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.: shadows and colors.
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