The Zone

Notes

p. 5, Igor Markovich: Igor Markovich Yefimov (b.1937), publisher of the Russian-language edition of The Zone, issued by his US-based publishing house Hermitage Press in 1982.

p. 6, setting off on a wet job: A slang expression for a murder or assassination.

p. 15, a zek: Zek was an abbreviation meaning “prisoner”, especially in reference to Soviet labour camps.

p. 17, Samoyed: A now outdated name for the indigenous peoples of northern Siberia, the Samoyed comprised several ethnic groups living a traditionally nomadic lifestyle.

p. 17, kumzha: Brown trout.

p. 20, To each according to his abilities: A slight corruption of Karl Marx’s famous dictum, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” (in the ‘Critique of the Gotha Programme’).

p. 29, kolkhoz: An abbreviation for kollektivnoye khozyaystvo, meaning “collective farm”.

p. 36, Borya Alikhanov, Pioneer: Pioneers were members of a Communist youth group similar to the Scouts but with stronger political leanings.

p. 40, Vail and Genis: Pyotr Vail (1949 – 2009), Russian-American journalist, writer and editor-in-chief of the Russian-language radio broadcast Radio Liberty. Alexandr Genis (b.1953), Russian-American critic, writer and radio broadcaster, who together with Vail worked on the émigré paper Novy Amerikanets. Dovlatov was the chief editor of Novy Amerikanets and also contributed to Radio Liberty.

p. 41, the Knowledge Society: Founded in 1947 as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge, which focused on delivering lectures and popular writing on science.

p. 41, Once Yakir was a hero… an enemy of the people: Probably a reference to Iona Emmanuilovich Yakir (1896 – 1937), a Bolshevik commander during the Civil War of 1917 – 23 who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner – at that time the highest military honour – for his services. He was later shot at the height of Stalin’s repression in 1937 on a number of trumped-up charges.

p. 42, Morgulis: Mikhail Morgulis (b.1941), writer and evangelist who emigrated from the USSR in 1977 and went on to live in New York, where he became involved in the Russian émigré movement. Morgulis lived near Dovlatov and the two were acquainted.

p. 44, Suurepäraselt: “Excellent!” (Estonian).

p. 44, Kurat: “The Devil take it!” (Estonian).

p. 47, I read a book called Azef: Referring to Yevno Azef (1869 – 1918), agent provocateur and double agent, working for both the Tsarist state security forces and the Socialist Revolutionaries.

p. 47, Gershuni and Savinkov… Rachkovsky and Lopukhin: Grigory Gershuni (1870 – 1908) and Boris Savinkov (1879 – 1925) were both prominent Social Revolutionaries and connected with anti-Tsarist terrorism. Pyotr Rachkovsky (1853 – 1910) and Alexei Lopukhin (1864 – 1928) were, respectively, the head of the secret service and the chief of police under the Tsarist regime.

p. 48, The House of the Dead… The Gulag Archipelago… Chekhov, Shalamov, Sinyavsky: The House of the Dead (1862), by Fyodor Dostoevsky, deals with prison life in Siberia. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago (1973) is a detailed account of the Soviet prison system and Stalinist repression based on first-hand accounts, published illicitly. The word “Gulag” is a Russian contraction for the network of forced-labour camps throughout the USSR. Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904), the great Russian short-story writer and playwright, wrote a lengthy work of non-fiction, Sakhalin Island, on the Tsarist prison exile camps based on personal experience. Varlam Shalamov (1907 – 82) was most famous for his Kolyma Tales, short stories based on his own experience of the appalling conditions of life in the arctic camps of the Gulag, in which Shalamov spent a total of seventeen years under Stalin’s rule. Andrei Sinyavsky (1925 – 97) wrote a number of works dealing with life in the Gulag, after spending time in labour camps from 1966 – 71 for publishing satirical literature abroad under a pseudonym.

p. 48, Simenon: Georges Simenon (1903 – 89), prolific Belgian author, best-known for his stories about Inspector Maigret.

p. 48, in the footsteps of Herbert Marcuse: Herbert Marcuse (1898 – 1979) was a leading neo-Marxist thinker.

p. 53, Nicht verstehen: “Not understand” (clumsy German).

p. 53, Turgenev’s Gerasim: In Ivan Turgenev’s short story ‘Mumu’ (1854), Gerasim is a deaf-mute peasant.

p. 56, a chifir tub: Chifir was a very strong tea drink used as a mild narcotic.

p. 58, Code man: A “Code man”, or “thief in the law”, is someone who lives by the “Thieves’ Code”, a strict set of rules characterizing a unique criminal structure which first appeared in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Traditionally, a “Code man” must have prior convictions, sufficient authority in the criminal world and have been “crowned” (a process not unlike “being made” in the Italian mafia).

p. 58, smoking a Herzegovina Flor: A cheap brand of cigarettes. Stalin famously used the tobacco from these for his pipe.

p. 71, Yevtushenko: Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933 – ) is a very popular Russian poet.

p. 72, Ernst Neizvestny… Harrison Salisbury: Ernst Neizvestny (b.1925) is a prominent Russian sculptor. Harrison Salisbury (1908 – 93) was the Russian correspondent for the New York Times after the Second World War.

p. 74, Lost a leg in the Yezhov times: See note to p. 79.

p. 74, but a lieutenant in the OGPU: The OGPU was one of the many names of the state security services in the USSR, operative from 1923 – 34. Under Soviet Communism, the full list was as follows: The Cheka (1917 – 22), the GPU (1922 – 23), the OGPU (1923 – 34), the NKVD (1934 – 46), the MGB / MVD (1946 – 54) and finally, the KGB (1954 – 91).

p. 76, Sergei Yesenin: Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895 – 1925), one of Russia’s best-known lyrical poets. He committed suicide at the age of thirty.

p. 79, Dzerzhinsky? Yezhov? Abakumov and Yagoda: Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877 – 1926), known as “Iron Felix”, was the architect of the first incarnation of the USSR’s state security services, the Cheka. The Cheka (and its agents, known as Chekists) were infamous for their use of torture and summary executions. Nikolai Yezhov (1895 – 1940) was the head of the NKVD at the height of Stalin’s purges of 1937 – 38, in which millions were tortured, executed or sent to the Gulags. In this role, he was preceded by Genrikh Yagoda (1891 – 1938), who played a significant role in the show trials of 1936, which Stalin used to eliminate former Communist Party officials. Yagoda himself was killed in a show trial shortly after. Viktor Abakumov (1908 – 54) was the head of counter-intelligence during and after the Second World War, and was notorious for his frequent use of torture.

p. 81, Tsvetaeva’s prose: Marina Tsvetaeva (1892 – 1941) was a lyrical poet and writer of critical and autobiographical prose. She spent much of her life in Paris before returning to Russia in 1939. She hanged herself two years later.

p. 82, Do you like Heine?… And Schiller: Heinrich Heine (1797 – 1856) and Johann von Schiller (1759 – 1805), leading German poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

p. 87, The Brighton Beach NEP is working full blast: Here, NEP (short for New Economic Policy) refers to the period in the 1920s in which certain private businesses were permitted under Soviet rule. “NEPmen” were private traders.

p. 87, Professor Eikhenbaum: Boris Eikhenbaum (1886 – 1959), famous Russian literary scholar.

p. 88, the tradition of Mr Dos Passos: John Dos Passos (1896 – 1970), American writer and artist whose USA trilogy employed, amongst numerous other literary techniques, a montage effect. He was said to have been inspired by several of the experimental Russian film-makers of the 1920s such as Vertov and Eisenstein.

p. 89, Abdul Rahman Jami: Jami (1414 – 92) was a Persian mystic poet and scholar.

p. 89, Marshal Voroshilov: Kliment Voroshilov (1881 – 1969), one of the highest-ranking Soviet military leaders and statesmen both during and after Stalin’s reign.

p. 93, Varlam Tikhonovich slightly through Gena Aygi: For Shalamov, see first note to p. 48. Gennady Aygi (1934 – 2006) was a Chuvash poet and translator.

p. 93, euphonic orchestration of the Remizov school: Aleksi Remizov (1877 – 1957), along with other Russian writers of the early twentieth century such as Zamyatin and Bely, were noted for their extensive use of sound play in prose.

p. 94, Babel, Platonov, Zoshchenko: Isaak Babel (1894 – 1940), Andrei Platonov (1899 – 1951) and Mikhail Zoshchenko (1895 – 1958) were all major twentieth-century Russian writers.

p. 95, in the style of Krylov or La Fontaine: Ivan Krylov (1769 – 1844) and Jean de La Fontaine (1621 – 95) – both well-known fabulists.

p. 105, Do you like Lollobrigida: Gina Lollobrigida (1927 – ), an Italian actress and sex symbol, very popular in Europe in the 1950s and ’60s.

p. 125, a Stakhanovite feat of labour: Alexei Stakhanov (1906 – 77), became a Stalinist model worker after mining an enormous amount of coal in one shift, and gave rise to the Stakhanovite movement, encouraging workers to produce significantly over their quotas.

p. 126, a valiant Chekist… colonel in the GPU or the NKVD, condemned by Khrushchev as an associate of Beria and Yagoda: For the Cheka, GPU, NKVD and Yagoda, see second note to p. 74 and note to p. 79. Nikita Khrushchev (1894 – 1971) was Stalin’s eventual successor. He initiated the de-Stalinization of the USSR in 1956 in his “secret speech” denouncing Stalin’s methods to the Twentieth Party Congress. Lavrenty Beria (1899 – 1953) was the brutal leader of the NKVD during the Second World War, responsible for the operation of the Gulag and enormous numbers of summary executions. He was executed on Khrushchev’s orders.

p. 126, Yulian Semyonov or the brothers Vayner: Yulian Semyonov (1931 – 93) and Georgy and Arkady Vayner (1938 – 2009, 1931 – 2005 respectively) were popular Soviet writers of detective fiction.

p. 126, Yemelyan Pugachev… escaped prisoners: Yemelyan Pugachev (1742 – 75) was the leader of one of Russia’s largest armed rebellions against the authorities.

p. 137, You quote her Gogol with Belinsky: Nikolai Gogol (1809 – 52), considered one of the most important writers of the nineteenth century. Vissarion Belinsky (1811 – 48), influential literary critic and intellectual.

p. 148, Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries: Political parties frequently at odds with the Bolshevik Party before their eventual suppression.

p. 149, General Wrangel and the White Army: Pyotr Wrangel (1878 – 1928), General of the White Army during the Russian Civil War (1917 – 23).

p. 151, Stanislavsky: Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863 – 1938), pioneering director and developer of the “Stanislavsky System”, which aimed to make actors relate closely with their roles.

p. 153, Krupskaya: Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya (1869 – 1939).

p. 154, the seventh of November: The anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917 (the seventh of November in the Gregorian calendar adopted after the revolution).

p. 154, the ‘Varshavyanka’: An early twentieth-century Polish revolutionary song.

p. 157, a poem by Mayakovsky: Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893 – 1930), Russian Futurist poet and Soviet propagandist, often seen as the exemplar of Soviet art.

p. 163, Slave of the MVD: See note to p. 74.

p. 169, home-brewed chacha: A strong traditional Georgian spirit similar to vodka.

p. 169, Dzavashvili’s saksan: Another name for a kinzhal, a Caucasian dagger.

p. 170, Vai me! Arunda: “Oh God! Don’t!” (Georgian).

p. 177, fur-lined Chukchi slippers: Traditional slippers as worn by the Chukchi people, from the Chukchi Peninsula near the Bering Sea.