire etc.: even telling it all to the widow if need be.

p. 73. il pue: he stinks.

p. 74. Atala: a short novel by Chateaubriand.

p. 75. un juif: a Jew.

p. 76. et pourtant: and yet.

p. 76. ce beau jardin etc.: This beautiful garden blooms in May, but in Winter never, never, never, never, never is green etc.

p. 78. chort!: Russ., ‘devil’.

p. 83. mileyshiy: Russ., ‘dearest’.

p. 83. partie etc.: exterior fleshy part that frames the mouth... the two edges of a simple wound... it is the member that licks.

p. 84. pascaltrezza: in this pun, which combines Pascal with caltrezza (Ital., ‘sharp wit’) and treza (a Provenç al word for ‘tressed stalks’), the French ‘pas’ negates the ‘pensant’ of the ‘roseau’ in his famous phrase ‘man is a thinking reed’.

p. 86. Katya: the ingé nue in Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Children’.

p. 86. a trouvaille: a felicitous find.

p. 86. Ada who liked crossing orchids: she crosses here two French authors, Baudelaire and Chateaubriand.

p. 86. mon enfant, etc.: my child, my sister, think of the thickness of the big oak at Tagne, think of the mountain, think of the tenderness —

p. 87. recueilli: concentrated, rapt.

p. 87. canteen: a reference to the ‘scrumpets’ (crumpets) provided by school canteens.

p. 90. puisqu’on etc.: since we broach this subject.

p. 91. hument: inhale.

p. 92. tout le reste: all the rest.

p. 92. zdravstvuyte etc.: Russ., lo and behold: the apotheosis

p. 92. Mlle Stopchin: a representative of Mme de Sé gur, né e Rostopchine, author of Les Malheurs de Sophie (nomenclatorially occupied on Antiterra by Les Malheurs de Swann).

p. 92. au feu!: fire!

p. 92. flambait: was in flames.

p. 92. Ashette: ‘Cendrillon’ in the French original.

p. 93. en croupe: riding pillion.

p. 94. à reculons: backwards.

p. 97. The Nile is settled: a famous telegram sent by an African explorer.

p. 97. parlez pour vous: speak for yourself.

p. 97. trempé e: soaked.

p. 101. je l’ai vu etc.: ‘I saw it in one of the wastepaper-baskets of the library. ’

p. 101. aussitô t aprè s: immediately after.

p. 102. mé nagez etc.: go easy on your Americanisms.

p. 103. leur chute etc.: their fall is slow... one can follow them with one’s eyes, recognizing —

p. 103. Lowden: a portmanteau name combining two contemporary bards.

p. 103. baguenaudier: French name of bladder senna.

p. 103. Floeberg: Flaubert’s style is mimicked in this pseudo quotation.

p. 105. pour ne pas etc.: so as not to put any ideas in her head.

p. 105. en lecture: ‘out’.

p. 105. cher, trop cher René: dear, too dear (his sister’s words in Chateaubriand’s René ).

p. 106. Chiron: doctor among centaurs: an allusion to Updike’s best novel.

p. 106. London Weekly: a reference to Alan Brien’s New Statesman column.

p. 106. Hö hensonne: ultra-violet lamp.

p. 107. bobo: little hurt.

p. 107. dé mission etc.: tearful notice.

p. 107. les deux enfants etc.: ‘therefore the two children could make love without any fear’.

p. 108. fait divers: news item.

p. 109. blin: Russ., pancake.

p. 109. qui le sait: who knows.

p. 110. Heinrich Mü ller: author of Poxus, etc.

p. 111. Ma soeur te souvient-il encore: first line of the third sextet of Chateaubriand’s Romance à Hé lè ne (‘Combien j’ai douce souvenance’) composed to an Auvergne tune that he heard during a trip to Mont Dore in 1805 and later inserted in his novella Le Dernier Abencerage. The final (fifth) sextet begins with ‘Oh! qui me rendra mon Hé lè ne. Et ma montagne et le grand chê ne’ — one of the leitmotivs of the present novel.

p. 111. sestra moya etc.: my sister, do you remember the mountain, and the tall oak, and the Ladore?

p. 111. oh! qui me rendra etc.: oh who will give me back my Aline, and the big oak, and my hill?

p. 112. Lucile: the name of Chateaubriand’s actual sister.

p. 112. la Dore etc.: the Dore and the agile swallow.

p. 112. vendage: vine-harvest.

p. 114. Rockette: corresponds to Maupassant’s La Petite Rocque.

p. 114. chaleur du lit: bed warmth.

p. 115. horosho: Russ., all right.

p. 117. mironton etc.: burden of a popular song.

p. 118. Lettrocalamity: a play on Ital. elettrocalamita, electromagnet.

p. 121. Bagrov’s grandson: allusion to Childhood Years of Bagrov’s Grandson by the minor writer Sergey Aksakov (A. D. 1791-1859).

p. 122. hobereaux: country squires.

p. 122. biryul’ki proshlago: Russ., the Past’s baubles.

p. 124. traktir: Russ., pub.

p. 124. (avoir le) vin triste: to be melancholy in one’s cups.

p. 124. au cou rouge etc.: with the ruddy and stout neck of a widower still full of sap.

p. 124. gloutonnerie: gourmandise.

p. 125. tant pis: too bad.

p. 125. je rê ve etc.: I must be dreaming. It cannot be that anyone should spread butter on top of all that indigestible and vile British dough.

p. 125. et ce n’est que etc.: and it is only the first slice.

p. 125. lait caillé!: curds and whey.

p. 125. shlafrok: Russ., from Germ. Schlafrock, dressing gown.

p. 126. tous les etc.: all the tires are new.

p. 126. tel un: thus a wild lily entrusting the wilderness.

p. 126. non etc.: no, Sir, I simply am very fond of you, Sir, and of your young lady.

p. 127. qu’y puis-je? what can I do about it?

p. 128. Stumbling on melons... arrogant fennels: allusions to passages in Marvell’s ‘Garden’ and Rimbaud’s ‘Mé moire’.

p. 130. d’accord: Okay.

p. 133. la bonne surprise: what a good surprise.

p. 134. amour propre, sale amour: pun borrowed from Tolstoy’s ‘Resurrection’.

p. 135. quelque petite etc.: some little laundress.

p. 135. Toulouse: Toulouse-Lautrec.

p. 136. dura: Russ., fool (fem. ).

p. 136. The Headless Horseman: Mayn Reid’s title is ascribed here to Pushkin, author of The Bronze Horseman.

p. 136. Lermontov: author of The Demon.

p. 137. Tolstoy etc.: Tolstoy’s hero, Haji Murad, (a Caucasian chieftain) is blended here with General Murat, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, and with the French revolutionary leader Marat assassinated in his bath by Charlotte Corday.

p. 138. Lute: from ‘Lutè ce’, ancient name of Paris.

p. 139. constatait etc.: noted with pleasure.

p. 140. Shivering aurora, laborious old Chose: a touch of Baudelaire.

p. 142. golubyanka: Russ., small blue butterfly.

p. 142. petit bleu: Parisian slang for pneumatic post (an express message on blue paper).

p. 142. cousin: mosquito.

p. 143. mademoiselle etc.: the young lady has a pretty bad pneumonia, I regret to say, Sir.

p. 143. Granial Maza: a perfume named after Mt Kazbek’s ‘gran’ almuza’ (diamond’s facet) of Lermontov’s The Demon.

p. 145. inquié tante: disturbing.

p. 148. Yellow-blue Vass: the phrase is consonant with ya lyublyu vas, (‘I love you’ in Russian).

p. 150. mais, ma pauvre amie etc.: but, my poor friend, it was imitation jewellery.

p. 151. nichego ne podelaesh’: Russ., nothing to be done.

p. 151. elle le mangeait etc.: she devoured him with her eyes.

p. 152. petits vers etc.: fugitive poetry and silk worms.

p. 153. Uncle Van: allusion to a line in Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya: We shall see the sky swarming with diamonds.

p. 157. Les Enfants Maudits: the accursed children.

p. 157. du sollst etc.: Germ., you must not listen.

p. 157. an ne parle pas etc.: one does not speak like that in front of a dog.

p. 158. que voulez-vous dire: what do you mean.

p. 160. Forestday: Rack’s pronunciation of ‘Thursday’.

p. 160. furchtbar: Germ., dreadful.

p. 161. Ero: thus the h-dropping policeman in Wells’ Invisible Man defined the latter’s treacherous friend.

p. 163. mais qu’est-ce etc.: but what did your cousin do to you.

p. 166. petit-beurre: a tea biscuit.

p. 170. unschicklich: Germ., improper (understood as ‘not chic’ by Ada).

p. 173. ogon’: Russ., fire.

p. 173. Microgalaxies: known on Terra as Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, by Jules Verne.

p. 173. ailleurs: elsewhere.

p. 174. alfavit: Russ., alphabet.

p. 175. particule: ‘de’ or ‘d’’.

p. 176. Pat Rishin: a play on ‘patrician’. One may recall Podgoretz (Russ. ‘underhill’) applying that epithet to a popular critic, would-be expert in Russian as spoken in Minsk and elsewhere. Minsk and Chess also figure in Chapter Six of Speak, Memory (p. 133, N. Y. ed. 1966).

p. 177. Gerschizhevsky: a Slavist’s name gets mixed here with that of Chizhevki, another Slavist.

p. 178. Je ne peux etc.: I can do nothing, but nothing.

p. 178. Buchstaben: Germ., letters of the alphabet.

p. 178. c’est tout simple: it’s quite simple.

p. 179. pas facile: not easy.

p. 179. Cendrillon: Cinderella.

p. 179. mon petit... qui dis-je: darling... in fact.

p. 181. elle est folie etc.: she is insane and evil.

p. 181. Beer Tower: pun on ‘Tourbiè re’.

p. 182. chayku: Russ., tea (diminutive).

p. 182. Ivanilich: a pouf plays a marvelous part in Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, where it sighs deeply under a friend of the widow’s.

p. 182. cousinage: cousinhood is dangerous neighborhood.

p. 182. on s’embrassait: kissing went on in every corner.

p. 182. erunda: Russ., nonsense.

p. 182. hier und da: Germ., here and there.

p. 183. raffolait etc.: was crazy about one of his mares.

p. 184. tout est bien: everything is all right.

p. 184 tant mieux: so much the better.

p. 185. Tuzenbakh: Van recites the last words of the unfortunate Baron in Chekhov’s Three Sisters who does not know what to say but feels urged to say something to Irina before going to fight his fatal duel.

p. 185. kontretan: Russian mispronunciation of contretemps.

p. 187. kameristochka: Russ., young chambermaid.

p. 187. en effet: indeed.

p. 188. petit nè gre: little Negro in the flowering field.

p. 188. ce sera etc.: it will be a dinner for four

p. 188. Wagging his left forefinger: that gene did not miss his daughter (see p. 178, where the name of the cream is also prefigured).

p. 188. Lyovka: derogative or folksy diminutive of Lyov (Leo).

p. 191. antranou etc.: Russian mispronunciation of Fr. entre nous soit dit, between you and me.

p. 191. filius aqua: ‘son of water’, bad pun on filum aquae, the middle way, ‘the thread of the stream’.

p. 192. une petite juive etc.: a very aristocratic little Jewess.

p. 192. ç a va: it goes.

p. 192. seins durs: mispronunciation of sans dire ‘without saying’.

p. 193. passe encore: may still pass muster.

p. 195. Lorsque etc.: When her fiancé had gone to war, the unfortunate and noble maiden closed her piano, sold her elephant.

p. 195. Klubsessel: Germ., easy chair.

p. 194. By chance preserved: The verses are by chance preserved

I have them, here they are:

(Eugene Onegin, Six: XXI: 1-2)

p. 196. devant les gens: in front of the servants.

p. 196. Fanny Price: the heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

p. 196. grib: Russ., mushroom.

p. 196. vodochki: Russ., pl. of vodochka, diminutive of vodka.

p. 198. zakusochnï y etc.: Russ., table with hors-d’oeuvres.

p. 198. petits soupers: intimate suppers.

p. 198. Persty: Evidently Pushkin’s vinograd:

as elongated and transparent

as are the fingers of a girl.

(devï molodoy, jeune fille)

p. 198. ciel-é toilé: starry sky.

p. 201. ne pï khtite: Russ., do not wheeze.

p. 202. vous me comblez: you overwhelm me with kindness.

p. 202. pravda: Russ., it’s true.

p. 202. gelinotte: hazel-hen.

p. 203. le feu etc.: the so delicate fire of virginity

that on her brow...

p. 203. po razschyotu po moemu: an allusion to Famusov (in Griboedov’s Gore ot uma), calculating the pregnancy of a lady friend.

p. 203. protestuyu: Russ., I protest.

p. 203. seriozno: Russ., seriously.

p. 203. quoi que ce soit: whatever it might be.

p. 203. en accuse etc.: ... brings out its beauty.

p. 203. certicle: anagram of ‘electric’.

p. 204. Tetrastes etc.: Latin name of the imaginary ‘Peterson’s Grouse’ from Wind River Range, Wyo.

p. 205. Great good man: a phrase that Winston Churchill, the British politician, enthusiastically applied to Stalin.

p. 205. voulu: intentional.

p. 206. echt etc.: Germ., a genuine German.

p. 207. Kegelkugel: Germ., skittle-ball.

p. 207. partir etc.: to go away is to die a little, and to die is to go a way a little too much.

p. 208. tangelo: a cross between the tangerine and the pomelo (grapefruit).

p. 208. fal’shivo: Russ., false.

p. 209. rozï... beryozï: Russ., roses... birches.

p. 210. ou comme ç a?: or like that?

p. 213. sale etc.: dirty little Philistine.

p. 213. d’accord: Okay.

p. 214. zhe etc.: Russ., distortion of je t’en prie.

p. 215. Trigorin etc.: a reference to a scene in The Seagull.

p. 215. Houssaie: French a ‘hollywood’. Gollivud-tozh means in Russian ‘known also as Hollywood’.

p. 216. enfin: at last.

p. 217. passati: pseudo-Russian pun on ‘pass water’.

p. 217. coeur de boeuf: bull’s heart (in shape).

p. 219. quand tu voudras etc.: any time, my lad.

p. 220. la maudite etc.: the confounded (governess).

p. 220. vos etc.: Franco-Russ., your expressions are rather free.

p. 221. qui tâ chait etc.: who was trying to turn her head.

p. 222. ombres etc.: shadows and colors.

p. 226. qu’on la coiffe etc.: to have her hair done in the open.

p. 226. un air entendu: a knowing look.

p. 228. ne sais quand etc.: knows not when he’ll come back.

p. 229. mon beau page: my pretty page.

p. 231. c’est ma derniè re: this is my last night in the manor.

p. 231. je suis etc.: I’m yours, it’s soon dawn.

p. 231. parlez pour vous: speak for yourself.

p. 232. immonde: unspeakable.

p. 232. il la mangeait etc.: he devoured her with disgusting kisses.

p. 234. qu’on vous culbute: that they tumble you.

p. 237. marais noir: black tide.

p. 240. j’ai des ennuis: I have worries.

p. 240. topinambour: tuber of the girasole; pun on ‘pun’ (‘calembour’).

p. 240. on n’est pas etc: what scurvy behavior.

p. 241. Tapper: ‘Wild Violet’, as well as ‘Birdfoot’ (p. 242), reflects the ‘pansy’ character of Van’s adversary and of the two seconds.

p. 242. Rafin, Esq.: pun on ‘Rafinesque’, after whom a violet is named.

p. 242. Do-Re-La: ‘Ladore’ musically jumbled.

p. 244. partie etc.: picnic.

p. 246. palata: Russ., ward.

p. 248. tvoyu mat’: Russ., ‘Thy mother’: the end of a popular Russian oath.

p. 249. Ich bin etc.: Germ., I’m an incorrigible joker.

p. 251. uncle: ‘my uncle has most honest principles’.

(Eug. Onegin, One: I: 1)

p. 255. encore un etc.: one more ‘baby ghost’ (pun).

p. 257. the last paragraph of Part One imitates, in significant brevity of intonation (as if spoken by an outside voice), a famous Tolstoyan ending, with Van in the role of Kitty Lyovin.

p. 260. poule: tart.

p. 260. komsi etc.: comme-ci comme-ç a in Russ. mispronunciation: so-so.

p. 260. mestechko: Russ., little place.

p. 260. bateau ivre: ‘sottish ship’, title of Rimbaud’s poem here used instead of ‘ship of fools’.

p. 261. poshlï y: Russ., vulgar.

p. 262. da: Russ., yes.

p. 262. ce qui etc.: which amounts to the same thing.

p. 263. maux: aches.

p. 263. aril: coating of certain seeds.

p. 263. Grant etc.: Jules Verne in Captain Grant’s Children has ‘agonie’ (in a discovered message) turn out to be part of ‘Patagonie’.

p. 266. Cyraniana: allusion to Cyrano de Bergerac’s Histoire comique des Etats de la Lune.

p. 266. Nekto: Russ., quidam.

p. 266. romanchik: Russ., novelette.

p. 267. Sig Leymanski: anagram of the name of a waggish British novelist keenly interested in physics fiction.

p. 269. Abencerage, Zegris: Families of Granada Moors (their feud inspired Chateaubriand).

p. 271. fille de joie: whore.

p. 275. maison close: brothel.

p. 276. vyshibala: Russ., bouncer.

p. 277. Kü nstlerpostkarte: Germ., art picture postcards.

p. 278. la gosse: the little girl.

p. 279. subsidunt etc.: mountains subside and heights deteriorate.

p. 281. smorchiama: let us snuff out the candle.

p. 283. Marmlad in Dickens: or rather Marmeladov in Dostoevsky, whom Dickens (in translation) greatly influenced.

p. 284. frô lements: light touchings.

p. 286. sturb: pun on Germ. sterben, to die.

p. 288. qui prend etc.: that takes wing.

p. 288. all our old etc.: Swinburne.

p. 288. Larousse: pun: rousse, ‘redhair’ in French.

p. 289. pourtant: yet.

p. 289. cesse: cease.

p. 289. Glanz: Germ., luster.

p. 290. Mä del: Germ., girl.

p. 290. vsyo sdelali: Russ., had done everything.

p. 292. relanced: from Fr. relancer, to go after.

p. 294. coigner etc.: pun (‘to coin a phrase’).

p. 294. fraise: strawberry red.

p. 295. krestik: Anglo-Russian, little crest.

p. 295. vanouissements: ‘Swooning in Van’s arms’.

p. 297. I have not art etc.: Hamlet.

p. 298. si je puis etc.: if I may put it that way.

p. 298. la plus laide etc.: the ugliest girl in the world can give more than she has.

p. 299. Wattebausch: Germ., piece of cottonwool.

p. 299. à la queue etc.: in Indian file.

p. 301. making follies: Fr. ‘faire des folies’, living it up.

p. 301. komondi: Russian French: ‘comme on dit’, as they say.

p. 302. Vieux-Rose etc..: Sé gur-Rostopchin’s books in the Bibliothè que Rose edition.

p. 304. l’ivresse etc.: the intoxication of speed, conceptions on Sundays.

p. 304. un baiser etc.: one single kiss.

p. 307. shuba: Russ., furcoat.

p. 311. é bats: frolics.

p. 311. mossio etc.: monsieur your cousin.

p. 311. jolies: pretty.

p. 312. n’aurait etc.: should never have received that scoundrel.

p. 312. Ashettes: Cinderellas.

p. 314. Sumerechnikov: His name comes from Russ., sumerki, twilight; see also p. 37.

p. 314. zdraste: abbrev. form of zdravstvuyte, the ordinary Russian greeting.

p. 315. lit etc.: pun on ‘eider-down bed’.

p. 316. d’ailleurs: anyhow.

p. 316. petard: Mr Ben Wright, a poet in his own right, is associated throughout with pets (farts).

p. 316. bayronka: from Bayron, Russ., Byron.

p. 317. ré jouissants: hilarious.

p. 317. Beckstein: transposed syllables.

p. 317. Love under the Lindens: O’Neil, Thomas Mann, and his translator tangle in this paragraph.

p. 317. vanishing etc.: allusion to ‘vanishing cream’.

p. 318. auch: Germ., also.

p. 319. é ventail: fan.

p. 319. fotochki: Russ., little photos.

p. 320. foute: French swear word made to sound ‘foot’.

p. 320. ars: Lat., art.

p. 320. Carte du Tendre: ‘Map of Tender Love’, sentimental allegory of the seventeenth century.

p. 321. Knabenkrä uter: Germ., orchids (and testicles).

p. 321. perron: porch.

p. 323. romances, tsiganshchina: Russ., pseudo-Tsigan ballads.

p. 325. vinocherpiy: Russ., the ‘wine-pourer’.

p. 325. zernistaya ikra: ‘large-grained’ caviar (Russ. ).

p. 325. uzh gasli etc.: Russ., the lights were already going out in the rooms.

p. 327. Nikak-s net: Russ., certainly not.

p. 328. famous fly: see p. 109, Serromyia.

p. 328. Vorschmacks: Germ., hors-d’oeuvres.

p. 330. et pour cause: and no wonder.

p. 330. karavanchik: small caravan of camels (Russ. ).

p. 331. oberart etc.: Germ., superspecies; subspecies.

p. 332. spazmochka: Russ., little spasm.

p. 333. bretteur: duelling bravo.

p. 333. au fond: actually.

p. 335. fokus-pokus: Russ., bogus magic.

p. 336. au dire etc.: according to the reviewers.

p. 336. finestra, sestra: Ital., window, sister.

p. 337. Arinushka: Russ., folksy diminutive of ‘Irina’.

p. 337. oh qui me rendra etc.: Oh, who’ll give me back

my hill and the big oak.

p. 338. sekundant: Russ., second.

p. 338. puerulus: Lat., little lad.

p. 338. matovaya: Russ., dull-toned.

p. 339. en robe etc.: in a pink and green dress.

p. 341. R4: ‘rook four’, a chess indication of position (pun on the woman’s name).

p. 343. c’est le mot: that’s the right word.

p. 344. pleureuses: widow’s weeds.

p. 345. Bozhe moy: Russ., good Heavens.

p. 349. ridge: money.

p. 351. secondes pensé es etc.: second thoughts are the good ones.

p. 351. bonne: housemaid.

p. 354. dyakon: deacon.

p. 355. dé solé etc.: distressed at being unable to be with you.

p. 356. So you are married, etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Eight: XVIII: 1-4.

p. 357 za tvoyo etc.: Russ., your health.

p. 358. guvernantka etc.: Russ., governess-novelist.

p. 359. moue: little grimace.

p. 361. affalé s etc.: sprawling in their armchairs.

p. 362. bouffant: puffed up.

p. 362. gueule etc.: simian facial angle.

p. 362. grustnoe etc.: Russ., she addresses him as ‘my sad bliss’.

p. 363. troué s: with a hole or holes.

p. 363. engripped: from prendre en grippe, to conceive a dislike.

p. 364. pravoslavnaya: Russ., Greek-Orthodox.

p. 366. das auch noch: Germ., and that too.

p. 366. pendant que je etc.: while I am skiing.

p. 372. Vesti: Russ., News.

p. 375. Obst: Germ., fruit.

p. 378. I love you with a brother’s love etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Four: XVI: 3-4.

p. 379. cootooriay etc.: mispronunciation of ‘couturier’, dressmaker, ‘vous avez entendu’, you’ve heard (about him).

p. 379. tu sais etc.: you know it will kill me.

p. 381. Insiste etc.: quotation from St Augustine.

p. 381. Henry: Henry James’ style is suggested by the italicized ‘had’.

p. 383. en laid et en lard: in an ugly and fleshy version.

p. 383. emptovato: Anglo-Russian, rather empty.

p. 385. slip: Fr., panties.

p. 387. pudeur: modesty, delicacy.

p. 388. prosit: Germ., your health.

p. 389. Dimanche etc.: Sunday. Lunch on the grass. Everybody stinks. My mother-in-law swallows her dentures. Her little bitch, etc. After which, etc. (see p. 375, a painter’s diary Lucette has been reading).

p. 389. Nox: Lat., at night.

p. 392. Cher ami, etc.: Dear friend, my husband and I, were deeply upset by the frightful news. It was to me — and this I’ll always remember — that practically on the eve of her death the poor girl addressed herself to arrange things on the Tobakoff, which is always crowded and which from now on I’ll never take again, slightly out of superstition and very much out of sympathy for gentle, tender Lucette. I had been so happy to do all I could, as somebody had told me that you would be there too. Actually, she said so herself; she seemed so joyful to spend a few days on the upper deck with her dear cousin! The psychology of suicide is a mystery that no scientist can explain. I have never shed so many tears, it almost makes me drop my pen. We return to Malbrook around mid-August. Yours ever.

p. 394. And o’er the summits of the Tacit etc.: parody of four lines in Lermontov’s The Demon (see also p. 115).

p. 394. le beau té né breux: wrapt in Byronic gloom.

p. 398. que sais-je: what do I know.

p. 398. Merci etc.: My infinite thanks.

p. 399. cameriere: Ital., hotel manservant who carries the luggage upstairs, vacuum-cleans the rooms, etc.

p. 400. libretto: that of the opera Eugene Onegin, a travesty of Pushkin’s poem

p. 402. korrektnï y: Russ., correct.

p. 402. hobereau: country squire.

p. 402. cart de van: Amer., mispronunciation of carte des vins.

p. 402. zhidovskaya: Russ. (vulg. ), Jewish.

p. 403. je veux etc.: I want to get hold of you, my dear.

p. 403. enfin: in short.

p. 403. Luzon: Amer., mispronunciation of ‘Lausanne’.

p. 403. lieu: place.

p. 405. (a pause): This and the whole conversation parody Chekhov’s mannerisms.

p. 406. muirninochka: Hiberno-Russian caressive term.

p. 406. potins de famille: family gossip.

p. 407. terriblement etc.: terribly grand and all that, she likes to tease him by saying that a simple farmer like him should not have married the daughter of an actress and an art dealer.

p. 407. je dois etc.: I must watch my weight.

p. 407. Olorinus: from Lat. olor, swan (Leda’s lover).

p. 407. lenclose: distorted ‘clothes’ (influenced by ‘Ninon de Lenclos’), the courtesan in Vere de Vere’s novel mentioned above.

p. 408. Aleksey etc.: Vronski and his mistress.

p. 409. phrase etc.: stock phrase.

p. 409. She Yawns: Chillon’s.

p. 409. D’Onsky: see p. 17.

p. 409. comme etc.: shedding floods of tears.

p. 410. N’a pas le verbe etc.: lacks the gift of the gab.

p. 411. chiens etc.: dogs not allowed.

p. 412. rieuses: black-headed gulls.

p. 413. Golos etc.: Russ., The Phoenix Voice, Russian language newspaper in Arizona.

p. 413. la voix etc.: the brassy voice telephoned... the trumpet did not sound pleased this morning.

p. 413. contretemps: mishap.

p. 416. phalè ne: moth (see also p. 111).

p. 416. tu sais etc.: you know it will kill me.

p. 416. Bozhe moy: Russ., oh, my God.

p. 419. et trè ve etc.: and enough of that painted-ceiling style of mine.

p. 422. ardis: arrow.

p. 422. ponder: pun on Fr. pondre, to lay an egg (allusion to the problem what came first, egg or hen).

p. 424. anime etc.: Lat., soul.

p. 424. assassin pun: a pun on pointe assassine (from a poem by Verlaine).

p. 424. Lacrimaval: Italo-Swiss. Pseudo-place-name, ‘vale of tears’.

p. 426. coup de volant: one twist of the steering wheel.

p. 428. dream-delta: allusion to the disintegration of an imaginary element.

p. 432. unfortunate thinker: Samuel Alexander, English philosopher.

p. 434. Villa Jolana: named in honor of a butterfly, belonging to the subgenus Jolana, which breeds in the Pfynwald (see also p. 103).

p. 434. Vinn Landè re: French distortion of ‘Vinelander’.

p. 435. a la sonde: in soundings (for the same ship see p. 408).

p. 436. Comment etc.: what’s that? no, no, not 88, but 86.

p. 439. droits etc.: custom-house dues.

p. 439. aprè s tout: after all.

p. 439. on peut etc.: see p. 194.

p. 439. lucubratiuncula: bit of writing in the lamplight.

p. 439. duvet: fluff.

p. 442. simpler: simpler to take off from the balcony.

p. 442. mermaid: allusion to Lucette.

p. 445. Stepan Nootkin: Van’s valet.

p. 450. blyadushki: little whores (echo of p. 323).

p. 450. Blitzpartien: Germ., quickies (quick chess games).

p. 452. Compitalia: Lat., crossroads.

p. 453. E, p, i: referring to ‘epistemic’ (see above).

p. 457. j’ai tâ té etc.: I have known two Lesbians in my life, that’s enough.

p. 457. terme etc.: term one avoids using.

p. 459. le bouquin... gueri, etc.: the book... cured of all its snags.

p. 460. quell livre etc.: what a book, good God.

p. 460. gamine: lassie.