How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"That's interesting. Now I understand. Everything is water, vsyo—voda." (3.3.4)
These are Vladimir's Great Aunt Pasha's last words, which Nabokov offers without further context. How does this utterance (and the fact that it's in Russian) relate to language and meaning? Remember: just before this, Nabokov remembers how Aunt Pasha greeted the children in French.
Quote #2
When he resorted to Russian, it was invariably to misuse or garble some extremely idiomatic or even folksy expression, as when he would say at table with a sudden sigh (for there was always something amiss—a spell of hay fever, the death of a peacock, a lost borzoi): "Je suis triste et seul comme une bylinka v pole [as lonesome as a 'grass blade in the field']." (3.4.3)
Check that verb use: "resort"! Uncle Ruka—prim and rich and grumpy as the day prefers French for all but the most trying occasions.