Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0020035, Fri, 14 May 2010 20:16:01 +0400

Subject
Soviet provincialism?
Date
Body
Dear Carolyn,

Belyi isn't a Soviet writer. Neither is Chekhov. He came from medvezhiy ugol (a god-forsaken place) of Russia (Taganrog), but is too great an artist to be dismissed as provincial.

Back to my latest anagram:
Denis Davydov was a famous partizan (guerilla);
ruka (hand) plays a significant part in the stanza of Lermontov's Sashka that I quoted in my previous post;
another interesting variant: kurgan + Tirza = tragik + zurna
tragik - Russ., tragic actor; tragedian; cf. Chekhov's story Tragik ("The Tragic Actor", 1883) and Tragik ponevole ("A Tragic Figure against his Will", 1889), shutka* v odnom deystvii (A Joke in One Act)
zurna - a kind of Caucasian clarinet** mentioned in Lermontov's Demon ("zvuchit zurna, i l'yutsya viny"; Viny, the Veens!!)

*shutka = shtuka
shutka - joke
shtuka - trick; thing
**in the authorial footnote Lermontov says: vrode volynki (a kind of bagpipe)

Alexey

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