The Positive Hero in Russian Literature by Rufus W. Mathewson, Jr. (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 3I9 publications. In biographical terms, in addition to being a prose writer and poet, he was an army officer, assistant-directorthen director of the Kremlin Armoury(succeedingin thispost the olderhistoricalnovelistM. N. Zagoskin), and a noted antiquarian.The words most commonly attachedto his writings would seem to be 'prolific','readable','playful'and 'punning'.He is generally associated with Russian romanticism (at least, until his late period of the I86os)and his main themes (andgeneric inclinations)includehistory,folkore, fantasyand travel.His principalromanticfeaturewould seemto be the mixing of styles and this, together with his verbal dexterity and wide variation in register,no doubt makeshim difficultto translate. Earlier separate publication of two of the works included here apart, Vel'tman now makes his debut in English in a collection of five stories. Its listing in the Northwestern 'Studiesin Russian Literatureand Theory' series may seem slightly incongruous - particularly since the accompanying apparatus, while adequate, is not over-generous. The stories here provided may perhaps best be described as curiosities of minor interest, rather than wvorks of obvious fundamental significance, and they are presented in what approximates,to thisreaderatleast,to a descendingorderof quality.'Erotida' is a provincial military and society tale, with a bizarre twist in its plot-tail. 'Roland the Furious'is a provincial satire,contrivingto appear something of a thespian anticipation of Gogol"s Revizor. 'TravelImpressionsand, Among Other Things, a Pot of Geraniums'is an example of idiosyncraticand rather tedious whimsy. 'A Traveler from the Provinces; or, A Commotion in the Capital'is a mildlyamusingbut over-extendeddebunkingof Moscow literary circles and fads. Finally, 'It's Not a House, but a Plaything!'is a somewhat inconsequential(children's?)tale of house-sprites(domovye). V. F. Pereverzev was a strong advocate for a twentieth-century revival of Vel'tnmananida number of the works subsequently returned to print in Russia, especially from the I970S onwards. XVhilea translated selection from such a writer is to be warmly welcomed, one is left, nonetheless, with the suspicion that the shorter prose form does not show Vel'tman to best advantage and that a translation of one of his novels (perhaps of the best knowni example: Strannik, I831-32) might more effectively promote his cause in the English-speaking world. Depaortment ofRussianiStudies NEIL CORNWELL University' ofBristol MIathewson,Rufus W., Jr. ThePositiveHeroin RussianLiterature. Studies in Russian Literature and Theory. Northwestern University Press, Evanston , IL, 2000. xxii + 369 pp. Notes. Index. $22.95 (paperback). RUFUSWV.MATHEWSON's ThePositiveHero in RussianLiterature,widely considered a classic, will require no introduction for many scholars. The second edition of the book, originally published in 1975, has been reprinted by Northwvestern UniversityPress. Mathewson's initial intent was to show that a 'persistentconflict between two contrary views of the true nature and proper uses of literature - one 320 SEER, 79, 2, 2001 prescriptive,controlled, and social, the other open, autonomous, and broadly human' served as the true link between nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russianprose (p. ix). Defining positive literary heroes as 'emblematically virtuous images of political men', Mathewson identifies politics, morality, and literature as uniquely intertwined elements in the Russian tradition while noting the primacyof the hero in Russianliteraturesince the genesisof realism(p. 2). Mathewson presents the origins of study of the hero in Russian literature through providing chapters on the radical critics. He begins by establishing thefundamentalconflictbetween the classicalwritersin Russiaand the radical critics,includingchapterson Belinskii,the creatorof many of the elements of positiveheroes in Russianliterature;Dobroliubov, the intellectualdescendant of Belinskii;and Chernyshevskii.Underlying the primaryconcern of the text are several fundamental questions about art and aesthetics, including the function of literature.Two conflicting ideas are identified:the manipulative and the contemplative aesthetic.In turn, the two poles of the Russianliterary hero areepitomized by Turgenev'sBazarov(Fathers andSons) and Chernyshevskii 'sRakhmetov (What Is toBeDone?). The second part of the book explores the links between Marxism and realism to demonstrate Marxist influence on the analysisof the literaryhero inRussia.Leninand Gor'kiiboth advocatedpoliticalpartisanshipinliterature: Mathewson sees this as Lenin's real contribution to the utilitariantradition. Gor'kii'sown search for heroes manifested itself in Mother; Mathewson cites this text with its obvious political slant as the most extreme application of Soviet Marxismto Soviet writing. The thirdpart of the book covers the...