Николай Гоголь. Жизнь и творчество (Книга для чтения с комментарием на английском языке)

Notes

Abbreviations

arch., archaic

It., Italian

coll., colloquial

Lat., Latin

eccl., ecclesiastical

lit., literally

Fr., French

phras., phraseology

Ger., German

pop., popular

hist., historical

Ukr., Ukrainian

Пушкин, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799–1837), Russian writer, founder of modern Russian literature. Author of long poems The Captive of the Caucasus, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, The Gypsies. Poltava), the novel in verse Eugene Onegin, the drama Boris Godunov, the prose works The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin, The Queen of Spades, The Captain's Daughter, and countless lyric poems.

Лермонтов, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814–1841), Russian poet and novelist; author of the novel A Hero of Our Time, the drama Masquerade, the long poems Mtsyri and The Demon, and many lyric poems.

Chapter I

дьячок, sexton, a church custodian performing minor duties

Украина, the Ukraine, lying in the south-west of European Russia, was dominated from the 14th century by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. As a result of the liberation war waged by its people under Bogdan Khmelnitsky in 1648–1654, the Ukraine was reunited with Russia. Today the Ukraine is a Union republic of the USSR.

запорожцы (hist.), Cossacks of the Zaporozhye Sech, the community of Ukrainian Cossacks who lived below the Dnieper rapids (16th-l8th cent.). The Russian for rapids is поро́ги, hence the name zaporozhtsy. These Cossacks were very prominent in the national-liberation struggle waged by the Ukrainians against foreign invaders.

секунд-майор (hist.), officer’s rank in the Russian army in the 18th century, which corresponds to the rank of captain.

десятина (arch.), dessiatine, a Russian unit of land area equal to 2.7 acres (1.45 hectares).

души крестьян (arch.). Under the serf system (abrogated in Russia in 1861) the peasants were attached to the land and fully subjugated to their landlords. A landlord's standing was gauged in terms of the number of his peasants, called "peasant souls".

натуральное хозяйство (hist.), subsistence economy.

Аксаков, Sergei Timofeyevich Aksakov (1791–1859), Russian writer, author of the autobiographical Chronicles of a Russian Family and The Years of Childhood of Bagrov-Grandson. He described his impressions of Gogol in his memoirs My Acquaintance with Gogol.

хутор, in the Ukraine, a settlement outside the boundaries of a village, which could comprise several farmsteads.

храмовой праздник, feast in honour of the patron saint of a given church.

Мазепа, Ivan Stepanovich Mazepa (1644–1709), Ukrainian hetman (Cossack leader). He favoured the secession from Russia, and so defected to the Swedes, who invaded the Ukraine during the Northern War waged by Russia and Sweden.

пасичник (correct form, па́сечник), bee-keeper, someone in charge of an apiary (па́сека).

движимое имущество, movables.

министр уделов (hist.), minister of land grants; he was in charge of the immovable property owned by the Russian imperial family.

Кулиш, Panteleimon Alexandrovich Kulish (1819–1897), Ukrainian author, historian and ethnographer. He wrote a two-volume work The Life of Nikolai Gogol.

разноблюдный, consisting of several dishes.

Безбородко, Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko (1747–1799), Russian statesman, who held the post of chancellor.

находиться на пансионе, to board (to be provided with regular meals, services, lodgings).

Данилевский, Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky (182^-1890), Russian and Ukrainian writer, author of popular historical novels (Princess Tarakanova, Burnt-Out Moscow, etc.).

Фонвизин, Denis Ivanovich Fonvisin (1745–1792), Russian writer, author of the comedies The Dunce and The Brigadier.

Щепкин, Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin (1788–1863), Russian actor, one of the founders of Realism on the Russian stage. He played with great success in Gogol’s comedies and was on friendly terms with him.

инспектор, here hist.: schoolmaster in a public school. He supervised his pupils’ daily life, tuition, etc.

Chapter 2

форейтор (hist.; Ger. Vorreiter), postilion, one who rides as a guide on a horse attached to a coach.

плошка, a primitive lamp, a vessel with oil and a wick.

департамент (hist.), department of a ministry in pre-revolutionary Russia.

коллегии (hist.), here, a state institution. In the 18th and early 19th centuries the collegia were higher executive bodies in charge of different administrative branches. They were abolished in favour of ministries, but the Foreign Affairs Collegium continued to exist until 1832.

Полевой, Nikolai Alexeyevich Polevoi (1796–1846), Russian journalist, writer and historian, publisher of Moskovsky telegraf (Moscow Telegraph) — one of the finest Russian magazines. Polevoi is the author of the many-volumed History of the Russian People, several long stories, novels and plays.

Опекунский совет (hist.), Custody Board in charge of orphanages, which also engaged in savings-bank activities.

инспектор русской труппы (hist.), official who supervised the repertory of the Imperial Theatre’s Russian company of actors (along with a Russian company, St. Petersburg also had a French company).

без нарочитого педалирования, without special emphasis.

столоначальник (arch.), head of a department.

"Отечественные записки", Annals of Our Country, a progressive journal published in St. Petersburg in 1839-84. V. Belinsky was head of the journal’s criticism section in 1839-46.

малороссийский, Ukrainian; before the Revolution, the Ukraine was also known as Malorossia.

Жуковский, Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (1783–1852), Russian poet, author of the romantic ballads Lyudmila, Svetlana, and other works. He was also a renowned translator of poetry into Russian.

Плетнёв, Pyotr Alexandrovich Pletnyov (1792–1865), Russian poet, critic and journalist, editor of the journal Sovremennik (The Contemporary).

Дельвиг, Anton Antonovich Delvig (1798–1831), Russian poet, publisher of the anthology Severniye tsvety (Northern Flowers) and of Literaturnaya gazeta (The Literary Gazette).

Иван-Купала, ancient feast of the summer solstice; observed by the Eastern Slavs, the Ukrainians among them, on June 24 (Old Style); midsummer night.

до времен гетманских, i. e., before 1648; before the hetman became ruler of the Ukraine and head of the Cossack troops.

ковчег, a shrine holding relics; also, Noah’s ark; in this case it means "receptacle*’.

хуторянин, inhabitant of a khutor (see Notes to Ch. 1).

пан, land-owner, man of noble birth.

парубок, (Ukr.) young man, lad.

свитка, wide upper garment.

фактор (arch.), technical manager of a printing establishment.

Мольер, Moliere (Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673), French playwright and actor, one of the founders of modern European comedy. Among his best-known works are L’Avare, Tartuffe, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Le Malade Imaginaire.

Одоевский, Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevsky (1804–1869), Russian writer, critic and philosopher, author of many short and long stories, and plays. Among his best-known works are the philosophical cycle Russian Nights and the fairy-tale Little Town in a Snuffbox.

яко (Ukr.), as, in the capacity of.

великороссийский, the old form for россййский.

Анненков, Pave! Vasilyevich Annenkov (1813–1887), Russian literary critic, scholar and author of memoirs; he prepared the first academie édition of Pushkin’s works for the press.

однокорытники (Gogol’s neologism), schoolfellows.

Гюго, Victor-Marie Hugo (1802–1885), French writer. Author of many poems, the novels Notre Dame de Paris, Les Misérables, Les Travailleurs de la Mer, the dramas Marion de Lorme, Hernani, Ruy B las, Cromwell, etc.

Дюма, Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), French writer, author of the popular novels Les Trois Mousquetaires, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, etc.

Бальзак, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), French writer, author of novels and stories which make up the monumental collection of the Comédie Humaine: Le Chef-d'Oeuvre Inconnu, La Peau de Chagrin, Eugénie Grandet, Le Père Goriot, Les Illusions Perdues, and many others.

Ге, Sophie Gay (1776–1852), French writer.

Жанен, Jules Gabriel Janin (1804–1874), French writer and journalist.

стушеваться, to efface oneself; to be embarrassed.

петушком (coll.), in a swaggering way.

Chapter 3

Белоруссия, Byelorussia, lying in the western part of the USSR, is one of its Union republics.

с обеими столицами. When in 1712 St. Petersburg was made the capital of Russia, Moscow retained its importance as the country’s second capital. After the October

Socialist Révolution Moscow again became the capital city (in 1918).

Аксаков, (Constantin Sergeyevich Aksakov (1817–1860), Russian critic, publicist and poet, one of the foun-ders of the Slavophiie movement. Не was the son of S. Aksakov (see Notes to Ch. 1).

Погодин, Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (1800–1875), Russian historian, writer and journalist, prof essor of Moscow University.

Загоскин, Mikhail Nikolayevich Zagoskin (1789–1852), Russian writer. Author of comédies, stories and novels, of which the most popular are Yuri Miloslavsky, or The Russians in 1612 and Roslavlev, or The Russians in 1812.

Дмитриев, Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriyev (1760–1837), Russian writer of the Sentimentalist school, author of numerous songs, elegies and fables.

Курск, town in European Russia.

станционный смотритель (hist.), postmaster.

навешать оплеухи (pop.), to beat, to give a thrashing.

городничий (hist.), governor of a town.

фельдъегерь (hist.; Ger. Feldjager), war Courier delivering important documents.

адъютант (hist.), aide-de-camp, a military or naval officer acting as assistant to a superior.

титулярный советник (hist.), official of the 9th rank (there were 14 altogether); corresponds to the military rank of captain.

a ты себе и в ус не дуешь (phras.), you are not concerned with anything.

Киреевский, Ivan Vasilyevich Kireyevsky (1806–1856), Russian philosopher, literary critic and publicist: one of the founders of the Slavophiie movement.

Киреевский, Pyotr Vasilyevich Kireyevsky (1808–1856), student of Russian folklore and literary monuments, publicist of the Slavophiie trend. Brother of I. Kireyevsky.

Бодянский, Osip Maximovich Bodyansky (1808–1877), Russian philologist and historian; one of the founders of Slavic studies in Russia.

Максимович, Mikhail Alexandrovich Maximovich (1804–1873), Ukrainian and Russian writer, literary critic, journalist and naturalist. He was a professor at Kiev University.

Баратынский, Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800–1844), Russian poet, author of the long poems Eda, The Ball, The Gypsy Girl, and numerous lyrics.

Надеждин, Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin (1804–1856), Russian critic, student of aesthetics and journalist; he was a professor at Moscow University and published the magazine Teleskop (The Telescope), supplemented by the newspaper Molva (Common Talk).

Станкевич, Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich (1813–1840), Russian philosopher and poet, head of an influential philosophical circle in Moscow.

Белинский, Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky (1811–1848), Russian critic, journalist and philosopher; author of many works devoted to Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov and other Russian writers.

выгрузить из-под спуда (phras.), to discover something, to bring something to light.

адъюнкт-профессор (hist.), associate professor.

Гердер, Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, writer and philologist.

Шлецер, August Ludwig von Schlozer (1735–1809), German historian and philologist who worked in Russia for several years; associate professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Миллер (correct name, Мю́ллер), Johannes von Muller (1752–1809), Swiss historian.

Шиллер, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher and historian.

Аристофан, Aristophanes (c. 445-c. 385 В. C.), author of classical Greek plays, "the father of comedy".

бояре (hist.), boyars; big landowners, Muscovy’s aristocracy

физиогно́мия (arch.) = физионо́мия, physiognomy; facial features, characteristic facial expression.

Дашков, Dmitry Vasilyevich Dashkov (1788–1839), man of letters and high-ranking official who held the post of Minister of Justice in 1832-39.

балагур, joker, jovial fellow.

Котляревский, Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevsky (1769–1838), Ukrainian writer, author of the mock-heroic poem Aeneid.

Гулак-Артемовский, Pyotr Petrovich Gulak-Artemovsky (1790–1865), Ukrainian writer, author of saiirical fables, ballads and lyric poems.

Зябловский, Yevdokim Filippovich Zyablovsky (1763–1846), professor of statistics at St. Petersburg University. His courses in geography were reprinted several times.

дивчина (Ukr.), young girl.

ижица (hist.), the last letter of the Russian alphabet as it existed before the Revolution; represented the vowel [и].

старосветский, old-fashioned, old-world.

кляузник (from кля́уза, cavil, slander), squealer, gossiper.

земность, here: mercantile, ulterior motives.

храм Фемиды, a law court; Феми́да, Themis, is the Greek goddess of justice.

канцелярский (here, a noun), a clerk.

Адмиралтейская игла, the spire of the Admiralty building in St. Petersburg.

типаж, the totality of features characteristic of a certain human type.

детище Петра, i. e., St. Petersburg, which was founded in 1703 by Peter I.

Некрасов. Nikolai Alexeyevich Nekrasov (1821–1877), Russian poet, author of the long poems The Red-Nosed Frost, Russian Women, Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia, and many lyric poems.

Достоевский, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), Russian writer, author of Crime and Punishment.

The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, The Possessed, Raw Youth, etc.

Блок, Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880–1921), Russian poet, author of long poems (Retribution and The Twelve), dramas (The Fair-booth, The Rose and the Cross) and many lyric poems.

Белый, Andrei Bely (pseudonym of Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev; 1880–1934), Russian poet and novelist; author of the novel St. Petersburg.

поручик (hist.), a lower officer’s rank in the tsarist army.

Григорьев, Apollon Alexandrovich Grigoryev (1822–1864), Russian literary critic and poet.

в должность (arch.), to the office, to the place of work.

"…Я сама чтобы лежала возле…", the Persian, whose Russian is faulty, mixes up grammatical forms, using the feminine verb endings instead of the masculine.

палевый, straw pink.

Панаев, Ivan Ivanovich Panayev (1812–1862), Russian writer and journalist who closely associated with V. Belinsky and N. Nekrasov

гомерическая эпопея, a composition resembilng the classical Greek epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, attributed to Homer.

Лажечников, Ivan Ivanovich Lazhechnikov (1792–1869), Russian writer, author of the historical novels The Last Novik, or The Conquest of Livonia under Peter the Great, The Ice House, and The Infidel.

Срезневский, Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky (1812–1880), Russian specialist in Slavonic studies and ethnographer; member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

светлица (arch.), the finest room of a house.

реляция (arch.), written despatch on the progress of hostilities.

Потоцкий, Nikolai Potocki (7-1651), Ukrainian hetman who fought Bogdan Khmelnitsky (see Notes to Ch. 1) and was defeated by him. Stanislaw Potocki (1579–1667), Ukrainian hetman who also fought Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

Остряница (Остраница), Ostranitsa, one of the leaders of the Cossack troops who fought the Poles. He was put to death in Warsaw in 1638.

Ефремов, Alexander Pavlovich Yefremov (1814–1876), member of Stankevich's philosophical circle and Belinsky’s friend; professor of geography at Moscow University.

Садовский, Prov Mikhailovich Sadovsky (1818–1872), actor of the Maly Theatre in Moscow who founded a famous dynasty of actors.

Булгарин, Faddei Venediktovich Bulgarin (1789–1859), Russian writer and journalist with reactionary leanings, who published the newspaper Severnaya pchela (the Northern Bee) and the magazine Syn otechestva (Son of Our Country).

Сенковский, Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky (1800–1858), Russian writer, critic, journalist and Orientalist; he edited and published the magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya (Reader's Library).

Греч, Nikolai Ivanovich Grech (1787–1867), Russian writer, journalist and philologist; at one time he was the copublisher of Severnaya pchela and Syn otechestva.

Павлов, Nikolai Filippovich Pavlov (1803–1864), Russian writer, poet and critic.

Шевырёв, Stepan Petrovich Shevyryov (1806–1864), Russian critic, poet, specialist in literature and a journalist; professor at Moscow University, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Гофман, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman (1776–1822), German romantic writer, author of Der Goldene Topf, Klein Zaches, Meister Floh, Kater Murr, etc.

Тик, Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), German romantic writer, author of comedies (Der Gestiefelte Kater and Der Blaubart), stories, etc.

Chapter 4

духом (coll.), very quickly, in a jiffy.

Свиньин, Pavel Petrovich Svinyin (1787–1839), Russian writer and collector of antiquities.

Бессарабия (hist.), Bessarabia area in the Dniester-Pruth interfluve. At present its principal part is incorporated

in the Moldavian SSR, and its southern part, in the Odessa Region of the Ukrainian SSR.

Соллогуб, Vladimir Alexandrovich Sollogub (1813–1882), Russian writer, author of the novel The Tarantass.

Вяземский, Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky (1792–1878), Russian writer, poet and critic; he was a close friend of Pushkin.

Розен, Yegor Fyodorovich Rosen (1800–1860), Russian poet and dramatist.

фризовый (hist.), frieze, a heavy durable fabric with a rough surface.

пустить пыль в глаза (phras.), to deceive, to produce a false impression.

завязка, an episode that introduces the plot (the opposite of denouement).

Герцен, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812–1870), Russian writer, philosopher and revolutionary figure. Author of the novel Who Is to Blame? the memoirs My Past and Thoughts, the philosophical treatises Dilettantism in Science, Letters on the Study of Nature, etc.

Сосницкий, Ivan Ivanovich Sosnitsky (1794–1871), Russian actor who excelled in comedies and vaudevilles.

Каратыгин, Pyotr Andreyevich Karatygin (1805–1879), Russian comic actor. He also composed and translated vaudevilles. Brother of the great tragic actor Vasily Karatygin.

Григорьев, Pyotr Ivanovich Grigoryev (Grigoryev I; 1806–1871), Russian actor, author of comedies and vaudevilles. He adapted the second volume of Gogol’s Dead Souls for the stage under the title The Adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov.

Панаева, Avdotya Yakovlevna Panayeva (Golovacheva; 1820–1893), Russian writer, author of a famous book of reminiscences.

Смирнова, Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova, nee Rosset (1809–1882), maid of honour of the Russian empress, was on friendly terms with both Pushkin and Gogol.

Виельгорский, Mikhail Yuryevich Vyelgorsky (1788–1856), Russian statesman, patron of the arts and amateur composer.

Крылов, Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (1769–1844), Russian writer renowned for his fables.

Тургенев, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818–1883). Russian writer, author of Sketches of a Sportsman, the novels Rudin, A Nest of the Gentry, On the Eve, Fathers and Sons, Smoke, Virgin Land and other works.

Дюр, Nikolai Osipovich Dyur (1807–1839), Russian comic and vaudeville actor, who excelled in the parts of light-minded dandies and comic old men.

Афанасьев, Alexander Ivanovich Afanasyev (1808–1842), Russian comic actor who played in Moscow; later joined the company of the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Вигель, Filipp Filippovich Vigel (1786–1856), high-ranking official who was close to Russian literary circles and left interesting reminiscences.

Стасов, Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (1824–1906), Russian art and music critic, who upheld the Realist trend.

Андросов, Vasily Petrovich Androsov (1803–1841), Russian journalist and statistician. He worked for the magazine Moskovsky nablyudatel (The Moscow Observer) and later became its editor.

щекотливо, here: acutely, sensitively.

вояж (arch.), journey, voyage.

Chapter 5

фабула, the plot of a literary work.

Сервантес, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616), Spanish writer of the Renaissance, author of the novel Galatea, a book of short stories (Novelas Ejemplares), the tragedy Numancia, etc. It is Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote that made him world famous.

плевать (coll.), here: to treat with contempt, to disregard.

аплодисмент, at present this word is used only in the plural: аплодисме́нты (applause).

вотще (arch.), in vain, for nothing.

Бремен, Оснабрюк, Дюссельдорф, Ахен, Кельн,

Майнц, Франкфурт-на-Майне, Баден-Баден, Bremen, Osnabrück, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Cologne, Mainz, Frankfort on the Main, Baden-Baden (towns in Germany).

Балабина, Maria Petrovna Balabina (1820–1901; married nаmе Vagner), Gogoi’s pupil. The Balabin family took a keen interest in both art and science, and treated Gogol with unfailing friendliness.

Репнина, Varvara Nikolayevna Repnina (1808–1891), maid of honour, a relative of the Balabins. It was through them that Gogol met her at Baden-Baden in 1836.

летопись (hist.), annual chronicle of historical events that took place in a country, a town, etc. Неге, used metaphorically to mean a detailed, thorough description.

меценат, a munificent patron of the arts or sciences (from Maecenas, a statesman of ancient Rome who supported writers).

Генуя, Флоренция, Рим, Genoa, Florence, Rome— Italian cities. In Gogol’s time, Rome was still the capital of the Papal States.

виа (//. via), Street.

Пантеон, the Panthéon, a monument of Ancient Rome: temple dedicated to all the gods.

Крепость Святого ангела, a Roman monument; initially a mausoleum, the Castle of S. Angelo sheltered the Popes in the Middle Ages in times of trouble or enemy invasion.

Собор Святого Петра, St. Peter’s Cathedra 1, one of Rome's finest cathedrals, consecrated in 1626.

Турин, Turin, city in Northern Italy.

страда Ut. strada), Street.

Ива́нов, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (1806–1858), Russian artist who lived in Italy from 1831 to 1858. His main work is the monumental Christ Appearing to the People.

Толстой, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817–1875), Russian writer and poet, author of the popular historical novel Prince Serebryany, the trilogy The Death of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar Fyodor loannovich, Tsar Boris, etc.

Волконская, Zinaida Alexandrovna Volkonskaya (1792–1862), Russian writer, composer and singer. She ieft Russta to hve in Italy in 1829.

Микеланджело Буонарроти, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the Renaissance. He painted the vault frescoes in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgement composition in the same chapel, and sculpted the monumental statues David, Moses, etc. He also supervised the building of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Бернини, Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), Italian architect and sculptor of the Baroque. He designed the colonnade of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

Гольдони, Carlo Goldoni (1707–1793), Italian dramatist who founded the Italian national comedy. Among his comedies are 11 Servitore di Due Padroni (The Servant of Two Masters), La Vedova Sceltra (The Clever Widow), La Locandora (The Mistress of the Inn).

Белли, Gioacchino Giuseppe Belli (1791–1873), Italian poet who left more than 2000 sonnets.

Карамзин, Andrei Nikolayevich Karamzin (1814–1854), son of Nikolai Karamzin; a military officer, retired as colonel of the Guards; he lived abroad during 1836-37.

Карамзин, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766–1826), Russian writer, historian and journalist. Leading Sentimentalist writer, famous for such works as Letters of a Russian Traveller, Poor Liza, and Bornholm Island. His main historical research is the twelve-volumed History of the Russian State.

Тургенев, Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev (1784–1845), Russian man of letters, student of literary monuments and public figure, who spent many years living abroad.

Тургенев, Nikolai Ivanovich Turgenev (1789–1871). Russian statesman and public figure; for his part in the Decembrist movement he was given the death sentence in his absence, and thus became a political exile.

эспаньолка (hist.), the imperial, a pointed beard growing below the lower lip.

Торжок, an old town in Tver Province (now Kalinin Region, Russian Federation).

Пожарские котлеты, chicken rissoles.

половой (arch.), servant in an inn.

осьмушка (восьмушка) (arch.), octavo (8 vo.; one-eighth of a paper sheet).

А що се таке у вас, пане? (Ukr.) What’s that you have, sir?

Зимний дворец, winter résidence of the Russian tsars in St. Petersburg. Zhukovsky iived in the Winter Palace as tutor of the Crown prince.

Валуев, Pyotr Alexandrovich Valuyev (1814–1890), Russian statesman and writer; governtnent minister, later chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

Девичье поле, area in Moscow’s Southwest, in the bend of the Moskva River.

Редкин, Pyotr Grigoryevich Redkin (1808–1891), jurist and specialist in the history of philosophy; professor at Moscow University, later head of St. Petersburg University.

Свербеева, Yekaterina Alexandrovna Sverbeyeva (d. 1892), wife of D. Sverbeyev, a rich landowner, retired diplomat and man of letters; the Sverbeyevs had a literary salon in Moscow.

Боткин, Nikolai Petrovich Botkin (1813–1869), brother of the writer V. Botkin and the distinguished physician S. Botkin, Professor of St. Petersburg’s Medical Academy.

Боткин, Vasily Petrovich Botkin (1811–1869), Russian critic and writer, member of N. Stankevich's circle; he was a friend of V. Belinsky.

невидимая рука, here: Providence, divine guidance.

Панов, Vasily Alexeyevich Panov (1819–1849), writer of the Slavophile trend; a relative of the Aksakovs.

Ганау, Hanau, German town on the Main.

Языков, Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov (1803–1846), Russian poet; he was a friend of both Pushkin and Gogol.

Chapter 6

барыш (coll.), profit, gain.

ценз, qualification; here, a property qualification of owning a certain number of serf peasants.

qui pro quo (Lat.), кви про кво, smth. for, or in the place of, smth. else.

перипетия, peripeteia, a sudden or unexpected reversai of circumstances or a situation.

миллионщик (coll.), millionaire.

приказчик, here hist.:.steward; head, manager of a landed estate.

небречь (arch.), to disregard something, to neglect one’s duties.

без пошатки (coll.), stable, steady (from пошатнуть, to incline to one side).

кувшинное рыло, "pitcher mug"; Gogol uses this expression to describe a hideous face of which the nose is the dominant feature.

праздношатайка (arch.), idler, loafer.

негоция (arch.), commercial transaction.

кулак (arch.), a grabber who is also a thrifty and prudent person.

го́ренка (arch., dim. of го́рница), a small room.

парвеню (Fr. parvenu), upstart; one that has risen above the station in life in which he was born.

казённая палата (hist.), in pre-revolutionary Russia, a province's board in charge of fiscal matters.

повытчик (hist.), registering clerk in charge of the safekeeping of papers received and clerical work.

пассаж, here: a sentence, description, reasoning.

храм Христа Спасителя, the Church of Christ the Saviour was built on the left bank of the Moskva River in 1837-83 after the project of the architect Thon; it was pulled down in the 1930s.

иным ключом, in a different way. Cf. бить (or кипе́ть) ключо́м, to bubble, to be agitated.

глава (arch.) = голова́, head.

ins Blaue (Ger.), into the skies.

нервистый (arch.), nervous, impassioned.

Масальский, Konstantin Petrovich Masalsky (1802–1861), Russian writer and critic, author of many historical novels and tales; in 1842-52 he was the editor of the journal Syn otechestva.

Полевой, Nikolai Alexeyevich Polevoi (see Notes to Ch. I). In 1841-42 Polevoi published the journal Russky vestnik (The Russian Herald).

в сей же самой (arch.), in the same.

Chapter 7

Чижов, Fyodor Vasilyevich Chizhov (1811–1877), Russian man of letters and scientist; associate professor of mathematics at St. Petersburg University.

Иордан, Fyodor Ivanovich Iordan (1800–1883), Russian artist and engraver, author of a gallery of portraits of Russian cultural figures.

Римская Кампанья, Roman Campagna, a hilly plain in Italy. The name is also used in reference to the environs of Rome.

Карлсбад, Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary), health resort in Austria-Hungary (now in Czechoslovakia).

аще не умрёт (arch.), unless he dies, if he does not die.

Феникс, Phoenix, a legendary bird that was consumed in fire by its own act and rose in youthful freshness from its own ashes.

Колизей, the Colosseum (Coliseum), a monument of Ancient Rome; its vast arena was designed for gladiatorial combats and other events.

Монте-Пинчио, Monte Pincio, an area of Rome; a hill with a pine grove.

Бамберг, Bamberg, a town in Bavaria (Germany).

лихоимство (arch.), bribery, venality.

зальцбруннское письмо, Belinsky’s letter to Gogol of July 15, 1847 (New Style), written in the town of Salzbrunn (Germany).

Толстой, Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy (1801–1873), high-ranking official; governor of Odessa, and later of Tver; he subsequently became the Procurator General of the Holy Synod.

Апраксина, Sofya Petrovna Apraksina (1800–1886), sister of Alexander Tolstoy, widow of Major-General V. Apraksin.

Остенде, Ostend, Belgian health-resort on the North Sea.

дабы (arch.), in order to.

Базили, Konstantin Mikhailovich Bazili (1809–1884), Russian diplomat, historian and writer.

Одесса, Odessa, port town on the Black Sea in southwestern Russia.

Пушкин, Lev Sergeyevich Pushkin (1805–1852), younger brother of Alexander Pushkin; military officer and official.

Комаров, Alexander Alexandrovich Komarov (d. 1874), Russian poet; he taught Russian letters at the Second Cadet Corps of St. Petersburg.

Григорович, Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich (1822–1899), Russian writer of the "natural" school, author of stories and novels (The Village, Anton Goremyka, The Fishermen, etc.).

Гончаров, Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (1812–1891), Russian writer. Among his best-known works are A Common Story, Oblomov and The Precipice.

Дружинин, Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin (1824–1864), Russian writer and literary critic.

Калуга, Kaluga, town in European Russia on the Oka River; central town of a province (now, of a region).

Абрамцево, Abramtsevo, the Aksakov family country estate (after 1843) near Zagorsk, in Moscow Province. Today it is the site of a museum.

Даль, Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (1801–1872), Russian writer, ethnographer, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dal wrote short stories, short novels and sketches; but he is famous for his Interpretative Dictionary of the Living Russian Language in 4 volumes.

Веневитинов, Alexei Vladimirovich Venevitinov (1806–1872), brother of the poet D. Venevitinov; high-ranking official and philologist.

Стурдза, Alexander Skarlatovich Sturdza (1791–1854), formerly an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who wrote on religious and political matters.

зазы́в (arch.), invitation.

Толчёнов, Alexander Pavlovich Tolchyonov (d. 1888). dramatist, actor of the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg; later he played in the théâtres of Odessa.

цезура, caesura, a break in the flow of sounds m a Une of verse, marked usually by a rhetorical pause.

Оптина Пустынь, Optina Pustyn, a monastery in the former Kaluga Province, 2 km. from the town of Kozelsk.

Оболенский, Dmitry Alexandrovtch Obolensky (1822–1881), an official; author of valuable memoirs devoted to Gogol.

Шумский, Sergei Vasilyevich Shumsky (1820–1878), actor; from 1841 on, he played at Moscow’s Maly Theatre.

Арнольди, Lev Ivanovich Arnoldi (1822–1860), half brother of Alexandra Smirnova (sec Notes to Ch. 4); he held a job at the office of the Kaluga Governor. Author of memoirs about Gogol.

причаститься (eccl.), to receive the euchanst.

Чернышевский, Nikolai Gavnlovich Chernyshevsky (1828–1889), Russian writer, critic, publicist and scholar of the Revolutionary-Democratic trend. Among his works are the novels What Is to Be Done? and The Prologue, and Essays on the Gogol Period in Russian Literature.

Островский, Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (1823–1886). Russian dramatist of the Realist school; his best-known plays are The Storm, A Lucrative Place, A Generous Heart, The F or est, Wolves and Sheep, and A Dowerless Girl.

Салтыков-Щедрин, Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826–1889), Russian satirical writer, author of sketches, novels and taies (Provincial Sketches, The History of a Town, Messieurs and Mesdames Pompadours, Letters to My Aunt, Poshekhonye, etc.

Манн, Thomas Mann (1875–1955), German writer, author of the novels Buddenbrooks. Der Zauberberg, Dr. Faustus, Joseph und Seine Brüder, etc.

водворился, came and settled in.

Державин, Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743–1816), Russian poet of the Classicist school. He wrote odes, epistles, satires, and tragédies as well as treatises on aesthetics.