Encyclopedia of the Dog

The Encyclopedia of the Dog is a complete and freely accessible bilingual digital edition of Sasha Sokolov’s 1980 novel Between Dog and Wolf. It features both the original Russian text and Alexander Boguslawski’s English translation as well as multiple kinds of annotations to help readers grasp the various meanings, allusions, and layers of the novel.

How to Use

The Table of Contents can be accessed from the sidebar by clicking the menu icon in the top left corner of any page. Links to all chapters can be found in the Table of Contents and in the menu bar at the top of chapter pages on computers and tablets. The menu bar also contains “Language” and “Annotations” dropdowns which can be used to toggle the language of the text (English, Russian, or both side by side) and the visibility of annotations, respectively.

The “Annotations” dropdown in the menu bar allows readers to select the language of the annotation panel, which will appear at the bottom of the screen when a language is selected. Please note that the annotations for the English text are only available in English. Highlights will also appear in the novel to indicate available annotations. Clicking on these highlights will scroll the annotation panel to the location of the corresponding annotation. In the case of nested and overlapping annotations, clicking on the highlights will scroll the annotation panel to the location of the first annotation in the group. The annotation panel itself can then be scrolled down to reveal subsequent annotations. Finally, the backlink at the top of each annotation will scroll the main text to the location of the corresponding highlight.

Tags

We have used a system of tags to track patterns in Between Dog and Wolf. These tags identify various basic elements of the novel, such as characters and locations, as well as allusions and other kinds of references. The tags and their meanings are described below.

Archaism: archaic, Old Church Slavonic words or, in some cases, obsolete words in the English translation

Author: references to the author’s biography, poetics, or oeuvre

Bible: Biblical references

Character: characters, both major and minor

Edition: differences between published editions of the novel

Explanatory: used to explain words or passages that may be unclear

Folklore: Russian and Slavic folkloric elements (sayings, characters, tunes, dances, etc.)

Foreign: foreign words and references to non-Russian authors, works, locations, etc.

Intertextuality: allusions to or quotations from another text (literature, film, music, etc.)

Intratextuality: repeated passages or expressions or other connections within the novel. The highlighted segment may simply repeat or rewrite and develop this passage or expression.

Irony: ironic passages

Language: linguistic issues, such as non-standard use of words or expressions

Location: villages, towns, rivers, and other toponyms mentioned in the novel

Metaphor: although the novel abounds with metaphoric expressions, some of them are highlighted and explained given their relevance or complexity

Metrical pattern: when a Note is structured on a specific meter, it is signaled.

​​With reference to metrical patterns, we have adopted the set of abbreviations commonly used by Russian scholars (see, for example, Yury Orlitsky’s essays):

Motif: recurrent elements such as animals, plants, animal-human connections, clothing

Music: intertextual references to musical pieces, references to musical instruments and styles, or dances

Neologism: non-existing words created by the author or the translator

Poetic device: devices such as oxymoron, personification, tautology, metonymy

Phraseologism: standard or varied set expressions, idioms, etc.

Pun: word play generated by ambiguity

Register/style: issues regarding register or style (e.g., officialese, colloquial jargon, etc.)

Religion: allusions to religion

Rhyme: rhymes within the text

Rhyme scheme: used when a Note is structured on a specific rhyme scheme

Rhythm: rhythmic passages in the text

Russia: all references to Russia, both direct and indirect (such as allusions or mentions of elements typical for Russia or Russian culture)

Self-reference: intertextual references to the author’s other texts, to motifs, themes, characters, and other elements mentioned in his other works

Setting: settings relevant for the development of the plot (be they villages or closed spaces such as the “kubare,” crashbaret)

Sound: figures of sound (repetition, alliteration, assonance, etc.)

Sound play: linguistic play generated by sounds

Structure: compositional elements of the novel that make up its organization

Stylistic device: devices such as alliteration, paronomasia, anadiplosis, anagram, figura etymologica, anaphora

Symbol: recurrent key symbols (e.g., Zaitil’shchina as a lost corner of the earth, yeast as alcohol brew, mussels as sexuality, wolf as mother Russia)

Theme: development of or elements of a key theme, such as twilight, alcohol, sex-death, railroad, illnesses and disability

Time: temporal settings or references

Translation: translation issues in Boguslawski’s version of the novel and differences from the original