in the city of N

[Sasha Spektor]

Do made up provincial towns count?  Skotoprigon'evsk then.  But also
Mtsensk of Lady Macbeth, for example.

Best,
Sasha.


On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 10:29 AM, Fusso, Susanne <sfusso at wesleyan.edu> wrote:

>   I always tell my students, "It's like at the end of every *Dragnet*episode:  'The names have been changed to protect the innocent.'"  Then I
> have to explain what *Dragnet* is.
>
>   Susanne Fusso
> Professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
> Wesleyan University
> 262 High Street
> Middletown, CT  06459
> 860-685-3123
>
>
>   From: Michele A Berdy <maberdy at GMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: "SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures
> list" <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU>
> Date: Monday, November 4, 2013 9:19 AM
> To: "SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU" <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU>
> Subject: [SEELANGS] in the city of N
>
>   Dear SEELANGers
>
> An internet friend with an engaging blog called LanguageHat posed a
> question a few days ago that I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know the answer
> to and in fact never thought to ask. He asked why Russian authors writing
> about provincial cities called them “N” (or S, etc.). Beyond “it’s a
> convention” and “it gives an air of verisimilitude” – I have no idea. Where
> did this convention come from? Has anyone written about this?
>
>
>
> The second question that followed: can anyone think of pre-revolutionary
> Russian fiction about provincial cities (other than St. Petersburg and
> Moscow) where the city is identified?
>
> Many thanks!
>
> Michele Berdy
>
>
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/seelang/attachments/20131104/d1051891/attachment.html>