Николай Гоголь. Жизнь и творчество (Книга для чтения с комментарием на английском языке)

Валуев, Pyotr Alexandrovich Valuyev (1814–1890), Russian statesman and writer; governtnent minister, later chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

Девичье поле, area in Moscow’s Southwest, in the bend of the Moskva River.

Редкин, Pyotr Grigoryevich Redkin (1808–1891), jurist and specialist in the history of philosophy; professor at Moscow University, later head of St. Petersburg University.

Свербеева, Yekaterina Alexandrovna Sverbeyeva (d. 1892), wife of D. Sverbeyev, a rich landowner, retired diplomat and man of letters; the Sverbeyevs had a literary salon in Moscow.

Боткин, Nikolai Petrovich Botkin (1813–1869), brother of the writer V. Botkin and the distinguished physician S. Botkin, Professor of St. Petersburg’s Medical Academy.

Боткин, Vasily Petrovich Botkin (1811–1869), Russian critic and writer, member of N. Stankevich's circle; he was a friend of V. Belinsky.

невидимая рука, here: Providence, divine guidance.

Панов, Vasily Alexeyevich Panov (1819–1849), writer of the Slavophile trend; a relative of the Aksakovs.

Ганау, Hanau, German town on the Main.

Языков, Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov (1803–1846), Russian poet; he was a friend of both Pushkin and Gogol.

Chapter 6

барыш (coll.), profit, gain.

ценз, qualification; here, a property qualification of owning a certain number of serf peasants.

qui pro quo (Lat.), кви про кво, smth. for, or in the place of, smth. else.

перипетия, peripeteia, a sudden or unexpected reversai of circumstances or a situation.

миллионщик (coll.), millionaire.

приказчик, here hist.:.steward; head, manager of a landed estate.

небречь (arch.), to disregard something, to neglect one’s duties.

без пошатки (coll.), stable, steady (from пошатнуть, to incline to one side).

кувшинное рыло, "pitcher mug"; Gogol uses this expression to describe a hideous face of which the nose is the dominant feature.

праздношатайка (arch.),

idler, loafer.

негоция (arch.), commercial transaction.

кулак (arch.), a grabber who is also a thrifty and prudent person.

го́ренка (arch., dim. of го́рница), a small room.

парвеню (Fr. parvenu), upstart; one that has risen above the station in life in which he was born.

казённая палата (hist.), in pre-revolutionary Russia, a province's board in charge of fiscal matters.

повытчик (hist.), registering clerk in charge of the safekeeping of papers received and clerical work.

пассаж, here: a sentence, description, reasoning.

храм Христа Спасителя, the Church of Christ the Saviour was built on the left bank of the Moskva River in 1837-83 after the project of the architect Thon; it was pulled down in the 1930s.

иным ключом, in a different way. Cf. бить (or кипе́ть) ключо́м, to bubble, to be agitated.

глава (arch.) = голова́, head.

ins Blaue (Ger.), into the skies.

нервистый (arch.), nervous, impassioned.

Масальский, Konstantin Petrovich Masalsky (1802–1861), Russian writer and critic, author of many historical novels and tales; in 1842-52 he was the editor of the journal Syn otechestva.

Полевой, Nikolai Alexeyevich Polevoi (see Notes to Ch. I). In 1841-42 Polevoi published the journal Russky vestnik (The Russian Herald).

в сей же самой (arch.), in the same.

Chapter 7

Чижов, Fyodor Vasilyevich Chizhov (1811–1877), Russian man of letters and scientist; associate professor of mathematics at St. Petersburg University.

Иордан, Fyodor Ivanovich Iordan (1800–1883), Russian artist and engraver, author of a gallery of portraits of Russian cultural figures.

Римская Кампанья, Roman Campagna, a hilly plain in Italy. The name is also used in reference to the environs of Rome.

Карлсбад, Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary), health resort in Austria-Hungary (now in Czechoslovakia).

аще не умрёт (arch

.), unless he dies, if he does not die.

Феникс, Phoenix, a legendary bird that was consumed in fire by its own act and rose in youthful freshness from its own ashes.

Колизей, the Colosseum (Coliseum), a monument of Ancient Rome; its vast arena was designed for gladiatorial combats and other events.

Монте-Пинчио, Monte Pincio, an area of Rome; a hill with a pine grove.

Бамберг, Bamberg, a town in Bavaria (Germany).

лихоимство (arch.), bribery, venality.

зальцбруннское письмо, Belinsky’s letter to Gogol of July 15, 1847 (New Style), written in the town of Salzbrunn (Germany).

Толстой, Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy (1801–1873), high-ranking official; governor of Odessa, and later of Tver; he subsequently became the Procurator General of the Holy Synod.

Апраксина, Sofya Petrovna Apraksina (1800–1886), sister of Alexander Tolstoy, widow of Major-General V. Apraksin.

Остенде, Ostend, Belgian health-resort on the North Sea.

дабы (arch.), in order to.

Базили, Konstantin Mikhailovich Bazili (1809–1884), Russian diplomat, historian and writer.

Одесса, Odessa, port town on the Black Sea in southwestern Russia.