Novels, Tales, Journeys

9. Charlotte Corday…Marfa Posadnitsa…Princess Dashkova: Charlotte Corday (1768–1793) assassinated Jean-Paul Marat (1743–1793), leader of the radical Jacobin faction during the Reign of Terror, for which she was guillotined. Marfa Posadnitsa, the wife of the mayor (posadnik) of Novgorod, is the heroine of the last work of fiction by Nikolai Karamzin (see note 4 above); she was involved in the unsuccessful defense of republican Novgorod against monarchical Moscow in 1478. Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova (1743–1810) was a close friend of Catherine the Great and by her own account played a central part in the coup d’état of 1762 that brought Catherine to the imperial throne.

10. Count Mamonov…entire fortune: Count Matvey Alexandrovich Dmitriev-Mamonov (1790–1863) was one of the richest landowners in Russia. At the beginning of the war against Napoleon he made a speech to members of the Moscow nobility pledging to give his entire income to the struggle, and he went on to raise a mounted Cossack regiment at his own expense.

11. Borodino: See note 4 to “The Blizzard.”

DUBROVSKY (1832–1833)

1. seventy souls: That is, seventy male serfs—an extremely modest number for a Russian landowner; Count Mamonov, for instance, owned 15,000.

2. We insert it here in full: What follows is Pushkin’s transcription of an actual court decision of the time; the only change he made was the substitution of the names of his characters for the names of the actual participants.

3. the Cadet Corps: An elite school in Petersburg for aristocratic boys, founded by the empress Anna Ioannovna in 1731. Its graduates had favored status for advancement in military or civil careers.

4. Derzhavin: See note 10 to The Moor of Peter the Great. The line here also comes from the ode “On the Death of Prince Meshchersky” (1779).

5. “Thunder of victory resound”: The opening words of Derzhavin’s choral ode, set to music by Osip Kozlovsky (1757–1831), written for the celebration given by Potemkin (see note 1 to “The Coffin-Maker”) on the taking of Izmail in 1791.

6. laid it out on the same table: See note 5 to “The Coffin-Maker.”

7. “Vanity of vanities…‘Memory Eternal’ ”: “Vanity of vanities” comes from the opening of Ecclesiastes (1:2). “Memory Eternal” is the prayer of supplication sung at the end of the Orthodox funeral service.

8. “Eschew evil and do good”: Words from Psalm 37:27, quoted in the first epistle of Peter (3:11).

9. the Turkish campaign: That is, the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1791.

10. Lavaterian guesswork: Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) was a Swiss poet, philosopher, and theologian, remembered mainly for his book Physiognomical Fragments (1775–1778), detailing the analysis of personal character based on facial and bodily features.

11. Kulnev: General Yakov Petrovich Kulnev (1763–1812), one of the most popular and colorful figures of the Napoleonic Wars, was killed pursuing the French at the battle of Klyastitsy. His lithographic portrait was widely distributed after his death.

12. Radcliffe: The English novelist Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823) perfected what came to be known as the Gothic novel, full of terror and the supernatural. Her most famous work, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), was very popular in Russia.

13. Misha: Misha, the diminutive of Mikhail, is the name traditionally given to bears in Russia.

14. Rinaldo: Hero of the popular novel Rinaldo Rinaldini, the Robber Chief (1797), by the German author Christian August Vulpius (1762–1827), author of numerous romantic tales and libretti and brother-in-law of Goethe.

15. Amphitryon’s wines: Amphitryon was a legendary prince of Tiryns, in the Peloponnese. The Roman playwright Plautus (ca. 254–184 BC) made him the hero of a burlesque comedy, which in turn inspired Molière’s Amphitryon (1668). His name came to stand for a generous host.

16. Konrad’s mistress: Konrad Wallenrod is the eponymous hero of a narrative poem by the great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), who was much admired by Pushkin.

THE QUEEN OF SPADES (1834)

1. The verses of the epigraph to chapter 1 are by Pushkin himself, who partially quotes them in a letter of September 1, 1828, to Vyazemsky (see note 1 to “The Stationmaster”). It has also been said that Pushkin, who was a passionate gambler himself, first wrote them on his sleeve in chalk while playing at Prince Golitsyn’s.