Subject
Meshaev the Second
From
Date
Body
Трощейкин. А вот почему вы, Антонина Павловна, пригласили нашего маститого? Всё ломаю себе голову над этим вопросом. На что он вам? И потом, нельзя так: один ферзь, а все остальные - пешки.
Антонина Павловна. Вовсе не пешки. Мешаев, например - -
(Troshcheykin asks his mother-in-law why she invited the famous writer: "One of your guests is a queen and all others are pawns." Antonina Pavlovna does not agree: "Not all of them are pawns. Meshaev, for instance..." The Event, Act One)
Мешаев Второй. Сегодня совершенно случайно я встретил одного остряка, которого не видел с юности: он когда-то выразился в том смысле, что меня и брата играет один и тот же актёр, но брата хорошо, а меня худо.
Трощейкин. Вы как будто лысее.
Мешаев Второй. Увы! Восковой кумпол, как говорится.
(According to Barbashin, the Meshaev twins are impersonated by one and the same actor who plays one brother good and the other bad. Troshcheykin notes that Meshaev the Second has less hair on his head than his brother. Meshaev agrees: "Alas, a waxen cupola, as they say." Act Three)
Meshaev's "waxen cupola" suggests that he is a pawn after all, but it is this pawn that checkmates, thanks to the devil impersonating Barbashin and Barboshin, Troshcheykin in the play's final scene.
The name Meshaev comes from meshat' ("to hinder," etc.). This verb and the noun peshka (pawn) occur close to each other in Blok's poem Vozmezdie ("Retribution," Chapter One, ll. 203-213):
Того, кто побыл на войне,
Порой пронизывает холод -
То роковое всё равно,
Которое подготовляет
Чреду событий мировых
Лишь тем одним, что не мешает...
Всё отразится на таких
Полубезумною насмешкой...
И власть торопится скорей
Всех тех, кто перестал быть пешкой,
В тур превращать, или в коней...
One also remembers Shakhmatovo (shakhmaty is Russian for "chess"), Blok's family estate.
Meshaev the Second refers to Barbashin as "wit" (остряк). Испытанные остряки (tried wits), restaurants and drunks are mentioned in Blok's poem Incognita (1906). In The Event (Act Two) Vagabundova asks about Barbashin who was seen leaving a restaurant:
Из ресторана?
Так рано?
Наверное, пьяный?
(From the restaurant?
So early?
Probably drunk?)
Meshaev the Second brings from the country a basket of apples. There is Blok in yabloko (apple). On the other hand, Troshcheykin was peeling an apple when Barbashin entered the room and started to fire at him and his wife.
Alexey Sklyarenko
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Антонина Павловна. Вовсе не пешки. Мешаев, например - -
(Troshcheykin asks his mother-in-law why she invited the famous writer: "One of your guests is a queen and all others are pawns." Antonina Pavlovna does not agree: "Not all of them are pawns. Meshaev, for instance..." The Event, Act One)
Мешаев Второй. Сегодня совершенно случайно я встретил одного остряка, которого не видел с юности: он когда-то выразился в том смысле, что меня и брата играет один и тот же актёр, но брата хорошо, а меня худо.
Трощейкин. Вы как будто лысее.
Мешаев Второй. Увы! Восковой кумпол, как говорится.
(According to Barbashin, the Meshaev twins are impersonated by one and the same actor who plays one brother good and the other bad. Troshcheykin notes that Meshaev the Second has less hair on his head than his brother. Meshaev agrees: "Alas, a waxen cupola, as they say." Act Three)
Meshaev's "waxen cupola" suggests that he is a pawn after all, but it is this pawn that checkmates, thanks to the devil impersonating Barbashin and Barboshin, Troshcheykin in the play's final scene.
The name Meshaev comes from meshat' ("to hinder," etc.). This verb and the noun peshka (pawn) occur close to each other in Blok's poem Vozmezdie ("Retribution," Chapter One, ll. 203-213):
Того, кто побыл на войне,
Порой пронизывает холод -
То роковое всё равно,
Которое подготовляет
Чреду событий мировых
Лишь тем одним, что не мешает...
Всё отразится на таких
Полубезумною насмешкой...
И власть торопится скорей
Всех тех, кто перестал быть пешкой,
В тур превращать, или в коней...
One also remembers Shakhmatovo (shakhmaty is Russian for "chess"), Blok's family estate.
Meshaev the Second refers to Barbashin as "wit" (остряк). Испытанные остряки (tried wits), restaurants and drunks are mentioned in Blok's poem Incognita (1906). In The Event (Act Two) Vagabundova asks about Barbashin who was seen leaving a restaurant:
Из ресторана?
Так рано?
Наверное, пьяный?
(From the restaurant?
So early?
Probably drunk?)
Meshaev the Second brings from the country a basket of apples. There is Blok in yabloko (apple). On the other hand, Troshcheykin was peeling an apple when Barbashin entered the room and started to fire at him and his wife.
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/