The buyers inspected with disparagement and curiosity the objects put up for auction. Frau Rothberg examined the dirty underwear, which had not been washed after Schoning’s death; she fingered it, shook it out, repeating, “Trash, rags, tatters,” and raised her bids by pennies. The tavern owner Hirtz bought two silver spoons, a half-dozen napkins, and two china cups. The bed on which Schoning had died was bought by Karolina Schmidt, a heavily rouged girl with a modest and humble air.
Maria, pale as a ghost, stood there, silently watching the plundering of her poor chattels. She held * * * thalers in her hand, prepared to buy something, and did not have the courage to outbid the other buyers. People were leaving, carrying off their acquisitions. Two little portraits in fly-specked and once-gilt frames remained unsold. One portrayed Schoning as a young man in a red kaftan. The other Christina, his wife, with a little dog in her arms. Both portraits were painted boldly and brightly. Hirtz wanted to buy them as well, to hang in the corner room of his tavern, because its walls were too bare. The portraits had been appraised at * * * thalers. Hirtz took out his purse. At that moment Maria overcame her timidity and in a trembling voice raised the price. Hirtz cast a scornful glance at her and began to bargain. The price gradually went up to * * * thalers. Maria finally bid * * * thalers. Hirtz gave up, and the portraits remained with her. She handed over the money, put what was left in her pocket, took the portraits, and left the house without waiting for the end of the auction.
When Maria stepped outside with a portrait in each hand, she stopped in perplexity: where was she to go?…
A young man in gold-rimmed spectacles came up to her and very politely offered to carry the portraits wherever she liked…
“I’m very grateful to you…I really don’t know.” And Maria wondered where she could take the portraits, when she herself had no place to go.
The young man waited a few seconds, then went on his way, and Maria decided to take the portraits to Dr. Költz.
Notes
THE MOOR OF PETER THE GREAT (1827–1828)
1 Yazykov: The poet Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov (1803–1846) was an acquaintance of Pushkin’s. The epigraph is from his historical tale in verse Ala, published in 1826. “Peter” is the tsar and later emperor Peter I, known as Peter the Great (1672–1725), who carried out major political, social, and ecclesiastical reforms in Russia, mainly following European examples.
2. Dmitriev: Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev (1760–1837), poet and statesman, was minister of justice under the emperor Alexander I (reigned 1801–1825).
3. the military school in Paris: Pushkin’s error: the École militaire de Paris was founded only in 1750, thirty years after Ibrahim’s service. Ibrahim attended the school of artillery in La Fère in Picardy.
4. the Spanish war: The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) pitted England, the Dutch Republic, and Austria against the France of Louis XIV and ended with the Treaty of Utrecht. Conflict broke out anew in 1718, when England and France joined in war against Spain, leading to the defeat of Spain in 1720.
5. The duc d’Orléans: Philippe d’Orléans (1674–1723) was the nephew of Louis XIV and regent of the kingdom of France during the minority of Louis XV.
6. Law: John Law (1671–1729), Scottish economist, moved to France, where the duc d’Orléans, during his regency, made him general controller of finance. His monetary theories, put into practice, caused enormous speculation quickly followed by panic and total collapse. Law fled Paris in 1728.
7. the duc de Richelieu…Alcibiades: Armand de Vignerot du Plessis (1696–1788), marshal of France, grand-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu, was a notorious womanizer. Alcibiades (ca. 450–404 BC), of the distinguished Athenian family of the Alcmaeonids, was an orator, politician, and general during the Peloponnesian Wars, in which he changed allegiances several times.
8. Arouet…Chaulieu…Montesquieu…Fontenelle: François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778) wrote under the pen name of Voltaire; Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu (1639–1720) was a poet and wit, prominent in French high society; Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron Montesquieu (1689–1755), lawyer, writer, and philosopher, was one of the major figures of the French Enlightenment, as was Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757), a member of the French Academy, who wrote on a wide variety of subjects.
9. on leaving the convent: i.e., on leaving school; aristocratic girls were sent to convents to be educated, as there were no secular girls’ schools in Russia before the mid-nineteenth century.
10. Derzhavin: Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743–1816) was one of the greatest poets of the generation preceding Pushkin’s. The epigraph is from his ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” (1779).
11. Poltava: The battle of Poltava, fought on July 8, 1709, was a major victory of the forces of Peter the Great over the invading army of Charles XII of Sweden, during the Great Northern War (1700–1721).
12. Menshikov…Dolgoruky…Bruce…Raguzinsky: Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673–1729) was a close associate and friend of Peter the Great; of humble origin, he rose to great eminence but died in disgrace and exile. Prince Yakov Fyodorovich Dolgoruky (1639–1720), of old Russian nobility, was also close to Peter; his ancestor, Yury Dolgoruky, was considered the founder of Moscow in the twelfth century. Count Yakov Vilimovich Bruce (1669–1735), born James Daniel Bruce, of the Scottish clan Bruce, commanded the artillery at Poltava. A learned man and an author, he was rumored among the people to be an alchemist and magician. Young Raguzinsky is probably the son of Count Sava Lukich Vladislavich-Raguzinsky (1669–1738), a Serbian count and merchant who served Peter on important diplomatic missions.
13. Küchelbecker: The poet Vilhelm Karlovich Küchelbecker (1797–1846) was a schoolmate and friend of Pushkin. The lines are from his anti-tyrannical tragedy The Argives (1822–1825).
14. Preobrazhensky regiment…Sheremetev…Golovin: The Preobrazhensky regiment, founded by Peter the Great, became and remained one of the elite regiments of the Russian army; it was formally disbanded in 1917. Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev (1652–1719) was made field marshal during the Great Northern War and was the first Russian to receive the new title of count in 1706. Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin (1672–1737) was admiral of the Russian fleet.
15. Buturlin: Alexander Borisovich Buturlin (1694–1767), of old Russian nobility, became Peter’s court chamberlain.
16. Feofan…Buzhinsky…Kopievich: Bishop Feofan Prokopovich (1681–1736), archbishop and statesman, guided Peter the Great in his reform of the Orthodox Church. Gavriil Buzhinsky (1680–1731) was a learned monk, abbot, and translator. Ilya Fyodorovich Kopievich was a translator and publisher of Russian books in Amsterdam; in fact, he died in 1708, some years before Ibrahim’s return to Russia.
17. blue ribbons over their shoulders: The Order of St. Andrew, the highest order of chivalry in Russia, established by Peter the Great in 1698, was worn on a light blue ribbon over the right shoulder.
18. sarafans and dushegreikas: The sarafan is a traditional woman’s outer garment, sleeveless, trapezoidal, with long skirts, worn over a shirt; a dushegreika (literally “soul-warmer”) is a waist-length jacket worn over the sarafan.
19. Ruslan and Ludmila: A narrative poem by the young Pushkin in six cantos with epilogue, based on Russian folktales, published in 1820.
20. Narva: The Russians fought two battles against the Swedish at the city of Narva, in Estonia; they lost the first in 1700 but won the second in 1704.
21. the order of precedence: An order of preeminence, for instance in seating people at the table, based on aristocratic rank and seniority, set down in the “books of the nobility” and which the tsar himself could not overrule. It was abolished by Peter the Great in 1682.
22. povoinik: A married woman’s headdress, which completely concealed the hair. Peter’s reforms included the “Europeanizing” of clothing and such other details as the introduction of shaving the beard for men.
23. ‘A wife should reverence her husband’: See St. Paul�
��s Epistle to the Ephesians, 5:33.
24. Ablesimov…The Miller: Alexander Onisimovich Ablesimov (1742–1783), librettist, poet, and journalist, wrote the libretto for the opera The Miller—Wizard, Trickster, and Matchmaker, to music by Mikhail Sokolovsky (1756–1795).
25. pancake makers, and heathens: Prince Menshikov (see note 12 above) was said to have sold little pies (pirozhki) in the street when he was young; “heathens” (basurmani in Russian, a corruption of musulmani) refers to the non-Orthodox foreigners (Germans in particular) that Peter was bringing into his service.
26. Prince Bova…Eruslan Lazarevich: Two legendary heroes of European folklore, whose adventures were recounted in widely popular tales published in the seventeenth century with woodblock illustrations.
27. strelets: A strelets (literally “shooter”; plural streltsi) was a member of a special guards unit, originally formed by Ivan the Terrible in the sixteenth century to serve under the tsar’s direct command in opposition to the feudal boyars.
THE TALES OF THE LATE IVAN PETROVICH BELKIN (1830)
1. Fonvizin, The Dunce: Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1744–1792) wrote two satirical comedies that became the first classics of the Russian theater. The second, The Dunce (or The Minor—the Russian title, Nedorosl’, can mean both), considered his masterpiece, was produced in 1782. Mitrofan is the dunce.
“The Shot”
1. Baratynsky: Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800–1844) was one of the major poets of Pushkin’s time; the epigraph is from his poem “The Ball” (1828).
2. An Evening at Bivouac: A story by Alexander Alexandrovich Bestuzhev (1797–1837), who wrote under the name of Marlinsky. It was published in 1823.
3. Denis Davydov: Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (1784–1839), poet and soldier, much admired by Pushkin, wrote what was known as “hussar poetry,” celebrating womanizing, drinking, and friendship. He distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars and was the model for the character Denisov in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Alexander Petrovich Burtsov (d. 1813) was a hussar officer known for his swordsmanship and carousing. Davydov wrote three poems about him.
4. Ypsilanti…Hetairists…Skulyani: The Greek prince Alexander Ypsilanti (1792–1828) served in Russia as an officer of the imperial cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars and then became leader of the Hetairists (Filiki Hetairia, “Society of Friends”), a secret society that instigated the Greek war of independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. They were defeated at the battle of Skulyani, in Bessarabia, on June 17, 1821.
“The Blizzard”
1. Zhukovsky: Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783–1852), poet, translator, and tutor to the imperial family, was an older friend and mentor of Pushkin. The epigraph is from his ballad “Svetlana” (1813).
2. Tula: A city some 120 miles south of Moscow, known since the twelfth century for its metalwork—samovars, cutlery, firearms, seals—and also for its gingerbread and accordions.
3. 1812: On June 24, 1812, Napoleon ordered the Grande Armée to cross the River Nemen and the French invasion of Russia began.
4. Borodino: The town of Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow, was the scene of a bloody and indecisive battle between the French and Russian armies, the costliest in the Napoleonic Wars, fought on September 7, 1812. It was the last offensive action of the French.
5. Artemisia: Artemisia II of Caria (d. 350 BC) became ruler of Caria at the death of her husband, Mausolus, in commemoration of whom she built the splendid Mausoleum in Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Her grief made her an example of pure marital devotion for later artists and writers.
6. “Vive Henri-Quatre”…Joconde: The song “Vive Henri-Quatre” (“Long Live Henry IV”) dates back to the time of the king himself (1553–1610); it gained new popularity in the comedy The Hunting Party of Henri IV (1770), by the French playwright Charles Collé (1709–1783), and is sung by French prisoners towards the end of War and Peace. Joconde (1814) is a comic opera by the French-Maltese composer Nicolas (Nicolò) Isouard (1773–1818).
7. “And into the air their bonnets threw”: A line from the comedy Woe from Wit (1825), the first true masterpiece of Russian theater, by Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov (1795–1829), poet, playwright, and diplomat.
8. the two capitals: A customary way of referring to the old capital, Moscow, and the new capital, St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703.
9. a St. George in his buttonhole: The Order of St. George is the highest military order in Russia, established by Catherine the Great in 1769.
10. Se amor non è…: The opening words of sonnet 132 from the Canzoniere of Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374); the full line is S’amor non è, che dunque e quel ch’io sento? (“If it is not love, what then is it that I feel?”).
11. grande patience: A form of solitaire.
12. St. Preux: The middle-class private tutor who falls in love with his aristocratic pupil, Julie, in the epistolary novel Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (1761), by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778).
“The Coffin-Maker”
1. Derzhavin: See note 10 to The Moor of Peter the Great. The epigraph is from his poem “The Waterfall” (1794), in memory of Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin (1739–1791), general and favorite of Catherine the Great.
2. Pogorelsky’s postman…the former capital: The reference is to a story from the collection The Double, or My Evenings in Little Russia (1828), by Anton Pogorelsky, pseudonym of Count Alexei Alexeevich Perovsky (1787–1836). The “former capital” is Moscow (see note 8 to “The Blizzard”); the city was burned down during the Napoleonic Wars.
3. “with a poleaxe…cuirass”: The quotation is from the tale in verse “The Female Fool Pakhomovna,” by Alexander Izmailov (1779–1831).
4. whose face seemed bound in red morocco: A slightly altered quotation from the comedy The Braggart (1786), by Yakov Borisovich Knyazhnin (1742–1791). Knyazhnin was a famous playwright during the reign of Catherine the Great, the son-in-law and successor to Sumarokov (see note 11 to The History of the Village of Goryukhino).
5. The deceased woman lay on the table: It was customary for a dead person to be laid in state on a table until the coffin was brought.
“The Stationmaster”
1. Prince Vyazemsky: Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (1792–1878), one of Pushkin’s closest friends, was himself a poet and writer. The epigraph is a slightly altered quotation from his poem “The Post-Station.”
2. the bandits of Murom: The dense forest near the old town of Murom, on the Oka River southeast of Moscow, was notorious for harboring bandits. The town was also the home of the most famous hero of medieval Russian epic poetry, Ilya Muromets.
3. the fourteenth class: Collegiate registrar, mentioned in the epigraph, was the lowest of the fourteen ranks of the Russian imperial civil service established by Peter the Great.
4. the prodigal son: Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son, from the Gospel of Luke (15:11–32), forms an ironic backdrop to Pushkin’s story.
5. the Demut Inn: A small inn on the Moika Embankment in Petersburg, founded by Philipp-Jakob Demut of Strasbourg, very popular with Pushkin and the writers of his circle.
6. the Joy of the Afflicted: A church built in Petersburg between 1817 and 1820, named for the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God Joy of the Afflicted, the original of which is in the Church of the Transfiguration in Moscow.
7. Dmitriev’s wonderful ballad: See note 2 to The Moor of Peter the Great. In Dmitriev’s ballad “The Caricature” (1791), a conscripted soldier returns from years of service and learns from his servant Terentyich that his wife has run off to join a band of thieves.
“The Young Lady Peasant”
1. Bogdanovich: The poet Ippolit Fyodorovich Bogdanovich (1744–1803) was born of old Ukrainian aristocracy. His long comic poem Dushenka (1783), from which Pushkin quotes here, was modeled on La Fontaine’s Psyche (“Dushenka” in Russian).
2. But Russian grain won’t grow in foreign fashion
: A line from the first of the Satires by Prince Alexander Alexandrovich Shakhovskoy (1777–1846), a prolific poet and playwright who remained neoclassical in the age of the romantics.
3. mortgage…courageous: Mortgaging one’s estate to the government was a newly instituted way of raising cash, which eventually left many landowners or their heirs deeply in debt or bankrupt.
4. Jean-Paul: Pen name of the prolific German writer Johann Paul Friedrich Richter (1763–1825). Pushkin was reading him in a French translation: Pensées de Jean-Paul extraites de tous ces ouvrages (“Thoughts of Jean-Paul drawn from all his works”), a selection published in Paris in 1829.
5. neither in judgment nor in condemnation: Words echoing the Orthodox prayer before communion: “May the communion of Thy most holy mysteries be neither to my judgment nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.”
6. Pamela: That is, the English epistolary novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), by Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), which was a bestseller in its day.
7. Saint Friday: The third-century Greek martyr and saint Paraskeva was named by her parents after Holy Friday (paraskevi in Greek). The Russians added the Slavonic version of her name, Pyatnitsa, calling her Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa, and often dropped the first part: hence Svyataya Pyatnitsa, or “Saint Friday,” which sounds comical in Russian.
8. sleeves à l’imbécile: Very ample sleeves with small lead weights added near the elbows to make them hang down.
9. the Lancaster system: Joseph Lancaster (1778–1838) invented a system of mutual instruction, having more advanced pupils pass on what they had already learned to younger pupils. The system was widely used in the nineteenth century.
Novels, Tales, Journeys: The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin Page 53
