2000 Reports

Base Superstructures and Technical Difficulties in Maiakovskii's America

Vaingurt, Julia

In Russian the phrase “discovery of America” is an uttered in response to an inane statement, it contains its ironic negation. “Well, you have just discovered America,” although sounding like praise, is in fact a rebuke. It’s precisely the inclusion of both America’s metaphorical and literal meanings that makes this idiom so effectively trenchant. It suggests that the interlocutor has failed to surprise with his new discovery, but also maliciously points to a successful attempt at discovering something new, i.e., America.