Ada, or Ador: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov
p.138. Lute: from ‘Lutèce’, ancient name of Paris.
p.139. constatait etc.: noted with pleasure.
p.140. Shivering aurora, laborious old Chose: a touch of Baudelaire.
p.142. golubyanka: Russ., small blue butterfly.
p.142. petit bleu: Parisian slang for pneumatic post (an express message on blue paper).
p.142. cousin: mosquito.
p.143. mademoiselle etc.: the young lady has a pretty bad pneumonia, I regret to say, Sir.
p.143. Granial Maza: a perfume named after Mt Kazbek’s ‘gran’ almuza’ (diamond’s facet) of Lermontov’s The Demon.
p.145. inquiétante: disturbing.
p.148. Yellow-blue Vass: the phrase is consonant with ya lyublyu vas, (‘I love you’ in Russian).
p.150. mais, ma pauvre amie etc.: but, my poor friend, it was imitation jewellery.
p.151. nichego ne podelaesh’: Russ., nothing to be done.
p.151. elle le mangeait etc.: she devoured him with her eyes.
p.152. petits vers etc.: fugitive poetry and silk worms.
p.153. Uncle Van: allusion to a line in Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya: We shall see the sky swarming with diamonds.
p.157. Les Enfants Maudits: the accursed children.
p.157. du sollst etc.: Germ., you must not listen.
p.157. an ne parle pas etc.: one does not speak like that in front of a dog.
p.158. que voulez-vous dire: what do you mean.
p.160. Forestday: Rack’s pronunciation of ‘Thursday’.
p.160. furchtbar: Germ., dreadful.
p.161. Ero: thus the h-dropping policeman in Wells’ Invisible Man defined the latter’s treacherous friend.
p.163. mais qu’est-ce etc.: but what did your cousin do to you.
p.166. petit-beurre: a tea biscuit.
p.170. unschicklich: Germ., improper (understood as ‘not chic’ by Ada).
p.173. ogon’: Russ., fire.
p.173. Microgalaxies: known on Terra as Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, by Jules Verne.
p.173. ailleurs: elsewhere.
p.174. alfavit: Russ., alphabet.
p.175. particule: ‘de’ or ‘d’’.
p.176. Pat Rishin: a play on ‘patrician’. One may recall Podgoretz (Russ. ‘underhill’) applying that epithet to a popular critic, would-be expert in Russian as spoken in Minsk and elsewhere. Minsk and Chess also figure in Chapter Six of Speak, Memory (p.133, N.Y. ed. 1966).
p.177. Gerschizhevsky: a Slavist’s name gets mixed here with that of Chizhevki, another Slavist.
p.178. Je ne peux etc.: I can do nothing, but nothing.
p.178. Buchstaben: Germ., letters of the alphabet.
p.178. c’est tout simple: it’s quite simple.
p.179. pas facile: not easy.
p.179. Cendrillon: Cinderella.
p.179. mon petit… qui dis-je: darling… in fact.
p.181. elle est folie etc.: she is insane and evil.
p.181. Beer Tower: pun on ‘Tourbière’.
p.182. chayku: Russ., tea (diminutive).
p.182. Ivanilich: a pouf plays a marvelous part in Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, where it sighs deeply under a friend of the widow’s.
p.182. cousinage: cousinhood is dangerous neighborhood.
p.182. on s’embrassait: kissing went on in every corner.
p.182. erunda: Russ., nonsense.
p.182. hier und da: Germ., here and there.
p.183. raffolait etc.: was crazy about one of his mares.
p.184. tout est bien: everything is all right.
p.184 tant mieux: so much the better.
p.185. Tuzenbakh: Van recites the last words of the unfortunate Baron in Chekhov’s Three Sisters who does not know what to say but feels urged to say something to Irina before going to fight his fatal duel.
p.185. kontretan: Russian mispronunciation of contretemps.
p.187. kameristochka: Russ., young chambermaid.
p.187. en effet: indeed.
p.188. petit nègre: little Negro in the flowering field.
p.188. ce sera etc.: it will be a dinner for four
p.188. Wagging his left forefinger: that gene did not miss his daughter (see p.178, where the name of the cream is also prefigured).
p.188. Lyovka: derogative or folksy diminutive of Lyov (Leo).
p.191. antranou etc.: Russian mispronunciation of Fr. entre nous soit dit, between you and me.
p.191. filius aqua: ‘son of water’, bad pun on filum aquae, the middle way, ‘the thread of the stream’.
p.192. une petite juive etc.: a very aristocratic little Jewess.
p.192. ça va: it goes.
p.192. seins durs: mispronunciation of sans dire ‘without saying’.
p.193. passe encore: may still pass muster.
p.195. Lorsque etc.: When her fiancé had gone to war, the unfortunate and noble maiden closed her piano, sold her elephant.
p.195. Klubsessel: Germ., easy chair.
p.194. By chance preserved: The verses are by chance preserved
I have them, here they are:
(Eugene Onegin, Six: XXI: 1–2)
p.196. devant les gens: in front of the servants.
p.196. Fanny Price: the heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.
p.196. grib: Russ., mushroom.
p.196. vodochki: Russ., pl. of vodochka, diminutive of vodka.
p.198. zakusochnïy etc.: Russ., table with hors-d’oeuvres.
p.198. petits soupers: intimate suppers.
p.198. Persty: Evidently Pushkin’s vinograd:
as elongated and transparent
as are the fingers of a girl.
(devï molodoy, jeune fille)
p.198. ciel-étoilé: starry sky.
p.201. ne pïkhtite: Russ., do not wheeze.
p.202. vous me comblez: you overwhelm me with kindness.
p.202. pravda: Russ., it’s true.
p.202. gelinotte: hazel-hen.
p.203. le feu etc.: the so delicate fire of virginity
that on her brow…
p.203. po razschyotu po moemu: an allusion to Famusov (in Griboedov’s Gore ot uma), calculating the pregnancy of a lady friend.
p.203. protestuyu: Russ., I protest.
p.203. seriozno: Russ., seriously.
p.203. quoi que ce soit: whatever it might be.
p.203. en accuse etc.:…brings out its beauty.
p.203. certicle: anagram of ‘electric’.
p.204. Tetrastes etc.: Latin name of the imaginary ‘Peterson’s Grouse’ from Wind River Range, Wyo.
p.205. Great good man: a phrase that Winston Churchill, the British politician, enthusiastically applied to Stalin.
p.205. voulu: intentional.
p.206. echt etc.: Germ., a genuine German.
p.207. Kegelkugel: Germ., skittle-ball.
p.207. partir etc.: to go away is to die a little, and to die is to go a way a little too much.
p.208. tangelo: a cross between the tangerine and the pomelo (grapefruit).
p.208. fal’shivo: Russ., false.
p.209. rozï… beryozï: Russ., roses… birches.
p.210. ou comme ça?: or like that?
p.213. sale etc.: dirty little Philistine.
p.213. d’accord: Okay.
p.214. zhe etc.: Russ., distortion of je t’en prie.
p.215. Trigorin etc.: a reference to a scene in The Seagull.
p.215. Houssaie: French a ‘hollywood’. Gollivud-tozh means in Russian ‘known also as Hollywood’.
p.216. enfin: at last.
p.217. passati: pseudo-Russian pun on ‘pass water’.
p.217. coeur de boeuf: bull’s heart (in shape).
p.219. quand tu voudras etc.: any time, my lad.
p.220. la maudite etc.: the confounded (governess).
p.220. vos etc.: Franco-Russ., your expressions are rather free.
p.221. qui tâchait etc.: who was trying to turn her head.
p.222. ombres etc.
p.226. qu’on la coiffe etc.: to have her hair done in the open.
p.226. un air entendu: a knowing look.
p.228. ne sais quand etc.: knows not when he’ll come back.
p.229. mon beau page: my pretty page.
p.231. c’est ma dernière: this is my last night in the manor.
p.231. je suis etc.: I’m yours, it’s soon dawn.
p.231. parlez pour vous: speak for yourself.
p.232. immonde: unspeakable.
p.232. il la mangeait etc.: he devoured her with disgusting kisses.
p.234. qu’on vous culbute: that they tumble you.
p.237. marais noir: black tide.
p.240. j’ai des ennuis: I have worries.
p.240. topinambour: tuber of the girasole; pun on ‘pun’ (‘calembour’).
p.240. on n’est pas etc: what scurvy behavior.
p.241. Tapper: ‘Wild Violet’, as well as ‘Birdfoot’ (p.242), reflects the ‘pansy’ character of Van’s adversary and of the two seconds.
p.242. Rafin, Esq.: pun on ‘Rafinesque’, after whom a violet is named.
p.242. Do-Re-La: ‘Ladore’ musically jumbled.
p.244. partie etc.: picnic.
p.246. palata: Russ., ward.
p.248. tvoyu mat’: Russ., ‘Thy mother’: the end of a popular Russian oath.
p.249. Ich bin etc.: Germ., I’m an incorrigible joker.
p.251. uncle: ‘my uncle has most honest principles’.
(Eug. Onegin, One: I:1)
p.255. encore un etc.: one more ‘baby ghost’ (pun).
p.257. the last paragraph of Part One imitates, in significant brevity of intonation (as if spoken by an outside voice), a famous Tolstoyan ending, with Van in the role of Kitty Lyovin.
p.260. poule: tart.
p.260. komsi etc.: comme-ci comme-ça in Russ. mispronunciation: so-so.
p.260. mestechko: Russ., little place.
p.260. bateau ivre: ‘sottish ship’, title of Rimbaud’s poem here used instead of ‘ship of fools’.
p.261. poshlïy: Russ., vulgar.
p.262. da: Russ., yes.
p.262. ce qui etc.: which amounts to the same thing.
p.263. maux: aches.
p.263. aril: coating of certain seeds.
p.263. Grant etc.: Jules Verne in Captain Grant’s Children has ‘agonie’ (in a discovered message) turn out to be part of ‘Patagonie’.
p.266. Cyraniana: allusion to Cyrano de Bergerac’s Histoire comique des Etats de la Lune.
p.266. Nekto: Russ., quidam.
p.266. romanchik: Russ., novelette.
p.267. Sig Leymanski: anagram of the name of a waggish British novelist keenly interested in physics fiction.
p.269. Abencerage, Zegris: Families of Granada Moors (their feud inspired Chateaubriand).
p.271. fille de joie: whore.
p.275. maison close: brothel.
p.276. vyshibala: Russ., bouncer.
p.277. Künstlerpostkarte: Germ., art picture postcards.
p.278. la gosse: the little girl.
p.279. subsidunt etc.: mountains subside and heights deteriorate.
p.281. smorchiama: let us snuff out the candle.
p.283. Marmlad in Dickens: or rather Marmeladov in Dostoevsky, whom Dickens (in translation) greatly influenced.
p.284. frôlements: light touchings.
p.286. sturb: pun on Germ. sterben, to die.
p.288. qui prend etc.: that takes wing.
p.288. all our old etc.: Swinburne.
p.288. Larousse: pun: rousse, ‘redhair’ in French.
p.289. pourtant: yet.
p.289. cesse: cease.
p.289. Glanz: Germ., luster.
p.290. Mädel: Germ., girl.
p.290. vsyo sdelali: Russ., had done everything.
p.292. relanced: from Fr. relancer, to go after.
p.294. coigner etc.: pun (‘to coin a phrase’).
p.294. fraise: strawberry red.
p.295. krestik: Anglo-Russian, little crest.
p.295. vanouissements: ‘Swooning in Van’s arms’.
p.297. I have not art etc.: Hamlet.
p.298. si je puis etc.: if I may put it that way.
p.298. la plus laide etc.: the ugliest girl in the world can give more than she has.
p.299. Wattebausch: Germ., piece of cottonwool.
p.299. à la queue etc.: in Indian file.
p.301. making follies: Fr. ‘faire des folies’, living it up.
p.301. komondi: Russian French: ‘comme on dit’, as they say.
p.302. Vieux-Rose etc..: Ségur-Rostopchin’s books in the Bibliothèque Rose edition.
p.304. l’ivresse etc.: the intoxication of speed, conceptions on Sundays.
p.304. un baiser etc.: one single kiss.
p.307. shuba: Russ., furcoat.
p.311. ébats: frolics.
p.311. mossio etc.: monsieur your cousin.
p.311. jolies: pretty.
p.312. n’aurait etc.: should never have received that scoundrel.
p.312. Ashettes: Cinderellas.
p.314. Sumerechnikov: His name comes from Russ., sumerki, twilight; see also p.37.
p.314. zdraste: abbrev. form of zdravstvuyte, the ordinary Russian greeting.
p.315. lit etc.: pun on ‘eider-down bed’.
p.316. d’ailleurs: anyhow.
p.316. petard: Mr Ben Wright, a poet in his own right, is associated throughout with pets (farts).
p.316. bayronka: from Bayron, Russ., Byron.
p.317. réjouissants: hilarious.
p.317. Beckstein: transposed syllables.
p.317. Love under the Lindens: O’Neil, Thomas Mann, and his translator tangle in this paragraph.
p.317. vanishing etc.: allusion to ‘vanishing cream’.
p.318. auch: Germ., also.
p.319. éventail: fan.
p.319. fotochki: Russ., little photos.
p.320. foute: French swear word made to sound ‘foot’.
p.320. ars: Lat., art.
p.320. Carte du Tendre: ‘Map of Tender Love’, sentimental allegory of the seventeenth century.
p.321. Knabenkräuter: Germ., orchids (and testicles).
p.321. perron: porch.
p.323. romances, tsiganshchina: Russ., pseudo-Tsigan ballads.
p.325. vinocherpiy: Russ., the ‘wine-pourer’.
p.325. zernistaya ikra: ‘large-grained’ caviar (Russ.).
p.325. uzh gasli etc.: Russ., the lights were already going out in the rooms.
p.327. Nikak-s net: Russ., certainly not.
p.328. famous fly: see p.109, Serromyia.
p.328. Vorschmacks: Germ., hors-d’oeuvres.
p.330. et pour cause: and no wonder.
p.330. karavanchik: small caravan of camels (Russ.).
p.331. oberart etc.: Germ., superspecies; subspecies.
p.332. spazmochka: Russ., little spasm.
p.333. bretteur: duelling bravo.
p.333. au fond: actually.
p.335. fokus-pokus: Russ., bogus magic.
p.336. au dire etc.: according to the reviewers.
p.336. finestra, sestra: Ital., window, sister.
p.337. Arinushka: Russ., folksy diminutive of ‘Irina’.
p.337. oh qui me rendra etc.: Oh, who’ll give me back
my hill and the big oak.
p.338. sekundant: Russ., second.
p.338. puerulus: Lat., little lad.
p.338. matovaya: Russ., dull-toned.
p.339. en robe etc.: in a pink and green dress.
p.341. R4: ‘rook four’, a chess indication of position (pun on the woman’s name).
p.343. c’est le mot: that’s the right word.
p.344. pleureuses: widow’s weeds.
p.345. Bozhe moy: Russ., good Heavens.
p.349. ridge: money.
p.351. secondes pensées etc.: second thoughts are the good ones.
p.351. bonne: housemaid.
&
p.355. désolé etc.: distressed at being unable to be with you.
p.356. So you are married, etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Eight: XVIII: 1–4.
p.357 za tvoyo etc.: Russ., your health.
p.358. guvernantka etc.: Russ., governess-novelist.
p.359. moue: little grimace.
p.361. affalés etc.: sprawling in their armchairs.
p.362. bouffant: puffed up.
p.362. gueule etc.: simian facial angle.
p.362. grustnoe etc.: Russ., she addresses him as ‘my sad bliss’.
p.363. troués: with a hole or holes.
p.363. engripped: from prendre en grippe, to conceive a dislike.
p.364. pravoslavnaya: Russ., Greek-Orthodox.
p.366. das auch noch: Germ., and that too.
p.366. pendant que je etc.: while I am skiing.
p.372. Vesti: Russ., News.
p.375. Obst: Germ., fruit.
p.378. I love you with a brother’s love etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Four: XVI: 3–4.
p.379. cootooriay etc.: mispronunciation of ‘couturier’, dressmaker, ‘vous avez entendu’, you’ve heard (about him).
p.379. tu sais etc.: you know it will kill me.
p.381. Insiste etc.: quotation from St Augustine.
p.381. Henry: Henry James’ style is suggested by the italicized ‘had’.
p.383. en laid et en lard: in an ugly and fleshy version.
p.383. emptovato: Anglo-Russian, rather empty.
p.385. slip: Fr., panties.
p.387. pudeur: modesty, delicacy.
p.388. prosit: Germ., your health.
p.389. Dimanche etc.: Sunday. Lunch on the grass. Everybody stinks. My mother-in-law swallows her dentures. Her little bitch, etc. After which, etc. (see p.375, a painter’s diary Lucette has been reading).
p.389. Nox: Lat., at night.
p.392. Cher ami, etc.: Dear friend, my husband and I, were deeply upset by the frightful news. It was to me — and this I’ll always remember — that practically on the eve of her death the poor girl addressed herself to arrange things on the Tobakoff, which is always crowded and which from now on I’ll never take again, slightly out of superstition and very much out of sympathy for gentle, tender Lucette. I had been so happy to do all I could, as somebody had told me that you would be there too. Actually, she said so herself; she seemed so joyful to spend a few days on the upper deck with her dear cousin! The psychology of suicide is a mystery that no scientist can explain. I have never shed so many tears, it almost makes me drop my pen. We return to Malbrook around mid-August. Yours ever.