The story of Lieutenant Yergunov

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Ivan Turgenev in 1859

The Story of Lieutenant Jergunow ( Russian История лейтенанта Ергунова , Istorija leitenanta Jergunowa ) is a novella by the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev , written in 1867 and published in 1868 in the January issue of Moscow's Russky Westnik (vol. 73).

In 1869 it was translated into German under the title The Adventure of Lieutenants Jergunow by E. Behre in Mitau .

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The late Lieutenant Kusma Wassiljewitsch Jergunow had told his story almost every month in his circle of friends during his lifetime. The anonymous narrator, who has always loved to listen, is very well informed. The story happened in the spring of around 1825 in Nikolayev , when the then 25-year-old nobleman Jergunow had served in the Navy as a lieutenant and had supervised some port construction on their behalf. This service in the 19th Black Sea crew meant that Jergunow often had to handle large sums of cash. Reliable, cautious Jergunov always carried the banknotes in a leather belt on his body. For all his excellent character traits, this officer’s affection for two pretty young girls was undoing. A certain robber Luigi from Bucharest had stolen the cash and cut Yergunov from one ear to the other. Jergunov survived. In detail, the story had happened as follows:

When Jergunow is on his way to his apartment after work in Nikolajew, the allegedly 19-year-old beautiful Friederike Bengel from Breslau lures him into the dwelling of her aunt, Madam Fritsche. Friederike, one of Luigi's “employees”, pretends that she is Emilie Karlowna from Riga and that she is visiting her aunt, who is also from Riga. It's all a lie - Madam Fritsche is Mrs. Schmulke, has rented her apartment for a limited time and is also in cahoots with Luigi. Friederike bewitches Jergunow; calls him Florestan. When the trusting lieutenant once, exhausted from duty, rests on the sofa with Friederike for a while, the skilful seamstress unties his money belt for a few centimeters. However, Jergunow wakes up to the secret tailoring work, but does not become suspicious.

Luigi then pulls out a second gun. Friederike is taken out of the race. Luigi brought the slim little hummingbird with him from Bucharest; allegedly the 17-year-old sister of Friederike. Jergunow can now be wrapped up by the Romanian . Kolibri stuns the lieutenant with a cup of poisoned coffee. In his intoxication, Jergunow says that he is going to the wedding of his new future, the Turkish Kolibri, in Tsargrad .

The lieutenant was robbed by Luigi, "murdered" and left lying in the bushes two kilometers behind Nikolayev on the highway to Kherson . Jergunow is found by a shepherd the day after the crime and survives Luigi's terrible cut mentioned above. After five weeks of unconsciousness, the lieutenant came to on July 22nd. The gang of criminals flew out on June 20, a few days after the crime, and was no longer seen in Nikolayev. However, much later Friederike had written her “incomparable” Florestan a letter from Breslau and assured the naval lieutenant of her everlasting love.

German-language editions

Output used:

  • The story of the lieutenant Jergunow , S. 287–331 in: Iwan Turgenew: Gesammelte Werke. Vol. 5. Novellas. Edited and translated from the Russian by Johannes von Guenther. 365 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1952

Web links

annotation

  1. ↑ In the same issue, by the way, Dostoyevsky began to publish his idiot (Russian The Idiot, Part 1, Chapters 1-7 ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Russian. The Story of Lieutenant Jergunow Note 1 (Примечания)
  2. ↑ Mitauer Edition 1869, pp. 155–212 (translator not specified)