Abstract
This article focuses on the representation of historical events in literary texts by pointing at the tension between their factual and fictional elements. The fable and the setting of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The White Guard and his novel-based play The Days of the Turbins serve as examples. Almost one hundred years after its first (incomplete) publication, Bulgakov’s novel remains an object of heated debates and is a pivot point for a broad range of current historical, ideological, and cultural clashes between Ukraine and Russia. Against this background, the sophisticated form of Bulgakov’s narratives and the author’s cult status encourage the reader to consider his works both as historical testimonies and poetic prophecies. More importantly, the historical contextualization of The White Guard and The Days of the Turbins goes far beyond their narrated time and the events of the year 1918: it also includes the ideology of smenovekhovstvo, the dramatic changes in Soviet politics of korenizatsiya, and the self-identification of the intelligentsiya in the late Soviet era.
Highlights
Cet article est consacré à la représentation d’événements historiques dans des textes littéraires en soulignant la tension entre leurs éléments factuels et fictifs
The historical contextualisation of The White Guard and the play based on it, The Days of the Turbins [Дни Турбиных] goes far beyond their narrated time and the events of the year 1918: it includes the ideology of smenovekhovstvo, the dramatic changes in Soviet politics of korenizatsiya [indigenisation] and the selfidentification of the intelligentsiya in the late Soviet era
Who is speaking here? In the first sentence (“Oh my God, what have I done?”) it is most likely Feldman, i.e. a literary character, in the second (“Why did he have to choose that piece of paper?”) — the narrator, in the Russian original it is the narrator again, who is addressing Feldman directly (“Что вы, Яков Григорьевич, вытащили?”), an important sentence which remains rather unclear in the English translation by Michael Glenny; and in the fourth sentence (“Да разве вспомнишь такую мелочь...”) we have an assessment of the entire episode, where we cannot be entirely sure whether it is the narrator or Feldman himself who is commenting on the situation
Summary
The White Guard concerns the life of the Turbin family as the various armies —the Whites, the Reds, the Imperial German Army, and various Ukrainian parties— fight over the city of Kyiv. In the first sentence (“Oh my God, what have I done?”) it is most likely Feldman, i.e. a literary character, in the second (“Why did he have to choose that piece of paper?”) — the narrator, in the Russian original it is the narrator again, who is addressing Feldman directly (“Что вы, Яков Григорьевич, вытащили?”), an important sentence which remains rather unclear in the English translation by Michael Glenny; and in the fourth sentence (“Да разве вспомнишь такую мелочь...”) we have an assessment of the entire episode, where we cannot be entirely sure whether it is the narrator or Feldman himself who is commenting on the situation. They are not the reason why the movie adaption of the novel became a part of Putin’s election and they do not explain how and why Bulgakov’s text may be applied in the legitimation of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine
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