Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0022904, Thu, 31 May 2012 14:04:37 +0300

Subject
dogs in The Event
Date
Body
Barboshin (the private detective hired by Troshcheykin) 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. (The Event, Act Three)

In a letter of March 10, 1903, to his wife, O. L. Knipper (a leading actress of the Moscow Art Theatre), 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 tells her husband about his old flame, Lika Mizinov, who recited 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...
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 and Levshin (cf. Revshin) are characters in Gorky's play "Враги" (The Enemies, not to be confused with Chekhov's story of the same title). Aleksei Maksimovich Troshcheykin is a namesake of A. M. Peshkov (Gorky's real name).

Complaining that he must live under one roof with his mother-in-law (Antonina Pavlovna), Troshcheykin mentions такая такса ("such a dachshund"):

Трощейкин. Да... Ты знаешь, как я твою мать люблю и как я рад, что она живёт у нас, а не в какой-нибудь уютной комнатке с тикающими часами и такой таксой, хотя бы за два квартала отсюда... (Act One)

Box II, the "final" dachshund of the Nabokovs that followed them into exile and lived with VN's mother, was a grandson of A. P. Chekhov's Quina and Brom (Speak, Memory, p. 40).

Little Brom is mentioned by Barboshin: Пойду, значит, ходить под вашими окнами, пока над вами будут витать Амур, Морфей и маленький Бром. (Act Three)

Alexey Sklyarenko

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