A.Sklyarenko [ to JM: "the Caribbean, the place of Demon Veen's fall"] Demon Veen falls (or, rather, disappears) above the Pacific: In the fourth or fifth worst airplane disaster of the young century, a gigantic flying machine had inexplicably disintegrated at fifteen thousand feet above the Pacific between Lisiansky and Laysanov Islands in the Gavaille region. (3.7) The critics of VN's "Strong Opinions"* should be a bit more precise.*I detest not one but four doctors: Dr. Freud, Dr. Zhivago, Dr. Schweitzer, and Dr. Castro (SO, p. 115) Alexey Sklyarenko (who is not a saint and who is not ashamed)

I was once curious about Lisiansky's naval pursuits, Russian fur trade, Bering strait and Alaska, for in "ADA" there are Vasco da Gama(Mascodagama) navigation, Vinelander maps, references to Jules Verne's Captain Grant or to "The Lighthouse at the End of the World" near Cape Horn, uncle Dan's anti-Fogg's circumnavigation, plus other items, some of them dealing with former Russian territories in the New World. I couldn't unravel meaningful links or lurking political ideas that might have encouraged me to probe on, so I stopped. However, as Carolyn Kunin informed me (off List): "There is actually a book - a wonderful book - that discusses 20th century Russian culture in the context of politics in the Russian empire and the Soviet Union. The author of "The Magical Chorus, a History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn" (Knopf, 2008), Solomon Volkov, believes that Nabokov suffered from Nobel Prize envy, and that that explains the viciousness of his attitude to both Mr Turnip and Dr Swissair (I have to admit that that is very funny). Lumbago might also refer to the place where he worked so hard in Africa (Lambarene in Gabon) to bring medicine to the Africans who travelled from hundreds of miles to be treated for various illnesses, including malaria, yaws and leprosy - you know what that means." Perhaps one might find clues besides those that deal with Schweitzer and Pasternak such as why indicate Lisiansky and not Krusenstern?*

* - Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky ( 13 August 1773 – 6 March 1837) was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and explorer of Ukrainian origin [ ] In 1803-1806 Lisyanski as the commanding officer of the sloop-of-war Neva took part in the first Russian circumnavigationof the Earth headed by Krusenstern. They started from Kronstadt, but the ships split after visiting Hawaii and Lisianski headed to Russian America (Alaska). In 1804 the Neva visited Easter Island, and later that year, was essential in defeating the Tlingit in the Battle of Sitka, Alaska. In 1805 he met Krusenstern again in Macau, but they soon separated. Also in 1805, he was the first to describe the Hawaiian monk seal on the island which now bears his name.Eventually, the Neva was the first to return to Kronstadt on 22 July 1806. For this feat Lisyanski was awarded in various ways, including the decoration with the Order of Saint Vladimir of 3rd degree.[ ]A number of places are named after him: Lisianski Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a peninsula of Baranof Island, Alaska, a bay, a strait, a river, a cape in North America, an undersea mountain in Okhotsk Sea and a peninsula by the Okhotsk Sea.(wikipedia)

[ ]Krusenstern was born in Hagudi, Harrien, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire into a Baltic German family descended from the Swedish aristocratic family von Krusenstjerna, which remained in the province after the country was ceded to Russia. In 1787, he joined the Russian Imperial Navy, and served in the war against Sweden. Subsequently, he served in the Royal Navy in 1793-99, visiting America, India and China. After publishing a paper pointing out the advantages of direct communication between Russia and China by Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, he was appointed by Tsar Alexander I to make a voyage to the east coast of Asia to endeavour to carry out the project.Under the patronage of Tsar Alexander I, Count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev and the Russian-American Company, Krusenstern led the first Russian circumnavigation of the world. The chief object of this undertaking was the development of the fur trade with Russian America. Other goals of the two-ship expedition were to establish trade with China and Japan, facilitate trade in South America, and examine California for a possible colony. The two ships, Nadezhda (Hope, formerly HMS Leander) under the command of Krusenstern, and Neva (formerly HMS Thames) under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Yuri F. Lisianski, set sail from Kronstadt in August 1803, rounded Cape Horn, reached the northernPacific, and returned via the Cape of Good Hope. Krusenstern arrived back at Kronstadt in August 1806.[3] Both seafarers made maps and detailed recordings of their voyages.[ ]His scientific work, which includes an atlas of the Pacific, was published in 1827 inSaint Petersburg.The geographical discoveries of Krusenstern made his voyage very important for the progress of geographical science.His work won him an honorary membership in the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1816, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[ ]He was also a member of the scientific committee of the marine department, and his contrivance for counteracting the influence of the iron in vessels on the compass was adopted in the navy [ ].Another legacy is that the Cook Islands in the South Pacific bear that name thanks to von Krusenstern. Previously known as the Hervey (or Harvey) Islands (or Group), he changed their name in 1835 to honour Captain Cook [ ]