The Chekhovian Intertext: Dialogue with a Classic
2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 51; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2375-2475
Autores Tópico(s)Translation Studies and Practices
ResumoLyudmila Parts. Chekhovian Intertext: Dialogue with a Classic. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2008. Bibliography. Index. 223 pp. $44.95, cloth.The book under review is both broader and narrower than its title suggests. Those who are looking for an exhaustive survey of recent works engaged in an intertextual dialogue with Chekhov will find some important omissions (for instance, Boris Akunin's 77ie Seagull). However, Lyudmila Parts's objective is different and more ambitious. Rather than provide a survey, she intends to develop a theoretical framework, which would account for unique role that classical literature in general and Chekhov in particular (or rather Chekhov's myth) have played in process of national self-fashioning. In doing so, first chapter of study offers some insights into interrelations between cultural memory, cultural myth, and intertextuality, as well as into peculiarities of intertextual dialogue in context. For instance, Parts justifiably questions applicability of Bloomian of influence to cultural tradition which, in author's words, has suffered rather from the anxiety of not belonging (p. 20). Such an of not belonging (wonderful definition!) explains what Parts calls Russian writers' tendency to establish continuity and position themselves in tradition even as they struggle to surpass older figures (p. 20).There has long been a well-established consensus about who constitutes figure symbolizing idea of cultural tradition and its continuity in national consciousness: it is, of course, Pushkin. second chapter is devoted to discussion of his myth and its recent transformations. centerpiece of this chapter is an insightful reading of Tat'iana Tolstaia's story The Poet and Muse that demonstrates the fusion of Pushkin and Chekhov's intertexts, one that is symptomatic of their roles in contemporary literary situation (p. 49). As Parts argues, at end of twentieth century and beginning of twenty-first (in other terms, in post-Soviet and postmodernist discourse), there has been a general shift from Pushkin to Chekhov, who becomes main addressee in contemporary literary dialogue with classics (p. 51). This is arguably book's most provocative and far-reaching statement developed in third chapter, The Chekhov Myth and Mechanics of Centennial Return.The last chapters focus on three main thematic elements of Chekhov myth represented by distinctly Chekhovian images: Chekhovian intelligent figuring in most discussions of intelligentsia's identity crisis; cherry orchard as metaphor for loss and nostalgia; and lady with a dog representing theme of power and mystery of love (p. …
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