Ada's narrator and main character, Van Veen, was born
in Dr Lapiner's alpine chalet. From Marina's old
herbarium:
Gentiane de Koch, rare, brought
by lapochka [darling] Lapiner from his 'mute gentiarium'
5.I.1870. (1.1)
Vivian Darkbloom ('Notes to Ada'): Dr Lapiner: for some obscure but not
unattractive reason, most of the physicians in the book turn out to bear names
connected with rabbits. The French 'lapin' in Lapiner is matched by the
Russian 'Krolik', the name of Ada's beloved lepidopterist (p.13, et
passim) and the Russian 'zayats' (hare) sounds like 'Seitz' (the
German gynecologist on page 181); there is a Latin 'cuniculus' in
'Nikulin' ('grandson of the great rodentiologist Kunikulinov', p.341),
and a Greek 'lagos' in 'Lagosse' (the doctor who attends Van in his old
age). Note also Coniglietto, the Italian cancer-of-the-blood specialist,
p.298.
According to Nozdryov, his land swarms with
hares:
"In this field here," said Nozdryov, pointing
his finger at the field, "it's so thick with hares you can't see the ground; I
myself caught one by the hind legs with my bare hands."
"No, you couldn't catch a hare with your bare
hands!" observed the in-law.
"But I did catch one, I caught one on
purpose!" replied Nozdryov. (Dead Souls, Chapter
Four)
The legend says that Zayachiy ostrov (the Hare Island
on which the Peter-and-Paul Fortress was built) in St. Petersburg received
its name because it swarmed with hares. Peter I is even said to have caught one
with his bare hands. Nozdryov's name comes from nozdrya (nostril).
Marina's lover and protégé, the Latin actor Pedro, has beautiful
nostrils of a lynx:
On her other side, crosslegged on a mat,
sat Pedro (surname unknown, stagename forgotten), a repulsively handsome,
practically naked young actor, with satyr ears, slanty eyes, and lynx nostrils,
whom she [Marina] had brought from Mexico and
was keeping at a hotel in Ladore. (1.32)
In a letter to Ada Dr Krolik (whose name means
"rabbit") mentions the Spanish Inquisition:
Finally, Ada showed Van a letter from Dr
Krolik on the same subject; it said (English version): 'Crimson-blotched,
silver-scaled, yellow-crusted wretches, the harmless psoriatics (who cannot
communicate their skin trouble and are otherwise the healthiest of people -
actually, their bobo's protect them from bubas and buboes, as my teacher used to
observe) were confused with lepers - yes, lepers - in the Middle Ages, when
thousands if not millions of Vergers and Vertograds crackled and howled bound by
enthusiasts to stakes erected in the public squares of Spain and other
fire-loving countries.' (1.21)
When Gogol was dying, his agony was made even
worse by doctors (see VN's Nikolay Gogol). Vertograd
being an obsolete word for "garden," one is reminded of Plyushkin's neglected
garden in Dead Souls.
Alexey Sklyarenko