Astapovo 1910〈孤寂・一九一０〉(楊牧)

Astapovo


When Tolstoy fell ill while traveling south by train, his daughter Aleksandra and doctor Makovitskii decided that they should cease their journey. They deboarded at Astapovo, a remote transfer station which offered little in the way of facilities. The station master Ivan Ozolin allowed the writer and his entourage to stay in his home, eventually moving out of it completely in order to better accommodate them. 

Ivan Ozolin became a national hero for his generosity. He not only gave up his home, but rendered any assistance needed with great kindness.


There were no inns at Astapovo, so sleeper cars were brought in to accommodate the family and others attending Tolstoy’s bedside. The latter included doctors, secret agents sent by the government, priests commissioned by the church, and a small battalion of reporters, photographers, and cinematographers. 



The telegraph operators at Astapovo. The number of transmissions was so high that additional machinery and operators were brought to the station. The collected telegrams from Astapovo were subsequently published by the Soviets in a 1928 edition commemorating the writer’s birth centennial. The intention behind the publication was to show how the Tsarist government had plotted behind the scenes at Astapovo to control any political or religious message that might be conveyed.



Ilya Tolstoy and his mother at Astapovo.


The room in Ozolin’s apartment where Tolstoy lived his last days. It was rearranged in order to mimic the space of Tolstoy’s own room, so that he might feel more comfortable. Pillows were brought from the family home to assure that he would be comfortable. The room has been preserved as it was at that time, and is open to the public as part of the museum at Astapovo station.



One of the most intriguing photographs from Astapovo. Aleksandra appears to be leaving or entering Ozolin’s home, speaking with her brother, mother, and her mother’s nurse. They are apparently laughing at something--a sharp contrast to the story that was told in the papers of a family in conflict and crisis. It bears remembering that the family, even as they gathered at the door barring Sofia Andreevna from seeing her husband, would have had cause to laugh--perhaps at the absurd scene around them, in which their every word was being captured for transmission by telegraph around the world. 




今天讀到某報導，說[戰爭與和平]出刊150周年。想溫習一下四十七年讀過此書漢譯本的滋味......
盤點一下，War and Peace By Leo Tolstoy/Tolstoi
托爾斯泰同意的翻譯者：.Translators: Louise and Aylmer Maude
我有Norton版和Oxford World Classics 版：網路版
告訴研究pun的朋友，發現"假牙"的雙關語： (順便了解"假牙"史.....)
No, but imagine the old Countess Zubova, with false curls and her mouth full of false teeth, as if she were trying to cheat old age.... Ha, ha,ha! Mary!"
OXFORD版注解： zun in Russia means "teeth".