The 20th-Century Russian Novel: Revolution, Terror, Resistance

Between Dog & Wolf 196-211

Anwyn Urquhart

pg. 197 — Vasily Karaban
One argument for who the beautiful madame is at Gury's funeral

pg. 197 — Everlastin Existens
Reference to the woman Life Everlastin on pg. 133

pg. 199 — “We’ll get milled over–and back”
Reference to how Sokolov takes advantage of the identical spelling of flour and torment in Russian (мука). He uses the word initially on pg. 98 and then proceeds to refer to his torment in the context of flour. This is a moment of the creativity of his use of language and an example of why translating this book was so difficult.

pg. 199 — Dzhinzherela (new spelling of Ilya’s last name)
Ilya's name is constantly changing for unknown reasons, but it always sounds like the name Cinderella. The misspelling could be another nod to Ilya's lack of education or it could be more of the chaos and confusion that we have seen so much of in this book already.

pg. 201 — sparrow night
A summer night in folklore that has a lot of lightning which scares the sparrows. Beginning of the fourth chapter of poems indicating it is now summer. The only consistent measure of time throughout the book are the poems and their following of the seasons. The first set of poems took place in the fall, the second in the winter, the third in the spring, and the fourth one has continued into the summer. There is a common literary use of seasons to represent age through time. The spring represents birth and youth. The summer is the maturing and prime of our lives. Fall in growing old. Winter is death. Under this logic the poems should start in spring as it is the beginning of the story, but instead Between Dog and Wolf begins in the fall. There are two possible reasons for this. First, it inverts the traditional progression with summer representing the end and death further creating this chaos and confusion. Second, hunting is a major theme in the book and was a major part of Sokolov's life when he was writing Between Dog and Wolf and hunting season begins in fall so the book follows the hunting timing instead.

pg. 202 — ocarina
An ancient, flute like instrument. 

pg. 202 — swallowwort
A vine with either small pale or black flowers. Their roots are toxic to livestock. It is also known as the dog strangling vine. 

pg. 202 — seine
A large fishing net 

pg. 208 — "Here's Pyotr ... All people called him Fyodor,/He called himself Yegor”
On a tombstone we are told Pyotr, Fyodor, and Yegor are all the same person. A prime example of the forking characters. Pyotr, Fyodor, and Yegor at various points in the book are three different characters, but then sometimes they mesh into one. This is the most clear example of the combination of the characters. 

pg. 208 — gamekeeper
Person in charge of the care and protection of game animals on private preserves

pg. 209 — Gury now died of great sorrow
Another example of the the forking characters as the death of Gury is not consistent. He is said to have drowned after falling through the ice while skating on pg. 196, but then his tombstone reads that he "died of great sorrow." On pg. 208, it is Pavel who drowned, and while this may be true since we don't know anything about Pavel's death or even if he died, this could be another inconsistency with Pavel drowning instead of Gury.

pg. 210 — eclogue
Poem in which shepherds converse

pg. 211 — bayan
An accordion

This page has paths:

This page references: