had seen tiger tracks,” Borisova recalled in her kitchen, next to a
monolithic Russian stove made of crumbling concrete. “I would say,
‘You have to be more careful out there,’ and he would say, ‘Why should I
be afraid of her? She should be afraid of me!’ ”
- After studying the files of Stalin’s political prisoners, historian Roy
Medvedev concluded that 200,000 people were imprisoned for telling
jokes.^2
- When addressing or referring to elders and other respected persons in
Russia, it is customary to use the patronymic without the last name, e.g.,
“Boris Ivanovich”—literally, “Boris son of Ivan.”