Subject
nail in Barboshin's shoe
From
Date
Body
Барбошин. Меня этот башмак давно беспокоит. (Стаскивает его.)... (исследуя башмак). Так и знал: гвоздь торчит... Молоточек, что-нибудь... Хорошо, дайте это... (Barboshin complains that his shoe troubles him. He takes it off and finds that a nail sticks out. "The Event," Act Three)
In "Облако в штанах" ("The Trousered Cloud") Mayakovski says that a nail sticking out in his boot is more horrible than a fantasy of Goethe:
Что мне до Фауста,
феерией ракет
скользящего с Мефистофелем в небесном паркете!
Я знаю -
гвоздь у меня в сапоге
кошмарней, чем фантазия у Гете!*
The author mentions Faust and Mephistopheles (the devil's name in Goethe's tragedy) slipping on the parquet floor of the sky. In "The Event" the devil assumes the disguise of the absurd private detective Barboshin (who may be more terrible than Mephistopheles).
Трощейкин. Твоя сестричка небось не потрудилась узнать, живы ли мы.
Мешаев Второй. Я боюсь, что у вас какие-то семейные неприятности... Кто-нибудь болен... Мне тем более досадно. (Troshcheykin complains that Lyubov's sister did not call to ask if they were all right, and Meshaev the Second, a stranger, gets the impression that somebody in Troshcheykin's family is ill. "The Event," Act Three)
In "The Trousered Cloud" Mayakovski exclaims: "Mother! Your son is perfectly ill!.. Tell his sisters, Lyuda and Olya, that he does not know where to put himself:"
Мама!
Ваш сын прекрасно болен!
...Скажите сёстрам, Люде и Оле,-
ему уже некуда деться.
Btw., one of the ten portraits of Evreinov reproduced in his book "The Model on Portraitists" is by V. V. Mayakovski, VN's "late namesake."
Re Alfred, Barboshin's first name. Alfredo Germont (in the Russian version, Alfred) is the main character in Verdi's La traviata, the opera based on Alexandre Dumas fils' play La dame aux camelias. In "The Event" Barboshin sings from Chaykovski's opera based on Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and, on the other hand, mentions a Dr Rubini (G. B. Rubini, 1794-1854, was a famous Italian tenor).
*The rhyme паркете/Гете (on the parquet/Goethe) reminds one of the "dreadful" rhyme in Eugene Onegin (Two: IX: 5-6) свете/Гете (on earth/Goethe). Btw., in "The Event" (Act Three) Lyubov' compares Troshcheykin to the little boy in Zhukovski's version of Goethe's Erlkoenig: Ну, ты совсем как младенец из "Лесного царя." On the other hand, it is Lenski who "wandered with a lyre on earth. / Under the sky of Schiller and Goethe..." Barboshin quotes Lenski ("Yes, if you like, let's start") as he sings from Chaykovski's opera. Barboshin asks Lyubov' for a cup of tea, and both Chaykovski and chayka (sea gull)** have chay (tea) in them.
**Lyubov' who likes to associate herself with Pushkin's Tatiana is closer to Nina Zarechnyi, the heroine in Chekhov's "The Sea Gull."
Alexey Sklyarenko
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In "Облако в штанах" ("The Trousered Cloud") Mayakovski says that a nail sticking out in his boot is more horrible than a fantasy of Goethe:
Что мне до Фауста,
феерией ракет
скользящего с Мефистофелем в небесном паркете!
Я знаю -
гвоздь у меня в сапоге
кошмарней, чем фантазия у Гете!*
The author mentions Faust and Mephistopheles (the devil's name in Goethe's tragedy) slipping on the parquet floor of the sky. In "The Event" the devil assumes the disguise of the absurd private detective Barboshin (who may be more terrible than Mephistopheles).
Трощейкин. Твоя сестричка небось не потрудилась узнать, живы ли мы.
Мешаев Второй. Я боюсь, что у вас какие-то семейные неприятности... Кто-нибудь болен... Мне тем более досадно. (Troshcheykin complains that Lyubov's sister did not call to ask if they were all right, and Meshaev the Second, a stranger, gets the impression that somebody in Troshcheykin's family is ill. "The Event," Act Three)
In "The Trousered Cloud" Mayakovski exclaims: "Mother! Your son is perfectly ill!.. Tell his sisters, Lyuda and Olya, that he does not know where to put himself:"
Мама!
Ваш сын прекрасно болен!
...Скажите сёстрам, Люде и Оле,-
ему уже некуда деться.
Btw., one of the ten portraits of Evreinov reproduced in his book "The Model on Portraitists" is by V. V. Mayakovski, VN's "late namesake."
Re Alfred, Barboshin's first name. Alfredo Germont (in the Russian version, Alfred) is the main character in Verdi's La traviata, the opera based on Alexandre Dumas fils' play La dame aux camelias. In "The Event" Barboshin sings from Chaykovski's opera based on Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and, on the other hand, mentions a Dr Rubini (G. B. Rubini, 1794-1854, was a famous Italian tenor).
*The rhyme паркете/Гете (on the parquet/Goethe) reminds one of the "dreadful" rhyme in Eugene Onegin (Two: IX: 5-6) свете/Гете (on earth/Goethe). Btw., in "The Event" (Act Three) Lyubov' compares Troshcheykin to the little boy in Zhukovski's version of Goethe's Erlkoenig: Ну, ты совсем как младенец из "Лесного царя." On the other hand, it is Lenski who "wandered with a lyre on earth. / Under the sky of Schiller and Goethe..." Barboshin quotes Lenski ("Yes, if you like, let's start") as he sings from Chaykovski's opera. Barboshin asks Lyubov' for a cup of tea, and both Chaykovski and chayka (sea gull)** have chay (tea) in them.
**Lyubov' who likes to associate herself with Pushkin's Tatiana is closer to Nina Zarechnyi, the heroine in Chekhov's "The Sea Gull."
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/