Subject
Eleonora Shnap
From
Date
Body
In VN's play Sobytie (The Event, Act Two), one of the guests at Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party is Eleonora Shnap, the German mid-wife.
As I pointed out before, Shnap was a dog of Olga Knipper, A. P. Chekhov's "German" wife (whom the writer lovingly called moya sobaka, "my dog"). In a letter of September 27, 1903, to his his wife Chekhov mentions Shnap (who held his head nabok, on one side, after he had been run over by a carriage):
Шнапу поклонись и поблагодари его от моего имени, что он не напугал тебя, что шея его не исковеркана.
Дома на лестнице встретил меня Шнап; я, услыша его лай, даже не хотела посмотреть на него, боялась, что уж очень изуродован. Но, представь, если бы я не знала о его несчастии, то, пожалуй, и не заметила бы, в особенности когда он вертится и кружится. Когда спокоен, то только голова немного набок, отчего получается очень умильное выражение, так что смеяться хочется. (from Knipper's letter of September 22 to her husband)
The main character in The Event is the portrait painter Troshcheykin. In the same letter of Sept. 17 Chekhov asks his wife if she is portraited again by Sredin (the portrait is now in the Chekhov museum in Yalta):
Тебя пишет Средин? Да, это удовольствие, но удовольствие, которое можно претерпеть только раз в жизни. Ведь ты уже писалась им, Срединым!
As an artist Sredin is seldom remembered these days, but the Pushkinists know him as the discoverer of the poet's letter of April 25, 1831, to dedushka (Afanasiy Goncharov, Natal'ya Nikolaevna's grandfather). In a letter of October 22, 1831, to Nashchokin Pushkin says that dedushka is svin'ya (a swine) and that Natal'ya Nikolaevna is pregnant:
Дедушка - свинья; он выдаёт свою третью наложницу замуж с 10 000 приданого, а не может заплатить мне моих 12 000 - и ничего своей внучке не даёт. Наталья Николаевна брюхата - в мае родит.
In a letter of October 30, 1833, to his wife Pushkin reproves Natal'ya Nikolaevna (whom he frivolously compares to a little bitch that attracts male dogs) for her coquetry and quotes the saying bylo by koryto, a svin'i budut* (if there is a trough, there will be sows around it):
Ты радуешься, что за тобою, как за сучкой, бегают кобели, подняв хвост трубочкой и понюхивая <тебе задницу>; есть чему радоваться! Не только тебе, но и Прасковье Петровне легко за собою приучить бегать холостых шаромыжников; стоит разгласить, что-де я большая охотница. Вот вся тайна кокетства. Было бы корыто, а свиньи будут.
Svin'ya and svinstvo (swinishness; swinish trick) are also mentioned in The Event (Act Three):
Любовь. А вам не кажется, что это большое свинство? Могли бы хоть эту ночь остаться.
Марфа. Свинство? Свинств я навидалась вдосталь. Тут кавалер, там кавалер...
Мешаев Второй. Начинаю думать, что он просто хотел мне свинью подложить: этим ограничивается его понятие о скотоводстве.
A complete antithesis of Pushkin, Troshcheykin knows that his wife is unfaithful to him but is not jealous. He is mortally afraid of a certain Barbashin and, to protect his life from that dangerous person, hires a private detective. The portrait painter does not notice that the gloomy bandit Barbashin and the ridiculous private detective Barboshin are but two incarnations of one and the same old character: the devil (who is not as terrible as he is painted).
In a letter of May 18, 1836, to his wife Pushkin mentions the devil: чёрт догадал меня родиться в России с душою и с талантом! (the devil arranged that I was born in Russia with soul and talent!)
Pushkin's fatal duel with d'Anthes took place on Wednesday,** January 27, 1837. Russian for "Wednesday" is sreda. The name Sredin comes from sreda (which also means "environment; milieu; habitat; medium;" like seredina, sreda is a form of sereda, obs. "middle").
Before she became an actress of the Moscow Art Theatre (the Vishnevskis and the Stanislavskis are mentioned in The Event), Olga Knipper had spent several years in Polotnyanyi Zavod (the former estate of the Goncharov family in the province of Kaluga).
Blondinka s bolonkoy (the blond lady with a lap-dog) mentioned by Barboshin is an obvious allusion to Chekhov's Dama s sobachkoy (The Lady with a Little Dog).
*cf. bylo by boloto, a cherti budut (if there is a bog, there will be devils in it)
**see Vicomte d'Archiac's letter of January 27, 1837, to Pushkin (d'Archiac was d'Anthes's second)
Alexey Sklyarenko
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As I pointed out before, Shnap was a dog of Olga Knipper, A. P. Chekhov's "German" wife (whom the writer lovingly called moya sobaka, "my dog"). In a letter of September 27, 1903, to his his wife Chekhov mentions Shnap (who held his head nabok, on one side, after he had been run over by a carriage):
Шнапу поклонись и поблагодари его от моего имени, что он не напугал тебя, что шея его не исковеркана.
Дома на лестнице встретил меня Шнап; я, услыша его лай, даже не хотела посмотреть на него, боялась, что уж очень изуродован. Но, представь, если бы я не знала о его несчастии, то, пожалуй, и не заметила бы, в особенности когда он вертится и кружится. Когда спокоен, то только голова немного набок, отчего получается очень умильное выражение, так что смеяться хочется. (from Knipper's letter of September 22 to her husband)
The main character in The Event is the portrait painter Troshcheykin. In the same letter of Sept. 17 Chekhov asks his wife if she is portraited again by Sredin (the portrait is now in the Chekhov museum in Yalta):
Тебя пишет Средин? Да, это удовольствие, но удовольствие, которое можно претерпеть только раз в жизни. Ведь ты уже писалась им, Срединым!
As an artist Sredin is seldom remembered these days, but the Pushkinists know him as the discoverer of the poet's letter of April 25, 1831, to dedushka (Afanasiy Goncharov, Natal'ya Nikolaevna's grandfather). In a letter of October 22, 1831, to Nashchokin Pushkin says that dedushka is svin'ya (a swine) and that Natal'ya Nikolaevna is pregnant:
Дедушка - свинья; он выдаёт свою третью наложницу замуж с 10 000 приданого, а не может заплатить мне моих 12 000 - и ничего своей внучке не даёт. Наталья Николаевна брюхата - в мае родит.
In a letter of October 30, 1833, to his wife Pushkin reproves Natal'ya Nikolaevna (whom he frivolously compares to a little bitch that attracts male dogs) for her coquetry and quotes the saying bylo by koryto, a svin'i budut* (if there is a trough, there will be sows around it):
Ты радуешься, что за тобою, как за сучкой, бегают кобели, подняв хвост трубочкой и понюхивая <тебе задницу>; есть чему радоваться! Не только тебе, но и Прасковье Петровне легко за собою приучить бегать холостых шаромыжников; стоит разгласить, что-де я большая охотница. Вот вся тайна кокетства. Было бы корыто, а свиньи будут.
Svin'ya and svinstvo (swinishness; swinish trick) are also mentioned in The Event (Act Three):
Любовь. А вам не кажется, что это большое свинство? Могли бы хоть эту ночь остаться.
Марфа. Свинство? Свинств я навидалась вдосталь. Тут кавалер, там кавалер...
Мешаев Второй. Начинаю думать, что он просто хотел мне свинью подложить: этим ограничивается его понятие о скотоводстве.
A complete antithesis of Pushkin, Troshcheykin knows that his wife is unfaithful to him but is not jealous. He is mortally afraid of a certain Barbashin and, to protect his life from that dangerous person, hires a private detective. The portrait painter does not notice that the gloomy bandit Barbashin and the ridiculous private detective Barboshin are but two incarnations of one and the same old character: the devil (who is not as terrible as he is painted).
In a letter of May 18, 1836, to his wife Pushkin mentions the devil: чёрт догадал меня родиться в России с душою и с талантом! (the devil arranged that I was born in Russia with soul and talent!)
Pushkin's fatal duel with d'Anthes took place on Wednesday,** January 27, 1837. Russian for "Wednesday" is sreda. The name Sredin comes from sreda (which also means "environment; milieu; habitat; medium;" like seredina, sreda is a form of sereda, obs. "middle").
Before she became an actress of the Moscow Art Theatre (the Vishnevskis and the Stanislavskis are mentioned in The Event), Olga Knipper had spent several years in Polotnyanyi Zavod (the former estate of the Goncharov family in the province of Kaluga).
Blondinka s bolonkoy (the blond lady with a lap-dog) mentioned by Barboshin is an obvious allusion to Chekhov's Dama s sobachkoy (The Lady with a Little Dog).
*cf. bylo by boloto, a cherti budut (if there is a bog, there will be devils in it)
**see Vicomte d'Archiac's letter of January 27, 1837, to Pushkin (d'Archiac was d'Anthes's second)
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/