Writing a Usable past: Russian Literary Culture 1917-37 by Angela s> Brintlinger (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS I I7 War, yet another trait in his character could explain this, namely the ability and willingness to take every thought to its ultimate logical conclusion, and then act decisively on the basis of this conclusion. Having embraced the Bolshevikcause, he was fullypreparedto die for it. Smith'sbook, a monumental scholarlyachievement and alreadythewinner of the 2000 Alec Nove Prize (awardedannuallyby the BritishAssociation for Slavonic and East European Studies), could benefit from minor editorial intervention, if a second edition and/or a translation into Russian can be expected. Smith misspells the firstname of the Israeli Prime Minister Begin (pp. 302, 366), the patronymic of the Russian businessman Nikolai Denisov (p. 89), aswell as the surnamesof the fictionalcharacterMechik in Razgrom by Fadeev and of the critic Vladimir Friche(pp. 267, 273). He is also mistaken about the patronymic of the author Azhaev (Nikolaevich, not Ivanovich, p. 366), the stressin the wordgruppovshchina (it should be on the penultimate, not on the second syllable,p. 273), a famous addressof writers'blocksof flats in Moscow (p. 360) and the title of Rachel May's book (p. 333). Some of Smith'sremarksconcerningMirskyarealsoimpreciseandeven contradictory, especially if compared to Smith's other publications. Thus, his assertionthat the English language of Mirsky'sletters to Jane Ellen Harrison was 'stiffish' (p. 35) sits uneasily with his earlier statement that 'Harrison seems to have destroyed the letters she received from Mirsky' (Oxford Slavonic Papers.New Series,28, 1995, p. 63). Likewise,his attributionof the 1925 BookoftheBear(a subjectof the Mirsky-Harrisoncorrespondence)to the Hogarth Press (p. 99) is hard to reconcile with the fact that thispublicationwas broughtout in 1926 by the Nonesuch Press(thiswas also made clearby Smith himselfin the Oxford Slavonic Papers,28, 1995, PP. 71, 74, 84). In addition, on p. 292 the date of Mirsky'sarrestis given as the night of 2-3 July 1937, whereas from the date on the arrestwarrant(p. 307) and other documents in the MirskyNKVD file it looks as if he was arrestedon the night of 2-3 June. Finally,I would like to use this opportunityto supplythe missingdates (see pp. 57 and 22I) for the verse theorist Valerian Adol'fovich Chudovsky (i 89 I- 1937?) and the author GeorgiiNikolaevich Munblit (I 904-98). Department ofSlavonic Studies ANDREI RoGACHEVSKII University ofGlasgow Brintlinger, Angela. Writinga UsablePast: RussianLiteray Culture I9I7-37. Studies in Russian Literature and Theory. Northwestern University Press, Evanston, IL, 2000. X + 253 Pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $79.95. THE title of this book hides what amounts to another, slightly unusual, contributionto the Pushkinbicentennial. Failedattemptsby the three authors under discussion, Jurii Tynianov, Vladislav Khodasevich and Mikhail Bulgakov ,to writea biographyof Pushkinformthebackgroundto thebiographies which they were able to write, of Griboedov, Derzhavin and Moliere respectively.Angela Brintlingeriswell qualifiedto discussbiographicalwriting of the I 920s and I930s, havingwrittenherdoctoraldissertationon the subject. i i8 SEER, 8o, I, 2002 However, this book is no mere revamped PhD thesis,but a fascinatinginsight into three very different authors: Mikhail Bulgakov, the academic-turned novelistTynianov, and the emigrepoet-turned-academicKhodasevich.As the excellent bibliography makes clear, the last two of these have attracted relativelylittle critical attention among criticswriting in English. Indeed, the author herself is responsible for much of what has been written. The three authors are each allotted two chapters, one on the biography they did write (DeathoftheVazir-Mukhtar; Derzhavin; LifeofMonsieur deMoliere) and one on their attempts to portray Pushkin. Both Tynianov and Khodasevich produced unfinishedbiographies,while Bulgakov'splayAlexander Pushkin (laterstagedas LastDays)is remarkableforthe complete absence of the eponymoushero from the stage. There are, however, in addition, some interestingminor figuresin Brintlinger'scanvas. Wil'gel'mKiukel'beker,Pushkin'sclassmateat the lycee, isthesubjectofTynianov'spopular'children'snovel'Kiukhlia, inwhichPushkin plays a secondary role. The definitive nineteenth-century biography of Derzhavin by Iakov Grot was, as Brintlingerexpertly demonstrates,a major influence on Khodasevich'smuch shorterwork.Finally,the short-storywriter Vikentii Veresaev was also the author of the much-reprinted documentary collagePushkin inLife,whichmadehimaplausible,butintheeventuncongenial, collaboratorof Bulgakov.There is also a tailpiece devoted to the Pushkiniana oftheballetdancerandchoreographerSergeiLifar',andofVladimirNabokov, the strength of which is rather weakened by the obvious, and readily acknowledged, fact that Lifar'was a vastly inferiorwriter compared with t.he three major writers under discussion. The point of the title, an adapted quotation...