23. N. I. Krylov (1807–79) was a famous Russian jurist. Revel is the old name of Tallinn, capital of Estonia.
24. A quotation from the fable “The Eagle and the Hens,” by the Russian poet and fabulist I. A. Krylov (1768– 1844).
25. Berdichev, a town in the Ukraine, is synonymous with deep provinciality.
26. Actual illustrated magazines of the time.
27. A reference to the Russian law requiring the use of internal passports for citizens traveling within the country. At the time, Russia was the only European country to have such a system.
28. These words
GUSEV
1. Captain Kopeikin is the hero of an inset story in Gogol’s
2. A Turco-Tartar people who settled on the Black Sea in the ninth century A.D. They were exterminated by the Byzantine emperor John II Comnenus in 1123. For Pavel Ivanych the word simply means primitive, savage people.
3. The proper preparation for death for an Orthodox Christian. The sacrament of anointing with oil is in fact a sacrament of healing, but has come to be considered a part of the “last rites.”
4. Germans, being Lutherans, were not thought of as Christians in the Russian popular mind.
5. The prayer “Memory Eternal”
PEASANT WOMEN
1. The words “where there is no sickness or sighing” come from the panikhida, the Russian Orthodox memorial service.
2. Holy Week is the week preceding Easter, during which the events of Christ’s Passion are remembered. Thursday is a day of particular holiness when the Last Supper is commemorated.
3. In Russia “Trinity” is another name for Pentecost, the feast that falls on the fiftieth day after Easter and celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit.
4. Churches and homes are traditionally decorated at Pentecost with green branches and flowers, symbolizing the life-giving action of the Holy Spirit.
5. He means “the fiery Gehenna,” synonymous with Hell in Jewish and Christian tradition. The words are somewhat closer in Russian. The actual Gehenna is the Hinnom valley just outside the walls of Jerusalem, which in ancient times was a refuse dump where fires constantly smoldered.
THE FIDGET
1. See note 6 to “Small Fry.”
2. A dacha is a summer residence for city dwellers—a cottage, part of a big house, or a whole house, depending on a person’s means. “Going to dacha” also signifies the whole way of life in the summer.
3. A. Mazzini (1845–1926) was an Italian opera singer.
4. The words come from the poem “Reflections at the Front Entrance,” by Nikolai Nekrasov (see note 2 to “A Boring Story”), which became very popular in its musical setting.
5. V. D. Polenov (1844–1927) was a Russian landscape and historical painter.
6. L. Barnay (1842–1924) was a German actor.
7. Osip is the servant of Khlestakov, impostor-hero of Gogol’s comedy
IN EXILE
1. See note 21 to “A Boring Story.”
WARD NO. 6
1. These “calendars” included edifying little stories and helpful advice as well as the days of the year.
2. See note 7 to “Small Fry.”
3. The Swedish Order of the Polar Star was also awarded in Russia.
4. The zemstvo was an elective provincial council with powers of local government; it came to be very important for reform-minded Russians in the latter nineteenth century.
5. See note 3 to “Easter Night.”
6. The 1860s in Russia were a period when liberalism became radicalized and the material and practical were exalted above the ideal.
7. See note 2 to “A Boring Story.”
8. “In the future” (Latin).
9. The French biochemist Louis Pasteur (1822–95) and the German doctor and microbiologist Robert Koch (1843–1910) were pioneers in the study of microbes and contagious diseases. Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacillus.
10. Mt. Elbrus in Georgia, at 18,481 feet, is the highest peak of the Caucasus and the highest mountain in Europe.
11. An old-fashioned method of treatment for various respiratory ailments, which consisted in applying a number of small heated glasses to the patient’s back. The heat would cause suction and draw the blood to the
