French name?

[E Wayles Browne]

Does anyone know how Platonov pronounced the name? If he said "shotluA" perhaps he did mean it to be French, but if he said "shOtlua" he might have meant it to be Georgian. Georgian surnames most commonly end in -idze, -adze, -ishvili or -ashvili, but there is also a type (strictly speaking it's Megrelian) that ends in -ua (like the British/Georgian singer Katie Melua). See B. O. Unbegaun, Russian Surnames, pp. 382-385.
--
Wayles Browne, Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu 

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Alexandra Smith [Alexandra.Smith at ED.AC.UK]
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 5:40 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] French name?

Dear Annie,

It might be a long shot but it's possible that there are some personal
cryptograms and allusions embedded in Platonov's Antiseksus. A.
Znatnov explains the usage of the surname Berkman thus: "По-видимому,
намек на американского анархиста русского  происхождения Александра
Беркмана (1870-1936). Эта  гипотеза  принадлежит  американскому
исследователю  творчества  А.Платонова  Дж.Шепарду  (см.:  Shepard.J.
The Origin of a  Master:  the  Early  Prose  of  Andrey  Platonov.  -
Indiana University, Ph.D., 1973, р.185), который  соотнес
"Антисексус"  с  книгой А.Беркмана "Антиклимакс". (См.: Berkman A. The
Anti-Climax: The Concluding Chapter of My Russian Diary, the Bolshevik
Myth. - Berlin. 1925).  С  1892 по 1906 год А.Беркман находился в
Америке в  заключении  за  покушение  на стального магната Генри
Фрика. В 1917 году вторично осужден за антивоенную деятельность. В
1919  году  Беркман  был  выслан  из  США  в  Россию,  где занимался
активной  общественной  деятельностью.   После   кронштадтского
восстания 1921 года выслан в Европу. Автор книг и памфлетов,
разоблачающих "большевицкий миф".).
Given that the name Shotlua appears next to the name of the anarchist
opposed to Boslsheviks, it well might be that Platonov alludes to his
own family as a unit that has its own anarchistic tendencies. The name
can be read in a mirror-like way backwards as an anagram. It will
appear then as  this phrase: AUL TOSH. The word "aul" refers to a
nomadic settlement that includes immediate family. Tosh is a short
version of the name Platon. Platonov's son Platon was born in 1922. I
have seen some references suggesting that he was often called Tosh.
As Robert Chandler pointed out, Platonov's texts are full of puns and
playful allusions.

All best,
Alexandra

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