AW: [SEELANGS] Levin - Lyovin

[Donna Orwin]

Dear Colleagues,

Alexis Klimoff of Vassar college has published a research note on this subject in Tolstoy Studies Journal (vol. XI [1999]: 108-111).  Tolstoy's daughter Alexandra L'vovna Tolstaya told Professor Klimoff over a cup of tea that Tolstoy's character was always called Levin within the Tolstoy household.  

Sincerely,

Donna Orwin


----------------------------
Prof. Donna Tussing Orwin
President, Tolstoy Society
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
Alumni Hall 415
121 St. Joseph St. 
Toronto. ON M5S 1J4
Tel. 416-926-1300. ext. 3316


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of FIEGUTH Rolf
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2005 7:54 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] AW: [SEELANGS] Levin - Lyovin

Levin - Lyovin

I recall Nabokov commenting on this subject (probably in Pnin); Lyovin is there said to be derived from the informal version Lyova of Tolstojs first name Lev. 

Rolf Fieguth

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] Im Auftrag von John Dunn
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 8. September 2005 12:21
An: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Betreff: Re: [SEELANGS] The Brothers K


I recall watching a television programme sometime in the early 1990s where one of the Mikhalkovs (father or son) claimed that the family deliberately moved the stress onto the final syllable in the 1920s to make the name sound less aristocratic.

Apropos authorial intentions, I have seen it alleged in a couple of newspaper articles proclaiming the virtues of the letter 'ё' (jo) that L.N. Tolstoj intended the name of the character in Anna Karenina to be Лёвин (Ljovin) and was mightily affronted when people took to pronouncing it Ле́вин.  I imagine this is the same story being recycled from article to article, but does anyone know if it has any foundation?
 
John Dunn.


-----Original Message-----
From: Alina Israeli <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 20:35:20 -0700
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] The Brothers K

>Unbegaun ("Russian Surnames") says accent is on "ma." In practice,
>the possessor of the name (or, in this case, Dostoevsky?) is the 
>final authority for himself.  The surname "Ivanov," for example, 
>usually accents the final syllable, but some holders of the name, 
>including the famous 19th-c. artist, accent the second syllable.

Moving the stress towards the beginning adds clout to the family 
line. We all know the author of the famous Soviet anthem as Sergey 
MixalkOv. However, he is, I believe, a descendent of knjaz' MixAlkov.

John Dunn
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow
Hetheringon Building
Bute Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RS
U.K.

Tel.: +44 (0)141 330 5591
Fax: +44 (0)141 330 2297
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk

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