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Slavic Review have not been given the kind of elucidation that will open them up, if not "solve" them once and for all. But surely it is one mark of a first-rate book that the reader finds himself hoping for more, as he does here. Fanger's Gogol, like Gippius's, is indispensable to anyone, professional Slavicist or not, who is intrigued and puzzled not only by the "Gogol' problem," but by the "Russian problem" as well and by the workings of literature at large.

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East EuropeanLanguages is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal.One of the stylistically most prominent passages in Pu'kin's "The Queen of Spades" ("Pikovaja dama," 1834) is the description in chapter III of Germann's stealthy invasion of the old countess's home in quest of the secret of the three cards. There is a markedly sinister quality to this passage in its tone and in the connotations of its carefully arranged words and phrases. There is great suspense as Germann, trembling like a tiger, waits in the wet snowy street, consults his watch beneath the streetlamps, stares keenly as the old countess and Lizaveta Ivanovna depart for the ball, and then makes his way past the sleeping servant into the dark interior of the house. The passage contains many of the tale's most intriguing symbols, and the interior accoutrementthe eighteenth-century furnishings of the old woman's once fashionable life, sixty years beforehas been cited as a key to the tale's spirit of the times.' The passage has also been marked out as one of the tale's "ritualistic" interludesa symbolic violation of the sanctity of a Masonic temple with its striking clocks, winding staircases, flickering lamps, and symmetrically arranged furniture.2 Especially notable for these stylistic characteristics is the latter part of the passage describing the old countess's boudoir: HepeU KHIBOTOM, HanTIOHeHHblM CTapHHHbIMH 06pa3aMH, TenncJnacb 3OJnoTa5I rTaMriaa. HIoJIHH5IJhIbe mUTO4Hbie Kpecna HI IBaiabit c nyXOBbIMH noaymKaMHI, C comueatue II 030onOTO1, CTOIJIH B IneqaJIbHOR CiMmeTpHH OKOnJO CTeH, O4TbIX KHTafiCKHMH 060HMH. Ha creHe BHceJH ,ABa nopTpeTa, rHcaHHbIe B fnaprKe Me Lebrun. OaHH H3 HHX H3o6pacanJ MyNCqHHy nJeT copoKa, pyMHHOrO HI nOnHOrO, B CBeTIO3eJIeHOM MyHaHpe H cCO 3Be3nofI; ApyroH MononyoI KpacasBHUy c OplIHHbIM HOCOM, C 3aqeCaHHbIMH BICKaMI H C po030o B riyapeHHb X BOJIocax. Ho BceM yrnaM Topan4H pap4boposBie nacTymKHI, CTonoBble qacbi pa6oTbl cnaBHoro Leroy, KopoGOYKH, pyneTKH., eepa I pa3Hbre aaMcKie HrrpymKiI, H3o6peTeHHbie a KOHLIe MHHyBImefo CTOJeTCxTI BMeCTe c MOHrOJIbnbepoBbIM mapoM m MecMeposbIM MarHeTH3MOM.3This part of the passage is also significant because it contains a series of curious anagrams. Through a process of morphological metathesis and transposition it is possible to form new words all of which are pertinent to the tale's card terminology.4 From the adjective FARfoROvye, for example, it is quite easy to form the word faro (far ro), the card game on which the SEEJ, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1977) 455 This content downloaded from 195.34.78.148 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:49:59 PM All use ...