Electricity was banned on Antiterra, the planet on
which Ada is set, after the so-called L disaster (1.3). What does
L stand for? Perhaps, love (lyubov', Liebe)? Below are two fragments,
in which love is explained as being a kind of
electricity.
Chapter Seven of Heine's "The Baths of Lucca"
begins as follows:
"Was Pruegel sind, das weiss
man schon; was aber die Liebe ist, das hat noch keiner herausgebracht. Einige
Naturphilosophen haben behauptet, es sei eine Art Elektrizitaet. Das ist
moeglich; denn im Momente des Verliebens ist uns zumute, als habe ein
elektrischer Strahl aus dem Auge der Geliebten ploetzlich in unser Herz
eingeschlagen. Ach! diese Blitze sind die verderblichsten, und wer gegen diese
einen Ableiter erfindet, den will ich hoeher achten als
Franklin."
from chapter IV of Chekhov's tale "Tri
goda" ("Three Years", 1895):
"Panaurov expounded
didactically what being in love was, and what it was due to:
'We have in it an example of
the action of electricity,' he said in French addressing the lady. 'Every man
has in his skin microscopic glands which contain currents of electricity. If you
meet a person whose currents are parallel with your own, then you get
love'."
In the same chapter the hero, Alexey
Laptev, refers to himself as Romeo and to his bride, as
Juliet:
"Romeo and Juliet!" he said, as
he shut the novel, and he laughed. "I am
Romeo, Nina. You may congratulate me. I made an offer to Yulia Belavin
today."
The setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet is Verona. The city and its main square, La Bra, are described
in Heine's "The Journey from Munich to Genoa" (chapters
XXIV-XXV):
"Auf dem Platze La Bra
spaziert, sobald es dunkel wird, die schoene Welt von Verona oder sitzt dort auf
kleinen Stuehlchen vor den Kaffeebuden and schluerft Sorbett und Abendkuehle und
Musik."
It seems to me that Goethe, too, speaks of Verona
and mentions La Bra in his "The Italian Journey". (Apologies, I quote Heine in
German. There must be an English translation, but I failed to find it in
the Internet.)
La Bra + pah = palabra +
h
La Bra + ardors = Lara +
Bras d'Or
La Bra + Cain =
Calabrian
Calabrian + b = Caliban + rab =
Casablanca + rib - cas
Verona = Verna + o = Vena [Neva]
+ or = Venera [Erevan] + o - e = vorona + e - o = Lenore Raven + p -
Perlen
pah - Ada's favorite
expletive, the very first word Van hears her say (1.5)
palabra - Sp., word; cf.
"De palabra nace razon...", Ursus's verses in Hugo's L'homme qui
rit
ardors - pl. of ardor;
cf. Ada, or Ardor; cf. "'Ada, our ardors and arbors' - a dactylic trimeter
that was to remain Van Veen's only contribution to Anglo-American poetry"
(1.12)
Lara - female given
name, a diminutive of Larisa; cf. Lara Antipov, the heroine of Pasternak's
"Doctor Zhivago"; cf. Eugene and Lara, the play based on a famous
Russian romance; Marina (Van's and Ada's mother) plays its heroine in a
stage version; Demon (the two children's father) becomes Marina's lover
between the two scenes of this play (1.2)
Bras d'Or - a Canadian
island near the Atlantic coast; on Antiterra, an American province; Prince Peter
Zemski, Van's and Ada's ancestor, was Governor of Bras d'Or (1.1); famous
cognac
Cain - the first son of
Adam and Eve; cf. in Chekhov's "Three years" (ch. IX): "'Come, what were Adam's sons called?' 'Abel and Canel,' Lida
whispered. 'Cain and Abel,' Laptev corrected her."
Calabrian - of or
pertaining to Calabria, a province in S Italy; cf. in Ada (1.39):
"She [Marina] sent a footman to investigate the situation
and tell those Gipsy politicians, or Calabrian laborers, that Squire Veen would
be furious if he discovered trespassers camping in his
woods."
Caliban - Prospero's
slave in Shakespeare's The Tempest
rab - Russ.,
slave
Casablanca - a city
and sea-port in NW Morocco
rib - a bone in the
vertebrate body; God made Eve of Adam's rib
cas - Fr., case; cf.
Van's words to Lucette: "'Spotting Bergson,' said the assistant lecher, 'rates a B minus dans ton
petit cas, hardly more." (2.5)
Verna - on Antiterra, a place in S Patagonia: "...to
the burning tip of Patagonia, Captain Grant's Horn, a Villa in Verna"
(2.1); Russ., faithful (fem. sing.)
Vena
- Russian name of Vienna; vena - Russ.,
vein
or - Fr., gold; cf. Bras
d'Or ("golden arm")
Venera - Russ., Venus
Erevan - Armenia's capital
vorona - Russ., crow
Lenore Raven - another
play in which Marina played the heroine (1.2)
Perlen - Germ., pearls;
cf. Heine: "Du hast Diamanten und Perlen..." (1824)
Alexey Sklyarenko