In 1880, Van, aged ten, had traveled in silver
trains with showerbaths, accompanied by his father, his father's beautiful
secretary, the secretary's eighteen-year-old white-gloved sister (with a bit
part as Van's English governess and milkmaid), and his chaste, angelic Russian
tutor, Andrey Andreevich Aksakov ('AAA'), to gay resorts in Louisiana and
Nevada. (1.24)
The society nickname of Van's father is Demon. Demon is the
hero's father in Blok's poem Vozmezdie (Retribution, 1910-21).
In the Foreword to Vozmezdie Blok mentions "the prophetic article"
Blizost' bol'shoy voiny ("The Nearness of a Big War") that
appeared in 1911 in one of the Moscow newspapers. The newspaper was
Utro Rossii (Russia's Morning) and the article's author, A. P.
Mertvago.
Les Amours du Docteur Mertvago, a
mystical romance by a pastor (2.8), hints
at Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago (1957). The opening
poem in Pasternak's Sestra moya zhizn' (My Sister Life,
1919) is Pamyati Demona (In Memory of Demon).
Alexey Sklyarenko