Friendship po-russki

[Richard Robin]

"Would anyone like to contribute some concrete examples? The
ones I've provided don't seem to have gotten through. I should
think sociologists have studied the question.
Thanks! Emily Tall"

Here's my contribution, and I've always considered that this
could only happen in Russia. In order to keep track of the
characters, I'm going to assign pseudonyms. Mark and Jane are
Americans who often travel to Russia. They have a close friend
Luba, whom they have known for over 25 years, since she was a
university student. Mark and Jane are (or were) also good
friends with Luba's husband Seva. Luba, Zhenya, and the
Americans were all friends with Oksana.

Oksana started an affair with Luba's hisband Seva. She hid the
affair poorly, and Mark and Jane suspected that something was
going on. But they followed the general Anglo-Saxon ethic in
such relationships and chose not to get into the middle of all
this. They kept their mouths shut -- to all the people
involved. Eventually, Seva admitted the affair to his wife
Luba. They patched things up very quickly. Then Oksana told
Luba that Mark and Jane must have known about the affair weeks
before.

Luba's reaction to Mark and Jane: "You are both some of my
closest friends. And you didn't tell me what you clearly
suspected?! What kind of friendship is that?"

Seva's reaction to Mark and Jane: "You are both some of Luba's
closest friends. And you didn't tell her what you clearly
suspected of my affair with Oksana?! What kind of friendship is
that?!"

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Richard Robin     <robin at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu>
Dept. of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures
The George Washington University
W A S H I N G T O N,  D. C. 20052