Police

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Lev Tolstoy in the 1860s

Polikei , also Polikuschka ( Russian Поликушка , Polikuschka ), is a story by Lev Tolstoy , which was written in 1862 and appeared in the February 1863 issue of the Moscow Russki Westnik . The censorship of the Russian Empire did not reveal any deficiencies in the text . The story is based on a true story that one of Mikhail Alexandrovich Dondukov-Korsakov's daughters told the author in March 1861 in Brussels . While Turgenew welcomed the story enthusiastically, it was rejected by Fet from a purely artistic point of view. Alexander Akimovich Schoenberg filmed the story in 1919 and Carmine Gallone in 1958 with Folco Lulli in the title role. Radio plays with the title Polikuschka were produced in German-speaking countries - in 1956 by Wolfgang Schwade and in 1961 by Jörg Franz . In 1958 the story was filmed as Polikuschka .

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The clever Yegor Mikhailovich has been carefully managing the estate of his mistress Avdotja Nikolayevna in the village of Pokrovskoye for two decades. Pokrovskoye is said to provide three young men for military service. Two have been determined by name. It's about the third man. Perhaps one of the three young Dutlofs could be considered. Yegor Michailowitsch wants to spare the Dutlow family and recommends the drinker Polikei Ilyich. Because the "Roßarzt" Polikei is decried as a thief by the farmers in the village. Avdotja Nikolaevna, who knows and values ​​Polikei's gentleness, rejects the proposal. And anyway, how is Polikei's wife Akulina going to get along with the five children on her own? Yegor Mikhailovich, who has long since given up contradicting himself in dialogue with his mistress, knows. Avdotja Nikolajewna has devoured the submissive, tearful police and his ragged children. The manager thinks: 'Avdotja Nikolaevna never comes up with the obvious idea of ​​finding a replacement for 300 rubles'. He goes to the already impatient community meeting and informs the mistress of the decision. Police are not to be raised. Ilya Dutlow is appointed for the recruitment.

The landlady wants to prove how trustworthy Polikei is and sends him overland alone. He is supposed to collect a large sum of money. Police obeyed and on the way back lost the envelope with the 1617 rubles in banknotes. Polikei no longer likes to face the mistress. He hangs himself in the attic of his poor dwelling. Akulina is going out of her mind. Semjon Dutlow, the uncle of the dug Ilya, found the envelope with 1617 rubles on the street and gave it to the mistress. Avdotja Nikolajewna, who has long known about Polikei's suicide and Akulina's mental confusion, does not want the money and forces it on the honest finder. Now Semyon Dutlow has a bad conscience. Why didn't he send either of his two sons to the military? Semjon's brother had been picked up at a young age. Semyon had promised his brother on his deathbed that he would look after Ilya. Is that what duty of care looks like ? Semyon Dutlow finds a substitute with the help of the administrator Yegor Mikhailovich and buys the nephew free for 400 rubles.

German-language editions

  • Polikushka. German by Gisela Drohla . P. 5–79 in: Gisela Drohla (Ed.): Leo N. Tolstoj. All the stories. Fourth volume. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (2nd edition of the edition in eight volumes 1982)

Web links

Remarks

  1. The silent film was brought to the screen in Germany in March 1923 as a Soviet film premiere by the International Workers Aid .
  2. Around 1862 the local authorities selected the recruits. A soldier had to serve in the Imperial Russian Army for 15 years; he could be represented by a steward ( Russian Empire , at Pierer Altenburg, 1862 under recruiting ).
  3. The narrator from the educated Russian upper class portrays the “horse doctor” as a bad quack who doesn't even know where he learned his “craft”.

Individual evidence

  1. Russian Михаил Александрович Дондуков-Корсаков (1820–1869)
  2. Russian comments on Polikuschka at tolstoy-lit.ru
  3. Source: ru: Поликушка # Критика
  4. Russian Александр Акимович Санин
  5. Silent film ru: Поликушка (фильм) - Polikushka
  6. Russian Владимир Яковлевич Линков, entry at istina.msu.ru in 2016