The Name Game

Once again, work got the best of me, then the weather had a warm up, now we are back to a cold snap! This year at work is busy, busy, busy, but my thoughts keep drifting back to "Anna." Shakespeare wrote in the play, "Romeo and Juliet"...

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"

...those words resonate in the harsh clime of Russian aristocracy as portrayed in "Anna Karenina."

The first time I started to read "Anna Karenina" I had to dig out a piece of paper and a pencil and create a family tree of all the characters. My edition of the novel has a list of characters at the front, but it is much easier to block them out as a family tree rather than a linear list.

The hardest thing I think about starting the book is realizing that many of the characters are referred to by 2-3 different names in the novel. Their personal name, their patronymic, followed by their surname and possibly referred to in the novel by an intimate nickname. It can all be very confusing, especially if you don't realize that the men and women in the novel with the same last name do not spell their surnames the same.

Here's a key example:

Anna Arkadyevna Karenina (Anna=first name, Arkadyevna=patronymic comprised of her father's name Arkady + "yevna" tagged on the end to feminize it, followed by her married surname Karenin with "a" again tagged onto it denoting the female form of the surname)

Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky (Stiva) "Anna's brother" (Stepan=first name, Arkadyich=patronymic comprised of father's name Arkady = "yich" tagged on the end to masculinize it, followed by his surname (Anna's maiden name) Oblonsky) and to confuse matters many times he is referred to by his family nickname "Stiva".

That's just one example of how Russian names are long and sometimes confusing, though once you know it you can look at the characters middle "patronymic" name and if the root is the same you pretty much can tell that the characters are some how related by familial blood ties.

For fun you can try it yourself....my father's name was Stefan, so my patronymic might be Stefanyevna or Stefanovna or Stefanichna common endings for a female patronymic form of a male parent's name ending in a consonant.

Honestly though, while you are reading "Anna Karenina" I think the best thing to do is read through the character lists and draw a family tree listing each person with their patronymic and surname with the nickname in parenthesis for quick clarification while reading the novel!

Now back to the book and hopefully another post sooner rather than later this time!