p. 6, Dolgoruky: The name Dolgoruky means “long-armed” and belongs to a princely family claiming descent from the Rurik dynasty (after 862 AD). Prince Yuri Dolgoruky was Grand Prince of Kiev in the middle of the twelfth century and is considered to have been the founder of Moscow in 1156.
p. 8, the sixth form: There were seven forms in the Russian gymnasium, which is comparable to a grammar school, so the sixth form would be the penultimate year.
p. 9, thirty-five souls: The word “soul” was used for serfs owned by a landlord.
p. 11, Anton the Unlucky and Polinka Saks: Anton the Unlucky (Anton Goremyka) by D.V. Grigorovich (1822–99) and Polinka Saks by A.V. Druzhinin (1824–64) were novels of the 1840s written in tune with the liberal mood of the time. Anton the Unlucky dealt with the peasants’ hard life under serfdom, and Polinka Saks with women’s emancipation. Versilov, as a liberal landlord, would have, in his youth, been influenced by those books.
p. 16, wanderer: A pilgrim who wandered from place to place, visiting sacred sites and staying in monasteries, dependent on people’s charity.
p. 20, Semenovsky Barracks: A district of St Petersburg between Fontanka (Canal) and the Obukhovsky Prospect (present-day Moscow Prospect), where the barracks of the Semenovsky Lifeguard Regiment were situated. The Semenovsky regiment was one of the oldest and most famous regiments of Imperial Russia.
p. 24, Touchard’s: Fyodor Dostoevsky and his brother Mikhail attended Souchard’s day school in 1833. After that they were sent to Chermak’s boarding school. It was there that he came across a fellow schoolboy by the name of Evgeny Lambert, a foreigner.
p. 24, Kuznetsky: A street known as Kuznetsky Most that has for much of its history been the site of Moscow’s most fashionable shops.
p. 33, mon cher: “My dear” (French).
p. 33, cher enfant: “Dear child” (French).
p. 34, confirmation: This was First Communion in the Catholic Church, as Lambert, being French, was a Catholic.
p. 35, mon pauvre enfant: “My poor child” (French).
p. 35, Tiens: “Well, well!” (French).
p. 36, N’est-ce pas?: “Isn’t that so?”(French).
p. 36, Eh, mais c’est moi qui connait les femmes: “Oh, but I’m the one who knows women!”(French).
p. 37, elles sont charmantes: “They’re charming”(French).
p. 38, je sais tout, mais je ne sais rien de bon: “I know everything, but know nothing of value” (French).
p. 39, Mais quelle idée: “What an idea!” (French).
p. 39, Cher enfant, j’aime le bon Dieu: “Dear child, I love God” (French).
p. 40, c’était bête: “It was stupid” (French).
p. 40, Un domicile: “A place of residence” (French).
p. 40, he would be revealed through his relics: In the Orthodox Church it was believed that previously unknown saints could reveal themselves through miracles performed by their relics.
p. 40, En voilà une autre: “And there’s another thing!” (French).
p. 40, de l’inconnu: “Of the unknown” (French).
p. 41, Cette histoire infâme: “That loathsome story” (French).
p. 50, the late James Rothschild… that’s how it’s done: Baron James Rothschild (1792–1868) made his fortune when he received timely news of Napoleon I’s defeat at Waterloo (1815). The Duke of Berry (1778–1820), who aspired to the French throne, was indeed murdered in 1820 but it was not the news of his death that made Rothschild’s fortune, as Arkady here claims.
p. 51, Vilno: Old name for Vilnius, capital of Lithuania.
p. 51, the Petersburg Side: A borough in St Petersburg, also known as Petrograd Side, consisting of islands situated between the Little Neva and the Nevka, two branches of the River Neva, while the centre of St Petersburg is on the left bank of the River Neva.
p. 51, Dergachev’s: Dergachev and the group of young men with him are loosely modelled on Alexander Dolgushin and his radical followers, who were arrested in 1873 and tried in 1874. Among many well-educated young people at the time the idea of Populism or “going to the people” was very popular. The Populists were against capitalism and for a fairer redistribution of land among the peasantry. They aspired towards peasant communes and the overthrow of the Tsar. Like Dergachev, Dolgushin also lived in the Petersburg Side, was twenty-five years old and had a wife. Dostoevsky followed their trial very closely.
p. 52, running off to America: Among young people in the 1860s and 70s there was often an urge to move to America, based on a variety of radical socialist and utopian ideas.
p. 53, Quæ medicamenta non sanant… ignis sanat: “What medicine will not cure iron will cure, and what iron will not cure fire will cure” (Latin). This was found written on the walls of Dolgushin’s dacha. An epigram from Hippocrates (c.460–c.370 bc) used by Schiller (1759–1805) as an epigraph to his play The Robbers (1781).
p. 53, Kraft: The character of Kraft was probably influenced by a certain Kramer, who, according to the memoirs of jurist A.F. Koni, killed himself because he couldn’t imagine what the future of the Russian people could be. The philosopher Pyotr Chadayev’s (1794–1856) views on the future of Russia and his pessimistic view of Russia’s role in the world must also have influenced Dostoevsky in his characterization of Kraft.
p. 54, of peasant origin: In the Dolgushin group there was a peasant named Vasilev, who worked in Dolgushin’s workshop.
p. 58, calendar statistics: Calendars at the time listed all kind of information, including statistics.
p. 59, Why so secretive: A quotation from Alexander Griboyedov’s (1795–1829) satirical play Woe from Wit (1825).
p. 61, phalansteries: Following the ideas of the French socialist thinker Charles Fourier (1772–1837), a phalanstery (based on the ancient Greek phalanx) is a group forming a commune where all property is collectively owned.
p. 62, stricte nécessaire: “Strictly necessary” (French)
p. 68, Kalmyks: A branch of the Oirats, a Mongolic people whose ancient grazing lands spanned parts of present-day Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China.
p. 70, Ems: A spa town in Germany where Dostoevsky was taking the waters in 1874 when he began to work in earnest on The Adolescent.
p. 73, la haine dans l’amour: “Hatred in love” (French).
p. 82, war with Europe: The Crimean War (October 1853–February 1856).
p. 82, peace arbitrators: After the emancipation of serfs by Alexander II in 1861, a body of peace arbitrators was formed to facilitate its smooth implementation. The first group of peace arbitrators was appointed, not elected, and functioned between 1861 and 1864. Those appointed were mostly well educated, well-to-do and sympathetic to the cause of emancipation. They had to travel round the region and adjudicate disputes between the gentry and the peasants. This institution eventually ran into difficulties and was finally abolished in 1874.
p. 85, Harpagons and Plyushkins: Two notorious fictional obsessive misers: Harpagon features as the eponymous miser in L’Avare (1668) by Molière (1622–1673). Plyushkin is the landowner in Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (1809–52).
p. 90, Kokorevs, Polyakovs, Gubonins: V.A. Kokorev, S.S. Polyakov and P.I. Gubonin were well-known capitalists, mostly involved in railway construction.
p. 90, Law: John Law (1671–1729) was a Scottish economist who became Controller General of Finances under the Duke of Orléans in France and established the Banque Générale, effectively the first central bank of France. In 1719 he was allowed to issue innumerable new shares in the Mississippi Company and ordinary citizens from all over France flocked to Paris to buy them. The price initially rocketed, but as a result of inflation stocks fell and the shares ended up being worthless. This became known as the Mississippi Bubble. Law died poor in Venice in 1729.
p. 95, Talleyrand and Piron: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838) was a French diplomat and astute politician noted for his political intrigues and his wit. Alexis Piron (1689–1773) was a French poet and dramatist, known for his witty epigrams.
p. 96, that picture: He refers to the picture the above verses conjure up. They are lines from the short drama The Covetous Knight (1830), one of the Little Tragedies by Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), in which the Baron feasts his eyes on his chests of gold. Arkady’s “idea” of the power money brings is influenced by this play.
p. 98, raven: A reference to the raven who fed the prophet Elijah bread and meat every day during his many years in the desert of Jordan (1 Kings 17:4–6).
p. 99, Bismarck’s idea: Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), Prussian statesman, chief orchestrator of the unification of Germany in 1871 and German Chancellor 1871–90. Arkady probably refers to Bismarck’s idea that the great questions of his time would not be resolved by speeches or majority votes but by “blood and iron”.
p. 101, Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Genevan philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) mentions this episode in Book 3, Part I of his Confessions.
p. 107, Dresden Madonna: A reference to what is commonly known as Raphael’s (1483–1520) Sistine Madonna, which was painted for the Benedictine Monastery of St Sixtus in Piacenza and acquired in 1754 for the Saxon Prince Elector Friedrich-August II. It has since been kept in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. It was one of Dostoevsky’s favourite paintings and a copy of it hangs in his study in the Dostoevsky House Museum in St Petersburg.
p. 107, the bronze foors of the Florentine Cathedral: The famous bronze doors of the Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence, much admired by Dostoevsky.
p. 110, them: Serfs and peasants generally used the plural form when speaking to or about members of the nobility.
p. 110, Versilov: Arkady should have used the polite form when mentioning his father, i.e. Andrei Petrovich. See note about names in Russian, p. iii.
p. 113, Geneva: A reference to the socio-political and moral ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who was born in Geneva. Dostoevsky interpreted Rousseau’s ideas as a plea for socio-economic equality, a denial of religion and Christian ethics and a striving for universal provision and pleasure, linking his ideas with those of the socialists and those advocating the communes.
p. 114, Per tutto mondo e in altri siti: “In the whole world and other places” (Italian). The correct Italian should read “per tutto il mondo…”
p. 114, at Eliseyev’s and at Ballet’s: Eliseyev’s was and still is a famous delicatessen shop on Nevsky Prospect in St Petersburg. Ballet’s was a confectioner’s shop.
p. 116, Into the desert I withdraw: The first line of a popular song attributed to M.V. Zubova (d.1799), first published in a songbook in 1790.
p. 117, He’s a hypochondriac: In Dostoevsky’s time the term hypochondria was closely linked to melancholia. Dostoevsky himself diagnosed himself as having suffered from hypochondria at times. In Dostoevsky and the Healing Art (Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1985), James Rice wrote: “Today Dostoevsky’s hypochondria and melancholia might be diagnosed as different degrees of depression.”
p. 118, tous les genres: “All genres…”(French). From a comment by Voltaire (1694–1778) n the preface to the play L’Enfant prodigue. The whole sentence reads: “Tous les genres sont bons sauf le genre ennuyeux” (“All genres are good as long as they’re not boring”).
p. 120, Krylov: I.A. Krylov (1769–1844), Russia’s best-known and best-loved fabulist.
p. 121, Chatsky’s: The main protagonist of Woe from Wit.
p. 122, A Huntsman’s Notes: An 1852 collection of short stories by Ivan Turgenev (1818–83).
p. 122, A young maiden was planning to find a suitor: The first line of Krylov’s fable, ‘The Discerning Bride’ (1806).
p. 126, Ce Touchard: “That Touchard…” (French).
p. 136, Slavophile: Slavophilism was a conservative intellectual movement in nineteenth-century Russia that was opposed to Western European influences and sought to develop its own values and traditions derived from Russia’s early history. Slavophiles were highly critical of Peter the Great’s reforms.
p. 136, Nous revenons toujours: “We always come back” (French).
p. 139, the beautiful and the lofty: These terms were widespread at the end of the eighteenth century and the early 1820s and ’30s. By the second half of the nineteenth century they were quoted ironically. They go back to the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–97) and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Dostoevsky mentions these concepts in his Diary of a Writer (1876).
p. 140, Uriah… David: An ironical allusion to the biblical King David, who caught sight of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and seduced her. He consequently arranged for Uriah to be killed and took his wife for his own. (See 2 Samuel 11.)
p. 141, tu comprends?: “Do you understand?” (French).
p. 142, Swarthy, tall and straight: A line from Vlas (1854), a poem by N.A. Nekrasov (1821–78). The description of Makar Ivanovich is close to that of the peasant Vlas and, later in The Adolescent, the story of the merchant as told by Makar Ivanovich is linked to Nekrasov’s Vlas.
p. 147, A Hermann out of Pushkin’s Queen of Spades: In the famous work by Pushkin, the hero, Hermann, in his attempt to become rich, ends up going mad. This tale strongly influenced Dostoevsky.
p. 147, the bronze horseman: A reference to the statue of Peter the Great on his horse in St Petersburg made by the French sculptor Étienne Maurice Falconet (1716–91), as well as to the poem The Bronze Horseman (1833) by Pushkin, in which St Petersburg and its inhabitants are the victims of severe flooding, due to the city having been originally built on a swamp.
p. 149, en toutes lettres: “In full” (French).
p. 157, Brest-Graevo shares: A reference to the Brest-Graevo railway shares; the railway was the main line between Russia and Germany, built in the early 1870s. A certain Kolosov, also a doctor specializing in midwifery, like Stebelkov, was accused of forgery of the Tambov-Kozlov railway shares in 1874.
p. 158, A charming young maiden caressed me: From Pushkin’s poem ‘The Black Shawl’ (1820).
p. 159, women’s prophet: This ironic nickname for Versilov is probably an allusion to the philosopher Pyotr Chaadayev, who had converted to Catholicism and whose religious works and pronouncements were especially popular with women at the time.
p. 159, Quand on parle d’une corde: “Speaking of a rope” (French).
p. 166, ce petit espion: “That little spy” (French).
p. 169, Hecuba: A reference to Act ii, Sc. 2 in Hamlet, in which Hamlet speaks of the first player’s rendition of the sufferings of Hecuba. Hecuba was the wife of King Priam of Troy. The connection with Kraft’s idea is unclear.
p. 181, Rurik: A legendary ninth-century Varangian chieftain, who founded the Rurik dynasty, which ruled the medieval state of Kievan Rus and its successors (which became modern Russia) until 1598.
p. 183, Vous dormirez comme un petit roi: “You’ll sleep like a young king” (French).
p. 188, Agree… the uttermost copper coin: An incorrect and shortened quote from the New Testament, Matthew 5:25–26.
p. 196, Céladon: A romantic character from the pastoral novel L’Astrée (1610) by Honoré d’Urfé (1568–1625).
p. 200, was dead… is found: From the New Testament, Luke 15:24. Arkady reverses the roles of father and son, as these words refer to the prodigal son.
p. 200, Dearer to me… deceit: From Pushkin’s poem ‘The Hero’ (1830).
p. 202, Mais… c’est charmant: “But… it’s charming!” (French).
p. 206, enfin… je te bénis!: “Finally… finally… let’s give thanks… and I give you my blessing” (French).
p. 217, mauvais ton: “In bad taste” (French).
p. 220, the late Tsar: Probably Nicholas I, who ruled from 1825 to 1855.
p. 220, Tsarskoe Selo: “Tsar’s village”, situated about twenty-four kilometres south of St Petersburg; it contained the residence of the imperial family and is now part of the town of Pushkin. The very first Russian railway was built in 1837 to link the two imperial residences of Tsarskoe Selo and Pavlovsk and was seventeen kilometres long.
p. 220, Montferrand: Auguste de Montferrand (1786–1858) was a French neoclassical architect who built St Isaac’s Cathedral and the Alexander Column, as well as other buildings in St Petersburg.
p. 221, Prince Suvorov no less: Probably refers to Alexander Suvorov (1804–82), grandson of the last generalissimo of the Russian Empire and governor general of St Petersburg from 1861.
p. 223, Zavyalov: A Russian manufacturer in the middle of the nineteenth century, renowned for his cutlery.
p. 223, King of Sweden: A reference to King Charles XI of Sweden (1655–1697), who was reputed to have had a vision about the murder of the future King Gustav III. The story is told by Prosper Mérimée (1803–70) in Mosaïque (1833), a collection of short stories.
p. 223, the one about… before the senators: A popular legend that Dostoevsky may have heard in his time in Siberia, where it was widely told. It referred to Tsar Nicholas I being summoned to the Senate by a group of conspirators who wanted him to sign his own abdication papers, before being rescued by his brother Constantine.
p. 223, Bashutsky… monument was removed: Pavel Bashutsky (1771–1836), commandant of St Petersburg under Alexander I and Nicholas I, about whom many anecdotes were told connected to his uncouthness and stupidity. One such was that he was led to believe one day that the statue of Peter the Great had been stolen by night by Swedish agents in disguise and taken away on a ship. He was so frightened that he “confessed” to the Tsar to not having been watchful enough.
p. 223, Chernyshev: Prince Alexander Chernyshev (1785–1857), military leader, diplomat and statesman, who fought in the war against Napoleon and was Minister of War from 1827 to 1852.
p. 224, Que diable: “What the devil!” (French).
p. 229, un beau matin: “One fine morning” (French).
p. 230, Nothing… manifest: Luke 8:17.
p. 231, Geneva ideas: See note to p. 113.
p. 231, Horace: Legend has it that under King Tullus Hostilius (seventh century bc) Rome went to war with the nearby city of Alba Longa. Legend had it that three brothers from Rome, the Horatii, battled it out with three brothers from Alba Longa, the Curiatii. Two of the Horatii died, but the third returned to Rome victorious. The story is told in Horace (1640) by the French dramatist Pierre Corneille (1606–84).
p. 232, Somewhere in the Koran: The words attributed to the Koran cannot be found there, and are probably a combination of ideas going back to a verse in Pushkin’s Imitations of the Koran, where the word “obstinate” appears, and to his ‘Verses Composed at Night during Insomnia’, where life is compared to running mice.
p. 242, Belinsky: Vissarion Belinsky, (1811–48) was a Russian literary critic who worked alongside political activists such as Alexander Herzen and Mikhail Bakunin, denouncing autocracy and serfdom and calling himself a socialist.
p. 247, mont-de-piété: “Pawnshop” (French). These were first established in Italy in the fifteenth century to help the poor, charging little or no interest.
p. 254, Bolshaya Millionnaya Street: One of the oldest and wealthiest streets in the centre of St Petersburg.
p. 287, Brisons-là, mon cher: “Let’s leave it at that, my dear” (French).
p. 288, Cela va sans dire: “It goes without saying” (French).
p. 293, C’est comique, mais c’est ce que nous ferons: “It’s comical, but it’s what we’ll do.” (French).
p. 294, the Ditch: This was how the Yekaterinsky Canal (today’s Griboyedov Canal) was known at the time, because it so filthy.
p. 294, Lucia: A reference to the opera Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) by Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848).
p. 295, Mais passons: “But let’s move on” (French).
p. 298, C’est selon, mon cher: “It depends, my dear” (French).
p. 302, roulette at Zershchikov’s: Zershchikov is possibly based on the retired staff captain Kolemin, as mentioned by A.S. Dolinin in his book The Late Works of Dostoevsky (1963). Kolemin was taken to court for running an illegal gambling establishment in 1874.
p. 312, Pour vos beaux yeux, mon cousin: “For your beautiful eyes, cousin!” (French).
p. 321, Pauvre enfant: “Poor child” (French).
p. 322, Que diable!: “What the devil!” (French).
p. 323, entre nous soit dit: “Let it be said in confidence” (French).
p. 324, très comme il faut: “Highly respectable” (French).
p. 329, the Rohans: A princely family originally from Rohan in Brittany.
p. 333, schismatic: The Old Believers, also known as schismatics, separated from the official Orthodox church after 1666 in protest against reforms introduced by Nikon, the Patriarch of Moscow (1605–81).
p. 340, keepsake: A word borrowed from the English that refers to a literary annual published in England in the first half of the nineteenth century and which contained attractive illustrations.
p. 340, la poésie dans la vie: “Poetry in life” (French).
p. 341, Quelle charmante personne… Enfin David, Salomon: “What a charming person she is, isn’t she? The songs of Solomon… no, it’s not Solomon, it’s David who put a young beauty in his bed to warm him in his old age. Anyway David, Solomon” (French).
p. 341, Cette jeune belle… un poème: “That young beauty of David’s old age, it’s pure poetry” (French).
p. 341, Paul de Kock: Charles Paul de Kock (1793–1871) was a French novelist who wrote about Parisian life with spicy humour. He was even more popular abroad than in France.
p. 341, scène de bassinoire: “Bedroom scene” (literally, “warming-pan scene”) (French).
p. 359, Alexei Mikhailovich’s: Alexei Mikhailovich (1629–76) was tsar of Russia 1645–76).
p. 362, Mais suivez… cet enfant: “But follow your mother then… This child has no heart!” (French).
p. 366, chambre garnie: “Furnished room” (French).
p. 366, Présente: “I’m here!” (French).
p. 366, Malheureux: “Poor man!” (French).
p. 367, vous comprenez, ma fille? Vous avez l’argent, non?: “You understand, my girl? You have the money, don’t you?” (French).
p. 368, Mais vous n’avez pas dormi du tout, Maurice: “But you haven’t slept at all, Maurice!” (French).
p. 368, Taisez-vous, je dormirai après: “Be quiet, I’ll sleep later” (French).
p. 368, Sauvée: “Saved!” (French).
p. 368, Jamais homme… L’Académie Française: “Never was there a man so cruel, so like Bismarck, as this creature, who looks upon a woman as a fortuitous bit of filth. A woman, what is she in our time? ‘Kill her!’ Such is the last word of the Académie Française!…” (French). “Tue-la!” is from a pamphlet entitled L’homme-femme (1872) by Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–95), who was admitted into the Académie Française in 1874.
p. 368, Hélas! De quoi… qu’avez-vous, monsieur: “Alas! What good would it have done me to have discovered it sooner… and wouldn’t I have done better to keep my shame hidden all my life? Perhaps it’s dishonourable for a young lady to express herself so freely in front of Monsieur, but I confess that were I allowed to wish something it would be to plunge a knife into his heart, but averting my eyes, afraid that his atrocious look should make my arm shake and freeze my courage! He murdered that Russian priest, sir, he tore his red beard off him to sell it to a hair artist on the Kuznetsky Bridge, right near the House of Andrieux – latest novelties, Parisian goods, linen, shirts, you know, don’t you?.. Oh, sir, when friendship brings together round the table wife, children, sisters, friends, when a lively joyfulness inflames my heart, I ask you, sir: is there a happiness preferable to the one everyone else enjoys? But he laughs, sir, that execrable and inconceivable monster, and were it not for the intervention of Monsieur Andrieux, I’d never, never be… But what’s the matter, sir, what’s the matter with you?” (French).
p. 369, Oú allez-vous, monsieur?: “Where are you off to, sir?” (French).
p. 369, Mais ce n’est pas loin, monsieur… c’est ici près, monsieur: “But it’s not far, sir, not far at all, no need to put on your fur coat, it’s right here sir!” (French).
p. 369, Par ici, monsieur, c’est par ici: “This way, sir, it’s this way!” (French).
p. 370, Il s’en va, il s’en va: “He’s leaving, he’s leaving!” (French).
p. 370, Mais il me tuera, monsieur, il me tuera: “But he’ll kill me, sir, he’ll kill me!” (French).
p. 382, starets: An elder in a Russian Orthodox monastery. He is considered a wise teacher and adviser. In this case Makar Dolgoruky is actually not strictly a starets, as he is not a monk but a wandering pilgrim, a devout old man, yet he uses the term for himself.
p. 384, a clerical: A follower of clericalism, a movement that aims to increase the influence of the Church and the clergy in the life and running of a country.
p. 385, Gennadiev Monastery: Possibly a monastery founded in the sixteenth century by St Gennady of Kostroma on Lake Sursk in Iaroslavl Province.
p. 386, kutya: Boiled rice and raisins, usually offered in the Orthodox Church for funeral repasts.
p. 392, Daria Onisimovna: At this point in the narrative she is mentioned under another name, Nastasia Egorovna. In order not to confuse the reader, I’ve kept her name as Daria Onisimovna throughout the book.
p. 396, la calomnie… il en reste toujours quelque chose: “Slander… some of it always sticks” (French). This quotation is usually attributed to Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais (1732–99) in the Barber of Seville (1773), although these exact words do not actually appear in the play.
p. 409, soul of a spider: For Dostoevsky the spider was often a symbol of sensuality and depravity.
p. 413, Mary of Egypt: A Christian ascetic (c.344–c.421), patron saint of penitents, who after a dissolute lifestyle went into the desert to live as a hermit for over forty years.
p. 421, banya: Communal bathhouse.
p. 423, holy fool: Usually a religious ascetic who acts foolishly in the eyes of men.
p. 423, mine own clothes do abhor me: From Job 9:31: “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”
p. 442, the long-suffering Job… the other ones: A reference to the trial that Job, in the Book of Job, had to undergo, including the death of his seven sons and three daughters.
p. 448, Arkhangelsk… Kholmogory: Both places in the far north of European Russia. They are icebound for five months a year and were a place of exile both under Tsarist Russia and in the 1930s and ’40s.
p. 451, Kammerjunker: Literally “a gentleman of the bedchamber” (German), one of the lowest courtier ranks.
p. 460, Attendez: “Wait!” (French).
p. 461, Journal des Débats… Indépendance: The Journal des Débats was published in Paris from 1789 and included, among official notices and general information, the names of foreigners who were staying in France. L’Indépendance belge was a Belgian newspaper published in Brussels from 1830 to 1937.
p. 461, Monseigneur le prince… mais un seul, voulez-vous: “Your Highness, Prince, do you have a silver rouble for us, not two, but one, if you will?” (French). The “tall one” speaks French with quite a few mistakes, pretending to speak as a Russian aspiring to be a French speaker would. The “boy” points this out a few lines further down.
p. 461, Nous vous rendons: “We pay you back” (French).
p. 462, Dans les wagons: “In the carriages.” (French).
p. 462, Ah, sacré: “Oh, damn!” (French).
p. 462, Dites donc, voulez-vous… mon ami : “Say, do you want me to smash your head in, my friend?” (French).
p. 462, Mon ami… l’autre mon ami: “My friend, here’s Dolgorowky, the other my friend (sic)” (French).
p. 462, Le voilà: “Here he is!” (French).
p. 462, C’est lui: “It’s him!” (French).
p. 463, Mademoiselle Alphonsine, voulez-vous me baiser: “Miss Alphonsine, will you kiss me?” (French).
p. 463, Ah, le petit vilain… tous les deux, savez-vous cela: “Oh the little horror!… Don’t come near me, don’t get me dirty, and you, you big lump, I’ll throw you both out, you know!” (French).
p. 463, Mademoiselle Alphonsine, avez-vous vendu votre bologne: “Miss Alphonsine, have you sold your bologne?” (French).
p. 463, Qu’est-ce que ça, ma bologne: “What that (sic), my bologne?” (French).
p. 463, Tiens, quel est ce baragouin: “Say, what’s this gibberish?” (French).
p. 464, Je parle… sur les eaux minérales: “I speak as a Russian lady does on the mineral waters (sic)” (French).
p. 464, Qu’est-ce que ça qu’une dame… que Lambert vous a donnée: “What’s that, a Russian lady on the mineral waters and… where is your lovely watch, the one Lambert gave you?” (French).
p. 464, Nous avons un rouble… chez notre nouvel ami: “We have a silver rouble we lent from our new friend (sic)” (French).
p. 465, nous vous rendons avec beaucoup de grâce: “We pay you back with good grace” (French).
p. 465, Ohé, Lambert… as-tu vu Lambert?: “Hey, Lambert! Where’s Lambert? Have you seen Lambert?” (French).
p. 469, Madier de Montjau: Noël Madier de Montjau (1814–92) was a French lawyer turned politician, an ardent republican who was exiled to Belgium after Napoleon III’s coup d’état in December 1851, but member of the National Assembly after 1871. He was often in the news at the time.
p. 470, panie: “Sir” (Polish).
p. 471, And the years go by… all the best years: From a poem by Mikhail Lermontov (1814–41), ‘I skuchno I grustno’ (‘Bored and Sad’). The quotation deviates slightly from the original.
p. 471, Faust: Trishatov uses two scenes from the first part of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749–1832) tragedy Faust (1808).
p. 472, Dies iræ, dies illa: “Day of wrath, this day” (Latin). The first line of the Catholic Requiem Mass.
p. 472, Stradella: Alessandro Stradella (1639–82), Italian composer and singer.
p. 472, borne up by the angelic hosts: From the Cherubic Hymn, sung during the liturgy in the Orthodox Church.
p. 474, Vingt-cinq roubles: “Twenty-five roubles” (French).
p. 475, Miliutin’s shop: Count Miliutin established a series of small shops on the Nevsky Prospect where alcohol was sold and where one could have zakuski (hors d’oeuvres).
p. 479, Ceci posé, cela change la question: “Put like that, it changes the question” (French).
p. 484, La propriété c’est le vol: “Property is theft” (French). A phrase coine by the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–65), author of What Is Property? (1840).
p. 500, Herzen: Alexander Herzen (1812–70), Russian writer and thinker and great champion of socialism, who emigrated in 1847 and lived in England from 1852 to 1864, where he established the Free Russian Press and published periodicals such as The Bell, which exercised great influence among Russian radical thinkers and helped create the climate for the eventual emancipation of the serfs (1861).
p. 501, Je suis gentilhomme avant tout et je mourrai gentilhomme: “I’m a gentleman first and foremost and will die a gentleman” (French).
p. 502, The Golden Age: The painting in question, Coastal Landscape with Acis and Galatea (1657) by Claude Lorrain (c.1600–82), the famous French landscapist, is still in the Dresden Gemäldegalerie. Dostoevsky was very taken with this picture and went to see it every time he was in Dresden, and did indeed call it The Golden Age.
p. 503, the death knell… over Europe: This refers to the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), which ended in France’s heavy defeat by the Germans. Following this, the struggle between the Paris Commune and the government forces in 1871 led to the destruction of the Palais des Tuileries, a former royal palace.
p. 503, pétroleurs: Men who used petrol to start fires during the struggle for the Paris Commune (1871).
p. 508, Heine… Christ on the Baltic Sea: Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), German poet. The reference here is to his poem ‘Frieden’ (‘Peace’), part of the cycle The North Sea in Book of Songs (1827). It was first translated into Russian and published there in 1872. It contains an image of Christ appearing to the people who have lost their faith that deeply moved Dostoevsky.
p. 513, last monologue… Victor Hugo: He is probably referring to the penultimate monologue by Othello when he realizes that Desdemona is innocent (Othello, Act v, Sc. 2) and Tatyana and Eugene’s last encounter in Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (1833). Les Misérables (1862) by Victor Hugo (1802–85) was one of Dostoevsky’s favourite books.
p. 537, Et les amis: “And what about friends?” (French).
p. 537, Mais c’est un ours: “What a bear he is!” (French).
p. 547, schismatic icon: See note to p. 333.
p. 562, Abishag: Young woman of Shumen who was David’s servant in his old age (1 Kings).
p. 564, C’est une honte… raison à Lambert: “It’s a disgrace! A lady… Oh, you’re a generous soul! Don’t worry, I’ll make Lambert see reason!…” (French).
p. 567, Oh, je disais qu’il a du cœur: “I told you he had a heart!” (French).
p. 567, N’est-ce pas, n’est-ce pas: “Isn’t that so, isn’t that so?” (French).
p. 567, il prend toujours par les sentiments: “He always appeals to one’s feelings” (French).
p. 568, Après, après, n’est-ce pas? Chère amie: “Later, later, don’t you think so? Dear friend!” (French).
p. 568, Mais c’est terrible ce que tu dis: “But what you are saying is terrible” (French).
p. 569, N’est-ce-pas? Je ne parle pas trop mais je dis bien: “I don’t speak much, but what I say is good” (French).
p. 569, Il semble qu’il est bête, ce gentilhomme: “He appears to be stupid, that gentleman” (French).
p. 569, von Sohn: The von Sohn affair was a notorious crime that took place at the end of 1869. Von Sohn was a government official who was murdered in a brothel, chopped to pieces and sent in a trunk to Moscow. Dostoevsky mentions the case in his notes for The Possessed and refers to it directly in The Karamazov Brothers.
p. 569, Rien du tout… mais je suis libre ici, n’est-ce-pas?: “Nothing at all… but I’m free here, am I not?” (French).
p. 570, Cher prince… par droit de naissance: “Dear prince, we must be friends even by birthright” (French).
p. 576, Unexpectedly and swiftly: A misquotation from Griboyedov’s Woe from Wit.
p. 576, C’est mon opinion: “That’s my opinion” (French).
p. 577, C’est un ange, c’est un ange du ciel: “She’s an angel, an angel from heaven!” (French).
p. 577, Je dis des choses charmantes et tout le monde rit: “I say charming things and everyone laughs” (French).
p. 581, Militrisa: The mother of Prince Bova in the Tale of Prince Bova, a popular sixteenth-century Russian folk tale, a reworking of a medieval French romance. She plotted the death of her husband Tsar Guidon in order to be able to marry Tsar Dadon.
p. 584, Oui, oui, je comprends, j’ai compris au commencement: “Yes, yes, I understand, I understood from the start” (French).
p. 589, cet homme noir: “That dark man” (French).
p. 589, Tiens, j’ai oublié son nom… Tiens… Versiloff: “Oh, I’ve forgotten his name… a horrid man… Oh… Versilov” (French).
p. 589, Oh, ils feront leur vengeance: “Oh, they’ll take their revenge!” (French).
p. 589, Sauvez-la, sauvez-la: “Save her, save her!” (French).
p. 594, Vous êtes belle, vous: “You’re a beauty, you are!” (French).
p. 605, Molchalin-like: Molchalin is a character from Griboyedov’s Woe from Wit: a secretary, an obsequious careerist who believes in moderation and meticulousness.
p. 606, traditions of the Russian family: This refers to a line in Eugene Onegin (iii, 13–14), in which Pushkin suggests he may write in prose to describe the traditions of a Russian family.
p. 606, instead of this eternal… for two hundred years now: This refers to the period following Peter the Great’s reforms. Peter the Great, who ascended to the throne in 1682, aimed at modernizing Russia, based on Western European models. Dostoevsky was critical of them and alludes to them several times in his writings.
p. 606, Slavophilism: See first note to p. 136. Slavophiles were highly critical of Peter the Great’s reforms.
p. 607, Grattez le Russe et vous verrez le Tartare: “Scratch the Russian and you’ll find a Tartar” (French). This quotation has been attributed to the Marquis de Custine (1790–1857), who travelled in Russia in the nineteenth century.
p. 607, Such a work… Russian history: A reference to War and Peace (1863–69) by Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910).
p. 607, The grandson of those heroes… undoubtedly dejected: This implicitly refers to Levin in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1873–77).
p. 608, Mother Superior Mitrofania: The ecclesiastic name of Baroness Praskovia Grigorevna Rozen, the abbess of a monastery in Serpukhov who was convicted in 1874 of forging financial documents to help finance her monastery. Her case drew much attention at the time.
p. 608, so unlike yours: A reference to Childhood, Boyhood, Youth by Leo Tolstoy.