Translation of Meschanka, bezdukhovny obyvatel'

[R. M. Cleminson]

The meščanstvo was, formally, the petite bourgeoisie (in imperial Russia an officially recognised class), so petite-bourgeoise is certainly correct for meščanka.  The moral connotations of the two words are more or less the same, too.  The difference between meščanstvo and kupečestvo was essentially one of capital, but the correspondence between the latter and bourgeoisie is much less exact.  (It is a commonplace of Russian history that the country did not develop a middle class in the W.European sense.)  "Буржуй" is "bourgeois" only in the Marxist sense; also used as a general term of abuse for the insufficiently proletarian.

For бездуховный обыватель I might suggest something like "faubourien abruti", but that is without knowing the context, so may not really be what you want.

----- Pôvodná správa -----
Od: "FRISON Philippe" <Philippe.FRISON at COE.INT>
Komu: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Odoslané: štvrtok, 22. máj 2014 6:22:55
Predmet: [SEELANGS] Translation of Meschanka, bezdukhovny obyvatel'

Dear colleagues,

A student has chosen E.V. Styazhina's "zhenskaya i muzhskaya povsedevnost' v usloviyakh smeny gendernykh kontraktov vtoroy poloviny XX v."

She translated "meschanka" and "bezdukhovny obyvatel' " (in French) by "bourgeoise" and "vulgar parasit".

For me meschanin was rather "petit-bourgeois" than "bourgeois".
I would have translated "bourgeois" by буржуй.

Is / Was there a difference between "petit-bourgeois" and "bourgeois" in Russia's society?

A "petit-bourgeois" in French is somebody whos is only concerned with material concerns,
whereas a "bourgeois" (who is more affluent) tends to show off his property but should also
be interested in intellectual or artistic activities.

Any hints ?

Regards

Philippe Frison
(Strasbourg, France)


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