A guide to Russian literature (1820-1917)

Preface

A national literature may be viewed as a manifestation of a purely creative genius, or as a reflection of the spiritual life of a people, or as a picture of its national character and socio-political conditions. It is evident that descriptions of social groups and classes or reproductions of spiritual gropings must form an element of every literature, the writers being children of their times, members of their nations, and drawing their experience from immediate surroundings. Yet hardly any literature equals the Russian in reproducing the spiritual struggles of men, and few western writers have been as willing as their Russian colleagues to go down to the very bottom of everyday existence and to scrutinize the economic, the social, and the political life of their country. This makes f Russian literature a valuable object of study not only as art, but also as the surest road to the understanding of the Russian people and Russian conditions.

The task of the present volume is to be of assistance in such studies. From the literary productions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it selects only those which have a value for the present, either on account of their artistic qualities, or as representing some aspect of Russian life. This marks a point of departure from the traditional histories of literature. The Guide omits many poets who were of importance in their time, yet have been overshadowed by greater contemporaries or successors working in the same field. This is the case with Nikitin vi PREFACE

in the presence of Koltzov and Nekrasov, with Maikov and Polonsky in the presence of Pushkin, Lermontov and Foeth, with Minsky in the presence of Balmont and Bryusov. The Guide omits a number of older writers describing economic and social conditions when the same conditions have been presented more adequately and with more talent by others. Such is the case with Grigorovitch, Pisemsky, Potapenko, Stanyukovitch. All these and many other writers must take their place in a history of Russian literature, yet there is no room for them in a practical guide. On the other hand, the Guide includes many an author of the present generation who may not prove great sub specie aeternitatis, yet who is indispensable as a truthful narrator and interpreter of events in recent times. To this class belong Chirikov, Yushkevitch, Gusev-Orenburgsky, Mujzhel. The Guide intends to answer the persistent question coming from many quarters, " What shall I read to understand Russian character and Russian life? " Yet it passes by no book that marks a step forward in the progress of purely artistic creation.

The fact that a book has not been translated into English could not serve as a reason for excluding it from the Guide, as the list of translations is steadily growing and as the volume is intended to be of service not only to the general reader but also to publishers and translators. Moreover, in most cases it would be profitable to read a chapter devoted even to an untranslated author, as this may help in understanding the general tendencies in Russian literature and the drift of Russian thought.

A selection not only among writers but also among the works of each writer is inherent in a practical guide. Works have been specified which characterize the creative personality of the author, or possess a special literary

PREFACE vii

value, or throw light on some particular facet in Russian life. This criterion made it necessary to select, on the whole, fewer works from authors of a uniform character and more from versatile writers. Thus, the fact that the Guide mentions less of Bunin's and more of Andreyev's works does not in any way put Bunin below Andreyev; it only indicates that Andreyev's interests were wider and so more of his works are required to give his portrait as a writer. On the other hand, the Guide is not overburdened with works that make tedious reading for even the Russian of our time because they are too local or too detailed or somewhat antiquated. For this reason, only a few of Uspensky's and Shchedrin's works are mentioned.

The space given each author naturally varies in accordance with his place in Russian literature. Yet departures from this general rule are unavoidable. Writers of the older generations receive a less detailed treatment than authors of our time. Writers well known in Englishspeaking countries are comparatively less dwelt upon than writers totally unknown. This procedure may be open to criticism from the standpoint of historic perspective; in a practical guide, however, it is natural that Ostrovsky, a writer of fifty years ago, should occupy less space than our contemporary, Veresayev. It is also excusable that Turgenev, so well known and so generously commented upon, should not be reviewed with more detail than Sergeyev-Tzensky, whose name has hardly appeared in English. The underlying idea is that modern literature in its best manifestations gives a better insight into the soul of modern Russia than the works of long passed generations.

It would have been gratifying to the author had it been.

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possible to make the Guide a mere compilation of Russian critical essays. This would present a study in Russian literature written by the keenest Russian scholars for Russian consumption. This, however, could not be realized, at least not within the scope set. It remained, therefore, to use quotations from Russian critics only as supplements, or as appreciations of individual books. The quotations were taken from the collected works of recognized students of Russian literature, from individual treatises, and from essays appearing in the most respected monthlies.

The Guide makes no attempt at criticizing the individual authors, i.e., at pointing out not only their merits but also their shortcomings and limitations. It is assumed that the qualities that make an author desirable as an object of study are his originality, his artistic personality, his closeness to Russian realities, not his failures or weaknesses which may be detected by one critic or another according to their conceptions. Therefore, no mention is made of the various and frequent attacks launched at Gorky after the first period of his glory. Similarly, the fierce controversy over the merits of the symbolists or Leonid Andreyev could hardly be given sufficient consideration. For detailed information, the student will, of course, have to turn to the work of the respective writers and to more elaborate critical surveys. Only where some negative quality gnaws at the root of an author's talent, it had to be pointed out in the Guide.

A word must be said about the terms story, novelette, and novel as used in the Guide. These terms are indicative only of the approximate size of a work. A short work, whatever its contents or character, if not exceeding in size some fifty pages of an ordinary book, is termed

PREFACE ix

story. A longer work of between fifty and one hundred and fifty pages is called novelette. A longer production is marked as novel. Those names are a mere expedient for the orientation of the reader. In Russian the respective names are romdn, povyest, razskdz.

Contents

THE GROWTH OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE

PAGE

A. S. Griboyedov 22

II The "modernists"

PAGE

K. D. Balmont 171

V. Bryusov 177

F. SOLOGUB l86

A. VOLYNSKY 192

A. Block 195

V. Ivanov 197

III THE RECENT TIDE

V. Veresayev 240

A. Kuprin 245

I. BUNIN 251

O. G. Sergeyev-Tzensky 257

M. P. Artzybashev 265

V. Ropshin 277

Alexey Remizov 281

v. v. mujzhel 287

S. I. Gusev-Orenburgsky 298

Boris Zaitzev 303