Early Chekhov: The Making of a Totalitarian Consensus 1928–59, and Some Current Questions

Abstract

A detailed history is attempted from 1928 to 1959 of the Soviet critical literature about 'early' Chekhov (narrative fiction written between 1880 and 1887). It is based on an exhaustive range of sources and statistical analysis of editions of the works themselves. These works were extremely popular in Russia. By the end of the 1920s, Communist opinion-makers and editors were beginning to appropriate their meaning as a body of writing. After 1934, the Stalin polity moved to 'own' their meaning and popularity by massifying (1) a General Line on them focused on 'serious laughter', (2) a canon of stories built around Stalin's favourite, 'Unter Prishibeev' ('Sergeant Prishibeev'). The reductive and falsificatory elements of this hegemonic discourse are considered. New components of sentiment and romanticism added after 1945 are discussed in the work of Ermilov and the illustrators Kukryniksy. A synthesis of the profuse critical literature after 1954 suggests that it split into 'more private' specialist studies and an official 'truth', which petrified but retained the monopoly on literary interpretation. This 'truth' is evaluated as totalitarian, totalist and consensual in defined senses. Synchronic literarycritical conclusions are drawn that are relevant to British studies of Chekhov and of Russian literature.