p.276. vyshibala: Russ., bouncer.

p.277. Künstlerpostkarte: Germ., art picture postcards.

p.278. la gosse: the little girl.

p.279. subsidunt etc.: mountains subside and heights deteriorate.

p.281. smorchiama: let us snuff out the candle.

p.283. Marmlad in Dickens: or rather Marmeladov in Dostoevsky, whom Dickens (in translation) greatly influenced.

p.284. frôlements: light touchings.

p.286. sturb: pun on Germ. sterben, to die.

p.288. qui prend etc.: that takes wing.

p.288. all our old etc.: Swinburne.

p.288. Larousse: pun: rousse, ‘redhair’ in French.

p.289. pourtant: yet.

p.289. cesse: cease.

p.289. Glanz: Germ., luster.

p.290. Mädel: Germ., girl.

p.290. vsyo sdelali: Russ., had done everything.

p.292. relanced: from Fr. relancer, to go after.

p.294. coigner etc.: pun (‘to coin a phrase’).

p.294. fraise: strawberry red.

p.295. krestik: Anglo-Russian, little crest.

p.295. vanouissements: ‘Swooning in Van’s arms’.

p.297. I have not art etc.: Hamlet.

p.298. si je puis etc.: if I may put it that way.

p.298. la plus laide etc.: the ugliest girl in the world can give more than she has.

p.299. Wattebausch: Germ., piece of cottonwool.

p.299. à la queue etc.: in Indian file.

p.301. making follies: Fr. ‘faire des folies’, living it up.

p.301. komondi: Russian French: ‘comme on dit’, as they say.

p.302. Vieux-Rose etc..: Ségur-Rostopchin’s books in the Bibliothèque Rose edition.

p.304. l’ivresse etc.: the intoxication of speed, conceptions on Sundays.

p.304. un baiser etc.: one single kiss.

p.307. shuba: Russ., furcoat.

p.311. ébats: frolics.

p.311. mossio etc.: monsieur your cousin.

p.311. jolies: pretty.

p.312. n’aurait etc.: should never have received that scoundrel.

p.312. Ashettes: Cinderellas.

p.314. Sumerechnikov: His name comes from Russ., sumerki, twilight; see also p.37.

p.314. zdraste: abbrev. form of zdravstvuyte, the ordinary Russian greeting.

p.315. lit etc.: pun on ‘eider-down bed’.

p.316. d’ailleurs: anyhow.

p.316. petard: Mr Ben Wright, a poet in his own right, is associated throughout with pets (farts).

p.316. bayronka: from Bayron, Russ., Byron.

p.317. réjouissants: hilarious.

p.317. Beckstein: transposed syllables.

p.317. Love under the Lindens: O’Neil, Thomas Mann, and his translator tangle in this paragraph.

p.317. vanishing etc.: allusion to ‘vanishing cream’.

p.318. auch: Germ., also.

p.319. éventail: fan.

p.319. fotochki: Russ., little photos.

p.320. foute: French swear word made to sound ‘foot’.

p.320. ars: Lat., art.

p.320. Carte du Tendre: ‘Map of Tender Love’, sentimental allegory of the seventeenth century.

p.321. Knabenkräuter: Germ., orchids (and testicles).

p.321. perron: porch.

p.323. romances, tsiganshchina: Russ., pseudo-Tsigan ballads.

p.325. vinocherpiy: Russ., the ‘wine-pourer’.

p.325. zernistaya ikra: ‘large-grained’ caviar (Russ.).

p.325. uzh gasli etc.: Russ., the lights were already going out in the rooms.

p.327. Nikak-s net: Russ., certainly not.

p.328. famous fly: see p.109, Serromyia.

p.328. Vorschmacks: Germ., hors-d’oeuvres.

p.330. et pour cause: and no wonder.

p.330. karavanchik: small caravan of camels (Russ.).

p.331. oberart etc.: Germ., superspecies; subspecies.

p.332. spazmochka: Russ., little spasm.

p.333. bretteur: duelling bravo.

p.333. au fond: actually.

p.335. fokus-pokus: Russ., bogus magic.

p.336. au dire etc.: according to the reviewers.

p.336. finestra, sestra: Ital., window, sister.

p.337. Arinushka: Russ., folksy diminutive of ‘Irina’.

p.337. oh qui me rendra etc.: Oh, who’ll give me back

my hill and the big oak.

p.338. sekundant: Russ., second.

p.338. puerulus: Lat., little lad.

p.338. matovaya: Russ., dull-toned.

p.339. en robe etc.: in a pink and green dress.

p.341. R4: ‘rook four’, a chess indication of position (pun on the woman’s name).

p.343. c’est le mot: that’s the right word.

p.344. pleureuses: widow’s weeds.

p.345. Bozhe moy: Russ., good Heavens.

p.349. ridge: money.

p.351. secondes pensées etc.: second thoughts are the good ones.

p.351. bonne: housemaid.

p.354. dyakon: deacon.

p.355. désolé etc.: distressed at being unable to be with you.

p.356. So you are married, etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Eight: XVIII: 1–4.

p.357 za tvoyo etc.: Russ., your health.

p.358. guvernantka etc.: Russ., governess-novelist.

p.359. moue: little grimace.

p.361. affalés etc.: sprawling in their armchairs.

p.362. bouffant: puffed up.

p.362. gueule etc.: simian facial angle.

p.362. grustnoe etc.: Russ., she addresses him as ‘my sad bliss’.

p.363. troués: with a hole or holes.

p.363. engripped: from prendre en grippe, to conceive a dislike.

p.364. pravoslavnaya: Russ., Greek-Orthodox.

p.366. das auch noch: Germ., and that too.

p.366. pendant que je etc.: while I am skiing.

p.372. Vesti: Russ., News.

p.375. Obst: Germ., fruit.

p.378. I love you with a brother’s love etc.: see Eugene Onegin, Four: XVI: 3–4.

p.379. cootooriay etc.: mispronunciation of ‘couturier’, dressmaker, ‘vous avez entendu’, you’ve heard (about him).

p.379. tu sais etc.: you know it will kill me.

p.381. Insiste etc.: quotation from St Augustine.

p.381. Henry: Henry James’ style is suggested by the italicized ‘had’.

p.383. en laid et en lard: in an ugly and fleshy version.

p.383. emptovato: Anglo-Russian, rather empty.

p.385. slip: Fr., panties.

p.387. pudeur: modesty, delicacy.

p.388. prosit: Germ., your health.

p.389. Dimanche etc.: Sunday. Lunch on the grass. Everybody stinks. My mother-in-law swallows her dentures. Her little bitch, etc. After which, etc. (see p.375, a painter’s diary Lucette has been reading).

p.389. Nox: Lat., at night.

p.392. Cher ami, etc.: Dear friend, my husband and I, were deeply upset by the frightful news. It was to me — and this I’ll always remember — that practically on the eve of her death the poor girl addressed herself to arrange things on the Tobakoff, which is always crowded and which from now on I’ll never take again, slightly out of superstition and very much out of sympathy for gentle, tender Lucette. I had been so happy to do all I could, as somebody had told me that you would be there too. Actually, she said so herself; she seemed so joyful to spend a few days on the upper deck with her dear cousin! The psychology of suicide is a mystery that no scientist can explain. I have never shed so many tears, it almost makes me drop my pen. We return to Malbrook around mid-August. Yours ever.

p.394. And o’er the summits of the Tacit etc.: parody of four lines in Lermontov’s The Demon (see also p.115).

p.394. le beau ténébreux: wrapt in Byronic gloom.

p.398. que sais-je: what do I know.

p.398. Merci etc.: My infinite thanks.

p.399. cameriere: Ital., hotel manservant who carries the luggage upstairs, vacuum-cleans the rooms, etc.

p.400. libretto: that of the opera Eugene Onegin, a travesty of Pushkin’s poem

p.402. korrektnïy: Russ., correct.

p.402. hobereau: country squire.

p.402. cart de van: Amer., mispronunciation of carte des vins.

p.402. zhidovskaya: Russ. (vulg.), Jewish.

p.403. je veux etc.: I want to get hold of you, my dear.

p.403. enfin: in short.

p.403. Luzon: Amer., mispronunciation of ‘Lausanne’.

p.403. lieu: place.

p.405. (a pause): This and the whole conversation parody Chekhov’s mannerisms.

p.406. muirninochka: Hiberno-Russian caressive term.

p.406. potins de famille: family gossip.

p.407. terriblement etc.: terribly grand and all that, she likes to tease him by saying that a simple farmer like him should not have married the daughter of an actress and an art dealer.

p.407. je dois etc.: I must watch my weight.

p.407. Olorinus: from Lat. olor, swan (Leda’s lover).