Subject: second matings & offspring on Terra and
Anti-Terra
ADA I.5: Marina: "I loved to identify myself with famous women.
There's a ladybird on your plate, Ivan. Especially with famous
beauties-Lincoln's second wife or Queen Josephine."
....and
come to think of it, "QUEEN" Josephine???!!!
I wonder if
part of the solution to this question has something to do with the fact that
Josephine (Empress, of course) was first married to Beauharnais and her only
child, Eugene de Beauharnais, proves that, although her marriage to Napoleon was
without issue, she was not infertile. Napoleon's second marriage to the Austrian
Emperor's daughter did result in a child or children, I forget, so he too was
not infertile.
Of course there is the possibility that this could cast
some light on Kim Beauharnais in Ada. His parentage, perhaps? Ivanovich perhaps?
Is he older than Van by at least 8 years (putting Marina at the age of 17 or 18,
certainly a possible parental age)?
Another interesting aspect of this is
that the marriage of Marie-Luisa and the French emperor was the closest thing in
history to the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast." Poor Marie-Luisa had
been raised to think of Napoleon as the actual Anti-Christ, and I think she also
believed he was physically deformed, but I would have to check that. In any case
the poor thing was terrified at the prospect. Her fiance upon first seeing her
ran her upstairs to his bedroom to consummate their marriage before the event*.
Luisa was literally swept off her feet and the marriage was a very sexually and
emotionally happy one for both. Also fruitful.
The Lincoln side doesn't
bring much to my mind. In Ada Lincoln is confused with Milton. The one had two
sons and the other two daughters.
Carolyn
* Interestingly in the
original 1740 version of "la Belle et la Bete," physical consummation also
precedes the wedding.