Russian difference

The theme of Russian difference is touched lightly upon in the first pages of The Idiot: "Но что годилось и вполне удовлетворяло в Италии, то оказалось не совсем пригодным в России." - "But what was proper and quite satisfactory in Italy, turned out to be not entirely suitable to Russia". The comic lightness of touch in the phrasing "не совсем пригодным" is delightful: the polite understatement also carries within it some of the mockery that animates Rogozhin.