[Glenn Wright]

Hi, Carl—

Very nice translation! I’m a bit confused, though. In line 9 it says that we see the guards “на место” of the sainted women. Are the guards real people standing in front of and hiding the iconostasis where, presumably, the women are depicted, or have the women been painted over? I presume the former, since the N speculates that perhaps the purpose of the guards is to protect the picture from thieves or mice. Michael Wachtel’s note helps clarify this.

I wondered if Pushkin had intended to go back and fill out line 5 to make it conform to the meter. (You mentioned that the line had originally been hexameter, but I read the Russian as pentameter.)

It is interesting that in the picture, only two of the three or four women named Mary (not to mention the Beloved Disciple, John) who were present are depicted. I wondered if Pushkin was slyly presenting an allegory of the Church’s view of women as either paragons of virtue or vessels of depravity. Of course, it was not unusual for such depictions of saints to omit characters mentioned in the Bible who would have been present.

What seems more certain to me is that Pushkin is presenting an allegory showing how a corrupt Church cannot bring the mass of people to Christ, but actively keeps them away, protecting the privilege of the aristocrats who give financial support to it.

I always feel a bit lost when reading Pushkin. He is sometimes an ardent monarchist and sometimes a passionate proponent of democracy. His gleeful description of the execution of Louis XVI and his family in his “Ode to Liberty” is disturbing. No wonder Tsar Alexander I exiled him. He is sometimes devoutly Orthodox and sometimes an atheist. Even his treatment of women can be feminist or misogynist.

I enjoyed your translation!

Glenn