Novels, Tales, Journeys

37. Knyazhnin: See note 4 to “The Coffin-Maker.” The lines are Pushkin’s invention.

38. Prince Golitsyn: In August 1774, Russian relief troops under General Pyotr Mikhailovich Golitsyn defeated Pugachev’s forces at the town of Tatishchevo.

39. Ivan Ivanovich Mikhelson: Mikhelson (1740–1807) was one of the most prominent commanders in the Russian army. While still a lieutenant colonel, he successfully broke Pugachev’s siege of Kazan and pursued the enemy to a final defeat against great odds at the battle of Tsaritsyn.

40. Volynsky and Khrushchev: Artemy Petrovich Volynsky (1689–1740) was a minister under the cruel and arbitrary empress Anna Ioannovna (see note 10 above). He and his friend and assistant Andrei Fyodorovich Khrushchev (1691–1740) were accused of plotting to replace Anna with Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, and were executed.

41. Tsarskoe Selo: Literally “the Tsar’s Village,” located fifteen miles south of Petersburg. Originally an estate given by Peter the Great to his wife in 1708, it developed over time into a favorite country residence of the imperial family and the nobility and eventually into a town. Sofia, a neighboring town, merged with Tsarskoe Selo in 1808. Pushkin was in the first graduating class of the lycée at Tsarskoe Selo, founded by Alexander I in 1811. In 1937 the town was renamed Pushkin, in honor of the centenary of his death.

42. Rumyantsev’s recent victories: Count Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev (1725–1796) was a brilliant Russian general and later field marshal, involved mainly in the Russo-Turkish wars. His victories during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 forced the sultan Abdul Hamid I to sue for peace in 1774.

“The Omitted Chapter”

43. St. Elijah’s day: The Old Testament prophet Elijah (Elias) is commemorated as a saint in both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. His day is July 20 by the Julian calendar (still followed by the Russian Orthodox Church), August 2 by the Gregorian calendar.

JOURNEY TO ARZRUM (1836)

1. Voyages en Orient…: The author of the Voyages was Victor Fontanier (1796–1857), who was sent as a naturalist attached to the French embassy in Constantinople to explore the regions of the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire (1822–1829). His book was published between 1829 and 1834.

2. Khomyakov…Muravyov…Count Dibich: Alexei Stepanovich Khomyakov (1804–1860), poet, philosopher, and co-founder of the Slavophile movement, was one of the most influential Russian thinkers of his time and later. The poet Andrei Nikolaevich Muravyov (1806–1874) published an account of his journey to the Holy Land in 1834. The German-born Count Ivan Ivanovich Dibich, or Diebitsch (1785–1831), became a Russian field marshal and commanded the imperial forces during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829.

3. Detached Caucasus Corps: A corps of some 40,000 men, under General Paskevich (see following note), sent to fight the Turks on the Caucasian front of the war, to draw them away from the other front in the Balkan peninsula. The corps included a number of former Decembrists, a group of liberal-minded officers and soldiers who had been arrested after staging an uprising on December 26, 1825, in favor of constitutional reforms. Pushkin had been a close friend of some of the Decembrists and sympathized with their cause.

4. Paskewitch…Mouravieff…Tsitsevaze…Beboutof…Potemkine…Raiewsky: Pushkin is clearly amused by these French renderings of Russian names, as Byron was in Don Juan. Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich (1782–1856) shared command of the Russian forces with Dibich and headed the army after Dibich’s death in 1831. He was a field marshal and in reward for his successes was granted the titles of Count of Erevan and Prince of Warsaw. Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov (1794–1866) was chief of staff of the Caucasus Corps under Paskevich. The Georgian prince Alexander Garsevanovich Chavchavadze (1786–1846) was a poet and a general in the Russian army. Vasily Osipovich Bebutov (1791–1858), of Georgian-Armenian nobility, served in the Russian army from 1809 and distinguished himself during the Russo-Turkish wars. Prince Potemkin (see note 1 to “The Coffin-Maker”) had nothing to do with the Caucasus Corps. Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky (1771–1829) was an important general during the Napoleonic Wars. Pushkin met him in the Caucasus in 1821 and they became good friends; his sons were members of the Southern Society, which helped to plan the Decembrist uprising; they pulled out of the Society before the uprising took place, but were nevertheless “punished” by being sent to serve in the Caucasus.

5. Osman Pasha: Osman Pasha (“pasha” being an honorary title) was the governor of Arzrum.