Anonymous places

[Alina Israeli]

Robert,

I believe there are two reasons for that: a) not to put a spot light  
on any particular town, although in Chekhov and Turgenev we find  
easily identifiable towns S. and O. and b) to make it more universal,  
as we say it here "Any town USA", so similarly "Anytown" in Russia.

The device is used not just for cities, but also for people's names,  
particularly when nobility was involved, although of course there are  
other ways of obscuring the situation. One of my all time favorites  
comes from a French film "Les grandes maneuvres" where Gérard Philipe  
had a number 33 on his lapel. At the time portrayed in the movie  
there were 31 regiments (I am not strong in military terminology) in  
France.

Alina

On Jul 22, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Robert Chandler wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> A journalist friend has just asked me this question:
>
> ‘ I am writing a piece about place and I want to mention the  
> convention in
> some Russian novels of representing places by saying something like  
> 'In the
> town of P–' I wondered if you could possibly enlighten me as to why  
> these
> anonymity conferring initials were so widespread and whether they  
> still are
> a commonplace in Russian fiction?’
>

Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington DC. 20016
(202) 885-2387 	
fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu




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