Versta (verst)

Reading notes

• An Actor's Doom §26 тысяча пятьсот верст

  A verst (versta) is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of distance, roughly 1.07 km (0.66 mi); fifteen hundred versts is about 1,600 km, an exaggeration of Vyazma's real distance from most southern-Russian touring circuits, used here to stress its unreachability.

• A Long Tongue §14 versts

  A verst (верста) is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of distance, roughly 1.07 kilometers (two-thirds of a mile) -- Natalya's 'three or four versts' locates the incident a short but real distance up the mountain trail from Yalta.

• The Poison §3 ten versts' distance

  A versta (verst) is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of distance equal to about 1.07 kilometers (roughly two-thirds of a mile); 'ten versts' is a comic exaggeration for how conspicuously Lysov's affected mannerisms mark him as a self-styled idealist.

• Thou and You §31 twenty-three versts

  A versta (verst) is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of distance, roughly 1.07 kilometers (0.66 miles). Filaretov's insistence on being reimbursed for the hired horse that carried him the twenty-three versts to the hearing runs through the story as his one consistent, practical concern, bracketing the whole comic scene at both ends.

• The Mirror §26 двадцать пять верст

  A verst (verstá) is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of distance equal to about 1.07 km (roughly two-thirds of a mile); the twenty-five and forty-verst distances Nelly cites underline just how sparse and far-flung rural medical coverage was, with the nearest alternative doctor nearly a full day's round trip away.