Subject
Re: Gradus
Date
Body
Царь (у окна смотрит градусник). Сегодня к вечеру температура должна подняться. Утром было семь градусов выше нуля, полчаса тому назад – тринадцать градусов, ветер поворачивает с востока на юго-восток.
Regarding the above:
Excuse me for interrupting, but I wonder whether there is not some deeper symbolism here. The number 7 is a holy number signifing
the possibility to do something or to create something, however the russian empreror is saying that the moment for action has passed (half an hour ago) and now the temperature is not 7 but 13 degrees the number 13 signifying impending calamity and disruption of the state order. The ideal state would be ordered according to the number 12. Also the wind is blowing from the east which is the direction where the Mongols came from when they invaded Russia so this weather forecast is gloomy and does not herald good tidings for Nicholas II and the Russian state.
Sorry for bursting in like this, but I just wanted to point out that this simple measurement of temperature could be indicative
of deeper meaning.
Ingibjorg Elsa Bjornsdottir, M.Sc.
Student in translation studies
University of Iceland
Reykjavík
Iceland.
From: Alexey Sklyarenko
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2011 8:46 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Gradus
Below is an excerpt from A. N. Tolstoy's play "The Conspiracy of the Empress" (Act One). The czar (poor Nicolas II who just emptied a glass) consults the thermometer and predicts the rise in temperature. He uses the word gradus ("degree") several times:
Царь (у окна смотрит градусник). Сегодня к вечеру температура должна подняться. Утром было семь градусов выше нуля, полчаса тому назад – тринадцать градусов, ветер поворачивает с востока на юго-восток.
Вырубова . Государь, как ваш кашель?
Царь. Ничего.
Царица . Он говорит – ничего, а между тем ночью кашлял. И беби кашлял. Я тревожусь, – как они поедут.
Царь . Ничего, доедем. А в Могилеве будет еще теплее. Алексеев телеграфирует, что вчера было семнадцать градусов выше нуля.
A very minor point concerning Tolstoy's play: in the list of dramatis personae Felix Yusupov (Prince Feliks Feliksovich Yusupov Count Sumarokov-Elston) appears as "a page" (cf. Kinbote's pages, for example young Baron Mandevil who was his throne page on Coronation Day).
Alexey Sklyarenko
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