2 More questions about Bazhov, Gorny master

[Olga Meerson]

NB:

Сам он пришел за тем, что теперь забыл.

Since the only thing she actually made him forget was the meadow with the miraculous (semi-)precious stone flowers, and the rest, as a gift to KATIA, the Mistress made him NOT forget, it is unlikely that she has had any designs on him that were erotic, or even that he had such designs on her--although falling in love with a woman who possesses a mystery or mysterious wisdom, is very common in mythology (Zeus with Metis; Lucius, with the Thessalian sorceress, etc.). On the other hand, the murky way in which her speech is presented is itself quite potent with an ambiguity that smacks of eroticism. The Russian reader/listener has about as much trouble figuring out, exactly, how racy or pure her meaning is! So, we are back to square zero: what you have to figure out, Jan, is how to convey a deliberately ambiguous message, the one that signifies by the tension between what it actually says and what nobody even knows if it means to say! But to you, as a Platonov person, this is no!
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