The Russian Memoir: History and Literature by Beth s> Holmgren (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 5I3 worksof the Russian authorsof the end of the seventeenth century should be placed' (p. 8o). With thesethoughtsthe authordeclaresherengagementin awiderstruggle, to jettison the long-standing divide between pre- and post-Petrineliterature. But with all the evidence before her, should she not also have seized the opportunityto rid Karion of his 'minor' status?Could a man who had served as personal assistantto two patriarchs,loakim and Adrian (p. 7), and tutored the heir to the throne, Aleksei Petrovich (p. I4), be described as a 'minor' figure and, if he had really been one, would Peter have bothered to remove him fromthe Pechatnyidvor?A genuinely 'minor'figurewould have been left in peace. Dr Ramusino must be congratulated on her substantial and valuable contributionto the studyof seventeenth-centuryRussianliterarybaroque. Imperial College London C. L. DRAGE Holmgren, Beth (ed.). TheRussianMemoir:HistotyandLiterature. Studies in Russian Literature and Theory. Northwestern University Press, Evanston , IL, 2003. xl + 221 pp.Notes. Index. $79.95. QUOTING a recent round-table discussion in the journal Voprosy literatugy, Marina Balinaaffirmsin the chapterthatbringsthisvolume to a close that 'in the lastfew yearsmemoir has become one of the most popularliterarygenres' (p. I86), and another contributor, Alexander Prokhorov, states furtherthat 'in post-Soviet Russia, memoirs have become best-selling entertainment' (p. 70). TheRussian Memoir, consequently, should offera timely analysisof this particularliterary genre and, indeed, much is made of its national specifics and its clearlydefined historicaland culturalcontext. In its uneven range and presentation, however, one has to express some disappointment:the volume contains nine chapters, and is geared towardsmodern texts and writers,with only Gitta Hammarberg's study of the 'canonization' of the eighteenthcentury aristocrat Natal'ia Dolgorukaia, and Beth Holmgren and Jehanne Gheith on Avdot'iaPanaeva, falling outside the twentieth century. There is, on the other hand, a carefully observed gender balance: studies of Lidiia Ginzburg, Evgeniia Ginzburgand Elena Bonner arejuxtaposed with those of the film-maker EI'dar Riazanov and the poet Nikolai Zabolotskii, and a comparativeanalysisof the memoirsof Nabokov and Brodskyin exile. The book contains some excellent studies, none more so than Beth Holmgren's framingintroductoryessay on the literaryhistoryof the memoir, which had by the early twentieth century become a significantmode of selfexpression : 'By writing memoirs, Russians dared to demarcate their own autonomous circles of presumably truthfulperception and real-world influence , to pioneer the rightsand capabilitiesof the individualin an autocratic, bureaucraticstate' (p. xxii).Jane Gary Harris'spenetrating analysisof Lidiia Ginzburg'sculturalmemoirs as 'reframingher individuallife experience, her identity, as a semiotic representationof the thinkingof her generation of the Russian-Soviet intelligentsia' (p. 7) surely provides a model within which to explore the 'lifewriting'of other Soviet culturalfigures. 514 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 In conclusion, despite the high quality of the writing, it must be said that the volume has significantlacunae: there is no mention of diary writing, for instance, especially diaries that were cultivated and developed over many decades by writerssuch as MikhailPrishvinand Kornei Chukovskii.The text is also marred by sloppy editorial work, with a number of misprints and transliterationalinconsistencies ('Aleksandr'on p. xxxii, but 'Alexander'on p. xxxv; Vasilievich on p. i88, but Vasil'evich on p. I89, to name a few). Nevertheless, the book as a whole offersvaluable new insights into Russian culturaldynamics,and the interactionof historyand culture. Department ofEuropean Studies andModern Languages DAVID GILLESPIE University ofBath Wachtel, Michael. 7he Cambridge Introduction to RussianPoetgy.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York,2004. xii + i66 pp. Bibliography .Suggestedfurtherreading.Indexes. C14.99: $2 I.99 (paperback). THIS book isa student-orientedsequelto the author'sTheDevelopment ofRussian Verse. MeteranditsMeanings from the same publisher (reviewed in SEER, 78, 2000, 1, PP. 138-39). Understandably, there is a degree of overlap between the two works. Wachtel begins his new opus by relating the major Russian poets to the context of their times (pp. 5- II) and highlightingthe key featuresof Russian verse form metre, rhythm, rhyme, stanza (pp. 15-34). The descriptionof metre and rhythm in termsof quaint concepts such as 'scuds','scansion'and 'feet' is almost a century behind the times. More meaningful points of reference in verse theory today are 'word combinations', 'rhythmicalforms', syntaxand partsof speech. The passageson rhyme and stanzaforms,although informative,are fartoo brief.Despite abundant recent scholarlyevidence, there is no awarenesshere of the...