In response to Aleksei Sklyarenko message below, the KLOP car name he
comments on below indeed means “bug”. I would add
that VN is making a word play on the the very popular German import car
called the “Beetle” in its US import version and popularly known in the US
as the “Bug”. I bought one in Germany and brought it back to the US.
Best. Don Johnson
They [Charlie Everett
and Bel, Vadim's daughter] walked briskly toward their little Klop car,
he half-overtaking her, already poking the air with his car key, on her left, on
her right. (4.7)
Klop is Russian for "bug." In Dostoevski's
Besy Shatov calls Pyotr Verkhovenski klop (a
bug):
- Ýòîò êëîï, íåâåæäà, äóðàëåé, íå ïîíèìàþùèé
íè÷åãî â Ðîññèè! - çëîáíî âñêðè÷àë Øàòîâ.
"He's a bug, an ignoramus, a buffoon, who understands nothing
in Russia!" cried Shatov spitefully. (The Possessed, Part Two, Chapter
One "The Night," VI)
In Chapter Four of The Gift Turgenev, Grigorovich and
Tolstoy call Chernyshevski klopovonyayushchiy gospodin ("the
bedbug-stinking gentleman").
Finally, Klop ("The Bug") is a
satirical comedy (1929) by Mayakovski, VN's "late namesake."
Alexey Sklyarenko
All private
editorial communications are read by both co-editors.