gender of Dolly's sixth child?

[Romy Taylor]

Dear Seelangers,

Reading Anna Karenina, an attentive student asked why Dolly's sixth child, a
girl born in Part II, is suddenly a boy in Part III?

Here are the passages in Russian:

II. 2. "(ona rodila devochku v kontse zimy)"

III. 8. Dolly talking with peasant women as her children bathe --
"-Vish' ty, znat' tozhe kupali, govorila drugaia na grudnogo.
-Net, emu tol'ko tri mesiaca, - otvechala s gordost'iu Dar'ia Aleksandrovna."

In the English translation, the peasant woman asks about "him," and Dolly
answers "he's only three months," but in the Russian the only motivation for
Dolly to answer "emu" is the word "grudnoi" (= "rebenok").

Is it natural for Dolly to call a female baby "emu"?  If so, should the
translation render "emu" as "She's only three months"?

Very gratefully,
Romy Taylor

*********************************************
Romy Taylor
Dept. of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies
and Dept. of Comparative Literature
University of California at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
rtaylor at gss.ucsb.edu
Phone: (805) 893-8177
Fax: (805) 893-2374

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