The Russian Perspective in Vadim Andreev’s Prose: From A Tale about Father to The Wild Field

Abstract

The literary legacy of Vadim Leonidovich Andreev (1902–1976) is considered as part of the writer’s key objective — to preserve national identity. The author uses the methods of immanent, historical and genetic, and comparative and typological analysis. Vadim Andreev appears as a literary artist of what is referred to as “Russian matters”: his prose reveals themes, ideas, and motifs typical of Russian literature. The article aims to study Andreev’s interpretation of those matters and reveal the evolution in the forms of addressing them in three of his texts. It is argued that A Tale about Father (Rus. Povest’ ob ottse , 1962) represents dominants of the national consciousness: “illness with Russia” determines the psycho-mentality of the autobiographical character. The tale The Story of a Journey (Rus. Istoriia odnogo puteshestviia , 1966) and the novel The Wild Field (Rus. Dikoe pole , 1965) primarily focus on the idea of charity and pose the problem of the right to violence, even in the situation of wars and revolutions. In The Wild Field , this issue is addressed within the national tradition and in the context of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ideas. The tale The Story of a Journey is regarded in its relation to young e migr e s’ literature, and, more particularly, it is compared to Gaito Gazdanov’s Evening at Clair’s (Rus. Vecher u Kler , 1929). However, the tale reveals a correlation with metropolitan literature; thus, it is contextually related to The White Guard (Rus. Belaia gvardiia , 1925) by Mikhail Bulgakov. The article traces back Andreev’s outlook to the substantial ideas of 19 th -century Russian literature and asserts that the advance of his own cultural logos takes place within the framework of the national humanist tradition.