Help with "Three Sisters"

[Yoshimasa Tsuji]

> > 4. What is the precise meaning of meschane and what does that term
> infer?
> Petty bourgeoisie.
> Contempt, pity, regret, envy, disbelief ...

That's what the leaders of the Russian society thought of them.
One should bear in mind that most of the documents we read were
composed by intellectual elites, who at that time belonged to
aritocracy, who naturally despised middle classes and pitied
lower classes.

When Dostoevskij described poor town folks, I don't think he had
any contempt for them. Some preferred the term "gorozhanin", but
that was't a name for the 'etat (soslovie).

Cheers,
Tsuji

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