/

Note X

Over the First Powdered Snow

The recipes of Gypsy women
Who are and
While the are streaming
.
But inspectors know and adore—
For that reason, they never feel blue—
The sacred strength of ,
With their thick maroon bottom goo.
Of this drink, first , then stolen,
In of their own,
Many jugs and bottles they’re hauling
Right over the .
They bring many tasty provisions:
Canned goods and sausage, and cheese.
My inspectors, my rustlers, envision
That these endless feasts never cease!
But there brightly sparked as before—
’Cause the utter darkness moved far—
red tar.
Through the scraps of the dogs’ furious baying
!—that’s all we can hear.
Co-imbiber! The last gulp, my dear bloke,
Stash in your flabby cheek and hold there.
It’s time.
.

Casting a

May the Dog be healthy and glad.
A was walking around the
And .
And the clouds were revealing God’s face.
And while sand-covered was choking in dust
The held the ice-skating race.
The Wolf was taught by the hereabout,
So leaving his lair in the woods,
,
But thanks to Wolf’s love, in its name,
From the to the
May the sick dogs be healthy and game.
And in their shabby coats, in the , outbound,
Not concerned if it is night or day,
Valiant hunters, making -like chirping sounds,
Chased the from the copses away.
Village folks, but alert and rarely forgive.
May the Thief still be sick.
They’ve spied out the place where this fellow lives
.
and that would be all,
But when winter unleashed ice and snow,
Between self and Wolf, when sleep takes its toll,
The Dog to the Wolf used to go.
,
The blizzard for the cloud ride can’t wait.
Village folks, mainly loners with nothing to do,
Glide on skates with hands on their waists.
,
Factory hunters, loudly shouting, “!”
Drink, enshaded by the snow-covered groves.
At last,
And .
Though his may still feel the pain
He’s a factory hunter right now.

Note XII

Confusion—it’s an inevitable fault
Of clueless philosophers, passions, ages . . .
What kind of luck made me such a dolt
That I could not make sense of them all
Or rather could, but less and less, in stages?
I like all months, December up to March,
Plus April, May and June, July and August,
And always warms my lonely heart,
And , whose rosy garb, so smart,
Brings to my mind the famous bird named .
in my garden stands
Like emptiness forgotten in a glass.
The glass, forgotten, on the table stands.
The table, forgotten, in the garden stands,
Forgotten on the winter’s white tray-grass.
Cold, with icicles on its lip, today,
stands here, like ,
Noticing, really, neither nor .

Note XIII

Dream

Just before the stars unfold
From the smoke I’m crying.
,
The dog’s—warmed by fire.
By the hearth, deep in his lair,
Cat snores, as he dozes.
And his , in disrepair,
Sticking nail exposes.
And he dreams, this Cat,
, while snoozing:
On the bridge sit wolves all set,
Therefore, he is musing:
If I were a dog, I’d love
The Wolf who’s so lonely,
And if I were a wolf I’d howl
After the Dog only.
From a window I’ll look out
Or glance from another—
A snow-dusted stands proud
In the glade snow-smothered.
Witches chat of times of old
By the graveyard’s pyre.
Holy tail—be cold, be cold,
—warmed by fire.
And completely
Is -covered Volga.
The Dog’s riding in a sleigh,
Prodding the Wolf onward.

Note XIV

Fishing Under Ice

Neither the fish live in this river
Nor the fish in a shoal.
So why do I, like an
by the ice hole?
Fellow, limp home and better be gone!
The time for playing has passed.
concealed .
Listen, you , scram or you’ll lose!—
I held myself in a firm rein.
Better swallow some , infused
Half and half with the .
Whom is God guiding down over here,
With a lamp, on ice skates, half bent?
Well, is near,
By the is sent.
Eh you, , you are no angel,
Go to hell, you blasted slime!
What’s your lamp for, you alien stranger,
During this somnolent time?
, you fish bait, did you catch your fill?
, skedaddle, rock!
You are a disease, you make the soul ill,
been a hundred years .
He fell through the ice while skating at ,
And only surfaced after a year.
In his pocket dominoes as well as a flask,
And .
he came back afloat.
found him at large.
They finished the flask, then played ,
And informed the folks in charge.
He took off. Ah, what a deceiver.
And he used to be a loner first class.
Neither the fish live in this river,
Nor the fish, for instance, .

Note XV

Archival

Oh, I will feel so stuffy
Filling the dusty shelves
Of the archival stacks.
Eh, I’ll be bored to death.
One day and out of breath
An archivist will come.
He’ll start to excavate me,
My doodles he’ll decipher,
And dig up in old files
A ticket to ,
A petal from some summer,
And ’mid the other notes,
This one he’ll find, indeed,
And ’bout himself he’ll read.
Ha ha, he’ll laugh, ha ha,
All through the archive. Rude,
Unpleasant, and irate,
A hunter out of date
And yet astute and shrewd.
And how excited he’ll be
With what he had found out.

Note XVI

Brew me some coffee, my lovely wench,
Because this draft is worthy of raves.
Keep waving, broadcast the news from ,
This aroma is praised all around,
With it can always be found,
Even when from there is nil.
By fate we’re so often rebuked
That we love like the ,
But aren’t we somebody’s
And isn’t ?
For that reason, though
Notwithstanding that no one can
, I’ll opine:
Oh, my , you’re so fine,
And , you know.
So I sharpen my penknife, I do:
Since the is near,
Having nothing to give you, my dear,
A hide I will just for you.
Brew me now, at the ,
had kindly .

Note XVII

To the Unknown Painter

Buddy!
,
And our own memorial wake
Or the cabbage soup’s high price
Often bore us quite a bit,
Either you mixed up the features
And impressions of the past
Or the picture
Without glasses you recast.
Hence
Seem to me no less than strange,
Even more, in panty hose.
And the deal would not have ended
With success, as we would like,
If the hunt we had attended
Not with but with a pike.
On which, well seen from this angle,
Right behind the hunter’s back,
Hangs the image of a tangled
, .
On the things’ established order
You applied a fancy veil:
Hunting bags with gold embroidered
Are at odds with our trails.
And from three lookers
Seem too pretty and too neat,
.
And this , master,
Shaded by the roofs askew,
Which you tried so hard to muster
With your brush, palette, and luster,
It is gone, wrapped in weeds’ cluster.
But are the same—so shoo!
Nonetheless—what a great picture,
Look around you once or twice,
And admire those bewitching
Brews of sky, and snow, and ice.
,
The ice skaters’ squealing
Can be heard from far beyond—
On the river and the ponds.
If I were a merchant mogul
Your oil painting I would buy,
Hang it o’er my cot to ogle,
And, forgetting all, I’d lie.
But because I am a ,
I will buy me some
And , but triplei>
Here’s my : Though glorious,
It cares not for poor folks’ strife,
But how lovely’s the notorious
Vanity of our life.

Note XVIII

of

(A Junkman’s Story)

There’s a reason for the vagrants to attest:
Sweet on the Volga are the best.
But some people just surprise us, when they muse:
Vodka is the worst of poisons, of no use.
By this judgment, pardon us, we’re not impressed,
We, the junk folk, life without it cannot see.
True, sometimes we in excess,
But in turn how much transfigured we may be.
Once from house to house we wandered-tramped,
Asking people: Help your guests, for goodness sake,
Bring outside your garbage pile, clean your dump:
Metal, glass, and even bones we gladly take.
has fallen. And of course—a fest.
Freaking bitch, don’t you growl and don’t you bark!
We set out to see the tailor, ,
schlepped with us, and it was dark.
, I meant to say, who was old,
Broken up, a guy with .
We are —he’s one far above us all,
We are —he’s one far above the rest.
Our owns simply nil,
Only crutches. And .
Weather sucks. The bells clamor on the hill,
And to find a place for slumber fly the .
They fly straight across the river, scalawags,
To the town of thieves and beggars for a nap.
While we’re lugging on a hand sleigh garbage bags—
Three archangels of recycling the old scrap.
Ah, I love so much:
, isn’t it?
I will also have a smoke; hold the match!
So, we’re , I repeat.
clothing for the ,
Our tailor’s sitting there by candlelight.
Open up, dear fellow creature, be so kind,
Welcome us—exhausted merchants—for the night.
We were sitting by the window, feeling fine,
Night was turning gray like pants too often washed.
I forget now, where we finally got the wine,
But remember—we got very soundly .
In the morning, we see: Kolya learned to !
Crutches—like a pair of wings he bore.
He had turned into a , poor old guy.
Drank too much. And he simply .

По пороше

Рецептов цыганок,
Что
,
унынья —
на дне.
Немало хороших
питья
Привозят они по пороше
В .
Привозят закусок —
Колбасы, консервы, сыры:
,
Да здравствуют наши пиры!
Но вот загорелась —
перешла —
смола.
В собачьего лая
Нам чудится слово .
! За дряблую щеку
Последний глоток
.

Записка XI

,
У Собаки — быстрей заживи.
,
И Бог в облаках,
И в то время как Ливия гибла в пыли,
Нидерланды неслись на коньках.
:
Покидая глубокий лог,
,
Но во имя волчьей любви
У болезных собак — заживи.
А по свету в драных плащах,
Не тревожась — то день иль ,
Егеря удалые, по-сорочьи треща,
выгоняли из рощ.
,
Вьюга едет на облаках,
Деревенский народ, главным образом — ,
, катит на коньках.
Заводские охотники, : ! —
Пьют под сенью оснеженных рощ.
Как ,
Как
И, ,
Заводским охотником стал.

грех
, страстей, философов досужих.
Какой меня преследовал успех,
Что я не разбирался в них во всех,
Вернее, разбирался, но все хуже.
Люблю декабрь, январь, февраль и март,
Апрель и май, июнь, июль и август,
И я всегда сердечно рад,
И , чей розовый наряд
на ум приводит .
Холодная, с на губе,
Стоит , как ,
Не замечая, в сущности, ни .

Записка XIII

Накануне первых звезд
От угара плачу —
.
Кот у очага
И храпит немного,
Из худого
Вылезает коготь.
Снится этому Коту-Воркоту :
Сидят волки на мосту,
И Кот рассуждает:
Если б я Собака был,
Я любил бы Волка,
Ну а если б волком выл,
По Собаке б только.
Погляжу ли из окна,
Из другого ль гляну —
Вся в снегу стоит
На снегу поляны.
Идут ведьмы на ,
О своем :
Мерзни, мерзни,
.
И совсем уже
Волга,
Едет Пес по ней в санях,
Погоняя Волка.

Записка XIV

Подледный лов

Ни рыбы- в реке не живут,
Ни рыба-.
Чего ж я, как рыба-, тут
над прорубью рот.
А ты бы, , домой хромал,
—
бахрома
.
,
Отбрил я себя сам,
Не лепо ли хватить
С пополам.
Кого это там еще Бог дает —
С лампою, на коньках…
Никак идет,
шлет .
Ну ,
,
На кой тебе лампа, ,
В дремучие эти поры?
Салом, братишка, поймал ерши?
, ,
Ты есть , души,
Батрутдинов сто лет как .
Упал в промоину, катясь в кино,
И хоть выплыл, да через год:
В карманах и домино,
И трачен рыбами рот.
Выловили — —
распили,
И вызвали кого след.
Умчался. Право, такой стал плут.
А был — честнейший .
Ни рыбы-
, .

Записка XV

О, как мне душно будет
Когда-нибудь в пыли
Архива, его полок,
Эх, скушно будет мне.
Однажды и в
Нагрянет архивист.
Во мне он станет рыться,
Копаться, разбираться
В каракулях — найдет:
Рисунок и портрет,
В билет,
И среди остальных —
Записку эту вот
И о себе прочтет.
И он смеяться станет:
Ха-ха, на весь архив,
Охотник архаичен,
Беда как неприличен,
Однако прозорлив.
И как он счастлив будет
Находкою своей.

Над кофейника носиком пар,
Словно капитулянтский флажок.
Нацеди кофейку, мой дружок,
Восхитителен этот навар.
Повевай, про весть —
Аромат, что воспет.
Не беда, что нет,
Хорошо хоть с есть.
Нас балýет так мало судьба,
Что и рад, как ,
Ведь не сами ль мы чей-то
И не .
, невзирая на то,
Что прекрасных полно,
Оттого, хоть
Лисьей шубы, скажу не тая:
Ты прекрасна, моя;
А портрет — так .
Неспроста свой булатный :
Близок твоего,
Подарить не имея чего,
Шкуру тебе .
Завари же
.

Записка XVII

К незнакомому живописцу

!
И как собственная
Или щей дороговизна
нам скучна,
То ли спутал ты, дружище,
Впечатленья от веков,
То ль писал ты
Совершенно без очков.
ловчие в кафтанах
И немодных
Мне по крайней мере странны,
А тем более — в чулках.
И
Если выйдем мы в облаву
Не с , а с багром.
На котором, между прочим,
За спиною у стрелка
Ты повесил - тут все точно -
Тушку волка-.
Обстоятельства же наши
Ты , словно гроб:
Сторонятся здешних троп.
И чресчур благообразны
Три красотки ,
.
Мастер мой, та
В осененье острых крыш,
О которой всей палитрой
Ты столь искренно скорбишь,
Перешла, ,
Но те же; !
Тем не мене — взор пирует,
Кинь его туда, сюда:
Приворотное чарует
Зелье неба, снега, льда.
Конькобежцев визг щенячий
Раздается вдалеке —
На прудах и на реке.
Был бы я купец какой-то,
Полотно б скорей купил
И повесил бы над койкой —
Лег и сам себя забыл.
же ,
Куплю
,
.
Вот она, ,
ей нищета,
И прекрасна данной жизни
Пресловутая !

(Рассказ утильщика)

Нет, недаром все твердят,
Что по Волге нет грибов милей ,
И напрасно это люди говорят,
Что — неполезный очень яд.
Это мненье, извиняюсь, ерунда,
Нам, утильщикам, без этого — никак.
Натурально, примешь иногда,
Но зато преображаешься-то как.
Раз бродили-побирались по дворам,
Выручайте, Христа ради-ка, гостей,
Выносите и прочий хлам,
Железяки, стеклотару и костей.
Пали , и ,
Не бреши ты, сука драная, не лай.
Мы направились к портному на ,
, человек.
,
Лишь костылики. И .
Непогода. И
, за ,
и ворья,
А мы тащим на салазочках ,
Три архангела вторичного старья.
:
.
Не гаси, пожалуй, тоже .
, повторяю, на .
А при свечах уже сидит,
одежку для .
Отворяй давай, коллега-,
Привечай уж на ночь глядя .
Как засели дружелюбно у окна,
Ночь серела — что застираны .
Не припомню, где добыли мы вина,
Помню только — .
Утром смотрим — :
Костыли — как два крыла над головой.
Обратился, бедолага, в :
Перепил. И

Chapter Notes

Despite its many oddities, Between Dog and Wolf features a strict, formal structure: eight prose chapters from the perspective of the itinerant grinder Ilya Zynzyrella; five prose chapters that concern the life and thoughts of the dog-keeper Yakov Palamakhterov; four chapters consisting of 36 poems written by Yakov; and a final chapter made up of a single, separate poem, again authored by Yakov. As Alexander Boguslawski writes, the chapters follow this pattern: ABCABACABACABACBAC (“How Sokolov’s” 205). Sergei Orobii suggests that “in the novel Between Dog and Wolf, the principle that will become the cornerstone for determining the root affiliation of Sokolov’s texts of the 2000s is mastered: prose is replaced with ease by poetry, or even merges with it. Such a narrative maneuver, of course, originates not in the plot, but in the field of language: considering that the Russian literary language has ‘worn out’ from constant use and has lost all expressiveness, the writer tries to get away from the usual linguistic norms and constructs a unique style, which becomes the driving force of the narrative. Here, the boundaries between replicas, between direct and indirect speech, between chatter and quotation are fundamentally blurred” (299).

structure

Notes

A reference to Ivan Turgenev’s 1852 cycle of short stories Notes of a Hunter (also translated as A Sportman’s Notebook, The Hunting Sketches, and Sketches from a Hunter’s Album). This work was acclaimed for its portrayal of peasant life. The “Notes” (Записки) trope is common in Russian literature: Notes of a Rifle Hunter (Aksakov), Notes of a Shallow Grass (Dryansky), “Notes of a Madman” (Gogol), Notes from the Underground (Dostoevsky), Notes from a Dead House (Dostoevsky), “Notes of a Madman” (Tolstoy), “Notes of a Christian” (Tolstoy), Notes of a Doctor (Veresaev), Notes of a Young Doctor (Bulgakov), Notes of a Psychotic (Ven. Erofeev), and Notes of a Nonhunter (Vantalov). Gerald Smith suggests that the Drunken Huntsman may also be a literary descendent of Alexander Pushkin’s hero in The Gypsies (“The Verse” 329).

intertextuality

Notes of a Hunter

That is, Yakov. These verse segments are allegedly written by Yakov during his year on the Volga; they come divided in sections according to the time of the year, which is however never a specific season but a period between seasons. In this second collection of Notes, the setting is winter. Gerald Smith suggests that the “idea of going to the country for the winter rather than the summer is a calculated reversal of the accepted routine of polite society, and a fundamental aspect of the novel’s anti-‘civilized’ stance” (“The Verse” 325). In opposition to most critics, he also proposes that the Notes are composed by a “controlling intelligence” beyond the novel’s main characters (“The Verse” 326).

explanatory time

structure

Записки

Отсылка к написанному в 1852 году циклу рассказов Тургенева “Записки охотника”. Произведение получило признание за отражение крестьянской жизни. Образ “Записок” нередко встречается в русской литературе: Записки ружейного охотника (Аксаков), “Записки мелкотравчатого” (Дриянский), “Записки сумасшедшего” (Гоголь), Записки из подполья (Достоевский), Записки из Мертвого дома (Достоевский), “Записки сумасшедшего” (Толстой), “Записки христианина” (Толстой), Записки врача (Вересаев), Записки юного врача (Булгаков), Записки психопата (Вен. Ерофеев), Записки неохотника (Ванталов). Дж. Смит предполагает, что Запойный охотник может быть литературным потомком пушкинского героя из поэмы “Цыгане” (CASS 1987, Smith, “The Verse”, 329).

intertextuality

Записки охотника

То есть, Яков. Можно предположить, что эти стихотворные фрагменты написаны Яковом во время его годового пребывания на Волге; они разделены на части согласно временам года, однако, не конкретным сезонам, а межсезоньям. Во вторых Записках время действия — зима. Дж. Смит предполагает, что “идея ехать в деревню зимой, а не летом, умышленно противопоставляется общепринятому обычаю приличного общества и является фундаментальным аспектом анти-цивилизованной позиции романа” (CASS, “The Verse”, 325). Вопреки мнению большинства критиков, он также считает, что Записки созданы неким “управляющим разумом” за пределами круга главных героев романа (CASS, “The Verse”, 326).

explanatory time

Text Annotations

Bordeaux

A French port city and major producer of wine. Alcohol theme.

foreign location theme

pressing

These gypsy women press grapes while dancing in order to make wine.

explanatory

deux côtes

French: deux côtes (two coasts). A French wine. Alcohol theme.

foreign theme

châteaux

French: chateau (castle or house). A high-quality wine produced at a chateau. May refer to the label of such a bottle. Alcohol theme.

foreign theme

street-organs’

A barrel organ, roller organ, or crank organ. Originally from France, it’s name is derived from “Charmante Catherine,” one of the first songs played on the instrument. Unlike an organ (or an accordion), it is played by turning a crank. Thus, the musician is known as an organ grinder.

foreign music

waltzes

A ballroom dance in 3/4 time. From the German Walzer (to roll or revolve).

music foreign

The distilling plant does not know

Industries do not know traditional recipes: best products are kept secret in popular, folk wisdom.

explanatory

Cahors

A red wine produced with grapes from Cahors, France. Also mentioned in Note I (R164/E28). Alcohol theme.

foreign intratextuality theme

rejected

Possibly suggests that it is cheap, low-cost.

explanatory

embroidered

A sewing technique. See a demonstration here. Sewing theme.

theme

bags

A hunting bag. Instead of animals, these hunters carry bottles of alcohol in their bags, as if alcohol were their only prey. Alcohol theme. Animal motif.

explanatory theme motif

first powdered snow

So, it must be in the early morning, before dawn, walking on fresh snow fallen during the night.

explanatory time

In the whitened grave of the shores

Metaphor: snow.

poetic device metaphor

Negru de Purcari

Negru de Purcari, a dark red Moldovan wine. Alcohol theme.

theme foreign

Though the curious hunter is saying: Where do pheasants get fat around here?

As Boguslawski explains, this section paraphrases the Russian phrase “Каждый охотник желает знать, где сидит фазан” (Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting), which is a “mnemonic device for remembering the order of the color spectrum” in Russian (“Annotations” 243). Animal motif.

phraseologism explanatory motif

pheasants

Pheasant. The pheasant has numerous folk associations, from authority (antiquity), thunder (China), eroticism (England), and women (Herman Melville’s “Poor Man’s Pudding and Rich Man’s Crumbs”) (Rowland, Birds 134). Those contexts are, of course, far removed from Sokolov’s Russia, the focus here is clearly on hunting, and yet, given the blurring of sexual, hunting, and alcohol motifs throughout Between Dog and Wolf, one might alternatively read this poem as one about the search for a lover. Animal motif.

motif

Sesame

The magic word, as in “Open sesame!” The hunters listen to the dogs’ barking in order to find out where the cave of treasures (the prey) is.

foreign explanatory

Whir in barrels’ half chokes, And in chokes, you whirlwind, whir-whir

A reference to Alexander Pushkin’s 1820 poem “The Daylight Went Out”: “Rustle, rustle, obedient sail”. Read the original here.

intertextuality

chokes

A choke refers to a modification on a gun (often shotguns) that helps control the spread of the shot. It may be built directly into a gun in manufacturing or added in the form of a choke tube.

explanatory

chokes

A choke refers to a modification on a gun (often shotguns) that helps control the spread of the shot. It may be built directly into a gun in manufacturing or added in the form of a choke tube.

explanatory

Note XI

This poem recounts, in metaphorical, literal, and folkloric form, the crimes that lie at the heart of the novel: Ilya’s attack on one of Yakov’s dogs, the theft of Ilya’s crutches and the hunters’ lamp, Ilya’s killing of two dogs, and the hunters’ murder of Ilya. Discussing Sokolov’s use of many synonyms for crutches, of which there are at least “six different nouns, one diminutive form, and a verb derived from one of the nouns,” Alexander Boguslawski writes: “It is important to note that only the kostyli and its derivations are used by Iakov in the poems, while Il’ia, whose relationship with his crutches is intimate and persona, and whose language is freer and less disciplined, uses all expressions” (“How Sokolov’s” 212).

intratextuality explanatory structure character

Spell

Korovashko analyzes in detail the way Sokolov reuses the “ordinary incantation formula” mentioned in the first verse and repeated throughout the Note (U Soroki - boli, u Vorony - boli), which is “known to almost every [Russian] child and completely devoid of any aura of sacredness and hermeticism.” In the end, he summarizes Sokolov’s choice as one more example of the author’s “constant desire to use those ‘ready-made’ products that language ‘throws’ at us” (275).

explanatory intertextuality structure

May the Magpie be sick, may the Crow be sick too,

A reference to the expression “У сороки боли, у вороны боли, а у (имя) всё заживи” (“The magpie is hurt, the crow is hurt, but (name) will feel all better”), used to comfort children who have hurt themselves. This reference will appear once again in chapter 14 (R260/E195). See also Korovashko. According to Edward Armstrong’s The Folklore of Birds, “magpie lore seems to be dependent upon, or derive from, raven traditions to a considerable extent and the folklore of the crow is confused with that of the raven” (72). Crows, like ravens, are often associated with death (Armstrong 75). José Vergara writes, “As for the crow, so consistently paired with the magpie, there is the story of Coronis, whose adultery is revealed by a tattling crow. After Apollo condemns her to death, he feels remorse and turns the crow’s white feathers black as punishment. Here, again, we note the theme of transformations and the unfaithful woman, who, in the form of Orina, would make the crow Ilya” (“Flap 369). Animal motif.

phraseologism intratextuality motif intertextuality foreign folklore theme

Magpie

Magpie. The magpie is traditionally known as a thieving bird: “Regarded almost universally as a symbol of ill-omen,” the “magpie’s incorrigible addiction to pilfering has no doubt contributed to its unpopularity” (Rowland, Birds 103–104). José Vergara sees connections to Dog’s plot: “Accordingly, the poem recounts how the hunters steal Ilya’s crutches in retaliation for the violence he committed against Yakov’s dog after mistaking it for a wolf. Once again, the humans become linked to birds because of their actions. (Or is it the opposite?) The theft of Ilya’s crutches by Yakov ultimately leads to the former’s death, so it stands to reason that he should be entwined metaphorically to the magpie” (“Flap” 370). Animal-human motif.

folklore motif

cripple

Ilya.

character intratextuality

world blue

That is, along the darkening sky. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

motif intratextuality time

his crutches were splattered with blood

The reader will eventually learn that Ilya attacked one of Yakov’s dogs, mistaking it for a wolf. This event is not described until much later in the novel (R242-243/E162-163).

intratextuality explanatory

His crutches walked over the snow’s bluish crust

The subject of the previous stanza was Ilya (the “invalid person”), while now his crutches take his place.

structure

snow’s bluish

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

time

bluish

That is, along the blue snow. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

motif intratextuality time

Libya

From the particular setting of the novel, a more universal layer of comprehension is suggested. As Ostanin suggests (56), Libia in ancient geography indicated Africa as a whole, while according to Egyptians it represented the world of death (located on the west side of the Nile river).

structure language foreign

Netherlands

A possible connection to Bruegel.

location foreign intertextuality

mage

Priests, shamans in Ancient Slavic pagan religions. Their role is attested by many historical documents, such as the Primary Chronicle (XII c.).

Russia explanatory religion

Just after the sunset, the Wolf would crawl out And heal the Dog as he could.

On the theme of dog-wolf love, see also Note XIII.

intratextuality

May the Magpie be sick, may the Crow be sick too

phraseologism theme intratextuality motif foreign folklore intertextuality

Magpie

folklore motif

black river Crow

A river southeast of Moscow. Located in the Penza, Tambov, and Voronezh Oblasts.

location Russia

river Nerl

A river northeast of Moscow. Located in the Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, and Vladimir Oblasts.

Russia location

blue

That is, against the background of the darkening sky. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

intratextuality motif time

blue world

That is, along the darkening sky. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

motif intratextuality time

magpie

motif folklore

ermines

Also known as a stoat. Animal motif.

motif

Magpie

motif folklore

And lifted, the rascals, his sticks

The theft of Ilya’s crutches that follows his battle with Yakov’s dog on the icy Volga. Described elsewhere, for example R245/E167 and R276/E223.

intratextuality explanatory

lifted

To steal.

language

They drank them away

The hunters steal and sell Ilya’s crutches for drinking money. Alchol theme.

theme explanatory

The Magpie is sick and the Crow is sick too

phraseologism intratextuality motif intertextuality folklore theme foreign

Magpie

motif folklore

And from the flat Brugge to the mountainous Liopp, Or to Bydogoshchi from as far as Bobrov

Ostanin suggests that these lines may be read in terms of the body and metaphysics: “And from flat Bruges (hungry belly, body) to hilly Lepp (forehead, consciousness) / From Tutaev (the world where we are) all the way to Bydogosch (the future world where we will soon be)” (56). It is also interesting to notice that in the second stanza we move from the particular to the universal/global, while now the movement is opposite, and we come back to the life on the Volga.

theme location structure

Brugge

The capital of West Flanders in Belgium.

foreign location

Liopp

Ostanin observes that this toponym blurs the lines between the Russian лоб (lob, forehead) and English lip. He quotes a letter from the author: “The e with dots isn’t located on my keyboard, but it appears itself when it wants. / I didn’t find such a city in Holland. / In Scandanavia either. / Then I found the Karelian village Leppiasiur’ia and shortened it. / And for the sake of the rhyme added dots over the e” (56–57).

location Russia foreign theme

Bydogoshchi

As Sokolov explains, there is no relation between this location and the Polish town of Bydgoszcz (personal communication, June 7, 2023). It is rather a misspelling of the village (and lake) of Vidogoshch by the Volga River, near Tver’. D.B. Johnson suggests that, while the living dwell in Gorodnishche, Bydogoshch is home for the dead (“Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf and the Modernist Tradition” 209).

location Russia foreign setting

Bobrov

Original Russian: Тутаева (Tutaeva). A city located in the Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia. Previously known as Romanov-Borisoglebsk, from the two towns it was before—Romanov and Borisoglebsk—separated by the Volga. Another doubling and merging. However, Boguslawski here inserts the city Bobrov for the sake of the rhyme.

location Russia translation

Hey, hop

Interjection: hey ho! whoa!

phraseologism

our cripple a new shotgun obtained

Ilya will admit to shooting two of the hunters’ dogs in retaliation for their theft of his crutches and his lamp (R279/E227).

intratextuality explanatory

cripple

Ilya.

explanatory character intratextuality

shotgun

In the original, a Berdan rifle. Invented by Hiram Berdan in 1868 and used by the Russian army from 1870 to 1891 and for sport. Mentioned in several poems (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

translation explanatory intratextuality foreign

found other crutches somehow

Ilya’s crutches unexpectedly return to him (R254/E186).

intratextuality explanatory

empty pant leg

Ilya’s missing leg.

explanatory

Philosophical

A word (verb, adjective) used repeatedly in connection to Yakov. See R163/E25, R189/E70, R197/E86, R274/E219, and R277/E223.

intratextuality

When ways of knowledge came to be too dreary, And city life, unsettling, hard to follow, First, I became a hunter—ordinary, But later turned into a binger—merry, With gaze both enlightened and quite hollow.

Yakov describes his move from the city to the upper Volga and his shift in character.

explanatory location

Virgo

The constellation Virgo, largest of the zodiac. In Greek mythology, Astraea, goddess of justice, innocence, and purity, was the last of the gods to flee Earth and settle in the stars. Through the zodiac sign he suggests here the month of September. Constellation-heavens motif.

intertextuality time motif

Brumaires

French: Brumaire (fog, mist). The second month in the French Republican calendar corresponding to October 22-24 through November 20-22. Mentioned in chapter 16 (R277/E224).

time foreign intratextuality

Argus

A species of pheasant from Southeast Asia, named after Argus Panoptes, a 100-eyed giant from Greek mythology. Animal motif.

motif intertextuality

Now chilly winter

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

time

Dear maestro, on the stovepipe wail Something Christmasy—and make it andante.

This passage could be intended as an invitation to winter to sing its “Christmas song” on the chimney, that is: to snow heavily on roofs. It could also be an invitation for the winter wind to howl.

explanatory music

maestro

Italian: maestro (master). Honorific title for outstanding musicians or chess players.

foreign music

andante

Italian: andante (tempo at a moderately slow or walking pace).

foreign music

Winter

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

time

a thing per se

The “thing-in-itself” (from the German “Ding an sich”) is a philosophical concept developed by Immanuel Kant that describes objects in their actual, true forms, separate from human observation. In a sense, Sokolov’s novel challenges this idea with so many indeterminate characters, events, and locations; everything is reduced to subjectivity.

foreign intertextuality explanatory

Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), German Enlightenment philosopher. Not coincidentally, this Note is entitled “Philosophical,” a word (verb, adjective) used repeatedly with connection to Yakov. See R163/E25, R189/E70, R197/E86, R274/E219, and R277/E223. However, here Kant the philosopher is only implied (as a secondary level of meaning), while the ordinary “kant” is intended primarily: lace, trim, small cover. Moreover, it could also mean a kind of choral song by the same name.

foreign intertextuality intratextuality music

canto

A major division in a narrative poem. A play on Kant’s name.

explanatory sound play

Valday

A town located in Novgorod Oblast first mentioned in a chronicle in 1495 and known for the manufacture of bells in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Mentioned several times throughout the novel (R150, 155, 198, 230, 272/E2, 11, 87, 88, 140, 214).

location intratextuality Russia

The wolf’s tail—be cold, be cold

A reference to the folktale “The Sister Fox and the Wolf.” The story concerns a sneaky fox who tricks several other characters and falls into a conflict with a wolf. The latter ultimately becomes stuck in a frozen lake and is beset upon by villagers. Read the original here and an English translation here. Animal motif.

intertextuality folklore motif

boot

Boots with high tops. D.B. Johnson has identified more than twenty different types of shoes across Sokolov’s three novels: “bashmaki, botforty, boty, botinki (polubotinki), cheboty, chizmy, chubury, galoshi (kaloshi), gety, ichigi, kedy, klogi, lapti, mokrostupy, obuvi (obuvki), sapogi, sandalii, tapochki (polutapochki), shlepantsy, shtiblety, tapti, tufli, valenki. The list may easily be extended with appurtenances such as socks, stockings, footcloths, gaiters, skates, crutches, and artificial legs” (“The Galoshes Manifesto” 156). Regarding Between Dog and Wolf, he notes that Ilya’s last name immediately evokes Cinderella’s vair slippers. Johnson observes that “the footwear motif is Sokolov’s tribute, both conscious and unconscious, to the tradition in Russian literature represented by his predecessors – Ivan Bunin and Valentin Kataev” (179). In an interview with A. and N. Voronel’, Sokolov calls Bunin, along with Gogol, his “contemporaries, collaborators along a chain, older masters” (Voroneli, “Ia khochu” 184). Shoe motif.

motif intertextuality

Valday

location intratextuality Russia

Purring-Puss

Kot-Vorkot is a folkloric character of Russian fairytales.

intertextuality folklore

pine

Pine tree. As Mikhail Epstein notes, “Pines and spruce trees represent part of a gloomy, harsh landscape; wilderness, darkness, and silence reign around them. […] Pines and spruces mean not only the peace of sleep, but also the peace of death. If an oak tree that has grown over a grave is a symbol of eternal life overcoming death, then the pine tree is perceived as a tombstone erected by nature itself over a person and confirming the hopelessness of death […]. The pine tree stands out for its slenderness and height, which allows it to “converse” with the wind. One of the most persistent poetic motifs is pine trees swayed by the wind like bells, causing a ringing sound throughout the forest […]. The slenderness of pine trunks gives reason to compare them with columns and strings” (75–76, 80). Plant motif.

motif symbol

Devil’s

The “devil’s tail” recalls Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov (for instance, this passage, told by Ferapont: “When I was coming out from the Superior’s I saw one hiding from me behind the door, and a big one, a yard and a half or more high, with a thick long grey tail, and the tip of his tail was in the crack of the door and I was quick and slammed the door, pinching his tail in it”).

intertextuality

bluish-gray

motif intratextuality theme time

mica

Mica: Silicate minerals that may be divided into thin plates.. Also mentioned at the beginning of chapter 2 (R158/E17).

intratextuality explanatory

sturgeon

Starry sturgeon. Animal motif.

motif

Chauliodus

Viperfish. Animal motif.

motif

anglerfish, shiver, With my mouth open

Fish known for its bioluminescent ability and large mouth. Original Russian: удильщик (udil’shchik), which technically refers to monkfish. Animal motif.

motif

And the curtain of tattered dawn Onto Europe

This phrase refers to Peter the Great’s plans and actions to open Russia to a lengthy series of reforms built on western trends. According to Boguslawski’s annotation, a paraphrase “of the expression ‘to open a window into Europe’” (“Annotations” 244). Ostanin also suggests that this line calls to mind the sun’s setting (58). Curiously, according to this interpretation, Russia/Peter I/Petersburg (which opened a window into Europe) are symbolized by the “curtain of tattered dawn.”

intertextuality theme time

wasisdas

Small windows in the walls of stores for customers to consider what is inside. From the German Was ist das? (what is this?).

foreign

Binger

That is, Yakov.

character explanatory

rotgut

Alcohol (wine, whiskey) of very low quality. Alcohol theme.

theme

tears of grain

A brand of vodka. Alcohol theme.

theme

Aladdin Bartrutdinov

Mentioned four times in the novel with different surnames (R153/E7, R199/E89, R242/E161, R278/E225). The name of Arabic origin Aladdin (Al al-Din) means “nobility of faith” and was popularized by the success of One Thousand and One Nights, before the 1992 homonymous Disney movie. Here it is used to suggest the Tatar origin of the character (directly indicated in Note XIV). His last name is mentioned alternatively as Batrutdinov and Rakhmatullin: the first derives from the Arabic name Batrutdin which means “full moon of the faith”; the second is a Tatar or Bashkir last name, derived from the name Rahmatullah, “mercy of God.”

character intratextuality intertextuality religion foreign

Allah

The Arabic word for God. Likely related to the fact that “Itil’” is the Turkic name of the Volga. It is also found in the Tatar language, and most Tatars are Muslims.

religion explanatory

Tatar

A Tatar — a person from Tatarstan (now the Republic of Tatarstan), a speaker of a Tatar language. The Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was forcibly established in 1920 and lasted throughout the Soviet period.

explanatory character Russia

humpback

Yakov is hunchbacked. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

explanatory intratextuality

Yakshi

From the Tatar for “good, sure thing, okay.”

foreign

Hunchbacked

Ilya (like Yakov) is hunchbacked. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

explanatory intratextuality

Hunchbacked pony

Yakov alludes to Petr Ershov’s 1834 fairy tale “The Little Hunchbacked Pony.” Read the original here and an English translation here. Animal motif.

intertextuality motif

Bartrutdinov’s

character intratextuality intertextuality religion foreign

yok

Turkish: no, nothing.

foreign

dusk

Between dog and wolf.

theme time

chewed off by fish lips and ears

Another deformation.

theme

I forgot the date

Dates and time are in disorder throughout the novel, so it’s no surprise that the poet forgets.

time

Pyotr

Pyotr/Fyodor/Yegor. Pyotr, “one smart aleck from Sloboda” (R173/E43), is Pavel’s uncle and is sent by his nephew in Gorodnishche to find yeast (when the story is retold in chapter 14, it is the uncle asking Pavel to get yeast). He is alternatively called Fyodor and Yegor: the choice seems to be guided by the presence of the vowels “e/ë” and “o.” The name Pyotr, from Greek, means “stone.” The apostle Peter (Simon Peter), in origin a fisherman, is considered the first Christian Pope. Peter denied Jesus three times during the events of the crucifixion, as Jesus had predicted (see Matthew 26:69–75). Fyodor (Theodore) means “God’s gift.” The name Egor is a variation of the name Georgy (George), from the Greek “farmer.” He was immortalized as a saint through the legend of the Dragon (Saint George the Dragon-slayer). In chapter 10 this character is challenged to hang himself, which results in his suicide.

character foreign religion intratextuality

Pyotr and Pavel

Last seen in chapter 4 (R173/E43). Since these names are mentioned just after the poet admits to not remembering the date, they can be interpreted as an allusion to the calendar: June 29, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Indeed, in the previous stanza, he said that he “swam out” only the year after.

intratextuality time

whack the goat

Low set expression in Russian: to play dominoes. The origin of the expression, which involves the linguistic similarity between the words kozen and kozyon and the game of bones, is explained in this radio report.

phraseologism

chimaera

Rat fish. Animal motif.

motif

hump bass

A breed of bass fish. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208). Animal motif.

motif intratextuality

Kunstkammer

From the German Kunstkammer (cabinet of curiosities). Russia’s first museum. Completed in 1727 by order of Peter the Great.

Russia location foreign

And he will be, just be, While I’ll be gone, away, Each week and every day. But how eternal I’ll be— No present and no past, Away from taking chances, In crowded circumstances, And suffocating dust.

On one level, the poem is written from perspective of the zapiska/note itself. It implies that it will outlive man but will be covered in dust and forgotten on the shelf of an archive. Recalls Yakov’s ruminations on death, his legacy in writing, and escaping the difficulties of life.

explanatory self-reference intratextuality

A Verse About a Beautiful Lonesome Babe

A reference to Alexander Blok’s 1901–1902 Verses on a Beautiful Lady. Read the original collection of poems here.

intertextuality

Lonesome Babe

Original Russian: bobylka. Colloquial: an unmarried, lonely (peasant) woman. She will make several appearances throughout the novel and is associated with Orina.

intratextuality character

Over the coffeepot the steam waves Like a capitulation flag from a trench.

White steam is described as a small white flag.

metaphor explanatory

Brazil

The narrator in chapter 5 draws a comparison between Yakov’s mimicry abilities and the Brazilian huntsman spiders (R184/E61).

intratextuality foreign

chicory

An herb that is sometimes used as a substitute for coffee. According to Gretchen Scoble and Ann Field, “Chicory is both an emblem of culinary refinement, in its endive and radicchio guises, and a slightly déclassé signal of frugality, when its roots are ground and used as a substitute for coffee. […] Chicory is one of the bitter herbs that God commanded the Israelites to eat with the lamb at Passover. Nonetheless, it was also prescribed by medieval herbalists ‘for swoonings and passions of the heart’” (99). Plant motif.

motif religion explanatory

Brazil

That is, coffee from Brazil.

explanatory foreign

chicory

foreign motif explanatory

Erzia

One of the Mordvin peoples of Mordovia. The Erzya people live mainly in Eastern Mordovia, between the rivers Moksha and Sura, but also along the Volga and Belaya. Today around 50,000 people claim to belong to this ethnic group. The Erzya language is one of the two Mordvinic languages, a subgroup of the Uralic languages.

explanatory Russia

ersatz

German: substitute, replacement. Used to describe a poor quality substitution, often of products.

foreign

our goose fully cooked

Set expression: a bad situation, all hope is lost.

phraseologism

I declare that it does not matter Who is mending my coat and my shawl.

Something that completely overturns Blok’s idea (and idealization) of the “prekrasnaya dama/.” Sewing theme.

intertextuality theme

sew

Several characters sew in the novel. Maria (a variant of Orina, the bobylka, Lonesome Babe) is associated with sewing (R161/E21). Various characters sew in the novel. In Yakov’s eighth poem, an oriole “resews evening into night” (R172/E39). Ilya sews slippers (R274/E219). Sewing theme.

intratextuality theme

Out of sweet talk fur coats

A variation on the expression “из спасибо шубы не сошьешь” (praise is not pudding, words pay no debts). Clothing motif.

phraseologism motif

lonesome babe

Original Russian: bobylka. Colloquial: an unmarried, lonely (peasant) woman. She will make several appearances throughout the novel and is associated with Orina.

intratextuality character

your mug’s not to drink from

Suggests that she’s not so good looking.

explanatory

day of your angel

Name day or christening day. In Orthodoxy each day of the year is dedicated to a saint.

religion

boar’s

Wild boar. Animal motif.

motif

scrape

As Johnson notes, Ilya Zynzyrella, evoking “Cinderella of vair (or verre) slipper fame” is indeed “a male Cinderella [who] makes fur slippers for his beloved who (posthumously) seeks to be reunited with him” (“The Galoshes Manifesto” 164).

character intratextuality

threshold of dusk

That is, the time between dog and wolf.

theme time

In midevening, at pre-winter’s boding, Pseudo-coffee that a quasimodic False matchmaker

A series of half states and false identities. Nothing is stable and certain in the novel.

theme

quasimodic

The hero of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Born with kyphosis (a severe back issue). Perhaps also a reference to the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo, who in 1959 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times” (The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959). Another reference to the condition of being hunchbacked.

intertextuality foreign

loaned us

In the novel characters often exchange goods (usually drinks).

intratextuality theme

Note XVII To the Unknown Painter

This poem is yet another iteration of the ekphrastic description of The Hunters in the Snow, a 1565 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The setting and action of this image recurs throughout Between Dog and Wolf, as they come to life in the text. Elena Kravchenko explains: “Besides the ‘trope’ of the exhibition viewing, the device of ekphrasis, and the ‘gallery’ structure of The Pictures, Sokolov borrows the underlying ‘teleology’ of Musorgskii’s work. Alongside Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, and Rimskii Korsakov, Musorgskii was one of the ‘Mighty Handful’ (‘Moguchaia kuchka’). Created under the patronage of an art critic Vladimir Stasov, it became the hub of a pioneering national style which espoused folklore and the traditions of the peasantry as the new foundation for Russian music. The group was closely connected with and drew inspiration from the Wanderers, an artistic movement […] Iakov is set to communicate a similar idea. He comes to the Volga to grasp and represent the lives of its people. Besides his poetic gift, Iakov is an artist, and it is his works that form the textual gallery of the prose chapters. The gallery ‘entries’ are either demarcated graphically with italics, which signals a title of a painting, or framed by a reference to their pictorial ‘origin’” (The Prose 61). She continues: “It can be argued that Iakov’s representation of human suffering, which constitutes one of the main themes of the novel, and which has been identified as the major moral message of many Brueghel paintings, is modelled not directly on Brueghel but on W. H. Auden’s ekphrasis in his ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’. Running through the images of Brueghel’s The Census at Bethlehem (1566) and The Slaughter of the Innocents (ca. 1564), it culminates in the ekphrasis of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (ca. 1558)” (The Prose 63). On the presence and role of Bruegel’s imagery and subtext, see also Mario Caramitti’s article “Mul’tfilmy Breigelia.” Beyond these obvious ekphrastic connections between Sokolov’s novel and Bruegel’s painting, these are other points worth noting. For instance, the series from which Hunters in the Snow derives, The Seasons (1565) is divided into six paintings, five of which remain extant. “If a division of the year into six pictures seems strange initially,” Sabine Pénot and Elke Oberthaler write, “this proves to have been a common way of diving the annual cycle in the Netherlands during the period, as early spring and spring and early summer and midsummer were differentiated. The year’s inherently cyclic character relativizes the discussion around the ‘correct’ order of the pictures – which painting represents the beginning and which the end of the series” (214). Much the same may be said about the structure of Between Dog and Wolf, in which the poetic chapters trace the development of seasonal changes, while everything exists in an in-between state (seasons, characters’ identities, etc.). It is also worth noting that, as in Sokolov’s text where strict adherence to geographical reality is not observed, the landscapes depicted in the Seasons paintings are not accurate: “These so-called ‘mixed landscapes’ combine memories of the Alps with typically Flemish motifs” (229). There is something to be said about the way Sokolov, like Bruegel develops a “sheer inexhaustible richness of detail” that inevitably leads to “the limits of visual perception and linguistic representation” (215). One particular detail of the painting, apparently not described by Sokolov in the novel, feels relevant: “Thick icicles have claimed the mill wheel at the right edge and brought it to a halt, as though time itself has frozen” (228). Indeed, time and therefore the characters feel stuck in the world of Between Dog and Wolf.

intertextuality intratextuality structure foreign

Like a Serb can’t make A Croatian chisma fit

A possible reference to the bad relations between Serbs and Croats, which in the 1980s were rapidly escalating and would explode in the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.

explanatory foreign

chisma

Serbo-Croatian: boot. From the Turkish çizme. D.B. Johnson has identified more than twenty different types of shoes across Sokolov’s three novels: “bashmaki, botforty, boty, botinki (polubotinki), cheboty, chizmy, chubury, galoshi (kaloshi), gety, ichigi, kedy, klogi, lapti, mokrostupy, obuvi (obuvki), sapogi, sandalii, tapochki (polutapochki), shlepantsy, shtiblety, tapti, tufli, valenki. The list may easily be extended with appurtenances such as socks, stockings, footcloths, gaiters, skates, crutches, and artificial legs” (“The Galoshes Manifesto” 156). Regarding Between Dog and Wolf, he notes that Ilya’s last name immediately evokes Cinderella’s vair slippers. Johnson observes that “the footwear motif is Sokolov’s tribute, both conscious and unconscious, to the tradition in Russian literature represented by his predecessors – Ivan Bunin and Valentin Kataev” (179). In an interview with A. and N. Voronel’, Sokolov calls Bunin, along with Gogol, his “contemporaries, collaborators along a chain, older masters” (Voroneli, “Ia khochu” 184). Shoe motif.

foreign motif intertextuality

The same way this harsh advice Painters like you really need.

So “our reprimand” is “necessary” to artists although to them it may result unwanted, annoying, tiresome.

explanatory

Gorodnishche’s

The main setting of the novel: a fictional town on the banks of the Volga River. Also called Gorodnishchi. Derived from the words for town (gorod) and beggar (nishchii). It is the “town of beggars.” Olga Matich writes: “If School for Fools was written against the background of youth prose, Sokolov’s next novel Between Dog and Wolf may be read as the author’s response to village prose, the literary rage of the seventies” (“Sasha Sokolov” 310). Vadim Kreid observes that Gorodnishche, a barracks village of beggars and thieves, resembles an “Anti-Kitezh” (Kitezh being the legendary, mythical city in Russian folklore that only the pure-hearted will have the chance to reach). In Gorodnishche, however, thieves rob beggars, while beggars beg thieves (“Zaitil’shchina” 213). According to Johnson, the living dwell Gorodnishche, while the dead reside on the other side of the river, in Bydogoshch (“Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf and the Modernist Tradition” 209). Johnson also mentions a statement by Sokolov himself: “Sokolov reports that the name is a blend of the dissolute eighteen-century town of Gorodnya described by A. N. Radishchev in his Journey from Petersburg to Moscow and a nearby town called Gorodishche. Thus the time layers of the sixteenth century, the eighteenth century, and a mythic present are all superimposed upon each other – a characteristic technique in the novel” (217).

location setting folklore theme intertextuality

the hunters you arranged In old-fashioned cowls and clothes

The primary figures in The Hunters in the Snow, a 1565 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

intertextuality intratextuality foreign

cowls

Original Russian: башлыках (bashlykakh). A conical hood made of leather, wool, or felt, usually with trimmings of various kinds. Clothing motif.

foreign motif

guns

Original Russian: берданкой (berdankoi). A Berdan rifle. Invented by Hiram Berdan in 1868 and used by the Russian army from 1870 to 1891 and for sport. Mentioned in several poems (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

intratextuality explanatory

Wolf-dog

A hybrid creature, not unlike the various other in-between people, animals, and places in the novel. Animal motif.

motif

waving like a flag

Cf. the beginning of the previous Note.

intratextuality

crashbaret

A drinking establishment. Original Russia: кубаре (kubare). A mixture of kubarem (to fall head over heels) and the French “cabaret.” Customers, of course, will fall over and crash to the floor if they drink too much. The name of the establishment is literalized in this way. On Sokolov’s use of neologisms, see Brainina.

location setting foreign neologism

When, unhurried, they are cooking A plump piglet on the spit

Another image from the left side of Bruegel’s painting.

intertextuality

dolce vita

Italian: la dolce vita (the sweet life).

foreign

crows

Crow. Crows, like ravens, are often associated with death (Armstrong 75). Animal motif.

motif theme

In the time of twilight pealing

That is, between dog and wolf.

time theme

puppy

Dog. Animal motif.

motif

tippler

A drunkard. Alcohol theme.

theme

green wine

Bread wine, a very strong traditional alcoholic drink made with fragrant herbs/grasses. Alcohol theme.

theme

I’ll see the same

Yakov suggests that he sees Bruegel’s painting outside his window. A central motif in the novel, this phrase alludes to The Hunters in the Snow, a 1565 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The setting and action of this image recurs throughout Between Dog and Wolf (e.g., R202–203/E93–95), as they come to life in the text. Elena Kravchenko explains: “Besides the ‘trope’ of the exhibition viewing, the device of ekphrasis, and the ‘gallery’ structure of The Pictures, Sokolov borrows the underlying ‘teleology’ of Musorgskii’s work. Alongside Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, and Rimskii Korsakov, Musorgskii was one of the ‘Mighty Handful’ (‘Moguchaia kuchka’). Created under the patronage of an art critic Vladimir Stasov, it became the hub of a pioneering national style which espoused folklore and the traditions of the peasantry as the new foundation for Russian music. The group was closely connected with and drew inspiration from the Wanderers, an artistic movement […] Iakov is set to communicate a similar idea. He comes to the Volga to grasp and represent the lives of its people. Besides his poetic gift, Iakov is an artist, and it is his works that form the textual gallery of the prose chapters. The gallery ‘entries’ are either demarcated graphically with italics, which signals a title of a painting, or framed by a reference to their pictorial ‘origin’” (The Prose 61). She continues: “It can be argued that Iakov’s representation of human suffering, which constitutes one of the main themes of the novel, and which has been identified as the major moral message of many Brueghel paintings, is modelled not directly on Brueghel but on W. H. Auden’s ekphrasis in his ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’. Running through the images of Brueghel’s The Census at Bethlehem (1566) and The Slaughter of the Innocents (ca. 1564), it culminates in the ekphrasis of Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (ca. 1558)” (The Prose 63). On the presence and role of Bruegel’s imagery and subtext, see also Mario Caramitti’s article “Mul’tfilmy Breigelia.” Beyond these obvious ekphrastic connections between Sokolov’s novel and Bruegel’s painting, these are other points worth noting. For instance, the series from which Hunters in the Snow derives, The Seasons (1565) is divided into six paintings, five of which remain extant. “If a division of the year into six pictures seems strange initially,” Sabine Pénot and Elke Oberthaler write, “this proves to have been a common way of diving the annual cycle in the Netherlands during the period, as early spring and spring and early summer and midsummer were differentiated. The year’s inherently cyclic character relativizes the discussion around the ‘correct’ order of the pictures – which painting represents the beginning and which the end of the series” (214). Much the same may be said about the structure of Between Dog and Wolf, in which the poetic chapters trace the development of seasonal changes, while everything exists in an in-between state (seasons, characters’ identities, etc.). It is also worth noting that, as in Sokolov’s text where strict adherence to geographical reality is not observed, the landscapes depicted in the Seasons paintings are not accurate: “These so-called ‘mixed landscapes’ combine memories of the Alps with typically Flemish motifs” (229). There is something to be said about the way Sokolov, like Bruegel develops a “sheer inexhaustible richness of detail” that inevitably leads to “the limits of visual perception and linguistic representation” (215). One particular detail of the painting, apparently not described by Sokolov in the novel, feels relevant: “Thick icicles have claimed the mill wheel at the right edge and brought it to a halt, as though time itself has frozen” (228). Indeed, time and therefore the characters feel stuck in the world of Between Dog and Wolf.

intertextuality intratextuality structure foreign

triple When the drink starts working fine.

However, in his intoxication, he’ll begin seeing triple (not even simply double). The world will blur. Alcohol theme.

theme

fatherland

Mark Lipovetsky comments that “Russia is a figurative synonym for Orina, both as the mother who abandons her child (in relation to Yakov) and as an unfaithful lover (in relation to Ilya). Moreover, the author, like Ilya, longs for his beloved, tries to meet her and runs away from her, hates her and pities her” (Russian Postmodernist Fiction 143).

character Russia

Transfiguration

Transformations, in general, are common in the novel. More specifically, here, the reference is to the biblical Transfiguration of Jesus, in which Jesus goes to a mountaintop to pray with James, John, and Mark. Once there, he begins to shine with light, and Elijah (one of Ilya’s identities in the novel) and Moses appear beside him as the voice of God calls out to him. The event is documented in Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, and Luke 9:28–36. Celebrated on August 6. Here the transfiguration is also a metaphor suggesting Nikolai’s death, which was previously described in chapter 1 by Ilya (R153/E8). The main character of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Heart of a Dog (a novel which widely circulated in samizdat in the 60s) is Doctor Preobrazhensky, whose experiment of turning a homeless dog into a man leads to tragic consequences (and to his “transfigurating” back into a dog).

intertextuality bible religion explanatory theme intratextuality

Nikolay Helperov

Nikolay Ugodnik (Helperov in Boguslawski’s translation) is sometimes addressed with the diminutive Kolya. He is the protagonist of Note XVIII, “Transfiguration of Nikolay Helperov.” Here he is described in this manner: “We are pilgrims—he’s one far above us all, / We are cripples—he’s one far above the rest.” At the end of the Note, after a night of heavy drinking, Nikolay is transfigured (he has died): “Kolya learned to fly! / Crutches—like a pair of wings he bore. / He had turned into a falcon, poor old guy. / Drank too much. And he simply was no more.” (R204–205/E96). His life as “sincere loser in this world” is actually told by Ilya in chapter 1: his wife “got together with a wolf slayer and chased the Helper away from the house”; then, he tried to find a place to stay in Gorodnishche but was refused refuge at the “shelter for the unhearin”; he finally finds a place at the “house of the transient homeless,” but soon the “dame” notices him and asks: “Who’s the one so unsightly over there among you at the rink? Not to worry; it’s just Nikolka here among us skatin at the rink.” She asks the almshouse’s tenants to not let him live there forever, and after he leaves the house, it is reported that “durin a drunken incident got slightly upset and vanished somewhere, and it’s rather unlikely he’ll return” (R1501–151/E3–4). However, there is a second Nikolay in the book (appearing already in chapter 1), a young man from the village of Ploski (thus he is also called “Nikolay Ploskovsky”) who “never had his own name or, more precisely, had, but too long ago. And when that Nikolay the Helper went thru his transfiguration and flew away, this one snatched his name for himself—he did not allow, as they say, the goods to get wasted” (R153/E8). The name Nikolay (Nicholas) comes from the Greek words for “victory” and “people.” According to Eastern Orthodoxy, Nikolay Ugodnik (or Nikolay Chudotvorets, the Wonderworker) is Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra (also known as Saint Nicholas of Bari), patron saint of travelers (sailors, merchants), prisoners, orphans and children in general, and others. Saint Nicholas is profoundly venerated by Russian Orthodoxy, and his life is often interpreted as concretizing various key ideas (wandering or continuous motion as source of salvation and purity; a mix of “otherness” and belonging). The figure of Saint Nicholas has served as the basis for a number of folkloric legends in Eastern Slavic tradition, and one of the most popular tales describes Nicholas as a wanderer across the Russian lands testing people for generosity, piety, and hospitality (see also T. Tsivian’s article “Nikolai Ugodnik — strannik na Russkoi zemle” 59).

character intertextuality intratextuality religion folklore

agarics

A type of fungus known for their gills.

explanatory

imbibamus

Latin: to imbibe. Alcohol theme.

theme foreign

Dusk

Between dog and wolf.

time theme

snowing

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

time

get some rest

Temporary accommodation for the night. They are searching for a place where they can stay overnight.

explanatory

Helper Kolya

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

Kolya

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

character register/style

Kolya

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

character register/style

Kolya Helperov

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

badly twisted legs

Like Ilya and his son, Nikolai Ugodnik suffers from a lame leg.

theme character

pilgrims

Sokolov plays with the difference between kalika (wanderer) and kaleka (invalid, cripple). The former is a name given to blind wanderers who sing spiritual poems. Originally, the word did not refer to disabled or crippled beggars, as it does now, but rather to wanderers who visited holy places and sang songs. The term is derived from the Latin caligae, Since these wanderers often lived off of alms in the towns they visited (and occasionally settled in), the term took on the meaning of a disabled person who does the same in its modern usage. (Miller 27–28) Also mentioned in chapter 8 (R209/E103), chapter 9 (R214/E112), chapter 10 (R223/E129), and chapter 11 (R230/E141). D.B. Johnson has identified more than twenty different types of shoes across Sokolov’s three novels: “bashmaki, botforty, boty, botinki (polubotinki), cheboty, chizmy, chubury, galoshi (kaloshi), gety, ichigi, kedy, klogi, lapti, mokrostupy, obuvi (obuvki), sapogi, sandalii, tapochki (polutapochki), shlepantsy, shtiblety, tapti, tufli, valenki. The list may easily be extended with appurtenances such as socks, stockings, footcloths, gaiters, skates, crutches, and artificial legs” (“The Galoshes Manifesto” 156). Regarding Between Dog and Wolf, he notes that Ilya’s last name immediately evokes Cinderella’s vair slippers. Johnson observes that “the footwear motif is Sokolov’s tribute, both conscious and unconscious, to the tradition in Russian literature represented by his predecessors – Ivan Bunin and Valentin Kataev” (179). In an interview with A. and N. Voronel’, Sokolov calls Bunin, along with Gogol, his “contemporaries, collaborators along a chain, older masters” (Voroneli, “Ia khochu” 184). Shoe motif.

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

cripples

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

Kolya

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

character register/style

Kolya-Nikolay

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

it snows, it really snows

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

time

daws

Jackdaw. According to Beryl Rowland, similar to the magpie (a key bird in Between Dog and Wolf), “the jackdaw was associated with thieving and hoarding” (Birds 86). It has also been associated with avarice, foolishness, and garrulity (86). Bird motif.

motif

the time of dog and wolf

A reference to Pushkin’s verses taken also as an epigraph to the novel.

intertextuality intratextuality

time of dog and wolf

Between dog and wolf again.

time

It’s like kindness mixed with sadness

Elena Kravchenko suggests that by “the spatial image of the mother/land and the temporal image of Life Everlasting in the figure of Orina, Sokolov erases the line between the categories of time and space, dissolving them into a condition of love (and death, love’s double in Sokolov)” (The Prose 79).

theme

schlepping to the tailor

Temporary accommodation for the night. They are searching for a place where they can stay overnight.

explanatory

Sewing

Various characters sew in the novel. In Yakov’s eighth poem, an oriole “resews evening into night” (R172/E39). Sewing is also mentioned in Note XVI (R200/E92). Yakov sews slippers (R274/E219). Sewing theme.

theme intratextuality

shelter of the blind

In the novel, by the Volga there are many of these shelters or homes for people with various physical problems.

intratextuality setting

sloshed

Drunk. Alcohol theme.

theme

Kolya

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

character register/style

Kolya

character intertextuality intratextuality religion folklore

fly

intertextuality bible religion explanatory theme intratextuality

falcon

Falcon. Falcons have been associated with monks, greed, aristocracy (Rowland, Birds 59–62). Allusions to his own surname are not seldom in Sokolov’s work. See, for instance, Palisandriia where a sentry “rises like a falcon” (Shkola dlia durakov. Mezhdu sobakoi i volkom. Palisandriia. Esse. Triptykh 285) and the aptly titled “Philornist” (“bird-lover”) where Sokolov playfully invokes his surname (“с околосоколиной, коллега, околосоколиной”) (Shkola dlia durakov. Mezhdu sobakoi i volkom. Palisandriia. Esse. Triptykh 709). Animal motif.

motif self-reference

was no more

That is, he died.

explanatory theme

Записка X

Amf3. ABAB.

Амф3. ABAB.

metrical pattern rhyme scheme

пороше

This word, derived from the term “porokh” (an archaic synonym for dust, powder, ashes, now more generally defined through the diminutive “poroshok”), seems to interestingly have no equivalent in other languages. See Wikipedia, for instance. It indicates snow fallen during the night until morning on which fresh traces of animals are imprinted.

Любопытно, но у данного слова, образованного от “порох” (устаревший синоним к словам “пыль”, “пепел”, в настоящее время сохранивший значение в уменьшительной форме “порошок”), по всей видимости, нет эквивалента в других языках. См. Википедию, например. Означает выпавший ночью и переставший идти к утру снег, на котором отпечатываются свежие следы животных.

language

бордоских

A French port city and major producer of wine. Alcohol theme.

Французский портовый город и крупный производитель вина. Тема алкоголя.

foreign location theme

бордоских

To be considered together with “bordovym”, at line 8: figura etymologica (see Zubova 86).

Этимологическая фигура речи (бордоских - бордовым).

rhetorical devices stylistic device

давят

These gypsy women press grapes while dancing in order to make wine.

Цыганские женщины, танцуя, давят виноград для производства вина.

explanatory

шато

French: chateau (castle or house). A high-quality wine produced at a chateau. May refer to the label of such a bottle. Alcohol theme.

Французское: chateau (замок, усадьба, дом). Высококачественное вино, произведенное в шато. Может относиться к марке такого вина. Тема алкоголя.

foreign theme

шато и де-кот Под вальсы волшебных шарманок

Alliteration (sh, t, k, v).

Аллитерация (ш, т, к, в).

sound stylistic device

де-кот

French: deux côtes (two coasts). A French wine. Alcohol theme.

Фразцузское: deux côtes (два побережья). Французское вино. Тема алкоголя.

foreign theme

вальсы

A ballroom dance in 3/4 time. From the German Walzer (to roll or revolve).

Трехдольный бальный танец. От немецкого Walzer (вращаться, кружиться). Изображено ниже:

music foreign

шарманок

Here, the accordion, but, generally, a barrel organ, roller organ, or crank organ. Originally from France, it’s name is derived from “Charmante Catherine,” one of the first songs played on the instrument. Unlike an organ (or an accordion), it is played by turning a crank. Thus, the musician is known as an organ grinder.

Здесь имеется в виду, гармонь, но в общем смысле слова относится к переносному механическому органу. Созданный во Франции, инструмент получил свое название от “Charmante Catherine”, одной из первых песен, исполненных на этом инструменте. В отличие от органа или гармони, звук создается путем вращения ручки. Музыкант, играющий на этом инструменте, называется шарманщик. Изображено ниже:

foreign music

Не знает ликерный завод

Industries do not know traditional recipes: best products are kept secret in popular, folk wisdom.

explanatory

Не знает ликерный завод. Но знает компанья бракеров — Не знает

Anaphora.

Анафора.

stylistic device

зане

Dated: because.

Устаревшее: потому что.

archaism

Священную силу кагоров С бордовым осадком

Alliteration (s, d).

Аллитерация (с, д).

sound stylistic device

кагоров

A red wine produced with grapes from Cahors, France. Also mentioned in Note I (R164/E28). Alcohol theme.

Красное вино, изготавливаемое из винограда, выращенного в регионе Кагор (Каор) во Франции. Также упоминается в Записке I (R164/E28). Тема алкоголя.

foreign intratextuality theme

баклашек

Low: a big bottle containing something alcoholic. Alcohol theme.

Просторечное: больша бутылка, содержащая алкогольный напиток. Тема алкоголя.

Сего

Archaism: this.

Архаизм: этого.

archaism register/style

дармового

Low: for free, received. Here possibly suggesting that it is cheap, low-cost.

Просторечное: бесплатное, подаренное. Здесь, возможно, употреблено в значении “дешевый”, “копеечный”.

по пороше

So, it must be in the early morning, before dawn, walking on fresh snow fallen during the night.

То есть, ранним утром, до рассвета, идя по свежему снегу, выпавшему за ночь.

explanatory time

пороше В ягдташах косого шитья.

Alliteration (sh).

Аллитерация (ш).

sound stylistic device

ягдташах

A hunting bag. Instead of animals, these hunters carry bottles of alcohol in their bags, as if alcohol were their only prey. Alcohol theme. Animal motif.

Охотничнья сумка. Изображено ниже:

Вместо дичи охотники могут носить в сумках бутылки с алкоголем, будто это их единственная добыча. Тема алкоголя. Мотив животных.

explanatory theme motif

косого шитья

A sewing technique. See a demonstration here. Sewing theme.

theme

без меры

Set expression: without measure, unstintingly.

Устойчивое выражение: в большом количестве, без границ.

Бракеры мои, браконьеры

Alliteration (brak-, -ry).

Аллитерация (брак-, -ры).

sound stylistic device

понеже

Archaic/Old Church Slavonic: because, since.

Архаизм/Церковнославянское: потому что.

Тьма-тьмущая

Low: a lot, a big amount (literally, “dark darkness”).

Просторечное: большое количество (буквально, темная темнота).

Тьма-тьмущая

Figura etymologica.

Этимологическая фигура речи.

stylistic device sound

В беленых гробах побережий

Metaphor: snow.

Метафора снега.

poetic device

беленых гробах побережий

Alliteration (b, r).

Аллитерация (б, р).

sound stylistic device

Пуркарского негру

Negru de Purcari, a dark red Moldovan wine. Alcohol theme.

Negru de Purcari, красное сухое молдавское вино. Тема алкоголя.

foreign theme

Поскольку охотник желает Узнать, где жирует фазан,

Как объясняет Богуславский, в этом отрывке перефразирована фраза “Каждый охотник желает знать, где сидит фазан”, которая является “мнемоническим приемом для запоминания цветов радуги” на русском (Boguslawski, “Annotations” 243). Мотив животных.

phraseologism explanatory motif

фазан

motif

ошметках

Colloquial: piece, shred, bit.

Разговорное: обрывок, кусок, клок.

сезам

The magic word, as in “Open sesame!” The hunters listen to the dogs’ barking in order to find out where the cave of treasures (the prey) is.

Волшебное слово, которое нужно сказать, чтобы ворота открылись, например, “Сезам, откройся!” Охотники прислушиваются к лаю собак, чтбы выяснить, где находится пещера сокровищ (добыча).

foreign explanatory

Сображник

Colloquial: co-drinker, drinking buddy. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: собутыльник. Тема алкоголя.

заложи — Пора уж. Жужжи в получоках И в чоках, ветрило, жужжи.

Alliteration (zh, ch, k).

Аллитерация (ж, ч, к).

sound stylistic device

Жужжи в получоках И в чоках, ветрило, жужжи

A reference to Alexander Pushkin’s 1820 poem “The Daylight Went Out”: “Шуми, шуми, послушное ветрило” (“Rustle, rustle, obedient sail”). Read the original here.

Отсылка к стихотворению А. Пушкина “Погасло дневное светило”, написанному в 1820 году: “Шуми, шуми, послушное ветрило”. Прочитать стихотворение в оригинале можно здесь.

intertextuality

получоках

A choke refers to a modification on a gun (often shotguns) that helps control the spread of the shot. It may be built directly into a gun in manufacturing or added in the form of a choke tube.

Чок — элемент огнестрельного оружия, представляющее собой дульное сужение для контроля рассеивания дроби при выстреле. Может быть встроен в оружие или вставляться в дуло в виде раструба. Изображено ниже:

explanatory

получоках И в чоках

Encoded into these lines, as Ostanin notes, is the tradition of clinking glasses (“чокаться”) (56). Alcohol theme.

Между строк, как замечает Останин, можно прочитать отсылку к традиции чокания стаканами (Ostanin 56). Тема алкоголя.

theme

чоках

A choke refers to a modification on a gun (often shotguns) that helps control the spread of the shot. It may be built directly into a gun in manufacturing or added in the form of a choke tube.

explanatory

ветрило

Dated/poetic: sail or strong wind.

Устаревшее/поэтическое: парус или сильный ветер.

Записка XI

ABAB.

rhyme scheme

Записка XI

В этом стихотворении раскрываются в метафорической, буквальной и фольклорной форме преступления, лежащие в основе романа: нападение Ильи на собак Якова, кража костылей Ильи и лампы охотников, убийство Ильей двух собак и убийство Ильи охотниками. Рассматривая использование Соколовым обильного количества синонимов к слову “костыли”, среди которых по меньшей мере “шесть существительных, одна уменьшительная форма и глагол, образованный от одного из существительных”, А. Богуславский пишет: “Важно отметить, что Яковом в его стихах использовано только слово костыли и его производные формы, тогда как Илья, чьи отношения с костылями отличаются большей теплотой, а стиль речи — раскованностью и большей свободой, употребляет все выражения” (Boguslawski, “How Sokolov’s” 212).

intratextuality explanatory structure character

Заговор

Korovashko analyzes in detail the way Sokolov re-uses the “ordinary incantation formula” in the first verse, repeated throughout the Note (U Soroki - boli, u Vorony - boli), which is “known to almost every [Russian] child and completely devoid of any aura of sacredness and hermeticism.” In the end, he summarizes Sokolov’s choice as one more example of the author’s “constant desire to use those ‘ready-made’ products that language ‘throws’ at us” (275).

explanatory intertextuality structure

У Сороки — боли, у Вороны — боли

Отсылка к выражению “У сороки боли, у вороны боли, а у (имя) всё заживи”, использующемуся для утешения покалечившихся детей. Та же отсылка вновь появится в главе 14 (R260/E195). Мотив животных.

phraseologism intratextuality motif intertextuality foreign folklore theme

Сороки

folklore motif

Шел по синему свету Человек-инвалид, Костыли его были в крови. Шли по синему снегу его костыли

Anaphoric progression.

Анафорическая структура.

stylistic device rhythm

по синему свету

That is, along the darkening sky. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

То есть, на фоне темнеющего неба. Этот цвет неоднократно используется в романе для описания неба и окружающей Итиль атмосферы (см. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

motif intratextuality

Человек-инвалид

Ilya.

Илья.

character intratextuality

Костыли его были в крови

The reader will eventually learn that Ilya attacked one of Yakov’s dogs, mistaking it for a wolf. This event is not described until much later in the novel (R242-243/E162-163).

Как позже узнает читатель, Илья напал на одну из собак Якова, приняв ее за волка. Про это происшествие рассказывается значительно позже в романе (R242-243/E162-163).

intratextuality explanatory

Шли по синему снегу его костыли

The subject of the previous stanza was Ilya (the “invalid person”), while now his crutches take his place.

Действующим лицом в предыдущей строфе был Илья (“Человек-инвалид”), но здесь его место занимают костыли.

structure

синему

That is, along the blue snow. This color is used several times in the novel in relation to the sky and atmosphere around the Itil (cf. R154, 157, 159, 196–197, 199, 222, 249, 277).

intratextuality motif time theme

синему снегу

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

Продолжение описания времени действия: зимы.

time

мерещился

Colloquial: to seem, appear.

Разговорное: казаться, возникать в воображении.

И в то время как Ливия гибла в пыли, Нидерланды неслись на коньках.

Наравне с конкретным местом действия романа, предлагается более глобальный уровень восприятия. Как предполагает Останин, в географии древнего мира Ливия олицетворяла всю Африку, тогда как, согласно египетским источникам, она была символом мира смерти (расположена на западном берегу реки Нила).

structure language foreign

Ливия гибла в пыли

Alliteration (l).

Аллитерация (л).

sound stylistic device

Нидерланды

A possible connection to Bruegel.

location foreign intertextuality

Нидерланды неслись на коньках

Alliteration (n, l, k).

Аллитерация (н, л, к).

sound stylistic device

Надоумил

Colloquial: to put someone wise to something.

Разговорное: вразумить, подсказать идею.

Волка заволжский волхв

Figura etymologica.

Этимологическая фигура речи.

stylistic device sound

заволжский

Instead of indicating the territories that serve as setting for the novel as “Zavolzh’e” (Transvolga), the author creates this neologism (Transwolf-river) on the basis of his alternative spelling of the Volga River as “Volch’ia,” Wolf river.

location setting Russia

волхв

Priests, shamans in Ancient Slavic pagan religions. Their role is attested by many historical documents, such as the Primary Chronicle (XII c.).

Russia explanatory religion

Приползал вечерами печальный Волк И Собаку лечил чем мог.

On the theme of dog-wolf love, see also Note XIII.

К теме о любви между волком и собакой, см. Записку XIII.

intratextuality

У Сороки — боли, у Вороны — боли

phraseologism theme intratextuality motif foreign folklore intertextuality

Сороки

folklore motif

От Вороны ль реки до реки ли Нерли

Chiasm.

Хиазм.

stylistic device rhythm

Вороны

A river southeast of Moscow. Located in the Penza, Tambov, and Voronezh Oblasts.

Река, расположенная в юго-восточном направлении от Москвы. Протекает в Пензенской, Тамбовской и Воронежской областях. Изображено ниже:

Russia location

Нерли

A river northeast of Moscow. Located in the Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, and Vladimir Oblasts.

Река, расположенная в северо-восточном направлении от Москвы. Протекает в Ярославской, Ивановской и Владимирской областях. Изображено ниже:

location Russia

синему

intratextuality motif time theme

нощь

Archaic/Old Church Slavonic: night (ночь).

Архаизм/Церковнославянское: ночь.

archaism register/style

Вивериц

A furry animal such as a squirrel, ermine, or weasel. Animal motif.

Некрупный пушистый зверек, например, белка или горностай. Мотив животных.

motif

Деревенский, однако, приметлив народ, У Сороки-воровки — боли, Проследили, где дяденька этот живет, И спроворили у него костыли. И пропили, пролазы, и весь бы сказ, Но когда взыграла зима, Меж собою и Волком, в дремотный час, Приходила к Волку сама.

Long list of repetitions of verbal prefixes pri-/pro-.

Длинный список повторов глагольных приставок при- и про-.

sound

приметлив

Colloquial: ear to the ground, observant.

Разговорное: замечающий, наблюдательный.

Сороки

motif folklore

И спроворили у него костыли

The theft of Ilya’s crutches that follows his battle with Yakov’s dog on the icy Volga. Described elsewhere, for example R245/E167 and R276/E223.

Кража костылей Ильи, которая происходит сразу после его стычки с собакой Ильи на замерзшей Волге. Упоминается в других местах, например, R245/E167 и R276/E223.

intratextuality explanatory

спроворили

Colloquial: to filch, steal.

Разговорное: украсть, стащить.

пропили

The hunters steal and sell Ilya’s crutches for drinking money. Alchol theme.

theme explanatory

пролазы

Colloquial: rascal, scoundrel.

Разговорное: то же, что и пройдоха.

в дремотный час

That is, between dog and wolf, between day/evening and night.

То есть, между собакой и волкой, между днем/вечером и ночью.

theme time

У Сороки — болит, у Вороны — болит

phraseologism intratextuality motif intertextuality folklore theme foreign

Сороки

motif folklore

бобыли

Archaism: landless peasants or lonely men.

Архаизм: безземельные крестьяне или холостяки.

archaism register/style

Подбоченясь

Colloquial: arms akimbo.

Разговорное: уперев руки в бока.

И от плоского Брюгге до холмистого Лёпп, От Тутаева аж — до Быдогощ

Останин предлагает анатомо-метафизическое толкование этих строк: “И от плоского Брюгге (голодное брюхо, тело) до холмистого Лепп (лоб, сознание) / От Тутаева (тутошний мир, где мы есть) аж — до Быдогощ (будущий мир, где скоро будем)” (Ostanin 56). Интересно отметить, что во второй строфе мы переходим из локального в глобальное/ универсальное, тогда как здесь происходит противоположное движение, и мы возвращаемся к жизни на Волге.

theme location structure

Брюгге

The capital of West Flanders in Belgium.

Центр провинции Западная Фландрия в Бельгии.

foreign location

Лёпп

Останин замечает, что топоним стирает границы между русским словом “лоб” и английский “lip” (губа). Он цитирует письмо от автора: “на моей клавиатуре е с точками отсутствует, но появляется само, если захочет. / В Голландии я такой город не нашел. / В Скандинавии тоже. / Тогда отыскал на карте карельский поселок Леппясюрья и укоротил ему имя. / И ради рифмы поставил точки над е” (Ostanin 56-57).

location Russia foreign theme

Тутаева

Located in the Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia. Previously known as Romanov-Borisoglebsk, from the two towns it was before—Romanov and Borisoglebsk—separated by the Volga. Another doubling and merging.

Расположен в Ярославской области в России. Ранее был известен как Романов-Борисоглебск, в честь двух городов, которые были там раньше — Романов и Борисоглебск — разделенные Волгой. Очередной пример раздвоения и слияния.

Russia location theme

Быдогощ

Возможная отсылка к польскому городу Быдогощ, но также ошибочное написание деревни Видогощь на реке Волге, недалеко от Твери. Быдогощ (Быдгощ) располощен на реке Брда. Согласно легенде, город был основан братьями Быдом и Гостом на месте, показавшемся им идеальным, в том числе благодаря реке. Д. Б. Джонсон замечает, что, в то время как живые обитают в Городище, Быдогощи — дом мертвецов (Johnson, “Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf and the Modernist Tradition” 209).

location Russia foreign setting

горланя

Low/colloquial: to shout, cry.

Просторечное/разговорное: кричать, орать.

гей-гоп

Interjection: hey ho! whoa!

phraseologism

добыл берданку себе инвалид

Ilya will admit to shooting two of the hunters’ dogs in retaliation for their theft of his crutches and his lamp (R279/E227).

Илья признается в убийстве двух собак охотников в отместку за их кражу его костылей и лампы (R279/E227).

intratextuality explanatory

берданку

A Berdan rifle. Invented by Hiram Berdan in 1868 and used by the Russian army from 1870 to 1891 and for sport. Mentioned in several poems (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

Винтовка Бердана. Была изобретена Х. Берданом в 1868 году и использовалась русской армией с 1870 по 1891 год, а также в спортивных целях. Изображено ниже:

Упоминается в нескольких стихах (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

explanatory intratextuality foreign

инвалид

Ilya.

Илья.

explanatory character intratextuality

другие костыли он достал

Ilya’s crutches unexpectedly return to him (R254/E186).

Костыли Ильи неожиданно возвращаются к нему (R254/E186).

intratextuality explanatory

хотя пустая штанина болит

Ilya’s missing leg.

У Ильи недостает ноги.

explanatory

Записка XII

Ya5.

Я5.

metrical pattern

Философская

A word (verb, adjective) used repeatedly in connection to Yakov. See R163/E25, R189/E70, R197/E86, R274/E219, and R277/E223.

Это слово (в форме глагола или прилагательного) неоднократно используется по отношению к Якову. См. R163/E25, R189/E70, R197/E86, R274/E219 и R277/E223.

intratextuality

Неразбериха — неизбывный

Alliteration (ne, zb).

Аллитерация (не, зб).

sound stylistic device

грех Эпох

Alliteration.

Аллитерация.

sound stylistic device

Когда ж мне путь познанья опостыл И опостынул город неспокойный, Я сделался охотником простым, А уж затем заделался запойным, Со взором просветленным и пустым.

Yakov describes his move from the city to the upper Volga and his shift in character.

Яков описывает свой переезд из города на Верхневолжье и перемену в своем характере.

explanatory location

опостыл

Low: to grow dreary, disgusting.

Просторечное: то же, что опостылеть (надоесть, наскучить).

опостыл И опостынул

Figura etymologica.

Этимологическая фигура речи.

stylistic device sound

опостынул

Low: to grow dreary, disgusting.

Просторечное: то же, что опостылеть (надоесть, наскучить).

Деве

Созвездие Девы, самое крупное в зодиаке. В греческой мифологии, Астрея, богиня справедливости, невинности и чистоты, последней из божеств покинула землю и поселилась среди звезд. Знаком зодиака он намекает на месяц сентябрь. Изображено ниже:

Мотив созвездий-неба.

intertextuality time motif

Брюмерам

French: Brumaire (fog, mist). The second month in the French Republican calendar corresponding to October 22-24 through November 20-22. Mentioned in chapter 16 (R277/E224).

Французское: Brumaire (туман). Второй месяц во Французском республиканском календаре, соответствующий периоду с 22-24 октября по 20-22 ноября. Упоминается в главе 16 (R277/E224).

time foreign intratextuality

Подчас

Literary: sometimes.

Литературное: иногда.

птицу Аргус

A species of pheasant from Southeast Asia, named after Argus Panoptes, a 100-eyed giant from Greek mythology. Animal motif.

Вид фазанов в Юго-Восточной Азии. Изображено ниже:

Мотив животных.

motif intertextuality

Теперь зима

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

Продолжение описания времени действия — зимы.

time

Теперь зима в саду моем стоит. Как пустота, забытая в сосуде. А тот, забытый, на столе стоит. А стол, забытый, во саду стоит. Забытом же зимы на белом блюде.

Repetitions (stoit, zabytyi).

Повторы (стоит, забытый).

sound rhythm

Повой, маэстро, на печной трубе Рождественское что-нибудь, анданте.

Это место можно истолковать как приглашение зиме спеть “Рождественскую песню” на печной трубе, то есть, засыпать крыши снегом. Это также может быть приглашением к вою зимнего ветра.

explanatory music

маэстро

Italian: maestro (master). Honorific title for outstanding musicians or chess players.

Итальянское: maestro (господин). Почетный титул выдающихся музыкантов или шахматистов.

foreign music

анданте

Italian: andante (tempo at a moderately slow or walking pace).

Итальянское: andante (обозначение темпа: умеренно, в темпе шага).

foreign music

сосулей

Dated: icicle.

Устаревшее: сосулька (висячая наледь).

зима

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

Продолжение описания времени действия — зимы.

time

вещь в самой себе

“Вещь в себе” (от немецкого “Ding an sich”) — философское понятие, введенное И. Кантом для описания истинной сущности вещей, вне зависимости от человеческого восприятия. В каком-то смысле, роман Соколова бросает вызов этой идее обилием неопределенных героев, событий и мест; все сводится к субъективности.

foreign intertextuality explanatory

канта

Иммануил Кант (1724–1804), немецкий философ эпохи Просвещения. Изображено ниже:

Эта Записка неслучайно названа “философской” — словом (в форме глагола или прилагательного), неоднократно использующимся для описания Якова. См. R163/E25, R189/E70, R197/E86, R274/E219 и R277/E223.

foreign intertextuality intratextuality music

Валдайский

Город в Новгородской области, впервые упоминается в летописи 1495 года. Известен литьём ямщицких колокольчиков в XVIII-XIX вв. Неоднократно упоминается в романе (R150, 155, 198, 230, 272/E2, 11, 87, 88, 140, 214).

location intratextuality Russia

Валдайский сон

Kh4 / Kh3.

Х4 / Х3.

metrical pattern

Мерзни, мерзни, волчий хвост

Отсылка к народной сказке “Лисичка-сестричка и волк”. Прочитать сказку в оригинале можно здесь, а английский перевод — здесь. Мотив животных.

intertextuality folklore motif

волчий хвост, Грейся, хвост собачий

Chiasm.

Хиазм.

stylistic device rhythm

Дрыхнет

Low: to sleep.

Просторечное: спать.

сапога

Вид обуви с высоким голенищем. Изображено ниже:

Мотив обуви.

motif intertextuality

КотуВоркоту

Kot-Vorkot is a folkloric character of Russian fairytales.

Кот-Воркот — сказочный герой русских народных сказок. Изображено ниже:

intertextuality folklore

Валдая

location intratextuality Russia

сосна

Pine. As Mikhail Epstein notes, “Pines and spruce trees represent part of a gloomy, harsh landscape; wilderness, darkness, and silence reign around them. […] Pines and spruces mean not only the peace of sleep, but also the peace of death. If an oak tree that has grown over a grave is a symbol of eternal life overcoming death, then the pine tree is perceived as a tombstone erected by nature itself over a person and confirming the hopelessness of death […]. The pine tree stands out for its slenderness and height, which allows it to ‘converse’ with the wind. One of the most persistent poetic motifs is pine trees swayed by the wind like bells, causing a ringing sound throughout the forest […]. The slenderness of pine trunks gives reason to compare them with columns and strings” (75–76, 80). Plant motif.

Изображено ниже: Михаил Эпштейн замечает, что “Сосны и ели представляют часть угрюмого, сурового пейзажа, вокруг них царит глушь, сумрак, тишина. […] Сосны и ели означают не только покой сна, но и покой смерти. Если дуб, выросший над могилой,— символ вечной жизни, преодолевающей смерть, то сосна воспринимается как надгробье, воздвигнутое самой природой над человеком и подтверждающее безысходность кончины […]. Сосна выделяется стройностью и высотой, которая позволяет ей «собеседовать» с ветром. Один из самых устойчивых поэтических мотивов — сосны, раскачи ваемые ветром наподобие колоколов, отчего по всему лесу идет звон […]. Стройность сосновых стволов дает основание сравнивать их с колоннами и струнами” (75-76, 80).

symbol motif

погост

Dated: village church together with a cemetery, clergy house, and adjacent buildings.

Устаревшее: сельская церковь с кладбищем, домом причта и прилежащими зданиями.

судача

Colloquial: to chit-chat, prattle.

Разговорное: болтать, сплетничать.

святый хвост, Грейся, хвост чертячий

Chiasm.

Хиазм.

stylistic device rhythm

хвост чертячий

“Хвост чертячий” напоминает о “Братьях Карамазовых” Достоевского (например, слова Ферапонта: “Как стал от игумена выходить, смотрю - один за дверь от меня прячется, да матерой такой, аршина в полтора али больше росту, хвостище же толстый, бурый, длинный, да концом хвоста в щель дверную и попади, а я не будь глуп, дверь-то вдруг и прихлопнул, да хвост-то ему и защемил”).

intertextuality

синя

motif intratextuality theme time

Слюдяная

Mica: Silicate minerals that may be divided into thin plates.. Also mentioned at the beginning of chapter 2 (R158/E17).

Слюды: группа минералов-алюмосиликатов, обладающих слоистой структурой. Изображено ниже:

Также упоминаются в начале главы 2 (R158/E17).

intratextuality explanatory

севрюги

Starry sturgeon. Animal motif.

Рыба из семейства осетровых. Изображено ниже:

motif

хаулиод

Viperfish. Animal motif.

Род рыб из семейства стомиевых. Изображено ниже:

motif

удильщик

Monkfish. Animal-human motif.

motif

Раззявил

Colloquial/rude: to be slack-jawed, open one’s mouth.

Разговорное/грубое: широко открыть (обычно о рте).

дядя

Colloquial: man, guy, fellow.

Разговорное: человек, мужик, парень.

Потехе

Colloquial: fun, amusement.

Разговорное: забава, развлечение.

Потехе, как говорится, час

A variation of the proverb “Делу – время, потехе – час,” which suggest that we should dedicate more time to work, and less to fun.

Вариация пословицы “Делу – время, потехе – час”, в которой подразумевается, что больше времени следует уделять работе и меньше – развлечениям.

phraseologism

Зари обрёмканной бахрома

Ostanin notes: “ragamuffin: scraps, rags, torn clothes” (58). Clothing motif.

Останин отмечает: “ремки: лохмотья, отрепье, рваная одежда” (Ostanin 58). Мотив одежды.

explanatory motif

В Европу завесила васисдас

Согласно аннотациям Богуславского, перефразировка “фразы ‘прорубить окно в Европу’” (Boguslawski, “Annotations” 244). Эта фраза к планам и действиям Петра Первого, направленным на то, чтобы подготовить Россию к продолжительному циклу реформ, основанных на западных тенденциях. Останин также предполагает, что эта фраза напоминает о закате солнца (Ostanin 58).

intertextuality theme time

васисдас

Dated: small windows in the walls of stores for customers to consider what is inside. From the German Was ist das? (what is this?).

Устаревшее: небольшие окна в стенах магазинов, позволяющие потенциальных клиентам разглядеть, что находится внутри. От немецкого Was ist das? (что это такое?).

Отзынь, Запойный, на три лапти́

Set expression: bug off! scram!

Устойчивое выражение: отстань! отвяжись!

Запойный

That is, Yakov.

То есть, Яков.

character explanatory

лапти́

Bast shoes. D.B. Johnson has identified more than twenty different types of shoes across Sokolov’s three novels: “bashmaki, botforty, boty, botinki (polubotinki), cheboty, chizmy, chubury, galoshi (kaloshi), gety, ichigi, kedy, klogi, lapti, mokrostupy, obuvi (obuvki), sapogi, sandalii, tapochki (polutapochki), shlepantsy, shtiblety, tapti, tufli, valenki. The list may easily be extended with appurtenances such as socks, stockings, footcloths, gaiters, skates, crutches, and artificial legs” (“The Galoshes Manifesto” 156). Regarding Between Dog and Wolf, he notes that Ilya’s last name immediately evokes Cinderella’s vair slippers. Johnson observes that “the footwear motif is Sokolov’s tribute, both conscious and unconscious, to the tradition in Russian literature represented by his predecessors – Ivan Bunin and Valentin Kataev” (179). In an interview with A. and N. Voronel’, Sokolov calls Bunin, along with Gogol, his “contemporaries, collaborators along a chain, older masters” (Voroneli, “Ia khochu” 184). Shoe motif.

Плетеная обувь из соломы. Изображено ниже:

Мотив обуви.

motif intertextuality

бормотухи

Colloquial: rotgut, cheap, dangerous wine. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: дешёвое, низкокачественное, опасное вино. Тема алкоголя.

хлебной слезой

A brand of vodka. Alcohol theme.

Марка водки. Тема алкоголя.

theme

Аладдин Батрутдинов

Упоминается в романе четыре раза с разными фамилиями (R153/E7, R199/E89, R242/E161, R278/E225).

character intratextuality intertextuality religion foreign

Татарина

Татарин — житель Татарстана (современной Республики Татарстан), носитель татарского языка. Татарская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика была насильно образована в 1920 году и просуществовала до распада Советского Союза.

explanatory character Russia

Аллах

The Arabic word for God. Likely related to the fact that “Itil’” is the Turkic name of the Volga. It is also found in the Tatar language, and most Tatars are Muslims.

Арабское слово, означающее “Бог”. Скорее всего, связано с тем фактом, что “Итиль” — тюркское название Волги. Также встречается в татарском языке, а большинство татар исповедуют ислам.

religion explanatory

ты и горбатый средь наших равнин

A conflation of nature with humanity, common throughout the novel.

Слияние природы и человечества, нередко встречающееся в романе.

poetic device

горбатый

Yakov is hunchbacked. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

Яков страдает кифозом (горбатостью). Образ горбатых людей и животных неоднократно встречается в романе: (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

explanatory intratextuality

Хирагра

An aching in the fingers or hands. From the Greek cheir (hand) and agreo (seizure, grip).

Ломота в пальцах или кистях рук. От греческого *cheir *(рука) and *agreo *(судороги).

foreign

Хирагра тебя еры

Sokolov explains: “This euphemism is built along the lines of many curses and bad wishes. ‘Ery’ is the archaic name for the letter ы. However, I chose to use yers as a verb. What this neologism means is anyone’s guess. It can be assumed that it is a synonym for a swear verb with three letters, the first of which is also e. In general, the alliteration makes my expression sound impressive and emotional” (personal communication, June 27 2023).

Соколов объясняет: “Сей эвфемизм построен по типу многих проклятий и недобрых пожеланий кому-либо. Еры - архаическое название буквы ы. Однако я решил использовать еры как глагол. Что значит этот неологизм, остается только догадываться. Можно предположить, что это синоним бранного глагола из трех букв, первая из которых тоже е. В общем, благодаря аллитерации мое выражение звучит внушительно, эмоционально” (личная переписка, 27 июня 2023).

language explanatory register/style

Хирагра тебя еры

Alliteration (ir/er, r).

Аллитерация (ир/ер, р).

stylistic device sound

чуж-чужанин

Alliteration (chuzh).

Аллитерация (чуж).

sound stylistic device

чужанин

Low/poetic: stranger, alien, someone not of these parts.

Просторечное/поэтическое: чужой, нездешний, пришлый человек.

Якши

From the Tatar for “good, sure thing, okay.”

С татарского: ладно, хорошо.

foreign

Якши, мормышка, поймал ерши

Alliteration (m, sh).

Аллитерация (м, ш).

sound stylistic device

мормышка

A fishing lure, invented in Russia in the 19th century. The word derives from “mormysh” (мормыш), a type of shrimp.

Рыболовная снасть, изобретенная в России в XIX веке. Образовано от слова “мормыш” (мелкие пресноводные рачки). Изображено ниже:

explanatory

ерши

Ruffe or pope. A freshwater fish. Animal-human motif. The same word indicates a mixed drink with beer and vodka. Alcohol theme. An echo of the verses above: “Не лепо ли бормотухи хватить / С хлебной слезой пополам.”

Отголосок строк выше: “Не лепо ли бормотухи хватить / С хлебной слезой пополам”. Вид рыб из семейства окунёвых. Пресноводная рыба. Изображено ниже:

Мотив животных-людей. То же слово означает напиток, в котором смешаны пиво и водка. Тема алкоголя.

motif theme

Проваливай

Colloquial: get lost!, scram!

Разговорное: отстань! уйди!

конек-горбунок

Yakov alludes to Petr Ershov’s 1834 fairy tale “The Little Hunchbacked Pony.” Read the original here and an English translation here. Animal motif.

Яков ссылается на сказку П. Ершова “Конек-горбунок”, написанную в 1834 году. Прочитать оригинал можно здесь, а английский перевод — здесь. Мотив животных.

intertextuality motif

горбунок

Ilya (like Yakov) is hunchbacked. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

Илья, как и Яков, страдает кифозом (горбатостью). Образ горбатых людей и животных неоднократно встречается в романе: (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208).

explanatory intratextuality

наважденье

Colloquial/dated/poetic: hallucination, delusion.

Разговорное/устаревшее/поэтическое: то же, что наваждение (обманчивое видение, галлюцинация).

хвороба

Low/dialectical: disease, sickness.

Просторечное/диалектическое: болезнь.

йок

Turkish: no, nothing.

Турецкое: ничего, ничто.

foreign

чекушка

Colloquial: a small bottle of vodka. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: небольшая бутылка водки. Тема алкоголя.

theme register/style

не припомню числа

Dates and time are in disorder throughout the novel, so it’s no surprise that the poet forgets.

time

Дед Петр и Павел-дед.

Chiasm.

Хиазм.

stylistic device rhythm

Петр

character foreign religion intratextuality

Петр и Павел

Последний раз встречались в главе 4 (R173/E43).

intratextuality time

Чекушку

Colloquial: a small bottle of vodka. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: небольшая бутылка водки. Тема алкоголя.

theme register/style

забили козла

Low set expression: to play dominoes. The origin of the expression, which involves the linguistic similarity between the words kozen and kozyon and the game of bones, is explained in this radio report.

Просторечное выражение: играть в домино.

phraseologism register/style

бобыль

Archaic: a landless peasant, lonely man.

Архаизм: безземельный крестьянин, холостяк.

archaism register/style

химеры

Rat fish. Animal motif.

Род хрящевых рыб. Изображено ниже:

motif

химеры в реке не живут, Ни рыба, к примеру

Alliteration (khimery - k primeru).

Аллитерация (химеры - к примеру).

sound stylistic device

горбыль

Croaker. In Russian, their name suggests their being hunchback-fishes. The image of humpbacked people and animals appears several times throughout the novel (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208). Animal motif.

Рыба из семейства лучепёрых. Изображено ниже:

В русском языке, название рыбы указывает на ее горбатость. Образ горбатых людей и животных неоднократно встречается в романе: (R152, 168, 180, 184, 187, 189, 200, 217, 103, 268/E6, 61, 66, 69, 89, 208). Мотив животных.

motif intratextuality

Архивная

Ya3.

Я3.

metrical pattern

пенсне

Pince-nez: glasses without earpieces, held up by the bridge of the nose. From the French pincer (to pinch) and nez (nose).

Pince-nez: очки без заушных дужек, держащиеся с помощью пружинки, защемляющей переносицу. С французского pincer (защеп) and nez (нос). Изображено ниже:

foreign explanatory

кунсткамеру

From the German Kunstkammer (cabinet of curiosities). Russia’s first museum. Completed in 1727 by order of Peter the Great.

Первый музей в России. Был построен в 1727 по приказу Петра Великого. Изображено ниже:

Russia location foreign

И будет, просто будет, А я-то уж не буду Ни в праздники, ни в будни, Но как мне вечно будет От времени вдали, Вдали от обязательств, В стесненье обстоятельств, В удушливой пыли!

Это стихотворение написано от лица самой Записки. Она имеет в виду, что переживет человека, но покроется пылью и будет забыта на полке в архиве. Напоминает размышления Якова на тему смерти, его творческого достояния и избегания жизненных трудностей.

explanatory self-reference intratextuality

вдали, Вдали

Anadiplosis.

Анадиплосис.

stylistic device

стесненье

Dated: limitations.

Устаревшее: ограничения.

Записка XVI

An3.

Ан3.

metrical pattern

Стих о прекрасной бобылке

A reference to Alexander Blok’s 1901–1902 Verses on a Beautiful Lady. Read the original collection of poems here.

Очевидная отсылка к стихотворениям Блока к “прекрасной даме”.

intertextuality

бобылке

Colloquial: an unmarried, lonely (peasant) woman. She will make several appearances throughout the novel and is associated with Orina.

Разговорное: незамужняя, одинокая женщина-крестьянка. Она встречается далее в романе и обычно ассоциируется с Ориной.

character intratextuality

Над кофейника носиком пар Словно капитулянтский флажок.

White steam is described as a small white flag.

metaphor explanatory

Бразилию

The narrator in chapter 5 draws a comparison between Yakov’s mimicry abilities and the Brazilian huntsman spiders (R184/E61).

В главе 5 рассказчик проводит параллель между способностями Якова к мимикрии и бразильскими охотничьими пауками (R184/E61).

intratextuality foreign

премного

Dated: a lot, extremely.

Устаревшее: много, очень.

бразильского

That is, coffee from Brazil.

То есть, бразильский кофе.

explanatory foreign

цикорием

Растение, напиток из которого часто используется как заменитель кофе. Изображено ниже:

motif religion

цикорию

An herb that is sometimes used as a substitute for coffee.

Растение, напиток из которого часто используется как заменитель кофе. Изображено ниже:

explanatory

эрзя́

Одна из этнических групп мордвы, народа Мордовии.

explanatory Russia

эрзац

German: substitute, replacement. Used to describe a poor quality substitution, often of products.

Немецкое: замена, заменитель. используется для описания низкокачественных заменителей чего-либо, обычно пищевых продуктов.

foreign

наше ли дело труба

A variation on the set expression “наше дело табак” (fugazi, snafu, our situation is in a bad state).

Вариация устойчивого выражения “наше дело табак” (наши дела плохи).

phraseologism register/style

Посему

Dated: therefore.

Устаревшее: поэтому.

бобылок

Colloquial: an unmarried, lonely (peasant) woman. She will make several appearances throughout the novel and is associated with Orina.

character

Объявляю, что мне все равно, Кто мне штопает шарф иль пальто.

Something that completely overturns Blok’s idea (and idealization) of the “prekrasnaya dama.” Sewing theme.

Абсолютное противоречие блоковской идее (и идеализации) “прекрасной дамы”. Тема шитья.

theme intertextuality

из лести не сшить

A variation on the expression “из спасибо шубы не сошьешь” (praise is not pudding, words pay no debts).

Вариация выражения “из спасибо шубы не сошьешь” (спасибо на хлеб не намажешь).

phraseologism

сшить

Мария (одна из форм Орины, бобылка) ассоциируется с шитьем (R161/E21). Шитьем в романе занимаются разные герои. В восьмой записке Якова, иволга “перешивала день на ночь” (R172/E39). Шитье также упоминается в Записке XVI (R200/E92). Яков шьет тапки (R274/E219). Тема шитья.

intratextuality theme

бобылка

Colloquial: an unmarried, lonely (peasant) woman. She will make several appearances throughout the novel and is associated with Orina.

character

с него же не пить

A variation on the expression “с лица воду не пить” (looks aren’t everything).

Вариация выражения “с лица воду не пить” (внешность второстепенна).

phraseologism

Неспроста

Colloquial: not by chance, for some purpose.

Разговорное: неслучайно, ради какой-то цели.

перочинный

That is, “перочинный ножик” (penknife).

То есть, “перочинный ножик”.

explanatory language

вострю

Low: to make sharp.

Просторечное: точить, делать острым.

ангела день

Name day or christening day. In Orthodoxy each day of the year is dedicated to a saint.

religion

вепря

Wild boar. Animal motif.

Дикая свинья, кабан.

motif

отмездрю

character intratextuality

в преддверии тьмы

That is, the time between dog and wolf.

То есть, время между собакой и волком.

theme time

в преддверии тьмы, Полувечером, мнимозимой Псевдокофий, что ложнокумой Квазимодною

A series of half states and false identities. Nothing is stable and certain in the novel.

Серия полусостояний и ложных личностей. В романе ничто не стабильно и ни в чем нельзя быть уверенным.

theme

ложнокумой

Neologism on the basis of the words “lozhny” (fake) and “kum” (godfather, or simply a person close to the family, but not linked by blood ties).

Неологизм от слов “ложный” и “кум”.

neologism language

Квазимодною

Герой романа В. Гюго “Собор Парижской Богоматери”, написанного в 1831 году. Страдал врожденным кифозом (серьезным дефектом позвоночника). Изображен ниже: Вероятно, является отсылкой к итальянскому поэту Сальваторе Квазимодо, который в 1959 году был удостоен Нобелевской премии по литературе “за лирическую поэзию, которая с классической живостью выражает трагический опыт нашего времени” (The Nobel Prize in Literature 1959).

intertextuality foreign

даден взаймы

In the novel characters often exchange goods (usually drinks).

В романе герои часто обмениваются продуктами (обычно напитками).

theme intratextuality

Записка XVII К незнакомому живописцу

Это стихотворение — очередное экфрастическое описание написанной в 1565 году картины Питера Брейгеля Старшего “Охотники на снегу”. Сцена из картины повторяется на протяжении “Между собакой и волком” например, R202–203/E93–95), будто бы оживая на страницах романа. Изображено ниже:

Е. Кравченко объясняет: “Помимо метафоры посещения художественной выставки, приема экфрасиса и “галерейной” структуры Картинок, Соколов заимствует основополагающую телеологию творчества Мусоргского. Наравне с Бородиным, Балакиревым, Кюи и Римским-Корсаковым, Мусоргский относился к “Могучей кучке”. Созданная под патронажем художественного критика В. Стасова, группа стала эпицентром развития нового национального стиля русской музыки, в основе которого лежали крестьянские традиции и фольклор. Могучая кучка была тесно связана и черпала вдохновение у художественного движения Передвижников […]. Яков намерен передать ту же идею. Он поселяется на Волге, чтобы запечатлить и отобразить жизнь тамошних людей. Помимо поэтического дара, Яков также наделен художественным талантом, и это его работы формируют словесную галерею прозаических глав. “Экспонаты” галереи или графически выделены курсивом, то есть, относятся к названию картины, или определяются отсылкой к “прототипу” образа” (Kravchenko, “The Prose” 61). Она продолжает: “Можно предположить, что изображение Яковом человеческого страдания, что является одной из главных тем романа и что было определено как одно из центральных моральных посылов картин Брейгеля, строится не напрямую на Брейгеле, а на экфрасисе У. Одена в его “Музее изящных искусств”. Останавливаясь на “Переписи в Вифлееме” Брейгеля (1566) и “Избиении младенцев” (пр. 1564), экфрасис достигает кульминации в описании “Падения Икара” (пр. 1558)” (Kravchenko, “The Prose” 63). О присутствии и роли образов и подтекстов Брейгеля можно прочитать в статье М. Карамитти “Мультифильмы Брейгеля” (Caramitti “Mul’tfilmy Breigelia”).

intertextuality intratextuality structure foreign

Старина

Colloquial: old chap, old buddy, old man.

Разговорное: старик, приятель, дружище.

как сербу чизма Из Хорватии тесна,

A possible reference to the bad relations between Serbs and Croats, which in the 1980s were rapidly escalating and would explode in the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.

Возможная отсылка к напряженным отношениям между сербами и хорватами, стремительно развивающимися в 1980-ых и приведшим к Югославским войнам в 1990-ых.

explanatory foreign

чизма

Сербо-хорватское: сапог. От турецкого çizme. Мотив обуви.

foreign motif intertextuality

тризна

Archaism: funeral feast, wake.

Архаизм: обряд поминания умершего.

Зачастую

Colloquial: often.

Разговорное: то же, что часто.

Так и наша укоризна Вам, художникам, нужна.

So “our reprimand” is “necessary” to artists although to them it may be unwanted, annoying, tiresome.

То есть, “наша укоризна” необходима художникам, даже если тем она кажется ненужной, раздражающей и утомительной.

explanatory

Городнище

Главное место действия романа: вымышленный город на берегу Волги, также называется Городнищи. Название получено в результате сочетания слов “город” и “нищий”. Таким образом, Городнищи — город нищих. О. Матич пишет: “Если Школа для дураков была написана в противовес молодежной прозе, следующий роман Соколова, Между собакой и волком можно расценивать как ответ автора на деревенскую прозу, модное литературное направление семидесятых” (Matich “Sasha Sokolov” 310). В. Крейд замечает, что Городнище, барачный город нищих и воров, напоминает “Анти-Китеж” (Китеж — мифический город в русском фольклоре, в который попадают только чистые сердцем). В Городнище, однако, воры грабят нищих, и нищие попрошайничают у грабителей (Kreid “Zaitil’shchina” 213). Согласно Джонсону, Городнище — обитель живых, в то время как мертвые населяют противоположный берег реки, в Быдогощах (Johnson “Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf and the Modernist Tradition” 209). Джонсон также цитирует самого Соколова: “Соколов замечает, что название города является помесью развратного города XVIII века Городни, описанного А. Н. Радищевым в Путешествии из Петербурга в Москву и близлежащего города Городище. Таким образом, временные слои XVI века, XVIII века и мифического настоящего накладываются друг на друга — типичный роману прием” (217).

location setting folklore theme intertextuality

Ибо

Literary/dated: because, for.

Литературное/устаревшее: потому что.

archaism register/style

башлыках

A conical hood made of leather, wool, or felt, usually with trimmings of various kinds. Clothing motif.

Капюшон колпакообразной формы, изготовленный из кожи, шерсти или войлока, обычно с разнообразно украшенными концами. Изображено ниже:

Мотив одежды.

foreign motif

не кончится забава Ни добром

A variation of the set expression “игра не доводит до добра”: literally it means that gambling, as a rule, results in loss of money or getting into trouble; in general, it means that something does not lead to good.

Вариация устойчивого выражения “игра не доводит до добра”.

phraseologism

Ни добром и ни бобром,

Alliteration and paronomasia.

Аллитерация и парономазия.

sound stylistic device

берданкой

A Berdan rifle. Invented by Hiram Berdan in 1868 and used by the Russian army from 1870 to 1891 and for sport. Mentioned in several poems (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

Упоминается в нескольких стихах (R197, 202, 264, 269/E86, 93, 202, 209).

intratextuality explanatory

тумака

Traditional folk name given to mixed breeds of animals, as in “wolf-dog.” Animal motif.

Традиционное народное название помесей разных видов животных. Мотив животных.

folklore motif

повапил

Dated: to paint.

Устаревшее: рисовать.

Позлащенные

Poetic/dated: to gild.

Поэтическое/устаревшее: покрытый позолотой.

ягдташи

From the German Jagdtasche (hunting bag). A hunting bag.

Охотничья сумка. Изображено ниже:

explanatory foreign

кубарэ

Unusual (and mockingly foreign) word. It may derive from the word “kubar’”, informally used by students of the naval academy to define a ship cabin.

Необычное (и мнимо-иностранное) слово, наверное от разговорного морского термина “кубарь”, каюта.

foreign neologism location

Опаляющие праздно Поросенка на костре

Another image from the left side of Bruegel’s painting.

Очередной образ с левой части картины Брейгеля.

intertextuality

дольче вита

Italian: la dolce vita (the sweet life).

Итальянское: la dolce vita (сладкая жизнь).

foreign

быльем

Dated/dialectical: grass.

Устаревшее/диалетическое: трава.

повита

Dated: to entwine, wrap.

Устаревшее: обвитый, увитый.

вороны

Crow. Crows, like ravens, are often associated with death (Armstrong 75). Animal motif.

motif theme

кыш

Set expression: shoo!

Устойчивое выражение: приказ удалиться (к птицам).

phraseologism

В пору сумерек щемящих

That is, between dog and wolf.

То есть, между собакой и волком.

theme time

Поелику

Dated: because.

Устаревшее: потому что.

пропойца

Colloquial: drunkard, alcoholic. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: пьяница, алкоголик. Тема алкоголя.

зелена винца

Bread wine, a very strong traditional alcoholic drink made with fragrant herbs/grasses. Derived from the Old Church Slavonic “зелие” (plants, herbs, grass). Alcohol theme.

Хлебное вино, очень крепкий традиционный алкогольный напиток, приготовленный из душистых трав. Заимствовано от церковнославянского “зелие” (растения, травы). Тема алкоголя.

Russia explanatory theme archaism

И узрю твой жанр в оконце

По мнению Якова, он видит картину Брейгеля из своего окна. Эта фраза, прямым образом относящаяся к центральному мотиву романа, ссылается на написанную в 1565 году картину Питера Брейгеля Старшего “Охотники на снегу”. Сцена из картины повторяется на протяжении “Между собакой и волком” например, R202–203/E93–95), будто бы оживая на страницах романа. Изображено ниже:

intertextuality intratextuality structure foreign

Из-под пятого венца

As Ostanin notes (60), “from the fifth line of logs” (starting from the ground) in an izba.

Как замечает Останин, пятое бревно (считая от земли) в избе (Ostanin 60).

explanatory

моя отчизна

character Russia

Нипочем

Colloquial: unconcerned.

Разговорное: не волнует, безразлично.

тщета

Dated/literary: vanity.

Устаревшее/литературное: тщеславие.

Записка XVIII

Kh6.

Х6.

metrical pattern

Преображение

Преображения, в целом, нередко встречаются в романе. Конкретнов этом отрывке прослеживается отсылка к библейскому Преображению Иисуса, когда Иисус поднимается на гору с Иаковом, Иоанном и Марком. Там, на вершине, он начинает сиять, а рядом с ним появляются пророк Илия (одна из личностей Ильи в романе) и Моисей, в то время как к нему взывает Божий голос. Это событие описано в Матфея 17:1-8, Марка 9:2-8, Луки 9:28-36. Празднуется 6 августа. Кроме того, главный герой романа Михаила Булгакова “Сердце собаки” (одно из массовых произведений самиздата 60-ых) — доктор Преображенский, чей эксперимент по превращению бездомного пса в человека ведет к плачевному исходу (и его “преображению” обратно в собаку).

intertextuality bible religion explanatory theme intratextuality

Николая Угодникова

character intratextuality intertextuality religion folklore

забулдыги

Colloquial: low-life, heavy drinker, binger, boozer. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: пьяница, пропойца. Тема алкоголя.

опят

Commonly known as “honey mushrooms.”

Народное название группы грибов. Изображено ниже:

explanatory

водчонка

Diminutive for vodka. Alcohol theme.

Водка.

лишку

Low: too much, in excess.

Просторечное: слишком, чрезмерно.

барахло

Colloquial: junk, odds and ends.

Разговорное: хлам.

сумерки

Between dog and wolf.

Между собакой и волком.

theme time

снег пошел густой

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

Продолжение описания времени действия — зимы.

time

постой

Temporary accommodation for the night. They are searching for a place where they can stay overnight.

Ночевка. Они ищут место для ночевки.

explanatory

А с нами был тогда Угодник, Николай. С нами был, говорю, Угодников-старик,

Anadiplosis.

Анадиплосис.

stylistic device rhythm

Угодник, Николай

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

Угодников-старик

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

Поломатый

Low: crippled, broken.

колченогий

Like Ilya and his son, Nikolai Ugodnik suffers from a lame leg.

Подобно Илье и его сыну, Николай Угодник страдает хромотой.

theme character

Мы — калики, он — калика из калик, Мы — калеки, он — калека средь калек.

Paronomasia and syntactic parallelism.

Парономазия и синтаксический параллелизм.

stylistic device rhythm sound

калики

Название слепых странников, поющих духовные песни. Ранее слово не относилось к просящим милостыню калекам, как сейчас, но означало странников, посещающих святые места и поющих песни. Слово происходит от латинского caligae, изображено ниже:

Так странники жили на подаяния, собранные в селениях, через которые они проходили (и иногда оставались жить), в современном языке слово приобрело значение занимающегося подобной деятельностью инвалида. Изображено ниже:

(Miller 27–28) Также упоминается в главе 8 (R209/E103), главе 9 (R214/E112), главе 10 (R223/E129), и главе 11 (R230/E141). Мотив обуви.

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

калика из калик

(Miller 27–28) Также упоминается в главе 8 (R209/E103), главе 9 (R214/E112), главе 10 (R223/E129), и главе 11 (R230/E141). Мотив обуви.

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

калеки

(Miller 27–28) Также упоминается в главе 8 (R209/E103), главе 9 (R214/E112), главе 10 (R223/E129), и главе 11 (R230/E141). Мотив обуви.

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

калека средь калек

(Miller 27–28) Также упоминается в главе 8 (R209/E103), главе 9 (R214/E112), главе 10 (R223/E129), и главе 11 (R230/E141). Мотив обуви.

foreign Russia intratextuality motif intertextuality

Нет у Коли-Николая ни кола

Paronomasia.

Парономазия.

stylistic device sound

Коли

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

Уменьшительная форма имени Николай.

character register/style

Коли-Николая

character intratextuality intertextuality folklore religion

ни кола

Set expression: ни кола ни двора (to have absolutely nothing).

Устойчивое выражение: ни кола ни двора (не иметь абсолютно ничего).

phraseologism

валит, валит снег

A continuation of the temporal setting: winter.

Продолжение описания времени действия — зимы.

time

галдят колокола, И летят куда-то галки на ночлег. А летят они, лахудры

Alliteration (l, t, g, d).

Аллитерация (л, т, г, д).

sound stylistic device

галки

Птица, изображена ниже: По словам Берил Роуланд, подобно сороке (ключевой птице в романе Между собакой и волком), “галка ассоциировалась с воровством и накопительством” (Birds 86). Она также ассоциировалась со скупостью, глупостью и грубостью (86). Мотив птиц.

motif

лахудры

Colloquial/low: skank, slut, offensive term for a woman.

Разговорное/просторечное: мымра, дрянь, оскорбительный термин, относящийся к женщине.

Итиль

The Tatar name of the river Volga. The title of Ilya’s letter “Zaitil’shchina” is derived from this version of the river’s name. Ostanin also suggests a sound link between the rivers Itil’ and Lethe (Leta), the river of oblivion and forgetting, which also plays a major role in Sokolov’s first novel, A School for Fools (10).

Татарское название Волги. Заглавие письма Ильи “Заитильщина” является производным от этой версии названия реки. Остатин также указывает на фонетическое сходство рек Итиль и Леты, реки забытья, которая также играет важную роль в первом романе Соколова “Школа для дураков” (Ostanin 10).

location foreign language setting

В Городнище, в город нищих

Paronomasia.

Парономазия.

stylistic device sound

Городнище

location intertextuality folklore theme setting

утиль

An echo of the Itil’ (Итиль) River.

Отголосок названия реки Итиль.

sound play

Час меж волка и собаки

Between dog and wolf again.

Опять же, между собакой и волком.

theme

Час меж волка и собаки я люблю

A reference to Pushkin’s verses taken also as an epigraph to the novel.

Отсылка к стихам Пушкина, которые также были использованы в качестве эпиграфа к роману.

intertextuality intratextuality

Словно ласка перемешана с тоской

Елена Кравченко предпологает, что “пространственный образ Родины-мати и временной образ Вечной Жизни в персонаже Орины стирает границы между категориями времени и пространства, растворяя их в среде любви (и смерти — соколовского двойника любви)” (Kravchenko, The Prose 79).

theme

ласка перемешана с тоской

Alliteration (sk).

Аллитерация (ск).

sound stylistic device

засмолю

That is, to begin to smoke.

То есть, начать курить.

language

Колдыбаем

Colloquial: to booze. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: то же, что колдырить (ковылять, хромать). Тема алкоголя.

постой

Temporary accommodation for the night. They are searching for a place where they can stay overnight.

Ночевка. Они ищут место для ночевки.

explanatory

портняжка

Colloquial/deprecatory: a tailor of cheap clothing. Sewing theme.

Разговорное/уничижительное: портной, изготавливающий дешевую одежду. Тема шитья.

Шьет

Шитьем в романе занимаются разные герои. Мария (одна из форм Орины, бобылка) ассоциируется с шитьем (R161/E21). В восьмой записке Якова, иволга “перешивала день на ночь” (R172/E39). Шитье также упоминается в Записке XVI (R200/E92). Яков шьет тапки (R274/E219). Тема шитья.

intratextuality theme

приюта слепаков

In the novel, by the Volga there are many of these “pryut” and “artel’” for people with various physical problems.

В романе на берегу Волги располагается многочисленное количество “приютов” и “артелей” для людей, страдающих физическими проблемами.

setting intratextuality

индивид

The word “individ” is bookish in Russian, and thus in this context it sounds unnaturally; the actual word Ilya possibly meant to use was “invalid.”

худаков

According to Ostanin, a neologism created from худо (thin) and ходоки (walkers) (60). However, given the context, худо likely means “bad,” as in “bad walkers” since they are missing legs and drunk.

Согласно Останину, неологизм от слов “худо” и “ходоки” (Ostanin 60). Однако, в данном контексте “худо” употреблено в значении “плохо”, то есть, “плохие ходоки”, ведь у них недостает ног и они пьяны.

neologism

порты́

Dated/colloquial: pants, trousers, slacks. Clothing motif.

Устаревшее/разговорное: портки, штаны. Мотив одежды.

насосались

Colloquial: to get sloshed, get wasted. Alcohol theme.

Разговорное: нализаться, сильно напиться. Тема алкоголя.

в лоскуты

Set expression: to get heavily drunk. Alcohol theme.

phraseologism theme

летит

intertextuality bible religion explanatory theme intratextuality

Коля

Diminutive form of Nikolai.

Уменьшительная форма имени Николай.

character register/style

Коля-Николай

character intratextuality intertextuality religion folklore

сокола́

Falcon. Falcons have been associated with monks, greed, aristocracy (Rowland, Birds 59–62). Allusions to his own surname are not seldom in Sokolov’s work. See, for instance, Palisandriia where a sentry “rises like a falcon” (Shkola dlia durakov. Mezhdu sobakoi i volkom. Palisandriia. Esse. Triptykh 285) and the aptly titled “Philornist” (“bird-lover”) where Sokolov playfully invokes his surname (“с околосоколиной, коллега, околосоколиной”) (Shkola dlia durakov. Mezhdu sobakoi i volkom. Palisandriia. Esse. Triptykh 709). Animal motif.

Аллюзии на собственную фамилию нередки в творчестве Соколова. Мотив птиц.

motif self-reference

боле

Dated: no more.

Устаревшее: более.

боле не было

Alliteration (b, l).

Аллитерация (б, л).

sound stylistic device

не было его.

That is, he died.

explanatory theme

Notes of a Hunter / Записки охотника

Note X

Over the First Powdered Snow

Note XI

Casting a Spell

Note XII

Philosophical

Note XIII

Valday Dream

Note XIV

Fishing Under Ice

Note XV

Archival

Note XVI

A Verse About a Beautiful Lonesome Babe

Note XVII

To the Unknown Painter

Note XVIII

Transfiguration of Nikolay Helperov

(A Junkman’s Story)

Записка X

По пороше

Записка XI

Заговор

Записка XII

Философская

Записка XIII

Валдайский сон

Записка XIV

Подледный лов

Записка XV

Архивная

Записка XVI

Стих о прекрасной бобылке

Записка XVII

К незнакомому живописцу

Записка XVIII

Преображение Николая Угодникова

(Рассказ утильщика)

/

Casting a

Dream

of