JM: I couldn't understand the  meaning in AS's final sentence: did  Vivian Calmbrood attack Ivanov assuming the role of Johnson, or did he address Ivanov as Johnson?
 
Because John = Ivan, Johnson is the English counterpart of Russian Ivanov. In Vivian Calmbrood's poem Chenston (the fictitious poet to whom Pushkin ascribed "The Covetous Knight") mentions a certain Johnson whom they beat with a candlestick for a marked article.
 
Alexey Sklyarenko
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