Николай Гоголь. Жизнь и творчество

Дмитриев, Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriyev (1760–1837), Russian writer of the Sentimentalist school, author of numerous songs, elegies and fables.

Курск, town in European Russia.

станционный смотритель (hist.), postmaster.

навешать оплеухи (pop.), to beat, to give a thrashing.

городничий (hist.), governor of a town.

фельдъегерь (hist.; Ger. Feldjager), war Courier delivering important documents.

адъютант (hist.), aide-de-camp, a military or naval officer acting as assistant to a superior.

титулярный советник (hist.), official of the 9th rank (there were 14 altogether); corresponds to the military rank of captain.

a ты себе и в ус не дуешь (phras.), you are not concerned with anything.

Киреевский, Ivan Vasilyevich Kireyevsky (1806–1856), Russian philosopher, literary critic and publicist: one of the founders of the Slavophiie movement.

Киреевский, Pyotr Vasilyevich Kireyevsky (1808–1856), student of Russian folklore and literary monuments, publicist of the Slavophiie trend. Brother of I. Kireyevsky.

Бодянский, Osip Maximovich Bodyansky (1808–1877), Russian philologist and historian; one of the founders of Slavic studies in Russia.

Максимович, Mikhail Alexandrovich Maximovich (1804–1873), Ukrainian and Russian writer, literary critic, journalist and naturalist. He was a professor at Kiev University.

Баратынский, Yevgeny Abramovich Baratynsky (1800–1844), Russian poet, author of the long poems Eda, The Ball, The Gypsy Girl, and numerous lyrics.

Надеждин, Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin (1804–1856), Russian critic, student of aesthetics and journalist; he was a professor at Moscow University and published the magazine Teleskop (The Telescope), supplemented by the newspaper Molva (Common Talk).

Станкевич, Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich (1813–1840), Russian philosopher and poet, head of an influential philosophical circle in Moscow.

Белинский, Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky (1811–1848), Russian critic, journalist and philosopher; author of many works devoted to Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov and other Russian writers.

выгрузить из-под спуда (phras.), to discover something, to bring something to light.

адъюнкт-профессор (hist.), associate professor.

Гердер, Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, writer and philologist.

Шлецер, August Ludwig von Schlozer (1735–1809), German historian and philologist who worked in Russia for several years; associate professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Миллер (correct name, Мюллер), Johannes von Muller (1752–1809), Swiss historian.

Шиллер, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher and historian.

Аристофан, Aristophanes (c. 445-c. 385 В. C.), author of classical Greek plays, "the father of comedy".

бояре (hist.), boyars; big landowners, Muscovy’s aristocracy

физиогномия (arch.) = физиономия, physiognomy; facial features, characteristic facial expression.

Дашков, Dmitry Vasilyevich Dashkov (1788–1839), man of letters and high-ranking official who held the post of Minister of Justice in 1832-39.

балагур, joker, jovial fellow.

Котляревский, Ivan Petrovich Kotlyarevsky (1769–1838), Ukrainian writer, author of the mock-heroic poem Aeneid.

Гулак-Артемовский, Pyotr Petrovich Gulak-Artemovsky (1790–1865), Ukrainian writer, author of saiirical fables, ballads and lyric poems.

Зябловский, Yevdokim Filippovich Zyablovsky (1763–1846), professor of statistics at St. Petersburg University. His courses in geography were reprinted several times.

дивчина (Ukr.), young girl.

ижица (hist.), the last letter of the Russian alphabet as it existed before the Revolution; represented the vowel [и].

старосветский, old-fashioned, old-world.

кляузник (from кляуза, cavil, slander), squealer, gossiper.

земность, here: mercantile, ulterior motives.

храм Фемиды, a law court; Фемида, Themis, is the Greek goddess of justice.

канцелярский (here, a noun), a clerk.

Адмиралтейская игла, the spire of the Admiralty building in St. Petersburg.

типаж, the totality of features characteristic of a certain human type.

детище Петра, i. e., St. Petersburg, which was founded in 1703 by Peter I.

Некрасов. Nikolai Alexeyevich Nekrasov (1821–1877), Russian poet, author of the long poems The Red-Nosed Frost, Russian Women, Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia, and many lyric poems.

Достоевский, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), Russian writer, author of Crime and Punishment.

The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov, The Possessed, Raw Youth, etc.

Блок, Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880–1921), Russian poet, author of long poems (Retribution and The Twelve), dramas (The Fair-booth, The Rose and the Cross) and many lyric poems.

Белый, Andrei Bely (pseudonym of Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev; 1880–1934), Russian poet and novelist; author of the novel St. Petersburg.

поручик (hist.), a lower officer’s rank in the tsarist army.

Григорьев, Apollon Alexandrovich Grigoryev (1822–1864), Russian literary critic and poet.

в должность (arch.), to the office, to the place of work.

"…Я сама чтобы лежала возле…", the Persian, whose Russian is faulty, mixes up grammatical forms, using the feminine verb endings instead of the masculine.

палевый, straw pink.

Панаев, Ivan Ivanovich Panayev (1812–1862), Russian writer and journalist who closely associated with V. Belinsky and N. Nekrasov