Demons: Day 2
Finally the star of the novel shows up, much to my relief because the more I read of Stepan Trofimovich the more I want to throw cold water on him. Even Varvara Petrovna has started calling him an old woman to his face, and she’s ticked off at having to pay his gambling debts. Stepan Trofimovich (I have taken to addressing my cats with their patronymics: Koosi Conanovich! No wait, should be Koosi Conanovna) has a son by his first marriage, who is coming to town to sell the estate he inherited from his mother.
Now we see why Stepan Trofimovich lives at Varvara Petrovna’s: she had hired him to be the tutor of her only son, Nikolai Vsevolodovich Stravrogin. Stepan and Nikolai had been extremely close: Stepan used to wake up the boy in the middle of the night to pour out his troubles, and the boy was 8 years old. They had one of those intense friendships, supposedly very Russian, in which they would yell at each other, and then throw themselves into each other’s arms and weep. The grown-up Nikolai Vsevolodovich comes to visit, and he’s tall, handsome, intelligent, very strong, and quite mad. (This is what I mean when I say watching Marat Safin play tennis is like reading Dostoevsky.)
For instance there’s this respectable old man at the club whose favorite expression is, “No, sir, they won’t lead me by the nose!” One day, after the old man has uttered this line again, Nikolai Vsevolodovich, who wasn’t even part of the conversation, walks up to him, seizes the old man’s nose between his fingers, and pulls him across the room.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 4th, 2010 at 08:57
Quite fitting when you said that watching Marat Safin play tennis is like reading Dostoevsky. Now I am able to imagine a better picture of Nikolai Vselodovich. However, I found Stepan Trofimovich and Nikolai Vselodovich’s midnight tete-a-tetes a bit disturbing not to mention inappropriate.
I haven’t read much Russian literature but I have noticed that most Russian thinkers (and those aspiring to be members of that circle) seem to be doing most of their thinking while drinking and playing cards. Dostoevsky drove this point home when Stepan Trofimovich, in response to Varvara Petrovna’s complaints about his bad habits replied “All men of genius and progress in Russia were, are and always will be [card players] and [drunkards] who drink in zapoi [bouts]”.
Personally, I think all Stepan Trofimovich likes to do is whine and gripe about everything. That is why he relies heavily on the author as his confidante.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:46
hahaha…. and i also love the exchange between Varvara and Stepan. She said, “It’s your idea of bliss— disorder! You take pleasure in dirt….”
February 4th, 2010 at 18:43
That “lead me by the nose” episode is a classic. Dostoyevsky showed his genius in the character of Nikolai Vsevolodovich. I found his meeting with Ivan Ossipovitch even more hilarious; it reminded me of Mike Tyson who at one time bit Evander Hollyfield’s ears in a boxing match.
I always look forward to conversations between Stepan Trofimovitch and Varvara Petrovna. There’s a sense of sweetness. I don’t know, but they seem perfect for each other.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve gotten confused with the names. Is it unique to Russians that they don’t carry their father’s family names?