concept
"Животная любовь" (creaturely love) pun
creaturely love pun
also: животная любовь, creaturely love
An entry in Chekhov's "A Glossary for Young Ladies" inverting the ordinarily pejorative phrase \emph{животная любовь} ("animal/bestial love," i.e. base or purely physical love) into a gentle joke: an old maid's fondness for her pets (\emph{животные}, creatures) is mock-defined as "creaturely love."
Reading notes
- A Glossary for Young Ladies §9 creaturely love
\emph{Животное} means "animal"/"creature," and \emph{животная любовь} is the ordinary Russian phrase for base, bestial, or purely physical love (as opposed to spiritual love) -- so the joke inverts the phrase's usual pejorative charge: here it just means an old maid's fondness for her pets. "Creaturely love" is a coinage to keep the same double meaning (love \emph{for} creatures / a debased, animal-level love) legible in English.