I mentioned Trofim Fartukov, the coachman at
Ardis, in one of my earlier posts, but didn't write anything about
him. As always, Jansy Mello is running "in front of the carriage." Below is
a brief note on the name Trofim.
Trofim is an infrequent first name (in the
pre-Revolutionary Russia, it was popular only with the low classes)
that comes from the Greek word meaning "bread-winner" or "nursling."
Here are five Trofims of whom I think
Nabokov would have known. Three of them are fictional and two real (one among
the real two is a coachman).
1. Svat (son/daughter-in-law's
father) Trofim in Pushkin's frivolous poem "Ot vsenoshchnoy vechor idya domoy..." ("Coming home from the
night service yesterday..." 1813-17). Cf. Mar'yuska's (little
Maria's) words to Antip'yevna (daughter of Antip): Vanyusha, chto,
ved' on eshchyo ditya, / A svat Trofim, kotoryi u tebya / I den' i
noch' ("Why speak of little Ivan? He is still a child. Think of
svat Trofim, who spends days and nights with you"). The poem ends:
"V chuzhoy pizde solominku ty vidish' / A u sebya ne vidish' i
brevna" ("You can see a straw in a stranger's cunt, / While failing to
see a log in your own").
2. Stonemason Trofim, a character in Nekrasov's
long poem "Komu na Rusi zhit'
khorosho" ("Who lives well in Russia" 1862-77).
3. Klychnik (steward) Tofim, a character
in Chekhov's story "A Letter to a Learned Neighbor" (1880), who should bring
Vasiliy Semi-Bulatov's letter to his neighbor. If he arrives at the
neighbor's later than 8 p. m., it means that he dropped in at the tavern
(kabak) and should be slapped on his cheeks.
4.The Moscow lomovoy izvozchik (drayman)
Trophim [sic] whose company would enrich the epistolary language of
Chekhov's friend Lika Mizinov with vulgar expressions (see Chekhov's
letter to Mizinov of June 12, 1891; instead of signature Chekhov
drew a heart pierced with an arrow).
5. Trofim Lysenko (1898-1976), Russian biologist
and agronomist (Vavilov's opponent and the persecutor of genetics), whose
surname comes from the adjective lysyi ("bald"). Cf. Judge Bald in
Ada (1.21) and lawyer Lysevich in Chekhov's "Women's
Realm."
Also, cf. Peter Trofimov, a character in Chekhov's
"Cherry Orchard" (1904).
TROFIM = TORF (peat) + IM (them) = MIF (myth) + ROT
(mouth; Germ., red) = FORM + IT = MORT (fr., death) + IF = MIR (world;
peace) + OFT (often) = MIRT (myrtle) + OF = FROIT (Dr Froit of
Signy-Mondieu-Mondieu in the Ardennes: 1.3) + M ...
Alexey Sklyarenko