Maikov, Nadsohn, Polonski, Garchin, Korolenko, Tchekov were all men of talent; the last in particular, preceptor and friend to Gorky in his days of want, was a novelist of high artistic6 if morbid7 powers. He is dead. It is when we turn to the living that we realise what a flatland is Russian literature now. A writer and critic, Madame Z. Hippius, attempted in the Paris Mercure de France to give an idea of the situation. She admitted the inadequacy8 of her sketch9. The troubled political map of Russia has not been conducive10 to ripe artistic production. As she says, even the writers who refused to meddle11 with politics are marked men; politics in the shape of the secret police comes to them. Madame Hippius makes the assertion that literature in Russian has never existed in the sense of a literary milieu12, as an organic art possessing traditions and continuity; for her, Tolstoy, Dosto?evsky, and Turgenieff are but isolated13 men of genius. A glance back at the times and writings of such critics as Bielinski, Dobroliubov, and Nekrasov—a remarkable14 poet—disproves this statement. Without a Gogol the later novelists would be rather in the air. He first fashioned the bricks and mortar15 of native fiction. Read Kropotkin, Osip-Luri, E. Semenov, Walizewski, Melchior de Vogüé, and Leo Wiener if you doubt the wealth and variety of this literature.
[Pg 84] Among living prose writers two names are encountered: Maxim16 Gorky and Léonide Andreiev. Of the neurotic17 Gorky there is naught18 to be said that is encouraging. He was physically19 ill when in America and as an artist in plain decadence20. He had shot his bolt in his tales about his beloved vagabonds. He had not the long-breathed patience or artistic skill for a novel. His novels, disfigured by tirades21 and dry attempts at philosophical22 excursions, are all failures. When his tramps begin to spout23 Nietzsche on their steppes the artificial note is too apparent. His plays are loose episodes without dramatic action or climax24, sometimes moving, as in the case of Nachtasyl, and discordant25 in The Children of the Sun. Gorky had a natural talent; in his stories a submerged generation became eloquent26. And he became a doctrinaire27. Nietzsche finished the ruin that Marx had begun; his art, chiefly derived28 from Dosto?evsky and Tchekov, succumbed29 to a sentimental30 socialism.
Andreiev is still strong, though enveloped31 in "mystic anarchism." He is as naturally gifted as Gorky and a thinker of more precision. His play, Les Ténèbres, reveals the influences of Dosto?evsky and Tolstoy. It is a shocking arraignment32 of self-satisfied materialism33. A young revolutionary is the protagonist34. The woman in the case belongs to the same profession as Dosto?evsky's Sonia. Not encouraging, this. Yet high hopes are centred upon Andreiev. [Pg 85] For the rest there is Vladimir Soloviev, who is a poet-metaphysician with a following. He has mystic proclivities35. Scratch a Russian writer and you come upon a mystic. He is against clericalism and believes in an "anti-clerical church"! There is a little circle at Moscow, where a Muscovite review, La Balance (founded 1903), is the centre of the young men. V. Brusoff, a poet, is the editor. Balmont and Sologub write for its pages, as do Rosanow and Merejkowski. In 1898 there was a review started called Mir Iskousstva. Its director was Serge Diaghilev, and it endured until 1904. Sologub is one of the most promising36 poets. Block, Remisov, Ivanov are also poets of much ability. There are romancers such as Zensky, Kuzmin, Ivanov, Ropshin, Chapygin, Serafimovitch, Zaitzeff, Volnoff; some of these wrote on risky37 themes. But when the works of these new writers are closely scrutinised their lack of originality38 and poverty of invention are noticeable.
The "poisonous honey" of French decadents39 and symbolists has attracted one party; and the others are being swallowed up in the pessimistic nebula40 of "mystic anarchy41" and fatalism. "Russian pity" suffuses42 their work. There is without doubt a national sentiment and a revolt against western European culture, particularly the French. Russia for the Russians is the slogan of this group. But thus far nothing in particular has come of their patriotic43 efforts; no overwhelming personality has [Pg 86] emerged from the rebellious44 froth of new theories. If ever the "man on horseback" does appear in Russia, it is very doubtful if he will bestride a Pegasus.
Of bigger and sterner calibre than any of the productions of the others is Sanine, a novel by Michael Artzibaschev, that is being widely read not only in Russia but in all the world. It was written as long ago as 1903 the author tells us. He is of Tartar origin, born 1878, of parents in whose veins45 flowed Russian, French, Georgian, and Polish blood. He is of humble46 origin, as is Gorky, and being of a consumptive tendency, he lives in the Crimea. He began as a journalist. His photograph reveals him as a young man of a fine, sensitive type, truly an apostle of pity and pain. He passionately48 espouses49 the cause of the poor and downtrodden, as his extraordinary revolutionary short stories—The Millionaire among the rest—show. Since Turgenieff's Fathers and Sons, no tale like Metal Worker Schevyrjow has appeared in European literature. In it the bedrock of Slavic fatalism, an anarchistic50 pessimism51 is reached. It has been done into French by Jacques Povolozky. The Russian author reveals plentiful52 traces of Tolstoy, Turgenieff, Dosto?evsky, and Gorky in his pages; Tchekov, too, is not absent. But the new note is the influence of Max Stirner. Michael Artzibaschev calmly grafts53 the disparate ideas of Dosto?evsky and Max Stirner in his Sanine, and the result is a hero who is at once a superman [Pg 87] and a scoundrel—or are the two fairly synonymous? This clear-eyed, broad-shouldered Sanine passes through the little town where he was born, leaving behind him a trail of mishaps54 and misfortunes. He is depicted55 with a marvellous art, though it is impossible to sympathise with him. He upsets a love-affair of his sister's, he quarrels with and insults her lover, who commits suicide; he also drives to self-destruction a wretched little Hebrew who has become a freethinker and can't stand the strain of his apostasy56; he is the remote cause of another suicide, that of a weakling, a student full of "modern" ideas, but whose will is quite sapped. Turgenieff's Fathers and Sons is recalled more than once, especially the character of Bazarov, the nihilist. Furthermore, when this student fails to reap the benefit of a good girl's love, Sanine steps in and ruins her. Even incest is hinted at. All this sounds incredible in our bare recital57, but in the flow and glow of the richly coloured narrative58 everything is plausible59, nay60, of the stuff of life. As realists the Russians easily lead all other nations in fiction. There are descriptions of woodlands that recall a little scene from Turgenieff's Sportsman's Sketches61; there are episodes, such as the bacchanal in the monastery62, a moonlit ride in the canoe with a realistic seduction episode, and the several quarrels that would have pleased both Tolstoy and Dosto?evsky; there is an old mujik who seems to have stepped out of Dosto?evsky, [Pg 88] yet is evidently a portrait taken from life. The weak mother, the passionate47 sister, the sweet womanly quality of the deceived girl, these are portraits worthy63 of a master. Sanine is not the Rogoszin, and his sister is not the Nastasia Philipovna, of Dosto?evsky's The Idiot; for all that they are distinct and worthy additions to the vast picture-gallery of Russian fiction.
Sanine himself hardly appeals to our novel readers, for whom a golf-stick and a motor-car are symbols of the true hero. In a word, he is real flesh and blood. He goes as mysteriously as he came. The novel that followed, Breaking Point, is a lugubrious64 orgy of death and erotic madness, a symphony of suicide and love and the disgust of life. Artzibaschev is now in English garb65. Thus far Sanine is his masterpiece.
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1 sonorous | |
adj.响亮的,回响的;adv.圆润低沉地;感人地;n.感人,堂皇 | |
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2 stagnation | |
n. 停滞 | |
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3 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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4 schisms | |
n.教会分立,分裂( schism的名词复数 ) | |
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5 coeval | |
adj.同时代的;n.同时代的人或事物 | |
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6 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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7 morbid | |
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 | |
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8 inadequacy | |
n.无法胜任,信心不足 | |
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9 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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10 conducive | |
adj.有益的,有助的 | |
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11 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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12 milieu | |
n.环境;出身背景;(个人所处的)社会环境 | |
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13 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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14 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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15 mortar | |
n.灰浆,灰泥;迫击炮;v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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16 maxim | |
n.格言,箴言 | |
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17 neurotic | |
adj.神经病的,神经过敏的;n.神经过敏者,神经病患者 | |
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18 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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19 physically | |
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律 | |
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20 decadence | |
n.衰落,颓废 | |
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21 tirades | |
激烈的长篇指责或演说( tirade的名词复数 ) | |
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22 philosophical | |
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的 | |
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23 spout | |
v.喷出,涌出;滔滔不绝地讲;n.喷管;水柱 | |
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24 climax | |
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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25 discordant | |
adj.不调和的 | |
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26 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
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27 doctrinaire | |
adj.空论的 | |
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28 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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29 succumbed | |
不再抵抗(诱惑、疾病、攻击等)( succumb的过去式和过去分词 ); 屈从; 被压垮; 死 | |
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30 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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31 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32 arraignment | |
n.提问,传讯,责难 | |
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33 materialism | |
n.[哲]唯物主义,唯物论;物质至上 | |
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34 protagonist | |
n.(思想观念的)倡导者;主角,主人公 | |
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35 proclivities | |
n.倾向,癖性( proclivity的名词复数 ) | |
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36 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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37 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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38 originality | |
n.创造力,独创性;新颖 | |
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39 decadents | |
n.颓废派艺术家(decadent的复数形式) | |
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40 nebula | |
n.星云,喷雾剂 | |
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41 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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42 suffuses | |
v.(指颜色、水气等)弥漫于,布满( suffuse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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43 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
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44 rebellious | |
adj.造反的,反抗的,难控制的 | |
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45 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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46 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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47 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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48 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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49 espouses | |
v.(决定)支持,拥护(目标、主张等)( espouse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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50 anarchistic | |
无政府主义的 | |
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51 pessimism | |
n.悲观者,悲观主义者,厌世者 | |
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52 plentiful | |
adj.富裕的,丰富的 | |
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53 grafts | |
移植( graft的名词复数 ); 行贿; 接穗; 行贿得到的利益 | |
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54 mishaps | |
n.轻微的事故,小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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55 depicted | |
描绘,描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 ); 描述 | |
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56 apostasy | |
n.背教,脱党 | |
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57 recital | |
n.朗诵,独奏会,独唱会 | |
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58 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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59 plausible | |
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
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60 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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61 sketches | |
n.草图( sketch的名词复数 );素描;速写;梗概 | |
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62 monastery | |
n.修道院,僧院,寺院 | |
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63 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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64 lugubrious | |
adj.悲哀的,忧郁的 | |
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65 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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