pronouncing russian

[Zachary Haberer]

> I don't know a thing about russian, and as far as I know, this question 
> has never come up here, so how do you pronounce "Tchitcherine"?  

[Chi-CHER-in] 
Stress falls on the middle syllable.

> Considering how much Pynchon enjoys puns and juvenille humor, my best 
> guess is something like "shit urine" or "shit you're in" but I have no 
> idea if this is consistent with russian pronunciation.  Also, if anyone 
> knows if the name has a meaning, I'd be curious about that as well.

The above is how a Russian would read Tchitcherine, which is not to 
say Pynchon saw it that way.  Maybe he did have some kind of pun in 
mind, but if so, it's too obscure for me.  Checking my Russian 
dictionary, I found no logical roots for [chicherin] as a normal 
word. 

My guess is he just found the name in a history book and liked its 
look.  Does Pynchon "acknowledge" this borrowing by denying any relation 
to Lenin's foreign minister? (thanks to Larson/Duyfhuizen for the 
reference.)

As for Seven-River's country, it's in Kirgizia/Kirgizstan-- local
geography during Tchitcherine's linguistic assignment.  I doubt
there's a link to Vineland there (though I'd like to visit). 
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Zachary Haberer                                         
IFC International, Inc-- Moscow, Russia
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