Russian Literature in Exile: The Life and Work of Gajto Gazdanov

241 Pages·3.937 MB·English

by  Diemes L.

Slavistische Beiträge ∙ Band 154
(eBook - Digi20-Retro)

László Dienes

Russian Literature
in Exile

The Life and Work of Gajto Gazdanov

Verlag Otto Sagner München ∙ Berlin ∙ Washington D.C.

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S B
l a v i s t i c h e e i t r ä g e
BEGRÜNDET VON
ALOIS SCHMAUS
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON
JOHANNES HOLTHUSEN HEINRICH KUNSTMANN
PETER REHDER■JOSEF SCHRENK
REDAKTION
PETER REHDER
Band 154
VERLAG OTTO SAGNER
• •
MÜNCHEN
00050435
LÁSZLÓ DIENES
RUSSIAN LITERATURE IN EXILE:
THE LIFE AND WORK OF GAJTO GAZDANOV
VERLAG OTTO SAGNER • MÜNCHEN
1982
Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek
München
ISBN 3-87690-223*1
© Verlag Otto Sagner, München 1982
Abteilung der Firma Kubon & Sagner, München
Druck: UNI-Druck, München

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To Klara, Claire and Theo
Lingua amoris, caeteris barbara.
Печальная доля - так сложно,
Так трудно и празднично жить,
и стать достояньем доцента,
И критиков новых плодить...
(A. Blok)
(Depressing fate: to live a life
So complex, hard and festive
Only to end as young don's prey
And serve to breed new critics...
(tr. S. Hackel)

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PREFACE
This book is a revised, updated but also considerably abridged
version of the author's doctoral dissertation written at Harvard
University and completed in 1977. Interested readers should con-
suit the original dissertation for numerous further details as well
as for its significantly more extensive documentation which it was
impossible to reproduce here. As it is offered here, the present
work attempts to provide a comprehensive, although by no means ex-
haustive, monographic study of the life and work of Gajto Gazdanov.
It is intended not only for the specialist in Russian emigre litera-
ture but also for the general reader interested in Russian or con-
temporary or emigre literatures. How we decided to accomplish our
task is explained in the "Introduction”. Here we should perhaps
say a few words on what this study is not. First of all, it cannot
claim to exhaust its subject matter. There are aspects to Gazdan-
ov's literary work, such as, for example, certain periods in his
creative life, certain themes in his fiction, and in particular his
critical work which spanned, with long interruptions, over forty
years, that could not be dealt with. Some aspects and periods of
Gazdanov״s personal life could not as yet be touched upon or brought
to life more fully either; nor have his manuscripts, now deposited
at Harvard University, been fully studied and integrated into our
discussion of his published oeuvre. There remains a wealth of mate-
rial, both in his manuscripts and in the published work, that is
still awaiting the critic and the literary scholar. It is our sin-
cere hope that our work will be but the first in a series of studies
devoted to this writer who certainly deserves much more attention
and recognition than has been accorded so far.
Since the present volume is not meant exclusively for the specia-
list who knows Russian all quotations are given in English. The
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Vili
Russian original is included only in two cases: when it has never
been published before; and when it may be of interest to the specia-
list, particularly for consideration in matters of style. Except
for the titles of the two novels published in English all the titles
of Gazdanov's novels and short stories are given in our own trans-
lation. The original Russian title is added at the beginning of
each chapter or sub-chapter in Part Two, where the particular work
is discussed in more detail. There are no footnotes in this book.
All quotations are referenced in the text with the minimum informa-
tion necessary to identify the work. Essentially, two different
kinds of bibliographical reference are used. The more common is a
numerical reference, for example "(no. 109)” refers to M. Slonim's
article, the corresponding number in the "Bibliography" at the end
of this study. In most cases this system without page references
is used to identify the bibliographical data of very brief critical
reviews about Gazdanov. Quotations from Gazdanov1s fiction, on the
other hand, are usually identified in the text itself, with page re-
ferences given in parentheses. If the work was published over seve-
ral issues of a journal the parenthetical reference will first list
volume number, then page number; for example on p. 161 ”(vol. 17, p.
26-7)" refers to the journal *lovyj žurnal because that's where the
novel The Specter of Alexander Wolf, mentioned in the text, was pub-
lished. All such volume and page references are to the first Russi-
an edition; if a novel was both serialized and published in book
form all page references are to the book edition. When Russian quota
tions are transliterated the so-called scholarly system is used. For
the English speaking reader who has no Russian the following rules
may prove helpful: £ is ch (as in cheer), 5 is sh (as in sheer), i i
the s in measure, i is i (as in hit), j is y (as in you), x is the
ch in Bach and с is the z in Mozart.
Segments of this study were published, in somewhat different form
in an article entitled "An Unpublished Letter by Maksim Gor'kij Or
Who Is Gajto Gazdanov?" in Die Welt der Sloven (1979) and in the in-
troductory essay to Bibliographie des oeuvres do Gajto Grfzdanov,
Paris, 1982.