American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

The Short Story in Russia: 1900-1917 by Nicholas LukerReview by: George MihaychukThe Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 106-107Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/308628 .

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106 Slavic and East European Journal

beregov ottizny dal'noj." Pu'kin's meditative elegies artistically address a vivid combination of life's phenomena and nature as well as the philosophic depths of existence. At this time the "sunny" Pu'kin composes one of the gloomiest poems "Ja pereiil svoi meitan'ja" and one of his most intimate pieces "Ne daj mne bog sojti s uma."

In the course of this examination, Grigor'jan proves a salient point-that Pu'kin wrote elegies to the end of his life,-and the scholar follows their evolution under the poet's pen. With his vast erudition and profound scholarly observations Grigor'jan adds considerably to scholarship on Pu'kin and bridges an important gap involving the Russian elegy in particular. To be sure, studies addressing a specific poetic genre are invaluable both to scholarship and to teaching. This fine study is enhanced by two useful indices: one of Pu'kin's works mentioned in it and another of names.

Sonia I. Ketchian, Russian Research Center, Harvard University

Nicholas Luker, ed. The Short Story in Russia: 1900-1917. Nottingham: Astra Press, 1991. xvi, 182 pp. (paper).

This volume of eight articles centers on the realist prose of 4exov, Jugkevi6, Kuprin, Gor'kij, Andreev, Arcyba'ev, Bunin, and Remizov (the exception). Not bound by a specific theme, the articles address a variety of topics from genre issues to questions of literary traditions and contexts. One of the outstanding features of the collection is the broad contexts provided for the discussions of specific stories that reward the reader with well-argued and generally substantive conclusions.

The first article is by Gordon McVay who examines (exov's last two stories, "Arxierej" (1902) and "Nevesta" (1903) and draws parallels between their theme of searching and (exov's own biography. He argues that the main character of each story, the bishop and Nadja, both seek to escape their insular surroundings by establishing communion with the world outside. McVay acknowledges differing interpretations of these two stories (citing Nilsson on "Arxierej" and Jackson on "Nevesta") but concludes nonetheless that both are balanced "between opti- mism and pessimism" (13). Ambiguity and open-endedness are indisputably characteristic of

(exov's prose, but perhaps a case for tipping the balance could be made. In her wide-ranging article, Ruth Rischin discusses the Dubnovian subtext in "Kabattik

Gejman" (1900) by Russian-Jewish writer Semen Ju'keviE and in Kuprin's "Zidovka" (1904). Both stories engage in a critical refashioning of Russian-Jewish historian Semen Dubnov's notion of the Jews as an eternal people. In Ju'keviE the polyphonic debate among a disenfranchised group of Odessa Jews serves to discredit the acceptance of suffering as escap- ist. In "Zidovka," even while affirming the "eternal people" motif, Kuprin aesthetisizes social contrasts and thus ultimately questions Dubnov's hope for national tolerance. The divergent views illustrate the efforts to determine the spiritual role of the Jews that found resonance in Russian cultural, social, and literary spheres in the early 1900s.

Greta Slobin's article on Zavetnye skazki (1906-1912, pub. 1920) and Vstredi (1945-48) explores Remizov's interest in the verbal expression of sexuality through the ages. She sug- gests two reasons for Remizov's interest in such marginal literary material: 1) his efforts to recover earlier literary forms and to revise the literary canon, which Slobin illustrates by establishing ties between Zavetnye skazki and Pushkin, Gnostic Gospels, folk tales, and 1001 Nights, and 2) to reestablish links to medieval laughter and introduce it into a modern context. The latter point utilizes laughter's potential as a subversive force that plays with social taboos (a foreshadowing of Baxtin's notion of carnival) and thus becomes a means for transgression, an act Remizov believed necessary for the regeneration and self-definition of art.

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Reviews 107

In his thoughtful article Andrew Barratt examines the hostile reception of "T'ma" (1907) by Gor'kij and the progressive critics within a biographical, literary-polemical, and literary- historical framework. Barratt attributes Gor'kij's negative response to personal and political differences with Andreev that arose over the direction of Znanie and to the influence of Luna'arskij and Bogdanov. Barratt argues that the decision by the hero of "T'ma," a revolu- tionary terrorist, to leave the movement, after a Dostoevskian confrontation with a prostitute unmasks his self-sacrifice as ratiocinations, is not a betrayal of the revolutionary cause as Gor'kij maintained but a challenge to the radicals, attacking their assumptions about progres- sive heroes enlightening the people.

Arcyba'ev's virtually unknown Etjudy (1910) contains his essay "O smerti 4exova," and 10 stories, 6 of which do not appear anywhere else perhaps, suggests Nicholas Luker, because of their deeply political character. All ten stories present "characters in extremis" (125) and are marked by Arcyba'ev's characteristic sharp contrasts and dramatic collisions, but, Luker insists, their simplicity of structure and density lend them power, despite occasional lapses. The stories dealing with injustice and civil unrest of the early 1900s are especially significant because they show Arcyba'ev's commitment to social justice and thus place him in the main- stream of the Russian 19th century prose tradition.

Julian Connolly's article systematically examines the role of three types of inserted texts in Bunin's fiction-excerpts from folk songs or poetry; religious passages; and excerpts from diaries or letters. Texts of the first category give voice to a character's inchoate feelings and convey an atmosphere of suffering, anxiety, or sadness as Connolly illustrates in Derevnja (1909-1910), where inserted texts signal the destructive conflict approaching Russian society. Texts of the second category deepen a character's awareness of large existential or metaphysi- cal questions, and texts of the third category serve to explain enigmatic behavior or to illuminate the struggles of the human soul. Bunin's wish to give expression to the mysterious depths of life indicates the importance of inserted texts in his poetics, for it is precisely this multi-voiced discourse that penetrates the opaque surface of reality.

In his insightful article James Woodward examines Bunin's concept of the symphonic and his affinity with the modernists, with whom Bunin shared a loss of faith in reason and an emphasis on the primacy of feeling. These traits are reflected in his emphasis on the magical word born of a subjective emotional response and in his belief that man is controlled by impersonal forces (social, metaphysical, irrational) that defy his control. The subjectivity of an intimate I in the early Bunin is later expressed in the implicity underlying vison of life that orders the variations, transitions, rhythms, and repetitions that constitute the "harmonies" and "discords" in the texts, a point cogently illustrated through Woodward's analysis of "Gospodin iz San-Francisko" (1915). The central paradox in Bunin remains the contrast between the modernist subjectivity of his vision and the realistic details used in the description of scenes, especially nature.

In his detailed article on Gorkij's Russkie skazki (1912) and Skazki ob Italii (1912, 1913, 1915) Barry Scherr examines their composition and Gor'kij's choice of the term skazki, chosen despite the dearth of folktale elements in both cycles. He writes that Gorkij's intention was to teach and stir the Russian reader to action against the existing order through satire and, in the case of Skazki ob Italii, by inspirational example, an intention evident in the publication history and the composition of the cycles. The form of these miniatures shows the extent of Gor'kij's departure from conventional genres and the inadequacy of existing terms to describe them.

The range of the articles in this collection illustrates the vitality and diversity of the realist prose of this period, a period overshadowed by the rise of Modernism, and the need for a more careful look at neglected issues. This volume has made an excellent start.

George Mihaychuk, Georgetown University

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