concept
Burbot
burbot
also: налим, eelpout, lota lota
The burbot (nalim) is a freshwater cod-like fish that lurks in burrows and under snags on river bottoms, prized in Russian folk cuisine especially for its liver; its reputation as maddeningly slippery and hard to grip by hand is the whole comic engine of the story bearing its name.
Reading notes
- The Burbot §24 burbot
Nalim (burbot, Lota lota) is a freshwater fish related to the cod, nocturnal and bottom-dwelling, that hides in burrows, under snags, and in riverbank hollows -- exactly the trait that makes it maddeningly hard to extract by hand and gives the story its comic premise.
- A Fishy Business §18 The Burbot
The burbot (nalim) here stands for the low-ranking, apathetic petty official or clerk -- sluggish, resigned, indifferent to everything, offering no protest even when hauled out to answer for himself. Compare the burbot's role as prey in the story "Nalim" (see crossrefs).
- A Fishy Business §18 theater box-office clerk
The comparison to a театральный кассир (theater ticket-clerk) -- a low, sedentary, unglamorous municipal-adjacent post -- reinforces the burbot's identification with the passive petty bureaucrat.
- The Malefactor §16 a roach, a pike, a burbot
Denis names the fish that go for bottom-cast bait: окунь (perch, rendered here as 'roach'), щука (pike), and налим (burbot, nalim) -- all bottom-feeders that need a weighted line, unlike the surface-feeders he goes on to name.