Scenes of eavesdropping

[russell valentino]

Three classic scenes come immediately to mind: Pavel Kirsanov on Bazarov
and Fenechka in Fathers and Sons; Svidrigailov on Sonya and Raskolnikov in
Crime and Punishment; and Andrei Bolkonsky on Natasha Rostova waxing
lyrical at the moon in War and Peace.

Marya Aleksevna listens in on the conversation of Lopukhov and Vera
Pavlovna in Chernyshevsky's What Is To Be Done?...

Also: practically the whole of Turgenev's Sportsman's sketches, as well as
much of the "physiological sketch" literature of mid 1840s... (where
writers were "observers").

A careful glance back at many scenes from Gogol would probably turn up
several scenes in which the narration suggests readers are eavesdropping.

Hermann eavesdrops (and tom peeps) at the old countess in Pushin's Queen of
Spades.

Seems to be rather a commonplace. Are there as many of these as there are
duels, I wonder?

Russell Valentino.

>A non-Slavist colleague is looking for scenes of eavesdropping (not
>wiretapping!) in Russian literature.  Any suggestions?  (Off-list
>responses to <rar at slavic.umass.edu> are welcome.)
>
>Bob Rothstein
>
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