Numerology in Crime and Punishment

[Alina Israeli]

Even numbers of flowers for funerals, odd numbers for birthdays and  
other lively occasions. Ulitskaya plays on this in her short story  
"Zürich" where the Swiss brings her a dozen flowers.

Four is bad in Chinese and Japanese because the word for death is  
homophonic to the word meaning four http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture#Four 
.

Did Dostoevsky know Chinese? Or Chinese customs?

AI

Dec 22, 2010, в 6:00 PM, anne marie devlin написал(а):

> Four flowers are often given at a funeral.  I'm not sure whether  
> this applies only to the number four or to all even numbers
> AM
>
>> Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:33:47 +0000
>> From: wfr at SAS.AC.UK
>> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Numerology in Crime and Punishment
>> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>>
>> The Russian world is a big place - can you be more specific about who
>> believes this?
>> Will
>>
>> On 22/12/2010 19:56, Lewis B. Sckolnick wrote:
>>> In the Russian world the number four is the number which represents
>>> death.
>>>
>>> Lewis B. Sckolnick
>>> The Ledge House
>>> 130 Rattlesnake Gutter Road, Suite 1000
>>> Leverett, MA 01054-9726
>>> U.S.A.
>>>
>>> Telephone 1. 413. 367. 0303
>>> Facsimile 1. 413. 367. 2853
>>> info at runanywhere.com
>>>
>>>> I am currently teaching Crime and Punishment to a group of Advanced
>>>> Placement high school seniors. We are trying to figure out the
>>>> significance of
>>>> numbers in the book, especially the number four which he uses
>>>> constantly.
>>>> The scene in the police station shortly after the murder is  
>>>> inundated
>>>> with the
>>>> number four and most people live on the fourth floor. Razuhmikhin,
>>>> however,
>>>> lives on the fifth floor. Don't want to make too much out of it,  
>>>> but
>>>> when
>>>> someone of Dostoevsky's caliber emphazises a number there is most  
>>>> likely
>>>> something behind it.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for any input!
>>>>
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> 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/
>>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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/
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 		 	   		
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------