Gogol sentence

[Valentino, Russell]

Thanks, Ashot. This is what I thought was going on, and your explanation makes sense. The examples you cite seem a little different to me in that neither qualifying phrase (o chem ia khochu…, or na etoi zemle…) changes the nature of the first word in quite the same way that “vezde” gets changed in this case. Vse is still basically vse, and povsiudu is still basically povsiudu. So when you then repeat only the first word of the phrase for emphasis, it seems perfectly consistent with the initial, longer usage.

But when you add “gde by ni bylo,” it modifies “vezde” more dramatically, yielding something more like “gde-nibud’,” so using only the first word appears to leave that modification out. I understand that the rest of the phrase is implied. In this case it’s not an especially long space in between, so it’s easy enough to imagine it still there. I’ve run across a similar case, where Gogol repeats part of a previously used phrase for emphasis or rhetorical effect, only with about 17 pages in between the first, full phrase, and the second, abbreviated phrase. I’m sure there are others that I just haven’t noticed…

Russell

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Ashot Vardanyan
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2012 12:09 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Gogol sentence

Dear Russell,

I opened the R version one more time to make sure how it looks and sounds in the mother tongue. This confirmed my first impression from your letter: the second "vezde" just reminds and emphasizes the first one, stresses its emotional expression meaning "it's everywhere, indeed". Here are other examples: "Vsyo, o chyom ya xochu tebe rasskazat' pro nashu poezdku -- vstrechi s novymi lyud'mi, poseshchenie svyatyx mest, znakomstvo s neizvestnymi obryadami, vsyo predstavlyaet bol'shoi interes dlya tvoiego issledovaniya"; "Povsyudu na etoi zemle, v gustyx lesax li, shirokix polyax ili sredi vysokix xolmov, povsyudu nashi rebyta naxodili ostanki soldat uzhe dalyokoi voiny."

I do not think the second "vezde" is fragmented because we can use independently the clause whose first word is this "vezde", and it will sound alright. In general, the sentence in question sounds normal for a native speaker but, of course, somewhat elevated. This is "Myortvye dushi"!!!

Best,
Ashot
________________________________
From: "Valentino, Russell" <russell-valentino at UIOWA.EDU<mailto:russell-valentino at UIOWA.EDU>>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu<mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2012 12:09 AM
Subject: [SEELANGS] Gogol sentence

Dear colleagues,

I’m having trouble parsing this sentence from Dead Souls, Part I, Chapter V.

“Vezde, gde by ni bylo v zhizni, sredi li cherstvykh, sherokhovato-bednykh i neopriatno-plesneiushchikh nizmennykh riadov ee, ili sredi odnoobrazno-khladnykh i skuchno-opriatnykh soslovii vyshhikh, vezde khot’ raz vstretitsia na puti cheloveku iavlen’e, ne pokhozhee na vse to, chto sluchalos’ emu videt’ dotole, kotoroe khot’ raz probudit v nem chuvstvo, ne pokhozhee na te, kotorye suzhdeno emu chuvstvovat’ vsiu zhin’.”

The first “vezde” seems to go with the whole phrase “vezde, gde by ni bylo,” meaning “wherever.” But the second “vezde” seems fragmented and incomplete. It suggests something more like “somewhere” rather than “everywhere,” such that the phrase would mean, “somewhere, at least once, a man is fated to meet…”

Or have I missed something?

Thanks in advance.

Russell Valentino
------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/seelang/attachments/20120526/6719b6f8/attachment.html>