Narrative, Space and Gender in Russian Fiction: 1846-1903. Studies in Slavic Literature and Poetics, 47 by Joe Andrew Narrative, Space and Gender in Russian Fiction: 1846-1903 by Joe Andrew (review)

Abstract

338 SEER, 87, 2, APRIL 2OO9 (as thesiteof a collection, book-lending facility and 'engineof a would-be literary marketplace', as well as virtualspace in an encyclopaedic journal [p. 139]).Nor is thisbroadcontext exclusively Russian.Indeedifa criticism istobe madeofFrazier's monograph thenitisperhapsthatitoffers excessive detailon suchnon-Russian matters as thehistory oftheturn-of-the-century GermanRomanticsand theirorgantheAthenaeum, Friedrich Schlegel'srelations withhismistress Dorothea,Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads, Frase fs Magazine forTownandCountry, thenarratorial personaeof Constant, RousseauandWalterScott,and Scott'santiquarianism and hisattitude tothe British Empire. Frazier'scentralconcernis withthenatureof RussianRomanticism, of whichshe sees Senkovskii and theLibrary forReading, despitethe marginal statusthatis usuallyaccordedthem,as 'extreme'manifestations (p. 202). If Romanticwriters created'slippery identities' and occupieda 'slippery space' (p. 179),thenSenkovskii, a Pole fromtheperiphery of the empireseeking influence at itscentre, pursuing an academiccareeras an Orientalist, and striving to attain'criticalomnipotence' (passim) by offering up 'pre-digested books'orready-made pleasures and thoughts (p. 121)through fabricated identities , was their typical representative. Frazier'sviewofRussianRomanticism is groundedin herbeliefthatRomanticism, paceitsown claimto yearnfor wholeness and authenticity, is a construction 'offragments and ever-shifting borders, a sortofdance aroundthemargins ofan apparently empty centre thatcan be eithera sublimelocusofpotentiality orjust that,empty'(p. 3). Russia,according tothisview,remains a 'blankspace' (p. 193)or 'empty vessel '(p. 202),itsborders influx'likethoseofitswriterand reader-inhabitants' (p. 201).To be sure,theRomanticquestfornationalidentity didfindexpressiontherein a prolonged debateaboutnarodnost' in itsburgeoning literature. Andyetin thelastanalysis Russiannationaldistinctiveness, paradoxicalas it mayseem,amounted toa 'uniquely Russianability toappropriate andabsorb' (p. 188)whatothershad produced,as indicatedby Russianwriters' 'highly self-conscious appropriation ofa Western Europeanliterature' (p. 3). Not every readerwillbe persuadedthatSenkovskii is indeeda quintessentialrepresentative ofRomanticism in itsRussiancontext and thattheLibrary forReading is Romanticism's quintessential organ.Nevertheless Frazierhas produceda thoughtful and lucidlywritten book (witha usefulindex,but unfortunately no bibliography). She makescopioususe oftheoretical writing and engagesindepthwithexisting scholarship abouttheconditions inwhich Russianwriters operatedin theage ofNicholasand moregenerally about contemporary Europeanwriters, readersand Romanticism. Department ofRussian Studies Derek Offord University ofBristol Andrew,Joe. Narrative, Spaceand Gender inRussianFiction: 1846-1goj. Studies in SlavicLiterature and Poetics,47. Rodopi,Amsterdam and New York, 2007.195pp. Notes.Bibliography. Index.€40.00(paperback). Joe Andrew's Narrative, Spaceand Gender inRussianFiction: 1846-igoj is clearly theproductofcareful research, sustained thought and an admirableability reviews 339 to applythetheoretical ideas ofMikhailBakhtin and IuriiLotman,among others, to a groupofworksin whichquestionsabout narrative, space and genderare intertwined. The book containseightchapters:an introductory theoretical overview in which,in additionto discussing theworkofBakhtin and Lotman,he also considersthe contributions of a numberof feminist critics- includingToby Clyman,JehanneGheith,Diana Greene,Sona Hoisington, Catriona Kelly,Barbara Heldt, Teresa de Lauretis,Rosalind Marsh,Nancy K. Millerand especially Mary Zirin,fromwhomhe draws hisepigraph: Tor Russianwomen,deniedbylaw and customthebasicfreedom to organizetheirlifeas theychose,setting and circumstance - the Bakhtinian chronotope - determined theirfate.'This introduction offers a valuableoverview ofwhyit is important to considercomplexgenderissues through themediums ofnarrative and space. The nextsevenchapters (which, regrettably, do notincludea concluding chapter) offer astute, provocative readingsofDostoevskii's PoorFolk(chapter two),'WhiteNights' (chapter three), andNotes from Underground (chapter seven), Sokhanskaia's 'A Conversation After Dinner'(chapter four), Tolstoi's'Family Happiness'(chapter five), Khvoshchinskaia's TheBoardingSchool Girl(chapter six),and Chekhov's'The Fiancée'(chapter eight). Andrew manages,throughout ,to keephisinterrelated themesin playand to offer incisive newinsights tothesetexts, manyofwhichhavelongbeenpartofthestandard canonand others whichhavereceivedrelatively little attention. Andrew hasa keensenseofthewaysinwhichsingle linesfrom each ofthe works he examines can becomeemblematic ofthewhole.Thus,forexample, he analysescloselytheopeninglinesofVarvara'sdiaryin PoorFolk('I was only fourteen when Daddy died', p. 27), or the Dreamer's commentto Nastenka- 'alone, totally alone, do you understand what alone means?' (p. 44)- or,from Sokhanskaia's 'Conversation After Dinner',Liubov'scomment , 'Butthen, dearie,whenI wokeup thenextday [. . .] I felt as ifI'd been bornagain' (p. 74) or thenarrator's commentin Chekhov's'The Fiancée', 'Nadia wentupstairsto her room' (p. 162),and proceedsto unpackdeep meanings relevant to each workas a wholefromthesesimplesentences, so easyto glossover. AndrewexploresthedarksideofDevushkin in PoorFolkand thewaysin whichheis'instrumental increating hisowntragedy' (p. 26).He demonstrates theunsettling fusion of'thefatherly and theerotic'(p. 36) and showshow,by theend,in hisfinalletter to Varvara,whichshe willneverreceive,she has become,disturbingly, bothhismother and hisdaughter. 'Partoftheroadthat leadstohistragedy ishisconfusion abouthisownpositionality inthestructure offamily relationships [. . .] He attempted to seducehisdaughter, and ended up [. . .] abandonedby his "littlemother'"(p. 37). The chapteron 'White Nights'is equally insightful; Andrewdemonstrates convincingly how the Dreamerseeksbothto routinize his experienceeven as he thinks he seeks thenew,and tobe aloneevenas he fears abandonment. He analyses...