KAP DOCHKA

[Alexandra Smith]

I appreciate that the phrase is not inherently in any way humorous.  What
> interests me is its humorousness IN CONTEXT.  Pyotr has just been given a
> sheepskin coat, and then Savelich talks of 'klok shersti'.  But somehow this
> kind of humour seems uncharacteristic of Savelich.


--Dear Robert,

It seems to me that you uncovered (in the example provided above) the  
use of symmetrical compositions in "Kapitanskaia dochka". Pushkin's  
works are full of such symmetrical compositions. Kap. dochka has a lot  
of inner rhymes of this kind; they form certain semantic clusters. In  
this particular case, the "rhyme" acts as a part of the binary  
opposition of the wolf-sheep imagery.
In my opinion, it's true to say that it is Pushkin, not Savel'ich, who  
is amused by such rhyming...
Efim Etkind wrote a book on symmetrical compositions in Pushkin's  
works. I'm sure you could find in the SSEES library. If not, you could  
check my review of this book for further details (Efim Etkind’s book  
“Simmetricheskie kompositsii u Pushkina”, SEER, vol.68, 1, January  
1990, pp.110-11.).

All very best,
Sasha


=============================================
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Lecturer in Russian
School of European Languages and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EX8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-511381
fax: +44- (0) 650-3604
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------