Russian Literature and Its Demons by Pamela s> Davidson (review)
2001; Maney Publishing; Volume: 79; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/see.2001.0158
ISSN2222-4327
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
Resumo724 SEER, 79, 4, 2001 Davidson, Pamela (ed.). RussianLiterature andIts Demons.Studies in Slavic Literature, Culture, and Society, 6. Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford, 2000. XiV + 530 pp. Illustrations.Notes. Index. ?57.??. IT is said that the Devil (or, possibly, devil) has all the best tunes. Well, he (or is it she?), together with all his various progeny, can claim some very good books as well and, with the appearance of this volume, he might also be held responsible for inveigling a number of academics to produce a work of outstandingliterarycriticism.Bookswhich, as in this case, ariseout of a series of seminars, are often less than successful, characterized by unevenness of quality, lack of focus and an overarching purpose. But this volume is very much an exception, at least partly because of the process of mutual collaboration which helped to ensure that all the essays were written, as is statedin the preface, with 'an awarenessof the widerpicture and of linkswith other contributions'. The volume is divided into two sections. Part One, 'Traditions and Contexts' (four essays), serves as a broad contextual introduction to the discussionof individualtexts and authorswhich appearin PartTwo, 'Literary Demons' (ten essays).After Pamela Davidson's general introduction, the first section opens with an essay by Simon Franklinon the linksbetween Russian literary demonism and the Orthodox tradition, followed by a consideration by Faith Wigzell of the significance of Russian folklore for Russian literary demonism. Kevin Platt examines the demonic conception of rulers such as Ivan IV and Peter I as portrayed in literary and cultural texts. This section concludes with Davidson's analysis of the way in which the view of the demonic infiltratedthe perception of artitself. This forms a natural bridge with the first essay of Part Two in which Davidson, focusing in particularon Pushkin,Lermontov and Blok traces the progressionof the demonic theme in poetryfromnineteenth-centuryromanticism into twentieth-centurymodernism. Robert Reid takesup the topic with an examination of Lermontov's The Demon.Julian Graffy discusses the nightmarish instability of Gogol"s Petersburg, and W. J. Leatherbarrow decodes the demonic in Dostoevskii's 7heDevils.LizaDimbleby's essayfocuses on the literarydemons of V. V. Rozanov, and AvrilPyman'son the demonic in the art of Lermontov, Vrubel and Blok. Adam Weiner explores the theme of Satanism in the Russian symbolist novel, and Michael Basker considers how the theme of demonism in the work of Gumilev proves fundamental to an interpretationof Akhmatova'sPoemabezgeroia.This is followed by Philip Cavendish's essay on demonism in the work of Evgenii Zamiatin, and the volume concludes with Rosalind Marsh'sdiscussionof the literaryrepresentations of Stalin and Stalinismas demonic. It is not possible within the space of a review such as this to convey the variety, richness and imaginative power of these essays, both as individual pieces (towhich one cannot begin to dojustice here) as well as in their overall impact. Time aftertime we are reminded that all is not as it seems:just offthe highways of conventional literary criticism, beyond the shadowy glow of the lamplight, lies uncharted territory. Even those texts which have become so familiarto all teachers of Russian and which are the staple diet of courses of REVIEWS 725 literatureup and down the country, are illuminated from fresh perspectives. The language throughout, while never less than engaged, is rigorous in its avoidance ofjargon and pretension. Most strikingof all perhaps is the fact that the volume retains a sense of overall coherence. Its stated aim 'to investigate some of the forms which the manifold representations of demonology as a system of beliefs assume when transposed into a literary context' (p. 2) sounds rather vague and generalized, but in its actual realization it succeeds brilliantly.On the face of it, for example, it might appear that the chapters relating to the demonic aspects of Russian rulers such as Ivan IV, Peter I and Stalin might stand a little apart from the others, but in fact they fit into the pattern precisely because the analysis is focused through the prism of literary texts. The individuality and variety of the different contributions are set within strict, although never obtrusiveor distorting,editorialconstraints. The volume is meticulouslyedited and presented,with scrupulousattention to detail (inwhich, of course...
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