Ibsen's Solness also reminded me of Dona Sol, as Pushkin and
Vyazemski used to call (in their correspondence) A. O. Rosset (Rossetti, m.
Smirnov, 1809-82), after the heroine of Hugo's drama Hernani
(1830). On the other hand, in a letter of (about/not later than) June 27,
1834, to his wife, N. N. Pushkin, Pushkin calls Rosset's husband Smirnov
(whose wife just gave birth to the twins) krasnoglazyi
krolik ("a red-eyed rabbit"):
Какова бабёнка, и каков красноглазый
кролик Смирнов? – Первого ребёнка такого сделали, что не пролез, а теперь
принуждены на двое разделить.*
In Ada, there are the Erminin twins and Dr
Krolik, the local entomologist, Ada's teacher of natural history.
The name Rossetti also brings to mind the poet and
painter Dante Gabriel** Rossetti and his sister Christina, Ada's
"Venezia Rossa" (1.36) and Rossini, the Italian composer whose music Pushkin
compares to Ai (champagne mentioned also in Ada: 2.8) in
Eugene Onegin.
*Apologies, I don't translate this difficult quote
(Rosset's first child was so big that a Caesarean section was needed;
the second delivery went better because the fetus was "divided in
two"). Btw., this and the next letter (of June 28) of Pushkin to his
wife have something prophetic about them and are heart-rending to
read.
**The author of Gavriiliada (the Gabriel poem),
Pushkin fought his fatal duel with Danthès. A fortune-teller predicted Pushkin
that he will die "because of white head" (belonging to man or horse). Danthès
was blond.
Alexey
Sklyarenko