Ideals and Realities in Russian Literature - The Anarchist Library

180 Pages·2012·0.97 MB·English

Other poets and novelists of the same
epoch
Ideals and Realities in
Krylóff
Russian Literature
The fable-writer KRYLÓFF (1786–1844) is perhaps the Rus-
sian writer who is best known abroad. English readers know
himthroughtheexcellentworkand translationsof sogreata
connoisseurofRussianliteratureandlanguageasRalstonwas,
Pëtr Kropotkin
andlittlecanbeaddedtowhatRalsonhassaidofthiseminently
originalwriter.
He stands on the boundary between two centuries, and re-
flects both the end of the one and the beginning of the other.
Upto1807,hewrotecomedieswhich,evenmorethantheother
comediesofthetime,weremereimitationsfromtheFrench.It
wasonlyin1807–1809thathefoundhistruevocationandbe-
ganwritingfables,inwhichdomainheattainedthefirstrank,
not only in Russia, but among the fable-writers in all modern
literatures. Many of his fables — at any rate, the best known
ones — are translations from Lafontaine; and yet they are en-
tirely original productions. Lafontaine’s animals are academi-
callyeducatedFrenchgentlemen;eventhepeasantinhisfables
come from Versailles. There is nothing of the sort in Krylóff.
Every animal in his fables is a character — wonderfully true
to life. Nay, even the cadence of his verses changes and takes
a special aspect each time a new animal is introduced — that
heavysimpleton,theBear,orthefineandcunningFox,orthe
versatileMonkey.Krylóffkneweveryoneofthemintimately;
he knew each of their movements, and above all he had no-
ticedandenjoyedlongsinceinhisownselfthehumorousside
of every one of the dwellers of the forests or the companions
of Man, before he undertook to put them in his fables. This is
whyKrylóffmaybetakenasthegreatestfable-writernotonly
1915
ofRussia—wherehehadanottobeneglectedrivalinDMÍTR-
72
andduringoneofthemsheiskidnappedbyaCircassianwho
loves her, and who, on seeing that he cannot escape with her,
killsherwithhisdagger.ForPetchórinthissolutionisalmost
welcome.
A few years later the same Petchórin appears amidst Rus-
sian society in one of the Caucasus watering towns. There he
meets with Princess Mary, who is courted by a young man —
Grushnísky,—asortofCaucasiancaricatureofByron,draped
inamantleofcontemptformankind,butinrealityaveryshal-
low sort of personage. Petchórin, who cares but little for the
PrincessMary,finds,however,asortofwickedpleasureinren-
deringGrushnítskyridiculousinhereyes,andusesallhiswit
tobringthegirltohisfeet.Whenthisisdone,helosesallinter-
estinher.HemakesafoolofGrushnítsky,andwhentheyoung
manprovokeshimtoaduel,hekillshim.Thiswastheheroof
thetime,anditmustbeownedthatitwasnotacaricature.In
asocietyfree fromcareaboutthe meansof living— itwas of
course in serfdom times, under Nicholas I — when there was
nosortofpoliticallifeinthecountry,amanofsuperiorability
veryoftenfoundnoissueforhisforcesbutinsuchadventures
asPetchórin’s.
Itneednotbesaidthatthenovelisadmirablewritten—that
it is full of living descriptions of Caucasus “society”; that the
characters are splendidly delineated, and that some of them,
liketheoldCaptainMaxímMaxímytch,haveremainedliving
typesofsomeofthebestspecimensofmankind.Throughthese
qualitiesTheHeroofourownTime,likeEvghéniyOnyéghin,be-
cameamodelforquiteaseriesofsubsequentnovels.
71
low manifestations of human nature in a way true to reality,
andintheirrealproportions.Moreover,thesimplicityofthese
novels, both as regards their plots and the way the plots are
treated,issimplymarvellous,andinthiswaytheyhavetraced
Contents
the lines upon which the development of Russian novel writ-
inghaseversincebeenpursued.ThenovelsofLérmontoff,of
Hérzen(WhoseFault?),andofTurguéneffandTolstóydescent,
Idaretosay,inamuchmoredirectlinefromPúshkin’snovels Chapter1:TheRussianLanguage 9
thanfromthoseofGógol. TheRussianLanguage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Lérmontoff also wrote one novel in prose, The Hero of our EarlyFolk-Literature:Folk-lore—Songs—Sagas . . 13
OwnTime,ofwhichthehero,Petchórin,wastosomeextenta LayofIgor’sRaid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
realrepresentativeofaportionoftheeducatedsocietyinthose TheAnnals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
yearsofromanticism.Itistruethatsomecriticssawinhimthe MediævalLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
portraiture of the author himself and his acquaintances; but, CorrespondencebetweenJohnIV.andKúrbiskíy . . 25
as Lérmontoff wrote in his preface to a second edition of this SplitintheChurch—MemoirsofAvvakúm . . . . . 27
novel—“Theheroofourowntimeisindeedaportrait,butnot The Eighteenth Century — Peter I. and his contem-
ofonesingleman:itistheportraitofthevicesofourgenera- poraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
tion,”—thebook indicates“theillness fromwhichthis gener- TheTimesofCatherineII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
ationsuffers.” The Freemasons: First Manifestation of Political
Petchórinisanextremelyclever,bold,enterprisingmanwho Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
regards his surroundings with cold contempt. He is undoubt- TheFirstYearsoftheNineteenthCentury . . . . . . 40
edly a superior man, superior to Púshkin’s Onyéghin; but he TheDecembrists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
is,aboveall,anegotistwhofindsnobetterapplicationforhis
Chapter2:Púshkin—Lérmontoff 47
superior capacities than all sorts of mad adventures, always
Púshkin:Beautyofform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
connectedwithlove-making.HefallsinlovewithaCircassian
PúshkinandSchiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
girlwhomheseesatanativefestival.Thegirlisalsotakenby
Hisyouth;hisexile;hislatercareeranddeath . . . 49
thebeautyandthegloomyaspectoftheRussian.Tomarryher
Fairytales:RuslánandLudmíla . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
isevidentlyoutofquestion,becauseherMussulmanrelatives
HisLyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
would never give her to a Russian. Then, Petchórin daringly
“Byronism” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
kidnapsher,withtheaidofherbrother,andthegirlisbrought
Drama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
to the Russian fort, where Petchórin is an officer. For several
EvghéniyOnyéghin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
weeks she only cries and never speaks a word to the Russian,
Lérmontoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
but by and bye she feels love for him. That is the beginning
HisLife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
of the tragedy. Petchórin soon has enough of the Circassian
TheCaucasus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
beauty;hedesertshermoreandmoreforhuntingadventures,
70 3
PoetryofNature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 burgwithaBarrante,thesonoftheFrenchambassador)hewas
InfluenceofShelley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 staying at Pyatigórsk, frequenting the shallow society which
Mtsýri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 usuallycomestogetherinsuchwateringplaces.Hisjokesand
TheDemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 sarcasmsaddressedtoanofficer,Martýnoff,whousedtodrape
Loveoffreedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 himselfinaByronianmantlethebettertocapturetheheartsof
HisDeath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 young girls, led to a duel. Lérmontoff, as he had already done
PúshkinandLérmontoffasProse-Writers . . . . . . 69 inhisfirstduel,shotsidewayspurposely;butMartýnoffslowly
Otherpoetsandnovelistsofthesameepoch . . . . 72 andpurposelytookhisaimsoaseventocallforththeprotest
Krylóff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 oftheseconds—andkilledLérmontoffonthespot.
Theminorpoets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Púshkin and Lérmontoff as Prose-Writers
Chapter3:Gógol 77
LittleRussia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Toward the end of his life Púshkin gave himself more and
NightsonaFarmnearDikónkaandMírgorod . . . . 77
more to prose writing. He began an extensive history of the
Villagelifeandhumour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
peasantuprisingof1773underPugatchóff,andundertookfor
HowIvánIvánovitchquarrelledwithIvánNikíforytch 80
that purpose a journey to East Russia, where he collected, be-
TárásBúlba—TheCloak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
sides public documents, personal reminiscences and popular
TheInspector-General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
traditions relating to this uprising. At the same time he also
Itsinfluence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
wroteanovel,TheCaptain’sDaughter,thesceneofwhichwas
DeadSouls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
laidinthatdisturbedperiod.Thenovelisnotveryremarkable
RealismintheRussiannovel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
initself.True,theportraitsofPugatchóffandofanoldservant,
as well as the description of the whole life in the small forts
Chapter4:Turguéneff—Tolstóy 102
of East Russia, garrisoned at that time by only a few invalid
Turguéneff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
soldiers,areverytruetorealityandbrilliantlypictured;butin
ThemainfeaturesofhisArt . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
thegeneralconstructionofthenovelPúshkinpaidatributeto
Pessimismofhisearlynovels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
the sentimentalism of the times. Nevertheless, The Captain’s
ASportsman’sNoteBook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Daughter, and especially the other prose novels of Púshkin,
Hisseriesofnovelsrepresentingtheleadingtypesof
haveplayedanimportantpartinthehistoryofRussianlitera-
Russiansociety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
ture.ThroughthemPúshkinintroducedintoRussiatherealis-
Rúdin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
ticschool,longbeforeBalzacdidsoinFrance,andthisschool
Lavrétskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
has since that time prevailed in Russian prose-literature. I do
HelenandInsároff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
not mean, of course, Realism in the sense of dwelling mainly
WhyFathersandSonswasmisunderstood . . . . . . 118
upon the lowest instincts of man, as it was misunderstood by
Bazároff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
someFrenchwriters,butinthesenseoftreatingbothhighand
HamletandDonQuixote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4 69
Inspiteofallmyreasoningmaysay; VirginSoil:movementtowardsthepeople . . . . . . 125
VersesinProse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Itsglory,boughtbysheddingstreamsofblood,
Tolstóy—ChildhoodandBoyhood . . . . . . . . . . 127
Itsquietness,sofulloffiercedisdain,
DuringandAftertheCrimeanWar. . . . . . . . . . 129
Andthetraditionsofitsgloomypast Youth,insearchofanideal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Donotawakeinmeahappyvision… Smallstories—TheCossacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Educationalwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
What he loved in Russia was its country life, its plains, the
WarandPeace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
life of its peasants. He was inspired at the same time with
AnnaKareénina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
a deep love towards the natives of the Caucasus, who were
Religiouscrisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
waging their bitter fight against the Russians for their liberty.
HisinterpretationoftheChristianteaching . . . . . 159
HimselfaRussian,andamemberoftwodifferentexpeditions
MainpointsoftheChristianethics . . . . . . . . . . 164
against the Circassians, his heart throbbed nevertheless in
LatestworksofArt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
sympathywiththatbrave,warm-heartedpeopleintheirstrug-
KreutzerSonata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
gleforindependence.Onepoem,Izmsail-Bey,isanapotheosis
Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
of this struggle of the Circassians against the Russians; in
another, one of his best — a Circassian is described as fleeing Chapter5:Goncharóff—Dostoyéskiy—Nekrásoff 172
from the field of battle to run home to his village, and there Goncharóff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
his mother herself repudiates him as a traitor. Another gem Oblómoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
of poetry, one of his shorter poems, Valérik, is considered The Russian Malady of Oblómovism — Is it exclu-
by those who know what real warfare is as the most correct sivelyRussian? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
description of it in poetry. And yet, Lérmontoff disliked war, ThePrecipice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
andheendsoneofhisadmirabledescriptionsoffightingwith Dostoyévskiy—HisfirstNovel . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
theselines: GeneralCharacterofhisWork . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
MemoirsfromaDead-House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
“I thought: How miserable is man! What does he
DowntroddenandOffended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
want?The
CrimeandPunishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
sky is pure, and under it there’s room for all; but
TheBrothersKaramázoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
withoutreason
Nekrásoff—DiscussionsabouthisTalent . . . . . . 193
andnecessity,hisheartisfullofhatred.—Why?” HisLoveofthePeople . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
ApotheosisofWoman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
His Death OtherProse-writersofthesameEpoch . . . . . . . 198
SerghéiAksákoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Hediedinhistwenty-seventhyear.Exiledforasecondtime Dahl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
to the Caucasus (for a duel which he had fought at St Peters- IvanPanaeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
68 5
Hvoschinskaya(V.Krestóvskiy-pseudonyme) . . . . 201 and hatred of mankind; but he always maintained his faith in
PoetsofthesameEpoch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 the higher qualities of man. It was quite natural that in his
Koltsoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 youth — especially in those years of universal reaction, the
Nikitin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 thirties — Lérmontoff should have expressed his discontent
Pleschéeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 with the world in such a general and abstract creation as The
TheAdmirersofPureArt:Tutcheff . . . . . . . . . . 207 Demon. Something similar we find even with Schiller. But
Maykoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 gradually his pessimism took a more concrete form. It was
Scherbina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 not mankind altogether, and still less heaven and earth, that
Polonskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 hedespisedinhislatterproductions,butthenegativefeatures
A.Fet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 of his own generation. In his prose novel, The Hero of our
A.K.Tolstóy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Own Time, in his Thoughts (Duma), etc., he perceived higher
TheTranslators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 ideals,andalreadyin1840—ie,oneyearbeforehisdeath—he
seemedreadytoopenanewpageinhiscreation,inwhichhis
Chapter6:TheDrama 212 powerfully constructive and critical mind would have been
ItsOrigin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 directed towards the real evils of actual life, and real, positive
TheTsarsAlexisandPeterI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 good would apparently have been his aim. But it was at this
Sumarókoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 verymomentthat,likePúshkin,hefellinaduel.
Pseudo-classicalTragedies:Knyazhnín,Ozeroff . . . 215
FirstComedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Love of freedom
TheFirstYearsoftheNineteenthCentury . . . . . . 216
Griboyédoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Lérmontoffwas,aboveall,a“humanist,”—adeeplyhumani-
TheMoscowStage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
tarianpoet.Alreadyattheageoftwenty-three,hehadwritten
Ostróvskiy:“Poverty—NoVice” . . . . . . . . . . . 224
apoemfromthetimesofJohntheTerrible,SongabouttheMer-
TheThunderstorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
chant Kaláshnikoff, which is rightly considered as one of the
Ostróvskiy’slaterDramas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
best gems of Russian literature, both for its powers, its artis-
HistoricalDramas—A.K.Tolstóy. . . . . . . . . . . 240
tic finish, and its wonderful epic style. The poem, which pro-
OtherDramaticWriters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
ducedagreatimpressionwhenitbecameknowninGermany
inBodenstedt’stranslation,isimbuedwiththefiercestspiritof
Chapter7Folk-Novelists 244
revoltagainstthecourtiersoftheTerribleTsar.
TheirPositioninRussianLiterature . . . . . . . . . 244
Lérmontoff deeply loved Russia, but not the official Russia:
TheEarlyFolk-Novelists:Grigoróvitch. . . . . . . . 246
not the crushing military power of a fatherland, which is so
MarkoVovtchók . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
deartotheso-calledpatriots,andhewrote:
Danilévskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
IntermediatePeriod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Ilovemyfatherland;butstrangethatlove,
Kókoreff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
6 67
spread for hundreds of miles round him, and is found a few Písemskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
dayslater,exhausted,notfarfromthemonastery.Hediesfrom Potyékhin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
thewoundswhichhehasreceivedinafightwithaleopard. EthnographicalResearch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
“The grave does not frighten me,” he says to the old monk TheRealisticSchool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
whoattendshim.“Suffering,theysay,goestosleepthereinthe Pomyalóvskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
eternalcoldstillness.ButIregrettopartwithlife…Iamyoung, Ryeshétnikoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
still young…hast thou ever known the dreams of youth? Or Levítoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
hastthouforgottenhowthouoncelovedstandhatedst?Maybe, GlebUspénskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
thisbeautifulworldhaslostfortheeitsbeauty.Thouartweak Zlatovrátskiy and other Folk-Novelists: Naúmoff,
andgrey;thouhastlostalldesires.Nomatter!Thouhastlived Zasódimskiy,Sáloff,Nefédoff . . . . . . . . . . 272
once; thou hast something to forget in this world. Thou hast MaximGórkiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
lived—Imighthavelived,too!”Andhetellsaboutthebeauty
ofthenaturewhichhesawwhenhehadrunaway,hisfrantic Chapter 8: Political Literature, Satire, Art Criti-
joyatfeelingfree,hisrunningafterthelightning,hisfightwith cism,ContemporaryNovelists 289
aleopard.“thouwishesttoknowwhatIdidwhileIwasfree?”— PoliticalLiterature:DifficultiesofCensorship . . . . 289
Ilived,oldman!Ilived!Andmylife,withoutthesethreehappy The“Circles”—WesternersandSlavophiles . . . . . 292
days,wouldhavebeengloomieranddarkerthanthypowerless Political Literature Abroad: Herzen, Ogaryoff,
oldage!”Butitisimpossibletotellallthebeautiesofthispoem. Bakunin,Lavróff,Stepniak . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Itmustberead,andletushopethatagoodtranslationofitwill Tchernyshévskiyand“TheContemporary” . . . . . 306
bepublishedsomeday. TheSatire:Saltykóff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
LiteraryCriticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Byelinskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
The Demon
Dobrolúboff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Písareff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Lérmontoff’s demonism or pessimism was not the pes-
Mihailóvskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
simism of despair, but a militant protest against all that is
Tolstóy’sWhatisArt? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
ignoble in life, and in this respect his poetry has deeply
SomeContemporaryNovelists . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
impressed itself upon all our subsequent literature. His pes-
Oertel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
simism was the irritation of a strong man at seeing others
Korolénko. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
roundhimsoweakandsobase.Withhisinbornfeelingofthe
PresentDriftofLiterature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Beautiful, which evidently can never exist without the True
Merzhkóvskiy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
and the Good, and at the same time surrounded — especially
Boborykin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
in the worldly spheres he lived in, and on the Caucasus — by
Potápenko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
menandwomenwhocouldnotordidnotdaretounderstand
A.P.Tchéhoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
him,hemightofeasilyhavearrivedatapessimisticcontempt
BibliographicalNotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
66 7
a hater of human virtues, he knows these petty passions, and
despises them with all his superiority. The love of this demon
towards a Georgian girl who takes refuge from his love in a
convent, and dies there — what more unreal subject could be
chosen? And yet, on reading the poem, one is struck at every
linebyitsincrediblewealthofpurelyrealistic,concretedescrip-
tionsofscenesandofhumanfeelings,allofthemostexquisite
beauty.ThedanceofthegirlatherGeorgiancastlebeforethe
wedding,theencounterofthebridegroomwithrobbersandhis
death, the galloping of his faithful horse, the sufferings of the
bride and her retirement to a convent, nay , the love itself of
thedemonandeveryoneofthedemon’smovements—thisis
ofthepurestrealisminthehighestsenseoftheword:thatreal-
ism with which Púshkin had stamped Russian literature once
andforall.
Mtsýri
Mtsýri is the cry of a young soul longing for liberty. A boy,
takenfromaCircassianvillage,fromthemountains,isbrought
up in a small Russian monastery. The monks think that they
have killed in him all human passions and longings; but the
dream of his childhood is — be it only once, be it only for a
moment — to see his native mountains where his sisters sang
round his cradle, and to press his burning bosom against the
heart of one who is not a stranger. One night, when a storm
rages and the monks are praying for fear in their church, he
escapesfromthemonastery,andwandersforthreedaysinthe
woods.Foronceinhislifeheenjoysafewmomentsofliberty;
hefeelsalltheenergyandalltheforcesofhisyouth:“Asforme,
Iwaslikeawildbeast,”hesaysafterwards,“andIwasreadyto
fightwiththestorm,thelightning,thetigeroftheforest.”But,
beinganexoticplant,weakenedbyeducation,hedoesnotfind
his way to his native country. He is lost in the forests which
65
Whether he describes the gigantic chain, where the eye loses
itself — her in snow clouds, there in the unfathomable depths
of narrow gorges; or whether he mentions some detail: a
mountainstream,ortheendlesswoods,orthesmilingvalleys
Chapter 1: The Russian
of Georgia covered wit flowers, or the strings of light clouds
floatinginthedrybreezesofNorthernCaucasia,—healways
Language
remains so true to nature that his picture rises before the eye
inlife-colours,andyetitisimbuedwithapoeticalatmosphere
which makes one feel the freshness of these mountains, the
balm of their forests and meadows, the purity of the air. And The Russian Language
allthisiswritteninverseswonderfullymusical.Lérmontoff’s
verses, though not so “easy” as Púshkin’s, are very often OneofthelastmessageswhichTurguéneffaddressedtoRus-
even more musical. They sound like a beautiful melody. The sianwritersfromhisdeath-bedwastoimplorethemtokeepin
Russianlanguageisalwaysrathermelodious,butintheverses itspurity“thatpreciousinheritanceofours—theRussianLan-
ofLérmontoffitbecomesalmostasmelodiousasItalian. guage.”Hewhoknewinperfectionmostofthelanguagesspo-
keninWesternEuropehadthehighestopinionofRussianasan
instrumentfortheexpressionofallpossibleshadesofthought
Influence of Shelley
andfeeling,andhehadshowninhiswritingswhatdepthand
force of expression, and what melodiousness of prose, could
The intellectual aspect of Lérmontoff is nearer to Shelley
be obtained in his native tongue. In his high appreciation of
than to any other poet. He was deeply impressed by the au-
Russian, Turguéneff — as will often be seen in these pages
thorofPrometheusBound;buthedidnottrytoimitateShelley.
— was perfectly right. The richness of the Russian language
In his earliest productions he did indeed imitate Púshkin and
in words is astounding: many a word which stands alone for
Púshkin’sByronism;butheverysoonstruckalineofhisown.
theexpressionofagivenideainthelanguagesofWesternEu-
Allthatcanbesaidis,thatthemindofLérmontoffwasdisqui-
rope has in Russian three or our equivalents for the render-
etedbythesamegreatproblemsofGoodandEvilstrugglingin
ingofthevariousshadesofthesameidea.Itisespeciallyrich
thehumanheart,asintheuniverseatlarge,whichdisquieted
for rendering various shades of human feeling, — tenderness
Shelley.LikeShelleyamongthepoets,andlikeSchopenhauer
andlove,sadnessandmerriment —asalsovarious degreesof
among the philosophers, he felt the coming of that burning
thesameaction.Itspliabilityfortranslationissuchthatinno
needofarevisionofthemoralprinciplesnowcurrent,sochar-
otherlanguagedowefindanequalnumberofmostbeautiful,
acteristic of our own times. He embodied these ideas in two
correct, and truly poetical renderings of foreign authors. Po-
poems,TheDemonandMtsýri,whichcompleteeachother.The
etsofthemostdiversecharacter,suchasHeineandBéranger,
leadingideaofthefirstisthatofafiercesoulwhichhasbroken
LongfellowandSchiller,ShelleyandGoethe—tosaynothing
withbothearthandheaven,andlookswithcontemptuponall
of that favourite with Russian translators, Shakespeare — are
whoaremovedbypettypassions.Anexilefromparadiseand
equally well turned into Russian. The sarcasm of Voltaire, the
64 9
rollicking humour of Dickens, the good-natured laughter of from the Steppes scores of miles away, and the immensity of
Cervantes are rendered with equal ease. Moreover, owing to the chain produces an impression which is equalled nowhere
the musical character of the Russian tongue, it is wonderfully in Europe. Moreover, a half-tropical vegetation clothes moun-
adapted for rendering poetry in the same metres as those of tainslopes,wherethevillagesnestle,withtheirsemi-military
the original. Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” (in two different trans- aspect and their turrets, basking in all the gorgeous sunshine
lations, both admirable), Heine’s capricious lyrics, Schindler’s of the East, or concealed in he dark shadows of the narrow
ballads,themelodiousfolk-songsofdifferentnationalities,and gorges,andpopulatedbyaraceofpeopleamongthemostbeau-
Béranger’splayfulchansonnettes,readinRussianwithexactly tiful of Europe. Finally, at the time Lérmontoff was there the
thesamerhythmsasintheoriginals.Thedesperatevagueness mountaineerswerefightingagainsttheRussianinvaderswith
of German metaphysics is quite as much at home in Russian unabated courage and daring for each valley of their native
as the matter-of-fact style of the eighteenth century philoso- mountains.
phers; and the short, concrete and expressive, terse sentences
of the best English writers offer no difficulty for the Russian
Poetry of Nature
translator.
TogetherwithCzechandPolish,Moravian,SerbianandBul-
All these natural beauties of the Caucasus have been re-
garian, as also several minor tongues, the Russian belongs to
flected in Lérmontoff’s poetry, in such a way that in no other
thegreatSlavonianfamilyoflanguageswhich,initsturn—to-
literature are there descriptions of nature so beautiful, or so
getherwiththeScandinavo—SaxonandtheLatinfamilies,as
impressiveandcorrect.Bodenstedt,hisGermantranslatorand
also the Lithuanian, the Persian, the Armenian, the Georgian
personalfriend,whoknewtheCaucasuswell,wasquiteright
—belongstothegreatIndo-European,orAryanbranch.Some
in observing that they are worth volumes of geographical
day—soon,letushope:thesoonerthebetter—thetreasures
descriptions. The reading of many volumes about the Cau-
ofboththefolk-songspossessedbytheSouthSlavoniansand
casus does not add any concrete features to those which are
the many centuries old literature of the Czechs and the Poles
impresseduponthemindbyreadingthepoemsofLérmontoff.
will be revealed to Western readers. But in this work I have
Turguéneff quotes somewhere Shakespeare’s description of
to concern myseif only with the literature of the Eastern, i.e.,
the sea as seen from the cliffs of Dover (in King Lear), as a
the Russtan, branch of the great Slavonian family; and in this
masterpiece of objective poetry dealing with nature. I must
branch I shall have to omit both the South-Russian or Ukraï-
confess, however, that the concentration of attention upon
nian literature and the White or West-Russian folk-lore and
small details in this description does not appeal to my mind.
songs.IshalltreatonlyoftheliteratureoftheGreat-Russians;
It gives no impression of the immensity of the sea as seen
or, simply, the Russians. Of all the Slavonian languages theirs
from the Dover cliffs, nor of the wonderful richness of colour
is the most widely spoken. It is the language of Púshkin and
displayed by the waters on a sunny day. No such reproach
Lermontoff,TurguéneffandTolstóy.
could ever be made against Lérmontoff’s poetry of nature.
Like all other languages, the Russian has adopted many
Bodenstedt truly says that Lérmontoff has managed to satisfy
foreign words Scandinavian, Turkish, Mongolian and lately,
at the same time both the naturalist and the lover of art.
Greek and Latin. But notwithstanding the assimilation of
10 63