Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls

Werther and Charlotte are characters from The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832). What Chichikov recites, however, is not from that novel (written in prose), but from a poem by the forgotten Russian poet Vassily Tumansky (1800-60) entitled Werther to Charlotte (an Hour Before His Death).

The English pedagogue Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838) established a monitorial system of education in which a master taught the best pupils, who then taught others.

A play on Sprechen sie Deutsche ("Do you speak German?"), which in Russian pronunciation rhymes with the postmaster's patronymic.

Vassily I. Zhukovsky (1783-1852), poet and translator, was a friend of Pushkin and of Gogol; his translation of Homer's Odyssey was an inspiration to Gogol in the writing of Dead Souls. The poem Lyudmila, an adaptation of Lenore by the German poet Gottfried August Burger (1747-94), was published in 1808, and was "a not-yet-faded novelty" only in such places as the town of N.

Edward Young (1683-1765) was an English poet who was a precursor of the romantics; his Night Thoughts were translated into Russian in 1780. Karl Eckartshausen (1752-1803), a German mystical writer, published his Key'm 1791.

Nikolai Karamzin (1766-1826) was already well-known for his sentimental tales and travel writing when he published his great history of Russia, on which his reputation now stands. The Moscow Gazette was a conservative daily newspaper subsidized by the government.

A "kiss" in this case is an airy, sweet meringue.

Baiser, French for "kiss," is russified by Nozdryov, who then makes a diminutive of it, bezeshka, our "bitsy baiser."

A kalatch (pi. kalatchi) is a very fine white bread shaped like a purse with a looped handle.

The naming of the church is an absurd development along the lines of St. Martin's in the Fields or St. Mark's in the Bouwerie: nedo-tychki means "bunglers" or "botchers"; it may, by some stretch of the imagination, be a topographical name—Bungler's Hill, or Botcher's Lane.

A phonetic transcription of mispronounced French, meaning: ce qu'on appelle histoire ("what's known as a story, or scandal"). There will be other such transcriptions in what follows: "orerr" for horreur, "scandaleusities," and the postmaster's "finzerb" for fines herbes, the minced dried herbs used in cooking, which he apparently thinks is the name of some dish.

Rinaldo Rinaldini, an Italian brigand, is the eponymous hero of a novel by the German writer Christian August Vulpius (1762-1827), which had a resounding success throughout Europe and created the type of the Italian brigand in literature. Vulpius was Goethe's brother-in-law.

Commérages is French for the gossip spread by commères, inquisitive, chatty women.

The original Vauxhall was a seventeenth-century pleasure garden in London. Russian adopted the name as a common noun referring to an outdoor space for concerts and entertainment, with teahouse, tables, and so on.

Kopeikin is the name of a robber in folklore; it derives from kopeika, the hundredth part of a rouble, anglicized as "kopeck." Gogol offered to change the name if his publisher ran into trouble from the censors.

Semiramis, legendary queen of Assyria and Babylonia, is credited with founding the city of Babylon, famous for its hanging gardens, which were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Revel, or Reval, now Tallinn, is the capital city of Estonia. A Revel inn—that is, an inn run by Estonians—implies inexpensive-ness and simplicity.

Moscow and Petersburg are commonly referred to as the "two capitals" of Russia.

The number 666, corresponding to the name of the beast in Revelation (13:18), signifies the Antichrist. The vogue of mysticism followed the predilections of the emperor Alexander I in the later years of his reign.

The Russian terms for the godmother and godfather of the same person, in relation to each other, are kum and kuma (pronounced "kooMAH"). The canons of the Orthodox Church forbid them to marry.

The reference is in all likelihood to the novel entitled The Duchess de La Valliere (referred to in volume 2, chapter 3 of Dead Souls as The Countess La Valliere), the work of the French writer Stéphanie-Félicité de Genlis (1746-1830), who was teacher of the children of the duke of Orléans. It may also be to a work of the duchess de La Valliere herself, Louise de La Baume Le Blanc (1644-1710), once a favorite of Louis XIV, who ended her life as a Carmelite nun and wrote pious reflections on her sinful past.

In the Orthodox marriage service, the best men hold crowns over the heads of the couple, symbolic of martyrdom as a witnessing to the Kingdom of God.

Gogol was living in Italy when he wrote Dead Souls, and here, from his "beautiful distance," compares the landscapes of Italy and Russia.

Solon (630?-560? B.C.), the lawgiver of Athens, was one of the seven sages of Greece. The quotation is from Krylov's fable The Musicians.

The Orthodox Church does not celebrate marriages during the Great Lent, the forty-day fast preceding Holy Week and Easter.

A euphemism for bribes. Prince Alexander N. Khovansky (1771-1857) was director of the state bank from 1818 until his death; his signature was reproduced on all state banknotes. Ironically, the name Khovansky comes from the Ukrainian word khovat, meaning "to hide" or "to secret away."

Cantonists were the children of soldiers, who were assigned to the department of the army from birth and educated at state expense in special schools.

Petukh is Russian for "rooster"; moreover, Petya, the diminutive of Pyotr, is the common name for a rooster. Pyotr Petrovich Petukh is thus a rooster not only backwards and forwards but three times over.

A Greek name, which Gogol finally settled on after using the odd hybrids Skudronzhoglo and Gobrozhoglo in earlier redactions. Although this character represents Gogol's attempt to portray the ideal landowner, uniting the best qualities of two great Orthodox nations, he seems to have been at pains to give him a name that has a particularly ugly sound in Russian.

A sibirka is a short caftan with a fitted waist and gathered skirts, often trimmed with fur, having a seamless back, small buttons or clasps in front, and a short standing collar.

Kostanzhoglo paraphrases Genesis 3:19, which reads: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread" (Revised Standard Version).

Krylov's fable Trishkds Caftan, describing the patching process that Gogol uses metaphorically here, became proverbial in Russia.