Subject
devil's joke in The Event
From
Date
Body
IN MEMORY OF DMITRI NABOKOV
Барбошин. Планы у меня грандиознейшие! Знаете ли вы, что я умею подслушивать мысли контрклиента? Да, я буду завтра ходить по пятам его намерений. Как его фамилия? Вы мне, кажется, говорили... Начинается на "ш". Не помните? (Barboshin asks Troshcheykin what is the name of the man who wants to kill him. "I think you've told me... Begins with 'sh.' Don't you remember?" The Event, Act Three)
In a letter of March 27, 1816, Pushkin (who had just turned seventeen) wrote to Vyazemski: "Простите, князь - гроза всех князей-стихотворцев на Ш." (Farewell, Prince - the thunder of all princely rhymesters whose names begin with Sh.)
The troika of gloomy bards whose names begin with Sh was immortalized in an epigram (1815) by Pushkin:
Угрюмых тройка есть певцов -
Шихматов, Шаховской, Шишков.
Уму есть тройка супостатов -
Шишков, наш Шаховской, Шихматов.
Но кто глупей из тройки злой?
Шишков, Шихматов, Шаховской!
Its targets are Shishkov,* Shirinski-Shikhmatov** and the playwright Prince Shakhovskoy. The latter is also mentioned in Eugene Onegin (One: XVIII: 10-12):
There caustic Shakhovskoy brought out
His noisy swarm of comedies,
And there Didelot was crowned with glory...
On the other hand, with his Lyceum schoolmates Pushkin composed "Венчание Шутовского" ("The Crowning of Shutovskoy," 1815). The name Shutovskoy (a play on Shakhovskoy) was derived from shut ("jester, clown, buffoon"). But, as I pointed out before, shut also means "the devil." Shut comes from shutit' ("to joke"). Another noun that comes from this verb is shutka ("joke"). "Святочная шутка" ("A Yuletide Joke," 1830) is a poem by Vyazemski. The author confesses in it that he used to be friends with the devil:
Я с чёртом жил запанибрата.
One of the guests at Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party, Eleonora Shnap (Lyubov's former midwife), says:
Я с мосье Барбашиным всегда была немножко знакома запанибрата, и, конечно, он сделает что-либо ужасное.
(I was always friends with Monsieur Barbashin and he certainly will do something terrible. The Event, Act Two)
It is Shnap's (or Schnapp's) name that begins with Sh! Shnap predicts that Barbashin will do something terrible, while Barboshin (the private detective whom Troshcheykin hired to protect his life from Barbashin) affirms that he can read his counterclient's thoughts and promises that tomorrow he will follow in the footsteps of Barbashin's intentions. Yet, the same night the terrible Barbashin leaves the city for good. Troshcheykin (and the reader) learns about it from the chance words of Mikhey Mikheevich Meshaev (Antonina Pavlovna's last guest). In the old Russian alphabet the letter M (MMM's initial) was called myslete (the obsolete form of myslit', "to think"). Pisat' ["to write"] myslete means "to walk like a drunk." When Troshcheykin points at Barboshin walking under the windows of his flat, Meshaev suggests that it must a late reveler (Act Three):
Трощейкин. Смотрите, как забавно.
Мешаев Второй. Не понимаю. Луна, улица. Это, скорее, грустно.
Трощейкин. Видите - ходит. От! Перешел. Опять. Очень успокоительное явление.
Мешаев Второй. Запоздалый гуляка. Тут, говорят, здорово пьют.
Входят Антонина Павловна и Любовь с подносом.
Антонина Павловна. Господи, как похож!
As she enters with her daughter and sees Osip Mikheevich's twin brother, Antonina Pavlovna can not help exclaiming: "What a resemblance!" But neither Troshcheykin, nor his wife notice that Barboshin looks very much like his "counterclient." Moreover, Barbashin and Barboshin (whose names are practically identical) are but two incarnations of one and the same old character: the devil.
*Vasiliy Shishkov is a story (1939) by VN.
**Shirin and Shakhmatov are characters in The Gift (the writers who appear in Chapter Five).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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Барбошин. Планы у меня грандиознейшие! Знаете ли вы, что я умею подслушивать мысли контрклиента? Да, я буду завтра ходить по пятам его намерений. Как его фамилия? Вы мне, кажется, говорили... Начинается на "ш". Не помните? (Barboshin asks Troshcheykin what is the name of the man who wants to kill him. "I think you've told me... Begins with 'sh.' Don't you remember?" The Event, Act Three)
In a letter of March 27, 1816, Pushkin (who had just turned seventeen) wrote to Vyazemski: "Простите, князь - гроза всех князей-стихотворцев на Ш." (Farewell, Prince - the thunder of all princely rhymesters whose names begin with Sh.)
The troika of gloomy bards whose names begin with Sh was immortalized in an epigram (1815) by Pushkin:
Угрюмых тройка есть певцов -
Шихматов, Шаховской, Шишков.
Уму есть тройка супостатов -
Шишков, наш Шаховской, Шихматов.
Но кто глупей из тройки злой?
Шишков, Шихматов, Шаховской!
Its targets are Shishkov,* Shirinski-Shikhmatov** and the playwright Prince Shakhovskoy. The latter is also mentioned in Eugene Onegin (One: XVIII: 10-12):
There caustic Shakhovskoy brought out
His noisy swarm of comedies,
And there Didelot was crowned with glory...
On the other hand, with his Lyceum schoolmates Pushkin composed "Венчание Шутовского" ("The Crowning of Shutovskoy," 1815). The name Shutovskoy (a play on Shakhovskoy) was derived from shut ("jester, clown, buffoon"). But, as I pointed out before, shut also means "the devil." Shut comes from shutit' ("to joke"). Another noun that comes from this verb is shutka ("joke"). "Святочная шутка" ("A Yuletide Joke," 1830) is a poem by Vyazemski. The author confesses in it that he used to be friends with the devil:
Я с чёртом жил запанибрата.
One of the guests at Antonina Pavlovna's birthday party, Eleonora Shnap (Lyubov's former midwife), says:
Я с мосье Барбашиным всегда была немножко знакома запанибрата, и, конечно, он сделает что-либо ужасное.
(I was always friends with Monsieur Barbashin and he certainly will do something terrible. The Event, Act Two)
It is Shnap's (or Schnapp's) name that begins with Sh! Shnap predicts that Barbashin will do something terrible, while Barboshin (the private detective whom Troshcheykin hired to protect his life from Barbashin) affirms that he can read his counterclient's thoughts and promises that tomorrow he will follow in the footsteps of Barbashin's intentions. Yet, the same night the terrible Barbashin leaves the city for good. Troshcheykin (and the reader) learns about it from the chance words of Mikhey Mikheevich Meshaev (Antonina Pavlovna's last guest). In the old Russian alphabet the letter M (MMM's initial) was called myslete (the obsolete form of myslit', "to think"). Pisat' ["to write"] myslete means "to walk like a drunk." When Troshcheykin points at Barboshin walking under the windows of his flat, Meshaev suggests that it must a late reveler (Act Three):
Трощейкин. Смотрите, как забавно.
Мешаев Второй. Не понимаю. Луна, улица. Это, скорее, грустно.
Трощейкин. Видите - ходит. От! Перешел. Опять. Очень успокоительное явление.
Мешаев Второй. Запоздалый гуляка. Тут, говорят, здорово пьют.
Входят Антонина Павловна и Любовь с подносом.
Антонина Павловна. Господи, как похож!
As she enters with her daughter and sees Osip Mikheevich's twin brother, Antonina Pavlovna can not help exclaiming: "What a resemblance!" But neither Troshcheykin, nor his wife notice that Barboshin looks very much like his "counterclient." Moreover, Barbashin and Barboshin (whose names are practically identical) are but two incarnations of one and the same old character: the devil.
*Vasiliy Shishkov is a story (1939) by VN.
**Shirin and Shakhmatov are characters in The Gift (the writers who appear in Chapter Five).
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/