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Public festivities and the making of a national poet: a case study of Alexander Pushkin's biography in 1899 and 1937

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13507486.2012.719013

1469-8293

Anastasia Felcher,

Central European national history

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the political application of the biography of a person who has canonical status in Russian culture, such as a national poet. Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), generally regarded as the founder of the Russian literary language, obtained supreme status in the Russian cultural space. Over a period of two centuries, the perception of his person and literary legacy experienced several waves of reappraisal in order to be adjusted to the ideological needs of the state regime. Pushkin's biography became one of the crucial components for strengthening the 'proper' image of the poet as it was manipulated through a careful selection of facts from his life story. The surge of interest in and the growth of public attention to Pushkin's figure took place in the context of anniversaries, which entailed propagandising a simplified version of the poet's image 'for the mass use'. Two anniversary celebrations, which took place under different political regimes, are the focus of this essay: 1899 and 1937. The author analyses a number of texts published on the occasion of both jubilee events that expressed the 'official' interpretation of the poet's biography in order to illustrate how the plausible features of social behaviour were communicated with the help of the 'proper' image of the national poet. Keywords: biographyliterary criticismAlexander Pushkinpublic festivitiespublic commemorationliterary pantheon Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers of the European Review of History for their valuable suggestions on the style and content of this essay. My special gratitude to Alex Voronovici, Zsuzsa Sido, Yulia Karpova and Emily Felcher for sending me sources and materials from abroad, and to Monika Kokstaite for her proofreading, time and patience. Notes 1. See such contributions as Kahn, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Pushkin (2006); Bethea, ed., Citation The Pushkin Handbook ; Brandenberger, National Bolshevism: Stalinist Mass Culture and the Formation of Modern Russian National Identity, 1931–1956; Debreczeny, Social Functions of Literature: Alexander Pushkin and Russian Culture; Gasparov, Hughes and Paperno, eds., Cultural Mythologies of Russian Modernism (1992); Levitt, Literatura I Politika: Pushkinskii Prazdnik 1880 goda [Russian Literary Politics and the Pushkin Celebration of 1880]; Petrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin; Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin: Russia's Myth of a National Poet; Wachtel, Remaining Relevant after Communism: the Role of the Writer in Eastern Europe. 2. CitationSurat, 'Biografia Pushkina kak kul'turnyi vopros' [Pushkin's Biography as a Cultural Question] Jurnal'nyi zal, http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1998/2/surat.html. 3. Levitt, 'Pushkin in Citation1899,' 184. 4. This celebration was traditionally considered to be a 'celebration of the intelligentsia;' see CitationLevitt, Literatura i Politika, 179. 5. Levitt, 'Pushkin in 1899,' 183–5. On the treatment of Pushkin in the nineteenth century, see Bethea, ed., The Pushkin Handbook; Debreczeny, Citation Social Functions of Literature: Alexander Pushkin and Russian Culture ; CitationReiblat, Kak Pushkin Vishel v Genii. Istoriko-Sotsiologicheskie Ocherki o Knijnoi Kul'ture Pushkinskoi Epokhi [How Pushkin Managed to Become a Genius. Historical and Sociological Sketches on Bookish Culture at the Age of Pushkin]; CitationTodd, ed., Literature and Society in Imperial Russia, 1800–1914. 6. Chestvovanie Pamyati A.S. Pushkina Imperatorskoyu Akademiei Nauk v Sotuyu Godovscinu Dnea Ego Rojdenia. Mai Citation 1899 [Honoring the memory of A. Pushkin by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the one Hundredth Anniversary of his Birth. May 1899]. 7. CitationAizepshtock, 'Tri Jubileia. Istoricheskie Spravki' ['Three Jubilees. Historical References'], 30. 8. CitationAizepshtock, 'Tri Jubileia. Istoricheskie Spravki' ['Three Jubilees. Historical References'], 30 9. CitationLevitt, 'Pushkin in 1899,' 183–4. 10. Such as cigarettes, tobacco, matches, ink portraits of Pushkin, stationery with a portrait of Pushkin and quotations from his works, Pushkin clock, metal cups with a relief, Pushkin 'drawings', Pushkin glasses and tea cups, cotton handkerchiefs with a portrait of Pushkin, lamps, fans, soaps, 'Pushkin' perfume ('Bouquet Pouchkine'), as well as foodstuffs (boeuf à la Pushkin and salad à la 'Eugene Onegin', candy 'Pushkin', 'Pushkin's confectionery', nalivka entitled '"Jubilee liquor" Alexander Pushkin'). See Berkov, 'Iz materialov pushkinskogo iubileia 1899 g.' ['From Materials of 1899 Pushkin Jubilee'], 401–14. 11. CitationSurat, 'Pushkinskii Jubilei kak zaklinanie istorii.' 12. Citation Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine. Po Povodu Stoletnego Yubileia [Collection of Articles Devoted to A.S. Pushkin. On the Occasion of the Centenary], Part II, 36. 13. Chenryshevsky, Alexandr Pushkin. Ego jizni I sochinenia [Alexander Pushkin. His Life and Literary Works], 4. 14. Thus, taking into account the benefit Pushkin brought to the public, he deserved an expression of deep reverence and appreciation. See Chernyshevsky, Alexandr Pushkin, 7–10. 15. Levitt, 'Pushkin in 1899.' 16. Levitt, 'Pushkin in 1899.', 189–90. 17. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, V Pamiat' Stoletia so Dnea Rojdenia Poeta, 1799–1899 [Jubilee Album. In Commemoration of the Centenary of his Birth, 1799–1899], Supplement to Niva ['the Field'] magazine. 18. Chernyshevsky, Alexandr Pushkin, 4. 19. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 2–3. 20. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 3; Chernyshevsky, Alexandr Pushkin. 21. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 40. 22. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 4. 23. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 43–56. 24. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 5. 25. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 5 26. See Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine. 27. See Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine 28. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 14. 29. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 70. 30. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 70 31. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 70 32. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 98. 33. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 75. 34. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 20. 35. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 57. 36. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine 37. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine 38. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 21 39. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 22. 40. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 104–5. 41. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 23; Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 154. 42. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 23. 43. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 137. 44. Sbornik Statei ob A.S. Pushkine, 153. 45. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom. 46. Pushkin, Yubileinyi Al'bom, 29. 47. CitationVershinina, 'Massovoe I elitarnoe v provedenii pushkinskih prazdnikov 1880 I 1899 godov' ['Mass and elitist components in Pushkin Festivities from 1880 and 1899'], 5–14. 48. CitationMartin, 'An Affirmative Action Empire. The Soviet Union as the Highest Form of Imperialism,' 71. 49. CitationBrandenberger, National Bolshevism, 78. 50. See CitationMolok, Pushkin v 1937 godu [Pushkin in 1937], 187–203. 51. See Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin: Russia's Myth of a National Poet, 47–55. 52. See Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin: Russia's Myth of a National Poet, 89–107. 53. Levitt, Literatura I Politika, 179. 54. See Kunakhovich, 'The Pushkin Centennials of 1937: Russia Abroad, the Soviet Union, and the Politics of Russian National Identity,' paper presented at the conference The Russian National Idea in the 19th and 20th Century, University of Oxford, 6–7 June 2008. 55. Bol'shaya Dmitrovka became Pushkin Street in Moscow, the Detskoe Selo town turned into Pushkin's town, and the Leningrad Academy Theater was renamed the Pushkin Academy Theater. See Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin, 110. See also CitationPostanovlenie TsIK SSSR, 'Ob Oznamenovanii 100-letnei Godovschini so Dnia Smerti Velichaishego Russkogo Poeta A.S. Pushkina ot 9 fevralia 1937' [Decree by Central Executive Committee USSR, On the Occasion of Centenary of Death of the Greatest Russian Poet, A. Pushkin, 9 February 1937], 491–7. 56. CitationDimshits, 'Retsenzia na knigu Nasledie Pushkina I Communism' [Book review on 'Pushkin's Legacy and Communism'], 462–6. 57. Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin, 107–19. 58. Dimshits, 'Retsenzia na knigu Nasledie Pushkina I Communism,' 462–6. 59. CitationVolkov, 'The Concept of "Kul'turnost": Notes on the Stalinist Civilizing Process,' 214. 60. CitationPetrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 127. 61. CitationPetrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 131. 62. This version was voiced by the famous Pushkinist Serghei Fomichev in the recent documentary film On Pushkin's Background… 1937, directed by Bella Kurkova in 2007 for the Kul'tura TV channel. See episode 1, The Smokescreen. 63. Petrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 120. 64. The summary of Pushkin's biography is based mainly on three works by CitationValery Kirpotin: Mirovozzrenie Pushkina [Pushkin's Worldview], 19–35; Nasledie Pushkina I Communizm [Pushkin Legacy and Communism], 1936); A Collection of Articles and Essays n the Great Russian Poet A.S. Pushkin edited by I. Luppol. 65. CitationBethea and Davydov, 'Pushkin's Life,' 11–25. 66. Volkov, 'The Concept of "Kul'turnost,"' 210. 67. Volkov, 'The Concept of "Kul'turnost,"' 210, 223. 68. CitationYaroslavsky, 'Ateizm Pushkina' ('The Atheism of Pushkin'), 84. 69. CitationYaroslavsky, 'Ateizm Pushkina' ('The Atheism of Pushkin'), 85–6. 70. CitationO'Bell, 'Writing the Story of Pushkin's Death,' 393–406; CitationSandler, Commemorating Pushkin, 26–46. 71. Dimshits, Retsenzia na knigu 'Nasledie Pushkina I Communism,' 462–6. 72. Petrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 115. 73. Dimshits, Retsenzia na knigu 'Nasledie Pushkina I Communism,' 462–6. 74. Dimshits, Retsenzia na knigu 'Nasledie Pushkina I Communism,' 462–6 75. CitationAlexandrov, 'Podgotovka i Provedenie Pushkinskogo Iubilea v SSSR' ['Preparation for Pushkin Jubilee in USSR and its Conduct'], 492–517. For a more detailed analysis of the incorporation of textbooks into the process of the establishment of Pushkin's cult during the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, see Debreczeny, Social Functions of Literature: Alexander Pushkin and Russian Culture, 164–73, 249–52. 76. CitationTimasheff, The Great Retreat: the Growth and Decline of Communism in Russia. 77. CitationVujacic, 'Stalinism and Russian Nationalism: A Reconceptualization,' 178. 78. CitationVujacic, 'Stalinism and Russian Nationalism: A Reconceptualization,' 178, 168. 79. Petrone, Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 146–7. 80. Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin, 108. 81. Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin, 108 82. CitationKunakhovich, 'The Pushkin Centennials of 1937.' 83. CitationRaeff, Russia Abroad, 96. 84. CitationRaeff, Russia Abroad 85. See Kunakhovich, 'The Pushkin Centennials of 1937.' 86. Raeff, Russia Abroad, 95–6. 87. Petrone, Life has Become More Joyous, Comrades, 20. 88. CitationBerkov, 'Iz materialov pushkinskogo iubileia 1899 g,' 405.