Subject
Query: Bend Sinister's Lake Lagodan
Date
Body
Elena Sommers
University of Rochester
eara@uhura.cc.rochester.edu
I have been trying to figure this out for a while. May be someone can help
me: In Chapter 3 of Bend Sinister we learn about Olga's (Krug's wife)
automobile accident "in the gloomy Lagodan mountains of legendary fame":
Almost extravagantly healthy, a regular radabarbara [full blown
handsome woman]: those radiant eyes, tht flaming cheek to which she would
press the cool back of her hand, that shining white forehead with a whiterer
scar - the consequence of an automobile accident in the gloomy Lagodan
mountains of legendary fame (194).
Does anyone have any suggestions about what the "Lagodan Mountains"
stand for? They are mentioned two more times in the novel as a "Lagodan
Pass" ( the very end of ch.17) and one more time when Krug is threatened to
be disposed of ( can't find the exact quote right now) in the same way they
dispose of logs in Lagodan.
The immediate associations coming to mind: Lake Ladoga and Magadan.
I would also appreciate any ideas about the significance of Olga's accident
itself, when "the crippled crying doe ...rushed into the blinding lights of
the car..." (ch.3, p.194).
Thank you.
Lena.