Kaufmann

[lynn cates]

Raspoutina?

Hello All. Does anyone know about Raspoutina?

The following is a snippet from the London Daily Mail, August 19, 1912. Azeff [sic] was a spy, in spite of his denial here. What intrigues me is that the person he informed against and was hanged is identified as "Raspoutina."

I wonder if it's possible that Le Queux, in his "Okhrana theory" accidentally misread "Raspoutina" for Rasputin?

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Anna Raspoutina

Hello All. The following were generously provided by Simon Wood.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Lynn Cates wrote:
I wonder if it's possible that Le Queux, in his "Okhrana theory" accidentally misread "Raspoutina" for Rasputin?
Wow, Lynn, interesting thought! I'm probably wrong in this assumption, but is “Rasputina“ perhaps the genitive and not the feminine of “Rasputin“? Or maybe it's the femimine, after all? I seem to recall that Putin's wife is called “Putina“ – which generated lots of humor by the Italian journalists. After all, we know what “putana“ means in Italian/Spanish.
Any chance that Fiona reads Russian? That would be our luck!
Lynn, did the grad student at Stanford at least gave you a list of the contents of the things she went through? Also, your Rocker hasn't arrived yet (there are tons of flights cancelled due to the snow), but I'm keeping my eyes open. Plus, do you think that you'd consider emailing Mr Butterworth, perhaps at a later point? (I'd rather continue the discussion here than in the Modern Day BS/Stride thread, as it's most relevant here.)

[mariab]

Apologies Lynn, the attachment in your post #197 confirms that “Rasputina“ is the feminine.

[lynn cates]

Russian

Hello Maria. Yes, it's a feminine ending. If I recall my Russian naming systems properly, the female cognomen always takes an "a." So Mrs. Alexeev becomes Alexeeva.

There is also a system with middle names. This was explained to me by a friend, a concert pianist (Alexandre Dossin). He informed me that, a Russian boy takes his father's first name, with modification, as his middle name. So his son's middle name would be "Alexandrovich." Likewise, a girl's middle name would be "Alexandrovna." (He and his wife were about to have their first child.)

Does Fiona read Russian? Not sure, but it would be lovely if she did.

My student produced nothing except a terse, "No. Nothing you would be interested in."

So, what are the chances that you will tackle the intricacies of Cyrillic script and Russian (heh-heh)?

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Hello Lynn.
Yes, I know about Russian patronyms. For people not acquainted with the Russian culture this can be very confusing, because if a clueless American youth reads Dostoyevski for the first time and there's a character named “Boris Andreyev“ and then he gets referred to in dialogue as “Boris Alexeyevitch“ (i.e., Boris Andreyev, son of Alexei Andreyev), then the clueless reader is pretty much lost. At least I've heard such complaints from students reading Russian lit for the very first time.
It would be cool if Fiona read Russian. If not, there's Gareth Williams. There's also my colleague at Oxford who's an experienced Tolstoi translator, and might know someone younger and cheap. I will be communicating with her fairly often in the spring, since she just invited me/accepted me at a conference. The only problem: location, Palo Alto.
I really don't understand your Stanford student's demeanor, esp. since she was payed. Perhaps she was working herself on this project and prefers to keep mum?
Lynn, let us see if there's any further relevant information in the rest of the boxes at the Archives Nationales in Paris. I'm supposed to be there all March/April (until shortly before Easter). Esp. the extra lone box located through the French book that Debra Arif provided to me appears as relevant, and the shelf mark appears genuine. This can be checked out in a few hours (on location).
As for learning Russian à la va vite, Lynn, it might turn out as an interesting project for you, if you were willing to give it a few years, but it's not the script that's the problem, Lynn, it's the language. And the grammar's a total killer. It's much harder than German or Greek. Actually, my mom learned Russian (as a hobby) in 3 years, up to the point where she could read Pushkin poems and Tchechov short stories, but after 10 years of neglecting it, she's lost a lot of it. For someone as quick as you, I would predict that you can manage it in about 2 years.
Might I also confess that a few nights ago (I think it was before Xmas) I had this dream in my sleep where you had sent me to Saint Petersburg for “undercover research“ and I was learning Russian intensely and was illegally reading up the reports of my future Russian bosses (whom I was supposed to double-cross) stolen from some archives. At this point I should mention that I just bought Salt with Angelina Jolie recently, and we keep watching it a lot.

[lynn cates]

sundry

Hello Maria. That's not to mention diminutives, as "Mitya" for "Dmitri." And, yes, Dostoevski confuses the daylights out of mi estudiantes.

Thanks for the kind words, but, yes, the Okhrana archives are better left for Gareth. He could make short work of it.

I think Freud would say you need a break from the Ripper. (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

scooped

Hello All. I have stated elsewhere that I am not an original thinker. Here is a case in point. Seems this Tchitcherine chap (say that 10 times real fast) had a similar idea about the Okhrana.

Wish I could see his results.

(Snippet is from Lloyd's, December 12, 1917.)

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

Tchitcherine

Hello All. Here is a link relating to Tchitcherine's incarceration at Brixton. Paragraph 6 is rather astonishing.

Dates of his "sightings of Tsarist spies" not given. Pity.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/maclean/works/1917-refugees.htm

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

my lord(s)!

Hello All. Here is a link relating to Tchitcherine's incarceration and subsequent swap. Paragraphs 9 & 10 are quite interesting. I believe Bernard Porter discusses this in his book.

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1918/jan/30/treatment-of-russians

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

don't give up

Hello All. Perhaps some day the right trunk will be discovered. Don't give up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11913509

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Hello Lynn,
pertaining to the attachment in your post #205, is “107, Charlotte Street, W.“ located in London, Whitechapel?
Pertaining to the attachment in your post #206, what an assh*le, that Tscharevitch! He killed bears, and small, too. The shot bears look cuddly. Maybe we'll end up identifying Anastasia instead of the Ripper, if we continue in this direction thoroughly.

[mariab]

Lynn Cates wrote:
Hello Maria. That's not to mention diminutives, as "Mitya" for "Dmitri."
Oh yeah, that too. Dmitri, Mitya, Mityenska, “my little pigeon“. (The latter being the standard Russian diminutive/term of endearment. Talking about “pigeonholing“ for the Russians.)

Lynn Cates wrote:
I think Freud would say you need a break from the Ripper. (heh-heh)
Oh man, totally. I've already had 3 Ripperological dreams, and you were majorly involved in the third, as a spymaster, though not present. Still, it was unquestionably more pleasant than the latest nightmare I had this afternoon, where I dreamt for hours that my bank card was malfunctioning and I kept trying to use it and the process kept disrupting. Huh? I think I'm stressed about “New Year's expectations“, plus there's a pretty tricky proposal due yesterday that I'd better take care of later today, if I wanna make the deadline.

[lynn cates]

west

Hello Maria. My take is that the "W" would preclude Whitechapel.

Spymaster? I? Well, sometimes my students think of me as a taskmaster. Close enough? (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

Hello Lynn.
So it's supposed to mean West End?
I HATE tasks. Still haven't done the proposal, but will do it tomorrow.