A.Sklyarenko: Speaking of
torf, "peat," Mikhail Prishvin (an agronomist who became a writer, mainly of
children's books, 1873-1954) is the author of a series of essays, entitled
"Torf," about peat-digging. Besides, one of Prishvin's best-known books is
Kladovaya solntsa ("The Sun's Pantry," 1945), about Russian peat bogs...Like
Golovin, the name Prishvin ends in -vin. torf = fort (cf. Californian Fort Ross,
mentioned in Ada: 2.8) = ftor ("fluorine;" the Russian word comes from Greek
phtoros, "decay") = Trofim - im (im is a Russian personal pronoun that means "by
him" and "[to] them").
JM: Whenever I re-read
Nabokov something unexpected catches my attention, which had
slipped by until then.
Why did Van Veen's raised legs
resemble "tarantine sails"? ( A quick search, too quick, revealed that
Mediterranean aggressors, mostly Arabs at that time, only sailed when the
weather was extremely windy, whereas the experienced Greeks only attacked
in times of fair weather.. This might explain a pair of furled sails, who
knows? I must polish up my studies of H.S world history, Pyrrus, punic wars
and such).
Yesterday I wondered why did Ada stress that
their great-grandmother, on the maternal side, was common to Van, Lucette
and she. Their great-great grandmother, Princess Sofia Temnosiniy, was even more
encompassing, she originated (with exogamous help and
branchings) their fathers and their mothers, no? ( if I read the
items in the sur-royally antlered Zemsky family tree correctly*).
Would Ada's words serve to indicate their
nationality and, chiefly, their language? The Zemskys, their
common-root, were Russians. Darya (Dolly) Durmanov was born in Bras d'Or and her
ascendants were Irish and English. The tesselation is wide but the matrix is
Russian.
Sklyarenko emphasizes the
Russian Zemsky/Temnosiniy alliance in ADA, whereas I can only blunder along
some of the anglo-influenced insertions. I hope we will arrive at a nice
composite image of the Anglo-Russian novel.
I'm puzzled about the French (oft quoted,
including in "La Tourbière" and "Centrillon.") and the German or Dutch (Erasmus
Veen?) link.
Turfa/Torf/Peat is formed by decomposing organic
residues. There "phtoros" (decay, following A.S. information) produce
emissions of phosphorescent gases. The dracunculi/rankle association,
add the idea of festering wounded flesh.
QUERY: When Van enthusses about the "dark blue"
association in his velvety family tree, I couldn't discern if he meant
the Zemski-lineage or something related to his own name, Ivan. The
semi-precious "aqua marine" is, more often than not, light blue. Are Van's
"mother's" names related to this "dark blue" reference?
................................................................
* - My glance was only cursory, therefore
addenda and corrections are welcome.