Between Dog & Wolf 116-131
A figure in a French pantomime. He's a sad clown who wears all white. In the 17th century, he was pictured as stupid, awkward, and bumbling; in the 19th, he began to be seen as more of a hopeless romantic, in love with the character Columbine.s
pg. 116 — the Graf
A title of German nobility.
pg. 119 — verstas
A verst is a Russian unit of measurement, no longer used, which is equal to about 1.0668 kilometers.
pg. 122 — Chistopol
A town in Russia. During World War II, Chistopol served as a shelter for the Union of Soviet Writers, a creative union to which Boris Pasternak, among others, belonged.
pg. 124 — "started takin measurements of my foot"
Part of how this chapter "Dzynzyrella's" is referencing Cinderella; the slipper is made of the fox, which is also a reference to Ilya, her lost love. In a cyclical way, this mirrors the slipper that Cinderella's lost love finds in the original story.
pg. 129 — Lord, how good it is to be here with You.
Possibly a reference to Matthew 17:4, "Lord, it is good for us to be here," which Peter says to Jesus after witnessing the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is when at the top of a mountain, Peter, John, and James saw Jesus transfigured into a figure of light.
pg. 129 — the Life Everlastin
A reference for the Itil. The dream to sink into the Life Everlastin, if the Life Everlastin is a river, is strangely contradictory; this would result in death. The discussion of the Heavenly Kingdom might clear this contradiction up. After all, in Between Dog and Wolf, nothing is only itself. Just as dog turns into wolf and back again, life turns into death and back again.
