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

Envy 87-96

Pg. 87 — Kamsk crabs
The Kama, or Kamsk river, is also a tributary of the Volga river. It is connected to a number of dams and may be a good place to eat crab, according to Ivan. 

Pg. 89 Edison 
One of the most well-known American inventors of the late 19th and early 20th century, Thomas Edison's landmark developments in mass communication, media, and electricity pushed the world towards modern-day industrialization. Edison was a prolific inventor, with over 1000 patents filed under his name by the time of his death. When Ivan jokingly calls Volodya, he does not mean that Volodya is a genius inventor but a bringer of the Soviet Union's industrial age. Volodya represents society's transition to a new collectivist system and the new Soviet man, calling himself a "man-machine" and envies the ferocity, tirelessness, and exactness of modern industrialization and technology (pg. 64). Knowing that his era is coming to an end, Ivan bows to Volodya in comical submission to his youth and the coming age of Communist prominence. 

Pg. 89 — Kanatchikov
Kanatchikov refers to a particular mental institution in Moscow, known as Kashchenko Moscow Psychiatric Clinical Hospital No. 1 or Kanatchikov's dacha

pg. 91 — Yakimanka
Yakimanka is the location of the wedding Ivan crashed, and it is a district located in Moscow. 

pg. 91 — Neglinny
The Neglinny River is a river that flows through Moscow, and it has a number of bridges and dams connected to it, including the Kuznetsky Bridge. This is one of the two noisy locations suggested that Babichev may have been driving through. 

pg. 91 — Tverskaya near the Monastery of the Passion 
This is the other location that Babichev may have been driving through, which was a junction near the now-demolished Monastery of the Passion or Strastnoy Monastery. The Monastery is also home to a famous statue of Pushkin, a famous Russian poet and author. 

pg. 93 — GPU 
The GPU, or the State Political Directorate, is where Babichev took his brother Ivan to be arrested after he disrupted the wedding. The GPU was not only a policing institution, but it was also the intelligence and secret service institution of Russia and the Soviet Union (1922-1923). Once again, Babichev establishes his superiority and "crushing pillar" of a presence relative to Ivan's silly rashness (pg. 92). Rather than attempting to rationalize or speak with his brother properly, Babichev sees Ivan as too far gone (mentally and otherwise) and not worth the effort. As a result, he turns him over to the police. 

pg. 94 — Communist 
During Ivan's interaction with the police, he highlights how Communism forces people to reject parts of themselves in order to stay true to the doctrine of the new Soviet Union. Ivan makes multiple biblical references during the conversation, such as the "snake of jealousy" that tempted Eve out of paradise and the other "flora and fauna [that] must be driven out of the new man's heart" to be accepted in Soviet society. (pg. 94). If the "new man" fails to do so, Ivan believes they will be persecuted and punished for basic emotions such as jealousy, ambition, and pity. Rather than reject and vilify these emotions for impeding societal progress and growth (which demand uniform cooperation and selflessness at its most advanced), Ivan wishes to recognize our humanity and emotions, albeit in a glorified manner. 

pg. 96 — Sklifossovsky Hospital 
Sklifossovsky Hospital, an emergency medical and trauma center, fits the treatment center for the "madman who slits his own throat" that Ivan describes (pg. 96).

pg. 96 — nepman
Nepmen, NEPmen, or New Economic Policy men were businessmen like Babichev who capitalized on the socialist economic policies during the early Soviet era. Because state-owned industries were often unable to meet market demands, NEPmen stepped in, simultaneously contradicting the communist principles the Soviet Union was based on. Because they represented private, capitalistic, and upper-class interests, nepmen were regularly criticized and faced many bureaucratic obstacles in conducting trade. In 1922, they accounted for 75% of Russian retail trade, but were effectively eliminated later in the 1920s, as they represented an economic and ideological threat to Stalin's regime.

This page has paths:

This page references: