Help with "Three Sisters"

[Valentina Zaitseva]

Henry Whyte wrote:

> Do officers in
> > uniform cross their legs when sitting?
> Only when wearing a kilt.-

-Not really. Leafing through Lotman's "Besedy o russkoi kul'ture" and
"Pushkinskii Peterburg" album I found some pictures of young officers
sitting with their legs crossed  (i.e. "Gostinaia Oleninykh", the 1820s.)
Also: a photograph  of the brothers Tolstoy in T. Kuz'minskaia's memoirs
(1854): not only Dimitry (in civilians clothing), but also  young count L.
Tostoy wearing officer's  uniform  sit with their legs crossed.  I think by
the time of "Three Sisters" rules  of conduct did not get tighter then in
the 20s and 50s.

There is one aspect in officers' postures in all the pictures I saw that
might be of interest to the actors: no matter how relax is the posture (like
sitting with their legs stretched out), the officer's back is always very
straight.
    (And speaking of women: there is a picture of S. A. Tolstaya with her
legs crossed!)

See also:
Zaionchkovskii, P.A. 1978. Spravochniki po istorii dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii.
M.

>
> > 4. What is the precise meaning of meschane and what does that term
> infer?

And to respond to  Yoshimasa Tsuji's comment:
M. Gorky, who was not  an aristocrat, also wrote a play "Meshchane."
By 1900 the term  was used to mean someone concerned with material goods
rather than spiritual values; someone  small minded, petty and with
glaringly poor taste (i.e. Natasha in "Three Sisters").

Best regards,
Valentina

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