p.166. petit-beurre: a tea biscuit.

p.170. unschicklich: Germ., improper (understood as ‘not chic’ by Ada).

p.173. ogon’: Russ., fire.

p.173. Microgalaxies: known on Terra as Les Enfants du Capitaine Grant, by Jules Verne.

p.173. ailleurs: elsewhere.

p.174. alfavit: Russ., alphabet.

p.175. particule: ‘de’ or ‘d’’.

p.176. Pat Rishin: a play on ‘patrician’. One may recall Podgoretz (Russ. ‘underhill’) applying that epithet to a popular critic, would-be expert in Russian as spoken in Minsk and elsewhere. Minsk and Chess also figure in Chapter Six of Speak, Memory (p.133, N.Y. ed. 1966).

p.177. Gerschizhevsky: a Slavist’s name gets mixed here with that of Chizhevki, another Slavist.

p.178. Je ne peux etc.: I can do nothing, but nothing.

p.178. Buchstaben: Germ., letters of the alphabet.

p.178. c’est tout simple: it’s quite simple.

p.179. pas facile: not easy.

p.179. Cendrillon: Cinderella.

p.179. mon petit… qui dis-je: darling… in fact.

p.181. elle est folie etc.: she is insane and evil.

p.181. Beer Tower: pun on ‘Tourbière’.

p.182. chayku: Russ., tea (diminutive).

p.182. Ivanilich: a pouf plays a marvelous part in Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, where it sighs deeply under a friend of the widow’s.

p.182. cousinage: cousinhood is dangerous neighborhood.

p.182. on s’embrassait: kissing went on in every corner.

p.182. erunda: Russ., nonsense.

p.182. hier und da: Germ., here and there.

p.183. raffolait etc.: was crazy about one of his mares.

p.184. tout est bien: everything is all right.

p.184 tant mieux: so much the better.

p.185. Tuzenbakh: Van recites the last words of the unfortunate Baron in Chekhov’s Three Sisters who does not know what to say but feels urged to say something to Irina before going to fight his fatal duel.

p.185. kontretan: Russian mispronunciation of contretemps.

p.187. kameristochka: Russ., young chambermaid.

p.187. en effet: indeed.

p.188. petit nègre: little Negro in the flowering field.

p.188. ce sera etc.: it will be a dinner for four

p.188. Wagging his left forefinger: that gene did not miss his daughter (see p.178, where the name of the cream is also prefigured).

p.188. Lyovka: derogative or folksy diminutive of Lyov (Leo).

p.191. antranou etc.: Russian mispronunciation of Fr. entre nous soit dit, between you and me.

p.191. filius aqua: ‘son of water’, bad pun on filum aquae, the middle way, ‘the thread of the stream’.

p.192. une petite juive etc.: a very aristocratic little Jewess.

p.192. ça va: it goes.

p.192. seins durs: mispronunciation of sans dire ‘without saying’.

p.193. passe encore: may still pass muster.

p.195. Lorsque etc.: When her fiancé had gone to war, the unfortunate and noble maiden closed her piano, sold her elephant.

p.195. Klubsessel: Germ., easy chair.

p.194. By chance preserved: The verses are by chance preserved

I have them, here they are:

(Eugene Onegin, Six: XXI: 1–2)

p.196. devant les gens: in front of the servants.

p.196. Fanny Price: the heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

p.196. grib: Russ., mushroom.

p.196. vodochki: Russ., pl. of vodochka, diminutive of vodka.

p.198. zakusochnïy etc.: Russ., table with hors-d’oeuvres.

p.198. petits soupers: intimate suppers.

p.198. Persty: Evidently Pushkin’s vinograd:

as elongated and transparent

as are the fingers of a girl.

(devï molodoy, jeune fille)

p.198. ciel-étoilé: starry sky.

p.201. ne pïkhtite: Russ., do not wheeze.

p.202. vous me comblez: you overwhelm me with kindness.

p.202. pravda: Russ., it’s true.

p.202. gelinotte: hazel-hen.

p.203. le feu etc.: the so delicate fire of virginity

that on her brow…

p.203. po razschyotu po moemu: an allusion to Famusov (in Griboedov’s Gore ot uma), calculating the pregnancy of a lady friend.

p.203. protestuyu: Russ., I protest.

p.203. seriozno: Russ., seriously.

p.203. quoi que ce soit: whatever it might be.

p.203. en accuse etc.:…brings out its beauty.

p.203. certicle: anagram of ‘electric’.

p.204. Tetrastes etc.: Latin name of the imaginary ‘Peterson’s Grouse’ from Wind River Range, Wyo.

p.205. Great good man: a phrase that Winston Churchill, the British politician, enthusiastically applied to Stalin.

p.205. voulu: intentional.

p.206. echt etc.: Germ., a genuine German.

p.207. Kegelkugel: Germ., skittle-ball.

p.207. partir etc.: to go away is to die a little, and to die is to go a way a little too much.

p.208. tangelo: a cross between the tangerine and the pomelo (grapefruit).

p.208. fal’shivo: Russ., false.

p.209. rozï… beryozï: Russ., roses… birches.

p.210. ou comme ça?: or like that?

p.213. sale etc.: dirty little Philistine.

p.213. d’accord: Okay.

p.214. zhe etc.: Russ., distortion of je t’en prie.

p.215. Trigorin etc.: a reference to a scene in The Seagull.

p.215. Houssaie: French a ‘hollywood’. Gollivud-tozh means in Russian ‘known also as Hollywood’.

p.216. enfin: at last.

p.217. passati: pseudo-Russian pun on ‘pass water’.

p.217. coeur de boeuf: bull’s heart (in shape).

p.219. quand tu voudras etc.: any time, my lad.

p.220. la maudite etc.: the confounded (governess).

p.220. vos etc.: Franco-Russ., your expressions are rather free.

p.221. qui tâchait etc.: who was trying to turn her head.

p.222. ombres etc.: shadows and colors.

p.226. qu’on la coiffe etc.: to have her hair done in the open.

p.226. un air entendu: a knowing look.

p.228. ne sais quand etc.: knows not when he’ll come back.

p.229. mon beau page: my pretty page.

p.231. c’est ma dernière: this is my last night in the manor.

p.231. je suis etc.: I’m yours, it’s soon dawn.

p.231. parlez pour vous: speak for yourself.

p.232. immonde: unspeakable.

p.232. il la mangeait etc.: he devoured her with disgusting kisses.

p.234. qu’on vous culbute: that they tumble you.

p.237. marais noir: black tide.

p.240. j’ai des ennuis: I have worries.

p.240. topinambour: tuber of the girasole; pun on ‘pun’ (‘calembour’).

p.240. on n’est pas etc: what scurvy behavior.

p.241. Tapper: ‘Wild Violet’, as well as ‘Birdfoot’ (p.242), reflects the ‘pansy’ character of Van’s adversary and of the two seconds.

p.242. Rafin, Esq.: pun on ‘Rafinesque’, after whom a violet is named.

p.242. Do-Re-La: ‘Ladore’ musically jumbled.

p.244. partie etc.: picnic.

p.246. palata: Russ., ward.

p.248. tvoyu mat’: Russ., ‘Thy mother’: the end of a popular Russian oath.

p.249. Ich bin etc.: Germ., I’m an incorrigible joker.

p.251. uncle: ‘my uncle has most honest principles’.

(Eug. Onegin, One: I:1)

p.255. encore un etc.: one more ‘baby ghost’ (pun).

p.257. the last paragraph of Part One imitates, in significant brevity of intonation (as if spoken by an outside voice), a famous Tolstoyan ending, with Van in the role of Kitty Lyovin.

p.260. poule: tart.

p.260. komsi etc.: comme-ci comme-ça in Russ. mispronunciation: so-so.

p.260. mestechko: Russ., little place.

p.260. bateau ivre: ‘sottish ship’, title of Rimbaud’s poem here used instead of ‘ship of fools’.

p.261. poshlïy: Russ., vulgar.

p.262. da: Russ., yes.

p.262. ce qui etc.: which amounts to the same thing.

p.263. maux: aches.

p.263. aril: coating of certain seeds.

p.263. Grant etc.: Jules Verne in Captain Grant’s Children has ‘agonie’ (in a discovered message) turn out to be part of ‘Patagonie’.

p.266. Cyraniana: allusion to Cyrano de Bergerac’s Histoire comique des Etats de la Lune.

p.266. Nekto: Russ., quidam.

p.266. romanchik: Russ., novelette.

p.267. Sig Leymanski: anagram of the name of a waggish British novelist keenly interested in physics fiction.

p.269. Abencerage, Zegris: Families of Granada Moors (their feud inspired Chateaubriand).

p.271. fille de joie: whore.

p.275. maison close: brothel.