Montaging Pushkin: Pushkin and Visions of Modernity in Russian Twentieth-Century Poetry by Alexandra Smith (review)

Abstract

706 SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 Smith, Alexandra. Montaging Pushkin:Pushkin and Visions of Modernity inRussian Twentieth-Century Poetry. Studies in Slavic Literature and Poetics, 46. Rodopi, Amsterdam and New York, 2006. 361 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. 72.00: $90.00 (paperback). Anyone who isuncomfortable with the language of twentieth-century literary criticism should perhaps turn firstto page thirty-sixof the long and valuable introduction to this book. There s/he will find an excellent definition (by Marc Schreurs) of the term 'montage', as applied to literature. Failing that, there are definitions of the term by Iurii Tynianov and Boris Eikhenbaum (p. 69), and by Sergei Eizenshtein (as interpreted by Susan McCabe, p. 182). Reduced to itsbarest essentials, the thesis of this book is that Pushkin used techniques which might be described as 'cinematographic', notably in 'K moriu', 'Pamiatnik', 'Mednyi vsadnik' and 'Evgenii Onegin'. Many major twentieth-century poets followed suit, both in response to Pushkin and in response to the new art of the cinema. This summary does not, of course, begin to do justice to thisbook. A whole chapter isdevoted to twentieth-century responses toPushkin, including those of such familiar names as Akhmatova, Innokentii Annenskii, Blok, Briusov, Gippius, Gumilev, Viacheslav Ivanov, Khodasevich, Maiakovskii, Nabokov, Pasternak and Tsvetaeva, as well as those of such lesser known figures such as Alexander Kushner, Ida Nappel'baum, Larissa Reisner and Aleksei Parshchikov. The whole of the final chapter isdevoted to emigre writers both famous and obscure. These include Georgii Adamovich, Iosif Brodskii, 'Don Aminado' (A. P. Shpolianskii), Mikhail Eisenshtadt, Lidiia Nelidova-Fiveiskaia and Elena Shvarts, inwhose 'Detskii sad tridtsat' let nazad' and 'Ballada o spiriticheskom seanse i teniAleksandra Pushkina' Alexandra Smith, following Stephanie Sandler, identifiesPushkinian subtexts and metrical echoes. Even when dealing with more familiar authors, Smith manages to choose works which have hitherto been subject to critical neglect. Annenskii's 'Bronzovyi poet', Gippius's 'Peterburg', Gumilev's 'Pamiati Annenskogo', Ivanov's narrative poem 'Mladenchestvo' and Khodasevich's 'Iz okna.i' are clearly major works and have not hitherto been given the attention they deserve. That omission is here handsomely rectified. In addition, Smith's analysis of over twenty works byMarina Tsvetaeva, notably her long poem 'S moria' and her autobiographical essay 'My Pushkin', stands out, as one might expect from someone who has written widely on the subject elsewhere. So too does her treatment ofMaiakovskii's 1916 poem 'Posledniaia peterburgskaia skazka', which forms the basis of an interesting sub-chapter entitled 'Urban spectacles and Eisenstein's montage of attractions'. All quotations from thepoems referred to are supplemented by translations intoEnglish. Although some of Smith's renditions are open to debate ('heap', for 'gorstka', p. 90, 'entertaining cup', rather than 'cup that cheers' for 'uveselitel'naia chasha', p. 167, 'impetuous' for 'nakhal'nyi', p. 229, 'swearing word', p. 300) the translations are, on the whole, accurate and helpful. With her Russian background, Smith brings to this book an impressively wide knowledge and understanding of her native literature. More importantly, REVIEWS 707 perhaps, she displays an infectious enthusiasm for her subject. The biblio graphy is comprehensive and there are extensive quotations from secondary sources. Quotations fromRussian critics are given firstinEnglish translation and then in the original. The author is a little over-conscientious in this respect and thebook isoccasionally rather too reminiscent of a doctoral thesis. In one place, for instance, (p. 42) Simon Dixon's perfectiy sound, but unexcep tional, observations about the importance of the Decembrist Revolt are perhaps given undue weight, whilst in at least one other place (p. 31) the reader isat three removes (in this case Smith ? Schweikart ? Fish) from the body ofwork under discussion. The proof-reading of thisvolume could have been better. There are at least thirty-seven typographical errors, and a number of names are wrongly spelled: Adolphe, Bayley, Beranger (who does not appear in the index under any spelling), Breton, Boccaccio, Diderot, Fennell, Ginzburg, Holderlin, Loseff, Propertius and Schopenhauer. The name of Pushkin's nemesis is spelled Benckendorff and Benkendorff on the same page (p. 209) and is given two apparently unrelated entries in the index. Petr Viazemskii suffers much the same fate.A couple of dates ? those ofMaiakovskii's death and theBattle of...