ALEKO: The hero
of the romantic verse tale “The Gypsies” by Pushkin. Aleko becomes
disillusioned with Russian civilization and goes off to live amongst the
gypsies. He falls in love with a gypsy girl and commits a murder out of
jealousy.
TUSENBACH: What’s Aleko got to do with
it? (150)
ALUM: A chemical
compound and a class of compounds. Likely Chebutykin’s referenced is to potassium
alum – the chemical compound for his hair tonic recipe.
CHEBUTYKIN: Now, as I was saying, you
cork the bottle and stick a glass tube through the cork . . . Then you take a
pinch of alum – plain ordinary alum . . . (122).
AMO, AMAS, AMAT;
AMAMUS, AMATIS, AMANT: The basic Latin conjugations of the verb amare, to love. “I love, thou lovest,
he, she, or it loves, we love, you love, they love.”
KULYGIN: I’ll be off in a minute . . .
What a fine, wonderful wife I have . . . And oh, how I love you, you and you
alone . . .
MASHA: Amo, amas, amat; amamus, amatis, amant (165).
BALZAC WAS MARRIED IN
BERDICHEV: The French novelist Honoré de Balzac was married to Ewelyna
Hanska in Berdichev several months before he died in 1850.
CHEBUTYKIN: Balzac was married in
Berdichev (146).
CHEKHARTMA:
Tusenbach mis-speaks, it’s correctly “chikhartma,” a Caucasian soup of lamb or
chicken flavored with coriander and saffron.
TUSENBAH: And the food they served was
authentic Caucasian: an onion soup and chekhartma for the meat course (150).
CHEREMSHA: A sharp-edged leek or form of wild garlic.
SOLYONY: Cheremsha isn’t meat; it’s a
plant in the onion family (150).
DARK VODKA: A colored
vodka distilled with an herbal extract called catechu to make its distinct hue.
Clear vodkas generally have little flavor while dark vodkas tend to bear notes
of berry, citrus, or other spices.
VERSHININ: I think I’ll have some of
that dark vodka . . . (134).
GERMAN STREET: A
street in the German Quarter in the northeast of Moscow. The district began to
be inhabited by European immigrants in the mid-16th century who the
Russians referred to collectively as “Germans.” After the fire in 1812, most
residents left, properties changed hands, and it become inhabited by merchants
and craftsmen.
VERSHININ: And German Street for a
time. I would walk from there to the Red Barracks.
NIKOLAI GOGOL: A
19th century Russian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer. He
was a contributor to the development of Russian naturalism and realism. His
writings were essentially observations of real life. His most influential works
include Dead Souls and The Government Inspector. Chekhov quotes
Gogol extensively in The Seagull.
Masha quotes from the last sentence of “Story of How Ivan
Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich Fell Out” (1832)
MASHA: As Gogol said, “Life on earth’s
an awful bore, my friends.”
A GREEN OAK STANDS:
Masha recites lines from the Alexander Pushkin 1820 long poem Ruslan and Lyudmila. The poem is an epic
fairy tale of the abduction of the daughter of a prince by an evil wizard and
the attempt a brave knight makes to rescue her.
Pushkin was born into the Russian nobility in Moscow in
1799. His work is characteristic of Russian Romantic literature. In his short
life he was quite prolific leaving behind examples of lyric poetry, narrative
poetry, the novel, short stories, drama, and personal letters. He is sometimes
considered the “Father of Modern Russian Literature.” He was fatally wounded in
a dual in 1837.
His dark, passionate, and introspective style fits in with
Masha’s moodiness. It is fitting she recites, with longing, passages of his
poetry.
MASHA: A green oak stands upon a
firth,
A chain of gold hangs round its trunk
. . . (123)
HE NE’ER HAD TIME TO
SAY A PRAYER: A quotation from the fable “The Peasant and the Farmhand” by
Ivan Krylov (1768-1844). Many of his fables are loosely based on the work of
Aesop. He often satirizes incompetent bureaucracy, which he felt stifled social
progress in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
SOLYONY: He ne’er had time to say a
prayer,
When he was sat on by the bear. (124)
IL NE FAUT PAS FAIRE
DU BRUIT: More bad French from Natasha: “Don’t make any noise. Sophie is
already asleep. You are a bear!”
NATASHA: Who’s that talking so loud
out there? Is it you, Andrei? You’ll wake up baby Sophie. Il ne pas faire du bruit, la Sophie est dormeé déjà. Vous êtes un ours
(183).
I MAY BE STRANGE:
A quotation from the comedy Woe From Wit
by Aleksandr Griboedov. The line comes from the protagonist who opposes
Moscow’s high society.
SOLYONY: “I may be strange, but then
who is not? . . . Aleko, be not wroth!” (150)
IT PARAIT QUE MON
BOBIK DÉJÀ NE DORT PAS: Bad French on Natasha’s part: “It seems my Bobik is
already not asleep.”
JE VOUS PRIE,
PARDONNEZ-MOI, MARIE, MAIS VOUS AVEZ DES MANIÈRES UN PEU GROSSIÈRES: French
for “Please, forgive me, Marie, but you have rather rude manners. Speaking
French would be common in noble Russian intellectual circles, but Natasha’s use
is pretentious and full of mistakes. She should say “je vous en prie.”
KOCHANE: Polish for “dearest.”
KULYGIN: And your Polish wife will
throw her arms around you and call you “kochane”!
(173)
KOPECK: A
measurement of Russian currency, approximately 1/100 of a ruble.
MASHA: Here he is
. . . Has he paid his rent?
IRINA: No, not a kopeck for eight
months. Must have forgotten (144).
LERMONTOV: A
reference to Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814-1841), an important Russian
Romantic lyric poet. He was exiled twice and eventually killed in a duel.
Chekhov later wrote that Solyony only thinks
he looks like Lermontov, but this is only in his mind.
SOLYONY: I’ve never had anything
against you, Baron. It’s just that I have the temperament of a Lermontov. I
even look a bit like Lermontov . . . Or so I’m told (150).
MAIDEN’S PRAYER:
A sentimental piano piece by the Polish composer T. Badarzewska-Baranovskaia
(1838-1862). An incredibly easy piece to play.
IRINA: By tomorrow night I’ll no
longer have to listen to that “Maiden’s Prayer” or run into Protopopov . . .
(176).
NAME DAY: A custom originating with the Greek
Orthodox church
to celebrate on the saint day for which a person is named after. In Russia,
name days are celebrated apart from birthdays but in a similar fashion.
Celebrations can range widely from cards and small gifts to large formal
gatherings. In many regards a name day celebration is more important than a
birthday because it commemorates one’s baptism into the community of Christ.
Irina’s May 5 name day celebration commemorates Saint Irene
of Macedonia. Her feast day is widely celebrated in Eastern Orthodox churches.
St. Irene of Macedonia was born in the late 1st
century the daughter of a pagan Roman nobleman. She learned of Christianity as
a young girl, converted, and was baptized in secret by St. Timothy. As a
teenager, her parents attempted to arrange a marriage between her and another
pagan nobleman, she refused, and broke all her father’s pagan idols. When her
father discovered her conversion he commanded she renounced her faith. She
refused and so he commanded she would be trampled to death by horses. She
remained unharmed, but one of the horses rose up and crushed her father to
death. She prayed for him and raised him from the dead, after this he too was
baptized. Irene later traveled on missionary projects often suffering torture
and working miracles. She converted thousands to Christianity. She died in
peace at the home of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus in first half on the 2nc
century. She was buried. Two days later, the gravestone was lifted off, but the
grave was empty.
OLGA: Father died exactly a year ago
today, May the fifth. Your name day, Irina. It was so cold then. Snowing, I
never thought I’d survive. You lay there in a dead faint. But now a year’s gone
by, and it scarcely bothers us to think about it. You’re wearing white, your
face is radiant . . . (119).
NAPHTHALENE: An
organic compound with a characteristic odor. It is most often used as the main
ingredient for traditional mothballs.
CHEBUTYKIN: To prevent loss of hair .
. . dissolve ten grams of naphthalene in half a bottle of alcohol . . . and
apply daily (121).
NEW VIRGIN CEMETERY: A cemetery
attached to the Novodevihcy Convent, established in 1524 by Tsar Vasily III to
commemorate the capture of Smolensk from Lithuania. It was built as a religious
building, but also to serve as a fortress. It became a convent for ladies of
noble birth.
It is the burial site of many famous Russian authors, artists, and
politicians including Anton Chekhov.
IRINA: Mama is
buried in Moscow.
OLGA: In the New
Virgin Cemetery (127).
O FALLACEM HOMINUM
SPEM: Latin for “Oh vain is human hope.” Kulygin quotes from Cicero’s The Orator.
KUYLGIN: I’d have liked some tea. I
was looking forward to an evening in pleasant company, and – O fallacem hominum spem! Accusative of
exclamation . . . (155).
OLD BASMANNAYA
STREET: A popular neighborhood in Moscow for “European” Russian officers
under Peter I. The Church of St. Peter and Paul was built in the area in the
early 18th century. It eventually became a popular place for Russian
nobility to live as well. By 1750, the neighborhood had the largest collection
of baroque architecture in Moscow. The neighborhood burnt down in 1812, but was
gradually rebuilt. In the early 20th century, the neighborhood was
transformed by Art Nouveau and Neoclassical Revival architecture.
There is a sense of pride that the sisters take in having
originated in that particular neighborhood as it suggests their class and their
father’s role in the military.
IRINA: We plan to be there by
autumn. We’re natives of Moscow. We were born there . . . Old Basmannaya Street
(126).
OMNIA MEA MECUM
PORTO: Latin: “I carry all my goods on my person.” A reference from
Cicero’s Paradoxa.
KULYGIN: You and I aren’t poor. I
work. I have my position at the school and give private lessons too . . . I am
an honest man, a simple man. . . Omnia
mea mecum porto, as the saying goes (166).
OUR MORAL MIGHT BE
MADE: Solyony quotes the moral from Krylov’s fable, The Geese in which barnyard geese boast of their ancestors, the
geese who saved Rome, but they have no merits of their own.
SOLYONY: Our moral might be made more
clear.
But that would only tease the geese, I
fear (164).
PETERSBURG:
This is a shortened name for St. Petersburg, Tusenbach’s hometown.
Originally founded in the early 18th century by Peter the Great, the
city was built by conscripted peasants. Later, he moved the capital of Russian
from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Its most famous building is the Winter Palace
designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but the city includes many famous examples of
Neoclassical architecture. The 1905 Revolution began in Petersburg. During
World War I, the name was changed to Petrograd or “Peter’s City.”
Tusenbach’s privileged existence in a beautiful and historic
city has left him feeling a sense of ennui. He has never had to work for
anything and feels a sense of meaninglessness to his life.
TUSENBACH: I was born in Petersburg –
cold; idle Petersburg – into a family that didn’t know what work is, never had
a care in the world. (122)
PLEASE EAT THIS DATE:
Words from an operetta once put on at the Hermitage Theatre.
CHEBUTYKIN: You sit there with your
eyes shut while Natasha has her fling with Protopopov. “Please eat this date at
my behest . . .” (162).
RED BARRACKS: Red
brick structures built to house the Russian army. They still stand in various
Russian cities and districts.
VERSHININ: I would walk from there to
the Red Barracks. On the way I’d pass a gloomy-looking bridge with water
flowing under it. It gives a lonely man a heavy heart (127).
SAMOVAR: A large and often ornate metal
apparatus used to heat and boil water. Samovars use a small coal-burning
chimney used to heat a metal teapot filled with a strong, concentrated tea. A
functional item, some were crafted to be exotic and elegant works of enamel and
silver.
Chebutykin’s gift to Irina for her name day celebration
would have been considered quite extravagant as, likely, they would have
already owned one. Chebutykin’s constant doting on Irina suggests a special
bond between the two characters, some critics infer that he may actually be
Irina’s father, or at least he believes he might be.
CHEBUTYKIN: Expensive gifts . . .
Really now. You’re impossible, all of you! Put the samovar down over there
(125).
SARATOV: A major
port city on the Volga River. It is known for a rather large German population.
IRINA: Just now a woman came to the
office to send her brother in Saratov a telegram saying that her son had died
today, but she couldn’t remember the address (143).
TA-RA-RA BOOM-DE-AY:
Lyrics to a British music-hall song, accompanied by a high-kicking dance.
TROIKA: Rides in
these sleighs decorated with colored ribbons and bells were a favored pastime
during carnival time. The sleighs would travel in wide semi-circles to
commemorate the sun’s passage.
Natasha’s ride with Protopopov is suggestive of their
not-so-clandestine affair.
NATASHA: Protopopov? What a funny man.
That’s Protopopov outside inviting me for a ride in his troika (154).
TRUE LOVE KNOWS
NEITHER AGE NOR STATION: Vershinin sings lyrics from Gremin’s aria in
Chaikovsk’s opera Yevgerry Onegin
(1877), it is based on Pushkin’s verse novel.
VERSHININ: True love knows neither age
nor station.
Its pangs are pure invigoration (164).
TSITSIHAR: A city in Northeast China.
CHEBUTYKIN: Tsitsihar. There is a
smallpox epidemic raging (147).
UT CONSECUTIVUM:
Latin: “a means of living, a temporary compromise.”
KULYGIN: He was expelled in the fifth
year because he could never quite grasp the ut
consecutivum (175).
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