Sud'ba zakrestila za toboi i tvoei mater'yu okna rodnoi opustevshei izby

[Robert Chandler]

Dear Inna, Oleksandr and all,

Thanks for your answers.  There is still quite a lot I need to disentangle.

1)
Presumably, in this case, the owners did not themselves nail these bars over
the window.  Apart from anything else, 'kulaks' would probably not have had
time.

Would the village soviet have done something like this?  I would have
thought not. I would have imagined another family would have moved in
straight away.

In which case is it likely that the expression here is entirely
metaphorical?  That it just means that the house is barred to them?
That they will never return there?

2)
The broader context is that Grossman, after writing about the Sistine
Madonna and her child, starts seeing suffering madonnas and christs in a
variety of twentieth century contexts - dekulakisation, 1937, Treblinka,
etc.  In one paragraph he describes someone carrying a great log through
swampy forest, unable to brush away a great HALO of mosquitoes  because he
needsd both hands to keep the log in place on his shoulders.  So it is
clearly significant that Grossman has written ZaKRESTila.  He could have
written 'zakolotila', couldn't he?

Zakreshchivat' can have a protective sense - the sign of cross to avert
disaster.  Is this relevant here?  I think that it probably isn't, but am
not sure.

Vsego dobrogo,

Robert




> In the even of the long-term owners' absence it was customary to nail two
> crisscross bars diagonally over each window. I am not entirely certain to
> what effect - perhaps, to prevent the glass from breaking, or as some
> protection against breaking in. But the image is quite common. An izba with
> crisscrossed windows was orphaned. There were many of those in villages
> abandoned in the face of invasion or due to famine. A very sorrowful sight.
> 
> Inna Caron
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
> Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 3:32 PM
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: [SEELANGS] Sud'ba zakrestila za toboi i tvoei mater'yu okna rodnoi
> opustevshei izby
> 
> Dear all, 
> 
>    Ваничка, Ваня, почему так печально лицо твое? Судьба закрестила за тобой
> и твоей матерью окна родной опустевшей избы. Какой далекий путь перед вами?
> Дойдете ли вы? Или, измученные, погибнете где-нибудь в дороге, на станции
> узкоколейки, в лесу, на болотистом берегу зауральской речушки?
> 
> Can someone help me with this Судьба закрестила??
> 
> The context is clearly that of dekulakisation.  But I have no idea what is
> happening to these windows.
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Robert
> 
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