Envy 65-73, 77
pg 65 — Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (born Feb 11, 1847; died Oct 18, 1931) was a prolific American inventor. He held the world record for number of patents held from his death until 2003. Among these, his most famous were the light bulb and the phonograph, and with those inventions and related contributions, he significantly advanced the fields of electric power and communications. His many inventions were discovered or developed through applied research — meaning, work intended to invent something with a concrete purpose — rather than pure research.
pg 66 — Lilliputians
The Lilliputians are a race of people from the book Gulliver’s Travels. They stand at six inches tall and display primarily mankind’s worse traits. The author of that book, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), was satirizing the corruption of English politicians at the time.
pg 67 — The Atmosphere, Camille Flammarion
Camille Flammarion (Feb 26, 1842-June 3, 1925) was a French astronomer. He is notable for suggesting that Mars could harbor life. The book mentioned, The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology (in French, full title L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire) was published in 1888. In the modern day, it is most notable for being the first appearance of a woodcut illustration shown at right.
pg 69 — Tsvetnaya
More commonly translated as "Tsvetnoy," this refers to a street in Moscow. Notably, it is the location of the Nikulin Moscow Circus.
pg 69 — Petrovsky Heights
This references another street in Moscow.
pg 69 — the Pipe
This refers to a third nearby area in Moscow. Both Petrovsky Blvd and Tsvetnoy Blvd connect to it.
pg 69 — the “fantastic fencer” who “had inherited his father’s legacy”
This reference is thought to be to King Charles’s supporters in the English Civil War (1642-1651), who were called cavaliers. Kavalerov’s name is intentionally supposed to sound like “cavalier,” and so this is thought to draw a parallel between them. However, the fencer has “inherited his father’s legacy,” and Kavalerov has recently been thrown out by a potential father figure in Babichev.
pg 70 — the Pope
The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church. When Envy was written in 1927, the Pope would’ve been Pius XI (1857-1939), who valued peace.
