Annotations to Ada (9)Part I

Chapter 27

The Kyoto Reading Circle
The following members of the Kyoto Reading Circle are equally responsible for the text here:
Chizuko Inoue, Gen’ichiro Itakura, Satoko Ito, Izumi Matoba, Maya Minao, Shoko Miura, YurikoMorita, Akiko Nakata, Keiko Nishiyama, Shun’ichiro Akikusa, Sumi Ota, Tadashi Wakashima,
Motoko Yoshikawa.
Page and line references are to the Vintage International edition.

163.14: the Common: Count de Prey’s duel on Boston Common. Cf. 90.11-13: “Rathersoon (skorovato) she consoled herself,” remarked Marina, alluding to the death of theCount killed in a pistol duel on Boston Common a couple of years ago.”
163.18-20: Blindman’s Buff . . . Scrabble and Snap: the two sets of alliterations
suggest their growth in a progression from B to S in the alphabet.
163.19: babes: A play on “babes in the wood.” In the French translation, this word
appears as “poucette” (screw), the feminine form of Le Poucet (Tom Thumb) whichreminds us of Lucette.
164.01: She’s a budding Duse: Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) was a rivalof Sarah Bernhardt and played the part of Juliet at the age of 16, at about the same age
as Cordelia here.
164.02: prof push: “prof” here comes from “professional?” In the French version,
only this part is replaced with an English word, “piston-party,” whose meaning is notclear. The Russian version uses the words meaning “pro-push.”
164.02-04: “You’ll stick to Cordula de Prey, I, to Cordelia O’Leary.” “D’accord.”:
A series of rhyming. “D’accord” points to the close proximity of the two names. Later,Van combines Ada and Cordula into “Ardula.”164.29: not Tiltil, that’s in Blue Beard . . . : Beard-bird pun. This part reminds us of
Maeterlinck’s Blue Bird in which Tiltil is one of the protagonists, and that leads us tofocus on “Mytilène” which reminds us of the name of the other protagonist in Blue Bird.

Also, the combination of the words “Tiltil” and the “B” in “Blue Beard” may imply theconnection behind these key words and Mytilène by reminding us of “Bilitis.” See thenote on Mytilène.
165.02: Mytilène, a petite isle, by Louis Pierre: Mytilene is another name for theisland of Lesbos in Greece. Pierre Louys treated lesbianism as a theme in his works,
and the second chapter of his Les Chansons de Bilitis is entitled Mytilène. Bilitis is apoetess in ancient Greece. Les Chansons de Bilitis appears as “Bilitis” later on. See
194.28.
165.3: “garbotosh”: “Garbo” (Fr. garbage) refers to the “meddlesome garbage
collector” who appears in 163:14-15, but also can mean “Garboesque,” with which the“prof-push” becomes relevant. The actress Greta Garbo is remembered for her mannish
roles in Garbo hat and trenchcoat. Cordula is compared to Garbo because of her“meddlesomeness” as well as the suggestion of her lesbianism. D. Barton Johnson in his
30 August 2003 posting to NABOKV-L connects Cordula’s similarity to Garbo and thefilm “Anna Christie,” based on Eugene O’Neill’s play, in which Garbo plays her firsttalking role as a reformed prostitute and man-hater. Garbo “was widely rumored to havelesbian lovers” Read Don Johnson at site below.
http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0308&L=nabokv-l&P=R101449
A photograph of Garbo in Garboesque hat in “Anna Christie” film (1930) by MGM canbe seen at:
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1261/Mptv/1261/6137_0002.jpg?path=pgallery&pa
th_key=Garbo,%20Greta165.6: dry straw and damp: In the French translation, “straw with leaf rust.” When
straw is damp, brown leaf rust (or “orange rust”) spreads and turns the straw brown.
This begins a train of rustic figurative expressions describing Cordula such as“felt-booted apple-cart girls” (165:12) or “apple-cankered” (168:12).
165.10: “sickle folds”: Greta Garbo had these.
165.28: American ambivert: Probably connoting to Van her sexual preferences, both
lesbian and heterosexual. Cordula, “laughing alone,” seems to insinuate that she is“advanced” in a certain way, living in a lesbian paradise at the dorm, where the girls
are heard “whispering French” in their sleep. If we read sexual connotations into theword “French” (slang for oral sex), this would explain the unusual repetition of thephrase “Advanced French.”
166.16: a certified milk-bar: A place outside school where the girls of Ada’s school
are allowed to meet boys. The “milk bar” is a probable allusion to Anthony Burgess’s
the Clockwork Orange (1962). In both the novel and Kubrick’s film version (1971), forwhich Kubrick himself wrote the script, the narrator Alex goes to the Korova Milkbar tohave a milk drink laced with drugs called “milk plus” which is served from the nippled
breasts of coin-operated mannequins and guaranteed to “make you ready for a bit of theold ultra-violence.”
166.20: hoping to use his magic wand for transforming whatever young spinster
came along into a spoon or a turnip: reminds us of the story of Cinderella and it
sounds like folklore as well. The turnip reminds us of “The Giant Turnip,” a well-known
Russian folktale, but nobody is transformed into anything in the story. The spoon
alliterates with “spinster.” The “spoon” may also be linked to the Little Old Mrs.
Pepperpot series by Alf Proysen (1914 – 1970) which features a little old lady whoturns into a tiny spoon-sized woman. The “turnip” suggests that Van thinks that Cordula
is a dunce.
166.26: “two young ramblers are exceptionally prone to intertwine, and a thorn isalways close to a bud”: Miss Cleft, the headmistress, talks in daring metaphors. “[S]he[Cordula] admires Ivan and adores Ada—consequently can only add zest to the zipper”(166.33-167.01) is an example. Her tone is soft, but she is indecent as her namesuggests. She reminds us of the headmistress of Beardsley High School in Lolita.

Contrastingly, Miss Pratt does not intend to, but to Humbert’s sinful ear, she seems
intent on cornering him (Part II, Ch. 11).
167.3: figli-migli: “Low jinks” in the Russian version. It might echo “mimsy-flimsy,” apair of portmanteau words used by Humpty Dumpty: “Well then, ‘mimsy’ is ‘flimsy andmiserable’ (there is another portmanteau for you)” Through the Looking-Glass, Chapter
VI.
167.7: puddles reflecting a sullen sky and the fence of the hockey ground: The first
appearance of the water theme in the chapter. Puddles are one of the important
Nabokovian motifs. They are most obvious in Bend Sinister. Some of the other puddles
are seen in: "It was a pity nobody saw the display in the empty street, where the auroral
breeze wrinkled a large luminous puddle, making of the telephone wires reflected in it
illegible lines of black zigzags" (Pnin, Ch. 4); ". . .a tiny half-dead unfledged bird was
helplessly twitching," under a swaying and dripping tree ("Signs and Symbols"); there
are also some puddles into which several characters step in RLSK.
167.09: “dressed to kill,” … a fellow waiter: An allusion to the death of Lucette,
which repeatedly appears in the chapter. “A fellow waiter” could suggest Ada who will
be responsible for her sister’s death as a sort of accessory to Van.
167.14: And how goes it with you, sweet cousin?: The Shakesperean sounding line
introduces some Shakespearean motifs to the chapter: Romeo and Juliet as referred to,and Ophelia and her drowning.
167.15: a shiny black raincoat and a down-brimmed oilcloth hat: Chapter Motif:
water, black. Cf. “[O]ur black rainbow” (160). The raincoat and hat remind us of a
firefighter, and of course, Garbo’s famous mannish raincoat and “Garbo hat.”(See165.3)

167.16: as if somebody was to be salvaged from the perils of life or sea: Chapter
Motif: death in the sea. Another allusion to the death of Lucette. “[T]he perils of life orsea” sounds slightly strange. Nabokov might change the phrase in order to attract thereader’s attention to the peril of Lucette’s life in the sea.
167.19: Her breath smelled of ether: Motif: Ether. “The last time I enjoyed you,” said
Demon “was in April when you wore a raincoat with a white and black scarf and simply
reeked of some arsenic stuff after seeing your dentist … ” (245). He [Demon] definitely
smelled of ether. Please, please, please go. (Part II, Ch. 10, 438). Another ether united tothe sea appears with Aqua: “[S]he saw giant flying sharks with lateral eyes taking barely
one night to carry pilgrims through black ether across an entire continent from dark toshining sea, before booming back to Seattle or Wark” (Part I, Ch. 3, 21. Belatedly wewould like to indicate that “from dark to shining sea” is from the US Anthem, “from seato shining sea”).
167.19: Her mood was even blacker than his: Chapter Motif: Black.
167.24: there were no survivors, apparently: Chapter Motif: Death in the sea.
168.12: Cordula, apple-cankered: His jealousy makes Van severe about Cordula. Her
dimple is described as “at their worst, the creases down the well-chilled cheeks offelt-booted apple-cart girls” (165). Cordula is often associated with the apple, probably
the forbidden fruit.
168.23: an old pun: As Brian Boyd notes in the LoA edition, amour-propre is "selflove," and it could mean "clean love" while amour sale is "dirty love." If we regard
amour-propre as to mean "proper love," it is, from Van's viewpoint, "heterosexuallove," while amour sale,"dirty love," is "homosexual love." As Darkbloom notes, thepun is from Tolstoy’s Resurrection. In the novel, Missy, a female character, is going tosay the vulgar pun but she does not:“What is it? Comme cela m’intrigue,” said Katerina Alexeevna. “I must find it out. Isuppose it is some affaire d’amour propre; il est tres susceptible, notre cher Mitia.”

“Plutot une affaire d’amour sale,” Missy was going to say, but stopped and looked
down with a face from which all the light had gone—a very different face from the one
with which she had looked at him. She would not mention to Katerina Alexeevna even,so vulgar a pun, but only said, “We all have our good and our bad days”(Ch. 27,Translated by Louise Maude).
Much later, Cordula will be pregnant by Van, which could have a slight allusion toResurrection.
168.24: Proustian pangs: Charles Swan was jealous of Odette’s lesbian lovers rather
than her male lovers; later, Marcel experiences the same pangs caused by Albertine forher lesbian affairs.
168.26: Before his inner bloodshot eye Ada was duplicated and enriched, twinned
by entwinement, giving what he gave, taking what he took: Corada, Adula: To
Van’s eye, as seen in the mirror, Ada and Cordula are entwined inseparably.
169.13: quelque petite blanchisseuse: An allusion to Blanche, who has spied Van andAda. Also a pun on blanche (white) and dirtiness, echoing amour-propre and amoursale.
169.19: Racan: Honorat de Bueil, Seigneur de Racan (1589-1670). French poet, one of
the earliest members (1635) of the French Academy.
169.19: Racine: Racine seduced Thérèse du Parc, the leading actress of Moliere’s
troupe and Moliere’s favorite, and Racine convinced her to leave the troupe. Theepisode might allude to Van’s suspicions of Cordula.
169.24: a slender lady in black velvet, wearing a beautiful black velvet picture hat,
who sat with her back to them at a “tonic bar” and never once turned her head,but the thought brushed him that she was a cocotte from Toulouse: Apparently thelady is Lucette Van will be seeing on the Tobakoff, imitating the advertisement for
Barton & Guestier wines, which imitates Toulouse-Lautrec’s Divan Japonais. Brian
Boyd quotes from this paragraph in his Nabokov’s Ada (160), but thre he does not referto the ghost or future recollection of Lucette.
169.32: a moribund Romeo: “echoes Van’s wild jealousy without object at the end of

Ardis the First” (Brian Boyd, Nabokov’s Ada 160). Another hint of lesbianism.
169.33: grand Joyce after petit Proust: “distracts us by demanding that the allusion beidentified—but much more important is that we resist being diverted from noting thepurity of Van’s hypocrisy” (Brian Boyd, Nabokov’s Ada 161). Boyd identifies theallusion as to recall “the artful clumsiness of Joyce’s Ch. 16, set in the Cabman’s shelter,a small coffee house under the overhead railway lines by Dublin’s Custom House” (Ibidn. 329). We should also remember the washerwoman of Finnegan’s Wake, as we havejust heard Van referring to “quelque petite blanchisseuse.” Cf. “Did he know Joyce’s
poem about the two washerwomen?” (Part I Ch. 8, 54).
170.01: bed-buvard scrawl: As he writes in bed, the letters are scrawled as if they are“bu” by the soft mat of the bed. The expression also suggests Van’s vitality has beenabsorbed in bed.
170.04: her dead-shamming hand: Chapter Motif: Romeo and Juliet.
170.16: Ardula: For the last time, Ada and Cordula look entwined and united to Van’seye.