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observer of insects
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Date
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...it was for him to decide, for him to die, if he wished. (TT, 25)
In his essay The Dying Turgenev: Klara Milich (included in The Book of Reflections, 1906) I. Annenski compares Aratov (the main character in Turgenev's last novella) to Faust who forgot to grow young... "or, perhaps, Aratov is not Faust but Hippolytus without Artemis, not Hippolytus the hero but only a victim who accidentally gets into fire or, rather, is instinctively attracted by the fire's irresistible brightness and burns to the ground without pleasing the Gods and even unneeded to fire itself. Or, finally, Aratov is Romeo whom Juliet communicates the plague in a kiss " (apologies for the awkward translation):
Если искать параллелей, то Яков Аратов представляется мне чем-то вроде Фауста, только забывшего помолодеть... Или, может быть, Аратов не Фауст, а Ипполит без Артемиды, Ипполит не герой, а только жертва, и даже не та искупительная жертва, которую жгут на костре, чтобы её дыму - душе - улыбались боги, а та, которая попадает в огонь случайно или, скорей, инстинктивно, втянутая туда неотразимым блеском огня, и сгорает дотла на костре неугодною богам и ненужною даже самому огню. Или, наконец, Аратов это - Ромео, которому Джульетта передала в поцелуе моровую язву...
As Annenski notes in his essay, Aratov's late father was "инсектонаблюдатель" (observer of insects). Strange enough, there are no butterflies in TT. But does not Hugh Person who perishes in a fire resemble a night moth that attracted by the light flies into flames to its death?
According to Annenski, with Klara Milich a new ringing note could be heard in the music of Turgenev's oeuvre. It was the note of physical suffering: С Кларой Милич в музыку тургеневского творчества вошла, уже не надолго, новая и какая-то звенящая нота. Это была нота физического страдания.
Can we hear a similar note in VN's penultimate completed novel? Or is it but parodied in TT? Btw., after hearing Mashen'ka, VN's first novel, which the author read from the manuscript to a small audience, the critic Yuli Aikhenvald called the young writer "our new Turgenev." Of course, VN was very critical of Turgenev's late work, nor did he care much for Annenski's criticism. It is also true that the main (and practically only) theme of Annenski's poetry is that of death. In his essay on Annenski (who had an incurable heart disease) Hodasevich compares him to Tolstoy's Ivan Ilyich (whom Annenski mentions in his essay on Klara Milich).
Re Schiller mentioned in my previous post: after Klara's death Aratov recalls the (omitted) line from Schiller's Ode an die Freude: "Auch die Toten sollen leben" (the dead should also live): Мысли о бессмертии души, о жизни за гробом снова посетили его. Разве не сказано в библии: "Смерть, где жало твоё?" А у Шиллера-- "И мёртвые будут жить!" (Auch die Todten sollen leben!) Или вот ещё, кажется, у Мицкевича "Я буду любить до скончания века... и по скончании века!" А один английский писатель сказал: "Любовь сильнее смерти". (Klara Milich, chapter 14)
Alexey Sklyarenko
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In his essay The Dying Turgenev: Klara Milich (included in The Book of Reflections, 1906) I. Annenski compares Aratov (the main character in Turgenev's last novella) to Faust who forgot to grow young... "or, perhaps, Aratov is not Faust but Hippolytus without Artemis, not Hippolytus the hero but only a victim who accidentally gets into fire or, rather, is instinctively attracted by the fire's irresistible brightness and burns to the ground without pleasing the Gods and even unneeded to fire itself. Or, finally, Aratov is Romeo whom Juliet communicates the plague in a kiss " (apologies for the awkward translation):
Если искать параллелей, то Яков Аратов представляется мне чем-то вроде Фауста, только забывшего помолодеть... Или, может быть, Аратов не Фауст, а Ипполит без Артемиды, Ипполит не герой, а только жертва, и даже не та искупительная жертва, которую жгут на костре, чтобы её дыму - душе - улыбались боги, а та, которая попадает в огонь случайно или, скорей, инстинктивно, втянутая туда неотразимым блеском огня, и сгорает дотла на костре неугодною богам и ненужною даже самому огню. Или, наконец, Аратов это - Ромео, которому Джульетта передала в поцелуе моровую язву...
As Annenski notes in his essay, Aratov's late father was "инсектонаблюдатель" (observer of insects). Strange enough, there are no butterflies in TT. But does not Hugh Person who perishes in a fire resemble a night moth that attracted by the light flies into flames to its death?
According to Annenski, with Klara Milich a new ringing note could be heard in the music of Turgenev's oeuvre. It was the note of physical suffering: С Кларой Милич в музыку тургеневского творчества вошла, уже не надолго, новая и какая-то звенящая нота. Это была нота физического страдания.
Can we hear a similar note in VN's penultimate completed novel? Or is it but parodied in TT? Btw., after hearing Mashen'ka, VN's first novel, which the author read from the manuscript to a small audience, the critic Yuli Aikhenvald called the young writer "our new Turgenev." Of course, VN was very critical of Turgenev's late work, nor did he care much for Annenski's criticism. It is also true that the main (and practically only) theme of Annenski's poetry is that of death. In his essay on Annenski (who had an incurable heart disease) Hodasevich compares him to Tolstoy's Ivan Ilyich (whom Annenski mentions in his essay on Klara Milich).
Re Schiller mentioned in my previous post: after Klara's death Aratov recalls the (omitted) line from Schiller's Ode an die Freude: "Auch die Toten sollen leben" (the dead should also live): Мысли о бессмертии души, о жизни за гробом снова посетили его. Разве не сказано в библии: "Смерть, где жало твоё?" А у Шиллера-- "И мёртвые будут жить!" (Auch die Todten sollen leben!) Или вот ещё, кажется, у Мицкевича "Я буду любить до скончания века... и по скончании века!" А один английский писатель сказал: "Любовь сильнее смерти". (Klara Milich, chapter 14)
Alexey Sklyarenko
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/