Why does it seem that everyone in Crime and Punishment has, like, two different names? Dunia, for example, is also referred to as Avodita Romanovna...??? Is Dunia a nickname, or is there something else I'm not getting?
And also, why does it seem everyone has the same name. I'm pretty sure more than one character has Ivanova as some part of their name.
It takes me a good 3 minutes and 4 re-readings, but I eventually figure everything out. Its a good thing I like this book or I may start to resent it for being so darn confusing. Actually, those things really aren't that confusing in the grand scheme of things. I just needed some clarification.
-mr
Out of Sheer Curiosity...
16 years ago
1 comment:
Well what you have to remember is this is traditionally a Russian novel therefore it does seem Dostoyevsky used and the tradition is kept by the translator...Russian name schemes which differ from American...
There is:
--The given name: Which is like a first name in America.
--Family name which is like the last name, but can differ based upon gender (Ivanov and Ivanova) which are variants on the same family name.
Here is the different part:
The Patronymic name:
This is not the middle name, but instead is a modified version of the father's name...this can be combined with the given name to form a complex name for formality or be shortened to create a "nickname" or informal greeting.
Which version is being said lies in the suffix which if you are realllly interested you can look up the suffixes online.
Hopefully that clears things up a bit..
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