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Ivan Turgenev — poem “The Correspondent”

Russian Poetry

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Russian LiteratureRussian PoetryChildren’s books – Ivan Turgenev  – Poems – Obsolete Russian Words and their meaning
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The Correspondent

Two friends are sitting at a table and drinking tea.

A sudden noise has arisen in the street. Plaintive moans, violent oaths, outbursts of malicious laughter have become audible.

“Some one is being beaten,” remarked one of the friends, after having cast a glance out of the window.

“A criminal? A murderer?” inquired the other.—”See here, no matter who it is, such chastisement without trial is not to be tolerated. Let us go and defend him.”

“But it is not a murderer who is being beaten.”

“Not a murderer? A thief, then? Never mind, let us go, let us rescue him from the mob.”

“It is not a thief, either.”

“Not a thief? Is it, then, a cashier, a railway employee, an army contractor, a Russian Mæcenas, a lawyer, a well-intentioned editor, a public philanthropist?… At any rate, let us go, let us aid him!”

“No … they are thrashing a correspondent.”

“A correspondent?—Well, see here now, let’s drink a glass of tea first.”

July, 1878.

Pushkin's farewell to the sea. 1877 painted by Repin

Translated from the Russian by Isabel F. Hapgood



< < < The Contented Man
The Dog > > >

Russian LiteratureRussian PoetryChildren’s books – Ivan Turgenev  – Poems – Obsolete Russian Words and their meaning


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