Anonymous places
Susan Bauckus
sbauckus at EARTHLINK.NET
Tue Jul 22 15:38:42 UTC 2008
English authors in the 18th-19th century did the same thing, didn't they?
Austen frequently uses "N_" to name a town or province.
> [Original Message]
> From: Alina Israeli <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
> To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
> Date: 7/22/2008 8:28:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Anonymous places
>
> Robert,
>
> I believe there are two reasons for that: a) not to put a spot light
> on any particular town, although in Chekhov and Turgenev we find
> easily identifiable towns S. and O. and b) to make it more universal,
> as we say it here "Any town USA", so similarly "Anytown" in Russia.
>
> The device is used not just for cities, but also for people's names,
> particularly when nobility was involved, although of course there are
> other ways of obscuring the situation. One of my all time favorites
> comes from a French film "Les grandes maneuvres" where Gérard Philipe
> had a number 33 on his lapel. At the time portrayed in the movie
> there were 31 regiments (I am not strong in military terminology) in
> France.
>
> Alina
>
> On Jul 22, 2008, at 11:12 AM, Robert Chandler wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > A journalist friend has just asked me this question:
> >
> > I am writing a piece about place and I want to mention the
> > convention in
> > some Russian novels of representing places by saying something like
> > 'In the
> > town of P' I wondered if you could possibly enlighten me as to why
> > these
> > anonymity conferring initials were so widespread and whether they
> > still are
> > a commonplace in Russian fiction?
> >
>
> Alina Israeli
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
> Washington DC. 20016
> (202) 885-2387
> fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the SEELANG
mailing list