A.Sklyarenko: [do
women ever receive antlers, horns, crowns etc. when husbands cuckold
them?] "Indeed...Apparently, they do not. At least, Dolly Oblonsky
(the namesake of Aqua's and Marina's mother), Steve Oblonsky's poor betrayed
wife, doesn't seem to have... any antlers."
JM: Quite. I was belatedly
unhappy with my example, concerning Bloom's sexual fantasies with Gerty, as
implying in a betrayal. Next, I was also dissatisfied with the
supposition that women could be
similarly marked by their husband's unfaithfulness.
In "Ada" Van's attitude towards
Cordula is very much a "male thing," for his intention is one
of defiling another's man "property" (and of fighting to protect his
own, as you mentioned in relation to Pushkin). A woman's honor, in this
light, doesn't count.
btw: Lucette's ancestry, from all I can gather,
remains unknown.
VN's poem "The Swift" appears in "The Gift",
does it not? Can anyone indicate the page where it was printed, or copy its
translation into English for the List?