p.38, vos passions vous perdront: “Your passions will be the end of you” (French).
p.38, une jeune fille sans cœur: “A heartless young girl” (French).
p.39, des expressions insupportables: “Intolerable expressions” (French).
p.41, Robespierre… Marat: Maximilien Robespierre (1758–94) and Jean-Paul Marat (1743–93), two of the more extreme figures to emerge from the French Revolution.
p.42, Vous connaissez sa violence: “You’re aware of her violence” (French).
p.43, Vous n’êtes pas très distingué: “You are not very distinguished” (French).
p.44, Assembly of the Nobility: Self-governing body, at provincial and district level, between 1765 and 1917.
p.44, Police Gazette: Strictly speaking the Moscow City Police Gazette, published between 1848 and 1894.
p.45, raisons: “Reasons” (French).
p.48, C’est très naturel, vous savez, dans les jeunes filles: “It’s very natural, you know, among young girls” (French).
p.48, de vrais événements: “Some true events” (French).
p.48, quel succès elle a eu: “What success she had” (French).
p.48, Duchess of Devonshire: The most famous Duchess of Devonshire was Georgiana Cavendish (née Spencer), but her dates (1757–1806) make it unlikely that it is she who is referred to here. The only other candidate appears to be Blanche Georgiana Howard (1812–40), wife of the 7th Duke of Devonshire.
p.48, la reine du bal: “The queen of the ball” (French).
p.48, adorateur du beau sexe: “Admirer of the fair sex” (French).
p.48, avec tous les meilleurs cavaliers: “With all the best cavaliers” (French).
p.49, Sire, décidément… votre empire: “Sire, it is definitely Moscow which is the centre of your empire” (French).
p.49, C’est une vraie révolution – révolution ou révélation: “It’s a true revolution – revolution or revelation” (French).
p.49, Jamais on ne dirait… son premier bal: “One would never say that your daughter is at her first ball” (French).
p.49, Kammerherr: “Gentleman of the Bedchamber”, a position at court.
p.49, J’ai l’humeur facile, comme vous savez: “I have an easy temperament, as you know” (French).
p.49, Ma cousine… c’est une perfection: “Cousin… your daughter is a pearl; she is perfection” (French).
p.49, qu’on a trouvé charmant: “Which people found charming” (French).
p.53, mit etwas Accuratesse: “With a little adroitness” (German).
p.53, Es ist eine Idee, ist eine Idee: “It is an idea, is an idea” (German).
p.53, damit Punctum: “That’s the end of the matter” (German).
p.54, Countess Vorotynskaya: See second note to p. 3.
p.54, the well-known Cliffs: The Battertelsen, part of the same rocky outcrop on which the Old Castle (officially: the Yburg, referred to in Chapters 10 and 13 as the Vieux Château) stands.
p.55, kreutzers: A kreutzer was one sixtieth of a guilder (see second note to p. 10).
p.57, un ami d’enfance: “A childhood friend” (French).
p.57, Deux gendarmes un beau dimanche: “Two gendarmes one beautiful Sunday” (French). From ‘Pandore, ou Les Deux Gendarmes’, a song by Gustave Nadaud (1820–93), dating from 1853.
p.58, give me some fire: In English in the original – a Gallicism (i.e. donnez-moi du feu) which may either be a piece of linguistic satire on Turgenev’s part, or simply reflect his own somewhat shaky English.
p.58, Avez-vous des papiros?: “Have you any [Russian-style] cigarettes?” (French).
p.58, De vrais papelitos, comtesse: “Real miniature [Russian-style] cigarettes, countess” (French).
p.58, Hôtel de l’Europe: The most fashionable hotel in Baden-Baden.
p.59, Eh bien, quoi? Que me voulez-vous?: “All right, what? What do you want of me?” (French).
p.59, Je vous le dirai plus tard: “I’ll tell you later” (French).
p.59, Mais que fait donc Monsieur Verdier? Pourquoi ne vient-il pas?: “But what is Monsieur Verdier doing then? Why doesn’t he come?” (French).
p.59, Tranquillisez-vous, mesdames… à vos pieds: “Calm down, ladies… Verdier has promised to come and place himself at your feet” (French).
p.59, Bayerisch Bier… Guten Morgen: “Bavarian beer” (incorrect German); “Good morning” (correct German).
p.59, Mais c’est provisoire: “But it’s provisional” (French).
p.60, il lui a fait rendre gorge: “He made him cough up” (French).
p.60, Mais pas du tout, pas du tout.. les questions politiques: “Not at all, not at all!… I adore political questions” (French).
p.60, Madame a raison: “Madame is right” (French).
p.61, mon très cher: “My very dear fellow” (French).
p.61, Era of the Seven Boyars: A time of political crisis between 1610 and 1612, when Russia was ruled by seven boyars.
p.61, nineteenth of February: The date (3rd March in the Gregorian calendar) in 1861 when the Emancipation Edict was promulgated.
p.61, On est patriote ou on ne l’est pas: “One is either a patriot or one is not” (French).
p.61, Comment nommez-vous ce monsieur?: “What do you call this gentleman?” (French).
p.62, un folliculaire: “A scribbler” (French).
p.62, C’est pour faire rire ces dames: “It’s to make these ladies laugh” (French).
p.62, tout ce fond du sac… voilà ce qui m’effraie: “All these scrapings, this petty property, worse than the proletariat… that’s what scares me” (French).
p.63, zemstvo: Form of local government introduced as part of the Great Reforms of Alexander II.
p.63, avec Orphée aux enfers… son dernier mot: “With Orpheus in the Underworld progress has said its last word” (French). The reference is to the 1848 operetta Orphée aux enfers by Jacques Offenbach (1819–80).
p.63, Vous dites toujours des bêtises: “You’re always saying stupid things” (French).
p.63, Je ne suis jamais plus sérieux… je dis des bêtises: “I’m never more serious, madame, than when I’m saying stupid things” (French).
p.63, De la poigne et des formes… De la poigne surtout: “A firm hand and rules… Above all, a firm hand” (French).
p.64, il y a des dames ici: “There are ladies present” (French).
p.67, Polish question: See seventh note to p. 19.
p.68, Herein: “Come in” (German).
p.70, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio: From Act i, Sc. 5 of Hamlet, which was the most popular of all Shakespeare’s plays in nineteenth-century Russia. Turgenev slightly misquotes the version of the line by M.P. Vronchenko (1802–55) in his 1828 translation of the play.
p.70, vorwärts: “Forward” (German).
p.71, Die Frau Fürstin ist zu Hause: “The Princess is at home” (German).
p.71, C’est bien, c’est bien: “Good, good” (French).
p.72, de la rancune. Voilà: “Rancour. There you are” (French).
p.74, Oh, quelle chance: “Oh, how fortunate” (French).
p.74, au château: “At the castle” (French). Presumably a reference to Count Reisenbach’s grand house in Petersburg.
p.77, ma chère amie: “My dear friend” (French).
p.77, Corps des pages: an elite educational establishment, founded in 1759.
p.78, je veux dire, efficaces: “I mean, effective” (French).
p.78, parties de plaisir: “Outings” (French).
p.80, bel homme: “Fine figure of a man” (French).
p.83, ni esprit ni intelligence: “Neither wit nor intelligence” (French).
p.85, Vite, vite: “Quickly, quickly” (French).
p.85, Eh, bonjour, chère madame: “Ah, good day, dear madame” (French).
p.85, Comment allez-vous aujourd’hui? Venez un peu avec moi: “How are you today? Come with me for a while” (French).
p.85, Votre Altesse a trop de bonté: “Your Excellency is too kind” (French).
p.86, the plan for judicial reforms in Russia: Sweeping judicial reforms were introduced in 1864.
p.86, Meyerbeer: Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864), German composer of operas.
p.87, Kulibin: Ivan Petrovich Kulibin (1735–1818), self-taught inventor.
p.87, Telushkin: Pyotr Stepanovich Telushkin (c.1806–33), roofer and steeplejack who, in 1831, repaired the boat on top of the Admiralty spire in Petersburg without using scaffolding.
p.88, Bryullov: Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799–1852), Russian painter.
p.88, Glinka: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804–57), the first major Russian classical composer.
p.88, Rapp: Celebrated strongman and juggler, born Karl von Rapp in Innsbruck, Austria in 1800, and also known as Karl Rappo and Charles Rappo. He won great fame in Russia, where he died in 1854.
p.88, Crystal Palace near London: The Crystal Palace had been moved from Hyde Park to a site near Sydenham, South London, in 1854.
p.89, shaft-bow troika harness: A characteristically Russian way of harnessing horses.
p.89, Ryurik: See first note to p. 36.
p.90, Saint-Simon or Fourier: Henri de Saint-Simon (1760–1825) and Charles Fourier (1772–1837), French socialist thinkers.
p.90, Paul de Kock: Paul de Kock (1793–1871) was a prolific and, in his time, very popular French novelist. His novel La Laitière de Montfermeil (The Dairy at Montfermeil) dates from 1827.
p.92, Madame Kokhanovskaya and The Swarm at Rest: For Madame Kokhanovskaya see third note to p. 28. The full title of the story referred to here is The Swarm – Feodosy Savvich at Rest (1864). That Turgenev himself shared Potugin’s view of the story is clear from his correspondence.
p.92, triple extrait du moujik russe: “Triple extract of Russian peasant” (French).
p.92, en cuir de Russie: “In Russian leather” (French).
p.92, Vanka-Tanka: Gypsy song arranged as a duet in the 1840s by A.S. Dargomyzhsky. Turgenev had a low opinion of this composer’s work.
p.93, jeune premier: “Young lead” (French). In Cyrillic in the original.
p.93, our own Alcibiades, Churilo Plenkovich: Alcibiades (451–404 bc), was an Athenian statesman and military leader; Churilo Plenkovich, always depicted as a handsome dandy, is a hero of Russian folk epics (byliny).
p.97, Ce satané as de pique: “This cursed ace of spades” (French).
p.97, Emperor Heliogabalus: Roman Emperor 218–22 ad. Also known as Elagabalus.
p.99, Home, table-turning and self-playing accordions: Daniel Dunglas Home (1833–86) was a Scottish spiritualist and medium. Self-playing accordions were a noted feature of his seances. Table-turning is a form of seance in which the tilting of a table allegedly spells out messages from beyond the grave. This trend reached Europe from America in 1852, and became extremely popular.
p.99, Mais moi aussi, madame, je parle d’une bête: “But I too, madame, am speaking of an animal” (French).
p.99, Oui, oui, vous allez voir Monsieur Luzhin: “Yes, yes, you’re going to see Monsieur Luzhin” (French).
p.100, cancer: The Latin word cancer can mean crab or crayfish.
p.100, Alexandrinsky Theatre: Leading Petersburg theatre, founded in 1756.
p.100, Merci, merci… Monsieur Fox, montrez-nous ça: “Thank you, thank you… Come on, Monsieur Fox, show us this” (French).
p.100, Mais que doit-elle donc faire: “But what should it do?” (French).
p.100, Elle doâ rester immobile et se dresser sur son quiou: “It should stay still and stand up on its tail” (French). The spelling reflects Fox’s American accent.
p.101, über diese Russen: “About these Russians” (German).
p.101, Quel œuf? Quel bœuf?: “What egg? What bullock?” (French).
p.101, Charmant! Charmant!: “Charming! Charming!” (French).
p.101, C’est absurde! Cela n’a pas le sens commun!: “It’s absurd! It lacks common sense!” (French).
p.101, Encore cette satanée politique: “Again this accursed politics” (French).
p.101, le résumé de la question en peu de mots: “The summary of the question in a few words” (French).
p.102, Sardou’s latest play… About’s novel… Madame Patti in La traviata: Victorien Sardou (1831–1908) was a French dramatist. Edmond François Valentin About (1828–85) was a French novelist. Adelina Patti (1843–1919) was a renowned operatic soprano, born in Madrid to Italian parents. Much admired by Giuseppe Verdi, she was famous for playing Violetta in his opera La traviata (1853).
p.102, au secrétaire: A parlour game which involves guessing the full meaning of a message from the initial letters of its constituent words. It is described in detail in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (Part 4, Chapter 13).
p.102, Qu’est-ce que l’amour?… Une colique remontée au cœur: “What is love?… Colic which has affected the heart” (French).
p.102, Slavonic principalities: Moldavia and Wallachia, the “Danubian Principalities”. Although for most of the nineteenth century Russia sought to maximize its influence there, to term them “Slavonic” is somewhat provocative.
p.103, Je vous ai beaucoup admirée ce soir, madame… Vous vous êtes parfaitement moquée de nous tous: “I have admired you very much this evening… You have made fun of us to perfection” (French).
p.103, Pas plus cette fois-ci que les autres: “No more on this occasion than on the others” (French).
p.103, C’est clair: “It’s clear” (French).
p.104, Attrapé: “Caught” (French).
p.104, Carbonaro: A member of a secret society in Italy in the early nineteenth century. The Carbonari had strong liberal and republican ideals.
p.110, et que ce n’est qu’une fausse alarme: “And that it’s only a false alarm” (French).
p.113, Hotel Schrader in Heidelberg: A fictitious location, no doubt based on the Hotel Schrieder in Heidelberg, where Turgenev stayed on a number of occasions (e.g. 1862; 1866).
p.121, Konversationshaus: Referred to later in this chapter by its French name Conversation.
p.125, Yberg: A height (515 metres) near Baden, on the summit of which, somewhat confusingly, sit the ruins of the castle of Yburg. It is nowhere near Saxon Switzerland.
p.125, Saxon Switzerland: An area of southern Germany and northern Czech Republic, said to resemble Switzerland. Bazarov admires pictures of it in Chapter 16 of Fathers and Children.
p.125, Rastatt… allied fortress: A town in the Grand Duchy of Baden. In 1862, the year in which Smoke is set, it was under occupation by troops of the German Confederation. It remained so until 1866.
p.127, à la santé des belles Moscovites: “To the health of the beautiful ladies from Moscow” (French).
p.129, Eh bien! Vous ne venez pas: “All right. You’re not coming” (French).
p.137, Guide des voyageurs: Probably the Guide des voyageurs en Europe by Heinrich August Ottokar Reichard (1751–1828). Editions of the Guide Reichard appeared in French and German until 1861.
p.139, Wer da?: “Who is there?” (German).
p.143, grosser Scandal: “Great scandal” (German).
p.143, Gogol’s Lieutenant Pirogov: Character in Gogol’s short story ‘Nevsky Prospect’ (1835).
p.144, feuille morte: “Dead leaf” (French).
p.147, Le Verre d’eau… old-fashioned play: Le Verre d’eau, a play by the prolific French dramatist Eugène Scribe (1791–1861), in fact dates
from 1842 and was therefore only twenty years old in 1862, the year in which Smoke is set.
p.147, Plessy: Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy (or Plessis) (1819–97), French actress who worked at the Mikhailovsky Theatre (the French theatre) in Petersburg 1845–55. She made her debut there, with great success, in Scribe’s play Le Verre d’eau (see previous note).
p.147, mais j’ai mes bijoux: “But I have my jewels” (French).
p.147, Madeleine Brohan: French actress (1833–1900).
p.147, mais c’est charmant: “But it’s charming” (French).
p.148, Je vous demande pardon de mon indiscrétion: “I ask your forgiveness for my indiscretion” (French).
p.148, Assez de Bade comme ça: “Enough of Baden as it is” (French).
p.148, C’est à propos du voyage… où il vous plaira: “It’s about the journey… where you’d like to go” (French).
p.148, Stahl: Pen name of the French writer and publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel (1814–86).
p.152, esprit fort: See second note to p. 7.
p.160, thaler: Prussian monetary unit, worth just under two guilder.
p.161, Pas si vite! Nom de Dieu! Pas si vite!: “Not so quick! Good Lord! Not so quick!” (French).
p.167, Vaska Buslayev… Kirsha Danilov’s collection: Vasily (Vaska) Buslayev is the hero of the Novgorodian “bylina” folk epic. He is the incarnation of youthful daring. “Kirsha Danilov” is the pseudonym of the compiler of a collection of Russian “bylina” epics dating from the 1740s. There is speculation as to the real identity of “Kirsha Danilov”; one expert suggests Peter the Great’s erstwhile favourite Alexander Menshikov.
p.167, mouldering nations: Potugin no doubt refers to Russian designs on Turkey, dubbed by Tsar Nicholas I “the sick man of Europe”.
p.167, kissing Potugin three times: This is a typically Russian greeting.
p.168, sower in the desert: taken from the opening line of Pushkin’s 1823 poem ‘Svobody seiatel pustynnyi’ (‘A Sower of Freedom in the Desert’), which makes it clear that what is sown is freedom.
p.169, une attaque de nerfs: “An attack of nerves” (French).
Smoke (Alma Classics) Page 22