Waiting for Pushkin: Russian Fiction in the Reign of Alexander I (1801-1825) by Alessandra Tosi (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS IO5 anyone is likely to read it from cover to cover, but for some readers some itemswill be useful. HertfordCollege,Oxford Gerald Stone Tosi, Alessandra. Waiting for Pushkin: Russian Fiction in theReign ofAlexander I (i801-1823). Studies in Slavic Literature and Poetics, 44. Rodopi, Amsterdam and New York, 2006. 429 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. 85.00: $106.00 (paperback). As Alessandra Tosi states in the introduction toWaitingfor Pushkin, 'Russian prose fiction of the age of Alexander I (1801-25) has been left largely unexplored in recent scholarship, both inRussia and in theWest' (p. 11). Whereas the poets of the era (Tosi mentioned Batiushkov, Zhukovskii and Gnedich) have enjoyed both scholarly prominence and relative popular appeal, the prose of the firstquarter of the nineteenth century has often been marginalized, a result of 'the teleological view of literaryhistory as an evolu tion toward the great achievements in the 1830s and 1840s' (p. 11).Accord ingly,Tosi sets herself the task of recuperating this lost legacy, providing 'an overview of the intense literaryactivity' (p. 11) that occurred during the reign ofAlexander I, and stimulating 'itsreintegration intoRussia's literaryhistory' (p. 12).To do this,Tosi combines a broad historical and cultural overview of the period with a number of close readings of texts that are held to be both representative of contemporary trends and aesthetically rewarding in their own right. Many of these are not the works normally associated with specific authors: thediscussion ofGnedich, for instance, considers his gothic novel Don Korrado de Genera (1803) rather than his more famous translation of the Iliad The fivemain chapters of the book fall into two distinct sections (although not marked as such). The first two chapters explore the macro- and micro context respectively: chapter one deals with the institutional aspects of literary life at the time (the writer's relationship with the tsar, the professionalization of literarypractice); this isbalanced by chapter two and itsemphasis on writ ers' specific concerns, ideologies and endeavours (as represented by various literary groupings, and debates over the role of prose and the appropriateness of various registers of language). Thereafter, Tosi turns her attention to the various literary movements that evolved during the period in question, first tracing the legacy of the eighteenth century, then the rise of sentimentalism, and finally a number of'pre-romantic and romantic trends'. Although certain key works are singled out for special attention, a vast number of texts (often little known) have been consulted and are mentioned in varying degrees of detail in passing; for this reason alone, Waitingfor Pushkinwill become an important point of reference, both for those interested in the 'long' eighteenth century and for those keen to preface their knowledge of Pushkin and the prose that followed him with something less familiar. Tosi's extensive notes point readers towards more specific studies of individual authors and works, and the careful division of the text into discrete sub-sections (usefully listed in 106 SEER, 87, I, JANUARY 2OO9 the table of contents) allows for the rapid consultation of relevant material. Crucially, the footnotes also contain theRussian original of all the passages cited in themain body of the text (something that not all publishers seem prepared to accept as absolutely imperative). Given that a major aspect of Tosi's argument is that Russian authors were involved in a struggle to over come and assimilate the influence ofWestern models, it is particularly good to see due attention paid to aspects of comparative literaryhistory. Tosi's monograph is a welcome sign that scholars are turning their atten tion to this interesting, if 'transitional' period. It complements the relevant portions ofRichard Stites's recent Serfdom, Societyand the Arts inImperialRussia: The Pleasure and the Power (New Haven, CT and London, 2005), and echoes the particular work that has been done on music in the era before Glinka (such as M. G. Dolushina's Uistokov russkogo romansa: kamernaia vokal'naia kul'tura alek sandrovskoi epokhi, Vologda, 2004), although the omission ofAndreas Schonle's Authenticity andFiction in the Russian Literary Journey,iygo-1840 (Cambridge, MA, 2000) is curious, given Tosi's otherwise replete bibliography. It is to be hoped that other scholars will follow this lead, perhaps incorporating some of...