The Epistolary Novel in Eighteenth-Century Russia by Maarten s> Fraanje (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 94I attention than these two at present enjoy; but they will have recourse to the volume for essentialinformationtime and again. Oxford JENNIFER BAINES Fraanje,Maarten. 7The Epistolagy NovelinEighteenth-Centugy Russia.Vortrageund Abhandlungen zur Slavistik, 4I. Verlag Otto Sagner, Munich, 200I. I96 pp. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography.Index. Ci8.4I (paperback). ALTHOUGH this volume seemingly deals with a small back-water of Russian literature, the epistolary novel of the eighteenth century, Maarten Fraanje presents a plausible case for seriousre-examination of these precursorsof the 'Great Tradition' which was to begin about twenty years after Fraanjeends. Indeed, both explicitly and implicitly, the first major Russian novel, Evgenii Onegin, is clearlyinfluencedby the traditionwhich Fraanjehere 'rediscovers'. The book comprises detailed study of the seven epistolary novels which appeared in Russia between I 766 and I812, the date when, Fraanjesuggests, the culturalepoch of the eighteenth centurytrulyended. These novels are The Letters ofErnestandDoravra (I766) by Fedor Emin, the two novels by his son Nikolai Emin, Roza (I788) and An Ironyof Fate (I789), Mikhail Sushkov's Russian Werther (I 792) and NikolaiMurav'ev'sVsevolod andVeleslava (i 807), together with two anonymous works of the period. The study has a helpful bibliographyaswell as a summaryin Russian. These novels are certainlyobscure and are unavailablein full to the reader today (in any language), except in libraries.Yet Fraanjedoes a good job of persuading the reader that his study is worthwhile, both in the claims he makesin the 'Introduction'and 'Conclusion', aswell aswhat he revealsin the individual analyses. The 'Introduction' establishes very clearly what his approach will be. He seeks to relate these texts to a culturaland, above all, a social context. This leads him to what is in effect a somewhat unfashionable neo-Marxist position: 'I work from the assumption that the utterances of the character, the solution to the conflict, but also the specific use of the formal characteristicsof the genre, can be related to social strife' (p. 4). In essence, that is, his analysisis classbased, and it leads Fraanjeto all kindsof imaginative readings of the works, based on the concluding paragraph of the brief but challenging Introduction: 'In short, the [... .] novels [.. .] can be seen as an endeavourby some Russiansto give meaning to the conflictingforcesof desire and social realityand to solve thisconflictthrougha fictitiousconstruct'(p. 5). The book is full of fascinating insights. After three preliminary chapters 'The Rise of the Russian Novel', followed by discussions of the epistolary novel tradition, and the role of letter-writingin eighteenth-century Russia, Fraanje offers analyses of the seven novels. Each is enlivened by his sociocultural framework and detailed textual exegesis. For example, Fraanje persuasively argues that Fedor Emin's final novel switches direction in the course of its writing when 'Emin changed his ideas about the value of the novel's subject,romantic love, and about the genre of the novel itself' (p. 43). There are broader insightsinto the sociology of Russian lettersin the second 942 SEER, 82, 4, 2004 half of the eighteenthcentury,as well as into ideasaroundcreativityand originality intheperiodbeforeRomanticism. Fraanjealso deals extensivelythroughoutwith issuesof influence.The primary modelsforhiswriters wereRousseau's LaNouvelle Heloise andGoethe's Werther. The fact alonethat the formertext was a majorsourcefor Onegin makesFraanje's studyworthwhile. Theroleof Werther inRussian literature led to a scandalousevent: 'The most remarkable thing about "The Russian Werther" [... .] is thefactthatonlyweeksafterit waswrittenits i6-yearold author, Mikhail Sushkov,killed himself in much the same way as his protagonistdoes' (p.93). This work too was an importantprecursorfor Oneginand,evenmoreso,Pechorin, whilethelegacyoftheepistolary novel moregenerallyextendedwellintothenineteenthcentury,mostfamously, of course,inPoor Folk, acleardescendant ofErnest and Doravra. Thisbook,asis acknowledged, isbasedon theauthor'sPhD,andattimes this shows. Equally, it is often apparent in small ways that English is not the author'sfirstlanguage. Occasionally, though, this does lead to some unfortunate solecisms. The most strikingof these is his use of 'romanesque' for the Russian 'romanischeskii'on numerous occasions. It also seems odd to find transliterationwhere cyrilliccould be used. These small quibbles should not, however, detractfromthe book's overallachievement. There is much to learn in thisvolume and, although othersmight find the neo-Marxism irritating,or even quaintly old-fashioned in a post-modern world, this reader found the overall approach stimulatingand illuminating.It is to be hoped, indeed, that the workwill arouseinterestto suchan extent that some at...