As I have pointed out before, Bokay in Zemblan mountains (cf.
Sudarg of Bokay) reminds one of Tokay, Kinbote's favorite wine
that Shade agrees to sample but is killed by Gradus as he goes from
his to Kinbote's place:
'A suggestion,' I said, quivering. 'I have at my
place half a gallon of Tokay. I'm ready to share my favorite wine with my
favorite poet. We shall have for dinner a knackle of walnuts, a couple of large
tomatoes, and a bunch of bananas. And if you agree to show me your 'finished
product,' there will be another treat: I promise to divulge why I gave
you, or rather who gave you, your theme.' (note to
line 991)
Thus Shade never learns who Kinbote is, even if
he claims to have guessed Kinbote's secret.
As to numerical symbolism in the excerpt from A. N. Tolstoy's
play quoted in my previous post, I would have never thought of it. Not
that it isn't there, but unlike Anna Vyrubov (a lady in waiting and best
friend of the Empress, a character in Tolstoy's play), the author (whose
stepfather Alexey Bostrom was, by the way, a Russian of Swedish
stock) was no mystic. I think he would have objected to that kind of
reading.
Alexey Sklyarenko