in the city of N

[Vadim Besprozvany]

Mtsensk is a town in Orlovskaia oblast' (Russia)


On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Sasha Spektor <xrenovo at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>>
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>
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