5. Count Dibich’s army: Count I. I. Dibich (1785 – 1831), Field Marshal, of German birth, took part in the war against Napoleon, defeated the Turks at Sliven and occupied Adrianople in the 1829 Campaign. He commanded the Russian army during the Polish uprising of 1830 – 1.
6. Independent Caucasus Corps: Largely made up of Decembrists.
7. Parmi les… ses compatriotes: ‘Among the military chiefs who commanded it (Prince Paskevich’s army), there stood out General Muravyov… The Georgian Prince Tsitsevaze… the Armenian Prince Bebutov… Prince Potemkin, General Rayevsky, and finally Monsieur Pushkin… who had left the capital to sing of the exploits of his compatriots.’
8. Sagan-Lu: Mountain ridge in eastern Turkey.
9. Count Paskevich: Count I. F. Paskevich (1782 – 1856), commander of Russian army in the war against Turkey.
10. seraskier: Turkish commander-in-chief and war minister.
11. Fontanier: He was rumoured to be a spy for the French government.
12. everything: Pushkin had in fact written several poems about Georgia and the Caucasus, as well as his travel notes The Georgian Military Highway, published in the Literary Gazette in 1830.
CHAPTER ONE
1. Yermolov: A. P. Yermolov (1772 – 1861), commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Caucasus before being replaced by Paskevich, whom he strongly criticized. In 1827 he had been pensioned off by Nicholas I, after which he lived in retirement on his estate near Oryol.
2. Dawe: George Dawe (1771 – 1829), English portrait painter, created the Military Gallery in the Winter Palace at St Petersburg, and painted many portraits of Russian generals during the Napoleonic War.
3. Erivan: Erivan (Yerevan), capital of Armenia.
4. Shumla: Fortress in the Balkans that had not been captured by the Russians.
5. Count Tolstoy’s: Count F. I. Tolstoy (1782 – 1846), nicknamed the ‘American’, notorious duellist and gambler. A great-nephew of Leo Tolstoy.
6. Karamzin’s History: See ‘Roslavlev’ note 9.
7. Prince Kurbsky’s memoirs: Prince A. M. Kurbsky (1528 – 83), fierce opponent of the autocratic rule of Ivan IV; author of the celebrated Correspondence with Ivan IV.
8. Griboyedov’s poetry: Besides being the author of one of the most famous Russian comedies, The Misfortune of Being Clever, Griboyedov also wrote a few lyric poems. See Chapter Two note 13.
9. Count Pushkin: V. A. Musin-Pushkin (1789 – 1854), Decembrist. Son of the famous manuscript collector.
10. Herds… wander: From the poem ‘Peter the Great in Ostrogozhsk’ (1823) by K. F. Ryleyev (1795–1826).
11. Kalmucks: Kalmucks (Kalmyks), a semi-nomadic Mongol-speaking Buddhist people who lived in East Turkestan until the seventeenth century, after which they moved west, occupying territory near the Lower Volga.
12. Orlovsky’s fine sketches: A. O. Orlovsky (1777 – 1832), Polish war artist famous for his drawings of horses.
13. Circe of the steppes: Pushkin’s poem ‘To a Kalmuck Girl’ (1829) is based on this encounter.
14. nine years before: Pushkin had spent the summer of 1820 in the Caucasus, during his exile.
15. Goryachiye Vody: ‘Hot Springs’, later named Pyatigorsk.
16. A. Rayevsky: A. N. Rayevsky (1795 – 1868), elder of the two Rayevsky brothers. Pushkin was a close friend of the family and was looked after by the father, General N. N. Rayevsky (1771 – 1829), a hero of the 1812 War, when taken ill during his first exile to the South of Russia in 1820. Pushkin spent two happy months with the Rayevskys in the Caucasus and Crimea, forming a lasting friendship with the general’s two sons, and a deep attachment towards his daughter Maria.
17. opportunity: I.e. an opportunity of travelling with military escort.
18. Nogay: Turkic-speaking people living in the North Caucasus.
19. Count Gudovich: I. V. Gudovich (1741 – 1820), Field Marshal who commanded Russian troops in three wars against Turkey.
20. Kabarda: Republic on northern slopes of Caucasus; it became Russian in 1825.
21. annexation: The eastern coast of the Black Sea had been conquered by Catherine the Great in 1783. It was again declared Russian after the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), which concluded the Russo-Turkish War.
22. Mansur: Follower of Islam who was captured by the Russians in 1791 and died in the Schlusselburg Fortress.
23. like a warrior… him: From ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’ (1817) by Charles Wolfe (1791 – 1823).
24. Shernvall: E. K. Shernvall-Walleen, who was travelling to the Caucasus with his brother-in-law, Count Musin-Pushkin. He was an officer on Paskevich’s staff.
25. Imatra: Waterfall in Finland.
26. ‘river thundering in the North’: From The Waterfall, by Derzhavin.
27. General Bekovich: F. A. Bekovich-Cherkassky, a Kabardinian by birth, entered the Russian army and was in command of the Turkish fortress of Kars after its capture in 1828.
28. And in… delight: From a Russian translation of The Iliad, by E. Kostrov.
29. Prisoner of the Caucasus: One of Pushkin’s early Byronic ‘Southern’ narrative poems, written 1820 – 1.
30. Sheremetev: Probably P. V. Sheremetyev (1799 – 1837), who was attached to the Russian embassy in Paris.
31. strange painting by Rembrandt: Pushkin appears to be mocking the conventional Romantic attitude to mountain scenery here, when he compares the spurts of water falling from the mountains to a Rembrandt painting that depicts a terrified boy urinating from on high as he is carried off by an eagle.
32. darial: More fully, ‘Gate of the Alans’. ‘Alan’ was the medieval name for the Ossets, a mountain tribe in the Caucasus.
33. Diriodoris: Of foul odour.
34. Count J. Potocki: Refers to Voyage dans les steps d’Astrakhan et de Caucase (1829), by Count Jan Potocki (1761 – 1815), who travelled widely in the Caucasus (trans. Ian Maclean (Viking, 1995)). His ‘Spanish’ novels include The Manuscript found in Saragossa, written in French.
35. fugleman: A soldier placed in the front row of a squad to direct drill.
36. chikhir: A Georgian red wine.
37. Chatyrdag: A mountain near the southern coast of the Crimea, past which Pushkin had sailed with the Rayevsky family in 1820.
38. ‘props up the horizon’: From the poem ‘Half-soldier’ (1826) by Denis Davydov.
39. Fazil-Khan: Lived in Tiflis (d. 1852). In 1829 Pushkin wrote a poem ‘Blessed be your new exploit’ to commemorate their meeting.
40. the Persian prince: Khozrev-Mirza (1821 – 78), travelling to St Petersburg to make an apology for the massacre of the Russian mission in Teheran in January 1829, in which the playwright Griboyedov perished (see Chapter Two note 13).
41. abaz: Georgian silver coin.
42. Rinaldo-Rinaldini: Robber-hero of novel of that title (1798) by German writer C. A. Vulpius (1762 – 1827).
CHAPTER TWO
1. chadra: Veil, yashmak worn by Moslem women.
2. a lovely… brooks:(1817). The original reads ‘maiden’s’ and ‘Teflis’ is all in capitals.
3. e sempre bene: ‘And all is well’, or ‘that’s excellent!’
4. Count Paskevich’s: Count I. F. Paskevich (1782 – 1856), General who commanded the Russian troops in the war against Turkey, 1828 – 9. Count Benkendorf, Chief of the Secret Police, had been informed of Pushkin’s intentions to travel from St Petersburg to the Caucasus, and instructed Paskevich to keep the poet under close surveillance. Paskevich communicated with the authorities in Tiflis and every move of Pushkin’s was closely watched.
5. Sankovsky: P. S. Sankovsky (1793 – 1832), editor of first Russian newspaper in Transcaucasia, the Tiflis Record, which was published in Russian, Persian and Georgian.
6. Prince Tsitsianov: General P. D. Tsitsianov (1754 – 1806), himself of Georgian origin, had been sent in 1802 to pacify Georgia after its annexation. He provoked war with Persia in 1804 by attacking Erivan. He was murdered during negotiations wit
h the Persians at Baku.
7. Aga-Mohammed: Shah of Persia, murdered in 1797.
8. lezginka: A courtship dance.
9. My soul… await life: From the poem ‘Spring Song’ by the Georgian poet D. Tumanishvili (d. 1821).
10. Count Samoylov: Count N. A. Samoylov (d. 1847), was an officer in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, formerly adjutant to Yermolov and first cousin of the Rayevsky brothers and sisters.
11. General Sipyagin: Military governor of Tiflis.
12. General Strekalov: Became military governor of Tiflis after the death of Sipyagin. He was ordered by Count Paskevich to keep Pushkin under secret surveillance.
13. Slain Griboyedov: A. S. Griboyedov (1785 – 1829), author of The Misfortune of Being Clever, had been appointed Russian minister to Persia. The Peace of Turkmenchai (1828) created great resentment in Teheran, particularly the clause providing for the repatriation of Armenian women in Persian harems. After an Armenian eunuch took refuge in the Russian legation, it was stormed by a fanatical Persian mob on 30 January 1829. All but one in the legation were killed. Griboyedov was recognizable only by his crooked finger, mutilated in a duel some years earlier.
14. Vous ne… des couteaux: ‘You don’t know these people: you’ll see, in the end it will come to knives.’
15. 1824: Actually 1823.
16. woman he loved: Nina, daughter of prince Alexander Chavchavadze, a celebrated Georgian poet.
17. Buturlin: M. B. Buturlin, adjutant to Chernyshev, Minister of War.
18. pashalyk: Area governed by a pasha.
19. caravan-serai: Public building providing shelter for caravans and travellers.
20. verse epistle: This was ‘To a Kalmuck Girl’.
CHAPTER THREE
1. General Burtsov’s: General I. G. Burtsov (1794 – 1829) had been arrested in 1826 for Decembrist sympathies. After one year’s imprisonment he was transferred to the Caucasus.
2. Volkhovsky: V. D. Volkhovsky (1798 – 1841), lyceée friend of Pushkin’s. Sent to Caucasus after Decembrist rebellion to serve under Paskevich.
3. Mikhayl Pushchin: Brother of Pushkin’s close lyceée friend.
4. Heu… anni: Horace, Odes 3.14: ‘Alas! Postumus, Postumus, the fleeting years are slipping by…’
5. nec Armeniis… omnes: Horace, Odes 2.9: ‘… Valgus, my friend, the mountains of Armenia are not covered all year round with motionless ice…’
6. Lieutenant-Colonel Basov: P. T. Basov commanded a Don Cossack regiment bearing his name.
7. Osten-Saken: Commander of the Independent Caucasus Corps.
8. shashlik: A kebab of muttons and garnishings.
9. Yazidis: (Or Yezidis) members of a religious sect of Iraq and Iran. The religion is syncretistic and postulates belief in a Satan who, although formerly evil, is now good, and chief of the angelic hosts.
10. Colonel Fridericks: B. A. Frideriks (1797 – 1874) commanded the Erivan Regiment of light cavalry.
11. General Muravyov: General N. N. Muravyov (1794 – 1866), superior officer at the time.
12. Colonel Simonich: I. O. Simonich, commander of Georgian regiment of grenadiers.
CHAPTER FOUR
1. ‘Êtes-vous fatigueé… de verstes.’: ‘Are you tired after yesterday’s journey?’ ‘Just a little, Count.’ ‘I’m angry on your behalf, since we shall be on the march again to join up with the pasha, and then we shall have to pursue the enemy another thirty versts.’
(‘verst’ is about 1.06 kilometres)
2. Colonel Anrep: R. R. Anrep (d. 1830), commander of Combined Uhlan Regiment.
3. Erat… me: ‘He was a man with the breasts of a woman, underdeveloped testicles, a small and boyish penis. We asked him if he had been castrated. “God,” he replied, “castrated me.”’
4. narzan: Strong Caucasian mineral water from the spring of the same name.
5. Franks: West Europeans.
6. Yuzefovich: M. V. Yuzefovich (1802 – 89), adjutant to General Rayevsky. A minor poet, and an archaeologist, he left interesting memoirs of Pushkin in the Caucasus.
7. ‘Voyez… aà eux.’: ‘You see what the Turks are like… you can never trust them.’
8. Arnauts: Turkish name for an Albanian.
9. Poltava: City in the Ukraine where, in 1709, Peter the Great defeated Charles XII of Sweden, and Mazeppa.
CHAPTER FIVE
1. Theodosius the Second:(401 – 50), Byzantine emperor.
2. Hadji-Baba: Pushkin is referring to an episode from The Adventures of Hadji Baba of Ispahan, by the English diplomat James Morier (1780 – 1849). A Russian translation was published in 1830.
3. Tournefort: Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656 – 1708), French botanist. Pushkin cites his Relation d’un voyage du Levant (1717 – 18).
4. Godfrey: Godfrey (Godfred, Gottfried) of Bouillon, c. 1060 – 1100, took part in the First Crusade, and his deeds are mentioned in Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata.
5. Amin-Oglu: Fictional name. The poem was written by Pushkin. (A ‘giaour’ was a non-Moslem, especially a Christian.)
6. Sukhorukov: V. D. Sukhorukov (1795 – 1841), journalist and historian.
7. pashaliks: District governed by a pasha.
8. Bey-Bulat: Bey-Bulat Taimazov, leader of tribal warfare in the Caucasus. In 1828 he went over to the Russian side and served as guarantee for safe passage along the Georgian military highway.
9. Bayburt: Small town in north-east Turkey, sixty miles north-west of Arzrum.
10. a solitary monastery: The ancient church of Tsmind Sameb, also described in Pushkin’s poem, ‘A Monastery in Kazbek’ (1829).
11. Dorokhov: R. I. Dorokhov (1801 – 52), celebrated duellist and rake. Possibly the prototype of Dolokhov in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
12. the review: Pushkin is referring to a hostile review by the critic N. I. Nadezhdin, in the ‘Herald of Europe’ (1829), of his narrative poem Poltava. The review is in the form of a comedy, where the actors are the author (a classicist), a romantic and an old university press proof-reader. Pushkin replaced the first two with the sacristan and baker. ‘Zdravomysl’ is common sense.
* Here follows an anecdote which we have omitted, deeming it superfluous. However, we assure the reader that it contains nothing prejudicial to the memory of Ivan Petrovich Belkin. (A. S. Pushkin)
† In actual fact, over each tale in Mr Belkin’s manuscript there is written in the author’s hand: told to me by such-and-such a person (rank or title and initial letters of name and surname). We reproduce them here for the curious student. ‘The Postmaster’ was recounted to him by titular councillor A. G. N., ‘The Shot’ by Lieutenant-Colonel I. L. P., ‘The Undertaker’ by shop assistant B. V., ‘The Blizzard’ and ‘The Squire’s Daughter’ by Miss K. I. T. (A. S. Pushkin)
* Apparently Chateaubriand’s words. Editor’s note. (Pushkin’s note.)
* Thus Persian fur caps are called. (A. S. Pushkin)
Alexander Pushkin, Tales of Belkin and Other Prose Writings
(Series: # )
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