FOOTNOTES:
[12] There is a good English translation of The Inspector-General, from which, with slight revision, I take the following passage.
The Postmaster (reads): “I hasten to inform you, my dear friend, of the wonderful things which have happened to me. On my way hither an infantry captain had cleared me out completely, so that the innkeeper here intended to send me to jail, when, all of a sudden, thanks to my St. Petersburg appearance and costume, all the town took me for a Governor-General. Now I am staying at the Gorodníchiys’! I have a splendid time, and flirt awfully with both his wife and his daughter.... Do you remember how hard up we were, taking our meals where we could get them, without paying for them, and how one day, in a tea-shop, the pastry-cook collared me for having eaten his pastry to the account of the king of England?[13] It is quite different now. They all lend me money, as much as I care for. They are an awful set of originals: you would split of laughter. I know you write sometimes for the papers—put them into your literature. To begin with, the Governor is as stupid as an old horse....”
The Governor (interrupting): That cannot be there! There is no such thing in the letter.
Postmaster (showing the letter): Read it, then, yourself.
Governor (reads): “As an old horse....” Impossible! You must have added that.
Postmaster: How could I?
The Guests: Read! read!
The Postmaster (continues to read): “The Governor is as stupid as an old horse”....
Governor: The deuce! Now he must repeat it—as if it were not standing there already!
Postmaster (continues reading): Hm, Hm, yes! “an old horse. The postmaster is also a good man.”... Well, he also makes an improper remark about me....
Governor: Read it then.
Postmaster: Is it necessary?
Governor: The deuce! once we have begun to read it, we must read it all through.
Artémy Filípovitch (head of the philanthropic institutions): Permit me, please, I shall read (puts on his spectacles and reads): “The postmaster is quite like the old porter in our office, and the rascal must drink equally hard.”...
Postmaster: A naughty boy, who ought to be flogged—that’s all!
Art. Fil. (continues reading): “The head of the philanthropic in—in....”
Korobkin: Why do you stop now?
Art. Fil.: Bad writing. But, after all, it is quite evident that he is a scoundrel.
Korobkin: Give me the letter, please. I think, I have better eyes (tries to take the letter).
Art. Fil. (does not give it): No use at all. This passage can be omitted. Further on everything is quite readable.
Korobkin: Let me have it. I shall see all about it.
Art. Fil.: I also can read it. I tell you that after that passage everything is readable.
Postm.: No, no, read it all. Everything was read so far.
The Guests: Artémy Filípovitch, pass the letter over. (To Korobkin) Read it, read it!
Art. Fil.: All right, all right. (He passes the letter.) There it is; but wait a moment (he covers a part of it with his finger). Begin here (all surround him).
Postma.: Go on. Nonsense, read it all.
Korobkin (reads): “The head of the philanthropic institutions resembles a pig that wears a cap”....
Art. Fil. (to the audience): Not witty at all! A pig that wears a cap! Have you ever seen a pig wearing a cap?
Korobkin (continues reading): “The inspector of the schools smells of onions all through!”
The Inspector (to the audience): Upon my honour, I never touch onions.
The Judge (apart): Thank God, there is nothing about me.
Korobkin (reading): “The judge”....
The Judge: There!... (aloud): Well, gentlemen, I think the letter is much too long, and quite uninteresting—why the deuce should we go on reading that nonsense?
Insp. of Schools: No! no!
Postm.: No!—go on!
Art. Fil.: No, it must be read.
Korobkin (continues): “The judge Lyápkin-Tyápkin is extremely mauvais ton.” (Stops.) That must be a French word?
The Judge: The deuce knows what it means. If it were only “a robber,” then it would be all right, but it may be something worse.
[13] This was in those times an expression which meant “without paying.”
PART IV
Turguéneff—Tolstóy
CHAPTER IV
TURGUÉNEFF—TOLSTÓY
Turguéneff: The main features of his Art—A Sportsman’s Notebook—Pessimism of his early novels—His series of novels representing the leading types of Russian society—Rúdin—Lavrétskiy—Helen and Insároff—Bazároff—Why Fathers and Sons was misunderstood—Hamlet and Don Quixote—Virgin Soil: movement towards the people—Verses in Prose. TOLSTÓY: Childhood and Boyhood—During and after the Crimean War—Youth: In search of an ideal—Small stories—The Cossacks—Educational work—War and Peace—Anna Karénina—Religious crisis—His interpretation of the Christian teaching—Main points of the Christian ethics—Latest works of Art—Kreutzer Sonata—Resurrection.