Carolyn Kunin on "Diablonnet": "Oh, I knew something rang
a bell: Dubonnet!"
As for characters, I can only remember now John Shade and his secret
drinking. Of course, there's Gradus (Vinograd=grape// Vinogradus)
whose "whole clan" was on the "liquor business."
John Shade has a book of poems with the title Hebe's
cup* (another added meaning related to "muscat grape"?) and,
perhaps in ADA too, there's a reference to Ganymede** and, most certainly, to
Dionysus.
Social drinking abounds in ADA, served with proficiency
by Bouteillan, Bout and other butlers.
There are strange links bt. Van and Vinelander by a reference to (VD's
notes)p.402. cart de van: Amer.,
mispronunciation of carte des vins. ( cf, "He demanded the ‘cart
de van’ (affording the real Van mild amusement), but, being a hard-liquor man,
cast only a stunned look at the ‘Swiss White’ page of the wine list before
‘passing the buck’ to Ada who promptly ordered
champagne".)
....................................................
* -
Dim Gulf was my first book
(free verse); Night
Rote
Came next; then Hebe’s Cup, my
final float
In that damp carnival,
C.Kinbote writes: Many years ago Disa, our King’s Queen, whose favorite
trees were the jacaranda and the maidenhair, copied out in her album a quatrain
from John Shade’s collection of short poems Hebe’s Cup, which I cannot refrain from
quoting here ...":
The Sacred Tree
The ginkgo leaf, in golden hue, when
shed,
A muscat grape,
Is an old-fashioned butterfly, ill-spread,
In shape.
** - A quick dip in wikipedia:
a. In Greek mythology, Ganymede...is a divine hero whose homeland
was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. He was the
son of Tros of Dardania, from whose name "Troy" was supposed to derive, and of
Callirrhoe. His brothers were Ilus and Assaracus. In one version of the myth, he
is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus.
The myth was a model for the Greek social custom of paiderastía, the socially
acceptable erotic relationship between a man and a youth. The Latin form of the
name was Catamitus, from which the English word "catamite" derives.
b. In Greek mythology, Hēbē ... is the goddess of youth... She is
the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses
of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia, until she was married to
Heracles... her successor was Zeus's lover Ganymede. Another title of hers, for
this reason, is Ganymeda.
. .