Calling all experts on Bulgakov and Cheka fashion

[John Dunn]

In answer to (a):
One person who might wear parts of a sailor's uniform is an ex-sailor, perhaps someone who served in the Navy during World War I or afterwards and who in those days before the advent of the demob suit kept his uniform as a means of providing warm and robust clothing (especially when such clothing might otherwise be expensive or hard to come by).

In answer to (b):
I think бравый is positive with a tinge of irony and would suggest considering something like 'stout fellow'.  I haven't come across 'bravo' as a noun (but then I do live a very sheltered life); Chambers Dictionary suggests it means 'daring villain' or 'hired assassin', which doesn't seem quite right here.

In answer to (c) (the question you forgot to ask):
I am puzzled by бронзовая: how does the narrator know that the man's chest is bronze-coloured (perhaps better 'bronzed' or 'sun-tanned') if it is beneath a фуфайка?  Is there anything else it could conceivably mean?

John Dunn.

Honorary Research Fellow
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow

Via Carolina Coronedi Berti, 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
John.Dunn at glasgow.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Muireann Maguire [mm504 at CAM.AC.UK]
Sent: 26 January 2011 23:46
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Calling all experts on Bulgakov and Cheka fashion

Thank you to everyone who responded to my question about Cheka fashion.
Several people have pointed out that the trousers take up a bell-like shape
from the knee down (rather than the knee up, as my translation mistakenly
suggested), and I was also helpfully sent a link to this page:

http://www.authenticandrareposters.com/?page_id=7&category=12

which shows Constructivist sailors wearing similar "bell-bottoms".
Bulgakov's "bravyi" isn't a sailor, though, and I would still welcome

(a) any suggestions about the kind of person (apart from sailors) who might
wear bell-bottom pants in Russia in the 1920s

and (b)any alternatives to 'gallant' as a translation for 'bravyi'.
Interestingly, Dal' (!!!) suggests positive connotations for 'bravyi' along
the lines of 'molodets', while the English 'bravo' is fairly negative (when
used as a noun).


Best wishes, and thanks in advance,

Muireann

--
Dr Muireann Maguire                 Tel.: 079 62 89 4118

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