Дельвиг, Anton Antonovich Delvig (1798–1831), Russian poet, publisher of the anthology Severniye tsvety (Northern Flowers) and of Literaturnaya gazeta (The Literary Gazette).
Иван-Купала, ancient feast of the summer solstice; observed by the Eastern Slavs, the Ukrainians among them, on June 24 (Old Style); midsummer night.
до времен гетманских, i. e., before 1648; before the hetman became ruler of the Ukraine and head of the Cossack troops.
ковчег, a shrine holding relics; also, Noah’s ark; in this case it means "receptacle*’.
хуторянин, inhabitant of a khutor (see Notes to Ch. 1).
пан, land-owner, man of noble birth.
парубок, (Ukr.) young man, lad.
свитка, wide upper garment.
фактор (arch.), technical manager of a printing establishment.
Мольер, Moliere (Jean Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673), French playwright and actor, one of the founders of modern European comedy. Among his best-known works are L’Avare, Tartuffe, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and Le Malade Imaginaire.
Одоевский, Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevsky (1804–1869), Russian writer, critic and philosopher, author of many short and long stories, and plays. Among his best-known works are the philosophical cycle Russian Nights and the fairy-tale Little Town in a Snuffbox.
яко (Ukr.), as, in the capacity of.
великороссийский, the old form for россййский.
Анненков, Pave! Vasilyevich Annenkov (1813–1887), Russian literary critic, scholar and author of memoirs; he prepared the first academie édition of Pushkin’s works for the press.
однокорытники (Gogol’s neologism), schoolfellows.
Гюго, Victor-Marie Hugo (1802–1885), French writer. Author of many poems, the novels Notre Dame de Paris, Les Misérables, Les Travailleurs de la Mer, the dramas Marion de Lorme, Hernani, Ruy B las, Cromwell, etc.
Дюма, Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), French writer, author of the popular novels Les Trois Mousquetaires, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, etc.
Бальзак, Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), French writer, author of novels and stories which make up the monumental collection of the Comédie Humaine: Le Chef-d'Oeuvre Inconnu, La Peau de Chagrin, Eugénie Grandet, Le Père Goriot, Les Illusions Perdues, and many others.
Ге, Sophie Gay (1776–1852), French writer.
Жанен, Jules Gabriel Janin (1804–1874), French writer and journalist.
стушеваться, to efface oneself; to be embarrassed.
петушком (coll.), in a swaggering way.
Chapter 3
Белоруссия, Byelorussia, lying in the western part of the USSR, is one of its Union republics.
с обеими столицами. When in 1712 St. Petersburg was made the capital of Russia, Moscow retained its importance as the country’s second capital. After the October