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No. 19 She is up . . . that means she's not slept again all night.
Dolly usually rose later and would never have been up as early as that (it is now around 9:30 a.m.) had she slept normally through the night (p.12).
No. 20 Tanchurochka
A further diminution fanciful and endearing, of the common diminutive "Tanya" or "Tanechka." Oblonski crosses it with one of the dochurochka, tender diminutives of dochka, the Russian word for "daughter" (p.12).
No. 21 Petitioner
Oblonski, as any high official, was in a position to hasten the proceedings of a case or to cut through the red tape, or sometimes even to influence a dubious issue. The petitioner's visit may be compared to seeing one's Congressman in quest of a special favor. Naturally, there were more plain people among petitioners than high-born and influential ones, since Oblonski's personal friend or social equal could ask him for a favor at a dinner or through a common friend (p. 12).
No. 22 The clockman
There was, in the homes of Russian gentlemen, a custom of having a clockmaker (who happens to be a German here) come once a week, generally on Fridays, to check and wind the desk clocks, wall clocks, and grandfather clocks in the house. This paragraph defines the day of the week on which the story begins. For a novel in which time plays such an important part, a clockman is just the right person to start it on its way (p. 17).
No. 23 Ten rubles
In the early seventies of the last century, one ruble was about three-quarters of a dollar, but the purchasing power of a dollar (one ruble thirty) was in some respects considerably higher than today. Roughly speaking, the government salary of six thousand per year that Oblonski was paid in 1872 would correspond to four thousand five hundred dollars of 1872 (at least fifteen thousand dollars of today, untaxed).*
No. 24 And the worst of the matter . . .
The worst of the matter, Dolly reflects, is that in a month or so she is going to have a child (p. 18). This is on Tolstoy's part a nicely devised echo of Oblonski's thoughts on the same subject (p.6).
No. 25 Complete liberalism
Tolstoy's own notion of "liberalism" did not coincide with Western democratic ideals and with true liberalism as understood by progressive groups in old Russia. Oblonski's "liberalism" is definitely on the patriarchal side and we shall also note that Oblonski is not immune to conventional racial prejudice (p.20).
No. 26 Uniform
Oblonski changed from a lounge coat he wore into a government official's uniform (e.g., a green frock coat) (p.20).
No. 27 The Penza Provincial Office
*
Perhaps more than $60,000 as of 1980. Ed.
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Penza, main city in the Province of Penza, east central Russia (p.20).
No. 28 Kamer-yunker
German Kammerjunker, English (approximately) gentleman of the King's bedchamber. One of the several Russian court ranks, of an honorary nature, with such tame privileges as, for instance, the right to attend court balls. The mention of this title in connection with Grinevich merely implies that he belonged, and prided himself in belonging, to a socially more prominent set than his colleague, the plodding old bureaucrat Nikitin (p.21 ). The latter is not necessarily related to the Nikitins mentioned by Kitty on p. 86.
No. 29 Kitty's education
Though high schools for women began to come into existence as early as 1859, a noble family of the Shcherbatski type would either send their daughters to one of the "Institutes for Young Noblewomen," that dated back to the eighteenth century, or have them educated at home by governesses and visiting teachers. The programme would consist of a thorough study of French (language and literature), dancing, music, drawing. In many families, especially in St. Petersburg and Moscow, English would run a close second to French.
A young woman of Kitty's set would never go out-of-doors unattended either by a governess or by her mother or by both.
She would be seen walking only at a certain fashionable hour on a certain fashionable boulevard, and on these occasions a footman would be following a few steps behind—both for protection and prestige.
No. 30 Lyovin
Tolstoy wrote "Levin," deriving the surname of this character (a Russian nobleman and the representative of a young Tolstoy in the imaginary world of the novel) from his own first name "Lev" (Russian for "Leo"). Alphabetically the Russian "e"
is pronounced "ye" (as in "yes")> but in a number of instances it may have the sound of "yo" (as in "yonder"). Tolstoy pronounced his first name (spelled "Lev" in Russian) as "Lyov" instead of the usual "Lyev." I write "Lyovin" instead of "Levin,"
not so much to avoid any confusion (the possibility of which Tolstoy apparently did not realize) with a widespread Jewish surname of a different derivation, as to stress the emotional and personal quality of Tolstoy's choice (p.21).
Lvov
In giving to Nathalie Shcherbatski's husband, a diplomat with extremely sophisticated manners, the surname Lvov, Tolstoy used a common derivative from "Lev" as if to point out another side of his, Tolstoy's, personality in his youth, namely the desire to be absolutely comme il faut.
No. 31 Oblonski was on familiar terms
Russians (as well as the French and the Gemans) when addressing intimates use the singular "thou" (French tu, Germane) instead of "you." This isty in Russian, the "y" being pronounced somewhat as "u" in "tug." Although generally speaking the ty would go with the use of the interlocutor's first name, a combination of ty with the surname, or even with first name and patronymic, occurs not infrequently (p.22).
No. 32 An active member of the zemstvo, a new type of man in this respect
The zemstvos (created by a government act of January 1, 1864) were district and provincial assemblies with councils elected by three groups: landowners, peasants, and townspeople. Lyovin had been at first an eager supporter of these administrative boards but now objected to them on the grounds that landowner members were steering their needier friends into various lucrative positions (p.23).
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No. 33 New suit
According to fashion plates of the time, Lyovin probably wore a well-cut short coat ("sack coat") with a braid edge, and then changed into a frock coat for his evening visit to the Shcherbatskis (p.24).
No. 34 Gurin
A merchant name implying a good but not smart restaurant, adequate for a friendly lunch around the corner (p.24).
No. 35 Eight thousand acres in the Karazinski district
The allusion is clearly to a district in the Province of Tula (further disguised as "Kashin"), Central Russia, south of Moscow, where Tolstoy possessed a considerable amount of land himself. A "province" (or "government," guber-niya) consisted of districts (uezdy), and this one consisted of twelve such districts. Tolstoy invented "Karazinski," fancifully deriving it from Karazin (the name of a famous social reformer, 1773-1842), and combining Krapivenski District, where his own estate, Yasnaya Poly ana, was situated (about eight miles from Tula on the Moscow-Kursk line), with the name of a neighboring village (Karamyshevo) (p.26). Lyovin had also land in the "Selez-nyovski" district of the same ("Kashin") province.