Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0022903, Wed, 30 May 2012 20:29:22 +0300

Subject
blondinka s bolonkoy
Date
Body
Barboshin, the private detective in The Event, mentions Tamara Georgievna Grekov, the blonde with a lap-dog:

Между прочим, у меня было одно интереснейшее дело, как раз на вашей улице. Ультраадюльтер типа Б, серии восемнадцатой. К сожалению, по понятным причинам профессиональной этики я не могу вам назвать никаких имён. Но вы, вероятно, её знаете: Тамара Георгиевна Грекова, двадцати трёх лет, блондинка с болонкой. (Act Three)

In a letter of March 10, 1903, to O. L. Knipper Chekhov (the author of Lady with a Dog who had to live in Yalta) complains that he can not remember if his wife is a blonde or brunette: Ты говоришь, что я уже забыл тебя, какая ты есть. Да, дуся, я уже не помню, блондинка ты или брюнетка, помню только, что когда-то у меня была жена.

In a letter of June 28, 1892, to Lika Mizinov (a fetching blonde), Chekhov mentions a stray lap-dog: У нас прижилась заблудшая болонка, неизвестно кому принадлежащая.

In a letter of August 25, 1901, Knipper (a leading actress of the Moscow Art Theatre) tells her husband about his old flame, Lika Mizinov (who also wanted to become an actress), reciting Turgenev's poem in prose How Beautiful, how Fresh were the Roses: Ты сейчас удивишься: знаешь, кто экзаменовался? Угадай... Лика Мизинова... Читала "Как хороши, как свежи были розы" Тургенева, потом Немирович дал ей прочесть монолог Елены из 3-го акта "Дяди Вани" и затем сцену Ирины и Годунова, как видишь, всё под меня, с каверзой. As he gives roses to Antonina Pavlovna, Meshaev the First (румяный блондин, a ruddy fair-haired person) exclaims: "How beautiful, how fresh were the roses!" (The Event, Act Two)

Among people mentioned in The Event are Vishnevski (the lawyer to whom Troshcheykin speaks by phone and then visits him with Revshin) and the Stanislavski family (Lyubov's sister Vera got her servant woman Liza from the Stanislavskis).

In a letter of April 15, 1903, to her husband (quoted in my previous post) Knipper mentions "Aleksandr Leonidovich" (A. L. Vishnevski, a friend of Chekhov since childhood in Taganrog who became an actor of the Moscow Art Theatre) and "K.[onstantin] S.[ergeevich]" (Stanislavski, the director and leading actor of the Moscow Art Theatre): Поздно встала, в 1 час начали читать у меня «Росмерсхольм» Ибсена. Читал Владимир Иванович [Nemirovich-Danchenko]; слушали К. С., Лужский, Александр Леонидович и я.

The name Barboshin reminds one of barbos (a common dog name).

Chekhov lovingly called his wife moya sobaka ("my dog") and she sometimes signed her letters to him Tvoya sobaka ("Your dog").

Sobaka is a story (beloved by Chekhov) and a poem in prose by Turgenev.

Grekov is a character in Gorky's play "Враги" (The Enemies). Aleksei Maksimovich Troshcheykin is a namesake of Gorky.

Alexey Sklyarenko

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