A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections Part 6

and "Narcissus." In all he wrote twenty-six plays, including the tragedies "Sinav and Truvor," "Aristona," and "Semira," before the establishment of the theater in St. Petersburg, in addition to "Kh.o.r.eff"

and "Hamlet," "Dmitry the Pretender," and "Mstislaff." "Semira" was regarded as his masterpiece, and among his comedies "Tressotinius"

attracted the most attention. All these, however, were merely weak imitations of the narrow form in which all French and pseudo-cla.s.sical dramas were molded, the unities of time, place, and action exerting an embarra.s.sing restriction on the action; and the heroes, although they professed to be Russians, with obscure historical names (like Sinav and Truvor), or semi-mythical (like Kh.o.r.eff), or genuinely historical (like Dmitry the Pretender), were the stereotyped declaimers of the bombastic, pseudo-cla.s.sical drama.

Sumarokoff's dramatic work formed but a small part of his writings, which included a great ma.s.s of odes, eclogues, elegies, ballads, and so forth; and although he ranks as a dramatist, he is most important in his series of fables, epigrams, and epitaphs, which are permeated with biting satire on his own period, though the subjects are rather monotonous--the bad arrangement of the courts of justice, which permitted bribery and other abuses among lawyers, the injurious and oppressive state monopolies, attempts at senseless imitations of foreigners in language and customs, and ignorance concealed by external polish and culture. Coa.r.s.e and imperfect as are these satires, they vividly reproduce the impressions of a contemporary gifted with keen observation and the ability to deal dispa.s.sionately with current events.

As we shall see later on, this protest against the existing order of things continued, and blossomed forth in the succeeding--the sixth--period of literature in productions, which not only form the flower of the century, but also really belong to modern literature, and hold the public attention at the present day. This Sumarokoff's dramatic and other works do not do, and their place is rather in the archives of the preparatory school.

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. What was the general character of the reign of Peter the Great?

2. How important did the printing press become in his time?

3. Why did Peter the Great deprive the monks of pens, ink, and paper?

4. What interesting works were written by Pososhkoff?

5. Who was Feofan Prokopovitch?

6. Give an account of the life and writings of Kantemir.

7. What literary influence had Tatishtcheff and Trediakovsky?

8. Describe the early life of Lomonosoff.

9. Give an account of his many activities.

10. How did he regard literature, and what were his best works.

11. In what way did he exert a strong literary influence?

12. What attention did the Court give to theatrical representations at this time?

13. What new relations with Europe marked the reign of Elizaveta?

14. When and where was Volkhoff's theater established?

15. What share had Sumarokoff in developing the Russian drama?

16. How did he protest against the abuses of his times?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

_History of Russia._ Alfred Rambaud. Vol. II., Chapter VI.

_The Story of Russia._ W. R. Morfill.

_Specimens from the Russian Poets._ Two volumes, Sir John Bowring, contain many specimens from Lomonosoff to Zhukovsky inclusive.

CHAPTER VII

SIXTH PERIOD, THE REIGN OF KATHERINE II. (1762-1796).

Under the brilliant sway of Katherine II. (1762-1796) literature and literary men in Russia first began to acquire legitimate respect and consideration in the highest circles--the educated minority, which ruled tastes and fas.h.i.+ons. Wealthy patrons of literature had existed even in the Empress Elizabeth's day it is true; and a taste for the theater had been implanted or engendered, partly by force, as we have seen. Western ideas had made much progress in a normal way, through the close contact with western European nations, brought about by Elizabeth's great political genius, which had made St. Petersburg the diplomatic center and law-giver; and Katherine's own interest in literature before her accession to the throne had also had much to do with raising the standard and the respect in which literature and writers were held, and in preparing the ground for the new era. During her reign, life and literature may be said to have come into close contact for the first time. Katherine II. herself may be placed at the head of the writers of her day, in virtue not only of her rank and her encouragement of literature, at home and abroad, but because of her own writings. One of her comedies, "O, Ye Times! O, Ye Manners!" is still occasionally given on the stage. Her own Memoirs and her Correspondence with Voltaire, Diderot, and others, furnish invaluable pictures of contemporary views and manners. Her satires, comedies, and journalistic work and polemical articles are most important, however, because most original. In 1769 she began to publish a newspaper called "All Sorts of Things" (or "Varieties"), to which she personally contributed satirical articles attacking abuses--chiefly the lack of culture, and superficiality of education. It was extremely popular with the public, and imitators started up, which the Empress eventually suppressed, because of their virulent attacks on her own journal. She ceased journalistic work in 1774, and then introduced on the stage, in her comedies, the same types and aspects of Russian life which she had previously presented in her satirical articles.

Of the fourteen comedies, nine operas, and seven proverbs which she wrote, in whole or in part (she had the skeletons of some filled out with choruses and verses according to her own plans), up to 1790, eleven comedies, seven operas, and five proverbs have come down to us. The comedies are not particularly artistic, but they are important in a history of the national literature, as noteworthy efforts to present scenes and persons drawn from contemporary life--the first of that sort on the Russian stage--the most remarkable being the one already referred to, and "The Gambler's Name-day" (1772). The personages whom she copied straight from life are vivid; those whom she invented as ideals, as foils for contrast, are lifeless shadows. Her operas are not important.

Towards the close of her literary activity she once more engaged in journalism, writing a series of satirical sketches, "Facts and Fiction"

(published in 1783), for a new journal, issued on behalf of the Academy of Sciences by the Princess Dashkoff, the director of that academy, and chairman of the Russian Academy, founded in that year on the Princess's own plan.

This Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkoff (born Vorontzoff, 1743-1810) was a brilliantly educated woman, with a p.r.o.nounced taste for political intrigue, who had a great share in the conspiracy which disposed of Peter III., and placed Katherine II. on the throne. Katherine richly rewarded the Princess, but preserved her own independence and supremacy, which offended Princess Dashkoff, the result being a coldness between the former intimate friends. This, in turn, obliged the Princess to leave the court and travel at home and abroad. During one trip abroad she received a diploma as doctor of laws, medicine, and theology from Edinburg University. Her Memoirs are famous, though not particularly frank, or in agreement with Katherine II.'s statements, naturally. The Empress never ceased to be suspicious of her, but twenty years later a truce was patched up between them, and Katherine appointed her to the offices above mentioned--never held before or since by a woman.

Princess Dashkoff wrote much on educational subjects, and in the journal referred to above, she published not only her own articles and Katherine II.'s, but also the writings of many new and talented men, among them, Von Vizin and Derzhavin. This journal, "The Companion of the Friends of the Russian Language," speedily came to an end when the Princess-editor took umbrage at the ridicule heaped on some of her projects and speeches by the Empress and her courtiers.

If Katherine II. was the first to introduce real life on the Russian stage, Von Vizin was the first to do so in a manner sufficiently artistic to hold the stage, which is the case with his "Nedorosl," or "The Hobbledehoy." He is the representative of the Russian type, in its best aspects, during the reign of Katherine II., and offers a striking contrast to the majority of his educated fellow-countrymen of the day.

They were slavish wors.h.i.+pers of French influences. He bore himself scornfully, even harshly, towards everything foreign, and always strove to counteract each foreign thing by something of native Russian origin.

Denis Ivanovitch Von Vizin (1744-1792), as his name suggests, was the descendant of an ancient German family, of knightly rank. An ancestor had been taken prisoner in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and had ended by settling in Russia and a.s.suming Russian citizens.h.i.+p. The family became thoroughly Russified when they joined the Russian Church. Von Vizin was of a n.o.ble and independent character, to which he added a keen, fine mind, and a caustic tongue. His father, he tells us, in his "A Frank Confession of Deeds and Thoughts" (imitated from Rousseau's "Confession"), was also of an independent character in general, and in particular--contrary to the custom of the epoch--detested extortion and bribery, and never accepted gifts. "Sir!" he was accustomed to say to persons who asked favors of him in his official position, "a loaf of sugar affords no reason for condemning your opponent; please take it away and bring legal proof of your rights."

Denis Von Vizin received a thorough Russian education at home--which was unusual at that era of overwhelming foreign influence; and his inclination for literature having manifested itself in his early youth, while still at the University School for n.o.bles, he made various translations from foreign languages before entering the Moscow University, at the age of fifteen. During a visit which he made to St.

Petersburg, while still a student at the University, he saw the theater for the first time, and soon made acquaintance with F. G. Volkhoff (already mentioned), and one of the actors. These things exerted a great influence upon him. During a visit of the Court to Moscow, in 1755, he was appointed translator to the Foreign College (Office), with the inevitable military rank, and went to live in the new capital. After divers vicissitudes of service, he wrote "The Brigadier," which he was promptly asked to read before royalty and in society. It won for him great reputation with people who were capable of appreciating the first play which was genuinely Russian in something more than externals. It jeers at ignorance coated over with an extremely thin veneer of pretentious foreign culture. The types in "The Brigadier" (written about 1747) had long been floating about in literature, and as it were, awaiting a skillful pen which should present them in full relief to the contemporary public. Von Vizin set forth these types on the stage in a clearer, more vivid manner than all previous writers who had dealt with them, as we have seen, in satires and dramas, from Kantemir to Katherine II. The characters, as Von Vizin depicted them, were no longer abstract monsters, agglomerations of evil qualities, but near relations to everybody. Moreover, the drama was gay, playful--not even the moral was gloomy--with not a single depressing line.

Totally different is "The Hobbledehoy" ("Nedorosl," 1782), which is even more celebrated, and was written towards the close of a long career in the service, filled with varied and trying experiences--part of which arose from the difficulties of the author's own n.o.ble character in contact with a different type of men and from his attacks on abuses of all sorts--after a profound study of life in the middle and higher cla.s.ses of Russian court and diplomatic circles. The difference between "The Brigadier" and "The Hobbledehoy" is so great that they must be read in the order of their production if the full value of the impression created by the earlier play is to be appreciated. "The Hobbledehoy" was wholly unlike anything which had been seen hitherto in Russian literature. Had the authorities permitted Von Vizin to print his collection of satires, he would have stood at the head of that branch of literature in that epoch; as it was, this fine comedy contains the fullest expression of his dissatisfaction at the established order of things in general. The merits of the play rest upon its queer characters from life, who are startlingly real, and represent the genuine aims and ideas of the time. The contrasting set of characters, whom he introduced as the exponents of his ideals, do not express any aims and ideas which then existed, but merely what he personally would have liked to see.

Katherine II., with whose comedies Von Vizin's have much in common, always tried to offset her disagreeable real characters by honorable, sensible types, also drawn from real life as ideals. But Von Vizin's ideal characters are almost hostile in their bearing towards his characters drawn from real life. Altogether, Von Vizin must be regarded as the first independent, artistic writer in Russia, and therefore epoch-making, just as Feofan Prokopovitch must be rated as the first Russian secular writer, and Sumarokoff as the first Russian literary man and publicist in the modern meaning of the words. It is worth noting (because of a tendency to that sort of thing in later Russian writers down to the present day) that towards the end of his life a stroke of paralysis, in 1785, and other unfortunate circ.u.mstances, threw Von Vizin into a gloomy religious state of mind, under the influence of which he judged himself and his works with extreme severity, and condemned them with excessive harshness.

The general outline of "The Hobbledehoy" is as follows: Mrs. Prostakoff (Simpleton), a managing woman, of ungovernable temper, has an only child, Mitrofan (the Hobbledehoy), aged sixteen. She regards him as a mere child, and spoils him accordingly. He is, in fact, childish in every way, deserving his sobriquet, and is followed about everywhere by his old nurse, Eremyeevna. Mr. Simpleton has very little to say, and that little, chiefly, in support of his overbearing wife's a.s.sertions, and at her explicit demand. She habitually addresses every one, except her son, as "beast," and by other similar epithets. She has taken into her house, about six months before the play opens, Sophia, a fairly wealthy orphan, and a connection of hers by marriage, whom she ill-treats to a degree. She is on the point of betrothing her to Skotinin (Beastly), her brother, who frankly admits that he cares nothing for the girl, and not very much for her estate, which adjoins his own, but a very great deal for the extremely fine pigs which are raised on it--a pa.s.sion for pigs, which he prefers to men, const.i.tuting his chief interest in life. Mr. Beastly, who says that he never goes to law, no matter what losses he may suffer, no matter how much his neighbors injure him, because he simply wrings the deficit out of his peasants, and that ends it, declares that Sophia's pigs, for which he expresses a "deadly longing," are so huge that "there is not one of them which, stood up on its hind legs, would not be a whole head taller than any one of us," is eager for the match. While this is under discussion (Sophia being entirely ignorant of their intentions), the young girl enters, and announces that she has received good news: her uncle, who has been in Siberia for several years in quest of fortune, and is supposed to be dead, has written to inform her of his speedy arrival.

Mrs. Simpleton takes the view that he is dead, ought to be dead; and roughly tells Sophia that the latter need not try to frighten her into giving her her liberty, and a.s.serts that the letter must be from the officer who has been in love with her, and whom she wishes to marry.

Sophia offers her the letter, in proof of innocence, saying, "Read it yourself." "Read it myself!" cries Mrs. Simpleton; "no, madam, thank G.o.d, I was not brought up in that way. I may receive letters, but I always order some one else to read them," whereupon she orders her husband to read it. Her husband gives it up as too difficult, and Mr.

Beastly, on being asked, replies, "I! I have never read anything since I was born, my dear sister! G.o.d has delivered me from that boredom."

Pravdin (Mr. Upright), an official charged with inspecting the condition of the peasants, also empowered to put under arrest cruel proprietors, and under guardians.h.i.+p of the state those who have been ill-treated, enters and reads the letter to them. When Mrs. Simpleton learns from it that Uncle Starodum (Oldidea) has a large income, and that Sophia is to inherit it, she immediately overwhelms Sophia with flattery and affection, and decides to marry her to her precious "child," Mitrofan.

This leads to violent quarrels during the rest of the play between her and her brother, who wants the pigs; and to violence from the latter to Mitrofan, who declares that he has long wished to marry, and intends to have Sophia. In the mean time a company of soldiers, on the march to Moscow, arrives, and is quartered in the village, while their commanding officer, Milon, a friend of Mr. Upright, makes his appearance at the house, where to his surprise, he finds his lady-love, Sophia, who promptly explains to him the situation of affairs.

Mitrofan is still under teachers, consisting of Vralman (Liar), a former gunner, who is supposed to be teaching him French and all the sciences; Tzfirkin (Cipherer), a retired army-sergeant, who instructs him in arithmetic, and Kuteikin, who, as his name implies, is the son of a petty ecclesiastic, and teaches him reading and writing, talking always in ecclesiastical style, interlarded with old Church-Slavonic words and phrases. He is always doing "reviews," never advancing to new lessons, and threatens to drown himself if he be not allowed to wed Sophia at once. There is a most amusing lesson-scene. The teacher of arithmetic sets him a problem: three people walking along the road find three hundred rubles, which they divide equally between them; how much does each one get? Mitrofan does the sum on his slate: "Once three is three, once nothing is nothing, once nothing is nothing." But his mother exclaims, that if he finds such a sum, he must not divide it, but keep it all, and that arithmetic, which teaches such division, is a fool of a science. Another sum is worked out in equally absurd style, with equally intelligent comments from the mother. Kuteikin then takes his turn, and using a pointer, makes Mitrofan repeat after him a ridiculously appropriate sentence from the Psalms, in the "Tchasosloff," the "Book of Hours," or first reader. Vralman enters, meddles with everybody, in a strong foreign accent, and puts an end to the lessons, as quite unnecessary for the precious boy; for which, and his arrogance (when Mrs. Simpleton and the Hobbledehoy have retired), the other teachers attack him with slate and book.

Meanwhile, Uncle Starodum has arrived, and talks in long paragraphs and stilted language to Pravdin and Sophia, expressing the ideal view of life, conduct, service to the state, and so forth. He, as well as Sophia, Pravdin Milon, are quite colorless. The Simpletons overwhelm Starodum with stupid courtesies, and Mrs. S. gets Pravdin to examine Mitrofan, in order to prove to Starodum that her darling child is fit to be Sophia's husband. The examination is even more brilliant than the lesson. Mitrofan says that door, that is to say, the door to that room, is an adjective, because it is added, or affixed, to its place; but the door of the store-house is a noun, because it has been standing off its hinges for six weeks. Further examination reveals the fact, that Vralman's instruction in history has impressed his pupil with the idea that the histories (stories) told by Khavronya, the herd-girl, const.i.tute that science. When asked about geography, the Hobbledehoy declares that he does not know what is meant, and his mother prompts him with "'Eography," after asking Pravdin what he said. On inquiring further as to its meaning and its use, and on being informed that it is a description of the earth, and its first use is to aid people in finding their way about, she makes the famous speech, frequently quoted, "Akh, good gracious! What are the cabmen for, then? That's their business. That's not a science for the n.o.bility. All a n.o.ble has to do is to say, 'Drive me to such a place!' and you're driven whithersoever you wish. Believe me, my good sir, everything that Mitrofan does not know is nonsense."

Uncle Starodum makes acquaintance with Milon, whose good qualities he has learned through an old friend, and betroths him to Sophia. Mrs.

Simpleton, on learning of this, and that Starodum and Sophia are to set out for Moscow early the next morning, arranges to have Mitrofan abduct Sophia at a still earlier hour, and marry her. Sophia escapes; Mrs.

Simpleton raves and threatens to beat to death her servants who have failed to carry out her plan. Pravdin then announces that the government has ordered him to take charge of the Simpletons' house and villages, because of Mrs. S.'s notorious inhumanity. Vralman, whom Starodum recognizes as a former coach-man of his, mounts the box, and Starodum, Sophia, and Milon set out for Moscow, virtue reigning triumphant, and wickedness being properly punished--which, again, is an ideal point of view.

But the man who, taken as a whole, above all others in the eighteenth century, has depicted for us governmental, social, and private life, is Gavril Romanovitch Derzhavin (1743-1816). His memoirs and poetical chronicle furnish the most brilliant, vivid, and valuable picture of the reign of Katherine II. Moreover, in his own person, Derzhavin offers a type of one of the most distinguished Russians of the last half of the eighteenth century, in his literary and official career. He presented a great contrast to his contemporary and friend, Von Vizin, in that, while the latter was a noteworthy example of all the best sides in contemporary social life, with very few defects, Derzhavin was an example of all the defects of contemporary life, and of several distinctly personal merits, which sharply differentiated him from others in the same elevated spheres of court and official life. He was the son of a poor n.o.ble. His opportunities for education were extremely limited, and in 1762 he entered the military service as a common soldier, in the famous Preobrazhensky (Transfiguration) infantry regiment of the Guards.

As he had neither friends nor relatives in St. Petersburg, he lived in barracks, where with difficulty he followed his inclinations, and read all the Russian and German books he could obtain, scribbling verses at intervals. In 1777 he managed to obtain a small estate and the rank of bombardier-lieutenant, and left the service to become an usher in one department of the Senate, where he made many friends and acquaintances in high circles. Eventually he became governor of Olonetz, then of Tamboff. In 1779 he began "in a new style," among other compositions therein being an ode "To Felitza," meaning the Empress Katherine II. He continued to write verses, but published nothing under his own name until his famous ode, "G.o.d" and "The Murza's Vision," in 1785. We cannot here enter into his official career further than to say, that all his troubles arose from his own honesty, and from the combined hostile efforts of the persons whose dishonest practices he had opposed. Towards the end of Katherine's reign he became a privy councilor (a t.i.tular rank) and senator; that is to say, a member of the Supreme Judicial Court. Under Paul I. he was President of the Commerce College (Ministry of Commerce), and Imperial Treasurer. Under Alexander I. he was made Minister of Justice.

"Katharine's Bard," as he was called, like several of his predecessors, cherished an idea of fixing a style in Russian literature, his special aim being to confine it to the cla.s.sical style, and to oppose the new school of Karamzin. In this he was upheld by I. I. Dmitrieff, who was looked upon as his successor. But after Derzhavin heard Pushkin read his verses, at the examination in the Tzarskoe Selo Lyceum (1815), he frankly admitted that the lad had already excelled all living writers of Russia; and he predicted that this school-boy would become the new and brilliant star.