Novels, Tales, Journeys

6. The Well-Intentioned…the Hamburg Gazette: The Well-Intentioned and The Zealot for Enlightenment mentioned later were popular Petersburg journals of the early nineteenth century. The Hamburg Gazette, one of the oldest German newspapers, was in its time the most widely read paper in the world.

7. Rurik: Rurik, the ninth-century Swedish Varangian chieftain, invaded Russia, settled near Novgorod, and founded the first dynasty of Russian tsars, who ruled until the seventeenth century.

8. Millot…Tatishchev, Boltin, and Golikov: The abbé Claude-François-Xavier Millot (1726–1785) was a Jesuit and a historian, author of a number of works, including Elements of General History Ancient and Modern (1772–1783). Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686–1750), Ivan Nikitich Boltin (1735–1792), and Ivan Ivanovich Golikov (1735–1801) wrote on various aspects of Russian history. Catherine the Great acquired Boltin’s papers after his death and made a gift of them to the Pushkin family.

9. Deriukhovo and Perkukhovo: The names are comical in a rather crude way, suggestive of ear-pulling and throat-clearing. Goryukhino itself is formed from the word gorye (woe, grief).

10. a double-headed eagle: Taverns were licensed by the state and were required to display the state symbol, the double-headed eagle.

11. Mr. Sumarokov: Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1717–1777), poet and playwright, is considered the first professional man of letters in Russia.

ROSLAVLEV (1831)

1. Roslavlev: Roslavlev, or the Russians in 1812, the second novel of Mikhail Nikolaevich Zagoskin (1789–1852), was published in 1831. His first novel, Yuri Miloslavsky, published in 1829, became the first Russian bestseller. His work was modeled on the novels of Walter Scott.

2. Montesquieu…Crébillon…Rousseau…Sumarokov: For Montesquieu see note 8 to The Moor of Peter the Great. Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1707–1777), son of a famous playwright and member of the French Academy, was himself a novelist, songwriter, and bon vivant. Rousseau is…Rousseau (see note 12 to “The Blizzard”). For Sumarokov, see note 11 to The History of the Village of Goryukhino.

3. Lomonosov: Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765) wrote on a wide range of subjects—scientific, literary, historical, philological. He was also a poet and was influential in the formation of the Russian literary language.

4. Karamzin’s History: See note 10 to “The Young Lady Peasant.” Karamzin’s twelve-volume History of the Russian State (1816–1826) was the foundational work of Russian historiography.

5. Mme de Staël: Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (1766–1817), the daughter of Jacques Necker (1732–1804), minister of finance under Louis XVI, is known to literature simply as Mme de Staël. An important writer and a woman of society, she was an outspoken opponent of Napoleon, who exiled her from Paris several times. Corinne (1807), her most famous novel, is based on her travels in Italy during one of those exiles.

6. Kuznetsky Bridge: Kuznetsky Bridge is in fact a street in Moscow, which was known at that time for its fashionable shops run by foreigners, most often Frenchmen.

7. the Confederation of the Rhine: A confederation of German states formed by Napoleon after his victory at Austerlitz in 1805. It lasted until Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig in 1813.

8. the sovereign’s appeal…Rastopchin’s folk-style leaflets…Pozharsky and Minin: The appeal of Alexander I for the defense of Moscow was published in August 1812. Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rastopchin (1763–1826), military governor of Moscow at the time, ordered the distribution of one-page fliers with woodcut images calling for resistance. In 1612, Prince Dmitri Pozharsky and the merchant Kuzma Minin gathered a volunteer army and drove out the invading forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ending what is known as the Time of Troubles.