Terms

Dreamer мечтатель, dreamer: one who lives by daydreaming. It is the word with which the narrator introduces himself on the first night and the name of the type he describes, in the third person, in the speech of the second night; Nastenka replies that she too is a... Type тип, type: a character who stands as an example of a species, not as an individual. Asked by Nastenka who he is, the Dreamer answers that he is a type, and she laughs as she had not laughed in a year; it is as a species, and not as a person, that he describes... White night белая ночь, white night: a night at the beginning of summer when, at the latitude of St. Petersburg, the sun dips just below the horizon and the sky never fully darkens. The expression appears only once in the text, when the Dreamer calls our third meeting... Embankment набережная, embankment: the paved edge of a river or canal, with a parapet and railing, where people stroll. It is along it that the Dreamer walks on his days of anguish, and it is on the embankment of a deserted canal, leaning on the railing, that Nastenka... Fontanka Фонтанка, Fontanka: river of St. Petersburg, a branch of the Neva delta, which runs through the centre of the city between granite embankments. It is there that the Dreamer meets every day, at the same hour, the little old man with whom he almost becomes... Country house дача, country house: a summer house on the outskirts of the city, to which St. Petersburg families moved at the beginning of summer, taking their furniture with them. The departure of everyone for the country houses is what, on the first night, reveals to the... Mezzanine мезонин, mezzanine: a small upper floor built over the central part of a house, common in Russian wooden houses. The grandmother's little house has one, which she rents, and the rent, added to the grandmother's pension, makes up almost all of the income of... Lodger жилец, lodger: someone who rents a room in another person's house. The book has two: the old man who died and the young man who replaced him, for whom Nastenka waits, and neither of them has a name; the second is called only that until the end. Tailcoat фрак, tailcoat: a man's formal coat, fitted at the waist with long tails at the back, which a man of standing wore on visits, at the theatre and on formal occasions. It is in a tailcoat that the drunkard who pursues Nastenka on the embankment appears, an... Box ложа, box: a small enclosed compartment in a theatre or opera house, with few seats, reserved for those who pay more than the stalls. It is a box that the lodger says he has left over for The Barber of Seville, and the invitation, accepted by the grandmother,...