CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In the course of Russia's thousand-year history, Russian literature has come to occupy a unique place in the culture, politics, and linguistic evolution of the Russian people. It is not surprising that the formation of Russias first literary traditions goes back to the first century. In the modern era, literature has been the arena for heated discussion of virtually all aspects of Russian life, including the place that literature itself should occupy in that life. In the process, it has produced a rich and varied fund of artistic achievement. Russian literature is still a product of the land-owning nobility. Pushkin and Lermontov, Gontcharov and Aksakov, Turgenev and the Tolstois, and many another great light, were born in the mansions of the landlords, breathed the air of family traditions, led a carefree life in their youth, received a good education at the hands of private tutors, often foreigners, or in secluded aristocratic schools. This gave a certain unconscious refinement to their writings, and influenced their conception of life. Ordinarily they knew the village and the provincial town well, but the large city was quite outside their range of vision. They were intimately connected with the landholding class, and consequently had an understanding of the peasantry which was grouped, geographically and economically, around the landlords' mansions, but they were little interested in the problems of the city folk. Russia for them was the village. The Russian people coincided with the Russian peasants. The adoption of Christianity boosted the development of literacy, philosophy and theological literature.

The unusual shape of Russian literary history has been the source of numerous controversies. Three major and sudden breaks divide it into four periodspre-Petrine (or Old Russian), Imperial, post-Revolutionary, and post-Soviet. The reforms of Peter I (the Great; reigned 16821725), who rapidly Westernized the country, created so sharp a divide with the past that it was common in the 19th century to maintain that Russian literature had begun only a century before. The 19th centurys most influential critic, Vissarion Belinsky, even proposed the exact year (1739) in which Russian literature began, thus denying the status of literature to all pre-Petrine works. The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolshevik coup later in the same year created another major divide, eventually turning official Russian literature into political propaganda for the communist state. Finally, Mikhail Gorbachevs ascent to power in 1985 and the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 marked another dramatic break. What is important in this pattern is that the breaks were sudden rather than gradual and that they were the product of political forces external to literary history itself. The earliest literary works were not written in the Russian language but in Old Church Slavonic which was developed by Greek missionaries Cyril and Methodius. Russian literature refers to the literature or its migrs, and to the Russian language literature of several independent nations, once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union. Russian authors significantly contributed almost too all known genres of the literature. Russia had five Nobel Prize in literature laureates. As of 2012, Russia was the fourth largest book producer in the world in terms of published titles. A popular folk saying claims that Russians are the worlds most reading nation (Michele 18). Old Russian literature consists of several masterpieces written in the Old Russian language. Anonymous works of this nature include The Tale of Igors Campaign and Praying of

Daniel the Immured. In the last third of the century, the raznotchinetz, the man from the ranks, makes his appearance in Russian literature. Up to that time, only very few sons of the people succeeded in treading upon the sacred literary ground. The poets Koltzov and Nikitin, and the story-writer Reshetnikov, were the best known. Now, with the general progress of life and the development of education, more and more writers of the non-privileged classes step to the front. The new men have a new boldness in their manner; they are crude; they are in many cases more vigorous than their noble brothers, as raw life often appears to have greater vigor than its more refined manifestations. Yet the new writers cannot compete with the others in charm, in ease, in masterful handling of their subjects, in artistic poise. Notwithstanding all the changes in Russian life gradually developing after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the dominant figure in literature is still the son of the noblemans nest. Medievel Russian literature had an overwhelmingly religious character and used an adapted form of the Church Salvonic language with many South Slavic elements. The first work in colloquial Russian, the autobiography of the archpriest Avvakum, emerged only in the 17th Century. After taking the throne at the end of the 17th Century, Peter the Greats influence on the Russian culture would extend far into the 18th Century. Peters reign during the beginning of the 18th Century initiated a series of modernizing changes in Russian literature. The reforms he implemented and encouraged Russian artists and scientists to make innovations in their crafts and fields with the intention of creating an economy and culture comparable. Peters example set a precedent for the remainder of the 18th century as Russian writers began to form clear ideas about the proper use and progression of the Russian language. Through their debates regarding

versification of the Russian language and tone of Russian literature, the writers in the first half of the 18th century were able to lay foundation for the more poignant, topical work of the late 18th century. Mikhail Vasilyevich Sushkov was a young Russian nobleman and writer who set the plat form writing novels in Russian literature. He was notable for his autobiographical suicide novel. He committed suicide by gunshot at age 17 after writing four suicide notes, one of which was to his uncle Alexander Khrapovitsky, at that moment personal secretary of empress Catherine the Great. Empress Catherine is said to have told Khrapovitskiy: I am sorry for his parents, who lost such a fine son. But most of all I am sorry for himself. If he had stayed alive, he soon would have outshone Voltaire (Maartan 65). Sushkovs suicide notes, the report on his death by the Moscow police, and reactions by contemporaries, not only document the suicide in great detail, but give a rare close-up of a phenomenon that was seen as a highly significant sign of the time. Sushkov is the author of the short epistolary novel The Russian Werther (published posthumously in 1801) in which the main character commits suicide. The death of Sushkov's hero is regarded an example of the so-called Werther effect, the wave of copycat suicides following the literary success of Goethes The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). In this respect Sushkovs novel is significant, as his character precurses the literary heroes of Russian romanticism, like Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and Lermontov's Pechorin. The 19th century is traditionally referred to as the Goldern Era of Russian literature. Romanticism permitted a flowering of especially poetic talent: the name of Vasily Zhukovsky and later that of his protg Alexander Pushkin came to the fore. Pushkin is credited with both crystallizing the literary Russian language and introducing a new level of artistry to Russian literature. His best-known work is a novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. An entire new generation

of poets including Mikhail Lermontov, Yevgeny Baratynsky, Konstantin Batyushkov, Nikolay Nekrasov, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Fyodor Tyutchev, and Afansy Fet followed in Pushkins steps. Prose was flourishing as well. The first generation novelist was Nikolai Gogol. Then came Nikolai Leskov, Ivan Turgenev, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedren, all mastering both short stories and novels, and novelist Ivan Goncharov, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky became internationally renowned to the point that many scholars such as F.R. Leavis have described one or the other as the greatest novelist ever. In the second half of the century Anton Chekhov excelled in writing short stories and became perhaps the leading dramatist internationally of his period. Mikhail Nikolayevich Zagoskins Yury Miloslavsky (1829), the historical novel became the first Russian best-seller. His historical novel Yury Miloslavsky, was open imitations of Sir Walter Scott, and were immensely popular. Zagoskin attempted to Russify his characters and provided authentic descriptive detail; his contribution lies in his innovative of language to create an illusion of antiquity. The dramatist in him shows through in the preponderance of dialogue over description or exposition, and in the use of colloquial speech, and the oral speech of the common people. At the dawn of the twentieth century Russia was on the verge of severe social conflict, drastic poverty and almost overwhelming spiritual chaos. For the past decades, or as Mirsky claims, since the beginning of the previous century, Russian political and social life was marked by a succession of revolutionary waves and anti-revolutionary thoughts. Among the most powerful factors shaping the consciousness of the society were the failure in the war against Japan and two revolutions.

The disastrous outcome of the Japanese campaign ruined the myth of the power of the Russian empire and strongly shook the very foundation of the tsarist regime. The society came from the conflict not only impoverished, but also with a strong conviction that the authorities were no longer able to control the state and fulfill their tasks. Constantly recurring anti-tsarist and anarchic feelings became at that time even more visible, gaining in power and leading to a strong oppositional current. The tsar was perceived as the opponent of society and people lost their faith in his wise leadership and in a better future. Fierce conflicts like severe storms rolled over the country leaving an indelible impression on writers and their works, giving evidence of the epoch and its changes. Poverty, social injustice and inequality, together with instability of the state, resulted in rapid growth of the popularity of revolutionary tendencies and anarchism, including terrorist elements striving for the overthrow of the existing rulers. The masses openly refused to defend autocracy, while on the other hand they supported the recently-developed class of industrial workers. The direct outcome of the rise of capitalism was mechanization of labour and the rise of great factories based on mass production which resulted in the formation of a new social class the working class. The dominant factors in the socio-philosophical thought of the period were decadent motifs of decay, pessimism and the feeling of coming collapse of the old system, even the crisis of the whole civilization, although among the Russian lite there were also people who displayed patriotism full of optimism. Regardless of the views on the current political situation, at the turn of the century revolution seemed a real possibility rather than merely an abstract concept. The literary works of the Silver Age bore considerable imprints of intense philosophical discussions and investigations. Thanks to the appearance of various literary journals and translation activities undertaken by writers (e.g. Balmont, Briusov and Merezhkovskii), Russian

intellectuals embraced opportunities to become acquainted with the works of modern Western writers: Verlaine, DAnnunzio, Maeterlinck and Strindberg. Founded in 1898, the journal Mir Iskusstva had great impact on bringing new trends to Russia and educating new generations. Among its contributors were such luminaries as Diaghilev, Benois, Muratov and Grabar, who played an important role in building a bridge between Russia and Western European culture. So strong a connection between philosophy and literature (especially in the field of moral issues) was to a large extent the result of the powerful impact of the two literary giants of the 19th century Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Their timeless masterpieces were held in high esteem and in a sense were the Bible of the Russian intelligentsia. Dostoevskys influence both in respect of Christianity and individualism and his unequalled popularity were to some extent connected with the interpretation of his work by Merezhkovskii, who linked the great writer with Nietzsche. The followers of Tolstoism were recruited from those who were disappointed with the current cultural and political situation. Tolstois philosophy can be summarized as extremely anti-modern and anti-clerical, pantheistic and anti-dogmatic. As Stites aptly noticed, apart from a rejection of passion and anger and even sexual drive(33), his views constituted a radical response to the puzzling menace of the advance of technology, capitalism, egoism, and productive anarchy. He preached pacifism and opposition to violence in any form. As a panacea to the moral degeneration of the modern world he recommended withdrawal to a simple rustic life. In his work on Russian Chronicles and Their Cultural Significance, Dmitry Likhachev, the Academician opines, All Russian writers, in their own way, hold the writers vocation in great esteem. Each of them is to some extent a prophet and denouncer, and some are teachers,

disseminators of knowledge, interpreters of reality and participants in the civic life of their country. This sense of the noble calling of the writer was also handed down to the literature of the modern period. Russian literature was influenced by its creators strong sense of civic responsibility. This has been a constant feature of Russian literature throughout its development (82). Russian literature, especially of the Imperial and post-Revolutionary periods, has as its defining characteristics an intense concern with philosophical problems, a constant selfconsciousness about its relation to the cultures of the West, and a strong tendency toward formal innovation and defiance of received generic norms. The combination of formal radicalism and preoccupation with abstract philosophical issues creates the recognizable aura of Russian classics.

Aleksandr Stepanovich Grin is an author who, for many decades, following several myths distributed by the Soviet authorities, was labelled as a childrens writer, a fantasy writer, or even a science fiction writer, because of the presence of elements such as flying men, teleportation, magic and gnomes in his prose. As a novelist, his contributions to Russian literature are Scarlet Sails (1923), The Shining World (1923), The Golden Chain (1925), She Who Runs on the Waves (1928) and Jessie and Morgiana (1929). His position in Russian literature became even more undermined on the foundation of RAPP, because the author of Alye parusa remained for ever faithful to his own beliefs and could not let his pen praise the new regime and the reality he clearly disliked. As a result, publication of Grins works was strictly limited by the authorities at the end of his life. Adventurous plots and their often parabolic character, the magic and quasi-

fairy-tale elements of Grins prose were the elements that made his works unacceptable for censors and, as RAPP was growing in power, Grin, like other independent writers, became a persona non grata of Russian literature. Stites, R. Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991. Fraanje, Maarten. The Epistolary Novel in Eighteenth-Century Russia. Mnchen: Otto Sagner Verlag. 2001. http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/browse?type=subject http://russia.rin.ru/guides_e/4165.html

The most celebrated period of Russian literature was the 19th century, which produced, in a remarkably short period, some of the indisputable masterworks of world literature. It has often been noted that the overwhelming majority of Russian works of world significance were produced within the lifetime of one person, Leo Tolstoy (18281910). Indeed, many of them were written within two decades, the 1860s and 1870s, a period that perhaps never has been surpassed in any culture for sheer concentrated literary brilliance.