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A necessary epigone: The fantastic and "dvoeverie" in the works of A. K. Tolstoi

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A necessary epigone: The fantastic and "dvoeverie" in the works of A. K. Tolstoi

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A NECESSARY EPIGONE:
THE FANTASTIC AND "DVOEVERIE"
IN THE WORKS OF A.K. TOLSTOI
by
Bartle Burke Gorman
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Slavic Languages and Literatures)
May 1998
Copyright 1998 Bartle Burke Gorman
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA 90007
This dissertation, written by
Bartle Burke Gorman
under the direction of hX& Dissertation
Committee, and approved by all its members,
has been presented to and accepted by The
Graduate School in partial fulfillm ent of rg-
quirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Date F e b r u a r y 1 9 9 8 .........
DISSERTATION CO M M ITTEE
A Otatrpenan
.........................................
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MvisoE'. not-- n e x iiM ia a r
2 » to lK o v « ( C ^
A Necessary Epigone:
The Fantastic and "Dvoeverie"
in the Works of A.K. Tolstoi
By Bartle B. Gorman
This dissertation reevaluates Tolstoi's position in the course of Russian literary
history in that it establishes him as a "necessary" epigone, i.e., one who preserves and
expands the fantastic strain of literature for future generations, especially the Symbolists.
Tolstoi's place as a literary epigone is confirmed by analyzing a number of his works in
relation to those by Pushkin, Lermontov and several Western writers; Tolstoi is then
positioned as a necessary link between Russian writers of ± e first half of the nineteenth
century and those of the Modernist period, especially Blok and Solov’ev; this connection is
underscored specifically in terms of how Tolstoi develops the fantastic in Russian
literature.
Tolstoi's interest in the fantastic was a lifelong, evolving phenomenon, both
personally and professionally. In arguing that Tolstoi is one of the foremost writers of the
fantastic, the vast majority of his oeuvre is analyzed, including early prose works, his
historical novel Kniaz' Serebrianvi. numerous lyrics, ballads and narratives-in-verse, as
well as his play Don Zhuan. Close scrutiny of Tolstoi's texts leads one to discover that a
particular cultural phenomenon known as "dvoeverie" (double or dual faith) recurs
throughout much of the writer's corpus of works. In contrast to the Russian peasantry,
who regularly mixed pagan and Christian rituals, ± e form of "dvoeverie" reflected in
Tolstoi's texts is traced to cultural practices of the nobility, who outwardly followed the
tenets of the Orthodox Church, but simultaneously participated in various occult sciences.
Some of the most interesting examples of such an occurrence in Tolstoi's texts involve a
combination of Spiritualism and Orthodoxy in a number of his lyrics written in the 1850s.
Final analysis of these lyrics and other works indicate that when read from the point of
view of Romanticism, they are indeed epigonic. However, when read in terms of Tolstoi's
interest in the esoteric, many of his works illustrate a high degree of originality.
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Table of Contents
Chapter I: Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi: A Necessary Epigone I
Chapter II: The Presence of the Preternatural in Tolstoi's Prose 32
Chapter III: Poetic Reflections of Double Faith:
Spiritualism and Orthodoxy 106
Chapter IV: The Faustian Factor Don Zhuan and "The Alchemist" 182
Chapter V : Cultivating the Fantastic 250
Bibliography 254
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For my wife Donna
u
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I want to thank my dissertation advisors, Alexander Zholkovsky and Sarah Pratt,
for their valuable time and helpful suggestions. From the beginning of my tenure as a
graduate student, both encouraged me to pursue my interest in A.K. Tolstoi. 1 also wish
to thank James Kincaid for serving as the outside member on my committee. I owe a
great deal of gratitude to the Slavic faculty at the University of Southern California for
their support: Thomas Seifiid, Marcus Levitt, and John Bowlt, whose seminar on the
occult proved beneficial during the research phase of my dissertation.
I am forever grateful to my parents who expressed their unwavering faith in me
during my time in graduate school and throughout the process of writing my dissertation.
Finally, 1 wish to thank my wife Doima, without whose help and constant encouragement
this dissertation would not have been possible.
Ill
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I. Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi:
A Necessary Epigone
"In our day the fantastic can have a place
only in madhouses, not in literature, and be
in the domain o f doctors, not of poets."
“ Vissarion Belinskii (1846)
Of all the Tolstois in Russian letters, Aleksei Konstantinovich is the least studied
and recognized, especially among Slavists in the West. He lingers in the long shadow of
his contemporary cousin Lev Nikolaevich, and is often confused with his namesake, the
Soviet author Aleksei Nikolaevich. For example, a critic, forced to explain just who the
Soviet or "red" Tolstoi was, replied, "Tolstoi was Aleksei, but not Konstantinovich,... he
was Nikolaevich, but not Lev."' Moreover, Aleksei Nikolaevich’ s infamy tends to
obfuscate what notoriety is due Aleksei Konstantinovich.
Not surprisingly, A.K. Tolstoi's unfortunate position directly relates to the dearth
of secondary literature on him. 1 am referring here not to quantity, but to quality. There
are many pre-revolutionary works on Tolstoi, but with a few exceptions, they are mainly
expository in nature." At most, they attempt to remind the Russian reading public of a
man who seems easily forgotten and overlooked. Consider the words of Nikolai
Strakhov, who, a mere three years after Tolstoi's death writes, "no one noticed the start of
[Tolstoi's] poetic career, no one followed his activities, no one takes him into account
when talking about contemporary poets. In the same year, the critic Ivan Pavlov wrote
an article on Tolstoi entitled "A Forgotten Contemporary Poet," an ironic work given the
fact that only two years previously, a complete collection of the writer's poetry was
‘ A.V. Riasanovsky and L. Prednewa, "A.K. Tolstoy; A Remembrance and an Appreciation,"
Zapiski russkoi akademicheskoi gruppv v S.SH.A. 10, (1976): 47.
^ See for example, N.M. Sokolov llliuzii poeticheskago tvorchestva Epos" i lirika Gr. A.K.
Tnlstaon (St. Petersburg, 1890). A lengthy study that is sympathetic towards Tolstoi, it mainly
paraphrases and summarizes his works.
’ Qtd. inSheelagh Duffm Graham. The Lvric Poetry of A.K. Tolstov (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1985)
I
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issued for the first tim e/ Critics did not even respect Tolstoi’ s memory, with the
periodical "Novoe vremia" ("New Time") calling him "a dilettante poet" less than a year
after the writer's death/
Revolution did little to change the Russian reading public's perception of Tolstoi.
With the exception of Koz'ma Prutkov (a literary alias for Tolstoi and his cousins, the
brothers Zhemchuzhnikov) and the dramatic trilogy on the Time of Troubles, Soviet
critics tended to avoid Tolstoi's works because there was very little in them that could be
salvaged and reconfigured to conform to the parameters o f Socialist Realism. Even Ivan
Bunin, writing from abroad in 1925, recognized that the works of Tolstoi were slipping
into oblivion: "Count A.K. Tolstoi is one of the most remaikable Russian people and
writers, still and up to this day undervalued, insufficiently understood and already
becoming forgotten."®
Despite Tolstoi's unremarkable critical status in Russian literature, there are a few
twentieth-century scholars who have made worthwhile contributions to the study of the
man and his corpus of works. I.G. lampolskii is considered the authority on Tolstoi in
Soviet letters, having compiled extensive material for a dissertation on the writer that was
unfortunately never completed; in addition, lampolskii is the editor of the most recent
edition of Tolstoi's collected works (1964). In Western literature, Andre Lirondelle's
lengthy study is valuable for its biographical details on Tolstoi, as well as for its
extensive list of pre-revolutionary secondary works on the Russian writer. In the English
language, Margaret Dalton's A.K. Tolstov is noteworthy for its broad presentation and
unearthing of the Russian writer's oeuvre, though it is lacking in genuine analysis.
Thomas Berry's slim tome A.K. Tolstov: Russian Humorist, essentially repeats much of
* Graham 16.
^ Graham 16.
^ Ivan Bunin, "Inoniia i kitezh, k 50-letiiu so dnia smerti Gr. A.K. Tolstogo," Zapiski ruskkoi
akademicheskoi gruppv v S.SH.A. 10, (1976): 92.
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Dalton's work, but does analyze some of Tolstoi’s satirical writings in greater detail.
There are several studies of Tolstoi's dramas, especially his trilogy on the Time of
Troubles. With regard to Tolstoi's poetry, there is only one work in the West by
Sheelagh DufRn Graham that is devoted to the Russian writer's lyrics.
Poet, playwright and humorist, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi (1817-1875) is
often considered a second-rate writer, or an epigone, in Russian literary history. In her
monograph, Graham writes:
Tolstoi was one of those poets of the second half of the nineteenth-century
who, with Polonskii, Maikov and others (even Fet, to some extent), had the
misfortune to be dubbed "epigones "; they were scorned by critics who, with
more civic virtue than feeling for poetry, condenmed their refusal to use their
poetic gifts as a weapon in the struggle for civil rights.^
In fact, Tolstoi is regarded by several critics as a lesser writer because they feel his works
are imitative of those of his literary predecessors, both Russian and Western.® Equally
important in defining Tolstoi's unfavorable position is the predominance of Romantic
themes in his works at a time when Realism dominated the literary landscape in Russia.
Together, all of these reasons contribute to Tolstoi's status as a literary epigone.
Although Tolstoi has been marked with an indelible stain of epigonism, it does
not preclude him from having something significant to contribute to Russian literature.
To this day, his dramas are still performed in Russia; popularity, however, does not
necessarily equal literary genius. More important for the evolution of Russian literature
is that Tolstoi was the first poet to use inexact rhyme extensively in his poetry. This
innovation paved the way for further development by several Symbolist poets, including
Blok, Belyi and Briusov, all of whom write extensively on this facet of Tolstoi's poetry.’
^ Graham I.
* lampolskii, Pospelov, Mirskii and Ginzburg ail refer to Tolstoi as a secondary writer.
’ For example, see Aleksandr Blok, Sobranie sochinenii. vol. 8 (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe
izdatel'stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury, 1963) 230-31; Valerii Briusov, Sobranie sochinenii vol. 6
(Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1975) 191, 218-19; Andrei Belvi. Nachalo vekha (Moscow:
Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury, 1933) 164; Steven Cassedy, Selected Essays of
Andrev Belv (Berkeley: U of (üalifomia P, 1985) 252-53, 258-59, 264-65.
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Popularity and technical innovation aside, one additional major aspect of Tolstoi's life
and oeuvre still has yet to be analyzed effectively: the fantastic.
The occult and arcane in Tolstoi's works have largely been overlooked in literary
scholarship. It comes as no surprise that Soviet critics do not adequately address this
component of Tolstoi's writings for obvious ideological reasons, while only a few
Western scholars briefly mention some of the supernatural features in the Russian writer's
works. Thomas Berry, N. Knorring, and Norman Ingham note the place of the fantastic
in Tolstoi's poetic world, but their contributions contain many lacunae and fail to analyze
the works in detail, much less suggest the possibility of even a tenuous connection among
them.*”
Detailed examination of Tolstoi's oeuvre demonstrates that he is one of the
premier Russian writers of the fantastic. His penchant for the supernatural encompasses a
wide range of genres in which he indulges in vampirism, wizardry, Satanism, death
rituals and Spiritualism. Interestingly, the fantastic theme is not an isolated one in
Tolstoi's literary works. What makes his writings unique for their time is the recurrence
of a specific and somewhat unusual feature: the fantastic is constantly juxtaposed,
contrasted, and even merged with Christian features. As a result, a type of "dvoeverie, "
or double faith, characterizes a significant part of Tolstoi's oeuvre. Double faith was
common among the Russian peasantry, who mixed pagan and folk rituals with Christian
practices for centuries.** It will be shown that this cultural phenomenon was also
prevalent among the Russian nobility, although in a difierent form: many aristocrats
See the last chapter of Thomas Berry’ s A.K. Tolstov: Russian Humorist (Bethany: Bethany
College, 1971), as well as his book Spiritualism in Tsarist Society and Literature (Baltimore: Edgar Allen
Poe Society, 1985). See also N. Knorring's "Mirosozertsanie grafa A.K. Tolstogo (K kharakteristike
obshchestvennykh tipov 70-kh godov)," in Sbomik statei v chest' prof. Buzeskula (Kharkov. 1914) 503-
544, and chapter XII of Norman Ingham's E.T.A. Hoffmann's Reception in Russia (Wurzburg: Jal-verlag,
1974).
" I am using Linda J. Ivanits' term, taken from her book Russian Folk Belief (Armonk: Sharpe,
1989).
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simultaneously believed in the tenets of certain esoteric sciences while continuing to
observe Orthodox liturgical practices.
Equally important for reassessing Tolstoi's position in Russian literature is how
his distinct manner of perceiving reality is reflected in his literary works. Like many
Orthodox Christians, Tolstoi sees the world around him in very non-Western and non-
rational terms. As a Russian Orthodox, Tolstoi's perspective on reality is similar to that
of St. John Chrysostom, a Greek Church father whose many writings represent the basis
of the Eastern Christian faith. Consider John's words regarding the Holy Eucharist:
"...what we believe is not the same as what we see, but we see one thing and believe
another... Indeed, in all aspects of Tolstoi's life, faith dominates reason— as Lirondelle
writes, "[Tolstoi] firmly believed in the power of prayer."*^ Since Tolstoi was both an
Orthodox Christian and a practitioner of occult sciences, he placed more value on the
abstract and immaterial than on reason and empirical facts. As we shall see, this
tendency is reflected repeatedly in Tolstoi's works— his strong reliance on both Christian
and esoteric principles leads to a markedly different depiction of reality in comparison to
many of his contemporaries who advocate materialism and pragmatism.
Whereas the majority of writers in Tolstoi's time proclaim Critical Realism as
their literary doctrine, Tolstoi chooses to focus on an alternate reality governed by
supernatural laws that are unfathomable to the rational mind. In this narrow sense,
Tolstoi emulates certain works by the Romantics who preceded him; however, he moves
beyond the early Romantics in that his portrayal of the supernatural is intended to be
understood by the reader as factual. Whereas Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades,"
Odoevskii's Russian Nights, or Gogol's "The Nose" are fantastic tales that eventually
provide a simple explanation for strange events, many of Tolstoi's works do not offer the
" Qtd. in Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church New Edition (London: Penguin, 1993) 274. An
excellent source for those unfamiliar with the history, traditions and rituals of the Orthodox Church.
"Andre Lirondelle, Le Foete Alexis Tolstoi. L'homme et l'oeuvre (Paris, 1912) 476.
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reader such closure. Instead, they present empirical evidence to strengthen the credibility
of the supernatural events within the texts. Some works are also reflections of Tolstoi's
strong esoteric interests; biographical and epistolary evidence will be used to confirm this
assertion. In short, Tolstoi considers the supernatural to be a real and accessible realm,
both in literattue and life. In this sense, Tolstoi may be considered not just an imitator of
Romantic works, but an innovator and predecessor of the Symbolists and other writers of
the modernist period, including Vladimir Nabokov.
The goals o f this dissertation then, are as follows: to establish Tolstoi as a
"necessary" epigone, i.e., one who preserves and expands the literary fantastic for future
literary generations; to illustrate that his interest in the fantastic was a life-long, evolving
phenomenon, both professionally and personally; to demonstrate that Tolstoi's works
represent a reflection o f his own dual faith in Christianity and Spiritualism; and finally, to
show that despite his status as an epigone, he, like Zhukovskii before him, reworks some
European literary creations to such a degree that they become distinctly Russian. In
essence, this dissertation illustrates how Tolstoi, a noted parodist of Russian society and
literature, successfully and subtly appropriates various manifestations of the fantastic to
create works of literature that may not be as original as those written by his predecessors,
but are nonetheless necessary for the evolution of the supernatural strain of Russian
letters.
In the course o f this first chapter, it will be necessary to discuss the terms
epigonism. Romanticism, Realism, the fantastic and double faith in the Russian context.
Because of Russia's many centiuies of geo-political isolation, its Orthodox faith and its
intense and chaotic literary development, many of the above terms differ in varying
degrees fiom corresponding Western ones. When necessary, biographical information on
Tolstoi will be presented. 1 do not intend to offer a detailed review of Tolstoi's life and
For example, see D. Barton Johnson, "Inverted Reality in Nabokov's Look at the Harlequins."
Studies in Twentieth Centurv Literature, vol. 8 no.2 (1984) 293-309.
6
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career,^ but instead will concentrate on those works which will definitively establish
Tolstoi’ s position as the Russian writer of the supernatural par excellence.
I Epigonism and Tolstoi
To be categorized as an epigone is perhaps the worst fate for any artist. An
epigone is one who practices artistic, literary or intellectual imitation. He or she usually
belongs to a generation later than that of the artist, writer, or thinker being imitated.
Imitation in and of itself is not necessarily detrimental to an artistic career. Indeed, it is
typically the first step in the creative process and "...is natural to man... [for] he is the
most imitative creature in the world and learns at first by imitation. "'^ It is when an artist
does not mature or move beyond imitation that his works are considered slavish and
uninspired. Harold Bloom notes that only strong poets effectively wrestle with their
precursors, and appropriate exactly what they need for themselves, while weaker writers
merely continue to idealize and imitate. John Fetzer describes this form of artistic
complacency in an essay on Hoffmarm's novella Ritter Gluck (1809):
To be sure, repetition is an essential feature of all the arts, and imitation is an
especially vitd force in the medium of music, both as a means of
distinguishing structural units and for the orientation of the listener...
Composers, like most other artists, begin their musical career by emulating an
"old master" before branching out into a style of their own. Whereas the first-
rank artist will inevitably discard the vestiges of the past and retain only what
is most beneficial for the evolution of his own unique idiom, the essentially
derivative artist tends to become over burdened by the ballast of a bygone era,
he flounders in the quicksand o f time and tradition....'^
Probably the best work in this vein on Tolstoi is Andre Lirondelle's doctoral thesis Le Foete
Alexis Tolstoi. L'homme et l'oeuvre.
Aristotle. The Rhetoric and Poetics o f Aristotle, trans. W. Rhys Roberts and Ingram Bywater
(New York: The Modem Library, 1954) 226-227.
See Harold Bloom, The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (London: Oxford UP, 1973)
5. Bloom later cites Ben Johnson, who feels that authorial imitiation has a worthwhile purpose up to a
point, namely "to be able to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own use. To make choice
o f one excellent man above the rest, and so follow him till he grow... so like him that the copy be mistaken
for the original," 27.
John Fetzer, "Ritter Gluck's Ungluck': The Crisis of Creativity in the Age of the Epigone" in
The German Ouarterlv XLIV. Annleton (1971): 319. 7
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The renowned Russian critic Lidiia Ginzburg considers epigones to be eclectic
artists who fail to master the finer points of period style, including the proper diction,
combination of words, and use of motifs. She claims that in the works of an epigone, one
will find a number of disparate elements like "...a classical elegy, an eastern style,
ineffective Byronism, [or] a motif from Zhukovskii...."® Thus, according to Ginzburg,
epigonic works have neither focus nor unifying theme. Moreover, an epigone's artistic
outlook is static or backward; in the epigone's creative process, imitation of his
progenitors takes precedence over innovation for his progeny and posterity.
Tolstoi seems to fit this pejorative mold. A number of his lyrics of the 1850s are
thematically similar to those of Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837) and Mikhail Lermontov
(1814-1841), the two foremost poets of the first half of the nineteenth century. Lirondelle
attributes this characteristic to Tolstoi’ s voracious reading and prodigious memory; as a
result, the critic finds echoes of other poets in Tolstoi's v e rse la m p o lsk ii makes a
comparable statement: "...chuvstvuiutsia otzvuki poezii Lermontova " (...echoes of
Lermontov's poetry are perceptible).^ Tolstoi's first poetic works were not published
until the mid-1850s, well after the deaths of Pushkin and Lermontov, and the decline of
Romanticism in Russia. In terms of age, Tolstoi was clearly not of the same generation
as Pushkin; and in relation to Lermontov, he and Tolstoi were of different artistic
generations, especially if one considers that Tolstoi's first publication was issued in 1841
(the year of Lermontov's death in a duel), and his first lyrics were not published until the
1850s. Even more evidence exists for labeling Tolstoi an epigone: his story "Upyr* "
( "The Vampire," 1841) has several Western precedents, his dramatic trilogy on The Time
of Troubles owes much to Pushkin's play Boris Godunov, and his historical novel Kniaz'
Lidiia Ginzburg, O lirike (Leningrad: Sovetskii pisatel’, 1974) 49.
“ Graham 24.
L lampolskii, introduction, Sobranie sochinenii v chetyrekh tomakh. by A.K. Tolstoi, vol. 1
(Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1964) 21.
8
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Serebrianvi (The Silver Prince. 1862) calls to mind Mikhail Zagoskin's lurvi Miloslavskii
or the Russians in 1612 (1829). and is also indebted to the historical novels of Walter
Scott, especially Ivanhoe.
The criteria employed to label Tolstoi a secondary writer arc, at times, cursory
and one-dimensional. Critics seem to evaluate only one work of Tolstoi in relation to a
poem by Pushkin, another in regard to a piece by Zhukovskii, and a third in comparison
to a novel by Goethe. What is often overlooked is that the fantastic is the unifying theme
in Tolstoi's works, dominating all other elements. In fact, its recurrence is so significant
that it may be called the kernel o f Tolstoi's poetic world. In this regard, Ginzburg's
characterization of epigonic works as containing disparate elements does not entirely
apply to Tolstoi. Unfortunately for Tolstoi, his repeated use of the fantastic does not alter
his overall secondary literary status. However, Tolstoi's use of the fantastic does serve
another important purpose in the history of Russian literature.
Ginzburg and her Formalist teachers believe that epigonic works can be useful
because they tell us much more about literary evolution than first rate works do. In Q
literatumoi evoliutsii (On Literarv Evolution. 1927). lurii Tynianov notes that in second
or third rate works, the seeds o f literary change can be seen more clearly. These works
are often indicators of the direction that a national literature will take in the future. Thus,
one can view a seemingly insignificant writer as a precursor to a major figure or
movement. Yes, Tolstoi is an epigone, but a significant and necessary one. Consider the
words of A.V. Riasonovskii, who credits Tolstoi for keeping alive many of Russia's
traditions:
Thematically, spiritually, symbolically, and musically, Tolstoy borrowed
much from Russia's past, and by recalling it and by keeping alive that rich
inheritance, he transmitted it to future generations. He did this more
consistently, more consciously, more conscientiously, and more successfully
than any of his contemporaries."
^ Riasonovskii and Prednewa 48.
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The same claim holds true regarding the fantastic in the Russian literary tradition.
Tolstoi continues to explore esoteric subjects found in Russian literature of the Romantic
period, as well as newly imported Western occult interests. Tolstoi is more than a curator
of the fantastic in Russia, and his wodts on this matter do not merely serve as
depositories. Rather, he appropriates supernatural themes from various literary and
cultural sources, and alters the context in which they are placed. In so doing, Tolstoi
changes the semantics o f his texts— the reader no longer regards them as pure fantasy, as
one would an earlier Romantic work, but as plausible reality. In this sense, Tolstoi serves
as an intermediary between the Romantics, who merely create fantastic texts, and the
Symbolists, who believe in the alternate realities they describe.
Since a so-called minor author is often Judged by the standards of his
contemporaries, it is difficult for them to evaluate a writer who seems to be ahead of his
time. I argue that Tolstoi is such a writer; though he often repeats seemingly obsolete
devices or themes, he places them in unusual and incongruous contexts. Tolstoi's critics
recognize the sources of his fantastic works, but fail to see the new setting in which they
are used. Unlike his predecessors, Tolstoi portrays the fantastic as something real, and as
an alternative or complement to Christianity. As will be shown in subsequent chapters,
these novel means of employing the fantastic distance Tolstoi from his predecessors.
n. The Literarv Context and Tolstoi’ s Stance
J. Thomas Shaw writes that "typically, the great works of Russian literature are
firmly fixed in recognizable everyday reality."^ The problems of the individual, his
internal development and relationship to the whole of society are the stuff of the great
Russian novels of Turgenev, Lev Tolstoi, and Dostoevskii. These works, with their focus
on everyday life, are associated with the Russian realist literary movement. In Russian
“ Qtd. in Russian Tales of the Fantastic, trans. Marilyn Minto (London: Bristol Classical, 1994)
X .
10
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literature. Realism refers to a specific historical period beginning with the wane of
Romanticism in the late 1830s, and ending with the rise of the Decadent Movement in the
1890s. It encompasses the Natural School's depiction of the seedy side o f life and the
plight of the unfortunate, along with Nekrasov's critical portrayals of abuses inflicted
upon serfs. This period also includes the appearance of superfluous men in works by
Turgenev and Goncharov, as well as the harsh consequences experienced by those who
act immorally in the worlds of Lev Tolstoi and Dostoevskii.
As a literary movement in Russia, Realism was a reaction to the escapism,
idealism and inspiration found in many Romantic worits. With the rise o f professional
criticism in the 1830s and '40s, Vissarion Belinskii called on Russian literature to be
socially significant. By the 1850s, Belinskii's heirs, the radical critics, felt that literature
should be a mirror, or mimetic reflection, of reality. In his master's thesis entitled The
Aesthetic Relations of Art to Realitv (1855-56), Nikolai Chemyshevskii asserts that a
picture cannot be more beautiful than the original, insisting that the ideal must be sought
in reality. Chemyshevskii's contemporaries, Dobroliubov and Pisarev, found numerous
faults with the literary protagonists of the period and in effect, the central focus of
Critical Realism turned out to be not on the ideal, but on the plights of Russian society
from serfdom to the superfluous man.
During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Russian literature was under
tremendous pressure from these critics to deal with socially pertinent issues, and as a
result, works by Nekrasov, Turgenev and Chemyshevskii became vehicles for critical
conunentary on the apathetic state of the government and its functionaries. It was not
enough for authors to present problems inherent in society; many of the critics carried
these renditions to the extreme by imbuing their reviews with their own scathing biases.
Essentially, critics hijacked literary texts, rewriting them to conform to their own
subjective views.^ In addition to depicting the fundamental problems o f society.
For example, see Nikolai Dobroliubov's "Chto takoe oblomovshchina?" (1859) and "Kogda zhe
pridet nastoiashchii den’?" ( 1860). 1 ^
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Russian authors also presented a bleak picture of the aristocratic and bureaucratic
milieus. Adjectives such as banal, superfluous, impotent and indolent came to describe
the upper echelon of Russian society. Most literary characters of this period were
unsuccessful in achieving even the simplest of tasks, from getting out of bed
(Goncharov's protagonist Oblomov) to courting a woman successfully (many of
Turgenev's characters). Critics lamented the lack of real heroes in Russian literature and
by extension, in society itself.
Despite the predominant pulse o f Critical Realism during this period, a small
number of writers and critics did not conform to the precepts of utilitarian literature. This
dissension in thought immediately turned ugly, leading most writers to associate with one
of two literary schools: either the aesthetic camp, grouped around the conservative
journal "Russkii vestnik," or the utilitarian camp, centered around two journals—
"Sovremermik " and "Russkoe slovo." Officially, Tolstoi belonged to no literary
organization and took no active role in the heated debate. He attempted to maintain a
cordial relationship with his professional contemporaries, and as such, he associated with
such diverse writers as Gogol', Turgenev and Chemyshevskii, even interceding for the
latter two at the Imperial court following their respective arrests.^
Though he was not a member o f a literary school, Tolstoi did actively disapprove
of utilitarian literature. He expressed his position of non-compliance with the pragmatic
agenda of realist literature in his poem "Protiv techeniia " ( "Against the current," 1867), in
which he asserts that art is effective only if it has no specific aim. Similarly, in a letter
written in 1870, Tolstoi states that "a work o f art... bears within itself the best
demonstration of... truths which can never be proven by those who sit down at their desks
to set them forth in an artistic work."* In an effort to remain above the literary battle of
25
He also pleaded for the release o f the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko during the mid-1850s.
^ See the first chapter of Charles Moses' Esthetics as Nightmare: Russian Literary Theory. 1855-
1870 (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1989).
12
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his time, Tolstoi repeatedly claimed that any tendency or artistic school limits artists, and
instead he advocated independence by asking the rhetorical question, "...k kakomu
napravleniiu prinadlezhit Dante, Shekspir, Gete, Gomer?" (...to what movement did
Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Homer belong?).^
While Tolstoi did not officially belong to the minority "art pour I'art " school, he
did uphold its central premises: inspiration, aesthetics, and artistic truth. Not
surprisingly, he was on friendly terms with Afanasii Fet, whose poetry epitomizes the
school of art for art’ s sake, and he regularly corresponded with the idealist poet Iakov
Polonskii. In an attempt to promote aesthetic principles. Tolstoi even addressed a letter
to the editor of "Russkii vestnik," in which he proclaimed that spiritual strivings for the
beautiful are inseparable from art.
It comes as no surprise then that Tolstoi admired the Russian writers who
preceded him, especially Zhukovskii, Pushkin and Lermontov. These poets inspired
Tolstoi and from the age of six, he began to compose poetry:
S shestiletnego vozrasta ia nachal marat" bumagu i pisat" stikhi— nastol"ko
porazili moe voobrazhenie nekotorye proizvedeniia nashikh luchshikh poetov,
naidennye mnoiu v kakom-to tolstom, plokho otpechatarmom i plokho
sbroshiurovannom sbomike v oblozhke griaznovato-krasnogo tsveta... Moi
pervye opyty byli bez sonmeniia, nelepy, no v metricheskora otnoshenii oni
otlichalis" bezuprechnost'iu.
From the age o f six I began to scribble on paper and write poetry— so
impressed was ray imagination by the wodcs of our best poets, which I found
in some thick, poorly printed and poorly bound collection with a slightly dirty
red cover... My first attempts were, without a doubt, ridiculous, but with
regard to meter, they were irreproachable.^
Tolstoi's early interest in poetry is not surprising given his upbringing. He was raised by
his mother and her brother, the writer Aleksei Perovskii (1787-1836), who wrote under
the pseudonym Pogorel'skii, and imbued his nephew with a passion for literature.
Perovskii received a Doctorate of Philosophy from Moscow University in 1807 after
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,324.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,424.
13
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presenting extensive lectures in German, French and English. He served in various
capacities in the government and distinguished himself in the War o f 1812. Perovskii's
connections with the government led to Tolstoi being presented to the future Tsar
Alexander II when both the count and future sovereign were eight years of age, resulting
in a life long friendship between the two.®
In 1827, Tolstoi accompanied his uncle abroad to Germany, where he met
Goethe; in 1831, the family embarked on a voyage to Italy for over two months, where
Tolstoi frequented the museums and galleries of Venice, Milan, Florence, Rome and
Naples. In fact, Tolstoi's diary is extant from this period and demonstrates the
remarkable depth and breadth o f education for such a young boy: he describes many
pictures and sculptures, the architecture of cathedrals, religious ceremonies, and relics of
the Roman Empire.
Given Perovskii's position as a popular short story writer, a member of the
Russian Academy, and an associate of the journal "Literatumaia gazeta, " it is not
surprising that the young Tolstoi met several poets, painters and writers who visited his
uncle and mother in Moscow. During his impressionable years, Tolstoi was thus exposed
to different cultures and people that eventually shaped lus artistic outlook. Moreover, his
aristocratic upbringing distanced him from many of life's difficulties experienced by most
o f the "raznochintsy" like Belinskii, Chemyshevskii and Dobroliubov. Margaret Dalton
writes that as a child, Tolstoi met Pushkin, who "...is supposed to have approved of some
o f Tolstoi's juvenile poems...
Tolstoi also maintained a close relationship with Zhukovskii. It was the author o f
the ballad "Liudmila " who arranged for Tolstoi and the future Alexander II to be
^ Tolstoi was not only a finend, but a close advisor to the Tsar. The writer served in many official
capacities until 1859, when Alexander accepted Tolstoi's resignation as both his aide-de-camp and as the
head of a committee on religious sects. It should be noted that initially Tolstoi was willing to serve his
friend and Tsar, but during the 1850s he desired to be fi%e o f any government service so that he could focus
on his literary endeavors.
Margaret Dalton. A.K. Tolstov (New York: Twayne, 1972) 17.
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childhood playmates, and in the late 1830s, all three traveled throughout Europe together.
Zhukovsldi's poetic influence on Tolstoi is noted by several critics. For example, in
1878, the literary historian Shabishevskii calls Tolstoi the "Zhukovskii of our time."^‘ By
the beginning of the twentieth century, both Nikolai Kotliarevskii and F. G. de la Bart
treat Tolstoi as Zhukovsldi's literary heir. In fact, both critics feel that Tolstoi’ s works
were more representative of the Russian Romantic movement. They state that "Tolstoi,
and not Zhukovskii, is the true bard o f Russian Romanticism.
It was during his university years that Tolstoi became engrossed in the study of
Romantic concepts. In 1834, Tolstoi began to study at Moscow University after his
family rejected the idea of military service despite Perovskii's desire to the contrary.
Concurrently, Tolstoi obtained a position at the Moscow Archives of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. This stage in Tolstoi's intellectual development is significant for
understanding his later literary creations— this university and these archives were the
Russian loci from which German Idealist thought was disseminated. From 1823-25, a
circle of Moscow University students and young men employed in the Moscow Archives
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met clandestinely to discuss the latest philosophical
issues of the day. This group, known as "Liubomudry" (The Wisdom Lovers), included
V.F. Odoevskii, D.V. Venevitinov, I V. Kireevskii and a number of loosely affiliated
poets and writers, all of whom were interested in the works o f Friedrich Schelling, and to
a lesser extent, those of Kant and Hegel. From 1824-1825, the Wisdom Lovers published
a quarterly literary almanac entitled "Mnemosyne," which was suppressed following the
Decembrist Uprising o f 1825.^
Qtd. in Graham 23.
" Qtd. in Graham 38.
” For a detailed description on The Wisdom Lovers, as well as Schelling's influence on the poetry
of Tiutchev and Boratynskii, see Sarah PraU's Russian Metaphvsical Romanticism:The Poetry of Tiutchev
and Boratvnskii (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1984).
15
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Although the Wisdom Lovers had departed from the Archives and Moscow
University by the time of Tolstoi's arrival, their ideas clearly resonate in many of his
works. Throughout his life Tolstoi upheld the primacy of art and beauty over the
materialism which dominated his era. Moreover, his exposure to German Idealist
philosophy likely furthered his interest in the supernatural world. Schelling’ s concept of
the Absolute, which for him is the source of the entire universe, encompasses real or
material aspects, as well as ideal and spiritual features. Similarly, his philosophy of
nature ("Naturphilosophie”) links nature and spirit together as real and ideal poles of one
essential reality. Ultimately, Schelling asseits that pantheism merges into total
mysticism.
Schelling's philosophy was embraced wholeheartedly and without question by
Tolstoi. The German philosopher's mystical belief in a harmonious synthesis ultimately
manifests itself in Tolstoi's lyrical poetry of the 1850s, in which the poet seeks a union
between people and spirits, the material and immaterial, and heaven and earth.
Schelling's impact on Tolstoi clearly resonates in the following statement made by the
Russian writer. It expresses his belief in the primacy of art, the existence o f another,
divine world and a unity between this world and the next: "Iskusstvo... most mezhdu
etim, zemnym mirom i mirami inymi, put' poznaniia vechnogo i beskonechnogo v
formakh zenmoi deistvitel'nosti" (Art... is a bridge between this earthly world and other
worlds, a path of eternal and infinite knowledge in the forms of earthly reality).^
Tolstoi thus shared the beliefs of the minority literary movement of his lifetime.
This position in all likelihood contributed to his status as a secondary writer, not only
because of the dominating spirit of Realism of his age, but ultimately due to the
overwhelming preference given to Realism during the Soviet period. Socialist Realism
was the only official and acceptable means of literary composition, and Critical Realism
of the nineteenth century was seen as its official precursor and thus given much credence.
” A.K. Tolstoi, O literature i iskusstve (Moscow: Sovremennik, 1986) 7.
16
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Because of his Romantic views and outspoken stance against pragmatism, Tolstoi's
works were largely ignored during the Communist period, and as a result, his position in
literature was further obscured.
m . The Fantastic and Romanticism
In this study, the term "fantastic" is used to encompass a wide variety of unusual
and unexplainable phenomena in Tolstoi's worics. In this sense, I adhere to Neil
Cornwell's premise that that the fantastic should be used both when referring to a genre
and a q u ality T y p ically , the fantastic refers to events, objects or beings which exist or
occur outside the normal experience or knowledge of man.^ Since Tolstoi was interested
in various manifestations o f the fantastic, primarily the supernatural and the occult, each
will be discussed in detail when necessary. It should be acknowledged that in modern
scholarship, there is a highly specialized field of esoteric studies that differentiates the
practices and rituals of mysticism, magic, the arcane, the occult, etc. While this
dissertation does not intend to discuss in detail the origins and practices o f each esoteric
or supernatural phenomenon, some basic distinctions will be made.
In terms of literature, Delbert Phillips defines the fantastic tale as one that
...is marked by elements which break free from commonly experienced reality
and lead into the realm of the supernatural— that is, phenomena above or
superior to the recognized powers of nature. This includes manifestations of
the spirit world (ghosts, infernal powers, animated corpses) and/or the
relations between the "other world" and human beings.^’
Neil Cornwell. The Literary Fantastic: From Gothic to Postmodernism (New York: Harvester
Wheatshear, 1990) 34.
^ Even in the introduction to Amy Mandelker and Roberta Reeder’ s The Supernatural in Slavic
and Baltic Literature: Essavs in Honor of Victor Terras (Columbus: Slavica, 1988), J. Thomas Shaw admits
that throughout the collection no clear distinction among the terms supernatural, fantastic and irrational is
made. Instead, the term supernatural is used to include any or all facets o f the seemingly unreal.
” Delbert D. Phillips, Spook or Spoof? The Stmcmre of the Supernatural Jn Russian Romantic
Tales (Washington: UP of America, 1982) 13.
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Tzvetan Todorov bases the effectiveness of the supernatural or the fantastic in literature
on the reaction of the reader. He states that this type of literature "...is based essentially
on a hesitation of the reader— a reader who identifies with the chief character— as to the
nature of an uncanny event."^ The hesitation on the part of the character and the reader
as to the plausibility of a seemingly unexplainable event ultimately leads to a choice; to
believe or not to believe. Believing in the existence or actuality of an otherwise unreal
creature or occurrence is the defining mark of the fantastic; the longer one sustains belief
in it, the more real it becomes. In the foreword to the 1899 edition of Tolstoi's "Upyr' "
("The Vampire"), Vladimir Solov'ev defines believable fantastic literature in the
following manner:
Sushchestvennyi interes i znachenie fantasticheskogo v poezii derzhitsia na
uverennosti, chto vse proiskhodiashchee v mire i osobenno v zhizni
chelovecheskoi zavisit, krome svoikh nalichnykh i ochevidnnykh prichin,
eshche ot kakoi-to drugoi prichinosti, bolee glubokoi i mnogoob 'emliushchei,
no zato menee iasnoi. Esli by zhiznennaia sviaz' vsego sushchestvuiushchego
byla prosta i prozrachna kak dvazhdy dva— chetyre, to etim iskliuchalos' by
vse fantasticheskoe.
The essential interest and significance of the fantastic in poetry adheres to A e
certainty that all that transpires in the world, and especially in man's life, still
depends upon, aside from available and obvious reasons, some other
explanation, one that is more profound and voluminous, but one that is still
less clear. If the vital link of all materiality were so simple and transparent as
two time two equals four, then all fantastic events would be eliminated.”
Solov'ev then describes what makes Tolstoi's works in the fantastic vein unusual in
relation to his fellow Russian writers: "V podlitmo fantasticheskom vsegda ostavliaetsia
vneshniaia, formal'naia vozmozhnost' prostogo ob 'iasnenie iz obyknovennoi vsegdashnei
sviazi iavlenii, prichem, odnako, eto ob' iasnenia okonchatel'no lishaetsia vnutrennei
veroiatnosti " ( "In the genuine fantastic, there is always the external and formal possibility
of a simple explanation of phenomena, but at the same time this explanation is
“ Tzvetan Todorov. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre (Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1975) 156.
” Vladimir Solov’ ev, Stikhotvoreniia. estetika. literatumaia kritika. S.G. Bocharov, V. E. Vatsuro,
V. A. Kaverin et al., eds. (Moscow: "Kniga," 1990) 459.
lo
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completely stripped of internal probability").'” Unlike Washington Irving or E.T.A.
Hoffmann, Tolstoi never ridicules or exposes the supernatural, nor does he attempt to
disprove occult rites and rituals. Instead, he always leaves an impression of plausibility,
and thus satisfies Todorov's requirement of sustaining belief in the unbelievable.
Because of this fact, many of Tolstoi’ s woiks may be labelled "fantastic-marvellous,"
simply because the reader or protagonist eventually accepts the supernatural as such.'*‘
Attempting to define Romanticism, especially in the context of Russian literature,
is no easy task.'® Even proponents of Socialist Realism, a doctrine completely
antithetical to Romanticism, are often at a loss. For example, the Soviet literary critic
V.l. Kuleshov writes, "the typology of Romanticism cannot be established in a purely
empirical manner."'*^ Such a statement is not surprising given the fact that the
practitioners of Romanticism themselves were uncertain as to how to define the
movement. Consider the words of Prince Petr Viazemskii, one of the foremost poets of
the period, who compares Romanticism to a troublesome imp who dwells in houses:
"Romanticism is like domovoi: many believe in it, there is a conviction regarding its
existence, but what are its characteristics, how is one to define it, how is one to put his
finger on it?"'” That a definition of Romanticism in Russian literature is so elusive is not
surprising given the fact that during the first few decades of the nineteenth century
Classicism and Sentimentalism were still being widely practiced. It was also during this
time that Russian writers appropriated and experimented with many different types of
genres, styles, and categories of language.
« Todorov 25-26.
Cornwell 36.
For an introduction, see Lauren Leighton's Russian Romanticism: Two Essavs (The Hague:
Mouton, 1975), and Robert Reid, ed.. Problems of Russian Romanticism (Aldershot: Gower, 1986).
Reid, 7.
** (Jtd. in John Mersereau Jr., Russian Romantic Fiction (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1983) 34.
19
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Equally significant is the fact that there is no single theme inherent in the Russian
Romantic movement. Rather, its practitioners drew on diverse sources for inspiration:
revolutionary principles, ethnic and folk tales, metaphysical concepts, and the poetry and
personality of Lord Byron. To a lesser extent, the fantastic was also a theme of the
Romantic movement in Russia. A few writers experimented with fantastic tales, but no
single writer made it his primary specialty. The appearance of the first fantastic tales
occurred when Romanticism was at its peak in Russia— during the 1820s and early 1830s.
Translations of fantastic short stories in Russian literary journals were widely published
during this period. Excerpts or entire works by Thomas Holcroft, E.T.A. Hoffmann and
Friedrich Karl were introduced to the Russian reading public. Russian authors such as
Bestuzhev, Glinka, Odoevskii, Somov and Ferovskii began to publish tales in the
fantastic vein.
One reason for Russian authors' interest in fantastic literature was the publication
of two critical works by Sir Walter Scott: a preface to the novels of Ann Radcliffe, and
the article "On the Supernatural in Fictitious Composition," both of which appeared in
1829 in the Russian journal "Syn otchestva" ("Son of the Fatherland"). Central to Scott's
position on the fantastic is his argument that supernatural characters, especially ghosts
and witches, were once regarded as real, and should thus be depicted as such. He also
asserts that the supernatural stems from religion, noting that since Christians believe that
a divine man once appeared on earth, it should not be difficult to imagine demonic
powers making themselves materially manifest as well.^^ Essentially, Scott argues for a
more realistic presentation of the fantastic in literary works. This is a call that Tolstoi
would eventually heed.
Romanticism and the fantastic have long been linked together in literature.
Indeed, they share a number of features: fascination with the next world; the importance
of divine powers, either for poetic inspiration or demonic destruction; fallen and forgiven
■ * ’ See the first chapter of Phillip's Spook or Spoof?.
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characters like angels, devils or souls; and communication with the dead via prayer,
sacrifice or seance. The literary historian R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik considers the
phantasmagoric one strain of Romanticism, but notes that it is not entirely indigenous to
the Romantic movement.^ Indeed, the fantastic both predates and surpasses this literary
period. The supernatural is a feature in Greek and Roman tales, Arthurian legends. The
Canterburv Tales, the Faust legend, and many Gothic woiks of the eighteenth and
nineteenth century, firom Horace Walpole’ s The Castle of Otranto (1764) to Bram Stoker's
Dracula ( 1897). In Russia as well, the fantastic came to be a conunon featiue outside the
Romantic movement, especially at the turn of the century.
Given the extensive parameters of the fantastic in literature, it is not so surprising
that one can find supernatural themes even during the heyday of the Realist movement in
Russia. One reason in particular presents itself that parallels the rise of Gothic literatiue.
In reaction to the critical realist trend outlined above, Russian writers sought asylum from
socially relevant literature, and one haven turned out to be that of the fantastic. This
action corresponds roughly to certain late eighteenth-centiuy writers who rebelled against
the age of Reason by producing Gothic tales that were in direct opposition to what they
perceived as the "stifling" literary standards of the period.
Tolstoi was one writer who not only took refuge in the fantastic genre, but
explored it in great detail. Aside from his humorous works, Tolstoi employed various
aspects of the fantastic in nearly every genre in which he wrote. This fact is significant
given that Tolstoi’s literary predecessors, with the exception of Nikolai Gogol, were not
as versatile and at most, employed the supernatural in only a few genres. For Tolstoi, the
fantastic was not an experiment or a fleeting fancy, but a literary and cultural interest
which grew in intensity over the course of his life and career.
In the preface to his translation of Nikolai Leskov’ s short stories, the critic David
Magarshack writes that ’Russian literature has no tradition of spooky ghost stories and
^ Leighton, Russian Romanticism 3. ^ ^
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Leskov's "The White Eagle" [1880] is a unique example in this g e n r e . Y e t one can
cite a number of Russian works preceding that o f Leskov's in which ghosts play a role.
Indeed, from the mid-twenties to the late thirties, the supernatural tale became a popular
form of fiction. In addition to some lesser-known worics by Orest Somov, Vladimir Titov
and Aleksei Perovskii, Aleksandr Pushkin's "Grobovshchik " ( "The Coffin Maker") and
"Pikovaia dama" ( "The Queen o f Spades"), Mikhail Lermontov's "Shtoss" and "Fatalist"
("The Fatalist "), a number o f Nikolai Gogol's Ukrainian stories, and Vladimir Odoevskii's
"Prizrak " ( "The Ghost"), all belong to this genre. Marilyn Minto is a bit more precise in
describing what supernatural tales in nineteenth century Russian literature lacked; "terror,
cruelty, passion-major themes of European Gothic and ghost tales-had no place in
[Russian literature]. "^ J. Thomas Shaw adds that the supernatural in Russian literature of
the nineteenth century never became the focus o f one writer or one work, noting that
"...in Russian works employing the supernatural, it does not dominate the pattern even
when it may form an important part."'*’
These statements should be amended in light of several of Tolstoi's writings. To
begin, take Tolstoi's vampire tales. They do not dwell on the folk or oral traditions of
Russia, but embody a theme common to many cultures and widely popular in all of
Europe during the period. "Upyr" " ( "The Vampire"), "Sem'ia vurdulaka " ( "The Family
o f a Vurdulak"), "Vstrecha cherez trista let" ("A Reunion after Three Hundred Years"),
and "Amena" are stories that may be characterized as Gothic tales: blood, gore, isolated
castles, and family curses abound throughout them. They are cosmopolitan in nature in
that these early writings have several features in common with the European Gothic
tradition, unlike most supernatural tales written by Russian writers of the preceding
generation.
■ * ’ Minto X.
■ “ Minto X.
Mandelker and Reeder xi.
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In essence, Shaw, Minto and Magarshack assert that the supernatural is largely
functional in nineteenth-century Russian literature, and seems to occupy a secondary
position. Aside from a few of Gogol's Ukrainian tales, where the fantastic is at the
forefix)nt, Shaw, Minto and Magarshack claim that writers of the period are far more
concerned with the psychological condition o f their characters than with themes of terror
and blood. For example, in the works of Pushkin and Gogol', the manifestation of ghosts
or spirits are either a result of the extemalization of fear, as in Gogol's "Shinel' " ( "The
Overcoat"), when Akakii Akakievich appears to enact revenge upon the guilt-ridden
bureaucrat, or, as an internalization of fear, as in Pushkin's "Grobovshchik" ("The Coffin
Maker "), when Adrian Pokhorov imagines that all the people whom he has buried come
to dine at his house. Despite their attraction to the supernatural, Russian authors almost
always treat it sarcastically, ironically or comically, exposing the supernatural as a hoax
(Gogol's "Nos"), a dream (Pushkin's "Grobovshchik") or an hallucination (Germann in
Pushkin's "Pikovaia dama").
In contrast, it was Tolstoi, who, as the Romantic movement was waning in
Russia, altered the focus of fantastic literature. His early prose tales and his Spiritualist
lyrics do not offer a realistic explanation for strange events, nor do they attempt to expose
the esoteric as a hoax. Instead, his writings are meant to be perceived as fact. The
structure o f Tolstoi's works differs as well. In many instances, he combines Romantic
and Realist features, resulting in a new and unusual mixture. For example, in one and the
same work the reader will find a "Realist protagonist," whose appearance is
unremarkable, and whose actions and diction are consistent with his social class,
education and occupation. Alongside this protagonist, there are usually lesser "Romantic
characters," who are unusual in appearance, have exaggerated qualities, speak in
hyperbolic language, and have names of metaphoric significance. An unusual mixture of
settings is also conunonplace in Tolstoi's prose. Exotic scenes typical of Romanticism
are juxtaposed with real and historical locales, along with detailed descriptions that serve
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to give the illusion o f reality.” Essentially, Tolstoi takes fantastic events, recombines
them and inverts them with reality because "the fantastic cannot exist independently of
the real world."
Tolstoi's creations also differ in terms of their sources. J. Thomas Shaw writes:
The chief sources of the supernatural in Russian authors are... folklore, ancient
literature (especially Greek myth) and the Bible... The most common use of
the supernatural in Russian literature is to embody folk literary qualities,
either directly as in Pushkin's verse fairy tales, or in markedly transmuted
form, as in his Ruslan and Liudmila or in Gogol's Dikan'ka stories.”
Tolstoi was raised in Ukraine, the scene of Gogol's book Evenings on a Farm Near
Dikan'ka (Book 1 , 1831; Book II, 1832), which contains a number of examples from folk
culture. However, it was not Gogol' who initially cultivated Tolstoi's interest in the
supernatural, but Tolstoi's uncle, the writer Perovskii. In 1828, Perovskii published his
collection of stories Dvoinik. ili moi vechera v Malorossi (The Double or mv Evenings in
Little Russia). This compilation included "Lafertovskaia makovnitsa " ("The Lafertov
District Poppyseed-Cake Vendor"), which was published in 1824. Perovskii's tales, with
a loose frame that binds them together, were partly inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmarm's The
ggrapiQP Brothers-
Perovskii's The Double must have excited the imagination of his eleven year old
nephew. Over a series of nights, the solitary protagonist, Antoni, exchanges stories with
a man who resembles him.” Night after night, the two attempt to top one anothers'
supernatural anecdotes. Their tales involve family curses, murder plots, gruesome scenes
of death, and witchcraft. Towards the end of Perovskii's work, Antoni and his double
^ John J. Mersereau, Jr. discusses the differences between Romantic and Realist literature in the
introduction to his book Orest Somov: Russian Fiction Between Romanticism and Realism (Ann A rbor
Ardis, 1989)8-11.
Cornwell 25. Cornwell notes that the literary critic Jackson uses the word fantasy, a term that
Cornwell believes to be a wider concept, a mode or impulse, a trans-generic literary quality.
Mandelker and Reeder xii.
” A precursor o f Ivan's devil in Dostoevskii's Brothers Karamazov.
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have an extended discussion about divination and astrology, topics which are not
prevalent in Russian folklore.^ Thus, Tolstoi's introduction to the supernatural was not
limited to the Russian folkloric tradition, but included the works of the German
Romantics, and various works on occult practices as well. Tolstoi himself was proud of
his collection of writings on magic and the occult:
Zdes' ochen* bol'shaia i dazhe khoroshaia biblioteka, no knigi bol'sheiu
chast’ iu starinnye; est' khoroshie i redkie izdaniia, kak, naprimer, bol'shoe
opisanie Egipta, sostavleimoe po rasporiazheniiu Napoleona, i mnozhestvo
ochen' starinnykh knig o magii.
Here there is a large and excellent library, but the biggest part of the books are
ancient ones; we have nice, rare publications, like, for example, a huge
depiction of Egypt; it was composed based upon Napoleon's instructions, and
we have many ancient books on magic.^
Tolstoi's works are also important in that they continue the esoteric tradition which
flowered in Russian literature after the War of 1812. Until the unexpected death of
Alexander I in 1825, secret Revolutionary societies flourished in Russia. Bolstered by
the democratic ideals of Western Europe during the multi-national occupation of France,
young Russian aristocrats and writers gathered to discuss revising the absolute nature of
the monarchy. A significant number of these young men belonged to the Freemasons, a
society based on self-betterment and mysticism. Eventually, Freemasotuy in Russia
became associated with revolutionary causes. One conunon means of disseminating
revolutionary and Freemason beliefs was in literature.
Freemasonry was associated with the revolutionary intentions of either
constitutionally limiting the monarchy or eliminating it in favor of a republic. Those
writers who belonged to this secret group had to incorporate their radical ideas in their
writings clandestinely, a process that often yielded a multilayered text. Their Aesopian
works, like an esoteric ritual, could be interpreted only by the initiated, by those who had
the key to unlock the underlying meaning in the texts. With careful scrutiny, several
^ Zhukovskii's ballads feature a number of these supernatural themes.
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,98.
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implied references to the mystical precepts of Freemasonry can be found in the works of
the Decembrists Ryleev and Bestuzhev as well as in their contemporaries and
sympathizers, including Zhukovskii and Pushkin.^
It is not the principles o f Freemasonry that Tolstoi incorporates into his poetry,
but the rites of Spiritualism, an esoteric religion which greatly attracted the upper classes
of Western Europe and Russia during the middle part of the nineteenth century. Since
many Russian aristocrats believed in Spiritualism and considered its practices on par with
empirical reality, 1 assert that what Tolstoi is actually describing in some of his lyrics is
an alternate form of reality and religion. Tolstoi had an advantage over his Decembrist
forerunners in esoteric literature: unlike Freemasonry, Spiritualism was not regarded as a
threat to the monarchy. Though Spiritualism was officially outlawed and viewed as
sinful by the Church, the number of practitioners of this pseudo-science grew
exponentially by the end o f the nineteenth century. What will be demonstrated in a later
chapter is that a number of Tolstoi's lyrics are also multilayered, but in a manifestly
different maimer. Indeed, several of his lyrics may be read in different manners: as
traditional Romantic works o f separation and lost love. Spiritualist attempts at
communication with the dead, and as Orthodox Christian rituals. The reader need only
have access to the proper information to decipher each level of the text.
rv. Dvoeverie or Double Faith
In 988 A.D., Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Byzantine Christianity and
subsequently began to dismantle the widespread pagan system of belief in Kiev and the
surrounding regions. Yet Vladimir and his heirs were only partly successful; conversion
was often forced and only affected the small upper strata of urban society. The peasantry
remained largely unaffected because they were isolated from the urban centers both
^ Lauren G. Leigtiton, The Esoteric Tradition in Russian Romantic Literature: Decembrism and
Freemasonry (University Faric: Pennsylvania State UP, 1994).
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culturally and geographically. As a result, a peculiar religious-cultural dichotomy ensued
and continues to persist into the twentieth century. The peasants, despite being gradually
exposed to the practices of Christianity, relied largely on pagan beliefs for daily activities
from planting and collecting crops to marriage and death. These laborers willingly
attended church on obligatory holidays, but upon returning to the village, they engaged in
rituals that predated Russia's adoption of Christianity.
It was only logical that certain Christian and pagan practices were combined, not
only by the peasants, but by Church leaders as well to facilitate the conversion of more
peasants. While this practice was also common in the West, the degree to which pagan
rituals were combined with Christian ones (and often superseding them in importance) in
Russia was much greater. G. Fedotov, in The Russian Religious Mind, recognizes that in
all aspects of life, "the peasant [in Russia] lived in the Middle Ages through the
nineteenth century . "^ This lifestyle included a strong reliance on pre-Christian beliefs
and superstitions.
Perhaps Georges Florovskii best describes how the indigenous pagan culture of
Russia merged with Orthodox Christianity:
In the hazy depths of the popular subconscious, as in some sort of historical
underground, life continued as before, but now it was concealed, full of
double meaning and double faith ("dvusmyslennaia i dvoevemaia"). And in
essence, two cultures were being formed: a night culture and a day culture.
The carrier o f the day culture was, of course, the minority... However, one
must keep in mind that the history of the Christian day culture does not in any
case exhaust the fullness of the Russian spiritual fate... In subterranean strata a
"second culture" develops, a new peculiar syncretism is formed, in which
local pagan experiences are allayed with wandering motifs of ancient
mythology and Christian imagination. This second life flows under the
surface and does not always break out onto the surface. But it is always felt
underneath, as a boiling and turbulent lava... The boundary between these two
socio-spiritual layers was always moveable, better yet-amorphous.^
” Qtd. in Ivanits 4.
Qtd. in Alexander Golubov's Patterns o f Religious Imagery: The Post-Gogolian Russian
Realistic Novel. 1859-1881 (Ann Arbor UMI. 1985)10-11.
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Linda Ivanits classifies the "interweaving of pre-Christian and Christian elements in the
belief and practice of the Russian peasant [as] dvoeverie, or double faith."” Since this
phenomenon was so widespread, it is not surprising to find instances of this double faith
in Russian literature. Afanas'ev's collection of Russian folk tales contains numerous
instances of Christian and pagan rites being combined-Christ himself is a common
character in these tales and as such, embodies the intersection of Christian and folk
beliefs. Nikolai Gogol's Evenings on a Farm Near Dikan'ka and Mirgorod are also
replete with pagan and Christian combinations.
Because superstition played such a central role in peasant culture, numerous
instances of the fantastic combined with Christian rites can be found in Russian literary
texts as well. For example, "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom" (c. 16th century)
employs sorcery as a means of healing fatal wounds, but concludes with the protagonists
taking monastic vows. After their simultaneous deaths, they are later discovered in the
same crypt, despite several attempts at separating them. Similarly, "The Tale of Misery-
Luckless Plight" (c. 17th century) combines supernatural and Christian features as an
ambitious young man avoids the wrath of misery personified by entering a monastery.
Both these examples of Muscovite literature are essential for understanding Tolstoi's play
Don Zhuan. in which monastic vows play a central role in determining the final fate of
the tale's protagonist.
Tolstoi embarks along a markedly different path than his fellow Russian writers.
Instead of concentrating on indigenous folk superstitions, he searches outside of Russia's
borders for new fantastic themes. His first two works deal with West Slavic vampires
and are the foremost examples of Gothic fiction in Russian literature. In his next two
prose stories, Tolstoi's narrator recounts a ghost tale and illustrates the consequences of
renouncing Christianity. Tolstoi's early ballads involve werewolves and his narratives-in-
verse employ various other supernatural themes: a medieval quest to find an elixir of
” Ivanits 4.
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eternal youth, a portrait that comes to life and a legendary tale about a dragon set in
twelfth-century Italy. His dramatic work Don Zhuan has Faustian overtones, as Satan
determines the fate o f the tale's protagonist, and his historical novel on the reign of Ivan
the Terrible employs sorcery as historical fact, i.e., a type of magical realism. And, as
discussed above, Tolstoi continues the esoteric poetic tradition by infusing some of his
poems with Spiritualist themes.
Most of these worics juxtapose or meld their supernatural features with Christian
beliefs; vampires are products of Orthodox beliefs, Satan is an essential figure in
Christianity, the possibility of eternal life on earth is contrasted with Christ's version of
immortality, and the power of magic is countered by faith in God. In addition, other
works by Tolstoi must be investigated to illustrate how profound his double faith really
was. For example, in the latter 1850s, Tolstoi depicts two very different poetic versions
of death and the afterlife. While writing Spiritualist lyrics in which communication with
the dead is sought, he was also composing a long poem on the life of John of Damascus
in which death is described mainly in Christian terminology. It was during this period
that Tolstoi's mother passed away, which may partly explain why he sought solace not
only in the traditional practices of the Orthodox Church, but in an esoteric science which
promised immediate and more personal results.
Tolstoi's many combinations of the fantastic and Christianity are in part
emblematic of the upper class o f Russian society. During the nineteenth century, a
significant segment o f the nobility shared disdain for the Orthodox Church, which
disavowed all forms of meditation outside its own dogma. The Church also discouraged
investigation of most Western European esoteric and mystical practices. As a result,
many Russians, including the tsar and his family, secretly studied the precepts of various
occult sciences.
Since the time of Peter the Great, the Church's influence on the aristocracy in
Russia was considerably weakened. Nevertheless, much of the nobility continued to
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practice Orthodoxy outwardly, if only to maintain appearances. Unlike his
contemporaries, Tolstoi was not entirely at odds with the Church. Like his attempt to
remain above the fray in the literary battles of his time, Tolstoi not only followed
Orthodox ritual, but even served on a state committee to investigate religious sects while
simultaneously studying works by D.D. Home, Schopenhauer and Swedenborg.
Apparently, Tolstoi saw no contradiction in his concurrent belief in Christianity and the
esoteric. This admission is not so surprising given the nature of Orthodox theology. As
opposed to Catholicism and Protestantism, which is largely based on reason, "...all true
Orthodox theology is mystical."® Like many esoteric sciences which involve mysterious
energies and channels. Orthodox thought asserts that God's energy, his being permeates
every aspect of existence. Similarly, as in Spiritualism and mysticism, one's senses and
feelings play a significant role in Orthodox worship.®^ Thus, Tolstoi's interest in
Schelling's Absolute, legends about eternal life, and contact with the deceased are not
contradictory to Orthodox thought, but in fact complement it.
V. Reevaluating Tolstoi
Tolstoi’ s basic insight into man and nature has been described as "mystical, "
leading advocates of Critical and Socialist Realism to simply dismiss him and his works
as unnecessary or, to use a popular term of the middle nineteenth century, superfluous.
Long "buried, " Tolstoi's oeuvre needs to be exhumed. To appropriate Harold Bloom's
phrase, this study attempts to foster what the Greeks call "apophrades, " or the return of
the dead. Bloom notes that occasionally some poetic works composed by a member of a
later generation are so good that they are indistinguishable from those written by his
precursors. The poet of the later generation is no longer imitating, but is so successful in
“ W are 207.
These are largely the reasons for Vladimir's envoys to suggest that Rus' adopt Christianity. See
the Povest' vrernennvkh let
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his craft that it becomes nearly impossible to tell if he or his predecessor wrote a given
work. The wheel o f creativity has come full circle.® This is not entirely the case with
Tolstoi. His wheel o f creativity has turned far enough distinguish him from his
immediate predecessors, but not to the extent that one would consider him a true first-rate
writer. It took the Symbolists to expand upon Tolstoi's insights and complete the rotation
o f the wheel in its entirety, thus fully resurrecting his works.
The task now remains to analyze in detail a number of Tolstoi's supernatural
writings to establish him not only as one of the foremost Russian writers of the fantastic,
but also as an important intermediary between the Romantic and Modernist periods.
First, each work will be evaluated in relation to those of his predecessors. Second, the
fantastic theme in each respective work will discussed, especially in connection with
Orthodox Christian doctrine. Finally, when possible, intertexts with Symbolist concepts
and writings will be cited. We will begin with Tolstoi's prose, comparing his first four
works with his novel Kniaz' Serebrianvi.
“ Bloom 15-16.
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n. The Presence of the Preternatural
in Tolstoi's Prose
"Est* minuty, kogda ia ponimaiu
Vampira...."
“ M. Lermontov
In E.T.A. Hoffmann's Reception in Russia. Norman Ingham writes: "[Tolstoi's]
youthful prose works were an experiment in writing, and no great importance can be
attached to them within his total oeuvre. His early preoccupation with fantasy was not
carried over into his mature work."* This statement can be refuted if one merely
considers that Tolstoi's professional career is bookended by fantastic works: the story
"Upyr' " ("The Vampire," 1841) and his final composition, a narrative-in verse entitled
"Drakon" ( "The Dragon," 1875).
It would be a simple matter to list all of Tolstoi's writings in which fantastic
elements are featured, and indeed, such a list, albeit incomplete, has already been
attempted.* What I propose is a more sophisticated intertextual study that effectively
illustrates that the fantastic is the cardinal core of Tolstoi's oeuvre, and that his
"preoccupation" was in fact carried over into his more mature works. While later
chapters of this dissertation will investigate the presence of the fantastic in Tolstoi's
works in verse, this chapter focuses primarily on his prose. As such, I will examine
Tolstoi's first four prose tales: "Upyr ," "Sem'ia vurdalaka" ( "The Family of a Vurdalak, "
late 1830s-early 1840s), "Vstrecha cherez trista let" ("A Reunion After Three Hundred
Years," late 1830s-early 1840s), and "Amena" (late 1830s-early 1840s), along with his
historical novel Kniaz" Serebrianvi (Prince Silver. 1862). Interestingly, comparison of
these two very disparate genres yields several common topoi, characters, and themes,
many of which feature fantastic elements.
‘ Norman W. Ingham, E.T.A. Hoffmann's Reception in Russia (Wurzburg: Jal Verlag, 1974) 250.
^ See for example, Thomas Berry, A.K. Tolstov: Russian Humorist. The final chapter does little
more than provide an incomplete list of Tolstoi's works in which there are supernatural characters or e v e i^
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In assessing the prominence of the fantastic in Tolstoi's oeuvre, I intend to satisfy
Roman Jakobson's criteria regarding poetic unity enumerated in his essay on the
sculptural myth in Pushkin's oeuvre:
In the multiform symbolism of a poetic oeuvre we find certain constant
organizing, cementing elements which are the vehicle of unity in the multi
plicity of the poet's worics and which stamp these works with the poet's
individuality. These elements introduce the totality of a poet's individual
mythology into the variegated tangle of often divergent and unrelated poetic
motifs...
In their work analyzing Lev Tolstoi's tales for children, Shcheglov and Zholkovsky make
a claim similar to Jakobson's: "the oeuvre o f an original writer is usually marked by
striking artistic unity.'"* 1 assert that such artistic homogeneity is not limited only to
major writers, but may also be characteristic o f "less original" writers, as is the case with
Tolstoi.
All four of Tolstoi's fantastic tales are interrelated on several levels. In essence,
"Upyr'," the longest and only fantastic story by Tolstoi published in his lifetime, is a
composite work of the remaining three relatively short prose tales. This assertion of
commonality contrasts with Norman Ingham's statement that "the plot [of 'Sem'ia
vurdalaka' ] bears no external relationship to U p y r'M o re o v e r, by comparing these
works, 1 attempt to fill in the many lacunae in Thomas Berry's work on Tolstoi, which
fails to mention either "Vstrecha cherez trista let" or "Amena " in its truncated list of the
Russian writer's fantastic works.
Tolstoi's supernatural stories are rare examples of the Gothic in Russian literature.
In particular, "Upyr" " and "Sem'ia vurdalaka " are the first works in the Russian tradition
to feature Slavic vampires as prominent characters. There are of course a number of
’ Roman Jakobson, "The Statue in Pushkin's Poetic Mythology," Pushkin and His Sculptural
Mvth. trans. and ed. John Burbank (The Hague: Mouton, 1975) 1.
* lu. Shcheglov and A. Zholkovsky, LLSEE: Poetics of Expressiveness: A Theory and
Applications. (Philadelphia, 1987) 155.
^ Ingham 248.
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Russian folk tales that deal with what Felix J. Oinas calls "the notion o f the vampire,"
i.e., a heretic who returns from the dead to wreak havoc.® These beings are not the same
as Tolstoi's creatures, for as Oinas notes, "the term "upyr" ' has been unknown among the
Great Russians during the past few centuries...."^ In fact, Tolstoi's vampires bear little
resemblance to indigenous Russian folk variants. Instead, his creations are either
cosmopolitan, and/or of foreign origin; they are akin to most vampires found in European
literature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and later in Bram Stoker's
Dracula ( 1897). Tolstoi's tales are thus part o f a greater European tradition in which this
preternatural creature is featured prominently.
At first glance, it seems peculiar to select Kniaz' Serebrianyi as a text that shares
many characteristics with Tolstoi's early fantastic stories. Despite the generic disparity
between an historical novel and fantastic prose, there are many similarities among these
particular works. One likely reason relates to the compositional history of the Kniaz*
Serebrianvi. Tolstoi began his novel in the 1840s, not long after he completed "Upyr , "
leading one to conclude that his interest in the fantastic was filtered into the novel. It is
important to note, however, that Tolstoi merely conceived the idea for Kniaz" Serebrianyi
during this period, and only a few chapters were actually written by the end of the 1840s.®
Tolstoi did not return to the novel until the late 1850s, rewriting it several times before its
publication in 1862. Thus, there is more than a twenty year period between the
composition of Tolstoi's fantastic tales and the completion of his historical novel.
Tolstoi's inclusion of several fantastic elements in Kniaz" Serebrianyi. the last work in
* Felix J. Oinas, "Heretics as Vampires and Demons in Russia," SEEJ 22 (1978): 437.
’ Oinas 437.
* Tolstoi actually read early chapters of the novel to Gogol’ , who greatly approved o f the work. It
is possible that Gogol's own interest in the fantastic may have had something to do with Tolstoi including
various supernatural elements in his novel, but there is no documentation which supports this supposition.
It should also be noted that instead o f focusing on Kniaz" Serebrianvi. Tolstoi tinned to composing ballads,
many of which deal with events during the reign of Ivan the Terrible; for example, "Kniaz" Rostislav "
(which is discussed below), "Vasilii Shibanov," "Kniaz" Mikhailo Repin" and "Bogatyr ."
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prose that he composed, testifies to the significance of the supernatural in his poetic
world.
I. Literary Context and Precedents
"Upyr , " "Sem'ia vurdalaka," Vstrecha cherez trista let," and "Amena" represent
Tolstoi's first attempts in literature, and as such, are unpolished in comparison to his later
productions. With the exception of "Upyr ," these works were written originally in
French and unpublished in Russian during Tolstoi's lifetime. "Sem'ia vurdalaka" is
Tolstoi's most frightening short story, as terror is sustained throughout the entire text. It
is more concise and straightforward than the better-known "Upyr , " yet still manages to
convince the reader of the existence of vampires. "Amena " is also a text that features a
vampire type; this story is actually a fragment which was to have been incorporated into a
novel entitled Stebelkovskii. which Tolstoi never wrote. On the surface, it is quite unlike
the other three fantastic tales due to its predominant pagan theme and setting, but in fact,
it shares several conunonalities with the other fantastic stories. In comparison to the
vampire tales, "Vstrecha cherez trista let " is a rather bland horror story with only one
brief supernatural event involving a ghost.
Tolstoi's only novel, the historical work Kniaz" Serebrianyi. was, like many things
he wrote, rather untimely. Published decades after Mikhail Zagoskin's lurii Miloslavskii
(1829), and Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819). it was nonetheless popular during Tolstoi's
lifetime, and was reprinted three separate times. Tolstoi sets his historical romance
during 1565, the year in which Ivan the Terrible instituted the "oprichnina" (a group of
men who terrorized the Russian countryside), and ends the work in 1582, shortly before
the tsar's death. First and foremost, the novel owes much to Ivanhoe: both works center
around a band of robbers, an unpopular ruler, sorcery, and a love story. While some of
these features are found in lurii Miloslavskii. it is likely that Tolstoi merely appropriated
the general time period from Zagoskin's novel, since it takes place during the "Smuta"
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(The Time of Troubles), and Kniaz' Serebrianvi occurs in the years leading up to that
chaotic time. Tolstoi's protagonist Prince Serebrianyi, a boyar'-warrior, is a literary
descendent of both Miloslavskii and Ivanhoe.
It is not surprising that Tolstoi chose to begin his literary career with prose worics.
Published in 1841, "Upyr' " appeared at a time when poetry was waning in popularity in
Russia. Indeed, in the 1830s, the Russian reading public began to demand prose worics.
This change in taste, which Belinskii calls "the Smirdin period in Russian literature," was
largely due to the success with which the St. Petersburg bookseller and publisher sold
short stories and novellas. Given the predominant position of prose over poetry, Tolstoi's
choice to compose short tales was likely pragmatic. Nevertheless, he eventually chose to
pursue poetry and poetic forms rather than prose, fully realizing, even in the 1850s, that it
would be difficult to be published: "Kak byt" poetom, kogda sovsem uveren, chto vas
nikogda ne napechaiut...?"’
Tolstoi may have turned to poetry because he was put off by the reviews of
"Upyr"." For example, the journal Syn otechestva (Son of the Fatherland, no. 38,437-54)
accuses the author of taking opium and concludes that the reader will be confused after
reading the story, and Biblioteka dlia chiteniia (Librarv for Reading, vol. 48, 6-12) is
rather sarcastic and demeaning in its assessment. Only Vissarion Belinskii gave the story
a favorable review, considering the work premature but promising: "vse priznaki eshche
slishkom molodogo, no tem ne menee zamechatel'nogo darovaniia " (these are signs of a
still too young, but nonetheless remarkable talent).^” Tolstoi continued to write in the
1840s, but offered nothing for publication for nearly ten years after "Upyr" " was issued.
In literature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the ethnic
vampire was transformed into a cosmopolitan citizen. Long relegated to the realm of the
peasantry and their superstitions, many literary vampires became members of the
’ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,63.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 563.
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aristocracy. Because of this elevation in social standing, these undead creatures began to
interact in new ways with human society: they travelled from one country to another,
attended social functions and actively pursued the opposite sex. As Clive Leatherdale
writes, "in literature [of this period], the social background of the undead is commonly
transformed from the peasantry to the nobility, and they are able to travel beyond their
native communities...."" Regardless of their social status, all vampires have a need for
the blood of other people as sustenance. Their means to achieve this end evokes images
of violence and rape as a vampire forces himself on an unwilling victim, leaving a trail of
blood and a seed of change in the unsuspecting individual, who eventually becomes a
vampire as well. The image of rape normally brings to mind a male forcing himself upon
an unwilling female victim, but in Tolstoi's prose, this is not always the case. In fact, in
three of his prose works, female vampires actively pursue men in an attempt to infect
them. This twist is one feature that distinguishes Tolstoi's works from many of his
European predecessors.
The introduction of the vampire in literature coincided with a widespread interest
in Gothic tales. Within this particular genre, the vampire was one of many creatures who
evolved out of explorations of the inner being of a character; vampires thus came to
illustrate the foreboding side of the human personality. This focus led Gothic literature to
be characterized by an overwhelming sense of dread and mystery, themes that made
Gothic works popular throughout Europe especially during the first third of the
nineteenth century. Their exalted status was partly the result of a literary contest between
Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John Folidori in Switzerland in 1816,
which yielded Folidori's "The Vampyre," and Shelley's Frankenstein.T h e s e works
explored the dark side of human consciousness, an aspect also found in Tolstoi's prose.
" Qtd. in Carol Senf, The Vampire in Nineteenth-Centurv English Literature (Bowling Green:
Bowling Green State U Popular P, 1988) 25.
J. Gordon Melton, The Vamoire Book: The Encyclopedia o f the Undead (Detroit: Gale Research
Inc., 1994) 263.
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Indeed, his fantastic stories and his novel are full of blood, gore and murder, as well as
familial and internecine strife.
The modern-day stereotypical vampire diners greatly from those found in the
literature of the past two centuries. The contemporary image o f Dracula is largely a
result of Bram Stoker’ s novel and the screen performance of Bela Lugosi. A cloaked
count with bloody fangs who can transform himself into a bat has little in common with
the Slavic legend and its literary progeny. With the exception of their need for blood,
literary vampires bear almost no resemblance to the stereotype commonly held today.
Most Gothic vampires are based on East Slavic legends about a being who returned from
the dead to suck blood for nourishment; anyone, especially those who have committed
severe sins, could ostensibly become a vampire. This Slavic belief in such preternatural
beings did not arise intrinsically. In his study on Slavic Vampirism, Jan Perkowski
demonstrates that Iranian cults, in particular Bogomilism, with its belief in demons and
the power of the dead, had a great impact on Slavic culture from the ninth through the
fourteenth centuries, and in all probability contributed to the notion of a vampire.*^
In an odd cultural twist. Western European vampire tales, and not indigenous folk
stories, influenced Tolstoi's composition of "Upyr' " and "Sem'ia vurdalaka. " His blood
sucking antagonists are either members of the upper class or foreign entities. In this
regard, Byron's "The Giaour " (1813), Folidori's "The Vampyre " (1819), Nodier's
successful play Le Vampire (1819) and Marschner's opera P er Vampvr (1829) may be
seen as precedents, for they deal with more worldly vampire types." In addition to
vampires, Tolstoi's stories also deal with other supernatural creatures, including haunted
portraits, devils, ghosts and pagan gods, all of which lampolskii links to works by
" Jan Perkowski, The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism (Columbus: Slavica, 1989) 27-
28.
For a detailed list see both Margaret L Carter, ed. The Vampire in Literature: A Critical
Biography (Ann A rbor UMI Research, 1989) and Melton's The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the
ilDdsad-
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Merimee, Goethe and Chateaubriand.'^ In E.T.A. Hoffmann's Reception in Russia.
Norman Ingham also analyzes the influence of the German writer on Tolstoi's early
fantastic tales, concluding that Hoffmann's impact is not very extensive and is zq)parent in
only a few scenes of Tolstoi's early works. It is more likely that Hoffmann's literary
works, in particular "Der Sandmann," were distilled via the writings of Tolstoi's uncle
Perovskii, in his collection Dvoinik. ili Moi vechera v Malorosii.* ^ One possible example
in the Russian tradition that may have influenced Tolstoi is Nikolai Gogol's short story
"St. John's Eve" (1831), in which a witch drinks the blood of a murdered child. This tale
shares a common theme with Tolstoi’ s vampiric works, but it differs in that is clearly a
product of Ukrainian folklore.'^
Tolstoi began composing "Sem'ia vurdalaka," "Vstrecha cherez trista let " and
"Amena" in the late 1830s, during a stay in Paris. Given this locale, it is not surprising to
discover the influence of Gothic French literature on Tolstoi's stories. Dmitrii Zhukov
states that they were written "...po-frantszuski, s namerennym podrazhaniem neskol'ko
uzyskannoi manere i arkhaicheskim oborotam rechi conteur'ov Frantsii XVIIl veka."‘ * In
his biography of Tolstoi, Lirondelle lists a few parallels between Tolstoi's works and
Prosper Merimee's La Guzla: "L'influence de La Guzla est aussi évidente. Le conteur
voyage comme Merimee en pays serbes, et accepte une hospitalité qui rappelle celle de
Vuck Poglonovitch, de meme que la charmante Sdenka rappelle Khava."'® Indeed, two-
thirds of La Guzla consists of supernatural ballads, five of which focus on vampires: "La
Belle Sophie," "Jeannot, " "Le Vampire, " "Cara-Ali le Vampire" and "Constantin
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,563.
For an analysis of Hoffmann's influence on Perovskii/Fogotel’ skii, see chapter II of Norman W.
Ingham's E.T.A. Hoffmann's Reception in Russia.
” V.V. Gippius, in his lengthy work Gogol, details how much of the material for the writer's early
works came from his mother's knowledge of Ukrainian folklore.
Dmitrii Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi (Moscow: Molodaia gvardiia, 1982) 79.
Lirondelle. Le Poete Alexis Tolstoi: L'homme et l'oeuvre 41.
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Yacoubovich." Tolstoi may also have been aware of Merimee's works in Russian.
Aleksandr Pushkin translated a number of Merimee's ballads, including "Constantin
Yacoubovich," "La Morlaque a Venice" ("Morlak v Venetsii ") and a free translation of
"Jeannot " This latter work, which Pushkin calls "Vurdalak," is found among his "Pesni
zapadnykh slavian" ("Songs of the Western Slavs," 1834), and will be contrasted with
one of Tolstoi's early ballads later in this chapter.
n. Structure and Setting
Beginning with Polidori's "The Vampyre," writers of nineteenth-century Gothic
literature emphasized realistic detail, infusing their works with contemporary settings and
characters with whom the reader could identify. As Carol Senf writes, "the Gothic,
which had originated in the eighteenth century as a distinct genre, becomes in the
nineteenth century the heart of many realistic novels, what Northrop Frye describes in
The Secular Scripture as the hidden romance center. Thus, Gothic literature became
bifurcated, with one component focusing on supernatural phenomena as fact, while a
second component simultaneously attempts to explain supernatural occurences in realistic
terms. This transitional period in Gothic literature, from pure fantasy to an emphasis on
realist aspects is "...often revealed most transparently in... minor novelists...," as is the
case with Tolstoi.^
The tension between the real and fantastic planes of existence is central to the
Tolstoi's prose. His goal is to merge these two planes into one so that eventually they are
indistinguishable firom each other. For example, lampolskii notes: "Kak i v Upyre", v
"Amene" bogi i mifologicheskie geroi deistvuiut riadom s liud'mi... [oni]... izobrazheny
kak real'no suchshestvuiushchie lichnosti" (As in The Vampire," in "Amena" gods and
mythological characters function alongside people... [they] ...are depicted like real
“ Senf 24.
Senf 26.
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existing beings)? This mixture results in an unusual type of "ostranenie, " or
defamiliarization, in that fantastic events are treated as reality by the protagonist, and
ideally, by the reader as well.
Nowhere is this process more apparent than in "Upyr . " Dmitrii Zhukov writes
that, ”[v] Upyre' u Toistogo fantastika zameshena na russkoi deistvitel'nosti" ([in]
Tolstoi's The Vampire,' the fantastic is mixed with Russian reality).^ Over the course of
the story, Tolstoi combines the fantastic and real with increasing celerity: "Tolstoi
zavlekaet chitatelia zhutkimi podrobnostiami i prikliucheniiami, no kazhdyi raz vnov'
vozvrashchaet ego na real’ nuiu pochvu " (Tolstoi lures the reader with eerie details and
adventures, but each time returns him to real soil).*'* Tolstoi's constant alteration of states
not only serves to confuse the reader, but also to convince or convert him; along with the
central protagonist, the reader seeks explanations for fantastic events in the realm of
reality, but often does not obtain a definitive answer. This ambiguity results in conjecture
and doubt, leading the reader to believe in the existence of vampires and ghosts. Tolstoi
seems to recognize that:
the fantastic... lasts only as long as a certain hesitation: a hesitation common
to reader and character, who must decide whether or not what they perceive
derives from reality' as it exists in the common opinion... if he decides that the
laws o f reality remain intact and permit an explanation of the phenomena
described, we say that the work belongs to another genre: the uncanny. If, on
the contrary, he decides that the new laws of nature must be entertained to
account for the phenomena, we enter the genre of the marvelous.^
Vladimir Solov'ev offers similar sentiments in his analysis of Tolstoi's prose, implying
that ambiguity is a central feature: "otlichitel'nyi priznak podlinno fantasticheskogo— ono
nikogda ne iavlietsia, tak skazat', v obnazhennom vide... " (the distinguishing sign o f the
“ I. lampolskii, commentary Sobranie by A.K. Tolstoi, vol. 3,568.
“ Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 80.
Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 80.
“ Todorov 41.
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genuine fantastic is that it never appears, it could be said, in its bare form...)-^ Thomas
Berry echoes Solov'ev: "Tolstoi left an element of mystery at the end of The Vampire'—
there is the possibility that the old family friend is indeed a vampire... [but] the reader is
spared a final interpretation."^ Essentially, Tolstoi allows the reader to choose whether
fantastic elements are easily explainable or actually real; often there are no definitive
conclusions regarding the existence of vampires or other supernatural creatures in
Tolstoi's texts.
Tolstoi's approach is no different in Kniaz' Serebrianyi. In fact, he presents the
fantastic as an accepted part of Muscovite culture, i.e., a historical fact. That a miller-
sorcerer lives and practices his craft not far from the "Sloboda" comes as no surprise to
Ivan. Many members of the tsar's court sincerely believe in the miller's powers to heal,
curse and charm; for example, the miller is successful in curing Prince Viazemskii of
near-fatal wounds, and he protects people by the use of charms. These demonstrated
abilities of Tolstoi's sorcerer are in direct contrast to those o f the sorcerer Arkhip in
Zagoskin's lurii Miloslavskii. who is exposed as a fraud by Kirsha during a wedding
ceremony. Thus, in his novel, Tolstoi reveals his own belief in magic, a belief also held
by many contemporaries of Ivan the Terrible. Indeed, there was widespread societal
belief in sorcery during the period of "magical realism " in Russia, a time in which the
fantastic was regarded as just another aspect of society. What actually disturbs Ivan is
that his men, by frequenting the miller to obtain charms, are not only sinning before God,
but attempting to ingratiate themselves to Ivan by unclean means.
Though the reader is free to decide whether or not the fantastic exists, Tolstoi's
detailed depiction o f supernatural creatures and events gives insight into the writer's own
personal beliefs. Irrefutable proof, though on occasion Tolstoi does offer it in his works.
^ Solov'ev, Stikhotvorenia. estetika. literatumaia kritika 460.
Berry, A.K. Tolstov: Russian Humorist 64. .
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should not be the determining factor in believing in preternatural beings. He expresses
these convictions in a letter to his future wife:
...u menia nevysokoe mnenie o razume chelovecheskom, i ia ne veriu tomu,
chto on nazyvaet vozmozhnym i nevozmozhnym. Ia veriu bol'she tomu, chto
ia chuvstvuiu, chem tomu, chto ia ponimaiu, t ^ kak bog nam dal chuvtsvo,
chtoby idti dal'she, chem razum.
...I have a low opinion about human reason, and I do not believe in that which
man calls possible and impossible. I believe more in that which 1 feel [or
sense], than in what 1 understand, for God gave us feelings so that we could
surpass reason.®
Such sentiments can be found in a much later work on vampires, Bram Stoker's Dracula.
The protagonist. Dr. Van Helsing, trying to derail Dr. Seward’ s rational mind, insists that
a vampire is responsible for abducting local children:
Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet
which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are
things old and new which must not contemplated by men's eyes, because
they know-or they think they know-som e things which other men have told
them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it
explains not, then it says there is nothing to explain.®
Thus, both Stoker and Tolstoi offer a low opinion of human reason and intellect, and put
more stock in the unfathomable, the senses, and faith. This non-rationalist position is
essential when reading Tolstoi's fantastic stories, for in each of them, the existence of
supernatural beings often defies logic. Nonetheless, rational explanations are ultimately
dismissed by the protagonists as they come to realize that, in the words of Vladimir
Solov'ev, "the fantastic exists."®
In Tolstoi's poetic world, conventional reality and the fantastic coexist. In this
world of alternating states, two distinct settings recur: castles and religious sites. Place,
of course, is of crucial importance to Gothic wodcs- they are marked by highly
conventionalized settings, structures and imagery. In fact, in the Gothic tale, setting is
® Tolstoi, O literature i iskusstve 11.
^ Bram Stoker, Dracula (New York: Heritage, 1965) 208.
(^d. in Berry, A.K. Tolstoy: Russian Humorist 63.
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usually more significant than the characters themselves. Elizabeth McAndrew writes:
"there is a curious lateral shift' in the techniques of the Gothic. Settings turn out to be
part of characterization and methods of narration to be principles of structuie."^^ Setting
is of no less importance for the historical novel-it concretizes a work in a specific, actual
place and time. Moreover, it injects an "authenticity of local color" into a given work,
lending it a sense o f credence.^
The predominance of Gothic settings and themes in Tolstoi’ s early tales is one
reason why they were so poorly received. What critics failed to recognize is that Tolstoi
was probably aware of the incompatibility of the Gothic genre with the Realist literary
scene in Russia. In fact, the reader occasionally encounters ironic remarks directed
toward the Gothic characteristics in the texts themselves. For example, in "Upyr ,"
Tolstoi has his rational protagonist Runevskii compare his adventures to those of a
Gothic novel in an extremely overt manner: "Razgovor etot napomnil Runevskomu
neskol'ko starinnykh skazok o starinnykh zamkakh obitaemykh privideniiami" (This
conversation reminded Runevskii about several old tales about ancient castles inhabited
by ghosts). “ Despite such playful jabs at Gothic style, Tolstoi’ s romantic fantasy-tales
were out of place given the predominance of Realism in Russian letters-m ^or Russian
literary journals, including Svn otechestva and Biblioteka dlia chtenia, categorized
"Upyr"’ as alien to the current literary trend.^
Elizabeth McAndrew. The Gothic Tradition in Fiction (New York: Columbia UP, 1979) 109.
Georg Lukacs, The Historical Novel, trans. Hannah and Stanley Mitchell (London: Merlin P,
1962) 43.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 20.
Dalton 21.
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A. Castles and Balls
Gothic castles and buildings are prominent locales in "Upyr'." On a quiet night in
a Moscow paric, the supposedly insane Rybarenko attempts to convince the protagonist
Runevskii of the actuality of supernatural beings by relating a peculiar adventure he had
while in Italy for medical treatment. Nearly half of "Upyr' " takes place on Italian soil,
specifically in the city of Como; this choice of setting is reminiscent of what is
considered to be the first Gothic novel, Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). which
transpires in medieval Italy. Tolstoi's choice of setting was also motivated by his
personal experience o f travelling throughout Italy as a child. lampolskii speaks of the
impact of this visit on Tolstoi: "sil'noe vpechatlenie proizvelo na Tolstogo puteshestvie
po Italii V 1831 godu. It is during the scenes in Como that Tolstoi frequently mentions
architecture, artistic works and painters by name, subjects which Tolstoi himself noted in
his diary while traveling around Italy. In a letter written to his wife some twenty years
later, recalling his childhood trip to Italy, he states, "Ty ne mozhesh' sebe predstavit', s
kakoiu zhadnost'iu i s kakim chut'em ia nabrasyvalsia na vse proiavleniia iskusstva."^
Rybarenko's story consists of family intrigue, a haunted castle, and adventures
with pagan gods. His adventures in Como transpire at an abandoned castle referred to as
"la casa del diavolo" by the local inhabitants. The castle is rumored to be haunted, and it
is also suspected that it serves as the hideout of an infamous smuggler who leads a band
o f thieves.^’ The description of the devil's house demonstrates Tolstoi's awareness of the
Gothic tradition. The foreboding structure is situated on a cliff above the water, and is
adjacent to a chapel which serves as the depository for human bones ( "sluzhat
khranilishchem chelovecheskikh kostei").® Inside the castle, the rooms are dark and
“ I. lampol skii, introduction, O literature i iskusstve. by A.K. Tolstoi, 5.
Tolstoi, O literature i iskusstve 48.
This aspect is reminiscent of Rob Rovas well as Pushkin's Dubrovskii.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 37.
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gloomy, while the figures on the ceiling seem to be floating— "figury na potolke
sheveliatsia i chto fantasticheskie formy ikh otdeliaiuitsia ot potolka, i slivaias's
temnotoiu, ischezaiut v glubine zaly" (figures on the ceiling are moving and their
fantastic forms are separate from the ceiling, and as they blend with the darkness, they
disappear into the depths of the hall).^ To intensify the Gothic tone of Como, Tolstoi
even has Runevskii visit a Gothic cathedral before he spends the night in the devil's
house.
"La casa del diavolo " is the subject of much rumor and intrigue. Not only was it
built adjacent to a small church, but also over the original site of a pagan temple. It is
here that Tolstoi juxtaposes Christian and pagan faiths. This setting finds parallels in
Russian religious history, for during the long period of conversion to Christianity in
Russia, many churches were built over or near pagan temples. In "Upyr , " the temple in
question was originally consecrated to the gods Hecate and Lamia. In Greek and Roman
mythology, Hecate is a witch, and Lamia is a man-devouring monster, with a woman's
head and a snake's body, who sucks the blood of its victims. This part of the house's
history is significant, for both Rybarenko and his friend Antonio awaken after their
nightmares with small puncture wounds on their necks, leading the reader to believe that
some sort of vampire is lurking within "la casa del diavolo. "
Even more mystery surrounds the castle. The abbot of the local monastery in
Como tells Rybarenko that the house is believed to be the current asylum of a local
smuggler by the name of Tito Canelli. The original owner of the house, Don Pietro, was
no less of an evil man— he was a cruel merchant who tormented the local residents by
denying them grain during times of famine. It is this same Don Pietro who was engaged
to Praskov ia Andreevna, and built the Sugrobin estate in Russia. Pietro's sins were so
grave that it was rumored that he was carried off by the devil. By incorporating the devil
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,38.
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into the castle's infamous history, Tolstoi strengthens the likelihood that the building is
indeed haunted by unclean powers.
Essentially, the surroundings and events in Rybarenko's tale are similar to those
which Runevskii experiences in Russia at the Sugrobin estate. These coincidences cause
Runevskii to believe in the possibility that Sugrobina and her accomplice Teliaev are
vampires and that her mansion is indeed haunted. Though Sugrobina does not live in an
actual castle, it functions in the same manner as "la casa del diavolo." Tolstoi recognizes
that by the nineteenth century "...traditional forms, such as the Gothic castle... no longer
satisfy... [but] are more conunonly replaced by rambling mansions.... "^
The similarities in description and events at the Sugrobin estate and in Como are
many. To begin, the Sugrobin estate is really a reconstruction of "la casa del diavolo " in
Como: the land was purchased by the evil Don Pietro, who in turn hired an Italian
architect to construct the present day mansion in a distinct Italian style. Runevskii
himself remarks about the house: "prekrasnyi fasad! sovershenno v ital'ianskom
vkuse."'*^ The interior of the mansion and "la casa del diavolo" are also similar.
Sugrobina's house is decorated with draperies and other objects imported from Italy:
"kartiny ital'ianskoi shkoly... stoly iz florentinskogo mozaika...," while the devil's house
in Como is covered with frescos inside.^' In both locales, three individuals experience
strange events: at Sugrobino, Runevskii and two valets believe that they have seen
ghosts, while in Como, Rybarenko and two of his companions have fantastic dreams
about stolen treasure, murder, and events at the Pantheon of Olympus.
Like "Upyr"," "Vstrecha cherez trista let" prominently features a castle. In fact,
the supernatural events are centered around a masquerade ball which is to take place at
Chateau d'Oberbois, an ancient and deserted castle once inhabited by a sinful knight.
^ Cornwell 69.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,30.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 17.
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There is a legend attached to the castle about how those passing its walls are often
pursued by a gigantic, frighteningly pale man on all fours: "...v tom lesu
puteshestvennikov inogda presledoval nekii chelovek gigantskogo rosta, pugaiushche
blednyi i khudoi, na chetveren'kakh goniavshiisia za ekipazhami... By setting the crux
of the story in a haunted castle, Tolstoi consciously colors his woik in Gothic tones.
As it turns out, the rogue Marquis d'Urfe, who is also the main protagonist in
"Sem'ia vurdalaka," also owns a castle not far from where the masked ball is being held.
He invites the Countess Gramont to spend some time with him at his home, but is
rebuffed by the Conunodore, the Countess' guardian. Despite this rejection, the Marquis
manages to disable a bridge not far from the Countess' destination, causing her and her
guardian to spend the night at the Marquis' own castle.
The Countess comes upon the haunted castle by mysterious means. As she
passes through the forest of Oberbois, a severe electrical storm strikes, startling the
horses and causing them to sprint out of control, ejecting the Countess through the
carriage door. When she awakes, she finds herself not far from the ancient castle, which
she believes to be the setting for the masquerade ball. The Countess is greeted at the
gates by a knight, whom she assumes is the Marquis in costume. He escorts her into a
large hall where people arc dressed like noblemen at the court of Charles VII ("Odety oni
vse byli kak znamye gospoda vremen Karla Sed'mogo...")."” The castle is directly
connected with the Countess' family history, for her great-great-grandmother (the one
whom she resembles) was once abducted by the knight who resided within its walls.
Supposedly the Knight Oberbois was so powerful that nothing could defeat him;
however, it turns out that he once fell into the moat surrounding the castle due to the
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,98-99.
** Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 108.
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power of the Countess' gieat-great-grandmother's gaze: "...ot odnogo ee vzgliada
sorvalsia s vercvochnoi lestnitsy i svalilsia v ro v .""* ®
As in "Vstrecha cherez trista let," a ball, feast, or social gathering of some kind is
central to Tolstoi's other woiks. "Upyr" " opens with a ball, and it is here that Runevskii
hears the supposedly insane Rybarenko's tale about how the hosts of the social event are,
in actuality, vampires recently raised from the dead. Similarly, the setting of the frame of
"Sem'ia vurdalaka " also transpires at party following the conclusion of the 1815 Congress
o f Vienna. It is at this gathering that the Marquis d'Urfe relates his strange experiences in
Serbia. In "Amena, " Tolstoi paints several scenes in colors that seem to predate
Symbolist hues. For example, one scene features a hedonistic feast where the protagonist
hosts the gods of Olympus. Wine, exotic foods, and sex abound at this gathering. Kniaz"
Serebrianvi is not without its celebratory events; in fact, it actually features two banquets,
one at which the recently returned protagonist witnesses first-hand Ivan the Terrible s
bloodlust, and another at which the heroine Elena is kidnapped by Ivan's underlings
following a prolonged episode of drunken revelry.
B. Religious Sites
"Sem'ia vurdalaka" takes place in 1759, in rural Serbia; Tolstoi's protagonist, the
Marquis d'Urfe, is on his way to a diplomatic mission in Moldavia when he stops in a
certain Serbian village famous for its monastery. The monastery once held a miraculous
icon of the Holy Virgin, but during the preceding century, it was raided by the Turks, and
the icon was taken. The Marquis is invited to spend the evening in a small house
inunediately adjacent to this monastery. In this house, a family awaits the return of their
father Gorcha who went off into the mountains to fight the Turks, much like Sugrobina's
husband in "Upyr". "
' Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 99.
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Whereas a church and graveyard are only briefly featured in "Upyr'," the
monastery in "Sem'ia vurdalaka" is central to the plot. This religious setting has two
main functions: it serves as both a literal sanctuary for the villagers, and as a figurative
timepiece. As the Marquis soon discovers, nearly everyone in the village has been
transformed into vurdalaks by Gorcha— only a lone monk resists the local vampires and
offers protection to those not altered.'* The monastery also serves as the story's
timepiece— its clock chimes eight on two occasions, the first which serves to motivate the
plot itself, and the second which forewarns the Marquis o f extreme danger. The bells
chime first to herald the return of Gorcha: the specific instructions which Gorcha leaves
his son before his departure lend "Sem'ia vurdalaka" its mystery and suspense. He tells
his sons that if he returns home after ten days, he will have been transformed into a
vurdalak and must be killed. The problem surrounding "Sem'ia vurdalaka " is whether or
not Gorcha was absent for more than ten days: he leaves and returns as the chimes in the
monastery strike eight. This fateful hour is underscored towards the end o f the story,
when the Marquis returns to the village six months after concluding his business in
Moldavia, feeling that something was not right when he left. Upon his arrival, this
suspicion is confirmed by an ominous sign-the bells in the monastery chime eight once
again, the exact time at which Gorcha returned from his battle with the Turks.
Kniaz' Serebrianvi is also centered around a monastery: it not only functions as a
place of worship, but also as a fortress and seat o f royal power. Much of the novel
transpires at the "Aleksandrova Sloboda," the monastic stronghold of Ivan the Terrible,
located some eighty versts outside of Moscow, southwest of the city of Vladimir. The
"Sloboda" actually has a dual function: as a religious site and a castle. After Ivan
abdicated, he took refuge at the "Sloboda" and supposedly began to lead the life o f a
monk. It was only after the boyars agreed to allow Ivan to rule without their interference
^ "Upyr , " "Sem'ia vurdalaka," "Amena" and Kniaz" Serebrianvi ail have monks or priests as
characters, while "Vstrecha cherez trista let" features the ghost of a damned priest.
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that he returned to the throne. Even after Ivan accepted conditions that allowed him to
act without impunity, he returned to the "Sloboda" and ruled Russia from there. Tolstoi
describes Ivan's residence in great detail, taking note o f both its religious and defensive
characteristics:
V sem grozno uveselitel'nom zhilishche Ioann posviashchal bol'shuiu chast'
vremeni tserkovnoi sluzhbe, chtoby neprestannoiu deiatel'nostiu uspokoit'
dushu. On khotel dazhe obratit' dvorets v monastyf, a liubimtsev svoikh v
inokov... dvorets, ili monastyr',... otdelen ot prochikh zdanii glybokim rvom i
valom. Trudno opisat' velikolepie i raznoobiazie etoi obiteli. N iodnookno
ne pokhodilo na drugoe, ni odin stolb ne ravniaisia s drugim uzorami ili
kraskoi. Mnozhestvo glav venchali zdanie. Oni tesnilis' odna vozle drugoi,
gromozdilis' odna za drugoiu, i skvozili, i puzynlis'. Zoloto, serebro, tsvemye
izraztsy, kak blestiashchaia cheshuia, pok^wali dvorets sverkhu donizu.
In this threateningly pleasant abode, Ivan devoted most of his time to church
services, in order to calm his soul by continuous activity. He even desired to
turn the palace into a monastery, and his favorites into monks... the palace, or
monastery,... is divided from the other building by a deep moat and palisade.
It is difficult to describe the splendor and variegated nature of this abode. Not
one window was like another, not one column was the same as another in
terms of decoration or color. Many cupolas crowned the building. They were
crowded together, towering one after another, fading and worn away. Gold,
silver, colored tiles, like s itin g scales, covered the palace from top to
bottom.^^
Jules Koslow actually describes the "Sloboda " in a manner that closely resembles a
Gothic castle:
...[it was] a large structure with all the accoutrements of a medieval fortress.
Underneath the palace, there were dungeons, dark recesses, and winding
passageways. For protection there were barricades at every possible approach
to the grounds, a deep moat, and high palisades around the palace and the
auxiliary buildings in which artisans, servants, falconers, dogboys, and others
lived.^
The unusual structure from which Ivan despotically ruled Russia reflects his own jumbled
thoughts and recurring bouts of paranoia. Tolstoi seems to anticipate the Freudian notion
that setting often parallels the protagonist's state of mind, especially in Gothic tales:
The Gothic castle, with its pinnacles and dungeons, renellations, moats,
drawbridges, spiraling staircases, and concealed doors, realizes as
architectmral approximation of the Freudian model of the mind, particularly
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,204-5.
^ Jules Koslow, Ivan the Terrible (New York: Hill, 1961) 118.
51
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the traps laid for the conscious by the unconscious and the repressed. The
Gothic novel seeks an epistemology of the depths; it is fascinated by what lies
hidden in the dungeon and sepulcher.^
Since Tolstoi goes to great lengths to depict the tortures in Ivan's dungeons, the
executions on scaffolds, the pursuits throughout the maze of the "Sloboda," and the bear
traps laid for unsuspecting visitors, he actually (and probably unintentionally) describes
the tsar's deranged mental state in great detail.
Two other monasteries are found in Kniaz' Serebrianyi. The son of the cruel
Maliuta Skuratov takes refuge in one to avoid the world of the "Sloboda " More
importantly, the heroine Elena enters a monastery and takes a habit following the
execution of her husband. She does this despite the fact her husband announced that
Elena could marry anyone of her choosing following his death. The reader immediately
assumes that she and Serebrianyi will marry, but Tolstoi does not permit such a
traditional happy ending. Instead, Elena takes vows before she hears of her husband's
decision. Serebrianyi's servant arrives at the monastery one day too late to inform her of
the news.
Like "Upyr," "Amena " is also set in Italy. This particular tale is somewhat
distinct from the other three supernatural works in that it takes place in Imperial Rome
during the reign of Emperor Maximianus (late 3rd-early 4th centuries AD), a ruler known
for his persecution o f Christians. Instead of a Christian church or monastery, much of
"Amena " is set beneath the temple of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The hero
Amvrosii is led here by Amena after rescuing her from being kidnapped by the Emperor's
guards. Like the temple to Hecate and Lamia in "Upyr ," the temple of Venus is in ruins:
"...khrama Venery, kotorogo razvaliny vidny chrez eti vorota...."®
It is below the temple, in a secret sanctuary, that Amena informs Amvrosii that
the Emperor frequently attempts to abduct her, and that her father, fearing for her well-
Cornwell 47.
® Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 141.
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being, constructed the large room. Tolstoi describes the trappings o f the room in lavish
and decadent terms: "Amvrosii uvidel bogato ubrannuiu zalu, sredi kotoroi stoial
bronzovyi stol s sosudami i plodami. U stola nakhodilsia shirokii triklinii, vysechennyi iz
krasnogo mramora i pokrytyi purpurovymi podushkami. Vdol' sten stoiali sedalishcha iz
bronzy i mramora, takzhe pokrytye purpurom" (Amvrosii saw a richly decorated hall, in
the middle of which stood a bronze table with decanters and fruits. By the table was
located a wide triangular couch, carved from red marble and covered with purple pillows.
Along the wall were seats made from bronze and marble, also covered with purple
pillows).^' The resplendent surroundings have a hypnotic, and ultimately, detrimental
effect on Amvrosii. Each time he enters the underground lair. Amena gains more control
over him. The lush furnishings are intensified by the smell of fragrant oils ("aromatnoe
maslo") that are rubbed over Amena s body.^ By combining the senses of touch, smell
and sight in such a detailed manner, Tolstoi creates a synesthetic effect, something the
Symbolists would later revel in. In fact, repeated sensory overload greatly affects
Amvrosii— every time he enters Amena s chamber, his will is drained, and he loses his
ability to think rationally.
m. Supernatural Characters; Vampires. Ghosts. Witches and Weregolves
Each work under examination in this chapter features at least one supernatural
being. In "Upyr ," vampires function as marginal characters who interfere with the
consummation of love between the protagonist and his love interest. In "Sem'ia
vurdalaka" and "Amena, " vampires assume the role of temptress: they attempt to seduce
the protagonists into situations that compromise not only their beliefs, but their lives as
well. In Kniaz" Serebrianyi. the miller (in actuality, a male witch or sorcerer) provides
the means (charms and spells) to tempt the heroine and Tsar" Ivan himself, while in
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 142.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 143.
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"Vstrecha cherez trista let," the ghost o f a knight attempts to force the heroine to proclaim
her love for him.
In "Upyr ," Tolstoi purposefully chooses the names o f his two vampire characters,
explicitly relating their surnames to vampiric themes: burial and the body. The supposed
leader of the vampire clan in Russia is Madame Sugrobina, whose surname has two
sources: "sugrob" means snow-drift, while the shorter root "grob" means coffin, and in
poetic language, the grave. The name of Sugrobina’ s companion, Teliaev, also has
associations with death: his surname is derived from the Russian word "telo," or body.
Even the first name of Sugrobina's governess has lesser vampiric associations: Kleopatra
Platonovna, who plays a significant role in the dénouement of the story, recalls the cult of
the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, popularized by Pushkin's poem and unfinished story
"Egyptian Nights" (1835), in which the bloodthirsty ruler offers a night of sexual ecstasy
to any willing man, with the stipulation that at dawn he will be beheaded.
As is characteristic of most vampires, Sugrobina is often directly associated with
blood. For example, Dasha has one unforgettable memory of her grandmother: "la
pomniu, kak v poslednii den' ee plat e bylo pokryto mamenkoi krov'iu " (I remember, how
on that last day her dress was covered with mother’ s blood).® Tolstoi continues the motif
of blood when Runevskii hears Sugrobina licking her bloody lips: "brigadirsha oblizyvala
svoi krovavye guby According to Rybarenko, Teliaev and Sugrobina fit the mold of
most vampires, for both were dead and have come back to life. Rybarenko claims: "on...
umer dvumia nedeliami prezhde ee... Ia... znal ikh eshche prezhde smerti..." (he died two
weeks before her... I... knew both of them before their deaths).® To further increase the
likelihood that they are vampires, Tolstoi dresses them in a peculiar manner: "na
” Blood and puncturing, two vampiric motifs, are prevalent throughout "Upyr' " including:
Dasha's unexplained bite, her bloody clothes, the wound Runevskii sustains in a duel and the dream in
which Vladimir shoots Antonio.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 57.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 8-9.
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brigadirshe bylo plat e iaricogo krasnogo tsveta, s vyshitoiu na grudi bol'shoiu chemoiu
letucheiu mysh'iu. Na latakh Teliaeva izobrazhen byl Alin, i na shleme ego torchali
filinovy kryl'ia" (The brigadier's wife was wearing a bright red dress, with a huge black
bat on her upper chest. On Teliaev's armor, an owl was depicted, and on his helmet,
owl's wings protruded).*
In "Sem'ia vurdalaka," Tolstoi introduces a different sort of vampire, one that is
indigenous to the Balkans. The narrator-protagonist, the Marquis, relates his experiences
with vampires nearly sixty years ago. He describes the peculiar characteristics of a
vurdalak to his fellow aristocrats:
Zdes' nado budet vam skazat', milostivye gosudaryni, chto vurdalaki, kak
nazyvaiutsia u slavianskikh narodov vampiry, ne chto inoe v predstavlenii
mestnykh zhitelei, kak mertvetsy vyshedshie iz mogil, chtoby sosat' krov'
zhivykh liudei. U nikh voobshche te zhe povadki, chto u vsekh prochikh
vampirov, no est' i osobennost', delaiushchaia ikh eshche bolee opasnymi.
Vurdalaki, milostivye gosudaryni, sosut predpochtitel'no krov' u samykh
blizkikh svoikh rodstvennikov i luchshikh svoikh druzei, a te, kogda, umrut,
tozhe stanoviatsia vampirami, tak chto so slov ochevidtsev dazhe govoriat,
budto V Bosnii i Gertsegovine naselenie tselykh dereven' prevrashchalos' v
vurdalakov.
Here I must tell you, my dear sirs, that vurdalaks, as vampires of the Slavic
people are called, are no different in appearance than local peoples, but they
are the dead who have exited from the grave in order to suck the blood of
living people. In general they have the same habits that all other vampires
have, but Ôiere is one peculiarity that makes them even more dangerous.
Vurdalaks, my dear sirs, preferably suck the blood of their closest relatives
and their best friends, and when these victims die, they also become vampires,
so that even the reports of eyewitnesses tell as to how in Bosnia and
Hertsegovina, the populations of entire villages have been transformed into
vurdal^s.^
Vurdalaks are thus more vicious in their quest for blood because they prey upon their
relatives and close friends. Perhaps this is the type of vampire Byron had in mind in his
poem "The Giaour:"
But Arst on earth as vampire sent
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent.
Then ghastly haunt thy native place
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,55.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,72.
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And suck the blood of all thy race
There from thy daughter, sister, wife.
At midnight drain the steam of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse.*
Another significant difference between vampires and vurdalaks is the latters'
ability to transform themselves into wolves. The Serbian Mythological Dictionary
defines a vurdalak as follows:
...in essence [it is] the same as a vampir. From vampir descriptions it is
evident that it can appear in various forms, especially in the form of certain
animals such as a wolf, dog, cat... The vampir was originally thought to be in
the form of a wolf, which in addition to everything else is evident from,
according to one opinion, its older name vukodlak and wolf (vuk). In Kuci,
Montenegro, there has been noted the belief that every vampir must be
transformed into a wolf for a certain period of time. Surely this even more
obviously confirms the claim that the vampir and the vukodlak are the same
creature.
J. Melton comments on the etymology of the word, noting that vurdalak, vukodlak, and
vrykolakas are:
...derived from the older Serbian compound word vilki plus dlaka, meaning
one who wore wolf pelts. By the thirteenth century, when the word first
appeared in a written text, the earlier meaning had been dropped and
vlikodlaci referred to a mythological monster who chased the clouds and ate
the sun and moon (causing eclipses). Still later, by the sixteenth century, it
had come to refer to vampires and as such had passed into both Greek and
Romanian culture.®
In "Sem'ia vurdalaka," Tolstoi demonstrates his knowledge of the vurdalak s ability to
take the form of a wolf. As the Marquis departs the Serbian village to pursue his
diplomatic responsibilities, he notices a wolf digging in the ground near a grave which
has a stake protruding from it:
la vnimatel'no osmotrelsia krugom i v sotne shagov uvidel volka, kotoryi
rylsia v zemle. Tak kak ia ego vspugnul, on potezhal, a ia vonzil shpory v
boka loshadi i zastavil ee tronut'sia s mesta. A tam, gde stoial volk, ia teper'
" Lord Bvron. The G iaour A Fragment of a Turkish Tale. The Complete Poetical and Dramatic
Works of Lord Bvron. eds. John Nichols and J.C. Jeaffireson (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883) 56.
59
Qtd. in Perkowski, The Darkling 38.
^ Melton 561. Gogol uses this motif in his short story "Christmas Eve," which begins with a
witch gathering stars from the sky and a devil putting the moon in his pocket.
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uvidel svezhevyrytuiu mogilu. Mme takzhe pokazalos', chto iz zemli, razrytoi
volkoin, na neskol'ko vershkov vystupal kol.
I attentively looked around, and one hundred paces away 1 saw a wolf that
was digging in the ground. I seemed to scare him, he ran off, and I plunged
my spurs into the sides of the horse and forced it to move. And there, where
the wolf stood, I now saw a freshly dug grave. It also seemed to me that from
the earth, a stake, uncovered by the wolf, was protruding from the ground by a
few vershoks.*^
Tolstoi's interest in werewolves extends beyond "Sem'ia vurdalaka. " While he
was working on his early supernatural tales, he also composed a ballad entitled "Volki"
( "Wolves, " early 1840s), in which he describes how nine vicious wolves terrorize a
village.^ The first three stanzas are intended simply to describe the wolves and the
effects they have on a local village-the alpha wolf is gray ("sedoi"); the ninth wolf is
lame ( "On . idet i khromaet"); one is bloodied ("S okrovavlermoi piatoi "); they are afraid
of no one ( "Ikh nichto ne pugaet"), and cause one peasant to turn pale from fear ("On ot
strakhu bledneet").“
The last three stanzas of the poem are surrounded in religiosity, death and
mystery. It is in this section of the poem that Tolstoi introduces the supernatural element
of the poem. The wolves enter the village, carefully circle around a church and enter the
priest's yard ("Volki tserkov" obkhodiat/Ostorozhno krugom/V dvor popovskii
zakhodiat "), ultimately engaging in sinful talk ("Ne vedutsia 1 " tam greshnye rechi?"). In
the penultimate stanza, the wolves' eyes are like candles ("Ikh glaza slovno svechi ") and
their teeth are sharp ( "ostrei "). Despite their fearsome demeanors, they are eventually
shot: "I streliai po im smelo/Prezhde rukhnet volk belyiVA za nim upadut i drugie. " It is
not until the following morning that both the reader and the villagers learn the true
identity of the wolves: "Ty uvidish" lezhashchikh/Deviat" mertvykh starukhW peredi ikh
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 85.
“ Wolves are also the centerpiece in another of Tolstoi's short stories, "Volchii priemysh" (1843).
Unlike his fantastic tales, this two page tale is decidedly realist— a hunter observes with wonder how a
female wolf nurses a baby fox along with her own litter.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 219-20.
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sedaiayPozadi ikh khromaia/Vse v krovi... s nami sila gospodnia!" The nine dead old
women strewn about the ground are the wolves who entered the village. Their
transformation, albeit forced, indicates that they are vurdalaks. This explains their ability
to alter their corporeal forms, as well as their hesitancy when approaching the church and
the sinful conversation. In addition, their predilection for blood (recall that one has a
bloody heel— "S okrovavlennoi piatoi") is further evidence that these creatures feed on the
blood of their victims).
The presence of real supernatural creatures and the serious tone of Tolstoi’ s poem
is in direct opposition to that of Pushkin's "Vurdalak," a free translation of Merimee's
"Jeannot." Indeed, in Pushkin's work, there is no real vampire and a playful narrative
tone runs throughout the work. The poetic persona, Vania, is an oafish coward who
travels through a cemetery late one night. Vania's imagination runs wild and he believes
that he hears a vampire approaching to eat him ("s 'est upyr' menia sovsem ").^
However, Vania's fears are quickly deflated when he turns around only to see a dog
gnawing on a bone: "V tenmote pred nim sobaka/Na mogile glozhet kost' " (Before him
in the darkness there was a dog gnawing on a bone over a gravesite).®
The main vampire of "Sem'ia vurdalaka " is Gorcha, the elder of a large family
who, when he departs to battle the Turks, warns his family that if he has not returned
within ten days, it means that he has been transformed into a vurdulak. But Gorcha left at
eight o'clock one evening and returns as the monastery clock again strikes eight. The
family is uncertain whether or not Gorcha returned within the allotted time: "Kak znat',
proshlo li uzhe ili ne proshlo desiat' dnei?"* As the tale progresses, it becomes apparent
that Gorcha did not arrive within the allotted time, and that he has been transformed into
” A.S. Pushkin, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii vol. 3 (Moscow; Izdatel'stvo akademii nauk SSSR,
1964), 308.
“ Pushkin, vol. 3, 308.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,75.
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a vurdalak. His face is pale and stem ("s litsom blednym i strogim"); he is wounded and
covered with blood ("ranen... levyi bok ves' v krovi"); he threatens to curse his son
Georgii ("...tronesh'sia do menia— proklianu!"); his eyes are extinguished ("ego pogasshie
glaza"); and his breath is corpse-like ("ego trupnoe dykhanie"). Even the visiting
Marquis, a rationalist and disbeliever in the fantastic, notes that Gorcha could be taken
for a dead man ("...ego vpolne mozhno priniat' za litso pokoinika").^
As a vampire, Gorcha is often associated with violent images that cut or sever.
For example, when he comes home, he removes the severed head of a Turkish warrior
from his b%. Gorcha later lures away his older grandson, tempting him with a present of
a small knife, only to kill the child. His actions parallel events in "Upyr'," where it is
rumored that Sugrobina intends to kill her granddaughter Dasha and suck her blood.
Gorcha's venomous power later affects his younger grandson as well who, after meeting
Gorcha in the forest, exhibits supernatural strength: "[on] pobezhal v storonu lesa s takoi
bystrotoi, kotoraia dlia ego vozrasta kazalas'sverkh "estestvennoi " ^ Gorcha's disease is
infectious and spreads quickly. Toward the end of the tale, a lone monk, who runs the
monastery, tries to offer shelter to those few inhabitants of the village not infected by
vurdalakism: "Vurdalaki— eto kak zaraza...skol'ko uzhe semei v derevne postradalo”
(Vurdalaks— it is like an infection... so many families in the village already suffer from
it).® But eventually, the entire village succumbs to vampirism due to Gorcha. His
victims include both of his sons, their wives and children. The monk tells the Marquis
that:
...on to [Gorcha] pokhoren vzapravdu, i v serdtse— kol! No on u Georgieva
syna vysosal krov'. Mal'chik i vemulsia noch'iu, plakal pod dver'iu, emu, mol,
kholodno i domoi khochetsia. U dury-materi, khot' ona sama ego i khoronila,
ne khvatilo dukha prognat' mal'chika na kladbishche, - ona i vpustila ego. Tut
on nabrosilsia na nee i vysossal u nee vsiu krov'. Kogda ee tozhe
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,75,77-8.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 84.
® Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,87.
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pokhoronili, ona vernulas' i vysosala krov' u men'shogo mal'chika, potom— u
muzha, a potom u deveria. Vsem--odin konets.
...he [Gorcha] was indeed buried, and in his heart— a stake! But he sucked the
blood of Georgii. The little boy then returned at night, cried by the door,
saying he was cold and wanted to come home. His foolish mother, the same
one who had buried him, did not have enough strength to send her son back to
the cemetery, and she let him in. Then he threw himself upon her and sucked
up all of her blood. When she too was buried, she returned and sucked the
blood of her little boy, then that of her husband, and then of the entire village.
All suffered alike.™
The Marquis is pursued by the entire family, including his love Zdenka, who throws
herself on the Marquis' horse ("Zdenka szadi menia prygnula na loshchad' ") and attempts
to bite the Marquis, claiming his blood: "tvoia krov'— moia!"^ Despite Zdenka's attempts
and those of her family (Georgii even throws a child at the horse), the Marquis escapes
unharmed. The motif of shedding blood is then continued in the Aame of the story.
Tolstoi has his narrator end the narrative with a pun— offering to shed or spill his own
blood to defend his engrossed and unsettled audience:
...ia i seichas sodrogaius' pri mysli, chto esli by vragi odoleli menia, to i ia
tozhe sdelalsia by vampirom, no nebo togo ne dopustilo, i vot, milostivye
gosudaryni, ia ne tol'ko nichut' ne zhazhdu vashei krovi, no i sam, khot starik,
vsegda budu chastliv prolit' svoiu krov' za vas!
...to this very day I quiver at the thought that if my enemies had grabbed me,
then I too would have become a vampire, but the heavens would not allow
this, and thus, my dear ladies, I do not thirst for your blood, but I myself,
although an old man, will always be happy to shed my own blood for you!™
In "Amena," Tolstoi depicts yet another type of vampire. The female antagonist
Amena is a seductress who dwells beneath the dilapidated temple of Venus. Over the
course of the story, she convinces the protagonist Amvrosii to renounce Christianity and
revere the gods of Rome. It is only at the end of the tale that Amvrosii realizes the error
of his ways, blaming the death of his fiancée and friend on Amena: "ty odna vsemu
vinoiu: po tvoim sovetam ia sdelalsia bogootstupnikom, dlia tebia zabyl nevestu i
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 86.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,92.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,93.
60
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dniga..." (you alone are to blame: because of your advice, I renounced God, for your sake
1 forgot my fiancée and friend).^ Amvrosii then vociferously proclaims his Christian
faith and demands to be executed with his friends. Now that Amvrosii's eyes are opened,
he stands over Amena and makes the sign of the cross, shouting "la otrekaius" ot tvoikh
bogov, otrekaius" ot ada i satany!" (I renounce your gods, I renounce hell and satan!).^
His words enrage Amena, who transforms into her true demonic form and attacks
Amvrosii. This last action finally makes it clear that Amena is a vampire of sorts— she
becomes a demon, flames leap out of her mouth, and most importantly, she bites
Amvrosii on the cheek ("...Amena ispustila pronzitel'nyi vizg, cherty ee litsa
chudovishchnym obrazom iskazilis", izo rta pobezhalo sinee plamia; ona brosilas" na
Amvrosiia i ukusila ego v shcheku").^^ At this point that the narrator of the tale, a monk,
ends his story, and identifies himself as Amvrosii by removing his hood and revealing a
large scar across his face: "...na ego shcheke ia uvidel glubokii shram, kak budto iz nee
miaso bylo vyravno ostrymi zubami " (...on his cheek I saw a deep scar, as if meat were
tom from it with sharp teeth).’* The reference to sharp teeth completes Amena s vampiric
image.
If one carefully examines this text, other vampiric motifs can be found. Amena s
sanctuary is below ground, which reminds one of a tomb or coffin. She possesses
magical powers and is able to light the lamps in her lair merely by clapping her hands:
""...ona udarila v ladoni, i dve lampy zazhglis" kak budto volshebstvom.""’’ Each time
Amvrosii enters Amena s chamber, his strength and will is drained, much like a vampire
drains blood from its victim. Finally, in one o f Amvrosii s dreams, he sees doves flying
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,157.
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,158.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,158.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,158.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,142.
61
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about Amena ( "u nog ee vorkovali dva golubia"), but then bis Christian Mends appear
with the crown of Christ, changing Amvrosii's perception of Amena.™ He then sees bats
flying around Amena, who is no longer beautiful ("Amena pokazalas' emu uzhe ne stol'
ptekrasnoiu, a vmesto golubei iz-pod nog ee vsporkhnuli dve letuchie myshi ").™ Bats,
which Tolstoi directly associates with the vampire Sugrobina in "Upyr ," are used to
underscore Amena s vampiric guise.
In Kniaz' Serebriannvi. Tolstoi continues the vampiric theme of bloodshed.
Several of Ivan's oprichniki seem to thirst regularly for life's vital fluid. They slaughter
cattle ( "koliut teliat ") and harm villagers, even leaving children covered in blood
("mal'chik let dvenadtsati, ves' okrovavleimyi").® The oprichnina's leader, Maliuta
Skuratov, is described as: "nevest' miasnik, nevest' zver' kakoi, vechno krov'iu obryzgan "
(some kind o f butcher, some sort of beast, eternally thirsting for blood).® Like a
vampire, Skuratov needs to shed blood to survive: "...krov" by la dlia nego potrebnost'iu i
naslazhdeniem. Mnogo dushegubstv sovershil on svoimi rukami, i letopisi rasskazyvaiut,
chto inogda, posle kaznei, on sobstvennoruchno rassekal mertvye tela toporom i brosal
ikh psam na s "edenie" (...blood was his need and delight. He murdered many with his
own hands, and the chronicle tells how he often, after executions, cut up the bodies of his
victims with an ax, and threw the pieces to dogs for food).® Thus, Skuratov not only
sheds blood like a vampire, but also uses it as a form of sustenance. The tsar's closest
advisor, Boris Godunov, is no better; the disgraced boyar Morozov describes the future
tsar as one who is only interested in furthering his own personal agenda: "vsadit tebe
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 144.
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 145.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 167.
* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,198.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,216.
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nozh V gorlo, da eshche i poklonitsia" (he will stick a knife in your throat, while
continuing to bow [before the tsar]).®
Ivan surpasses all his minions in his desire for blood, a driving lust that he himself
recognizes cannot be quenched. For example, he states that his people have a special
name for him, one that directly links him to vampire lore: "nazyvaiut menia
krovopiitseiu" (they call me a bloodsucker).** Later, in Tolstoi's play, Smert* Ioanna
Groznogo (The Death o f Ivan the Terrible. 1862-64), the boyar Sitskii calls Ivan "a
ferocious beast" ("liutyi zver' ").® Both of these labels suit Ivan well. For example,
Morozov describes the continual carnage ordered by Ivan: "chto den', to krov' tekla i na
Lobnom meste, i v tiur'makh, i v monastyriakh" (each day blood was shed at the place of
execution, in prisons and in monasteries).** Ivan himself even admits to his treacherous
acts: "tsar' sam nazyvalsia smermym uboitseiu i syroiadtsem" (the tsar called himself a
murderer and a consumer of raw meat).*’ Like a vampiric creature who has risen from
the grave, Ivan is depicted as a zombie of sorts: "loanny bylo ot rodu tridtsat' piat' let; no
emu kazalos' daleko za sorok. Vyrazhenie litsa ego soversheimo izmenilos'. Tak
izmeniaetsia zdanie posle pozhara. Eshche stoiat khoromy, no ukrasheniia upali,
mrachnye okna gliadiat zloveshchim vzorom, i v pustykh pokoiakh poselilos' nedobroe "
(Ivan was thirty-five years old, but seemed well past forty. His facial expression had
changed entirely. It had changed like a building does after a fire. The walls still stand,
but the decorations are gone, the dark windows have an evil gaze, and evil is in the empty
silence).**
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 198.
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,225.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 137.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 196.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,196.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,209.
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Spilled blood is also featured in the prophesy of the miller-sorceter, a character
derived from Mikhail Zagoskin's magician Kudimych.” Looking under the wheel of his
mill, the sorcerer foresees an unpleasant fate for Prince Viazemskii, one of Ivan's
oprichniki. Indeed, in the miller's vision, Tolstoi combines the vampiric themes of red
blood, veins and sharp teeth: "...voda pomutilas'. A vot stala krasnet' voda, vot
pochervonela, slovno krov ... Vot potianulis' bagrovye nitki, slovno zhily krovavye; vot
budto kleshchi rastvoriaiutsia i zamykaiutsia... " (...the water became disturbed. It started
to become red, growing daiic, like blood... dart threads are strung about, like bloody
veins; it is as if pincers are opening and closing...).* The miller's association with images
of blood is not accidental on Tolstoi's part. According to A.N. Afanas'ev, vampires are
often "...corpses, who during their lifetime had been sorcerers,... and in general, people
excommunicated by the church...."’*
Kniaz' Serebrianvi features another character who prophesies: Ivan's nurse
Onufrevna, a woman nearly one hundred years old. Like many Gothic characters,
Onuffevna's appearance is frightening:
Ona sognulas' pochti dvoe. Kozha na litse ee tak smorshchilas', chto stala
pokhodit' na drevesnuiu koru, i kak na staroi kore probivaetsia mokh, tak na
borode Onufrevny probivalis' volosy sedymi kliuch'iami. Zubov u nee davno
uzhe ne bylo, glaza, kazalos', ne mogli videt', golova sudorozhno shatalas'.
She was bent over in two. The skin on her face was so wrinkled that it was
like old tree bark, and as moss grows in patches on the old trunk, so on the
chin of Onufrevna grew gray hair in patches. She had no teeth for a long time,
her eyes, it seemed, could not see, and her head shook spasmodically.®
The miller is also a healer. Towards the end o f the novel, he stops Prince Viazemskii from
bleeding to death. Tolstoi's miller, a healer-sorcerer, seems to be directly related to Walter Scott's character
Rebecca in Ivanhoe. A Jew, and thus somewhat of an outcast in twelfth-century England, she is frequently
accused o f witchcraft. She is responsible for saving Ivanhoe's life following a battle.
* Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 179.
Qtd. in Perkowski, A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism 19.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,232.
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Despite her imposing and disconcerting appearance, Onufrevna is actually a positive
character in the novel. Since she is aware o f the extent of Ivan's acts, she frequently
implores him to confess his sins, reminding him that he is destined to spend eternity in
hell along with Maliuta and the rest of the oprichniki.”
Prophets are also featured in the first part of Tolstoi's dramatic trilogy. In Smert'
Ioanna Groznogo. soothsayers ("volkhvy") predict that Ivan will die on St. Cyril's Day
("V Kirillin den' Later in the play, the same soothsayers predict the rise and fall of
Boris Godunov:
Spletaiutsia sozvezdiia tvoi
S sozvezd'iami venchannykh gosudarei.
No tri zvezdy pokamest zatmevaiut
Velichie tvoe. Odna iz nikh
Ugasnet skoro.
Chem dale put' tvoi steletsia, tem shire.
Tern iarche on.
Chego davno dusha tvoia zhelala,
V chem sam sebe priznat'sia ty ne smel—
To sbudetsia.
Kogda na tsarskii siadesh' ty prestol,
Svoikh kholpei pomiani, boiarin!
Tak vypalo gadan'e.
Your constellations are intertwined with the constellations of crowned
sovereigns, but three stars still overshadow your greamess. One of them will
bum out soon... The farther your path is spread, the wider, the brighter it
is ...What your soul has desired for such a long time, that which you yourself
would not dare to admit— will come to pass . When you sit on the tsar's throne,
remember your servants, boyar!... Such is how your divination turned out.”
This particular scene not only reflects Tolstoi's own personal interest in divination, but
also his appropriation of elements found in Pushkin's Boris Godunov and Shakespeare's
Onufrevna is reminiscent of a holy fool in lurii Miloslavskii. appearing during a drunken feast
and serving as a calming element between lurii, who refuses to drink to the health o f the Polish king, and
lurii's host Timofei, who is a staunch supporter o f the monarch.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 209-10.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,234-35.
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Macbeth. In Pushkin's play, one courtier inquires of another the location of Boris
Godunov. The second courier replies: "V svoei opochivai’ ne/On zapersia s kakim-to
koldunom" (In his bed chamberyWhere he locked himself in with some sorcerer).^
Apparently, Boris regularly consults with these fantastic characters, for the first courier
notes:
Tak, vot ego liubimaia beseda:
Kudesniki, gadateli, koldun'i.
Vse vorozhit, chto krasnaia nevesta.
Zhelal by znat', o chem gadaet on?
Ah, that is his favorite type of intercourse:/Magicians, fortune-tellers and
sorcerers ./He practices sorcery all the time, like a beautiful bride/Would I like
to know about what he is foretelling?^
Tolstoi himself compares the ascension of Boris Godunov to that of Macbeth:
"Predskazanie Godunovu piestola (esli ono deistvitel'no sluchilos', kak govoriat
letopisi).. dolzhno bylo neraalo sposobstvovat' k ego uspekhu. Esli by Makbetu
shotlandskii tron ne byl predskazan, on, veroiamo, na nego ne vzoshel by" (The prophesy
to Godunov of his ascending the throne, if it did happen as the chronicles say it did,... had
to be conducive to his success. If the Scottish throne had not been foretold Macbeth, he
would probably not have ascended it).* In addition to citing historical chronicles as
empirical evidence, Tolstoi himself makes it clear that soothsayers and sorcerers are
important characters in his literary worics. In his "Proekt postanovki na tsenu tragedii
Smert' Ioanna Groznogo" (Project for Staging the Tragedy The Death of Ivan the
Terrible). Tolstoi not only explicitly details how the soothsayers should conduct
themselves during the play, but also underscores the veracity of their work: "Volkhvy ne
obmanshchiki; oni ubezhdeni v istine svoei nauki. Mnogie opyty pokazali im, chto
^ Pushkin, vol. 5, 241.
” Pushkin, vol. 5, 241.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,480. For a detailed comparison o f Pushkin's and Tolstoi's plays, see
Neil S. Parsons, "A Hostage to Art: The Portraits of Boris Godunov by Pushkin and A.K. Tolstoy, " Forum
for Modem Language Smdies 16 (1980): 237-55.
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predveshchaniia ikh sbyvaiutsia... " (The soothsayers arc not frauds; they arc convinced of
the veracity of their own science. Many experiences showed them that what they had
predicted had come true...).*
In "Vstrccha chercz trista let," it is not vampires, but ghosts that represent the
supernatural element.*® On her way to a ball, the Countess Gramont is thrown from her
coach and finds herself near a castle. Mistakenly believing that this is the sight of a
masquerade ball, she enters the medieval building. The Countess is impressed by the
guests' costumes, but notices something peculiar— not one of the guests casts a shadow:
"...so strakhom uvidela, chto ni u kogo iz okruzhavshikh menia ne bylo teni: vse oni
skol'zili mimo fakelov, ne zasloniaia soboiu ikh svet" (...with fear 1 saw that no one
around me had a shadow: all of them glided past the torches, not blocking their light).'"'
While attempting to flee, the Countess is apprehended by the ghost of a knight, the very
same person who once abducted the Countess' great-great grandmother. At this point, the
Knight attempts to marry the Countess and calls for the priest. This event is paralleled in
"Upyr'," when Praskov ia Andreevna's ghost demands that Runevskii marry her.
rv. Motifs
The following motifs recur throughout Tolstoi's fantastic texts and historical
novel. They do not dominate a given text individually, but when found together and
considered as an t^grcgate sum, they present an overwhelming mass of evidence that
supports the plausibility of fantastic events. Indeed, the more elements of the manifestly
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,481.
Shakespeare's Macheth may have indirectly influenced the choice of ghosts as the supernatural
element in "Vstrecha cherez trista le t" Recall that Macbeth has visions of Banquo's ghost within the
confines of the royal castle, much like the Countess Gramont, who believes that she sees the ghost of a
dead knight inside of an ancient castle.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 109.
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impossible that are found, the more fantastic, and seemingly plausible or "real" the events
become.
A. Haunted Portraits
The haunted portrait is a common motif in literature of the Romantic period, but it
actually originated among ancient peoples, who regarded drawings of the human figure
as projections of the soul itself. The belief that a portrait serves as a repository for the
human soul directly ties to the theme of vampirism. This is especially true in literature of
the nineteenth century, where a portrait can gradually drain the life essence of its subject,
ultimately resulting in the subject’s death upon completion of the work.*® Portraits that
materialize are one of the most common motifs in Gothic novels. Theodore Ziolkowski
writes: "virtually no Gothic romance is complete without a... case of mistaken identity
based upon an uncanny resemblance between a portrait and a living figure, whose
appearance is first thought to be a walking portrait."*® The device of a haunted portrait is
well known in Russian literature from Gogol's fantastic tale "Portret " (1835, 1842). In
addition, Hoffmann's "Ein Fragment aus dem Leben dreier Freunde" and "The Devil's
Elixirs," Washington Irving's The Adventures of the Mvsterious Picture and Charles
Maturin's Mel moth the Wanderer are all probable sources for this element in "Upyr,"
"Sem'ia vurdalaka," and "Portret. "
In "Upyr , " Runevskii spends the night in a room which has been unoccupied for
several decades following the death of its last inhabitant, Praskov ia Ivanovna, a great-
aunt of the widow Sugrobina. A servant mentions that no one has entered the room since
Theodore Ziolkowski, Disenchanted Images: A Literary Iconology (Princeton: Princeton UP,
1977) 79.
See for example Poe's "The Oval Portrait," Gogol’ s "The Portrait," Hawthorne's "The Prophetic
Pictures," and Oscar Wilde's depiction o f Don Giovanni.
Ziolkowski 86.
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Praskov ia's death; "kuda let shest'desiat nikto kreshchenyi ne vkhodil...."'*’ ^ The fact that
no baptized soul has entered the room is linked to the servant's opinion that the room
should be exorcised: "Vot kaby ia byl general'sha, tak ia by, razumeetsia... velel by
osviatit'...."”* Yet despite the seemingly ominous setting, Tolstoi's protagonist takes a
decidedly ironic and mocking approach to the portrait of Praskov ia when he first sees it:
"Vot... kartina, kotoraia po vsem zakonam fantasticheskogo mira dolzhna ozhivit'sia i
povest' menia v kakoe-nibud' podzemel'e, chtoby pokazat' mne neotpetye svoi kosti."“ ”
Runevskii's position clearly expresses doubt in supernatural phenomena, but he later
regrets this particular thought when, in a delirium following a duel, he is, in fact, taken
underground by Dasha and shown to the minions of hell. It is only after several moments
that he realizes that it is not Dasha, but Praskov ia's ghost: "Praskov ia Andreevna
obkhvatila ego kostianymi rukami i on upal na podushki, lishennyi chuvstv."’ *
In these green rooms ("zelenye konmaty"), Runevskii is struck by the
resemblance of a portrait of Praskov ia to his love interest Dasha, the granddaughter of
Sugrobina. At night, the portrait comes to life and asks Runevskii to marry him.'®
Runevskii interpets this as an implicit request to marry Dasha, whom he sees as a
phantom-like, unearthly creature: "on vidit ne sushchestvo zemnoe, no odno iz tekh
vozdushnykh sozdanii.... By identifying Dasha with the image that projects from the
portrait, Tolstoi infers that Dasha is the reincarnated spirit o f her great aunt.'" In
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 22.
‘“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 21.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 23.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 57.
Praskov ia's coining back to life to make a request of Runevskii parallels a similar event in
Pushkin's "Pikovaia dama, " in which the old Countess returns from the dead as a ghost to tell the
protagonist Gennann the secret to winning at cards. The Countess reveals the secret only after Germann
agrees to one condition or "request": to marry the old Countess' ward Lisaveta.
" “Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 10.
According to Ziolkowski, the use of a haunted portrait is a common means to imply that an
individual has been reincarnated. 69
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"Vstrecha cherez trista let," Tolstoi also combines the motifs of reincarnation and
portraits. The protagonist, the Countess Gramont, tells her suitor that she inherited the
thin line on her forehead from her great-great grandmother, with whom she bears an
uncanny resemblance: "la ochen' pokhozha na portret moei praprababushki..." (I very
much resemble the portrait of my great-great-grandmother)."-
Projection of a painted image actually occurs twice in "Upyr ." In "la casa del
diavolo," Rybarenko is astounded by the likeness of a fresco to a girl named Repina
whom he met in the village; during the night, he awakens to see the image of the fresco
moving about the room, only to discover later that it is Repina herself. Rybarenko's
experience in the devil's house is almost identical to that of Runevskii's in that an image
on the wall seems to come to life. Rybarenko is about to shoot the image when he
realizes that it is not a ghost, but Repina herself—"tol'ko chto khotel v nee vystrelit', kogda
ia uznal Repinu."‘“ It is here that Tolstoi combines life and art-Rybarenko can not
distinguish between the image of the fresco and Repina herself: "vo sne ia vsiu noch'
videl Repinu i zhenshchinu-fresk, i chasto, sredi samykh priiatnykh kartin moego
voobrazheniia, ia vskakival v strakhe i opiat' zasypal.""^
In "Sem'ia vurdalaka, " Tolstoi does not use a portrait; however, the theme of a
fantastic being who resembles another person is repeated. The Marquis is attracted to
Zdenka due to her uncanny physical resemblance to his love interest, the Duchess
Gramont ("skhodstvo s gertsioginei de Gramon"), with whom the Marquis attempted to
initiate an affair. One particular feature which the two women share-a fine line across
their foreheads ( "eta udivitel'naia skladochka na Iby")-catches the Marquis' eye."®
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,96.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,40.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,42.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,73.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,79. 7 0
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Tolstoi's fascination with haunted portraits extends beyond his early prose. In his
longest narrative poem, "Portret" ("The Portrait," 1874), he returns to the theme of a
picture coming to life. This work, along with "Sem'ia vurdulaka, " shows Tolstoi's
reverence for art that could be described as fervently religious. "Portret" also reflects, to
appropriate a phrase from Ziolkowski, Tolstoi's "preference for art over life.""’ The first
person narrative mainly relates the infatuation of a boy with a portrait of a beautiful
woman. The central section of the poem describes how this imaginative child, living in
St. Petersburg with older relatives, searches for beauty in his mundane and unattractive
house. This quest has its roots in Tolstoi's education at the Moscow Archives, for what
the boy in "The Portrait" is seeking is an ideal beauty along the lines of the German
romantics. This interest is continually reinforced by the boy’ s German tutor, who refers
to Kant on more than one occasion. Over time, the boy becomes enthralled with a
portrait of a young woman found in his house. One night the boy approaches the work of
art to find that it, much like Praskov ia in "Upyr'," has come to life. After a kiss from the
mysterious woman, the boy faints, only to wake later during the day, surrounded by
doctors and his family.
B. Dreams
Different types of oneiric conditions recur in Tolstoi's texts: dreams,
hallucinations and daydreams. Tolstoi's protagonists often encounter supernatural
phenomena during these states. Most of these "non-waking " moments are not what one
would call deep dreams, but occur when a character is semi-conscious, fatigued, or
during the process of waking. By suspending his characters between waking and
Ziolkowski 87. ^ ^
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sleeping, Tolstoi confuses both the reader and his protagonists, blending the real and the
fantastic until they are virtually indistinguishable.
In "Upyr ," both Runevskii's and Rybarenko's dreams are instrumental in
motivating the plot, for they play a significant role in confusing the reader over the
plausibility of supernatural creatures. For example, Runevskii's experience with a
haunted portrait occurs while he is immersed in a semi-sleep-like state: "v kakoi-to
poluson gde kak v tumane.""* Nonetheless, he is astounded by its clarity. Tolstoi
describes this dream of Runevskii's in the following manner:
Vse vidennoe im— odin iz tekh snov, kotorykh na russkom iazyke net,
kazhetsia, prilichnogo slova, no kotorye frantsuzy nazyyaiut cauchemar. Sny
eti obyknovenno prodolzhaiutsia i posle probuzhdeniia i chasto, no ne vsegdia,
byvaiut sopriazheny s davleniem v grudi. Otlichitel’ naia ikh cherta— iasnost' i
sovershennoe skhodstvo s deistvitel'nostiiu.
All that he saw is— one of those words which does not exist in Russian, but it
seems, what the French would appropriately call cauchemar. Such dreams
usually continue after the dreamer has awakened and often, but not always,
coincide with pressure on the chest. Their distinguishing feature is their
clarity and uncanny resemblance with reality."®
Tolstoi thus seemingly explains Runevskii's vision as an unusually clear dream or
hallucination. However, having established such a feasible explanation for the
appearance o f Praskov ia's ghost, Tolstoi immediately lends credence to Runevskii's
experience when two valets enter the room to inform their master of the presence of a
ghost in their adjacent quarters. One valet informs Runevskii that, "la tol'ko chto khotel
void, kak uvidel, chto ona tam ,... ona sidela ko mne spinoi, i ia by umer so strakha, esli b
ona oglianulas', da, k schastiiu, ia uspel tikhon'ko uiti, i ona menia ne zametila " (I just
wanted to go in, to see if she was there... she sat with her back to me, and I would have
died from fear if she had looked around, but fortunately I managed to leave quietly, and
she did not notice me).*® Runevskii rushes to investigate and believes he sees
“ * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,23.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 25.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 25.
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Praskov ia's ghost: "to samoe prividenie, kotoroe on videl u sebia v komnate, sidelo tut na
starinnykh kreslakh i kazalos' pogruzheno v razmyshieniia.''^'* Even her hands are the
same— "i ruka ee byla kostianaia!"*^ Runevskii is even more convinced that Praskov ia's
ghost is real because it moans and has an obvious effect on him: "ston etot pronik v
samuiu glubinu dushi Runevskogo However, even this vision has an apparent
explanation: "to, chto kazalos' emu privideniem, bylo ne chto inoe, ka pestraia livreia,
poveshennaia cherez spinku kresel i kotoruiu izdali mozhno bylo priniat' za sidiashchuiu
zhenshchinu
Dreams also play an important role in Rybarenko's stay at "la casa del diavolo "
Like the events at Sugrobina's estate, which involved three characters, those in Como
involve Rybarenko and his two companions, Vladimir and Antonio. Rybarenko's dream
in the devil's house is almost identical to that of Runevskii, in that an image on the wall
seems to come to life. Rybarenko awakens from a detailed dream covered in
perspiration, to discover that the fresco has materialized in front of him and is playing a
guitar. Reality mixes with the fantastic as Rybarenko cannot distinguish between the
image of the fresco and Pepina: "vo sne ia vsiu noch" videl Pepinu i zhenshchinu-fresk, i
chasto, sredi samykh priiamykh kartin moego voobrazheniia, ia vskakival v strakhe i
opiat" zasypal."^^
While Rybarenko's dream is similar to Runevskii's, his companions have much
stranger visions during their stay at the devil's house. In his sleep, Antonio is taken to
Greece by a griffin to meet the gods of Olympus. Vladimir's dream is more foreboding:
in his sonorous state, he believes that he has shot and killed Antonio. Later in the text
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 26.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,26.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,26.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,26.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,42.
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Vladimir seriously wounds Runevskii in a duel. Runevskii's wound is so severe that he is
bedridden for several months and is forced to stay at Sugrobina's. During his recovery
period, he frequently lapses into delirious states. During this time Runevskii believes he
sees Sugrobina and Teliaev plotting to kill Dasha and suck her blood. Runevskii believes
he hears Kleopatra pleading with Sugrobina not to harm Dasha, but the widow's resolve
is firm.
In "Sem'ia vurdalaka, " the Marquis experiences two very different dream like
states. In the first, he sees Gorcha outside his room with his face pressed against the
window. The Marquis believes he is experiencing a nightmare and with "a supernatural
effort," forces himself to wake up: "Togda ia sdelal sverkh 'estestvennoe usilie i
prosnulsia ves' v potu In his second, the Marquis fuses the images o f his two female
pursuits into one: "skoro menia odolel son... znaiu, chto videl Zdenku, prelestnuiu,
prostodushnuiu... kak prezhde... vskore mysl' o nei slilas's mysl'iu o gertsogine de
Gramon, i v etikh dvukh obrazakh mne uzhe predstavlialas' odna i ta zhe zhenshchina"
(soon a dream possessed me... I know that I saw Zdenka, charming, simple-hearted... as
before... soon a thought about her fused with a thought about the Countess Gramont, and
in these two forms, they seemed to me one and the same woman).
In "Amena, " one particular dream of Amvrosii's closely resembles that of
Antonio's in "Upyr ." While inside Amena s sanctuary, Amvrosii has a deep and
detailed vision in which he finds himself before the gods of Olympus. Jupiter informs
him: "...ty teper" na Olimpe i vidish" pered soboiu sobranie bessmertnykh, gotovykh
priniat" tebia v svoi krug, esli ty otrechesh'sia ot khristianstva!"‘ “ This very dream
actually saves Amvrosii, albeit temporarily. As he sees Amena and truly believes her to
be Venus, his Christian friends Victor and Leonia appear in the background and point to
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,78.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 88.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 144.
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the crown o f Christ ("muchenicheskii venets"). The theme of renouncing Christianity is
repeated in another of Amvrosii's dreams, in which he is told that to drink with some
beautiful nymphs, he must remove his cross. Again, images of Victor and Leonia, this
time being tortured, keep him from removing his cross.
The most terrifying dreams in Tolstoi's oeuvre are found not in his fantastic
stories, but in Kniaz' Serebrianvi. where Ivan is frequently visited at night by the spirits
of those whom he has murdered:
Emu pokazalos', chto on mozhet zasnut'... on leg na postel' i zabylsia...ego
razbudil kak budto vnezapnyi tolchok...
Vdrug emu pochudilos', chto pripodymaetsia polovitsa i smotrit iz-pod nee
otravlennyi boiarin. T ^ e videniia sluchalis's loannom neredko. On
pripisyval ikh adskomu morochen'iu. Chtoby prognat' prizrak, on
perekrestilsia. No prizrak ne ischez, kak to sluchalos' prezhde. Mertvyi
boiarin prodolzhal smotret' na nego ispodlob'ia. Glaza starika byli tak zhe
navykate, litso tak zhe sine, kak za obedom, kogda on vypil prislannuiu
loannom chashu.
Opiat' navazhdenie ! — podumal tsar',— no ne poddamsia ia prelesti sataninskoi,
sokrushu khitrost' diavol'skuiu. Da voskresnet bog, i da rastochatsia vrazi
ego! Mertvets medlenno vytianulsia iz pod polu i priblizilsia k loannu. Tsar'
khotel zakrichat', no ne mog. V ushakh ego strashno zvenenlo. Mertvets
naklonilsia pered loannom.
Zdrav' budi, Ivanel— proiznes glukhoi nechelovecheskii golos,— se klaniaiusia
tebe, izhe pogubil esi mia bezvinno! Slova eti otozvalis' v samoi glubine
dushi Ioanna. On ne znal, ot prizraka li ikh slyshit ili sobstvennaia ego mysl'
vyrazilas' oshchutitel'nym dlia ukha zvukom.
He thought that he could fall asleep... he went to bed and lost himself... he
awoke by what seemed to be a sudden shove.
Suddenly it seemed to him that a plank in the floor had been raised and out
from under it a boyar who had been poisoned was looking. Such visions
happened to Ivan frequently. He blamed them on the torments of the devil.
To drive away the specter, he crossed himself. But the specter did not
disappear, as would usually happen. The dead boyar continued to look at Ivan
from under his eyebrows. The eyes of the old man were as protruding, his
face as blue, as at dinner when he had drained [the poisoned] cup sent to him
by Ivan.
Temptation again!-thought the tsar,-but 1 will not ^ v e in to Satan's charms, 1
will overcome the sly nature o f the devil. Let God rise, and let his enemies be
dispersed! The dead man slowly rose up through the floor and approached
Ivan. The tsar wanted to scream, but he could not. In his ears he heard an
awful roar. The dead man bowed before Ivan. 75
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Good health to you, Ivan!— he pronounced in a dull unhuman voice,-! bow to
you, who has murdered me, an innocent man! These words resounded in the
very depths of Ivan's soul. He did not know if they came from the specter or
if his own thoughts expressed the sound perceptible to his ear.™
Following this visitation, many more of Ivan's victims appear before him in a scene
reminiscent of Pushkin's "Grobovshchik." Ivan ascribes these nightmares to spells cast
by the devil ("predstavilos' emu obmorocheniem d'iavola "). Unlike the dreams in the
short prose works, Ivan's nightmares are clearly indicative of Tolstoi's subjective and
damning view of the cruel ruler-they are obviously intended to demonstrate his guilt."'
CDusk
The duel, a ritualistic procedure undertaken for the satisfaction of offended honor,
recurs on three occasions in Tolstoi's p r o s e .In "Upyr, " Runevskii is placed in a
prolonged altered state of mind due to the severity of wounds he sustains in a duel. In
"Vstrecha cherez trista let, " a duel nearly occurs over the female protagonist. Finally, in
Kniaz" Serebrianvi. the duel represents a battle between the powers of Christianity and the
fantastic.
In "Upyr"," Runevskii is challenged to a duel by Vladimir, a friend of Rybarenko
who accompanied him to Como. The circumstances leading to this duel are based upon
rumor and misinformation: Vladimir mistakenly believes that Runevskii was supposed to
marry his sister. In their exchange of fire, Runevskii is shot, and lingers in a delirious
state for several days. It is in this state between consciousness and unconsciousness that
Runevskii believes he sees Sugrobina and Teliaev plotting to kill Dasha. In "Vstrecha
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,235-36.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,240.
Ivan’ s nightmares are similar to the visions experienced by Boris Godunov in Pushkin’s play,
not only because of their ùmtastic nature, but also because they are vehicles for representing both
playwrights’ views on the tsars themselves.
In Tolstoi’ s Don Zhuan. several duels are discussed, but only one is featured in the text.
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cherez trista let," a duel is a minor feature of the plot. The Marquis clandestinely visits
the Countess Gramont, climbing up the wall to her balcony, only to be discovered by her
guardian. As a result, the two men agree to a duel, but are then talked out of it by the
Countess herself.
Although the duel was a frequent means to satisfy honor in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, it is also a central event in Kniaz' Serebrianyi. Whereas duels are
only briefly described in the shorter prose works, the duel between the wronged boyar
Morozov and Ivan's henchman Prince Viazemskii is depicted in great detail. Morozov
seems to have the power of God on his side, while Viazemskii seeks assistance from the
miller-sorcerer by forcing him to charm his sword before the duel; the miller agrees,
despite the fact that he acknowledges that any charm is futile before God: "angely stoiat
za starika " (angels are on the side o f the old man).^^ The duel is really a joust of sorts, in
which attire and choice of weapons are significant. Interestingly, it is not the two
principals who battle, but their seconds. In the end, Morozov's second, an enormous
peasant, defeats Viazemskii's stand in.
Many of these events are similar to those found in Lermontov's "Pesnia pro Ivana
Vasil'evicha, molodogo oprichnika i udalogo kuptsa Kalashnikova" (1837). In fact, both
works feature Ivan the Terrible, an oprichnik who desires a married woman, a duel in
which one of the combatants is killed, followed by an execution ordered by the tsar
himself. In Lermontov's woric, one of Ivan's oprichniks, Kiribeevich, desires to possess
the wife of the merchant Stepan Paramonovich Kalashnikov. Kiribeevich describes the
merchant's wife as the most beautiful woman in all of Rus': "Na sviatoi Rusi, nashi
matushke/Ne naiti, ne syskat' takoi krasavitsy " (In Holy Rus', our motherland/You will
not find such a beautiful woman).Kiribeevich is not successful at seducing this
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 373.
M. lu. Lermontov, Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii v dvukh tomakh (Leningrad: Sovetskii
pisatel', 1989) vol. 2,400.
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woman with Ivan's own jewels and must resort to violence. When Kalashnikov discovers
what has transpired, he challenges Kiribeevich to a fight, and with Ivan himself watching,
the merchant kills the oprichnik with a powerful blow. A proud man, Kalashnikov does
not disclose to Ivan his reason for killing the tsar's favorite oprichnik, and as a result,
Kalashnikov is executed.
D. The Cross
Religious symbolism is scattered throughout Tolstoi's prose works. In many
instances, a cross, prayer, or monastic vows ultimately save Tolstoi's heroes.The
Christian faith and its tenets are not actively at work in these texts; rather, it is by chance
that a cross around a protagonist's neck saves him from a mortal blow, or that a character
realizes that ascetic life is his only recourse after succumbing to the temptations of a
demonic character. Despite Tolstoi's own fervent Orthodox belief, the fantastic is at the
forefront of Tolstoi's short prose works, while Christianity, despite its redemptive role, is
relegated to the background. Nonetheless, Tolstoi does use one particular Christian
symbol again and again: the cross, the faith's most recognizable sign. The personal cross
that a believer wears close to his own person is significant in Tolstoi's works, for it often
saves the protagonist from harm by supernatural powers. As such, it is frequently
opposed to pagan or supernatural objects and signs, with the implication being that a
pagan symbol will lead a person to damnation.
In "Sem'ia vurdalaka, " the Marquis d'Urfe and the Duchess Gramont have a brief
rendezvous before his departure, at which time she places a cross around his neck as a
sign of her firiendship: "voz'mite vot etot krestik kak zalog moei druzhby i nosite ego,
poka ne vemetes'."^* This cross is more than a token of fiiendship, for it proves
In this respect, "Amena" is very much like a pre-I8th century morality tale where the hero, after
encountering evil in various forms, ultimately takes vows and spends the remainder o f his life in a
monastery. This action will be examined in detail in chapter IV, in relation to the fate of Tolstoi's Don
Zhuan.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,71. 78
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instrumental in saving the Marquis' life. After the conclusion of his diplomatic mission,
the Marquis returns to Zdenka's home, which is in disarray. What disturbs him most is
the fact that Zdenka's own cross is lying on a table: "Na stole v lunnom svete blestelo
neskol'ko dragotsennykh veshchits, podarennykh nmoiu, i sredi nikh ia zameti emalevyi
krestik, kotoryi ia kupil v Peshte."*^ He becomes disconcerted when Zdenka tells him
that she lost her cross ( "poteriala ") and when he tries to place the cross around her neck,
she refuses.*^ Zdenka's irreverent act recalls Gorcha's vociferous refusal to say a
blessing over his grandson's grave. When the Marquis embraces her, the points of the
cross around his own neck stick into his chest:"...krestik... ostriem voznilsia mne v
grud'."'” The ensuing pain causes the Marquis to see Zdenka in a new and revealing
light: "...mne stalo iasno, chto cherty ee, vse eshche, pravda, prekrasnye, iskazheny
smertnoi mukoi, chto glaza ee ne vidiat i chto ee ulybka-lish' sudoroga agonii na litse
trupa" ( it became clear to me that her features, still, it is true, beautiful, were distorted by
deadly torment, that her eyes could not see and her smile— was only a spasm of agony on
the face of a corpse).'^ This awakening is also accompanied by a strong, putrid odor,
similar to that of decaying bodies in a crypt: "v tot zhe mig ia pochustvoval v komnate
tletvomyi zapakh— kak iz ne pritvorennogo sklepa " (at that exact moment I sensed a
putrid odor in the room— as from a half-open crypt).*"”
In "Vstrecha cherez trista let, " Christianity eventually triumphs over the power of
damned spirits. While in the haunted castle, the Countess realizes the seriousness of her
position, and she banishes the ghosts by using the cross around her neck: "...ia
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,88.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,90.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,91.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,91.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,91.
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vysvobodila ruku i, derzha v nei krest, podniala ego nad prizrakanü...[i] voskliknula...
'imenem boga zhivogo prikazyvaiu vam: izcheznite' " ( I freed my hand and, holding my
cross in it, raised it up over the ghosts... [and] exclaimed... in the name o f God, I order
you to vanish').'^
The cross is an object of great significance in "Amena." On many occasions,
Amvrosii dreams that he must remove his cross to obtain his desires. One such example
occurs following a party hosted by Amvrosii and Amena. After their guests depart and
the cock crows ("S pervym krikom petukha gosti udalilis..."), a crowd o f pagan
worshipers gathers at Amvrosii's door, threatening him bodily harm unless he removes
the cross around his neck, which he does immediately."^ The cock's crow ties Amvrosii's
actions to those of the apostle Peter, who renounces Jesus following his arrest and
condemnation."*
In Kniaz' Serebrianvi. a person's choice of wearing a cross or a pagan charm
determines his ultimate fate. Viazemskii and Basmanov wear charms containing bones
of animals around their necks to further their own personal agendas, whereas Serebrianyi
and Morozov wear crosses, and more importantly, swear by them before God and Ivan
himself. Even Ivan, despite his atrocious acts, tolerates very little of pagan culture,
especially tangible objects. Ivan's nurse Onuftevna represents the tsar's very limited
dabbling at non-Christian activities; but even Onufrevna, despite her clairvoyance, does
worship Christ, and frequently cites examples of possible torments for Ivan that are found
in the Bible.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 110.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,155.
See Luke 22:54-62; Mark 14:66-72; Matthew 26:69-75; and John 18:25-27.
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V. The Protagonists
Like most characters found in Gothic literature, the leading characters in Tolstoi's
supernatural tales are one-dimensional. They merely function as foils for the action, and
display few, if any, deep psychological characteristics. In "Upyr'," "Sem'ia vurdalaka,”
and "Amena, " the male protagonists all subject themselves to mortal harm for love. All
three (Runevskii, the Marquis d'Urfe, Amvrosii) are drawn to women who either have
unknowingly put themselves in danger, or represent danger itself. The same holds true
for Prince Serebrianyi. He risks his life for the love o f Elena, a woman to whom he was
betrothed, but who married an older man during the prince's absence to protect herself
from the clutches of Ivan's oprichniks.
In "Upyr , " the hero Runevskii is flat and poorly developed psychologically. This
was the main criticism of Petr Pletnev, who ridicules Tolstoi's works in a letter to la. K.
Grot after hearing the author read his story at a soiree given by Vladimir Sologub. The
Russian Runevskii is a skeptical realist who comes to challenge his convictions regarding
supernatural phenomena. Tolstoi contrasts him with the Ukrainian Rybarenko, who
represents the supernatural world and is presumed by some to be insane— "On rodom
malorossiianin i iz khoroshei familii, tol'ko on, bedniazhka, uzh tri goda, kak pomeshalsia
V ume " (He is a Little Russian by birth and is from a good family, only he, the poor thing,
for three years now, has been disturbed in the head).'^ With these two characters, Tolstoi
contrasts sanity and insanity as well as bland Russian aristocratic society and the more
untamed Romantic world of Ukrainian adventure. Over the course of "Upyr", " these two
characters repeatedly interact, and it becomes apparent that Rybarenko's position on the
existence of vampires in the Sugrobin household begins to take hold of Runevskii.
Letter to la. K. Grot, in Perepiska la. K. Grota s P.A. Pletnevvm (St. Petersburg, 1896) vol. I,
213.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,12.
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Like Runevskii, the Marquis d’Urfe in "Sem'ia vurdalaka" is a rationalist at heart
who begins to believe in vampires as a result o f personal experience. During his first
night in rural Serbia, he rescues a helpless boy from the clutches o f Gorcha, a man the
Marquis believes is simply a strange individual. Immediately preceding this, the Marquis
proclaims his disbelief in vampires: "V vampirov ia ne veril, no posle koshmara, tol'ko
chto posetivshego menia, nervy u menia byli napriazheny, i ia, chtoby ni v chem ne
uprekat' sebia pozdnee, podnialsia i udaril kulakom v stenu" (I do not believe in
vampires, but after the nightmare I had just experienced, my nerves were shattered, and 1 ,
so that 1 would not reproach myself later, got up and pounded the wall with my fist).'^^
Like the heroes in the short prose works. Prince Serebrianyi's character also lacks
significant depth. Tolstoi himself reworked Serebrianyi several times, a process that he
describes to his wife:
...poprobuiu pogovorit's toboiu o "Serebrianom. " Ia ne dotragivalsia do nego,
no ia ego ne pokinul i ochen' ego liubliu ... Pravda, chto nado ego peredelat', i
obdelat' nerovnosti v stile, i dat' kharakter Serebrianomu, u kotorogo nikakogo
net, i on dazhe blednee vsiakogo Jeune-premier. la chasto dumal o kharaktere,
kotoryi nado by emu dat', - ia dumal sdelat' ego glupym i khrabrym, dat'
khoroshuiu glupost ... Nel'zia li bylo by ego sdelat' ochen' naivnym...
vospol'zovat'sia kharakterom L..., to est' sdelat' cheloveka ochen'
blagorodnogo, ne ponimaiushchego zla, no kototyi ne vidit dal'she svoego
nosa i kotoryi vidit tol'ko odnu veshch' zaraz, i nikgoda ne vidit otnosheniia
mezhdu dvumia veshchami. Esli by sdelat' eto khudozhestvenno, mozhno
bylo by zainteresovat' chitatelia podobnym kharakterom.
...I will try to tell you a little bit about "Serebrianyi" I am not touched by
him, but I did not abandon him and I am very much fond of him... It is true
that I need to rework him, that he possesses an uneveimess in style, and I need
to give him a personality, for he has none, and he is even paler than any first
lover. I often thought about his character that I need to give him ,-I thought of
making him stupid and brave, to give him nice stupidity... It would be
impossible to n ^ e him very naive... to use L's personality..., that is to make a
man very noble, one who does not understand evil, but who does not see
beyond his own nose and who sees only one aspect at once, and never sees the
relationship between two things. If this could be done artistically, perhaps it
would be possible to gain the reader's interest with a similar character.
'■ * ’ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,78.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,93-4.
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Tolstoi’ s description differs little from his final version of Serebrianyi. Though the prince
is not stupid, his overwhelming sense of duty often leads him to act in ways that are less
than prudent.
Like the male protagonists, the heroines in "Upyr'," "Sem'ia vurdalaka " and
Kniaz' Serebrianvi are essentially made from the same mold. Dasha, Zdenka and Elena
lack genuine depth— they merely function as the reason why the male protagonist subjects
himself to harm. Although the protagonist in "Vstrecha cherez trista let" is a female, the
Countess Gramont also subjects herself to danger only to be rescued by her guardian.
Dasha and Zdenka live among, and are relatives of, vampires, while Elena is kidnapped
by Prince Viazemskii. In "Upyr'," Runevskii promises to be Dasha's loyal defender ("la
budu vam vemym zashchimikom").‘* Similarly, the Marquis is attracted to Zdenka ("k
nei vleklo") and promises his life and love to her ("I zhizn' moia i krov'— tvoi!").‘ ^‘
Whereas Runevskii and Dasha endure their ordeal and eventually marry, the Marquis is
almost killed by Zdenka and her family on his return from Moldavia.
Dasha and Zdenka have one additional and important function: like the
soothsayers in Smert' Ioanna Groznogo. they foretell future events that effect the
protagonist. During a divination game, Dasha reads from an ancient text that a
grandmother will suck the blood of her granddaughter, while Zdenka sings a song about a
Serbian knight who goes off to war and fears that his beloved will forget him. In the
song, the girl responds that if he dies in battle and she forgets him, he should return from
the grave to suck her blood: "...pridi ko mne iz mogily i vysosi krov' moego serdtsa.
It should be noted that Prince Tsertelev states that Seiebrianyi resembles many of Tolstoi's
other historical characters found in the writer's ballads and plays: "V samomdele, Repin, Serebrianyi,
Mstislavskii, Ivan Shuiskii tol'ko razlichnye varianty odnogo obshchego tipa" (In fact, Repin, Serebrianyi,
Mstislavskii and Ivan Shuiskii are only different variants o f one general character type). See V. 1.
Pokrovskii, ed., Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi: ego zhizn' i sochinenia (Moscow, 1908).
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 15.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. voL 3,79,82.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 82.
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In "Sem'ia vurdalaka," Tolstoi puts a twist on Zdenka's song by having the Marquis
forget Zdenka in the six months he is away on his diplomatic nnssion- "la ne dumal uzhe
ni o Zdenke, no o ee sem e...," and having Zdenka try to suck the Marquis' blood at the
conclusion of the story.
VI. Authoritative and Historical Evidence
Tolstoi often goes to great lengths to confirm the existence of his literary
supernatural beings. He employs documented testimony, first-hand accounts of
witnesses, and historical authorities to lend an air of credence to his works, and to
convince the reader of the plausibility of the supernatural beings. Tolstoi recognizes that
certain elements o f Gothic literature were once regarded as real, believable, or at the very
least, possible. David Pinter, in The Literature of Terror, writes:
the structure o f Gothic tradition [consists of] a body of material which once
was the object of general belief— legends, ballads, folk memories— but had
begun to fall into disrepute due to changing habits of mind during the
Renaissance, became during the eighteenth century a source of ambiguity and
resonance which invited relation to contemporary anxieties.*^
It comes as no surprise then, that Tolstoi sets "Vstrecha cherez trista let, " "Sem'ia
vurdalaka," "Amena" and Kniaz" Serebrianvi during times when reports of supernatural
phenomena were quite common and readily accepted even by the more educated
members of society.
In the introduction to Kniaz" Serebrianvi. Tolstoi reveals that the aim of his novel
is: "...ne stol"ko opisanie kakikh-libo sobytii, skol'ko izobrazhenie obshchego kharaktera
tseloi epokhi i vosproizvedenie poniatii, verovaniii, nravov i stepeni obrazovannosti
russkogo obshchestva vo vtoruiu polovinu XVI stoletiia" (...not so much to describe
certain events, but a depiction of the general character of the entire epoch and conception
of the ideas, beliefs, morals and level of education of Russian society during the second
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,86.
Qtd. in Cornwell 422.
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half of the sixteenth century). Tolstoi's preliminary remarks correspond to Jean
Chapelain s comments on his own novel Lancelot du Lac:
it gives a faithful account, if not of what really happened among the kings and
knights of that age, at least of what was supposed to have happened, on the
basis either of still surviving similar practices, or of evidence showing that
similar practices had been alive in the past... Lancelot provided a direct
representation as well as, in a sense, a precise and accurate history of the
customs then prevailing in the courts.
Because of their compositional structures, Kniaz' Serebrianvi and Lancelot du Lac are
what Carlo Ginsburg, in his article "Fiction as Historical Evidence, " would call "stocks of
historical information."*^ Accuracy is obviously something Tolstoi strives for as well; he
writes, "...[ia] staralsia sobliudat' istinu i tochnost' v opisanii kharakterov i vsego, chto
kasaetsia do narodnogo byta i do arkheologii" (...[I] attempted to adhere to the truth and
accuracy in depicting the characters and everything that relates to national life and
archeology).*® In this task, Tolstoi was very successful in his depiction of secondary
characters ("V omoshenii razrabotki predmeta v romane 'Kniaz' Serebrianyi'
zamechatel'no pristal'noe, tonkoe izobrazhenie kharakterov deistvuiushchikh lits— ne
tol'ko samykh znachitel'nykh, no takzhe i vtorostepennykh... "), including that of the
miller-sorcerer.*® In all likelihood, Tolstoi used the miller (mel'nik) in Pushkin's
"Rusalka" as a model for his own miller-sorcerer. Like Tolstoi's creation, Pushkin's
miller is also associated with fantastic elements; he is not a sorcerer, but his daughter
commits suicide and becomes a rusalka in the river adjoining the miller's home.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,161.
Carlo Ginsburg, "Fiction as Historical Evidence: A Dialogue in Paris, 1846," The Yale Journal
of Criticism. 5 (1992): 167.
Ginsburg 167.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,162.
See Estafeev, "Istoricheskoe i khudozhestvennoe znachenie pomana 'Kniaz' Serebrianyi,"
Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi, ed. V.I. Pokrovskii, 123.
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Tolstoi not only relied on Karamzin's fstoriia gosudarstva Rossiiskogo (History of
the Russian State. 1818-26), a somewhat subjective work, but also consulted writings by
the ethnographers A.V. Tereshchenko and I P. S ak h aro v .E v id en ce of Tolstoi's
utilization of written authorities recurs several times during the novel. For example, one
common phrase in the text is "vot chto govorit... nash istorik" (this is what... our historian
states), or "po svidetel'stvu chuzhezemnykh sovremermikov Ioanna " (according to the
testimony of foreign contemporaries o f Ivan).‘® ‘ By using historical sources and written
testimony within his novel and short stories, Tolstoi actually creates a convergence
between fictional prose and history that results in a "literary hybrid. "'^
In addition to his knowledge of Russian history, Tolstoi was also well-read on the
peculiar habits of the undead. Indeed, parts of his fantastic stories lead one to conclude
that Tolstoi did not merely compose tales based solely on literary precedents, but on
cultural evidence as well. For example, John Melton notes that the most common term
for a vampire in the Russian language is "upyr", "...a term probably borrowed from...
Ukrainian."^® The character most convinced of the existence of vampires in Tolstoi's
stories is Rybarenko, a Ukrainian who explains to Runevskii the etymology of the word
vampire:
Upyrei,— otvechal ochen" khladnokrovno neznakomets.— Vy ikh, bog znaet
pochemu, nazyvaete vampirami, no ia mogu vas uverit', chto im nastoiashchee
russkoe nazvanie: upyr'; a tak kak oni proiskhozheniia chisto slavianskogo,
khotia vstrechaiutsia vo vsei Evrope i dazhe v Azii, to i neosnovatel'no
priderzhivat'sia imeni, iskoverkannogo vengerskimi monakhami, kotorye
vzdumali bylo vse perevorachivat' na latinskii lad i iz upyria sdelaU vampira.
Upyrei,-replied the stranger coldly, are what you would call vampires, though
the Lord knows why, but I can assure you that the real Russian name is upyr";
their origin is pure Slavic, although one finds them throughout Europe and
1 6 0 "By( russkogo naroda," "Pesni russkogo naroda," "Skazaoiia russkogo naroda" and "Russkie
narodnye skazki. " See Dalton 55.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,203.
‘“ Ginsburg 171.
Melton 525.
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even in Asia, and it is spurious to use the Latinized version coined by
Hungarian monks who distorted our word upyr* and came up with the word
vampire}^
Rybarenko's explanation is relatively accurate. Vasmer gives either "opyr" " or
"opir" " as the Common Slavic form. Jan Pericowski states that the Serbo-Croatian term
"vampir" and the Old Russian proper name "Upir" " (found in an east Slavic manuscript
o f 1047 A.D. in which a Novgorodian prince is identified as Upir' Lichyi, or "Wicked
Vampire") are cognate forms; in addition, Ferkowski also offers various Bulgarian forms;
"vampir, v'bpir, vepir, vapir."'® Tolstoi's Rybarenko is incorrect only insofar as he
attributes the word vampire to Hungarian monks. Tekla Domotor, in Hungarian Folk
Beliefs, states conclusively that "there is no place in Hungarian folk beliefs for the
vampire who rises forth from dead bodies and sucks the blood from the living."'®
Rybarenko's small mistake may be attributed to the fact that a number of vampire
sightings, rampant throughout Europe in the eighteenth century (including in Russia in
1772), were thought to have taken place in Hungary, but actually occurred in a Serbian
province of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
Tolstoi also offers written proof that Sugrobina and Teliaev are vampires. The
author inserts poetic evidence into a tome of the family's history that explains why the
Sugrobin family is cursed.
Kak fiiin poimal letuchuiu mysh',
Kogtiami szhal ee kosti,
Kak rytsar" Amvrosii s tolpoi udal'tsov
K sosedu sbiraetsia v gosti.
Khot" mnogo tsepei i zamkov u vorot,
Vorota khoziaika gostiam otopret.
"Chto zh, Marfa, vedi nas, gde spit tvoi starik?
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,7-8.
Perkowsid, The DarkJiny 18,32. Perkowski also offers other explanations of the origin of the
term including a borrowing from North Turkic.
'“ Qtd. in Melton 313.
Melton 312-13.
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Zachem ty tak poblednela?
Pod zamkom kipit i klubitsia Dunai,
Noch' skroet krovavoe delo.
Ne boisia, iz groba mertvets ne vstaet,
Chto budet, to budet, — vedi nas vpered!"
Pod zamkom bezhit i klubitsia Dunai,
Begut oblaka polosoiu;
Uzh koncheno delo, zarezan starik,
Amvrosii piruet s tolpoiu.
V krovavye vody giiaditsia luna,
S Amvros'em piruet ziodeika-zhena.
Pod zamkom bezhit i klubitsia Dunai,
Nad zamkom plamia pozhara.
Amvrosii svoim udal'tsam govorit:
"Vsekh rezat' ot mala do stara!
Ne setui, khoziaika, i bud' veselei,
Sama zh ty vpustila veselykh gostei!"
Sverkaia, klubias', otrazhaet Dunai
Ves' zamok, pozharom ob "iatyi;
Amvrosii svoim udal'tsam govorit:
"Pora uzh domoi nam, rebiata!
Ne setui, khoziaika, i bud' veselei,
Sama zh ty vpustila veselykh gostei!"
Nad Marfoi prokliatie muzha gremit.
On proklial ee, umiraia:
"Chtob sginula ty i chtob sginul tvoi rod,
Sto raz ia tebia proidinaiu!
Pust' vechno issiaknet mezh vami liubov',
Pust' babushka vnuchkinu vysoset krov!
I rod tvoi prokliat'e moe da gnetet,
1 mesta emu da ne stanet
Dotol', poka zamuzh portret ne podet,
Nevesta iz groba ne vstanet,
1, cherep razbiivshi, ne liazhet v krovi
Posledniaia zherbva prestupnoi liubvi . "
The owl traps the bat by piercing her bones with his claws. Accordingly, the
Knight Amvrosii, accompanied by his warriors, visits his neighbor. The lady
of the manner opens the gates.
"Martha, lead us to your sleeping husband! Why are you so pale? Under the
castle flows the rolling Danube and the night conceals the bloody deed. Do
not be frightened; a dead man shall not rise from the grave. What will be, will
be, so lead us forward. "
Under the castle flows the rolling Danube; over it, the night clouds cover the
pale moon. The adventure ends. The old man's throat is slit. Amvrosii mixes
with his followers. The moon shines on the pools of blood and the cruel wife
rejoices with the slayer. 88
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Under the castle rolls the Danube and over the castle rise flames. Amvrosii
orders his warriors; "Cut the throats o f young and old! Do not worry, my
love. Be merry. It was you who received the fun-loving guests."
The glistening Danube rolls, reflecting the castle in flames. And Amvrosii
orders his men. "It is time to go. Do not be upset, lady of the manor. Dance
and be happy. You were the one who opened the gates for the fun-loving
guests."
Over Martha the curse of her husband thunders. He curses her as he dies:
"Damn you one hundred times. May you and your family disappear
altogether. Let there be no love among you. And may the grandmother suck
the blood of her granddaughter.
May my curse put an end to your kin. None of you on this earth will rest until
the portrait is married and the bride rises from the coffin and the last
descendant has broken his skull and lies in a pool of his blood, the last victim
of our criminal love...."^®
Kleopatra Platonova states that this poem, read by Dasha in a divination game, can be
found in a volume of the Sugrobin family's history. In fact, this poetic account explains
the origins of the vampiric curse on the Sugrobin family. Dasha's grandmother was a
descendant of the Hungarian family Ostroviczy, whose family crest included a black bat,
symbolizing prowess in shedding blood. Teliaev is a descendant of the Tellera family,
the sworn enemies of the Ostroviczy. The Tellera crest included an owl, the worst
predator o f the bat.'® After years of waging war, the wife of the last Baron Ostroviczy
fell in love with a knight of the Tellera family and together they murdered the Baron
himself. Because of this act, each generation of the Ostroviczy family was punished.
The curse could only be removed if a portrait of one of the Ostroviczy women became
married to a living man, and the last male descendant smashed his skull and lay in a pool
of his own blood. This occurrs when Dasha, who physically resembles the portrait o f her
‘® * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 18-19. Parts o f Tolstoi's poems recall Pushkin's "Pesn' o veshchem
Olege," a poetic version of a tale found in the Povest' vremennvkh let about how a soothsayer accurately
predicts that Prince Oleg's steed will cause his death.
It should be noted that Tolstoi was one o f the first authors to link vampires with the image of a
baL While there is no mention of the ability of a vampire to transform into a bat, Tolstoi connects the
image of a blood sucking human being with the vampire bat discovered in the late sixteenth century.
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gieat-aunt Praskov ia, marries Runevskii, and when Rybarenko, the illegitimate son of
Sugrobina, leaps to his death from a tower in the Kremlin.
In addition to Tolstoi's own artistic texts, he employs historical testimony that
attests to the existence of vampires during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
especially J.H. Zopfius' Dissertatio de Vampiris Serviensibus (1733). and Dom Calmet's
Traite sur les Apparitions des Espirits. et sur les Vampires ( 1746).™ For example, the
narrator-protagonist in "Sem'ia vurdalaka," the Marquis d'Urfe, daim s that he has
interacted with vurdalaks. To prove that they exist, he cites historical and documented
evidence, including Calmet's thesis, investigative inquiries of German emperors, and
eyewimess accounts;
V liubopytnom trude o privideniiakh abbat Ogiusten Kal'me privodit tomu
uzhasaiushchie primery. Imperatory germanskie ne raz naznachali komissii
dlia rassledovaniia sluchaev vampirizma. Proizvodilis' doprosy, izvlekalis' iz
mogil trupy, nalitye krov'iu, i ikh szhigali na ploshchadiakh, no sperva
pronzali im serdtse. Sudebnye chinovniki, prisustvovavshie pri etikh
kazniakh, uveriaiut, chto sami slyshali, kak vyli trypy v tot mig, kogda palach
vbival im v grud' osinovyi kol. Oni dali ob etom pokazaniia po vsei forme i
skrepili ikh prisiagoi i podpis'iu.
In a curious work about ghosts, the Abbot Augustine Calmet indicates terrible
examples of this phenomenon. German emperors several times appointed
commissions to investigate cases of vampirism. Examinations were
undertaken, bodies were exhumed from graves, filled with blood, and they
were cremated in town squares, but first had their hearts pierced. The
officials, present at these executions, offer assurance that they themselves
heard how the corpses moaned at the moment when the executioner pierced
them with trembling stakes. They gave proof about this in all forms and
authenticated them with seals and signatures.
What led to these scholarly works was an Austrian army report of 1732 which
describes the exhumation o f the well-preserved, bloodied body of a Serbian soldier
named Amod Paole.'^ This report, entitled Visum et Repertum, was one of several
170
Berry, A.K. Tolstov: Russian Humorist 62-3.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 72. Like Tolstoi, Prosper Merimee also uses Don Calmet's thesis as a
basis for his own ballads on vampires in La Guzla. See Maxwell A. Smith, Prosper Merimee (New York:
Twayne, 1972), 54.
Perkowski, The Darkling 29-30.
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documents that led to a "vampire-ctaze" throughout Europe beginning in the middle o f
the eighteenth century. Demonstrating his awareness of such events, Tolstoi links his
female vampire Sugrobina to the vampire scare in Russia of 1772 in that she frequently
mentions her husband's military career and their place in society under Catherine the
Great during the 1770s. "Sem'ia vurdalaka" takes place not only during the same general
time as "Upyr'," but in the very region where most of the evidence for the treatises on
vampires was collected. Like the vampire craze in Russia in 1772, there were widespread
vampire scares in East Prussia and Wallachia in the 1750s and 1760s. Tolstoi thus lends
an element of historical credibility to his stories by setting the main events during this
period of terror.'^
The Austrian army report was published in Nuremberg and led to numerous
exhumations as well as the creation of professional vampire hunters throughout Eastern
Europe and Germany. Exhumations continued on a widespread scale well into the
subsequent century, including in Russia. For example, in 1848, in rural Russia, a girl
who died of cholera was unearthed, staked and reburied in order to quell the spread o f the
deadly disease.™ Such practices were common in Russia and in Eastern Europe, where
grave sinners, suicides, alcoholics and murder victims were at risk of becoming
revenants.
The practice of exhuming bodies was often conducted by Christians. One
common belief regarding the origins of vampires involved improper burial practice or
burial outside of consecrated ground. Until the twentieth century, many Slavic Orthodox
believed that vampires often originated from the corpse of an improperly buried person,
and to remedy the condition, the corpse had to be pierced by a stake.™ In Russia, the
35.
Melton, incroduction and time line.
Paul Barber, Vampires. Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality (New Haven: Yale UP, 1988)
Melton 67.
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origination of a vampire also became closely associated with that of the witch or sorcerer.
Such wielders of magic were tied to the concept of heresy, i.e., deviation on matters
considered essential to the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith. This explains why in Kniaz’
Serebrianvi. the miller-sorceter is burned at the stake on Ivan’s orders. Burning such
heretics was preferred to burying them because Orthodox Christians believe that a
sinner's body would "not decay normally if death occurred when the individual was
outside the communion of the church... [and] thus a heretic might become a vampire after
death. This position also has ties to Russian pagan culture: if a body did not decay, it
was seen as being rejected by the earth, something regarded as sacred in Russia's agrarian
tradition, since the soil is an intrinsic part of Mother Russia, upon which the peasants rely
for sustenance.*^
Burial practices are central to Tolstoi's texts, especially the consequences arising
from an improper interment. For example, in "Upyr ," it is rumored that the cruel Italian
merchant Don Pietro was carried off by the devil for his sins. Pietro's son, wishing to
quell these rumors surrounding his father's demise, buries an empty coffin, pretending
that his father's corpse is inside. Eventually the truth comes out, and the villagers of
Como believe Pietro to be the source for the line of vampires that eventually reached
Russia.
Similarly, in "Sem'ia vurdalaka," an improper burial causes the entire village to
become vurdalaks. After Gorcha's grandson dies mysteriously, he is buried three days
later in accordance with Orthodox ritual. At the graveside service, Georgii, the boy's
father, tries to compel Gorcha to say a prayer for the dead boy. When he refuses, Georgii
Melton 525.
'^Joanna Hubb.s' Mother Russia (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988) explores this veneration in
great detail, noting that all things are bom from and return to the earth. It is interesting to note that in the
Russian Orthodox Church, if the natural decay of the human body following death did not occur, the
deceased was often considered a saint. Thus, in Dostoevskii's Brothers Karamazov, the fact that Father
Zosima does decay (indicated by a powerful stench), despite his holy acts and pious nature, implies to some
characters that he was not worthy of sainthood. Hubbs* position however, seems to indicate otherwise.
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is convinced that his father is a vampire and killed his son: "Mertvets! chto ty sdelal s
moim starshim? otdai mne syna, mertvets!" (Corpse! what have you done with my
eldest child? give him to me, dead man!). At this point the service is interrupted and
never Hnished. It is later revealed that the boy returned from the grave to infect his entire
family with vurdalakism.
Staking a revenant is common to two o f Tolstoi's stories. For example, in
"Upyr , " Rybarenko desired to drive a stake between Sugrobina's shoulders at her funeral,
but failed to do so: "Esli by menia togda poslushalis', to ei by vbili osinovyi kol mezhdu
plech dlia predostorozhnosti.. . " In "Sem'ia vurdalaka, " Gorcha specifically instructs
his sons that if he returns home after ten days, he will have been transformed into a
vurdalak and must be killed:
Zhdite menia desiat" dnei, a koli na desiatnyi den" ne vemus", zakazhite vy
obedniu za upokoi moei dushi-znachit ubili menia. No ezheli,--ezheli... ia
vemus" pozdnei, radi vashego spaseniia, ne vpuskaite vy menia v dom. Ezheli
budet tak, prikazyvaiu vam-zabud'te, chto ia vam byl otets, i vbeite mne
osinovyi kol v spinu... znachit, ia teper" prokliatyi vurdalak i prishel sosat"
vashu krov".
Wait for me ten days, and if on the tenth day 1 do not return, order a requiem
for the peace of my soul— it means that 1 have been killed. But if,-if... I return
later for your sake, do not let me into your home. If that is the way it is, 1
order you— forget that 1 was your father, and strike me with an ash stake in the
back... this means that I am now an accursed vurdalak and 1 came to suck your
blood.*®
Whereas this defense against a vampire is mentioned on only one occasion in "Upyr"," it
recurs several times in "Sem'ia vurdalaka." As Georgii's suspicions grow over the
possibility that his father is a vurdalak, Georgii's brother and sister, Peter and Zdenka
decide to hide the one aspen stake they have out of fear that Georgii will kill their father.
This act proves fatal for there are no ash trees near them: "...v gorakh s nashei storony ni
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 84.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 8.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,72.
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odnoi osiny net!"'^' Following the death of his son, Georgii decides to kill his father, but
can not find the stake; "Ode kol— gde vy spriatali kol?"‘ “ At this point, Georgii's
supposedly dead son comes riding out of the darkness on an enormous stake: "V tot zhe
mig my uslyshali veselyi zvonkii smekh men'shogo mal'chika, i on tut zhe poiavilsia
verkhom na ogromnom kolu, kotoryi volochil za soboi...."® When the Marquis returns
to the Serbian village fix)m Moldavia, he learns that Gorcha is buried with a stake in his
heart: "...on to pokhoronen vzapravdu, i v serdtse— kol!, " and when Gorcha rises from the
grave, the Marquis sees him leaning on a bloody stake: "...i ia uvidel strashnogo Gorchu,
kotoryi opiralsia na okrovavlennyi kol...."***
The idea of staking the body of a buried revenant was made popular in literature
in Sheridan Le Fanu’ s novella Carmilla (1872) and in Bram Stoker's Dracula ( 1897). but
the cultural practice of staking a corpse preceded these works by several centuries. J.
Melton notes that this custom was:
...found across Europe and originated in an era prior to the widespread use of
coffins. The corpses of persons suspected of returning from their graves
would be staked as a means of keeping them attached to the ground... In some
areas, an iron stake or long needle might be used, while in others not only was
wood used but the actual wood to be used prescribed. Ash, aspen,... juniper,
and/or hawthorn were noted in the literature... Once coffins were in popular
use... the purpose of staking became a frontal assault on the corpse itself. By
attacking the heart, the organ that pumped the blood, the bloodsucking
vampire could be killed *
What makes "Sem'ia vurdalaka" unusually terrifying is that stakes do not seem to work.
In fact, at the conclusion of the story, the Marquis sees both Gorcha and his grandson
actively moving about with stakes driven through their bodies.
'* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,80.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,84.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 84.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,86,91.
Melton 580.
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Documented evidence also provides a credible explanation for the Countess
Gramont's encounter with ghosts in " Vstrecha cherez trista let." She herself is convinced
of the validity of her experience: "...v giubine dushi byla vpolne uverena, chto videla ne
son..." (...in the depths of my soul, I was completely certain that I had not had a dream).**
Her convictions prove true when she later overhears her father and her guardian
discussing an edict written by Charles Vll some three hundred years ago. In it the king
denounces the Knight d'Oberbois as a sinner and blasphemer for not receiving
communion, failing to confess his sins and regularly breaking fast days with Epicurean
feasts and orgies. The same document then relates the knight's indignation at the crown,
quoting him as saying that he will return to feast at his castle in three hundred years:
Pogibel'iu dushi moei klianus'! Zhizni vechnoi ne by vat' i v zhizn' onuiu ne
veriu niskol'ko, a koli ona est', tak ia, khot' by i dushu za to otdat' satane,
vorochus' cherez trista let s sego dnia v zamok moi, daby veselit'sia i pirovat',
i V tom pokliast'sia i pobozhit'sia gotov!
1 swear by the damnation of my soul! There is no eternal life and I don't
believe in that life, but if there is everlasting life, even though I would give
my soul to Satan, I will return three hundred years from this day to my castle
to make merry and to feast, and in this I am ready to swear and give my
oath!'^
Not only do the events quoted by the knight seem to have transpired, but the dates
coincide perfectly. Even the Countess' father is amazed: "Poslanie pomecheno tysiacha
chetyresta piat'desiat deviatym godom... a u nas seichas god tysiacha sem'sot piat'desiat
deviatyi. V noch' na uspen'e s tekh por proshlo, znachit, rovno trista let" (The edict is
dated 1459... and it is now 1759. Exactly three hundred years have passed since the night
of the feast).*® Tolstoi thus ends this story by including an allegedly indisputable
historical document which testifies to the actions and words o f a sinner. The edict of
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 111.
'*’ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 113.
'** Tolstoi, Sobranie , vol. 3,114.
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Charles VII serves as solid evidence as to the time and place where the Countess
experienced a traumatic, yet nonetheless seemingly real event.
Another means Tolstoi employs to strengthen the feasibility o f his tales involves
protagonists who assume the role of narrator. Personal involvement by the narrator is an
attempt to invoke reliable authority— since the tales are first hand accounts, they cannot be
considered hearsay. First person narratives in Gothic tales are also an example of what
Christine Brooke-Rose calls the "...employment of predominantly realistic' narrative
methods to treat what is in fact the marvelous...."'® This is the case in "Sem'ia
vurdalaka," "Vstrecha cherez trista let, " and "Amena." In all three worics, the protagonist
is an elderly, respected individual who relates a tale experienced in his or her youth: in
"Vstrecha cherez trista let," the Countess Gramont tells her grandchildren: "...ia vam
rasskazhu odin sluchai iz vremen moei molodosti...;" in "Sem'ia vurdalaka, " the Marquis
politely informs his companions that, unlike the story he is about to tell, their tales lack
genuineness: "Podlinnosf nikto iz vas svoimi giazami ne videl te udivlitel'nye veshchi, o
kotorykh p o v e stv o v a l..S im ila rly , the monk-narrator of "Amena" reveals himself to
the protagonist of his tale by removing his hood and displaying the deep scar on his cheek
given to him by Amena in her demonic state. Interestingly, despite Amena s vampiric
demeanor and the fact that she does bite Amvrosii, he does not turn into a vampire or
demon resembling Amena.
Scars as physical evidence are also key to "Upyr . " For example, Runevskii
notices that Dasha has a scar of unknown origins on her neck: "...u Dashi malenldi
shram, kak budto ot nedavno zazhivshei ranki."'®' When asked how she received the
Qtd. in Cornwell 14. Cornwell himself goes on to note that some Gothic tales also feature a
narrative that progresses irregularly, much like Sterne's Tristam Shandv. In the case of a supernatural tale,
the irregular narrative leads the reader to conclude that the narrator is possessed or secredy allied with a
fantastic power. Such is the case in certain passages in "Upyr ," where the secondary narrator, Rybarenko,
is thought to be insane.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,94,70. How the Marquis initiates his tale reminds one of the
beginning of Pushkin's "Pikovaia dama. "
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,67. 96
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slight disfigurement, she replies, "Ne znaiu...ia byla bol'na i, vemo, oho chto-nibud'
ukololas'. Ia sama udivilas', kogda uvidela svoiu podushku vsiu v krovi" (I don't know...
I was sick, and probably pricked myself against something. I myself was surprised when
I saw my pillow covered in blood). This answer worries Runevskii because nine years
earlier, Dasha's mother also had become seriously ill. Like Dasha, she too was nursed by
Sugrobina; however, the results were quite different— Dasha's mother died. Nonetheless,
the circumstances are eerily similar— all Dasha can recall about her mother's death is that
Sugrobina was covered in blood: "la pomniu, kak v poslednii den' ee plat e bylo pokryto
mamenkoi krov'iu. " Over the course of the story, Rybarenko, Antonio and Dasha also
receive scars on their necks, causing Runevskii to alter his convictions about the
existence of vampires.
While scars indicate vampire attacks, or in some cases, new vampires in Tolstoi's
early fantastic works, the maraudering and blood-thirsty oprichniks in Kniaz'
Serebrianvi have their own special markings on their saddles: a broom and a head o f a
dog. One of the more notorious members of the oprichnina, Matvei Khomiak, explains to
Serebrianyi what these symbols mean: "metla, chto u nas pri sedle, znachit, chto my Rus'
metem, vymetem izmenu iz tsarskoi zemli; a sobach'ia golova— chto my gryzem vragov
tsarskikh" (The broom that is on our saddle signifies that we sweep Rus', that we cleanse
treachery from the Russian land; and the dog's head indicates that we devour all enemies
of the tsar).^® The verb "gryzt'," also means to gnaw, bite, or consume. In this sense, it
has obvious vampiric associations.
Vn. Prelude to Symbolism; the Beautiful Woman and Mediated Romance
Many images in "Amena" are later found in the works of the Russian Decadents
and Symbolists. The setting of ancient Rome and the many pagan gods (the latter
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,67.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,170.
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characters are also found in "Upyr" ") are just two features in which Russian writers o f the
turn o f the century were interested. For example, Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures
are featured prominently in the writings of Mandel'shtam, Ivanov, Briusov and others.
Interestingly, Amena s name is not only a reference to the affirmative response to Judeo-
Christian prayers ("amen"), but her name is likely a reference to the ancient Egyptian god
o f life and reproduction. Amen (also spelled Amon and Amen-ra). The Symbolists’ focus
on uncovering the past, or as Irina Papemo writes in Pushkin v zhizni cheloveka
Serebrianogo veka. "to make the past... and past cultures theirs," was a process that also
interested Tolstoi. Indeed, he was greatly attracted to ancient cultures of other peoples
— "Ioann Damaskin ' is set near Jerusalem in the eighth century, "Greshnitsa" takes place
in the Middle East during the time of Christ, "Alkhimik " is set in thirteenth-century
Palma, and "Drakon " takes place in twelfth-century Italy.
The character Amena also embodies or practices what would later become
Symbolist or Decadent concepts. She is a sensual creature: smells, sounds and tastes
characterize her being and actions. Amena frequently invites Amvrosii to drink
ambrosia, an obvious play on his name, for ambrosia is the food of the gods, or anything
that tastes or smells delicious. This drink causes Amvrosii to see visions: "Amvrosii
priblizil amforu k gubam, i... strannoe chuvstvo razlivalos' po ego zhilam... emu kazalos',
chto temnitsa napolniaetsia zolotistymi oblakami i chto pered nim mel'kaiut nimfy, satiry,
tsentavry i naiady " (Amvrosii raised the ambrosia to his lips, and... a strange feeling
moved through his veins... it seemed to him that the chamber was filled with golden
clouds and that in front of him glistened nymphs, centaurs, and naiads).^^ Amvrosii's
name also means "immortal " in Greek, a state of being that he can obtain only if he
remains true to his Christian faith. After being rubbed with fiiagrant oil. Amena asserts
Irina Papemo, "Pushkin v zhizni cheloveka Serebrianogo veka," Cultural Mvthologies of
Russian Modernism: From the Golden Age to the Silver Age, eds. Boris Gasparov, Robert P.
Hughes and Irina Papemo (Berkeley: U of Califonia P, 1992): 19-51.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,151.
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herself over Amvrosii with hypnotic music; she lulls him to sleep using a harp: "Ona
vziala v ruki liru, i tilde ee zvuki pogrizUi ego neprimemo v sladstnyi son."‘ *
The cult o f the divine woman, so signidcant to the works of Solov'ev and Blok, is
given center stage in "Amena." Amena herself is equated with Venus, the goddess of
love, beauty, charm, spring and fruitfulness. In keeping with his tendency to juxtapose,
Tolstoi contrasts these two beings with Amvrosii's fiancée Leonia, the epitome of
Christian spiritual and moral beauty. Not only does Leonia die for Christ, but Amvrosii
himself compares her to the Madonnas painted by Rafael: "...v chertakh ee bylo ne menee
krasoti, ne menee nebesnoi chistoty, chem v Rafaelevykh Madonnakh." The reference
to Rafael's Madonna is not an isolated one in Tolstoi's oeuvre. In a poem composed in
1858 entitled "Madonna Rafaela," Tolstoi again returns to the theme of Madonna's
beauty:
Skloniasia k iunomu Khristu,
Ego M ania osenila:
Liubov' nebesnaia zatmila
Ee zemnuiu krasotu.
1 on, v prozrenii glubokom,
Uzhe vstupnaia s mirom v boi,
Gliadit vpered— i iasnym okom
Golgofu vidit pred soboi.
Bending towards the young Christ child,/Mary shielded him:/Her heavenly
love eclipsed her earthly beauty.
But he, in deep insight/Already joining the world in battle/Looks ahead-and
with clear sight/Sees Golgotha before Wm.‘ *
Although the second stanza details the Christ child's prophetic vision of his crucifixion at
Golgotha, the opening stanza depicts the nurturing image of Mary as she bends over her
son. As in "Amena," Madonna's beauty is a prominent feature in this poem: her earthly
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 153.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3, 146.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 169.
99
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beauty is eclipsed only by heavenly love. Even the diction is identical in each work:
"nebesnaia" and "krasota."
Surprisingly, it is not the concept of a beautiful woman with which Aleksandr
Blok chooses to engage Tolstoi in poetic dialogue. Instead, one of Blok's early ballad
like poems, found in his collection "Ante Lucem" (1898-1900), clearly rewrites the
ending of Tolstoi's Kniaz' Serebrianvi. In June of 1899, Blok composed and dedicated
the following poem to the memory of Tolstoi:
Avtoru "Kniazia Serebrianogo"
Odinoko boiarin pod' ekhal k vode...
"On-de tsarskomu piru pomekha!..."
V etu noch' golubuiu rusalki v prude
Zalivalis' serebrianym smekhom.
Pod 'ezzhaet k prudu, - pod navisshei
listvoi,
Nad prozrachnoiu tikhoi vodoiu
Priiutilas' rusalka— manit golovoi:
"Poigrai-ka, boiarin, so mnoiu! "
Tol'ko utro zabrezhzhilo, kon' pribezhal
I triaset golovoiu serdito,
U boiarskogo terema gromko zarzhal
1 kolotit V vorota konytom:
"Pribezhal ia povedat' zhene molodoi,
Chtoby muzha ona khoronila,
Chto ego-de rusalka poroiu nochnoi
Prilaskala i v vodu sm anila.."
All alone the boyar trotted up to the water . "They say 1 am a hindrance
to the tsar's feast!”... On this blue night the rusalki in the pond are overflowing
with silver laughter. He approaches the pond,-beneath the hanging leaves,
above the silent, transparent water, a rusalka hides-she nods her head: "Play a
little with me, boyar! " Just as it begins to dawn, the steed runs up and
shakes its head angrily, it neighs loudly by the boyar's palace, and strikes at
the gate with its hoof: " 1 ran here to tell the young wife that you should bury
your husband, that during the night a rusalka caressed him and enticed him
into the water... " .........
In this short poem, Blok appropriates certain elements from Kniaz" Serebrianyi
and presents an ending quite unlike that which is found in Tolstoi's historical novel. In
Blok, vol. 1,417-18.
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Kniaz' Serebrianvi. ail three characters who represent good meet unhappy fates: the boyar
Morozov is executed after a feast at which he insults Ivan to his face, his wife Elena then
enters a monastery, and Prince Serebrianyi, aware that he can no longer marry her, leaves
Moscow to die in battle at Russia's borders.
In Blok's poetic version, these events are excised, and instead the boyar Morozov
departs the tsar's feast in disgrace, knowing that he was a hindrance to the celebratory
dinner ( "On-de tsarskomu piru pomekha "). In his depressed state, the boyar approaches a
pond, and is enticed into the water by the siren-like voice of a rusalka. Blok's use of
silver laughter ( "serebrianym smekhom") is a clear reference to Prince Serebrianyi's
surname, and may indicate that Morozov went to his death partly out of a sense of guilt—
by the end of Tolstoi's novel, Morozov was fhlly aware of his wife Elena's love for
Serebrianyi. Indeed, Morozov knew of his wife's broken promise to wait for Serebrianyi
while he was in Lithuania, and is fully cognizant that Elena entered into marriage to
avoid the clutches of Ivan's underlings.
Other lesser commonalities between Tolstoi's and Blok's works are evident. Both
works feature bodies of water in which supernatural beings dwell. Indeed, the setting in
Blok's poem, a pond inhabited by rusalki, recalls a specific swamp in Kniaz" Serebrianvi
called the "Poganaia luzha. " Although this place is not inhabited by rusalki, it is
brinuning with other types of strange and fantastic creatures:
Verst tridtsat" ot Slobody, sredi dremuchego lesa, bylo tonkoe, i
neprokhodimoe boloto, kotoroe narod prozval Poganoiu Luzhei. Mnogo
chudesnogo rasskazyvali pro eto mesto. Drovoseki boialis" v sumerld
podkhodit" k nemu blizko. Uveriali, chto v letnie nochi nad vodoiu piygali i
rezvilis" ogon'ki, dushi liudei, ubitykh razboinikami i broshennykh imi v
Poganuiu Luzhu.
Dazhe sredi belogo dnia boloto imelo vid mrachnoi tainstvennosti. Bol shie
derev'ia, lishennye snizu vetvei, podnimalis" iz vody, my^oi i chemoi.
Otrazhaias' v nei, kak v tumannom zerkale, oni prinimali chudnyi vid
urodlivykh liudei i nebyvalykh zhivotnykh... Poganaia Luzha sdelalas"
dostoianiem sily nechistoi.
Some thirty versts from the Sloboda in the primeval forest was a tangled,
dense swamp that the locals called the Poganaia luzha. Several strange stories
have been told about this place. Woodcutters were afraid to go near it at dusk. 101
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They say that on summer evenings fire leapt and romped over the water, and
witlün its dadc limits were the souls of those who had been murdered and
thrown in to the Poganaia Luzha by robbers.
Even during the middle of the day the swamp had a look of dark secrecy.
Huge trees and branches that had fallen down rose up out of the turbid and
dark water. Reflecting in the water, as if into a dark mirror, they took on
strange forms o f distorted men and fantastic creatures... the Poganaia luzha
was worthy o f unclean powers.™
By giving the rusalka, a type of siren or water nymph who lures men to their
deaths, a prominent role in his poem, Blok implicitly acknowledges the fantastic strain in
Tolstoi's works.^^ Blok's poem is also a crystallization o f the rusalka theme found in the
works of Pushkin and Lermontov.™ Pushkin's narrative-in verse featuring a rusalka (the
work is commonly referred to as "Rusalka, " but has no formal title), relates how a prince
forsakes the daughter o f a miller even after she is pregnant with the prince's child; the
prince is forced to marry another woman of his own caste. The disgraced daughter then
conunits suicide by throwing herself into the river adjacent to her father's mill. The
narrative concludes with the prince returning to the mill, about to be lured into the river
by his own daughter, bom a rusalka following her mother's suicide. To a certain extent,
Blok reverses the reasons why his poetic persona is enticed into the water. In his work, it
is the boyar' who was rejected by Ivan and the oprichniks, and as a result, the boyar'
willingly goes to his death at the hands of a rusalka. In contrast, in Pushkin's "poema, " it
is the miller's daughter who is scorned, kills herself and becomes a rusalka only to enact
revenge upon her former lover.
In addition to Kniaz' Serebrianvi. Blok may also be drawing on one of Tolstoi's
early ballads entitled "Kniaz" Rostislav" ("Prince Rostislav," 1843), which features a dead
prince-warrior and underwater rusalki. Tolstoi's work initially presents a morbid picture:
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 3,243-44.
For a full history of the rusalka, see Hubbs 27-51.
^ Gogol's short story "Maiskaia noch' " also features a rusalka, though it seems more plausible
that Blok's version of the supernatural creature is modelled on those found in the works of Pushkin and
Lermontov.
102
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Prince Rostislav lies dead at the bottom of a riverbed ("lezhit na dne rechnom").™ After
describing how his wife waits for him in vain, and how priests will not say a funeral mass
for him, underwater beauties begin to play with the dead prince and comb his hair:
...s nim podvodnye krasy,
s nim dev veselykh roi,
I cheshet vitiazia vlasy
Ikh greben' zolotoi.
...underwater beauties play with him/with him is a throng of merry women/
their gold comb brushes/the hair of the knight.” *
These underwater beauties are not actually named until the final stanza: "V krugu
rusalok iunykh spit" (He sleeps in a circle of young rusalki).” * "Kniaz' Rostislav" thus
shares the motif of a boyar'-prince whose death is associated with water and rusalki with
Blok's poem.
A more interesting supernatural moment in Tolstoi's ballad occurs when the pagan
god Ferun resurrects Rostislav:
...Ferun gremit,
Togda, ot sna na dne rechnom
Vnezapno probudias',
Ochami mytnymi krugom
Vziraet bednyi kniaz'.
...Ferun thunders/Then from his sleep on the river bottom,/Awakening
suddenly ,/The poor prince looks around with confused eyes.”*
The prince returns to his prone position only when his wife, brother and priests fail to
hear his cries for help. The element of resurrection, a theme found in other works by
Tolstoi (in particular, Don Zhuan. which will be examined in detail in Chapter IV) is
what sets apart "Kniaz' Rostislav " from Lermontov's own contribution to the rusalka
theme. As in Tolstoi's "Kniaz' Rostislav, " in Lermontov's "Rusalka, " a group of rusalki
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 225.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 226.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 226.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,226.
103
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combs the silky curls of a warrior sleeping under the water. Unlike Tolstoi's poetic
persona, Lermontov's warrior never awakens despite the kisses of the rusalki:
No k strasmym lobzan'iam, ne znaiu zachem,
Ostaetsia on khladen i nem.
On spit--, i, sklonivshis' na persi ko mne.
On ne dyshit, ne shepchet vo sne!
But despite these passionate kisses, 1 do not know w hy/H e remains cold and
mute./He sleep s-, and bending his breast towards m e/H e does not breathe
and does not whisper in his sleep!^
One additional minor theme links Tolstoi's novel with the Symbolist period. The
leitmotif of a medieval love triangle among Morozov, Elena, and Serebrianyi in Kniaz'
Serebrianvi is featured prominently in Briusov's Ognennyi angel (1907). In Briusov's
novel, the plot centers around a love triangle between the protagonists Genrikh,
Ruprekht, and Renata.^ In both novels a knight falls in love with the wife of lord, a
practice that interested Briusov due to his study of the Troubadours, a group of medieval
knights who frequently fell in love with the wives of their m asters.^ Magic, a necessary
element to plot motivation in Kniaz' Serebrianvi. is also central to Ognennvi angel. In
fact, Briusov's novel includes a number of occultist divinations where demons guide
Ruprekht and Renata on their quest. The inclusion of arcane elements in Ognennyi
angel are not unusual given the fact that Briusov himself practiced occultism. A
medieval love triangle involving different manifestations of magic are thus two common
themes which link Tolstoi's work with Briusov's.
Lermontov, vol. 1,271.
Whereas Tolstoi's novel is a mixture of fiction and historical fact, Briusov's work represents the
Symbolist idea of "zhiznetvorchestvo," the fusion of life and a rt In "Biographicheskie istochnild roman
Briusova 'Ognennyi angel'," S. Grechishkin and A. Lavrov relate how the primary characters in Ognennvi
angel directlv correspond to certain events in the lives of Briusov, Belyi, and Nina Petrovskaia, specifically
how the two writers' friendship dissolved as they competed for the affections of Petrovskaia.
^ An excellent study on mediated love in fiction is Renee Girard's Deceit. Desire and the Novel:
Self and the Other in Literarv Structure (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1965).
104
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Vm. Conclusions
The numerous commonalities among Tolstoi's prose works, especially the
frequent recurrence of fantastic elements, demonstrate a high degree of unity within his
oeuvre. Clearly, Ingham's statement that Tolstoi's "...preoccupation with fantasy was not
carried over into his mature work " does not reflect the true state of Tolstoi's only mature
prose work. Although I have already touched on a few of Tolstoi's relevant poetic works
in this chapter, the ensuing chapter deals exclusively with specific lyrics and narratives-
in-verse in which elements of the fantastic are found. By examining Tolstoi's later poetic
works, 1 will demonstrate that Tolstoi's interest in the fantastic evolved into a serious
study and worship of occult sciences in which art and events from his life are combined.
While this chapter deals with the undead, i.e., those deprived of some kind of eternal
state, the next chapter focuses on different manifestations of the afterlife, and how to
contact those who reside there. In essence, our theme now switches from establishing the
veracity of the undead on earth to confirming eternal life in the next world.
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ni. Poetic Reflections of Double Faith:
Spiritualism and Orthodoxy
"Facile credo, plures esse Naturas
invisibles quam visibiles in renim
universitate."*
— Thomas Burnet
"God and the soul— these are the two
realities."
— Zhukovskii
Following the appearance of "Upyr' " in 1841, Tolstoi offered nothing for
publication for nearly a decade. His literary hiatus ended in dramatic fashion during the
1850s— he published the majority of his lyrics, worked on a number of his dramas,
completed two narratives-in-verse and contributed to the works of "Koz’ma Prutkov."
Tolstoi was also quite active in his personal life: his love for his future wife Sofia Miller
blossomed (the majority of his lyrics during this time were in fact inspired by her), but he
also lost the first woman whom he loved, his mother, as well as an uncle. In addition,
Tolstoi served in the Crimean War (1853-1856), where he fell seriously ill after
contracting typhus. Given such myriad events and publications, it is no wonder that
Sheelagh D. Graham calls the years 1854-1860 "the greatest period of activity " in
Tolstoi’ s life." All these events are significant for analyzing Tolstoi's lyrics and "poemy"
of the period, as many of them deal with the themes of love, death and the afterlife.
Most striking about Tolstoi's works during this time is the extent to which his
religious (Christian and other) interests are reflected in his texts. The most prominent
theme found in Tolstoi's writings of this period concerns the death of an individual, and
communication with this person in the next world, a realm in which Tolstoi fervently
believed. As the critic G.N. Pospelov writes, "On [Tolstoi] byl ubezhden v
sushchestvovanii dukhovnogo mira za predelami zemnogo bytiia..." (He [Tolstoi] was
convinced of the existence of a spiritual world beyond the boundaries of earthly
‘ "I find it easy to believe that there are more invisible than visible things in the universe."
^ Graham 3.
106
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existence...)-^ An ardent Russian Orthodox, Tolstoi not only sought solace via traditional
prayer, but also sought to establish a communicative link between heaven and earth by
actively practicing the esoteric religions of Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism. As we
shall see, Tolstoi’ s Orthodox faith and interest in the esoteric are reflected in a number of
his poetic works.
In addition to writing the majority of his lyrics in the 1850s, Tolstoi also
composed two narrative poems, "Ioann Damaskin ' (John of Damascus) and "Greshnitsa"
(The Sinful Woman), works which Shchebal'skii calls the "samye tsennye... literatumye
perly" of Tolstoi's corpus of works.^ In this chapter I will analyze the relationship
between Tolstoi's lyrics and these longer poems, especially the unusual religious
dichotomy or "dvoeverie" (double faith) that resonates between these genres. As a
cultural phenomenon, double faith was widespread among the Russian peasantry, who
mixed indigenous pagan and folk rituals with Orthodox practices for centuries. This
combination o f religions was also prevalent among the Russian nobility, although in a
different form— many aristocrats (Tolstoi included) and members of the Imperial family
simultaneously believed in the tenets of certain Western esoteric sciences while
continuing to observe Orthodox liturgical practices. The success of the occult in Russia
was largely due to the fact that many Orthodox believers, as opposed to the more
rationalist Western Christian population, easily accepted events and ideas based on faith
rather than on empirical fact.
In Tolstoi's lyrics, one finds many elements of Swedenborgianism and
Spiritualism, two esoteric religions that became popular in Russia begirming in the 1850s,
while his two long poems are clearly dominated by specific Christian themes and images.
Interestingly, by juxtaposing some of Tolstoi's lyrics with "Ioann Damaskin ' and
^ G.N. Pospelov, Istoriia russkoi literatuiv XIX veka (1840-1860-e gody) (Moscow: Vysshaia
shkoia, 1981) 466.
* Shebal'skii, "Religioznye motivy poeziia A. Tolstogo," Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi: ego
zhizn' i sochineniia. V.I. Fokrovskii, ed. (Moscow, 1908) 99.
107
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"Greshnitsa," one discovers that they contain common themes of death and the afterlife,
and that communication between the living and the dead is paramount in both genres.
Moreover, both Christian and esoteric elements can be found together within one and the
same work. Certain lyrics which I argue are predominantly esoteric do, in fact, contain
references to Christian Scripture; similarly, writings that are Christian in tone also
embody esoteric diction and themes. These commonalities make it difficult to discern
whether Tolstoi employs Christian or occultist imagery, and in some cases, it is possible
to assert that elements of both coexist within one and the same poetic work.
Tolstoi's particular type of literary "dvoeverie " is rather subtle in form. In a
number of his lyrics, he revises Christian discourse and themes to the extent that it is
possible to interpret some passages in esoteric terms-only an initiated reader, one
familiar with the premises o f Spiritualism and Swedenborgianism, is able to discern the
deeper meaning of the texts. There thus exist layers of religious meaning in some of
Tolstoi's texts, and in this sense he predates the Symbolists, who layer their literary works
with multiple levels of meaning. Indeed, Vladimir Solov'ev, a Symbolist writer and
philosopher, notes that Tolstoi's poetry offers "a hesitant symbolism, a tendency towards
allegory and a certain vagueness of diction."^ All of these qualities allow for multiple
interpretations of Tolstoi's lyrics.
There is a need, therefore, to re-examine Tolstoi's lyrics to illustrate that they are
more than quintessential examples of Romanticism that they first appear to be. This
chapter sets out to do just that, by suggesting that a number of his traditional, somewhat
epigonic works are in fact representations of the first Spiritualist lyrics written in Russia.
In essence, this analysis attempts to respond to Maria Carlson's criticism that too little
attention is given to the interest of educated Russians in Spiritualism and other forms of
the occult, especially in the nineteenth century.®
' Graham 204.
^ Maria Carlson describes the widespread interest in the fantastic during the twentieth-century in
her book on Theosophy entitled "No Religion Higher Than Truth": A History of the Theosoohical 10 8
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Tolstoi is the first of several Russian authors who not only wrote about
Spiritualism, but actually practiced or investigated it. In this sense, one may say that he
is a forerunner of the Symbolists, both with regard to his attempts at Spiritualist literature
and because of his active occult practices. At the turn of the century. Symbolist writers
were interested in the same esoteric science: Aleksandr Blok frequently attended seances,
Valerii Briusov considered composing a novel entitled The Medium, and Andrei Belyi
depicted the influence of mediums in his novel The Silver Dove.^ By the Silver Age,
Spiritualism had become a well-established, though greatly disputed, religious science.
In Tolstoi's time however. Spiritualism was just beginning to spade the Russian public's
interest. In order to understand fully the significance of Tolstoi's fascination with
Spiritualism, it is thus necessary to examine what this esoteric science meant in terms of
nineteenth-century Russian culture and politics. Tolstoi was not writing in a cultural
vacuum— Spiritualism had a large following in Russia among the nobility, including Tsar
Alexander 1 1 himself.
1. Spiritualism; Historical and Cultural Background
In the midst of the unsuccessful Crimean War, the reactionary and conservative
Nicholas 1 (1825-1855) died, and the more liberal Alexander 1 1 (1855-1881) ascended the
Russian throne. Alexander's assumption of power is significant within the framework of
this chapter for two very important reasons: he was a lifelong friend of Tolstoi’s, and
more importantly, the new tsar's mystical tendencies encouraged and validated the
growing interest in the occult in Russia. One must keep in mind that the draconian nature
of the reign of Nicholas 1, including strict censorship and police surveillance, did not
allow for widespread public discussion of the esoteric. Nicholas believed himself to be
Movement in Russia. 1875-1922. (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993). The introduction surveys Russian
occult interests in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which paved the way for Theosophy.
’ Carlson 16.
109
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the defender of the Russian Orthodox Church, and any outward display of ideas contrary
to or in competition with Orthodoxy was prohibited. This is not to say that there was no
interest in the occult in Russia during Nicholas’ reign. Indeed, a number of fantastic
stories were published. Masonic lodges functioned underground, and Spiritualism was
practiced as a religion, though on a very small scale.
The initial years of Alexander's reign were marked by a relaxation or repealing of
many of the severe and reactionary measures undertaken by Nicholas shortly before his
death. Russian literature benefited as a result: the previously banned Russkii vestnik
resumed publication, and the complete and unexpurgated works of Gogol were issued.^
In cultural terms, "...the wall between Russia and Western Europe suddenly fell; the dead
formalism collapsed, together with many o f its constraints; everyone caught a whiff of
greater freedom of thought and word...."’ What was not altered, at least on paper, was the
part of the penal code that made it illegal to teach or practice doctrines contrary to those
of the Orthodox Church. In practice however, these laws were rarely enforced, and as a
result, the number of occult circles and sects grew during Alexander's rule. In a letter
addressed to the Revue Spirite. a certain Prince Adeka writes
The dogmas of the State Chiurch are assented to by the mass of the people
chiefly as a means of keeping themselves clear of the police. But very many,
as opportunity comes, throw aside the mask and join some sect; and sects in
Russia are numerous. °
Unofficially, Alexander allowed the occult in many forms to flourish in Russia, even
within the Imperial residences. Indeed, the Emperor "surrounded him self with intimates
who were involved with Swedenborgians, Freemasons, Russian mystical sectarians, and
the Bible Society...."" One of the tsar's aide-de-camps. Prince Emil Wittgenstein, claims
* N.G.O. Pereira, Tsar-Liberator: Alexander II o f Russia. 1818-1881 (Newtonville: Oriental
Research Partners, 1983) 45-46. The author also notes that in 1855, seven new periodicals appeared, nine
in 1856, twenty-one in 1857, and thirty-one in 1858.
’ Qtd. in Pereira 49.
Qtd. in Berry, Spiritualism 44.
“ Carlson 16. H O
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that Alexander "had the most complete library of spiritual works available from the
literatures of all nations." "
The impact of Spiritualism on Russian society was substantial. Beginning in the
middle part of the nineteenth century, Spiritualism was the most popular esoteric religion
among the upper class in Russia, and Tolstoi was one of many Russian aristocrats who
actively practiced it. Prince Adeka writes that "Spiritualists in Petersburg are necessarily
of the educated classes only. Many... go to seances as to an entertainment. There are
also many others to whom it is a demonstrated science. They study its doctrines and
practice its m o rality ."A n n a Tiutcheva, daughter of the famous poet and a lady-in-
waiting to the Empress, was present at many seances at the Imperial Palace, and her diary
lists a number of attendants from the nobility. Some socially prominent believers of the
time include Nikolai Kruze, Count Grigorii Kushelev-Bezborodko, the academician M.V.
Ostrogradskii, Professor P.D. lurkevich, the religious philosopher and teacher of
Vladimir Solov'ev, Vladimir Dal', the compiler of the Tolkovvi slovar'. and A.N.
Aksakov.'^ A number of other Russian writers were at least curious enough to attend
Spiritualist seances, including Lev Tolstoi, Turgenev and Dostoevskii. All three mention
Spiritualism (usually in a pejorative vein) in their literary works.
Qtd. in Berry, Spiritualism 69.
” Qtd. in Berry, Spiritualism 44.
" Carlson 23-24.
In Diary of a Writer. Dostoevskii mentions mediums and Spiritualism; Turgenev's Dvm features
a medium as a minor character; in Lev Tolstoi's Anna Karenina, the character Landau is a medium who is
very much the rage in the Petersburg circle frequented by Anna's husband, and it is the medium who
provides the sign as to whether or not Karenin should grant Anna a divorce. Finally, the poet Polonskii met
Home in 1857, and printed On the Heights of Spiritualism toward the end o f his career. See Russell M. and
Clare R. Goldfarb. Spiritualism and Nineteenth-Centurv Letters (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson UP,
1978) 149, and Thomas Berry "Mediums and Spiritualism in Russian Literature during the Reign of
Alexander H, The Supernatural in Slavic and Baltic Literature: Essavs in Honor o f Victor Terras. Amy
Mandelker and Roberta Reed, eds. (Columbus; Slavica 1988) 133.
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To what extent Spiritualism influenced Imperial policy is uncertain. What is
known is that the Emperor frequently hosted seances at the Winter Palace and Peteriiof.
Anna Tiutcheva claims that the tsar communicated with his father Nicholas 1 (a much
mote capable ruler than Alexander) during these seances:
Tol'ko gosudar' i Aleksei Bobrinskii poluchili otkrovenie prisutstvuiushcikh
dukhov: kak i vo vremia pervogo scan sa v Peterburge, eto byli iakoby dukh
imperatora Nikolaia i dukh malen'koi velikoi kniazkiy Liny, oba oni otvechali
na voprosy gosudaria, ukazyvaia stukami bukvy alfavita po mere togo, kak
gosudar' otmechal ikh karandashem na bumage, lezhavshei pered nim.
Only the sovereign and Aleksei Bobrinskii obtained a revelation of spirits that
were present: as during the first seance in Petersburg, this was in all likelihood
the soul of Emperor Nicholas and the soul of the little Grand Princess Lina,
they both answered the questions o f the sovereign, indicating by knocking
letters of the alphabet that the sovereign recorded with a pencil on paper that
lay in front of him.'*
By the middle and latter parts of the nineteenth-century. Spiritualism had thus penetrated
many facets of educated society-even a number of Russian scientists, including the
chemist Aleksandr Butlerov and the zoologist Nikolai Vagner recognized Spiritualism as
an irrefutable sc ie n c e .T h e Emperor was so taken by the medium Daniel Douglas Home
that he allowed the foreigner to marry a Russian woman of noble lineage despite the
objections of the Holy Synod. Later, the Emperor and a Grand Duchess would become
godparents of Home's son.'®
The relationship between Alexander II and Tolstoi is well-documented: the two
were playmates as children and traveled to Europe together in their youth. The tsar
appointed his friend to be his aide-de-camp (a position Tolstoi reluctantly accepted), and
later made him the head of a committee that investigated religious sects in Russia. This
A.F. Tiutcheva, Pri dvore dvukh imperatorov. Vospominaniia. dnevnik. 1853-1882
(Cambridge: Oriental Research Partners, 1975) 176.
Carlson 24. Thomas Berry also writes that by the late nineteenth century. Spiritualism had
become so popular that the Physical Society of the University o f St. Petersburg formed a commission of
twelve esteemed scientists, under the leadership o f the accclaimed chemist D.I. Mendeleev, to investigate
spiritualistic matters. The group of scholars engaged A.N. Aksakov to conduct seances, ultimately
concluding that they were hoaxes. See Berry, "Mediums and Spiritualism," 131.
'* Russell and Clare R. Goldfarb 79.
112
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last position greatly troubled the writer, in all likelihood because of his open-mindedness
towards Western esoteric religions. In a letter of 1855 to his future wife, Tolstoi
expresses his discomfort at having to chair this committee: "chem blizhe ia vsmatrivaius'
V delo Komiteta, tern sil'nee ia chuvstvuiu, chto moia sovest' smushchena, i tem iasnee ia
vizhu, otkladyvaia vsiakie soobrazheniia v storonu, chto ia ne sozdan dlia takoi sluzhby"
(the more carefully I examine the work of the Committee, the stronger I feel that my
conscience is troubled, and the clearer I see, putting all considerations aside, that I was
not made for such service).*®
Tolstoi's relationship with Alexander's wife was also close, and the Empress was
often the first to hear the poet recite a new work. Given Tolstoi's affinity to the royal
family, it is not surprising that both he and the tsar shared a deep interest in the fantastic.
Thomas Berry also suggests that this commonality may be the result of the influence of
Zhukovskii, who was Alexander's official tutor and frequented the Perovskii household
as well.“ Zhukovskii, whose influence on Tolstoi's lyrics will be analyzed at another
point in this chapter, also paints his poetry with a definite mystical and markedly
religious outlook on life.
Spiritualism asserts that the living continue to exist after death and that there is a
means to communicate with the deceased, usually through a medium. Furthermore, it
posits that the dead exist as cognizant spirits who are aware but unable to communicate
by conventional means. Instead, spirits demonstrate their presence by table rapping, table
turning, automatic writing, voices and ectoplasmic materialization.'* Typically, a living
person, known as the seeker, poses questions to the deceased and the medium assists in
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,92.
™ Berry, Spiritualism 108.
See Chapter 1 of Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb, Spiritualism and Nineteenth-Century
Letters. An informative account of how Spiritualism developed in America and Europe, and its relation to
other esoteric religions.
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answering them by interpreting the manifestations. Ultimately, what is sought is a
connection or a bond between "heaven" (i.e., some form of the afterlife) and earth.
Modem Spiritualism dates from December 1847, when two sisters, Kate and
Margaret Fox, supposedly communicated with the spirit of a murdered peddler in a
farmhouse in upstate New York.- For some time Spiritualism was divided into two
forms: scientific and mystical. The first kind was promulgated by the followers of the
Fox sisters, and involved a scientific approach to seemingly unreal occurrences. The
second type, which gained popularity in France, became more o f an alternative religion
with specific mles and doctrine. Scientific Spiritualism spread to England and Europe
and was brought to Russia via France by 1852.^ Mystical Spiritualism, which was
initially more popular than the Anglo-American variant, was introduced in Russia by
General Apollon Boltin. Maria Carlson notes that the popularity of Mystical Spiritualism
was due to the fact that the Russian aristocracy spoke French, thus making this variant
more accessible. But it should also be pointed out that the French variant was likely
more appealing to Russians because o f its mystical qualities, an aspect common to
Russian Orthodox theology. At this point in Russian history, many members of the
nobility were disenchanted with the constrictive nature of the Orthodox Church. As a
result, they often turned to alternative forms of religion. The introduction of Spiritualism
into Russian educated society during this period was thus fortuitous for those wishing to
proselytize. Indeed, during this time. Orthodoxy in Russia was "defensive, but
Spiritualism was aggressive and modern."*^
Tolstoi's fascination with the supernatural heightened after he met the
internationally-known Scottish medium Daniel Douglas Home (1833-1886), who
^ For more details see Russell VI. and Clare R. Goldfarb 32.
“ Carlson 23. Thomas Berry differs with Carlson, noting that Spiritualism was introduced into
Russia in 1854 by M. Bolene and others who had wimessed spiritual phenomena abroad, and had become
acquainted with the works of Allan Kardec. See Berry, Spiritualism 33.
Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb 11.
114
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eventually held Spiritualist seances at Tolstoi's estate in the latter part of the 1850s and at
the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg.^ Home’ s seances merely affirmed Tolstoi's belief in
Spiritualism. In fact, his interest in this particular occult science arose much earlier:
"Esche do znakomstva svoego s lumom u Tolstogo voznik interes k etomu povetriiu, on
chital knigi, poiavivshiesia vo mnozhestve, i odnu iz nikh— 'Pnevamatologiiu' (uchenie o
dukhakh) Mirvillia— rekomendoval Sofe Andreevne..." (Even before his acquaintance
with Home, Tolstoi developed an interest in this epidemic; he read books that were
published in many numbers, and one of them— Mirvill's 'Pnevamatologiia' (the study of
spirits)— he recommended to Sofia Andreevna).*
Tolstoi's relationship with Home developed further when the Russian writer later
visited the medium in England in 1860. Tolstoi even proclaimed that both Home and
Home's son could conununicate with the dead. In a letter to Boleslav Maricevich, Tolstoi
expresses his amazement at Home's powers:
la poluchil pis'mo ot luma, kotoryi menia priglashaet navestit' ego. Ego
rebenok obladaet uzhe takoi zhe siloi, kak on sam, i okruzhaiushchim uzhe
vidny ee proiavleniia. Cherez neskol'ko dnei ia tuda s 'ezzhu— ia ved' ochen'
liubliu luma i schitaiu ego chelovekom slavnym i poriadochnym... Esli Vy i
sonuievaetes', to na sei-to raz Vy by v nikh poverili, tem bolee chto iavleniia
sovershilis' uzhe posle ot 'ezda luma... Da budet zhe Vam izvestno, chto plat e
Sofii Andreevny zametno vzdulos', chto rukava ego zashevelilis', slovno by ot
vetra, chto sam ia pochuvstvoval, kak budto detskaia ruchonka dotronulas' do
moego kolena i stala barabanit' po bumazhniku, a drugie slyshali etot zvuk,
chto stol pripodnialsia i paril nad polom v vozdukhe, chto dva tiazhelykh
kresla sami peredvinuUs's drugogo kontsa konmaty k stolu, chto vecherom
neskol'ko chelovek, uzhe lezha v posteli, uvideli, kak odeiala ikh pripodnialis'
i nadulis' vozdukhom pri polnom otsutstvii skvozniaka.
1 received a letter from Home, who invited me to visit him. His child
possesses the exact same power as he does, and its manifestations are already
visible around him. I am going there in a few days-as you know, I love
Home very much and consider him a splendid and honest person... If you
doubt, then this time you would have believed, even more so because the
manifestations ceased only after Home had departed... And you will know that
Sofia Andreevna's dress swelled noticably, that his hand began to move, as if
^ Carlson, 23. Thomas Berry states that "Home traveled throughout Russia with the novelist M.
Alexandre Dumas and was a guest o f the royal family at Peterhof for a week." See his article "Mediums
and Spiritualism" 131.
^ Zhukov. Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 229.
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from the wind, that I myself sensed it, as if a child's hand had touched my
knee and began to tap on the paper, and others heard this sound, that the table
rose up Z B .A floated above the floor in the air, that two weighty chairs moved
of their own accord from the end of the room to the table, that in the evening,
several people, already lying in their beds, saw how their blankets rose up and
filled up with air despite the absence of a draft.^
Tolstoi also participated in Spiritualist circles abroad. While in Paris in 1860, he attended
meetings headed by Allan Kardec, the author of The Spirits' Book.^ Bom H.L. Rivail
(1804-69), Kardec was instrumental in forming the written precepts of Spiritualism.
Tolstoi describes the activities of Kardec's society, its publications, and the visitation of
well-known deceased individuals during the group's seances:
...zdes' sostavilos' i tseloe Obshchestvo, vyzyvaiushchee dukhov i
privodiashchee v sistemu vse ikh soobshcheniia. U etogo Obshchestva est'
svoi statut i svoi pravila, i predsedatelem v nem-chelovek vpolne
uvazhaemyi, po imeni Allan Kardek. Ono vypuskaet zhum ^, na kotoryi, kak
Vy mozhete sebe piedstavit', ia podpisalsia. Na sobraniia Obshchestva
dopuskaiutsia posetiteli, i esli ia tam eshche ne pobyval, to potomu, chto
khochu sperva prochitat' vse, k etomu otnosiashcheesia. Ia uzhe sovershenno
udostoverilsia v ikh chistoserdechii, no est' v ikh vozzreniiiakh i takie veshchi,
kotorye slishkom uzh protivorechat moim vzgliadam na mir bestelesnyi, kak,
naprimer, opublikovanie risunka doma, v kotorom Motsart obitaet na Saturne.
Esli otbrosit' stol' rebiacheskuiu drebeden’ , est' tam veshchi ves'ma
zanimatel'nye i ves'ma pravdopodobnye. Primechatel'no to, chto dukhi,
poseshchaiushchie Obshchestvo, chrezvychaino nravstvenny i religiozny; tekh
zhe, chto otnosiatsia k razriadu menee blagopristoinomu, nemedlenno
otsylaiut, osobenno chasto ikh naveshchaet sv. Liudovik. Vol'ter vpolne
raskaivaetsia v svoem bylom legkomyslii i vo vseuslyshanie ispoveduet
samogo lisusa Khrista. Diogen priznaet, chto byl ves'ma sueten, i sozhaleet
ob etom iskrenno.
...here an entire Society has gathered, calling forth souls and conducting all of
their correspondences in a system. This Society has its own statutes and rules,
and its leader— a man quite respected by the name of Allan Kardek. The
society publishes its own journal, to which, as you might well imagine, I
subscribe. Visitors are admitted to the Society, and if I am still not in
attendance there, it is because 1 first want to read everything that relates to the
organization. 1 already completely attest to their genuineness, but in their
views there are certain things that contradict my view too much on the
incorporeal world, for example, the publication of a sketch of a building in
which Mozart resides in Saturn. If one gets rid of much of this childish
nonsense, there are things that are very entertaining and quite believable.
Notewordry is that the souls who visit the Society are exceedingly moral and
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 115.
“ Curiously, Berry does not mention this fact, either in his article or book on Spiritualism in
Russia, nor in his short tome on Tolstoi.
116
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religious; other ones that relate to this category are less decent, and are
immediately sent away; St. Ludwick in particular often visits them. Voltaire
speaks ftdly in his own former flippancy, and for all to hear, he confesses to
Jesus Christ himself. Diogenes admits that he was too vain, and genuinely
regrets this.^
The presence of Voltaire and Diogenes in combination with Christ as an acknowledged
saviour illustrates the eclectic nature of the spirits who supposedly visited Kardec's circle.
Tolstoi's opinions of Kardec's circle demonstrate that the poet was not merely a passive
follower of Spiritualism, but a critical and constructive voice of a rapidly growing
religion.
itt Spiritw aUstLm is
Tolstoi's interest in Spiritualism went beyond discussing it in correspondence and
attending seances. In fact, in a number of his poems, one can discern Tolstoi's interest in
this esoteric science, as well as in Swedenborgianism. Several of Tolstoi's lyrics use
motifs of light, spirits and souls.“ These motifs are employed in one particular setting
where lovers have been separated by death, leaving one on earth and the other in the
heavens. Upon reading these poems, one could claim that Tolstoi is simply paraphrasing
certain Romantic themes found in the lyrics of Zhukovskii and Lermontov, and to a
certain extent this assertion is true. On a superficial level, several of Tolstoi's lyrics
appear to be mere imitations of Russian and Western European Romantic poems, but in
actuality, they do contain distinct Spiritualist and mystical elements. In fact, in one of his
lyrics Tolstoi even makes direct reference to Swedenborg, a mystic whose ideas play an
important role in the development of Spiritualism. It is in these esoteric terms that
Tolstoi's lyrics need to be reassessed.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 114.
^ Graham analyzes these motifs in her monograph on Tolstoi, but makes no effort to connect
either the motifs or any lyrics to the Russian writer's interest in Spiritualism.
117
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It should be noted that the poems that will be analyzed were written between 1856
and 1858. This time period is significant for a number of reasons. First, the lyrics were
written after Tolstoi was introduced to the concepts of Spiritualism. In fact, by 1858,
Tolstoi was deeply immersed in Spiritualism and had attended many seances in
Petersburg, including some at the Imperial Palace. Second, in late 1855, Tolstoi
volunteered for service in the Crimean War, and by March 1856, he had contracted
typhus, which seriously afflicted him for nearly six months. During this time he was
often near death, occasionally languishing in a semi-conscious state. Third and perhaps
most important, Tolstoi's mother, Anna Alekseevna, with whom the poet had a very
strong and deep relationship, died in June o f 1857. In addition, one of Tolstoi's uncles,
Boris Perovskii, passed away in December of the same year.
Tolstoi's experiences with death, especially that of his mother, in all likelihood
influenced his lyrics (three of those in this analysis were completed near the anniversary
of her death in June of 1858). It will be suggested that these poems are a literary
"panikhida," or requiem, for the poet's mother; but it must be emphasized that they are
not overtly Christian in tone. Graham notes that "[it] is surprising to find that there are
few religious images or symbols... in Tolstoi... and they are conrined to lyrics on art and
the artist."^' Indeed, the lyrics examined in this chapter contain only a few elements that
one could call Christian. God per se is not a subject o f Tolstoi's lyrics; instead, motifs of
light and words such as "sozdatel" " imply an omniscient, omnipotent being. In contrast
to his lyrics, two narrative poems— "Ioann Damaskin ' and "Greshnitsa " are replete with
Christian religious symbols and references to the Testaments. These two works,
completed in 1857 and 1858, will be analyzed later in this chapter, especially in contrast
to Tolstoi’ s Spiritualist lyrics. Ultimately, it is this dichotomy between Spiritualist and
Christian themes which will be offered as a demonstration of Tolstoi's "dvoeverie."
Graham 135.
I lo
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I claim that Tolstoi's "S tekh por kak ia odin, s tekh por kak ty daleko..." is, in
fact, a Spiritualist lyric:
S tekh por kak ia odin, s tekh por kak ty daleko,
V trevozhnom polusne kogda zabudus' ia,
Svetlei moei dushi nedremliushee oko
I blizost' iavstvennei dukhovnaia tvoia.
Sestra moei dushi! s ulybkoiu uchast'ia
Tvoi tikhii krotkii lik skloniaetsia ko mne,
1 ia, ispolnennyi muchitel'nogo schast'ia,
Liubiashchii chuiu vzor v trevozhnom polusne.
O, esli V etot chas ty takzhe im ob 'iata.
My dumoiu, skazhi, proniknuty 1 ' odnoi?
I viditsia 1 ’ tebe tumannyi obraz brata,
S ulybkoi grusmoiu sklonennyi nad toboi?
Since I have been all alone, since you have been so far away/W hen I fall into
a disturbed semi-sIeep/There is an unslumbering window in my bright
soul/And your spiritual closeness is clear.
Sister of my soul! with a smile of happiness/Your quiet gentle face bows
towards me/And I, full of tormented happiness/Sense your loving gaze in my
disturbed semi-sleep.
Oh, are you at this moment also embraced by it,/Are we, in meditation,
reaching one another or are we alone?/And do you see the foggy form of your
brother/Leaning over you with a sad smile7^
This poem was completed in June of 1858, exactly one year after the death of the poet's
mother, in June of 1857. Keeping in mind that Orthodox Christians observe an
aimiversary requiem a year following the death of a loved one, the poem could be seen as
having been composed in her memory. The work does not contain specific Orthodox
features, but is replete with Spiritualist images, and it is possible that Tolstoi is describing
a Spiritualist search for his departed mother.
The "ia" of the poem is separated from another individual, represented as "ty."
Tolstoi's use of "daleko " and "ia odin " here implies that this "ty" is not merely far away,
but has died and passed onto another plane of existence. At the time of his mother's
death, Tolstoi reveals his sense of isolation in a letter to his future wife: " Vse konchilos".
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 164. ^
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raoia mat' v mogile, vse raz"ekhalis’, ia ostaius' odin s nei" (Everything is over, my
mother is in the grave, everyone has departed, and I am alone with her).^ Tolstoi's grief
and sense of isolation was so great that he felt out o f place in this world: ”...v etom mire,
gde ia chuzhoi...."^
The poetic persona attempts to contact this "ty," and like a medium, falls into a
semi-sleep or trance: "V trevozhnom polusne... zabudus' ia." lampolsldi writes about
Tolstoi's moments of inspiration in similar terms: "Vdokhnovenie Tolstoi predstavlial
sebe kak nekii ekstaz ili poluson, vo vremia kotorogo poet sbrasyvaet s sebia vse sviazi s
liud'mi i okruzhaiushchim ego mirom sotsial'nykh otnoshenii " (Tolstoi conceived of
inspiration as a certain ecstasy or trance, during which time the poet disgarded all links
with people and the world of social relationships all around him).^^ While not using the
term medium, Solov'ev refers to Tolstoi in similar terms: "Vdokhnovenyi khudozhnik,
voploshchaia svoi sozertsaniia v chuvstvennykh formakh, est' sviazuiushchee zveno ili
posrednik mezhdu mirom vechnykh idei ili pervoobrazov i mirom veshchestvennikh
iavlenii" (An inspired artist, embodying his contemplation in perceptible forms, is the
connecting link or intermediary between the world of eternal ideas or protoplasmic forms
and the world of material phenomena).^
The poetic persona's trance is an uneasy one ("trevozhnyi "), comparable to the
state of a medium at the beginning of a Spiritualist search. Note that Tolstoi uses the
word "poluson " twice in this short lyric, in an attempt to reproduce a seance. This word
also closely relates to Tolstoi's experiences following his mother's death. Dmitrii Zhukov
writes that after Tolstoi's mother passed away, the poet experienced a dream from which
he would wake up and speak to his mother: "U nego vse vremia oshchushchenie, chto eto
Qtd. in Zhukov 224.
” Zhukov 225.
” lampolsldi, introduction, O literature i iskusstve by A.K. Tolstoi, 9.
“ Solov’ ev, Stikhotvorenia 305.
120
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son, chto on seichas prosnetsia i snova uvidit mat', budet govorit s nei" (And all the time
he had a feeling that this was all a dream, that he would now wake up and see his mother
again, and he would speak with her).^ This type o f personal contact with a departed
individual is reflected in "S tekh por kak ia odin... " For example, in the sleep-like state
described in the lyric, the persona senses his loved one, "Liubiashchii chuiu vzor v
trevozhnom polusne," and even feels her spiritual closeness; "1 blizost' iavstvennei
dukhovnaia tvoia. " Tolstoi's use of the verb "chuiu "-I sense or feel, instead of 1 see, is
also an example of a medium's diction.
The intangible images found in "S tekh por kak ia odin... " eventually give way to
more concrete appearances: the persona sees the face of the departed one bending
towards him, "Tvoi tikhii krotkii lik skloniaetsia ko mne." This manifestation is typical
of a Spiritualist seance where spectral or ectoplasmic forms occasionally materialize.
The persona is not merely addressing the deceased, but actually poses a direct question,
as one would do in a seance— he asks, "I viditsia 1 " tebe tumannyi obraz brata... " The use
o f the word "brat " (brother) parallels the first line in the second stanza— "Sestra moei
dushi!..." (Sister of my soul). This sibling terminology should probably not be taken
literally, for Spiritualists often addressed one another in such terms, although the
reference could be literal, given the fact that Tolstoi s mother and her brother died within
months of one another.
These two figures are separated in some fashion, and may be on different
physical planes, for the brother's image ( "obraz") is indistinct or obscured ("tumannyi").
The diction used here again parallels events surrounding Tolstoi's mother's death. The
poet writes that during the period following her death, the days and nights passed as if he
were in a fog: "dni i nochi prokhodiat kak v tumane."® The verb "viditsia" also implies
” Zhukov 225.
Qtd. in Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 224.
121
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passivity, as the image merely appears and is not actively sought by the "sister" on the
other plane.
A two-way connection or link between these two people is the ultimate goal of
this lyric. In the first line of the final stanza, the "ia" wonders if the "ty" in the next world
is enveloped in the same trance or semi-dream as he is: "ty takzhe im ob"iata," and if "ty"
is penetrated or imbued in the same state of meditation: "My dumoiu, skazhi, proniknuty
r odnoi?" The "ia" o f the poem definitely senses his loved one in the beyond— "Tvoi
tikhii krotkii lik skloniaetsia ko mne," with a smile of fate, "s ulybkoi uchast'ia." It is his
desire that "ty" senses him as well. Indeed, at the close of the poem, practically the same
vocabulary is used— "I viditsia 1 ' tebe tumannyi obraz brata/S ulybkoi grusmoi sklonennyi
nad toboi?" In this case, the smile is morose, rather than fateful. However, the two-way
connection cannot be confirmed, as the are no answers to the two questions posed in the
last stanza.
In a general sense, an author has often been viewed since antiquity as a medium
or intermediary. Plato has Socrates state in the Jsai that "all good poets, epic as well as
lyric, compose their beautiful poems not by art, but because they are inspired and
possessed."” The poet as a creative conduit is also central to the Romantic movement,
where a muse or some other second individual actually inspires the poet to compose. In
essence, this process is very similar to the possession of a medium by the spirits of
deceased individuals. An absolute necessity to conducting a successful seance is either
the possession of the medium by a spirit or a visitation by the spirit to the medium, two
facts that Tolstoi was well aware of. I assert that given his study of Spiritualism and
participation in several seances, Tolstoi quite naturally supplants the Romantic notion of
inspiration with the Spiritualist concept of possession or visitation. lampol'skii himself
defines a writer as a "khudozhnik-svoeobraznyi medium kotoryi v minuty
vdokhnoveniia prozrevaet to, chto neulovimo dlia drugikh" (an artist is an original
” Qtd. in Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb 139.
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medium who, in minutes of inspiration, sees what is imperceptible to others)/" In this
regard, Tolstoi must be considered not only a late Romantic poet, but also Russia's first
trance poet as well. Trance poetry was a phenomenon that was very popular in America
and Europe during Tolstoi's lifetime. During a trance, poets often sought contact with
famous historical and literary persons, not only for mete conversation, but for inspiration
and guidance in composing their professional works.'*‘
Additional literary evidence exists to further my claim that Tolstoi was a trance
poet. In the last year of his life, Tolstoi composed a lyric whose first line reads "Zemlia
tsvela. V lugu, vesnoi odetom. " In the concluding stanza of the poem, Tolstoi returns to
the theme of falling into a trance:
Tut proneslos' kak v list'iakh dunoven'e,
1 kak otvet poslyshalosia nuie:
Zadachi to starinnoi razreshen'e
V tainstvennom ty vidish' polusne!
To tvorchestva s pokoem soglashen'e.
To mysli pyl v dushevnoi tishine...
Lovi zhe mig, poka k nemu ty chutok,-
Mezh snom i bden'em kratok promezhutok!
Then a puff of breath rushed past as if in the leaves/And 1 heard something
akin to a reply :/The solution to the ancient problem/You see in a mysterious
half-dream I/There is an agreement of creation with peace/And the heat of
thought that is found in spiritual siIence.../Catch that moment, when you are
alert,-/For the interval between sleep and waking is brief!"**
There are several interesting actions that transpire not only in this stanza, but throughout
the poem. The ancient problem to which the lyric persona refers is found in the second
stanza: "kuda menia tak manit i vlechet?" (to where am 1 being beckoned and drawn?).*^
lampol'skii, introduction to Polnoe sobranie sochinenii by A.K. Tolstoi (Moscow: Sovetskii
pisatei', 1937) 17.
Probably the best known of the trance poets was Thomas Lake Harris, bom in England in 1823,
but raised in Utica, N.Y. He later organized a Spiritualist community in West Virginia. Harris believed
that his poetic visions were inspired and shaped by Shelly, Keats, Byron, and Coleridge. Critical studies of
Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allen Poe indicate that Spiritualist diction is present in their respective
works. See Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb 30-37.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 209.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 208.
123
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Only the place and time of the answer is given: "V tainstvennom... polusne." More
importantly, the penultimate and final lines of the poem are overt examples of how
Tolstoi predates the Symbolists. Seizing the moment and describing it is one of the
central tenets of Symbolist composition.** Some critics have speculated that drug use by
Tolstoi may have contributed to the composition o f this particular poem. It has been
established that Tolstoi was addicted to morphine in his later years, and that an overdose
of the painkiller actually resulted in his death. The critic Kondrat'ev hints that Tolstoi
had taken drugs even before he became addicted to morphine, noting: "A. Tolstoi had
recourse to stimulants when writing poetry...."** A similar accusation was made against
Tolstoi following the publication of "Upyr*," when a contemporary critic chastised the
young author for "over-indulgence in opium."** Graham notes that Kondrat'ev has little
empirical evidence to support his claim of Tolstoi using drugs. However, 1 assert that
evidence for Tolstoi's propensity towards using drugs is found in his own
correspondence. For example, in a letter written in 1851, Tolstoi refers to the
hallucinegenic power of wild mushrooms. He tells his future wife:
...svezhii zapakh gribov vozbuzhdaet vo mne tselyi riad vospominanii. Vot
seichas, niukhaia ryzkhik, ia uvidai pered soboi, kak v molnii, vse moe detstvo
vo vsekh podrobnostiakh do semiletnego vozrasta. Eto prodolzhaetsia,
mozhet byt', lish' odnu tysiachnuiu sekundy, ne bol'she. Vsiakii sort gribov
imeet svoe osobennoe svoistvo, no vse oni menia otnosiat v proshloe.
...the fiesh smell of mushrooms awakens inside of me an entire series of
memories. At that moment, as 1 smelled a red one, 1 saw before me, like a
flash of lighming, my entire childhood in every detail right up to the time that
I was seven years old. This experience lasted for perhaps one one-thousandth
of a second, no longer. All sorts of mushrooms have their own particular
characteristic, but they all carry me towards the past.*’
** For example, see Briusov's "Kliuchi tain." In this brief article, Briusov declares that the main
goal of an artist is the depiction of ectastic moments ("te mgnoveniia ekstaza").
Qtd. in Graham 207.
^ Qtd. in Lirondelle 40.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,51.
124
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In this excerpt, Tolstoi depicts a moment that can only be described as a flashback
induced by directly inhaling mushrooms. As in the poem above, Tolstoi again
underscores the significance of a very brief moment
The practice o f taking drugs, combined with Tolstoi's emphasis on capturing the
moment, clearly reflects a proto-Symbolist trend. The poet's use of morphine is
suggested by examining the third stanza of "Zemlia tsvela.... " Here, the poetic persona is
filled with a new state of bliss, and he imagines that he is flying above nature:
Proniknut ves' blazhenstvom byl ia novym,
Ispolnen ves' nevedomykh mne sil:
Chego V zhiteiskom natiske surovom
Ne smel ia zhdat', chego ia ne prosil—
To sversheno odnim, kazalos', slovom,
1 mnilos' mne, chto ia lechu bez kryl,
Perekhozhu, pod 'iat prirodoi vseiu,
V odin poryv neuderzhimyi s neiu!
I was penetrated with new b liss/l was filled with unknown strengthrAVhat in
this worldly and severe onslaught/1 could not wait for, what 1 could not ask
for— /Was completed, it seemed, in one word/And 1 imagined that I was flying
without wings/Moving across, lifted above all of nature/ln one irrepressible
gust along with it!"*
The persona's newfound sense of bliss and strength, things which he could not ask for,
are delivered to him instantaneously, an effect that is often produced by a mind-altering
drug. In fact, the drug-induced state is so great that the persona actually imagines that he
is flying.
In addition to these two poems, Tolstoi employs motifs in other lyrics that deal
with solitude and separation, with love or the ideal being out of reach. These include
"Lish' tol'ko odin ia ostanus's soboiu..." and "Ty znaesh', ia liubliu tam, za lazumym
svodom... " L. Emel'ianova states that the essence of Tolstoi’ s early poetry consists of
material which is "ne okruzhaiushchaia ego deistvitel'nost', a nekii osobyi, dalekii ot nee
mir " (not his immediate reality, but a certain peculiar one, distant from this world).^ For
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 208-9.
L. Emel'ianova, introduction, Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii v dvukh tomakh by A.K. Tolstoi
(Leningrad: Sovetskii pisatei', 1984) 13.
125
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Tolstoi, the heavenly plane far away from the material world embodies this ideal.
Fostering a bond between these two worlds is the ultimate goal of Spiritualism and seems
to be the desire in three more of Tolstoi's lyrics: "V strane luchei. , " "O, ne speshi tuda,
gde zhizn' svetlei i chishche" and "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami " Written
separately over the course of three years, I assert that together, they form a special trilogy
telling of the death, ascension, and solitary existence o f an individual separated from a
loved one.* More importantly, they describe the attempts o f the two individuals to
remain in contact with one another even after they are separated by death.
Admittedly, these lyrics do employ traditional romantic imagery similar to that
found in the works o f Zhukovskii and Lermontov. The ideas of lost friends and lovers
are clearly articulated in both Zhukovskii's and Tolstoi's poetry. For example, in
Zhukovskii's "Na smert , " the poet pledges eternal devotion to a deceased friend (Andrei
Turgenev). In this poem, as in Tolstoi's "S tekh por kak ia odin..., " Zhukovskii
articulates the concept of suffering due to separation: "la budu stranstvovat', kak v
chuzhdoi storone. " This work also illustrates Zhukovskii's belief in reunion in the next
world: "...Uvidimsia opiat'y...S kakim veseliem ia budu umirat'!" However, this is only
an example of unity in the next world, and not an attempt at Spiritualist contact.
Nonetheless, Zhukovskii's influence is readily apparent on Tolstoi's youthful poetry. For
example, in 1832, when he was just fifteen, Tolstoi composed the following work:
la veriu v chistuiu liubov'
1V dush soedinen'e;
I mysli vse, i zhizn', i krov',
1 kazhdoi zhilki b'en'e
Otdam ia s radostiiu toi,
Kotoroi obraz milyi
Menia liuboviiu sviatoi
Ispolnit do mogily.
^ "V strane luchei..." was completed in 1856 and first published in Sovremennik (The
Contemporary) in 1857; "O ne speshi tuda, gde zhizn' svetlei i chishche" was completed and Rrst published
in Russkii vesmik (The Russian Messenger) in 1858; "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami" was completed
and published in 1858 in Russkii vestnik.
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I believe in pure love/And in the unity o f souls/And in all thoughts, and life,
and bloody And with the beating o f every vein/1 devote with such joy/A
tender image which fulfills me with a heavenly love until the very grave
itself/^
In this lyric one sees themes similar to those found in Zhukovskii: a unity of souls ("dush
soedinen'e"), and a pledge of love to the grave. It is the concept of the unity of souls
which Tolstoi will return to in his poems of the 1850s; this will also be significant in
terms of his interest in Spiritualism. It should also be mentioned that several of
Zhukovskii's works written for his niece Mariia also convey themes o f heavenly nature—
"Moi drug, khranitel'-angel moi" and several poems written after Mania's death
exemplify a mystical view of God and the soul. Indeed, Tolstoi seems to adhere to
Zhukovskii's premise that there are two distinct worlds: a hidden plane of essences and a
visible world of appearances.^ Like Tolstoi, Zhukovskii was also interested in the
supernatural. In "Liudmilla, " Zhukovskii describes a being who returns from the grave.
He also wrote an article entitled "Something about Specters" in 1848, but it merely
presents various definitions of ghosts, and the author purposely avoids giving a definitive
answer as to whether or not they exist.
Tolstoi also utilizes Lermontov's conception of heaven and earth as found in his
"Spiritualist lyrical trilogy." Lermontov presents these two planes in dichotomous terms.
In his poem "Angel," heaven is described as pleasant and replete with song. It is
generally recognized that "Angel " is the starting point for Tolstoi's "Gomimi tikho
letela..., " and thus warrants comparison with that poem. The concept of lovers meeting in
the afterlife is also evident in Lermontov's "Oni liubili drug druga, " where lovers in
heaven fail to recognize one another. This particular lyric by Lermontov reflects his
interest in the works of the German writer Heinrich Heine (1797-1856); indeed,
Lermontov uses two lines from one o f Heine's poems as an epigraph to "Oni liubili drug
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,637.
” See the first chapter of Irina M. Semenko, Vasilii Zhukovskii (Boston: Twayne, 1976).
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druga." Tolstoi himself was greatly interested in Heine's works, and his most numerous
translations stemmed from Heine. ^ In addition, a few o f the German writer's works were
parodied by Koz'ma Prutkov.^
Despite all the evidence of Tolstoi's literary borrowing, his Spiritualist lyrical
trilogy cannot be considered an imitation of his distinguished predecessors' works
because these three poems embadc on a markedly alternate path with a decidedly
different goal. In short, what I would like to suggest is that Tolstoi's "V strane luchei..., "
"O, ne speshi tuda... " and "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami," when carefully
analyzed and grouped together as a whole, present a number of Spiritualist and mystical
themes. Together, these three works depict a special affinity between heaven and earth
that both underscores the mystical belief of eternal love, as well as the Spiritualist goal of
forging a bond between these two planes. For Tolstoi, this bond is exemplified by the
repeated attempts of the personae in each poem to maintain contact with one another.
Unlike Zhukovskii and Lermontov, Tolstoi does not diametrically oppose the
heavenly and earthly planes. Rather, he perceives earthly existence as a step towards the
afterlife. For Tolstoi, friends and lovers will always maintain relationships because of an
intangible connection between heaven and earth. This love is not time bound, but eternal.
For Tolstoi, time is a " ...lozhnaia ili nedostatochnaia ideia, proiskhodiashchaia ot
ogranichennosti nashego uma " (a false or insufficient concept which stems from the
limitations of our mind).^^ In short, Tolstoi believes that most men can only comprehend
ideas separately, and that we are incapable of perceiving them in a unified and eternal
form. This inability to understand infinite love leads to mourning and a solitary
” For example, "Vezoblachno nebo, net vetiy s utra...," "U moria sizhu na utese krutom...," "Iz
vod podymaia golovku...,” "Richard L'vinoe Serdtse," "Obniavsbisia druzhno, sideli," and "Dovol'no! Pora
mne zabyt' etot vzdor....”
^ Specifically, "Iz Geine" ("Frits Vagner, stud'ozus iz leny...") and "Iz Geine" ("Vianet list,
prokhodit leto...").
” Emel'ianova, introduction, Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii v dvukh tomakh by A.K. Tolstoi, vol.
128
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existence. Tolstoi's poetic personae are the exceptions then, for they adhere to the belief
that love transcends earthly boundaries, and that separated loved ones will ultimately be
reunited in the next world. This continuity, primarily embodied in an everlasting love, is
a reflection of Tolstoi's esoteric beliefs.
By comparing "V strane luchei...," "O ne speshi tuda..., " and "Gomimi tikho
letela...," it will become apparent that the planes of perspective of the lyric personae are
markedly different. Nonetheless, both the earth-bound persona and the soul in the next
world are yearning for essentially the same idealistic desire: to communicate and to be
united again in the future. These needs again underscore Tolstoi's belief that heaven and
earth are united by the "one ness " of love. This homogeneity is also expressed in a
chronological and intertextual fashion. Written in 1856, the poem "V strane luchei... "
poses a request: not to forget your lover when you reach the "land of rays." The
continuation of this theme is found in "O, ne speshi tuda..., " while the final response to
the original request is contained within "Gomimi tikho letela... " In this last poem,
written two years after the first, the newly arrived soul does not forget her love— she
wishes to return to earth to comfort and console him. Thus, the poetic personae are in
dialogue with one other over the course of three poems; this continuing dialogue is a
means of communication, of transcending boundaries to foster a bond between heaven
and earth.
In these lyrics Tolstoi actually revises Christian discourse, making it nearly
impossible for a reader to discem between esoteric and Christian features. Despite the
relative openness of Russian society in accepting Westem esoteric sciences, it was still
against the law to promote any religious doctrine other than Orthodoxy:
The great enemy of Spiritualism in Russia... is the church... Perhaps you know
that any writing, printing, or words spoken publicly, which offend against the
articles of state religion, are punishable by the heaviest penalties-in some
cases by exile to Siberia.*
56
Qtd. in Berry, Spiritualism 70.
129
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Nevertheless, seances were frequent occurrences among the upper echelon of Russian
society. Even "the Emperor and most of his household... [were] spiritualists in belief, but
they would [have] be[en] partisans of the faith, did circumstances permit."^ It was thus
impossible for Tolstoi to mention specific Spiritualist or mystical practices in his literary
works. Only an initiated person, familiar with the ideas of Swedenborg and Spiritualism,
is able to understand the true meaning of the texts. In a general sense, Tolstoi continues a
process favored by writers who were also Freemasons. Ryleev and Bestuzhev, for
example, incorporated their radical ideas of altering Russian society in their writings
clandestinely, a process that often resulted in a multilayered text. Their Aesopian works,
like an esoteric ritual, could be interpreted only by the initiated, by those who had the key
to unlock the underlying meaning in the texts.®
Tolstoi's references to Christianity are likely genuine, but also function as markers
for an alternative, esoteric reading of the poems. Many o f the references to Christianity
are Aesopian in nature; they are smoke screens used to fool the religious censor who
would not accept a work that was blatantly esoteric.® For example, Tolstoi describes a
particular vision of heaven that at first glance seems Christian, but upon closer
examination, one perceives a realm that does not reflect only Orthodox principles. By
combining Christian and esoteric themes in his lyrics, what Tolstoi accomplishes is
similar to what Prince Wittgenstein proposed on a broader cultural cultural level for
Russian society; for the Chinch and advocates of Spiritualism to recognize a certain level
of interdependence. The prince writes: "1 think myself that [the church] should be the
friend of this power [Spiritualism], for without it, the church cannot prove anything, and
” Qtd. in Berry, Spiritualism 70.
" See Lauren G. Leighton, Esoteric Tradition.
” In his book on Aesopian discourse. Lev Loseff cites a few examples of Aesopian speech during
the nineteenth century. Unlike the Soviet era, some works of literature contrary to state and Orthodox
principles were occasionally published.
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with it, it has facts which no rival church can disprove."* That is, Tolstoi unites certain
elements of Christianity and Spiritualism, making it difficult to determine the origins of
certain themes or images, while at the same time representing the writer's own particular
brand of "dvoeverie."
"V strane luchei..." is the first installment of what I call Tolstoi's Spiritualist
lyrical trilogy:
V strane luchei, nezrimoi nashim vzoram,
Vokrug mirov vrashchaiutsia miry;
Tam sonmy dush voznosiat stroinym khorom
Svoikh molitv nemolchnye dary;
Blazhenstvom tam siiaiushchie liki
Otvrashcheny ot mira suety.
Ne slyshny im zemnoi pechali kliki
Ne vidny im zemnye nishchety;
Vse, chto oni zhelali i liubili,
Vse, chto k zemle priviazyvalo ikh,
Vse, na zemle ostalos' gorst'iu pyli,
A V nebe net ni blizkikh, ni rodnykh.
No ty, o drug, lish' tol'ko zvuki raia
Kak dal'nii zov v tvoiu pronikhut grud',
Ty obo mne podumia, umiraia,
I khot' na mig blazhenstvo pozabud'!
Proshchal'nyi vzor brosaia mashei zhizni,
Dushoiu, drug, vzgliadis' v moi cherty,
Chtoby uznat' v zaoblachnoi otchizne
Kogo zvala, kogo liubila ty,
Chtoby ne mog moei moliashchei rechi
Nebesnyi khor naveki zaglushit',
Chtoby tebe, do nashei novoi vstrechi,
V strane luchei i pomnit' i grustit'!
In the land of rays, unseen by our vision/Worlds revolve around
worlds/There the assemblies of souls raise up/In a harmonious chorus their
ceaseless gifts of prayers.
There the shining people are separated from/The world of vanity by
bUss/They do not hear the cries of earthly sadness/They cannot see earthly
miseries.
'Qtd. in Berry. Spiritualism70.
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Everything that they desired and lovedyEverything that bound them to the
earthy Everything that remains on earth is dust wiüi sadness/And in heaven,
there are neither friends nor family.
But you, oh Mend, if only the sounds of paradise/Like a distant sound
penetrate your breast/You— think about me as you die/A nd for a moment
forget the bhss!
Casting a farewell glance at our lifeyLook with your soul, my Mend at my
featuresySo that you will know in the land beyond the cloudywho it was you
called, and who it was you loved.
So that the heavenly choir will not drown out forever/My prayerful words/So
that you will remember and moum/Until our next meeting in the land of
ra y s!® ^
When first published in 1857, this poem included the subtitle "From Swedenborg" ("Iz
Svedenborga"). This is the only explicit reference to mysticism in the entire trilogy of
poems. The fact that this subtitle was allowed by the censor illustrates the relaxed
atmosphere following Alexander's ascension. In contrast, the subtitle was removed in the
1867 edition of the works, indicative of the stricter censorship in place. This piece of
information is critical to understanding the deeper layers of the work. Emanuel
Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist turned religious mystic, was regarded by many in the
18th and 19th centuries as a clairvoyant and religious prophet. His writings on New
Jerusalem, the soul, and God resulted in a large religious movement across Europe and
the United States, especially in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Goldfarbs write
that "Swedenborgianism gained momentum in the late 1840s... and the Swedenborgian
New Church was at its height in the 1850s.
Many o f the precepts of Spiritualism were derived from Swedenborg's writings,
including communication with the deceased. As a result, the two religions often
overlapped in membership and certain practices to the extent that during the 1850s, the
lines of communication were wide open between the clergymen of the Swedenborgian
New Church and the Spiritualists. In fact, Swedenborg was viewed by the Spiritualists as
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,125-26.
Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb 29.
132
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a gifted seer and father of the Spiritualist movement. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle expressed
this notion when he proclaimed that every Spiritualist should honor Swedenborg: "His
bust should be in every Spiritualist temple, as being the first and greatest of modem
mediums."®
Given the fact that Swedenborg's beliefs and Spiritualism were not seen as
mutually exclusive, but rather complementary, it should come as no surprise that Tolstoi
combines the two philosophies. What is surprising, however, is that no one has yet
discussed in detail Swedenborg’ s impact on Tolstoi's works. It is not clear from Tolstoi’ s
letters to what extent he had read Swedenborg, but it is certain that the Russian poet had,
at the very least, a passing knowledge of the Swedish mystic's works. For example, in a
letter to his future wife, Tolstoi writes:
U nashei dushi tol'ko odno okoshko, cherez kotoroe ona vidit predmety, odin
za dmgim; kogda steny otpadut, vid otkroetsia na vse storony, i vse
predstavitsia odnovremenno; vse, chto kazalos' protivorechivo, ob 'iasnitsia
samym prostym obrazom, poniatym dlia rebenka; ne budet bol'she vremeni -
budet vechnost', budet odna obshchaia tsel'nost', i slova: vremia, vechnost'-ne
budut imet' smysla.
Our soul has only one tiny window, through which it sees objects, one after
another; when the walls fall, a view will W opened on all sides, and
everything will be presented at once; all that seemed contradictory will be
explained by the simplest form, comprehensible to a child; time will no longer
exist-there will be eternity, there will be one general whole and words: time,
etemity— will not have any sense.®
Tolstoi's words are similar to those found in Swedenborg's Arcana coelestia: when the
body dies, "anima " (the soul) is naturally freed from its boundaries and all that remains is
its own vision; spiritual angels then proceed to open the inner eye of the soul, which can
now sense its liberation intellectually and perceive it sensually. ® The liberation of the
soul is one of the central themes of Tolstoi's trilogy o f poems.
" Russell M. and Clare R. Goldfarb 29.
* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,91.
“ Inge Jonsson, Emanuel Swedenborg (New York: Twayne, 1971) 138-142.
133
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In the first three stanzas of "V strane luchei...," the lyrical persona describes the
heavenly plane to a loved one. He believes that the next world is boundless ("Vokrug
mirov vrashchaiutsia miry") and invisible to our mortal vision ("vzor"). This lack of
divine perception both recalls Zhukovskii’ s premise that there exists a hidden world of
essences, and confirms the Spiritualist concept o f an intangible, yet attainable, plane of
existence. The phrases "sonmy dush" and "stroinym khorom" depict not only the
inhabitants of the land of rays, but also imply a utopian unity where all in heaven are near
equals. This concordance is reinforced through full realization of stress in the third line
of the first stanza. This unity of souls (an image one finds in Tolstoi even in his
adolescent poem analyzed above), is a concept put forth by Swedenborg, who believed
that souls in heaven form harmonious societies that function as units; the mystic writes
that "spirits form societies, which are in perfect harmony within themselves and with
others, and the good societies are ultimately joined in a universal unit...."^
The subsequent stanza characterizes the heavenly, light nature of the inhabitants
o f the next world; "siiaiushchie liki" emphasizes the motif of light in heaven. In addition,
the use of the Church Slavonicism "liki" in place o f "litso" indicates the empyrean nature
o f the next world. Not only is heaven replete with illuminating rays, but the souls who
reside there reflect this light. Such accord further evidences the aforementioned
statement that heaven is inhabited by equals (all the souls shine in a land of light). The
bliss ("blazhenstvom") that is so prevalent in heaven results from ignoring earthly vanity
("otvrashcheny ot mira suety"). The use of the word "mir" in this stanza combined with
"suety" emphasizes earthy imperfection. Moreover, "mir " contrasts the ethereal worlds
revolving around one another in the preceding stanza. The souls of heaven are portrayed
in a parallel, semi-anaphoric construction. This structure eKectively describes the deaf
and dumb nature o f the souls with regard to earthly concerns. Here, the lyric persona
describes the indifference of the inhabitants of the land of rays:
“ Jonsson 144.
134
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Ne slyshny im zemnoi pechali kliki
Ne vidni im zemnye nishchety.
Furthermore, the repetition of the adjective "zemnoi," "zemnye" with its connotations of
sin and misery, further underscores the disparate nature of heaven and earth.
The third stanza completes the description of the heavenly plane. This depiction
largely consists of what does not exist in heaven. Instead, mundane attributes of earthly
existence are accentuated. The use of anaphora ("Vse" is repeated three times) conveys
the insignificant and transitory nature of earthly existence. In addition, wishes and
desires characterize the inherent selfishness of mortals. The trivial nature of man's
earthly life is further stressed with the phrase "gorst'iu pyli." Here, Tolstoi implicitly
refers to the Bible— the use of the word "pyl' " recalls Genesis 2:7-8: "then the Lord God
formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being. " Tolstoi then underscores the trivial nature of man by
portraying his temporal existence on earth as restrictive: "...k zemle priviazyvalo ikh."
The final line of the third stanza returns to the theme of unity and equality in
heaven: "A v nebe net ni blizkikh, ni rodnykh" emphasizes the premise that souls lose
their individuality and that earthly relationships will not be continued in heaven. This
line also reflects Tolstoi's belief in the immortality of the soul, but not in the ever-lasting
life of the individual. Graham notes that, "Tolstoi believed that there was a
transcendental sphere where souls existed after death, but he did not believe in the
immortality of the individual soul...."^ Tolstoi's belief likely derives from Swedenborg's
concept that souls form societies o f equals in heaven. One may also conclude that the
line "A v nebe net ni blizkikh, ni rodnikh," refers to the New Testament, specifically
Matthew 22:23-30:
The same day the Sad'ducees came to him, who said that there is no
resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses said. If
a man dies, having no children, his brother must marry the widow, and raise
' Graham 52.
135
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up children for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers among us; the
first married, and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. So
too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman
died. In the resurrection, therefore, to which of the seven will she be wife?
For they all had her " But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you
know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.^
The concept o f "ni rodnikh" is also found in Matthew 12:46-50:
While he [Jesus] was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers
appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. But he said in reply to the one
who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And stretching
out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my
brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and
sister, and mother.
As we shall see throughout the trilogy, Tolstoi was obviously uncomfortable with both
the Swedenborgian and Christian interpretations of the Anal state of a person's soul in
heaven. In fact, by having the soul retain her individuality in the third and final poem,
Tolstoi debunks the notion of the lack of individuality. The absence of close firiends and
family in heaven contrasts the first line of the third stanza which implies selfish,
temporary love ("Vse, chto oni zhelali i liubili"). Finally, the use of "A v nebe "
thematically contrasts the dichotomous nature of heaven and earth and closes the first
half of the poem's theme on the heavenly plane.
The last three stanzas introduce both the addresser and addressee of the poem.
The appearance of "ty" as a firiend ("drug") denotes the personal nature of this part of the
poem. The introduction of "ty" is also emphasized by full realization of stress in the line.
The setting o f the poem is now concretized-the reader realizes that the previous
description of "the land of rays " occurs on earth. This conclusion is plausible because the
friend is fatally afflicted and the lyric persona is distraught with the realization of being
left alone on earth.
^ See also Mark 12:18-37 and Luke 20:27-38. Swedenborg discusses marriage in heaven in his
De amore conjugali. The issue was always problematic to Swedenborg, who even describes a celestial
union in the next world. This marriage was not among the sexes, but specifically man's final union with
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The theme o f loneliness is established further in the next line. Realizing that his
loved one is dying, the lyric persona portrays the heavenly plane as distant and removed
("dal'nii"). Apprehension characterizes the lyric persona; he realizes that the death of the
lover is ongoing ("umiraia"). The combination o f heavenly and mundane characteristics
in the same line reflects the simultaneity o f departing earth and entering the land of rays.
Structurally, this event is enhanced by the full realization of stress. The pleasant nature
o f "zvuki raia" now replaces the disturbing "zemnoi pechali kliki" and the ephemeral
nature of the "dal'nii zov " o f heaven is juxtaposed with the physical nature of man: "...v
tvoiu proniknut grud . "
The lyric persona is formally introduced in the form of "mne." This persona
pleads with his loved one "to think of him at the moment of death" ("ty obo mne
podumai, umiraia "). According to the persona, bliss, which characterizes the shining
faces in the second stanza, should now be disregarded— "blazhenstvo pozabud"!" The
emotional state of the lyric persona is also portrayed. His desperation is conveyed in the
form of imperatives: "podumai, pozabud ! "
In the subsequent stanza, the loved one is clearly dying. The farewell gaze of her
divine soul opposes the imperfect gaze o f mortals found in the opening line of the poem.
The immaterial nature of her soul is now contrasted with the physical features of the lyric
persona ("moi cherty"). The soul's final destination, "v zaoblachnoi otchizne," recalls the
opening phrase of the poem. In the final line, the importance of whom "ty" loved is
stressed. Furthermore, by placing "ty" at the very end of the stanza, the effect of a slow,
morose death is conveyed.
The moment of death is continued smoothly in the concluding stanza through
enjambment as the last two stanzas are linked by a mere comma. Closure of the poem is
realized in this stanza by one last request: the lyric persona demands that his speech must
not be deafened by the heavenly choir. Here "zaglushit" " echoes "ne slyshny" in the
second stanza. More importantly, Tolstoi's belief that love is eternal is clearly illustrated
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in the penultimate line of the poem. The acknowledgment that there will be a reunion in
heaven ("do nashei novoi vstrechi") implies continuity between heaven and earth. Thus,
despite his description of the dichotomous relationship between the earthly plane and the
next world, the lyric persona acknowledges an unbreakable link between them. This
bond is strengthened by the use of full stress in the third line.
Finally, the recurrence of the phrase "V strane luchei..." in the last line echoes the
opening line of the poem. However, indifference and joy are not stressed. Rather, "ty" is
asked to remember and mourn ("i pomnit' i grustit' "). Such emotional attributes also
imply individuality. As we shall see, "ty" will focus on being separated from the lyric
persona on the earth. Her attempts to remember will foster communication between her
and her loved one, left behind on earth. Moreover, as we shall see in "Gomimi tikho
letela..., " the description of unity in the land of rays ("stroinym khorom ") will collapse
due to the failure to incorporate her soul into the heavenly masses.
"O, ne speshi tuda... " continues the pleas of the poetic persona left alone on the
earth:
O, ne speshi tuda, gde zhizn" svetlei i chishche
Sredi mirov inykh;
Pomedli zdes" s mnoi, na etom pepelishche
Tvoikh nadezhd zemnykh!
Ot prakha otreshas" ne uderzhat" poleta
V nevedomuiu dal"!
Kto budet v toi strane, o drug, tvoia zabota
I kto tvoia pechal"?
V trevoge bytiia, v bezbrezhnom kolykhane
Bez tseU i sleda,
Kto V zhizni budet mne i radost", i dykhan e,
I iarkaia zvezda?
Sliias" V odnu liubov", my tsepi beskonechnoi
Edinoe zveno,
1 vyshe voskhodit" v siian'e pravdy vechnoi
Nam vroz" ne suzhdeno!
Oh, do not hurry there, where life is brighter and more pure/Among other
worlds/Linger here with me, in the ashes/Of your earthly hopes!
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Freed from the ashes, do not restrain your flight/into the unknown
distance !/0h my Mend, who will be in that land/ Your worry and your
sorrow?
In the anxiety of everyday life, in the boundless swaying/Without a goal or a
traceyWho will be a joy and a breath for me^And a bright star.
Fusing into one love, we are one link/Of an endless chain/ And to rise h i^ e r
towards the brightness of eternal truth/ We will not be judged separately!^
As in "V strane luchei..., " Tolstoi uses similar diction and settings— light, other worlds,
ashes, etc. For example, life is brighter and more pure in the next world: "zhizn" svetlei i
chishche/Sredi miroi inykh. " In a last moment of despair and grief, the earth-bound
persona pleads with the departing one to ""Pomedli zdes" so mnoi, " while simultaneously
stressing her earthly nature (" pepelishche ") and reminding her of her earthly hopes
(" Tvoikh nadezhd zemnykh" ). In an earlier version of this lyric, Tolstoi included an extra
stanza between the first and second stanzas, directly connecting this work with ""V strane
luchei..."":
Pover", V strane luchei, iz mira v mir vlekoma,
Sred" peniia svetil,
Ty budesh" toskovat" o goresti znakomoi,
Chto ia s toboi delil!
Believe me, in the land of rays, drawn from one world to another/The land
shines among the singing/You will anguish about a familiar grief/That I have
been separated from you!’”
This direct reference to the poem ""V strane luchei... " indicates that Tolstoi intended O,
ne speshi tuda... " to be a continuation of the relationship between the separated personae
in ""V strane luchei...."" It is likely that Tosltoi ultimately supressed the stanza because of
its overt connection to "'V strane luchei..., " " and instead, chose a more subtle means of
linking the two works. In the deleted stanza, separation is emphasized: the loved one will
grieve because she is apart from the poetic persona on earth: " Ty budesh" toskovat" o
goresti znakomiyChto ia s toboi delil! " The phrase ""iz mira v mir vlekoma " illustrates
” Tolstoi. Sobranie. vol. 1, 168.
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,716.
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the passing from one world to the next and recalls the worlds revolving around one
another ("Vokrug mirov vrashchaiutsia miry’ ) in the first stanza of "V strane luchei...."
Despite the vain entreaties of her lover, she is released from her earthly bonds
("Ot prakha otreshas' "), and is not restrained in her ascent towards the heavens ("ne
uderzhat' poleta"). The ashes here remind one of the dust found in "V strane luchei..., "
and the final resting place, "V nevedomuiu dal' " parallels the description of heaven in "V
strane luchei... " ("dal'nii").
As "ty" is ascending to the heavens, the earth-bound persona attempts to
communicate with her, asking, "Kto budet v toi strane... tvoia zabota/I kto tvoia
pechal'?," and "Kto... budet mne i radost", i dykhan'e/l iarkaia zvezda?" But these
questions appear to be rhetorical, for the final stanza indicates that a bond will be forged
between the two planes: the phrases "My tsepi beskonechnoi, " "Sliias" v odnu liubov' "
and "Edinoe zveno" all illustrate the poetic persona's hope of an eventual reunion. The
fusion of man and woman in this stanza is clearly reminiscent of Matthew 19:4-7:
"[Christ] answered, 'Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made
them male and female,' and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" In addition, two
elements of Spiritualism are also represented in this passage— namely, the posing of
questions to a deceased individual, and the attempt to foster a bond between the planes of
the living and the dead. In terms of the Russian literary context, these phrases recall
Derzhavin's (1743-1816) best known poem, a panegyric to God and science entitled
"Bog" ("God", 1780-84): Derzhavin's lines "Ty tsep' sushchestv v sebe vmeshchaesh , "
and "I tsep' sushchevst sviazal veskh nmoi" correspond with Tolstoi's concept of a divine
unity The final word in Tolstoi's poem seems to be an optimistic one in that they are
not destined to be apart. Indeed, as "ty" ascends into the radiance of eternal truth ("v
siian'e pravdy vechnoi "), the earth-bound persona pronounces his belief that they are not
G.R. Derzhavin, Stikhotvoreniia (Leningrad: Khudozbestvenaia literatura, 1981) 44-47.
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destined to be apart— "Nam vroz' ne suzhdeno!" This final line thus sets up the last poem
in the trilogy, "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami."
"Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami" begins where "V strane luchei..." and "O,
ne speshi tuda..." end:
Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami,
Gmstnye dolu ona opuskala resnitsy;
Slezy, V prostranstvo ot nikh upadaia zvezdami,
Svetloi i dlinnoi vilisia za nei verenitsei.
Vstrechnye tikho ee voproshali svetila:
"Chto ty grustna? i o ctem eti slezy vo vzore?"
Im otvechala ona: "la zemli ne zabyla,
Mnogo ostavila tam ia stradan'ia i goria.
Zdes' ia lish' likam blazhenstva i radosti vnemliu,
Pravednykh dushi ne znaiut ni skorbi, ni zloby—
O, otpusti menia snova, sozdatel', na zemliu,
Bylo b o kom pozhalet' i uteshit' kogo by!"
A soul flew quietly along the mountainous heavens/She lowered her morose
eyelids downward^Falling from them in a bright and long row behind her/Are
tears that become stars in the expanse;
The congregated heavenly bodies asked her:/ "Why are you so sad? Why are
there tears in your gaze?"/She answered them: "1 have not forgotten the
earth/1 left much suffering and grief behind there.
Here 1 listen only to the people of bliss and joy/The souls of righteousness
know neither sorrow nor spite— /Oh, let me go the earth again, creator/So that
1 could pity and console someone.^
The loved one of "V strane luchei... " has passed away. Her soul has departed the earth
and is flying along the high heavens. Unlike the setting in "V strane luchei...," the setting
of "Gomimi tikho letela... " is immediately specified ( "nebesami"). The soul is flying in
silence and curiously retains one physical attribute—eyelashes ("resnitsy"). The
eyelashes are sad ( "grustnye ") and are saturated with tears. Such a description effectively
underscores the presence of human emotion in the heavenly realm. The use of simile
likens these tears to stars, which fall in a long chain into a vast space-"Slezy, v
prostranstvo ot nikh upadaia zvezdami. "^ The formation of stars from tears shed by the
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 174.
” The ancient Greeks and Romans generally regarded stars as living entities including 141
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soul is a direct link to the poem "O, ne speshi tu d a .R e c a ll that the earth-bound
persona asks his loved one "Kto v zhizni budet mne i radost', i dikhan’ ey/corkata
zvezidaT In "Gomimi tikho letela...," the soul remembers this query and sheds tears that
result in the formation of stars. The vast, incalculable space ("prostranstvo") in which one
finds the newly formed stars parallels the description of heaven in "V strane luchei...,"
where the infinite nature of heaven is conveyed as "Vokrug mirov vrashchaiutsia miry. "
In addition, the use of "zvezdami" repeats the heavenly image of light conveyed in "V
strane luchei...."
The first stanza illustrates that the soul of the lover has not become one with the
heavenly masses, thus satisfying the desire of the earth-bound persona in the first two
lyrics. The new soul's quiet and sad nature evidences her singularity. Indeed, the newly
arrived soul is not part of the "Vstrechnye svetila." This contrasts the Swedenborgian-
Christian conception expressed in "V strane luchei..., " that all the inhabitants of that land
consist of one unified "khor" (choir). At this juncture, comparison with Lermontov's
"Angel" is warranted. Tolstoi's first stanza is quite different from Lermontov's. The
image of flight is repeated, but the poetic character is an angel, not a soul. Stars are
present in both works; complete silence ("tikho") is stressed in Tolstoi's version, whereas
Lermontov begins with the soft sound of a holy song ("Vnimall toi pesne sviatoi"). The
holy song of the throng in Lermontov's "Angel" calls to mind the heavenly choir in "V
strane luchei..., " as well as recalling whom the soul hears ("Zdes" ia lish' likam
blazhenstva i radosti vnem liu") in "Gomimi tikho letela.... "
heavenly angels, legendary heroes, the souls of the unborn, and the souls o f the undead. Juno, the Roman
queen of heaven and mother of the gods, was often represented by a star-shaped emblem. Juno's Greek
counterpart, Hera, was often worshipped as queen of the stars. During ceremonies for the dead, the
ancients would hold weeping rites to encourage a god to weep creative tears, ultimately resulting in a
bountiful harvest. See Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary o f Mvthologv. Folklore, and Symbols (New York:
Scarecrow, 1962), and Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary o f Symbols and Sacred Objects (San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988).
An image that recalls the infinite nature o f the universe in Mikhail Lomonosov's "Vechemee
razmyshlenie..." ("Evening Meditation," 1743), especially the phrase "mnozhestvo mirov "
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Lermontov's poem describes the earth as full of sorrow and tears: "Dlia mira
pechali i slez," diction which Tolstoi repeats over the course of his trilogy. The young
soul carried to earth in Lermontov's poem is so full of wondrous desire ( "zhelaniem
chudnym polna") as a result of the angel's song that it desires to return to heaven. In
contrast, the soul in Tolstoi's "Gomimi tikho letela... " yearns to leave this blissful world
to return to earth because it has left behind suffering and grief ("Mnogo ostavila tam ia
stradan'ia i goria "). Thus, direction in each poem is markedly different: Lermontov's
work is based on a downward descent from heaven to earth, whereas Tolstoi's lyrics have
an upward motion in that the loved one ("ty") ascends from earth towards heaven. What
each soul shares in common is a desire to return to what they believe to be their
respective place of origin: for Lermontov's soul it is heaven, for Tolstoi's, it is earth.
The influence of Lermontov's "Angel " is also apparent in one of Tolstoi's first
lyrics entitled "Poet. " Similar in tone to Pushkin's "Prorok," the last three stanzas of
Tolstoi's work clearly reflect Lermontov's influence:
Angel, bogom vdokhnovennyi,
S nim besedovat" sletel.
On umchalsia derznovenno
Za veshchestvennyi piedel...
Uzhe, vikhriami nesomnyi,
Pozabyl on zdeshnii mir,
V ob l^ak h pod golos groma
On nastroil svoi psaltyr".
Mir dalekii, mir nezrimyi
Zrit ego orlinyi vzgliad,
I ot ktyl'ev kheruvima
Struny moshchnye zvuchat!
An angel, inspired by God/Descended to talk with him/He then whirled away
audaciously/Beyond the material boundary...
Already awakened by whirlwinds/He forgot the present worldyin the clouds
accompanied by a voice of thunder/He constructed his psalter,
A distant world, an unseen world/His eagle-eye view beholds/And from the
wings of a cherub/Resound powerful strings!
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,57.
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Here one finds not only the image of Lermontov's angel descending to the earth
("Angel,..yS nim besedoval sletel), " but also the beginning of Tolstoi’ s interest in the
next, unseen world that he describes in his trilogy ("M ir dalekii, mir nezrimyi").
The description of the heavenly plane in Tolstoi's "V strane luchei.. . " becomes
realized in the second stanza of "Gomimi tikho letela.... " The assemblies of souls are
now portrayed as "Vstrechnye svetila. " However, these luminous souls are not as
indifferent as they are thought to be in "V strane luchei... " Indeed, the community of
hosts immediately inquires of the newly arrived soul the reason for her apparent
unhappiness: "Chto ty grustna? I o chem eti slezy vo vzore?" The soul's answer to the
community's query demonstrates that she has not forgotten the earth-bound persona.
Indeed, the soul's response: "la zemli ne zabyla " fulfills the lyric persona's request in "V
strane luchei..." (recall that the poetic persona pleads: "ty obo mne podumai, umiraia... ").
The soul's earthly memory is thus still intact and in this sense, there remains a link to the
earthly realm. This is evidenced further because the soul remembers that she has left
much behind, including "stradan'ia i goria." This suffering and grief is reminiscent of the
lyric persona of "V strane luchei.... " The persona has been abandoned in a world of
vanity and misery. Thus, the soul in "Gomimi tikho letela... " and the lyric persona of "V
strane luchei... " are mutually distressed. Dissatisfaction is a theme that Tolstoi borrows
from Lermontov. In "Angel," the soul who is confined to earth is disturbed: "I dolgo na
svete tomilas" ona... " This is not so surprising given the fact that the soul has been
transferred from paradise to an imperfect world. What is striking about Tolstoi's poem is
that the soul, having never experienced perfection, vocalizes her displeasure regarding
her new, perfect surroundings.
The emotional condition of Tolstoi's newly arrived soul is somewhat ironic, given
that heaven ought to have eradicated earthly memories and grief (as opposed to
Lermontov's poem, where the mundane existence on earth undoubtedly influences the
soul's emotional state). It is much more than ironic, however. Indeed, Tolstoi is directly
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responding to Lermontov's "Oni liubili drug druga...." In this lyric, two people love one
another throughout their lives, yet they refuse to admit it to each another. Their
reluctance to confess leads to empty words and separation. Finally, when death comes,
the two meet in the afterlife, supposedly the place of eternal love, but they fail to
recognize one another— "No v mire novom drug druga oni ne uznali." Tolstoi challenges
Lermontov's provocative stance, i.e., the notion that heaven is not a place for eternal
reunion. Indeed, Tolstoi is out not only to reevaluate Lermontov's "Angel," and "Oni
liubili drug druga," but to alter the esoteric and Christian concept that the afterlife is not
necessarily devoid o f our earthly experiences and emotions. Thus, Tolstoi's trilogy
begins with the idea that a departed soul loses its individuality in heaven, but ends with
the soul retaining some physical and emotional aspects relegated to mortals. In this
sense, Tolstoi's trilogy cannot be labeled epigonic because it not only alters the
Lermontovian concept o f forgetting one's lover in heaven, but also debunks Christian and
Swedenborgian principles. That is why, for example, in "Gomimi tikho letela...," Tolstoi
chooses to depict heaven in an atypical manner. His version of heaven is not complete
bliss. Rather, the soul grieves in paradise, and it is this sorrow that represents a direct
link to the world from which she has recently departed.
Isolation is a common theme in both Lermontov and Tolstoi's works. The world
of sorrow and tears is present in Lermontov's "Angel. " Here, the young soul is crying
because it has been carried to earth by an angel. The soul's separation from the heavenly
spirits causes it to cry in Lermontov's wort, while the lover's soul in "Gomimi tikho
letela... " cries because o f her isolation from the lyric persona in "V strane luchei.... " The
recurring romantic m otif o f song is significant for all three poems. In Lermontov's work,
song is portrayed as positive and holy. The young soul abandoned on the earth retains a
divine essence, namely, the "zvuk... pesni " of the heavenly hosts. The sacred nature of
heavenly song is further stressed when contrasted with the "...skuchnye pesni zemli. " In
Tolstoi's " V strane luchei...," the song of the heavenly inhabitants results in indifference
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to earthly anguish. The persona who describes the land of rays thus views the "stroinyi
khor" as negative. Finally, in "Gomimi tikho letela...," the newly arrived soul listens to
exaltations o f bliss and joy. Although the word "pesnia" is not clearly mentioned,
listening to exaltations of bliss and joy implies that the souls are indeed singing.
Just as important as the dialogue with Lermontov, if not paramount to it, is
Tolstoi’s incorporation of another Swedenborgian theme in the last work of this trilogy.
While immersed in his studies of biology, Swedenborg frequently pondered over the
relationship between the body and the soul. He believed that if a soul is released from a
body in a state o f disharmony, it will "...only experience discomfort and pain in contact
with an other-world existence of incomprehensible perfection and harmony."^® Thus, a
soul in a state of grief, one similar to which Tolstoi describes in "Gomimi tikho letela..."
will not be incorporated into the mass of souls in heaven. This contrasts with the normal
action of a soul, which seeks associations with other spirits in heaven. Tolstoi likely had
Swedenborg’s societies in mind when he composed the trilogy, for he depicts the mass o f
souls in heaven by using words like "khor" and "Vstrechnye svetila. ” Thus, the retention
of grief separates the newly arrived soul from a blissful union with the other spirits in
heaven.
The word bliss ("blazhenstvo") in the third stanza links Tolstoi’s third poem with
the first described in this essay. In both works, bliss describes the heavenly inhabitants in
the form of an intertextual chiasmus. In "V strane luchei..., ” the souls are portrayed as
"Blazhenstvom tam siiaiushchie liki..., ” while in "Gomimi tikho letela..., ” the new soul
depicts the heavenly inhabitants as "likam blazhenstva. ” Bliss also obfuscates the
mundane sorrow o f earth in each poem. In "Gomimi tikho letela..., ” the soul of the lover
observes that "pravednykh dushi ne znaiut, ni skorbi, ni zloby.... ” Diction in this line
effectively contrasts heaven and earth. The souls are characterized as pious, whereas
earth is replete with sorrow and evil. Moreover, this observation of the lover’ s soul
Jonsson. Emanuel Swedenborg 49.
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clearly parallels the lyric persona's description of the indifferent nature of heaven in ” V
strane l u c h e i " Here the inhabitants of the land of rays are portrayed as "ne slyshny...
zemnoi pechali kliki," and " ne vidny... zemnye nishchety...."
In the last two lines of "Gomimi tikho letela...," the new soul pleads to be
permitted to return to the earth; "O, otpusti menia snova, sozdatel', na zemliu...." As in
"V strane luchei...," the demanding mood of the recently arrived soul is conveyed by the
use of the imperative form: "otpusti!" The concluding stanza also introduces a new
persona: the creator ("sozdatel" "). Swedenborg ftequently refers to God as the creator
and not God per se. However, since "sozdatel' " is found in Christian texts, it is
impossible to tell if Tolstoi had Swedenborg's version of the divine being in mind or the
Christian one. As Satan states in Tolstoi's Don Zhuan. "God is merely an intricate
symbol" ("Lish' simvol zamyslovatyi"); he means different things to different people, and
it is up to the individual reader of both Don Zhuan and "Gomimi tikho letela..." to decide
if the word "sozdatel" " is a Christian term of reference or an esoteric one.
The final line of "Gomimi tikho letela... " clearly parallels the last lines of the fifth
and sixth stanzas o f "V strane luchei...". Compare the three lines:
(1) Bylo b o kom pozhalet* i uteshit' kogo by. ("Gomimi tikho...")
(2) Kogo zvala, kogo liubila ty ("V strane luchei...")
(3) V strane luchei i pom nit' i grustit' ("V strane luchei...")
The structure of (1) is composed of two pronouns and two verbs in the infinitive form.
The soul of the lover wishes to return to earth to sympathize and console someone. That
someone is also contained in (2). The stmctural parallel of two pronouns in both (1) and
(2) illustrates affinity between the two poems by reminding the soul of the lover whom
she called and whom she loved (i.e. the lyric persona of "V strane luchei...”). Stmctural
and thematic analogies are also evident in (1) and (3). The utilization of two infinitives
in both lines are repeated in the two poems, while the semantic meanings of the verbs (to
moum, to sympathize and to console) further enhance unity between the two poems.
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This unity represents closure in "Gomimi tikho letela...," as well as a conclusion to the
intertextual dialogue between all three works.
A problem arises in linking Tolstoi's three poems because of a disparity in meter.
Often a trilogy of poems grouped together will have a similar, though not necessarily
identical, rhythm. The first two poems in this trilogy fit the mold: "V strane luchei..."
and "O, ne speshi tuda..." are composed in iambs (the first in iambic pentameter and the
second in alternating six foot and three foot iambs). The third poem, "Gomimi tikho
letela..." is written in five foot dactyl. There is thus a discrepancy in meter. However,
this dissimilarity is easily reconcilable if one considers that in the first two poems, the
same lyric persona is speaking— it is his voice throughout both works. In contrast, in
"Gomimi tikho letela...," it is the recently deceased soul who speaks and grieves. In
order to give the soul individuality, Tolstoi sets the last lyric in a different meter.
Moreover, in terms of Spiritualism, the different rhythms or voices could be treated in
terms of knocking, i.e., the primary means of communication between an individual on
earth and one in the next world. In this sense, the earth-bound persona is knocking
throughout the first two lyrics, and the soul is responding by knocks of a different
cadence in the third work.
A.K. Tolstoi's "S tekh por kak ia odin, s tekh por kak ty daleko" and the trilogy of
poems "V strane luchei..., " "O, ne speshi tuda " and "Gomimi tikho letela dusha
nebesami " are works which do indeed continue the Romantic lyrical tradition in Russian
literature. The incorporation of several poetic elements found in Zhukovskii and
Lermontov illustrates Tolstoi's creative foundation. However, Tolstoi moves beyond the
established, conventional characterization of heaven and earth by incorporating facets of
Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism in all four works. Indeed, in each lyric,
communication or contact of some form is attempted, and to a certain extent, is
accomplished. By revising or subverting certain Christian themes, Tolstoi creates
multilayered texts that reflect his own particular form of "dvoeverie."
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Ail the surveyed poems in this essay depict a dichotomy between the two planes
o f heaven and earth. Unlike his literary predecessors, Tolstoi unites the two disparate
realms by establishing the concept o f continual, eternal love which obliterates their
boundaries and interestingly enough, this bond is illustrated intertextually. The
emotional and spiritual connections between the two personae (love, grief, and memory)
overcome the dichotomous nature o f heaven and earth. Simultaneously, this bond offers
hope and comfort through the possibility of reunion resulting in eternal love. The
themes of eternal love, forgiveness, and the creation of a communicative bond with the
dead will now be explored in two of Tolstoi's narratives-in-verse; "loaim Damaskin ' and
"Greshnitsa."
m . Narratives«ln-Verse; "Dvoeverie" Revisited
Tolstoi's narrative poems "Ioann Damaskin ' and "Greshnitsa " deal with Christian
subjects: the life o f a saint and the conversion of a sinner from erroneous ways. Critics
agree that these two works are representative of the Orthodox Christian component of
Tolstoi's oeuvre— they are tales about miracles brought about by one's faith in God. Once
they are juxtaposed with the occult lyrics analyzed above, the body of works as a whole
presents a convincing case for Tolstoi's "dvoeverie." But there is more evidence for
Tolstoi's combination of faiths than simple juxtaposition. Just like the Spiritualist lyrics
that contain occasional references to the Bible, "Ioann Damaskin ' and "Greshnitsa" have
some elements that may be construed as esoteric in nature. Close examination reveals
that they share similar themes, structures and diction with some of the fantastic lyrics
written by Tolstoi during the same time period. This mixture o f faiths or facets of beliefs
within one work is further evidence of Tolstoi's diverse religious interests. Sheelagh
Graham writes that "Tolstoi... saw himself as a mixture o f priest and crusader, a warrior-
priest like the Old Testament prophets, a crusader with a holy cause, like Pushkin's Poor
149
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Knight."^ In his narrative poem "Ioann Damaskin," Tolstoi imbues John with both these
characteristics: he is at the same time a holy saint and a defender of the freedom of art.
He is also a ruler, charged with the task of governing Damascus by the Caliph ("Ego
postavil vlastelin/I sud riadit', i pravit' gradom"). An eighth-century saint, John is
perhaps best known for his vociferous defense of icons, which Tolstoi emphasizes at the
outset of his poem:
I razdavalsia uzh ne raz
Ego krasnorechivyi glas
Protivu eresi bezumnoi,
Chto na iskusstvo podnialas'
Grozoi neistovoi i shumnoi.
Upomo s nei boroisia on,
1 ot Damaska do Tsar'grada
Byl, kak boets za chest' ikon
1 kzdc khudozhestva ograda,
Davno izvesten i pochten.
And many times/His beautiful voice has resounded/Against senseless
heresyyLife ascended upon art as a furious and noisy storm /He fought against
it stubbornly y And from Damascus to Tsar'grad/ He was a warrior for the
honor of the icon/And like a piece of art/ Long praised and well-known.™
Tolstoi identifies with John in part because the saint was a defender of sacred art— John
was so insistent in his struggle against the iconoclasts that he was dismissed from the
court of Caliph. Lennart Kjellberg writes that in his defense of icons, "John Damascene
fought for the freedom of art, as Tolstoi did against his contemporaries who were ill-
disposed towards pure art'."™ In and of themselves, icons are significant for this study
because of their particular dualistic nature: they are not only a representation of a
religious character, but a gateway to heaven. The physical nature of icons is two-
dimensional, but their metaphysical nature expands into the next world.® Although
^ Graham 39.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 514.
” Lennart Kjellberg, "Aleksej K. TolstoJ's Tropar'r A Study in the Art of Paraphrase," Studia
Slavica Gunnaro Gunnarsson Sexagenario Dedicata. ed. Jozef Trypucko (Goteborg, Sweden: Almqvist &
Wicksell, 1960) 43.
^ For an introduction to the world of Orthodox Christian iconography, see John Baggley's Doors
o f Perception: Icons and their Spiritual Significance. This compact tome (ktails the theological 150
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Tolstoï only mentions John's spirited defense of icons briefly, the objects themselves are
important, for they reflect Tolstoi's belief in an alternate reality, a world that could not be
seen by most men. This particular theme is repeated in the poem itself; John is portrayed
as a select individual who has the ability to peer into the next world.
While icons per se are not so significant in analyzing "Ioann Damaskin," some of
their particular characteristics are. First and foremost, I assert that John's singing can be
linked with the theurgic power of poetic words.*^ The saint's songs, especially the
"Tropar , " recreate the suffering and mystery surrounding death, including its emotions,
horrors, anxieties and physicalities. Because the Virgin Mary appears to John's mentor
and tells the monk to revoke his command prohibiting John to sing, the reader concludes
that John’ s lyrics, i.e., his words, are akin to the Word, and as such, are a divine, creative
force. Second, in composing most of "Ioann Damaskin" (especially the "Tropar" "),
Tolstoi did not deviate from the original story o f John of Damascus, but instead
paraphrases it to conform to his own creative designs.^ I would amend this position,
claiming instead that Tolstoi aspired to imitate the precepts of icon painters: he merely
attempted to create a copy of the original story of John of Damascus, much as an icon
painter attempts to imitate an original icon. 1 do argue below, however, that Tolstoi did
have specific personal reasons, namely the deaths of family members, for composing this
particular narrative-in verse.
John of Damascus actually left the court of the Caliph on two occasions. The first
time, he was removed as the result of false charges brought against him during his
defense of icons. John's second and final departure was a willing one, much like Tolstoi's
from the Court o f Alexander II in 1861. Several scholars rightly note that this is a strong
history of icons and analyzes several well-known representatives of the genre.
See Steven Cassedy "Bely's Theory o f Symbolism as Formal Iconics of Meaning," Andrev
Belv: Spirit of Symbolism, ed. John E. Malmstad (Ithaca: Cornell, 1987). The article offers a detailed
explanation of the dualistic significance of icons and the theurgic power of poetic words.
” Kjellberg 46.
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personal element in the poem— for many years Tolstoi had desired to leave the side of
Alexander II and focus solely on his literary activities. Tolstoi's wish clearly parallels
John's need to be a simple singer. Tolstoi is thus expressing his own feelings when he
has John plead with the Caliph to be released from his official duties:
"O gosudar', vnemli! moi san,
Velich'e, pyshnost', vlast' i sila,
Vse mne nesnosno, vse postylo.
Inym prizvaniem vlekom,
la ne mogu narodom pravit':
Prostym rozhden ia byt' pevtsom,
Glagolom vol'nym boga slavit'!
O sovereign, hear me! My office/This greatness, splendor, power, and
strengthyis all intolerable to me, it is all hateful./I cannot govern the
people/Another calling is greater:/! was bom to be a simple singer/To glorify
the free word of God!
This excerpt contains two overt intertexts with works by Pushkin: Evgenii Onegin and
"Prorok. " First, the lines "Velich'e, pyshnost", vlast i sila/Vse mne nesnosno, vse
postylo " repeats the diction used and the emotions expressed by Pushkin's Tat iana when
she meets with Evgenii for the final time:
A mne, Onegin, pyshnost" eta,
Postyloi zhizni mishura.
Moi uspekhi v vikhre sveta.
Moi modnyi dom i vechera,
Chto V nikh? Seichas otdat" ia rada
Vsiu etu vetosh" maskarada.
Yes" etot blesk, i shum, i chad
Za polki knig, za dikii sad,
Za nashe bednoe zhilishche...
But to me, Onegin, this splendor/The tinsel of a dreaded life/M y triumphs in
the vortex of society/My fashionable house and parties/What are they to me?
Now 1 would gladly give/All the old clothes of a masquerade/All this glitter,
and noise, and fumes/For a shelf of books, for my wild garden/For our poor
home....**
Second, the last line, "Glagolom vol'nym boga slavit ," recalls the final command from
God found in Pushkin's "Prorok:" "Glagolom zhgi serdtsa liudei." The theme of divine
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,514.
” Pushkin 189.
152
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inspiration in this particular stanza is not unique within Tolstoi's oeuvre; indeed, it is
present in one of Tolstoi's first mature lyrics, entitled "Poet " (early 1840s). In this work,
earthly and spiritual life are also juxtaposed, and, much like Pushkin's persona in
"Prorok," Tolstoi's persona is given a sacred mission from God:
V zhizni svetskoi, v zhizni dushnoi
Pesnopevtsa ne uznat"!
V nem liuchnoi ravnodushnoi
Skryta bozhiia pechat".
In earthly life, in spiritual life/One does not recognize the bard!/In him God's
seal is hidden/By an indifferent personality.^
Censorship is also an underlying issue in "Ioann Damaskin. " When John enters
the monastery, he is deprived of his most beautiful attribute-his mentor forces him to
give up singing. Cognizant that John is renowned throughout Damascus for his voice, the
stem monk who gives him tonsure decides that singing promotes personal vanity and
only God must be glorified. Echoing a line from Pushkin's "Otsy pystynniki i zheny
neporochny " (specifically, "Vladyko dnei moikh! dukh prazdnosti ynyloi "), Tolstoi has
the mentor fervently proclaim that the only proper way to worship God is in silent prayer:
Kol" pod moim nachalom khochesh" byt",
Tebe soglasen dat" ia nastavlen'e.
No dolzhen ty otnyne otlozhit"
Nenuzhnykh dum besplodnoe brozhen'e;
Dukh prazdnosti i prelest" pesnopen'ia
Postom, pevets, ty dolzhen pobedit"!
1 na usta, smiriv svoiu gordyniu,
Ty nalozhi molchaniia pechat"!
Ispolni dukh molitvoi i pechal'iu—
Vot moi ustav tebe v novonachal'e.
If you want to be under my authorityyi agree to give you instruction/But you
must cease from this day forth/the ffuitless fermentation of u n n e c e ss^
noises/The spirit o f idleness and the joy of singing/During the fast, singer,
you must overcome!/.../And on your mouth, having humbled your prideVFill
your spirit with prayer and sadness-ZThis is my command to you at the outset
of your stay.®
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,56.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 521.
153
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Up until the publication of this narrative poem, Tolstoi encountered few difficulties from
the government censor. It bears repeating however, that the Holy Synod had its own
censor in Imperial Russia, and a poem based on the life of one of Orthodoxy’s most
important saints should have been carefully scrutinized by a representative from the
Church. However, just before "Ioann Damaskin" was to be printed in "Russkaia beseda,"
it was discovered that it had not been presented to the religious censor, and its publication
was temporarily halted. When the Church learned that the Empress had already read a
draft and highly approved of the text, the censors were pressured to pass the text
quickly.^
Tolstoi inserts another significant personal element in "Ioann Damaskin," one that
has not been discussed by critics: his preoccupation with death and his fascination with
the afterlife. It is highly likely that Tolstoi's decision to compose a "poema" based on the
life of John Damascene was a direct result of the deaths of his mother and uncle during
the previous year. The eighth canto of the work (called The Troparion), in which John
composes and sings a requiem for a recently deceased monk deals with death, the
afterlife and glorification of God. As opposed to the lyrics analyzed above, the eighth
canto, and indeed the entire work, is overtly Christian in tone. What makes the poem
interesting for this study is that Tolstoi employs similar diction and themes to those found
in his Spiritualist lyrics, including communication between the living and the dead. Like
the lyrics, the "Tropar" " contains references to the Testaments. Unlike the lyrics, most of
these references cannot be mistaken for the fundamentals o f Spiritualism: they are either
literal quotes from the Bible or paraphrases of certain parts o f the funeral service of the
Orthodox Church.
Tolstoi took the subject for his narrative poem from the "Chet'i minei," the Acta
Sanctorum of the Russian Church for December 4, the festival of Saint John Damascene.
The poem narrates how John, a governor and advisor in the court of the Caliph of
” Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 243-245.
154
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Damascus, abandoned his stately duties to live out his life in a monastery among the
hermits, at Kedron, near the Black Sea. In a letter to B.M. Markevich dated February 4,
1859, Tolstoi mentions reading the "Chet’i Minei" as a source for his literary work, and
expresses his indignation that some people feel that Tolstoi's John should have selected a
different subject to sing about:
A teper'— vot chto ia dolzhen otvetit" po povodu "Sv. Ioanna Damaskina." Te,
kto govorit, chto dlia svoei pesni on dolzhen byl by vziat" inoi motiv, nezheli
tot, kakoi on vzial, prosto ne chitali ego zhizni. Fust" oni otkroiut Chet'i-
Minei-oni uvidiat, chto vse bylo toctoo tak, kak iapisal.
And now-this is what I must answer in regard to "St. John Damascus." Those
who say that for his song he should have selected another motif than the one
which he chose, simply have not read his vita. Just let them open the Chet’ i-
Minei, and they will see that everything was as I have written it.®
Since Tolstoi himself acknowledges his appropriation of John's vita, the originality of the
"poema " comes into question. Kjellberg asks whether the "Tropar" " is a translation or a
paraphrase of a poem by John Damascene, or whether it can be considered an
independent creation of Tolstoi's.® He answers that it is a "very free paraphrase, a
strongly personal epitome... [and that] this paraphrastic character makes it difRcult to
accept the "Tropar" " as a personal document.^ We have already made one claim above
that Tolstoi may have been attempting to imitate icon painters who attempted not to
impart any originality or personal style onto their works. But 1 would also disagree with
Kjellberg on the issue of the "Tropar" " " not being a personal document. Instead, 1 assert
that this particular section of the narrative poem is just as personal as those parts that deal
with the freedom of art and the poet. The deaths of his mother and uncle greatly troubled
Tolstoi, and I believe that the "Tropar" " " is a form of catharsis, allowing him to purge
some of his anxieties regarding death. Whereas Tolstoi expresses his more esoteric
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 107.
” Kjellberg 46.
KjeUberg 60.
155
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tendencies in the above lyrics, in "Ioann Damaskin," he focuses specifically on the
Orthodox manner of marking death.
"Ioann Damaskin" is divided into twelve cantos, the same as the number of
Christ’ s disciples. Before the "Tropar" " in the eighth canto, there are several intertexts
between the narrative poem and the lyrics analyzed above. For example, in "V strane
luchei..." and "O, ne speshi tuda...,"" the dying persona is drawn from this world to the
next: "iz mira v mir vlekoma." Tolstoi repeats this feeling o f being drawn from one life
to the next when John yearns for a pious life outside of government service: "inym
prizvaniem vlekom /la ne mogu narodom pravit"./Prostym rozdhen ia byt" pevtsom." The
verbs "vlekom’ and "vlekoma " link these works together. A common action also binds
the lyrics to the longer poem: the dying persona and John leave one world for another.
The soul in the lyrics is leaving the world of vanity for bliss in heaven, while John resigns
his position in public service to take the vows of monastic life. Also similar is the fact
that their departures are not desired by those left behind. This position is reflected in the
very first line of the second lyric in the trilogy, "O ne speshi tuda, gde zhizn" svetlee i
chishche" (Don’ t hurry there...) and the caliph’ s attempts to retain John, "Ty primesh"
chesti torzhestvo,/ Ty budesh" nme moi brat edinyi:/Voz"mi poltsarstva m oego/ Lish"
pray" drugoiu polovinoi!"
In the third canto, the monastery is presented as a shelter from worldly life, a goal
towards which John has been striving:
Tebia, bezbumoe zhilishche,
Tebia, poznaniia kupel"
Zhiteiskikh pomyslov kladbishche
1 novoi zhizni kolybel",
Tebia privetstvuiu, pystynia,
K tebe stremilsia ia vsegda!
Bud" rrme ubezhishchem otnyne,
Priiutom pesen i truda!
Vse popecheniia mirskie
Slozhiv s sebia u etikh vrat,
Prinosit vam, ottsi sviatye,
Svoi dar i gusli novyi brat!
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You, a peaceful abode/You, a font of knowledge/A cemetery of worldly
intentions/And a cradle o f new life/I welcome you, oh monastery/1 have
always striven towards you!/Henceforth be my shelter/A sanctuary of song
and labor!/All worldly cares/Were unloaded Aom me at these gates/A new
brother brings his gift and the psalter!^'
Tolstoi's diction here is most telling; the monastery is described as a cemetery of worldly
intentions ("Zhiteiskikh pomyslov kladbishche"). To become a monk one must abandon
earth and all of its attachments— in effect, lay them to rest. Here the reader senses that
John is being pulled from one world to the next: "K tebe stremilsia ia vsegda!" In the last
four lines of the canto, Tolstoi links "Ioann Damaskin" with the lyric "V strane luchei
Upon entrance to the monastery, John desires to discard all his worldly concerns. This
act echoes the first poem in the lyric trilogy. Recall that the lyric persona in "V strane
luchei..." tells the dying persona that she will leave all her grief on earth ("Vse na zemle
ostalos' gorst'iu pyli"), that he believes that those in heaven do not listen to earthly cries
("Ne slyshny im zemnoi pechali kliki"), and can not see earthly miseries ("Ne vidny im
zemnye nishchety"). Similarly, in "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami" the recently
deceased soul notes that the souls of righteousness know neither grief nor sorrow;
"Pravednykh dushi ne znaiut ni skorbi, ni zloby."
The beginning of the fourth canto describes how the hermits of the monastery
gather to meet John:
Otshel'niki Kedronskogo potoka,
[gumen vas szyvaet na so vet!
Sbiraites' vse: prishedshii izdaleka
Vam novyi brat prinosit svoi privet!
Hermits of the Kedron groupVFather Superior calls us to council !/Everyone
gather: an arrival from far away/A new brother brings you his greeting! ®
This passage recalls how the heavenly bodies meet a newly arrived soul in the second
stanza of "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami " : "Vstrechnye tikho ee voproshali
svetila.. ." In both works, there is a recurrence of heavenly or saintly characters who
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 519-20.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. I, 520.
157
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meet a newly arrived persona from another world. Each new persona is unusually
individualistic; the soul refuses to be incorporated into the whole in heaven, while the
monks initially find it difficult to find a mentor for John because of his notoriety in the
battle for icons:
On tot pevets, mezh vsemi znamenityi,
Chto razognal ikonoborstva t'mu,
Ch'im slovom lozh' poprana i razbita.
To Ioann, sviatykh ikon zashchita—
Kto khochet byt' nastavnikom emu?
Blagosloven sei slavnyi bozhii voin,
Blagosloven mezh nas ego prikhod.
No kto zhe zdes' uchit' togo dostoin,
Kto pravdy svet vokrug sebia liet?
He is the singer who, well-known to all of us,/Dispelled the darkness of
iconoclasm,/ Whose word trampled and broke falsehood/That Ioann, defender
o f holy icons— AVho would want to be his mentor?/.../Blessed is this glorious,
divine warrior/Blessed is his arrival among us ,/But who here is worthy to
teach himyWho shines with the light of truth around him?”
John's position is unusual in that he is nearly as pious as those in the hermitage. But one
elderly monk steps forward and tells John that he will be his mentor only if the former
governor gives up singing. The elderly monk feels that silence is superior to song, even
if the lyrics glorify God; he steadfastly believes that singing is fruitless and unnecessary.
The seal of silence demanded by the elder ( "molchaniia pechat' ") recalls the
initial silence of the newly arrived soul in "Gomimi tikho letela dusha nebesami." John's
willingness to agree to his mentor's proposal illustrates his pious and submissive nature.
Despite the saint's obedience, divine inspiration slowly builds inside of him, gaining in
intensity to the point that when the proper opportunity arises, John will break his vow of
silence to sing. After his transgression, Tolstoi again depicts John as not belonging to the
community, much like the new soul in "Gomimi tikho letela...." Indeed, the severe monk
casts John out of the monastery : "Izydi, inok nedostoinyi,— /Ne v nashikh zhit" tebe
stenakh!" (Get out, unworthy one,— /You cannot live within these walls). John's
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,520.
158
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expulsion back to the parochial world is exactly what the soul in "Gomimi tikho letela..."
desires: "O, otpusti menia na zemliu...."
Divine inspiration of the poet, a theme common in Romantic works recurs
throughout "Ioann Damaskin." For example, when John pleads to be released from his
duties at court, Tolstoi describes him as being an instrument of God:
S inoiu siloiu on druzhen;
V ego grudi pylaet zhar,
Kotorym zizhdetsia sozdan'e;
Sluzhit' tvortsu ego prizvan'e.
He is on terms with another power/A fire bums in his chestyWith which
creation is foundedyTo serve the calling of his creator.^
Not surprisingly, these lines echo part of Pushkin's "Prorok":
I on mne grud' rassek mechom,
I serdtse trepetnoe vynul
I ugl', pylaiushchii ognem,
Vo grud' otverstvuiu vodvinul.
Kak trup v pystyne ia lezhal,
1 Boga glas ko mne vozzval:
"Vostan', prorok, i vizhd', i vnemli,
Ispolnis' voleiu Moei,
I, obkhodia moria i zemli,
Glagolom zhgi serdtsa liudei. "
And he clove my chest with a sword/And removed my beating heart/And into
my gaping breast/He thmst a coal, smoking with fire. I lay like a corpse in the
desert/And the voice of God called to me:/" Arise, prophet, see and hear/Be
filled with my will/And, go over the sea and land/Set afire the hearts of men
with your Word."*
Tolstoi depicts John's inspiration in dark terms. When the saint decides to break his vow
o f silence and compose a song, a black cloud descends upon him: "Chemoiu tuchei togda
na nego nizoshlo vdokhnoven'e." This description seems somewhat out of place, for the
color black often connotes something evil. However, a black cloud is also associated
with a pending storm, and John's inner desire to sing has gradually built up inside of him.
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,515.
Pushkin, vol. 2, 338.
159
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much like a coming rain. For example, in the sixth canto, John's temptation to sing is
expressed in terms of clouds:
Foroiu V tverdi goluboi
Prokhodiat tuchi nad dolinoi;
Oni kartinu za kartinoi,
Flyvia, svivaiut mezh soboi.
T ^ , V neskonchaemom dvizhen'e,
Klubitsia predo mnoi vsegda
Vospominanii chereda,
Fogibshei zhizni otiazhen’ ia;
I I'nut, i v'iutsia bez kontsa,
I vechno voliu osazhdaiut,
I onemevshego pevtsa,
Laskaias', k pesniam prizyvaiut.
At times in the firm blueness of the sky/Clouds pass over the gorge/They are
like picture after picture/Floating past, they twist among themselves/As in
endless movement/A sequence of recollections always/Swirls up before
me/Having extinguished my reflections of life/A nd they cling and twist
ceaselessly/And they are halted etemally/And caressingly, they call/The
muted singer to songs.*
In this section o f the poem, Tolstoi, using images similar to those found in Pushkin’ s
"Tucha," illustrates the seemingly unending images that well up inside of John like
passing clouds— "Oni kartinu za kartinoi/...Kliubitsia predo mnoi vsegda." Tolstoi makes
it clear however, that John's vow prevents him from singing about these images— John is
like a valley over which hang storm clouds that never actually deposit any rain
("Prokhodiat tuchi nad dolinoi").
The unseen world presented in Tolstoi's lyric "Poet" ("Mir dalekii, mir nezrimyi/
Zrit ego orlinyi vzgliad") and in the first line of the Spiritualist trilogy ("V strane luchei,
nezrimoi nashim vzorom ") is actually internalized within John of Damascus. For the
saint, the unseen world epitomizes his very soul, and to follow its callings is more noble
than becoming a mighty king: "ego dushi nezrimyi mir/ Prestolov vyshe i porfir" (the
unseen world of his soul/Is higher than thrones and regal purple).” He believes that the
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,523.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,515.
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visible aspects of nature are a fraction of its entirety, and that we shall find a true
representation of the world in the soul, the repository of all the secrets of nature:
A vse sokrovishcha prirody:
Stepei beberezhnyi prostor,
Tumanyi ocherk dal'nikh gor
I moria penistye vody,
Zemlia, i solntse, i luna,
I vsekh sozvedzdii khorovody,
I sinei tverdi giubina—
To vse odno Ush' otrazhen'e,
Lish’ ten’ tainstvennykh krasot,
Kotorykh vechnoe viden’ e
V dushe izbrannika zhivet!
But all the treasures o f nature:/The unguarded expanses of the steppe/The
foggy outline of distant peaks/And the fine water o f the sea/The earth, and
sun, and moon/The dances of every constellation/And the depth of the firm,
dark blue sea-/This is all one reflection/Only a shade of secret beauties/The
eternal vision of which/Lives in the soul of the chosen one!*
This particular passage is reminiscent of Swedenborg’s concept of inner sight, in which
he asserts that inner vision is bestowed on certain favored beings during their lifetime on
earth and they alone can perceive the workings of the soul and nature * Tolstoi expresses
this select sight in terms of poetic inspiration. He equates Divinity with Beauty, Truth
and Nature; the poet, as the servant of God, can perceive these associations. This is but
one theme that mns throughout ’ ’Ioann Damaskin, ” and is found in a number of Tolstoi’s
lyrics as well.*®
The idea that one may only uncover the totality of nature within the soul of a
chosen individual clearly predates the Symbolist concept of unveiling. The idea that
what we see is merely superficial, that there exist deeper layers of meaning below the
surface, and that one must remove these layers to reach a deeper understanding of a text
or work of art, is considered a Symbolist precept. The fact that only a chosen few
(’ ’izbraimiki”) have the ability to penetrate this world also echoes the elitist diction of the
’* Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,515.
* Jonsson 138.
Graham 35.
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Symbolists. Unlike the grieving soul in the lyrical trilogy, John is one of the chosen few
who has access to the next world ("sei chudnyi mir dostupen").
I have already discussed to what extent Lermontov influenced Tolstoi's lyrics. In
"Ioann Damaskin," one not only discovers similar diction used by Lermontov, but many
images common to the Russian Romantic period. For example, in the second canto, John
sings of the glories of nature, blessing the forests, valleys, cornfields, waters and
mountains. This glorification is expressed in the form of Beatitudes and is obviously
meant to evoke the fifth chapter of Matthew’s gospel.John's euphoria in this section is
a result of his having renounced all his worldly possessions and freeing his slaves. He
finds himself alone and destitute, traveling on a small path: "I odinokuiu tropinkuV Po
koei, nishchii, ia idu." In these two lines, Tolstoi combines images from two poems by
Lermontov: "Vykhozhu odin ia na dorogu " and "Nishchii." At this point, John desires to
become one with creation: "O, esli b mog vsiu zhizn' smeshat' ia / Vsiu dushu vmeste s
vami slit'!" The fusion of the soul with creation or God parallels the first two lines of the
final stanza of "O, ne speshi tuda..., " when the earth-bound persona proclaims his love in
similar terms: "Sliias' v odnu liubov', my tsepi beskonechnoi/ Edinoe zveno. "
The Spiritualist goal o f communication between this world and the next is also
found in "Ioann Damaskin." The process is part of the Orthodox funeral service which is
described in the eighth canto o f the "Tropar . " At the end o f the preceding section, John
is approached by a fellow monk and is asked to compose a requiem for a third monk who
has just died. Upon being told that his mentor will be away from the hermitage for three
days, John agrees to sing the service. Much like the requiem in Pushkin's tragedy
"Motsart i Salieri," John's funeral song is melancholic in tone, and at times even
despondent. There is no rejoicing for eternal life, but instead the work contains several
admonitions regarding the fleeting excesses of earthly life. Kjellberg writes that the
See Matthew 5:3-11: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom o f heaven.
Blessed are those who moum, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
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"Tropar" " is "a poem about the brevity of life, the certainty o f death, and the vanity of
human endeavors.
The "Tropar" " " adheres to ecclesiastical texts both in form and content-Church
Slavonic and Biblical passages abound throughout the c a n to .In tone it is akin to a
solemn ode, and as such is composed in iambic tetrameter with stanzas of sixteen lines.
Prince Mirskii takes note of the odic nature of " Ioann Damaskin, " asserting that there is
nothing after Derzhavin to compare with the solemn beauty o f Tolstoi s Troparion.As
we shall see, two of Derzhavin s odes even play a small role in the composition of " Ioann
Damaskin."
The "Tropar" " " is a dialogue between the living and the dead. John performs the
entire requiem by singing both parts: that of the celebrant on earth and the deceased in the
next life. John actually serves as a vessel, the means by which the deceased monk
communicates with his brethren left behind on earth. In this sense, he acts like a medium
who is able to establish contact with an individual in the next realm and communicate
with him. In the first stanza, John establishes that everything on earth is finite and full of
sorrow:
Kakaia sladost" v zhizni sei
Zemnoi pechali neprichastna?
C he ozhidane ne naprasno?
1 gde schastlivyi mezh liudei?
What joy in this life/ls not part of earthly sorrow?/Whose expectation is not in
vain?/And where is there a happy person among men?*®
The diction in these four lines recalls similar words throughout the trilogy: for example,
" zemnoi pechali kliki" and "zemnye kliki"; ""Kto budet... tvoia zabota/I kto tvoia
pechal"?""; and "la zemli ne zabyla/Mnogo ostavila tam ia stradan ia i goria." The line
“ “ Kjellberg 59.
““ See Kjellberg 53-55 for a list o f archaisms. Church Slavonic words and references to the Bible.
Prince D.S. Mirskii, A History of Russian Literature From Its Beginnings to 1900 (New York:
Vintage 1958) 233.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,526.
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"Vse pepel, prizrak, ten' i dym" (All is ash, phantom, shadow and smoke) recurs three
times in the Troparion. By repeating this phrase, John underscores the transitory nature
of earthly existence; these four elements also illustrate man’ s temporary stay on earth.
In contrast to the Spiritualist belief that heavenly life is devoid o f earthly
concerns, the end of the first stanza of the "Tropar" " presents the moment o f death in
disarming terms -regardless o f man's station on earth, he is powerless before God:
1 pered smert'iu my stoim
I bezoruzhny i bessil'ny.
Ruka moguchego slaba,
Nichtozhny tsarskie velen'ia—
Primi usopshego raba,
Gospod', V blazhennye selen'ia!
And we stand before death/Armless and weak./The hand of the powerful is
feeble/The commands of kings are nothing— ZReceive your departed
servant/Lord, into your blessed lodgings! *
Bliss is a feature shared by both the trilogy (it links two of the poems together) and
"Ioann Damaskin." As the celebrant, John concludes the first stanza, along with every
stanza of the Troparion, by imploring God to receive the faithfully departed into heaven:
"Primi usopshego raba/Gospod", v blazhennyi selen'ia. " Unlike the lyrics, John depicts
the process of final judgment. He also describes the moment of death in detail:
Kak iaryi vitiaz" smert" nashla,
Menia kak khishchnik nizloztiila,
Svoi zev razinula mogila
I vse zhiteskoe vziala.
Death found me like a furious warrior,/Like a beast it struck me down/The
grave opened its jaws/And took in all that was alive.“”
As opposed to the lyrics, in which the loved one slowly dies ("umiraia "), death is an
active force in the Troparion. It is personified and compared to a furious warrior ( "kak
iaryi vitiaz" " " ). Similarly, the grave itself comes to life with a roar and takes away all the
things of life. Both these descriptions portray death as a destructive being.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,526.
""Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,526.
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More significant is the introduction of the departed monk ("menia") in the stanza;
it is he who speaks through John and describes Death's fierce abilities. The deceased
monk begins by imploring his brethren on earth to save themselves:
Spasaites', srodniki i chada,
Iz groba k vam vzyvaiu ia,
Spasaites', brat'ia i druz'ia.
Da ne uzrite plamen' ada!
Vsia zhizn' est' tsarstvo suety,
I, dukhnoven'e smerti chuia.
My uviadaem, kak tsvety,—
Pochto zhe my miatemsia vsue?
Prestoly nashi sut' groba,
Chertogii nashi— razrushen'e...
Save yourselves, brothers and children/1 call to you from the grave/Save
yourselves, brothers and friends/So that you will not see the fire of hell!/
All life is a kingdom o f vanity/And, sensing the breath o f death/W e wither
like flowers— /Why do we squirm in vain?/Our thrones are graves/Our
palaces-are our ruin....'™
"Spasaites' " is repeated twice, conveying the immediacy of the effects of death on the
recently departed monk. The monk's location is concretized: he is speaking from beyond
the grave—"Iz groba k vam vzyvaiu ia, " which is exactly where one should find a spirit in
an esoteric search. The monk warns his fellow hermits to reform so as not to see the
flames of hell ( "Da ne uzrite plamen" ada!"); such a fate is a consequence of paying too
much attention to earthly glories ( "Prestoly nashi sut" groba "). The repetition of vanity
("suety" and "vsuse") emphasizes the monk's admonition to prepare for death in this life.
He warns that by the time one senses the breath o f death ("1, dukhnoven'e smerti chuia "),
it is too late to compensate for our mortal faults.
John details how useless material things and possessions are during one’ s life.
Recalling that Tolstoi echoes Derzhavin's "Bog" in the poem "O ne speshi tuda..., " it is
interesting to note that Tolstoi paraphrases the same ode in "Ioann Damaskin." John
exclaims that "Sred" grudy tleiushchikh kostei/Kto tsar"? kto rab? sud'ia il" voin?" The
second line recalls the antithetical line in the ninth stanza of Derzhavin's "Bog " : "la tsar —
‘°*Tolstoi. Sobranie. vol. 1, 527.
165
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ia rab— ia cherv'-ia bog!" (I am a king— I am a slave— I am a worm— I am a god!).'™
Whereas Derzhavin deals with man's earthly existence, arguing that he is a part of
divinity, Tolstoi is concerned only with man's fate in the hereafter. John sets the scene in
the first line of the stanza—"among a heap of rotting bones, " indicating that the singer will
be focusing on the dead. The equality of souls that one finds in the lyrics ("Vstrechnye"),
a definite influence of Swedenborg's writings, is also found in these two lines— indeed,
John states that all are equal after death regardless of their stations on earth. This
position is emphasized several times throughout the stanza:
O brat'ia, gde srebro i zlato?
Gde sonmy mnogie rabov?
Sredi nevedomyldi grobov
Kto est' ubogii, kto bogatyi?
Vse pepel, dym, i pyl' i prakh,
Vse prizrak, ten' i prividen'e—
Lish' u tebia na nebesakh,
Gospod', i pristan' i spasen'e!
Ischeznet vse, chto bylo plot',
Velich'e nashe budet tlen'e—
O brothers, where is the silver and the gold?/Where are the hosts of
servants?/Among the graves of the unknownAVho is poor and who is rich?/All
is ash, smoke, dust, and decay/All is phantom, shadow and spectre-/Only
with you in the heavens/Lord, is there shelter and salvation!/All that was flesh
will disappear/Our greatness will become decay.""
Even the most precious metals ( "srebro, " "zlato ") are of no consequence in heaven.
John's contrast of these material objects with ash, dust, and decay recalls a brief line in
Derzhavin's "Na smert" kniazia Meshcherskogo": "Segodnia bog, a zavtra prakh " (Today
a god, tomorrow ash)."' John's question of who is poor and who is rich in the afterlife
also parallels Derzhavin's concept that all men are equal before death."* "Tolstoi
concludes the stanza by repeating words ( "sred ," "sredi") and by using the theme foimd
Derzhavin 46.
•"’Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,527.
••• Derzhavin 76.
KjeUberg himself mentions the influence of Derzhavin's "Na smert' kniazia Meshcherskogo"
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in the opening lines; the line "Sredi nevedomykh grobov" conveys the same image of
death in the ground as the very first line, "Sred* grudi tleiushchikh kostei " — rotting bones
are found in coffîns. The gruesome picture is reinforced by the disappearance of all that
was flesh ("Ischeznet vse, chto bylo plot' "). This particular line recalls yet another poem
by Derzhavin, specifically his last work, "Reka vremen v svoem stremlen'i" (The River of
Time in its Coursing):
Reka vremen v svoem stremlen'i
Unosit vse dela liudei
I topit V propasti zabven'ia
Narody, tsarstva i tsarei.
A esli chto i ostaetsia
Chrez zvuki liry i truby.
Ta vechnosti zherlom pozhretsia
I obshei ne uidet sud'by.
The river of time in its coursing/Carries away all the deeds of me/And drowns
in the abyss of oblivion/People, kingdoms and kings ./And if something
remains/Through the sound of the lyre and the hom,/The river will devour
eternity with its mouth/And what is left will not escape the fate of everyone
else."^
In comparison to the description of the death o f the soul in the Spiritualist lyrics,
John's description is much more severe and graphic. In the first stanza John exclaims that
"Vse pepel, prizrak, ten' i dym, " and then in the second stanza this phrase is restructured
and expanded into two lines. John now sings of even more ashes ( "prakh "), as well as a
specter ( "prividen'e "). It is the latter word that is significant due to its esoteric
connotations. Tolstoi does not use the word vision ( "viden'e"), which may imply
something miraculous in canonical terms of the Christian Church. Instead, he uses
"prividen'e, " a word that can also mean ghost; while the addition of the prefix "pri "
accommodates the metrical scheme, one may argue that Tolstoi's diction clearly
illustrates his fascination with the occult during this time period.
The third stanza continues the idea of renouncing the temptations of earthly life.
John repeats the line about all earthly existence being dust and smoke, and then exhorts
Derzhavin 193-94.
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those present not to believe in such things: "Vse pepel, prakh, i dym, i ten’!/ O dnigi,
prizraku ne ver’ te!" (All is ash, dust, smoke and shadow I/O friends, do not believe in such
ghostly truths!). The third stanza then focuses on the intercession of the Mother of God
to her Son:
1 ty, predstatel'nitsa vsem!
1 ty, zastupnitsa skorbiashchim!
K tebe o brate, zdes' lezhashchem,
K tebe, sviataia, vopiem!
Moli bozhestvennogo syna.
Ego, prechistaia, moli,
Daby otzhivshii na zemli
Ostavil zdes' svoi kruchiny!
And you, the intercessor for everyone !/And you, the advocate for
mourners !/To you, to you we cry, saintly one, for our brother who lies
herel/Pray to your Divine Son/Pray to him, most pure one/So that he who
lived out his life on earth/May leave his sorrow here!""*
The use of anaphora ("1 ty"), as well as John's use of the imperative "moli," conveys a
sense of urgency. The last two lines, where John prays that by the grace of Christ the
deceased monk may leave his sorrows on earth, recalls a similar passage in the lyrical
trilogy, when the dying loved one is unable to forget her sorrow and her grieving
companion on earth. Whereas this is not desirous in the lyrics, it is certainly the wish of
the congregation that the departed monk be relieved of his sins. Note that this wish is
also reminiscent o f John's entry into the monastery, when he left behind the troubles of
the world and began a life devoid of such concerns. John's wish for the Mother of God to
intercede is also significant; indeed, she plays an important role in the denouement of
"Ioann Damaskin." The solemn beauty of John's song is soon overshadowed, however,
when his mentor appears at the end of the funeral service and decides to cast out the saint
for breaking his vow of silence.
The fact that John asks the assembly to pray to the Mother of God is but one
example of Tolstoi's fascination with the feminine side of divinity. As opposed to
Orthodoxy, this interest in the divine female was (originally) a Catholic preference.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,527.
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Throughout Tolstoi's oeuvre, one encounters the divine feminine in various forms. For
example, in the short lyric entitled "Madonna Rafaelia" (which recalls Pushkin’ s "Zhil na
svete rytsar’ bednyi"), the first stanza focuses on Mary's beauty and her role as mother:
Skloniasia k iunomu Khristu,
Ego Mariia osenila;
Liubov’ nebesnaia zatmila
Ee zemnuiu krasotu.
Bending towards the young Christ child/Mary shielded himr/Her heavenly
love was eclipsed by her earthly beauty."^
The image of a divine woman is also found in the first stanza of the lyric "Temnota i
tuman zatilaiut mne put , " where the lyric persona is searching for a female god:
Temnota i tuman zastilaiut mne put",
Noch" na zemliu vse gushche lo ^ ts ia .
No ia veriu, ia znaiu: zhivet gde-nibud",
Gde-nibud" da zhivet tsar'-devitsa!
The darkness and the fog obfuscated the path for meVNight lays down even
thicker onto the earth/But 1 believe, I know: somewhere there lives/Yes,
somewhere lives the maiden-queen!"^
Komei Chukovskii calls this poem "the key to Tolstoi's whole work.""’ Much like
"Ioann Damaskin, " " Temnota i tuman..." describes a man on a quest. Whereas John is
seeking the freedom and solitude to glorify God, the persona of the short lyric is
searching for the eternal feminine at any cost--he travels to a foreign land ("v tot krai")
and gallops forward into the darkness even when the road ends (”...v temnote poskakal/ V
tu stranu, kuda netu dorogi" ). Since Tolstoi equates feminine beauty with divinity, it
comes as no surprise to find another version of the ideal woman forever immortalized in
his narrative poem "Fortret:"
To molodoi byl zhenshchiny portret,
V grats'onznoi poze. Neskol"ko poblek on,
II", mozhet byt", pokazyval tak svet
Skvoz" kruzhevnye zanavesy okon.
“ ^Tolstoi. Sobranie. vol. 1,169.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 199.
Qtd. in Graham 76.
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Grud' ukrashal ei pozovyi buket,
Napudrennyi na plechi padal lokon,
I, (wlnyi roz, perednik iz tafty
Za konchiki nesli ee persty.
The portrait was o f a young wom an/In a graceful pose. It was slightly
fadedyOr, perhaps, the light shone/Through the lace curtains on the windows
in that way/A bouquet of poseys adorned her breast/Locks of hair fell upon
her powdered shoulders/And completely pink, an apron made o f taffeta/Was
supported/By her fingers at the ends.“*
The fact that the woman in the portrait comes to life one night before an admiring boy
only lends credence to her other-worldly status. Moreover, because she is so highly
regarded by a child whose view is yet uncorrupted, the woman's divine position is
enhanced further. All the above female images in Tolstoi’s oeuvre are iconic in nature;
Mary as divine intercessor, Mary as queen ("tsar'-devitsa"), and the image of a beautiful,
ideal woman within the boundaries of a frame all bring to mind the image of an icon.
It is not a virgin, but a prostitute whom Tolstoi features in his shortest narrative
poem entitled "Greshnitsa." This work presents yet another example o f the divine
woman, but one that is initially dissimilar to other representations. Tolstoi takes the
subject for "Greshnitsa " from Luke's Gospel, 7:37, where a sinful woman is converted by
Christ. Tolstoi alters the Biblical tale by allowing another Saint John, specifically John
of Galilee, to convert a harlot to the ways of Christ.
The central character of the poem is a prostitute who is so secure in her way of
life that she decides to challenge the teachings of Christ and his disciples. She is
described in very decadent terms:
No deva padshaia prekrasna;
Vziraia na nee, navriad
Pred siloi prelesti opasnoi
Muzhi i startsy ustoiat:
Glaza nasmeshlivy i smely,
Kak sneg Livana, zuby bely,
Kak znoi, ulybka goriacha;
Vknig stana padaia shiroko,
Skvoznye tkani drazniat oko,
S nagogo spushcheny plecha.
“ * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,547.
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But the fallen woman is beautiful/Gazing upon her/M en and the elders can
barely resist her/Due to the power of her charm:/Her eyes are mocking and
b o ld ^ e r white teeth are like the snow of Lebanon/Her burning smile is akin
to sultriness/Around her figure, widely fall/Transparent fabrics, lowered from
her naked shoulder/Terapt the eye."®
This woman is unlike any encountered in Tolstoi's woiks. Her profession is given in the
third canto— "Sidit bludnitsa moloda." Her manner of dress is reveaUng ("Skvoznye tkani
drazniat oko/S nagogo spushcheny plecha"), and attracts the attention of all the men
present regardless of their age. In addition to her physical sins, what makes the prostitute
even more unlikable is her blatant pride. In front of a banquet, she boasts to John that her
way of life is superior to Christ's;
Ty tot, chto uchit otrechen'iu—
Ne veriu tvoerau uchen'iu,
Moe nadezhnei i vemei!
Menia smutit' ne mysli nyne,
Odin skitavshiisia v pustyne,
V poste provedshii sorok dnei!
Lish' naslazhden'em ia vlekoma,
S postom, s molitvoi neznakoma,
la veriu tol'ko krasote,
Sluzhu vinu i potseluiam.
Moi dukh toboiu ne volnuem,
Tvoei smeius' ia chistote!
You who teach abstinence— /I do not believe in your teaching/Mine is more
reliable and believeable !/Other ideas do not disturb me/Wandering alone in
the desert/Having fasted for forty days!/l am only attracted to pleasure/l am
unacquainted with fasting and with prayer/I believe only in beauty/I serve
wine and kisses,/My spirit is not excited by you/1 laugh at your purity !“
The sinner's ravings against the ways of Christ would seem to indicate that she is not one
reflection of Tolstoi's ideal woman. Tolstoi dispels this reservation when she is
eventually converted to the ways of Christ after encountering Him and John:
1 uzhas eiu ovladel.
I kak ona voskhod svoi iasnyi
Grekhom mrachila ezhechasno;
I, V pervyi raz gnushaias' zla.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,509.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1 ,510.
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Ona V tom vzore blagodatnom
I kani dniam svoim razvratnym,
I miloserdie prochla.
I, chuia novoe nachalo,
Eshche strashas' zemnykh prepon,
Ona, kolebliasia, stoiala...
And horror possessed her./. ./And she grew somber at her clear rising/Because
of the sin she committed every hour;/And, for the first time she abhorred
eviiyShe, in that gracious gaze/Could read both punishment and mercy for
her days of debauchery VAnd, sensing a new beginning/Still frightened of
earthly obstacles/She, shaking, stood up....^^
The critic Shchebal'skii writes that this moment of conversion occurs in a
supernatural manner; "...pererozhdenie sovershaetsia sverkh 'estestvennym obrazom i,
sledovatel'no, ne poddaet analizu" (...[the prostitute's] rebirth is accomplished in a
supernatural manner and, it follows, does not lend itself to analysis).'^ This assessment
is not entirely accurate: Tolstoi describes in detail the emotions and pain experienced by
the harlot. The healing process is described in frightening ("1 uzhas eiu ovladel") and
uneasy terms ("Ona, kolebliasia, stoiala"). The prostitute's revelation about her depraved
way of life is similar in tone to the deceased monk's description of his journey in the
afterlife in "Ioann Damaskin." The process of death and judgment is not easy for the
monk— he understands that the flames of hell are a reality and that his actions on earth
were not always conducive to a peaceful everlasting life. Likewise, the sinful prostitute's
conversion (she is later described as abhorring evil— "gnushaias' zla") is not a matter of
simple forgiveness by Christ or John. The actual road to her betterment is difficult; she is
still scared of earthly obstacles ( "Eshche strashas' zemnykh prepon "), she is on the edge
of distress ( "...na grani sokrushen'ia"), and finally throws herself hysterically at the sacred
feet of Christ ("1 pala nits ona, rydaia,/ Pered sviatyneiu Khrista").
The theme o f rehabilitating a prostitute is found in a fairly large number of works
in Russian literature of the nineteenth century. Olga Matich, in her article "A Typology
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,512.
Shchebal’skii 100.
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o f Fallen Women in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature," enumerates several
examples in which the salvation of a prostitute is a central e v e n t.I n even greater detail,
Alexander Zholkovsky, in a supplementary chapter to his book Babel'/BabeL not only
outlines the significance prostitution plays in Babel's oeuvre, but also traces the history
and relevant invariants o f prostitution in Russian literature from Gogol' and Dostoevskii
to GorTdi and Kuprin.^^
O f all the nineteenth-century works featuring prostitutes, Nikolai Nekrasov's
poem "Kogda iz nuaka zabliuzhden'ia" (1846) most readily lends itself to comparison
with Tolstoi's "Greshnitsa " In fact. 1 propose that "Kogda iz mraka zabliuzhden'ia" is a
secular version of the obviously Christian-toned "Greshnitsa " In fact, Tolstoi
polemicized with Nekrasov as their relationship slowly disintegrated in the 1850s, and by
1856, Tolstoi stopped offering anything for publication to Nekrasov's "Sovremennik "
As such, Tolstoi, who rarely entered into the heated literary debates of his time, may have
used "Greshnitsa" to engage Nekrasov in a poetic dialogue.
In "Kogda iz mraka zabluzhden'ia," Nekrasov's persona describes the
rehabilitation of a prostitute in decidedly non-ecclesiastical terms: instead of the
miraculous conversion that is found later in "Greshnitsa," Nekrasov's harlot is saved by
direct intervention of a philanthropic man: "Kogda iz mraka zabluzhden'ia/Goriachim
slovom ubezhden'ia/Ia dushu padshuiu izvlek..." (When 1 extricated a fallen soul/From
the darkness of deceit/ With an impassioned word...).'^ This direct and physical
intervention by Nekrasov's male saviour directly contrasts with the more passive role
which Tolstoi's Christ plays in "Greshnitsa' In fact, the active presence of Nekrasov's
Olga Matich, "A Typology o f Fallen Women in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature,"
American Contributions to the Ninth International Congress of Slavists. ed. Paul Debreczeny (Columbus:
Slavica, 1983) 325-344.
124
A.K. Zholkovskii and M.B. lampol'skii, Babel /Babel (Moscow: Carte Blanche, 1994) 317-368.
N. A. Nekrasov, Polnoe sobranie stikhotvorenii v tiekh tomakh (Leningrad: Sovetskii pisatel',
1967) 101.
Both Tolstoi's and Nekrasov's works correspond roughly to "Model H," as described in 173
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male saviour is indicated by the repetition of the first-person pronoun ("ia") four times.
Despite their disparate natures, the male saviours in both works are equally forgiving:
Tolstoi's prostitute reads absolution on the face of Christ, while Nekrasov’ s male persona
proclaims, "la vse prostil i vse zabyl" (1 have forgiven and forgotten everything).
Another element common to both works is a crowd of people who ostracize the
prostitute. While Tolstoi does not deal with the crowd's rude behavior, Nekrasov's male
persona tells the fallen woman: "Ne ver* tolpe— pustoi i Izhivoi" (Do not believe the
crowd— it is petty and deceitful).
As opposed to the decadent manner Tolstoi uses to depict his prostitute, Nekrasov
couches his description of the woman and her profession in very base and unflattering
terms that are typical to the realist movement: she curses ("prokliala"), sex for money is
considered a vice Cporok"), and punishment ("kaznia") is everpresent. Finally, while
both male personae are successful in converting the prostitutes, the womens' respective
fates are quite different. Tolstoi implies that his prostitute becomes a disciple of Christ,
for she falls at His feet begging for forgiveness. In contrast, Nekrasov's prostitute is
invited to enter regular society as the wife o f the man who saved her: "I v dom moi smelo
i svobodno/Khoziakoi polnoiu voidi!" (And enter into my home/Boldly and freely as my
wife). This disparity underscores my belief that the two poems are in fact, part o f a
dialogue between the foremost poet of the realist school, and one of the few writers who
advocated "art-for-art's sake."
Tolstoi's worship of the divine female is largely a reflection of his love for his
wife Sofia Andreevna. The two met towards the end of 1850, an experience Tolstoi
records in his poem "Sred' shumnogo bala" (1851). Because Sofia was married, their
relationship was not formalized in marriage until 1863, after her husband had died.
Matich's article, where there is a female victim and a male redeemer.
Nekrasov 102.
174
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Tolstoi's feelings for Sofia were akin to worshipping a divine being, and his intense love
for Sofia is the foundation for many of his lyrics of the 1850s and 1860s.
Tolstoi’s elevation of a woman to divine status predates the widespread Russian
interest in Sophiology at the turn of the century. Sophiology, as a Russian institution,
originates with the writings of Vladimir Solov'ev, who, as I have already noted in the
previous two chapters of my dissertation, was greatly interested in Tolstoi's works.
Solov'ev himself claimed to have been visited by the Divine Sophia on three occasions.
These visits not only led to Solov'ev producing philosophical theories on Sophia and
Godmanhood, but also four poems: "My Tsarina has a Tall Palace" (1875-76), "The Eye
of Eternity" (1897), "Das Ewig Weibliche" (1898) and "Three Farewells" (1898).'^
Tolstoi's depiction of the divine woman in various incarnations parallels certain
poems by Aleksandr Blok. lampol'skii writes of the uniqueness of the divine woman in
Tolstoi's oeuvre, and how, in part, Tolstoi's version gave way to Blok's own in the
twentieth century: "etogo iavleniia, vo vsiakom sluchae v takoi oshchutitel'noi forme, net
ni u Feta, ni u Polonskogo, ni u drugikh sovremennikov Tolstogo. Lish' v XX v., ...one
poluchilo blestiashchee razvitie v poezii Aleksandra Bloka " (This manifestation, in any
case in such a tangible form, can be found neither in the works of Fet, Polonskii, nor in
the writings of any other contemporary of Tolstoi. Only in the twentieth century, ...did it
undergo a brilliant development in the poetry of Aleksandr Blok).‘ ^ Whereas Tolstoi
was in love with an actual woman named Sofia, Blok worshipped the Divine Sophia in
the person of Liubov" Mendeleeva. Dmitrii Zhukov writes of Blok's knowledge of
Tolstoi's works: "Uvlekalsia Tolstym... Blok... kotoryi znal ego stikhotvoreniia naizust",
ot doski do doski " (Blok was deeply interested in Tolstoi... and knew his poetry by heart
from cover to c o v e r).In fact, Blok mentions Tolstoi in his writings some fifteen times.
For more details on the life, works, and philosophy of Solov'ev, see Samuel D. Cioran,
Vladimir Solov’ ev and the Knighthood of the Divine Sophia (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 1977).
lampol'skii, introduction, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii by A.K. Tolstoi, 24.
Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 379. 175
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Like Tolstoi, Blok's divine woman had various incarnations. His 1902 verses on
the Beautiful Lady feature a woman who miraculously appears in streams of light. In
contrast, Blok's "Neznakomka" (1906) is generally interpreted as the Beautiful Lady in a
fallen state; like Tolstoi's "Greshnitsa, " the female persona in "Neznakomka" is a
prostitute. In addition to featuring prostitutes as central rigures, both works share other
similar characteristics. Both works have a lengthy physical description of the prostitute,
from their revealing features to their sparkling jewelry. For example, Tolstoi's prostitute
wears revealing fabrics ( "skvoznye tkani"), as does Blok's ("ee uprugie shelka"). The
drunken persona found in "Neznakomka " inspects the prostitute with his eyes ( "Smotriu
za tenmuiu vual" "), while old and young men ogle the sinner in Tolstoi's narrative poem
("Muzhi i startsi ustoiat ").
Both poets place wine at the forefront of the text. Tolstoi's prostitute is portrayed
as indulging in wine ("Mezh nimi, chashu osushaia/ Sidit bludnitsa molodaia"), she
boldly offers John of Galilee a cup of the wine ("I smelo vystupiv vpered,/ Prishel'tsu s
derzkoiu ulybkoi/ Fial shipiashchii podaet"), and foam from the wine covers the rings on
her ringers ("I pena legkaia vina/ Po kol'tsami ruk ee bezhala"). In Blok's
"Neznakomka, " the male persona is drunk on red wine. Its color and the drunken man's
reflection in the glass of wine are important elements of the poem, serving to distort
reality. Even more significant is that both Tolstoi's prostitute and Blok's male persona
view wine as some sort of ultimate master or truth. Blok's drunkard believes in wine ( "In
vino veritas"), while Tolstoi's prostitute worships it ("Sluzhu vinu... "). Ultimately, Blok's
persona undercuts himself when he states; "la znaiu, p'ianoe chudovishche— istina v
vine/n' eto tol'ko snitsia rime?" In contrast, Tolstoi undercuts the prostitute's assertion by
having her convert to the ways o f Christ.
In "Neznakomka," Blok reverses speciric actions found in Tolstoi's "poema. " In
"Greshnitsa, " the prostitute is sitting and drinking when John of Galilee enters the hall.
176
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His entrance is described in heavenly terms: "On svetel, kak arkhangel bozhii" (He shines
like an archangel of God). Blok reverses this sequence— a drunken man who sits and
observes the prostitute, whose appearance is described in strange terms: "Devichii stan,
shelkami skhvachennyiyv tumannom dvizhetsia okne" (The young lady's figure,
wrapped in silks/Moves in the hazy window). The woman's appearance through the
window can be explained by the male persona's drunken state. However, such an
explanation is not feasible in Tolstoi's "Greshnitsa": here, the sinner actually experiences
a divine vision. This miraculous process is given little explanation because "[Tolstoi's]
intent in the poem was to portray a miracle, not to explain it.""' Given the affinities
between the two works, as well as Blok's familiarity with Tolstoi's oeuvre, it is likely that
Blok consciously or subconsciously places many elements from "Greshnitsa " in his poem
"Neznakomka."
The miracle that the prostitute experiences in "Greshnitsa " results in her
conversion to a pious way of life. The final vision described by the deceased monk in
"Ioann Damaskin" has the same edifying purpose: to cause the monks on earth to scom
their earthly desires. The dead monk concludes the Troparion by describing to his
brothers on earth his journey towards eternal life:
Idu V neznaemyi ia put",
Idu mezh strakha i nadezhdy;
Moi vzor ugas, ostyla grud".
Ne vneralet slukh, somknuty vezhdy;
Lezhu bezglasen, nedvizhim.
Ne slyshu bratskogo rydan'ia,
1 ot kadila sinii dym
Ne mne struit blagoukhan'e;
No vechnym snom poka ia spliu,
Moia liubov" ne umiraet,
1 eiu, brat'ia, vas moliu.
Da kazhdyi k godpodu vzyvaet:
Gospod" ! V tot den', kogda truba
Vostrubit mira prestavlen'e,-
Primi usopshego raba
V tvoi blazhennye selen'ia!
"'D alto n 115.
177
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I move along an unknown path^I move between fear and hope^My sight is
extin^shed, my breast is coId/My ears do not hear, my eyelids are closed/I
am lying voiceless, im m obile/I cannot hear the brethren sobbing/And the
pouring of the fragrance from the censer’ s blue smoke/But though I sleep the
eternal sleep/M y love is not dead/And with that love, I pray for you
brothers/Each one of you should call to God: "Lord! On that day when the
trumpet will sound the end of the world,--/Accept your departed servant/into
your blessed habitations !
The diction found in this stanza parallels that found in the lyrical trilogy above,
specifically in the second stanza o f "V strane luchei . "Ne slyshnyi im zemnoi pechali
kliki/Ne vidny im zettmye nishchety" is repeated by the deceased monk: "Moi vzor ugas,"
"Ne vnemlet slukh," and "Ne slyshu bratskogo rydan'ia."
In "Ioann Damaskin," Tolstoi presents the reader with two more visions: one
experienced by John on his road to the monastery, the other by John’ s stem mentor.
These visions are examples of what Kotliarevskii calls Tolstoi's ability to "...escape from
reality to a world of his im agining...."W hereas the reader encounters visions of the
esoteric type in "S tekh por kak ia odin...," the visions in "Ioann Damaskin" are Christian
in nature. John's vision is of the son of God: "la zriu ego peredo mnoiu/S tolpoiu
bednykh rybakov/On tikho, mimoiu stezeiu/Idet mezh zreiushchikh khlebov." Christ is
walking among fields of grain with his disciples— this description complements John's
departure from the caliph, when he was walking among nature, praising God for its
beauty. The second vision is of the appearance of the Virgin Mary before John's mentor.
Here, Mary chastises the elder for prohibiting John to proclaim the word of God:
On, chuzhdyi mini, chuzhdyi brat'iam,
Lezhit, prostert pered raspiat'em.
I smert' k sebe on prizyvaet,
I shepchet mrachnye slova,
I startsu viditsia viden'e:
Razverzsia vdrug utesov svod,
I razlilos' blagoukhan'e,
I ot nevidimykh vysot
Sobranie. vol. 1,528.
Qtd. in Graham 35.
178
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V peshcheru padaet siian'e.
I V trepetnykh ego luchakh,
Odezhdoi zvezdnoiu blistaia,
lavilas' deva presviataia
S mladentsem spiashchim na rukakh.
Iz sveta chudnogo siiiannyi,
Ee nebesno-krotok vid.
"Pochto ty gonish' Ioanna?
He, devoid of peace, lacking brothers/Lies prone before the pierced oneV.../
He beckons death to come to him /And he whispers dark words/.../And the
elder experiences a vision:/An arch of crags suddenly opens wide/And a
blessed sound flowed/And from unseen heights/Radiance fell upon the
cave/And in its quivering rays/Shining in starry cIothing/A heavenly maiden
appeared/With a sleeping child in her hands/Sent from a world of
miracles/Her image was heavenly and meek/"Why are you driving John
out?"'^
As in the Troparion, death is an integral feature of this stanza. The monk calls on death
to take him ("I smert' k sebe on prizyvaet ") and lies prone like the dead monk who was
just buried ("Lezhit prostert pered raspiat'em "). Instead of death, a symbol of eternal life
appears: the Mother of God commands the monk to permit John to continue his singing
because it glorifies God. Note that Mary does not appear alone, but with the Christ child
("S mladentsem sliashchim na rukakh "). This image is similar to that found in Tolstoi's
lyric "Madonna Rafaelia," which was already discussed above. Both John's and his
mentor's visions are clearly Christian. They also underscore the divine nature of John as
an instrument of God. Not only does he himself experience a miraculous vision, but
Mary intercedes for him as well. While these events are presented from a Christian point
of view, one should not forget that visions ate also a significant part of the esoteric.
Swedenborg claimed to have had several visions of Christ and even claimed to have
communicated with angels as a child.Spiritualists claim that if a strong enough link
between this world and the next is achieved, ectoplasmic materialization of spirits is
possible. Recall the last lines of the lyric "S tekh por kak ia odin,..," when the earth-
bound persona asks his "sister" in the next world whether or not she can see him: "I
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,532.
'” Jonsson 125.
179
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viditsia l 'tebe tuinannyi obraz brata, / S ulybkoi grustnoiu sklonennyi nad toboi?" In this
instance and in the monk's vision, Tolstoi even uses the same verb— "viditsia."
A vision depicted purely in Christian terms is also found in Tolstoi's "Greshnitsa "
In this narrative poem, John of Galilee reforms a bold prostitute without uttering a word,
instead using his powerful glance to induce a vision within the woman, causing her to see
her life as one full of vice and debauchery:
I byl tot vzor kak luch dennitsy,
I vse otkrylcsia emu,
IV serdtse sumrachnom bludnitsy
On razognal nochnuiu t'mu;
Vnezapno stalaei poniatna
Nepravda zhizni sviatotanoi,
Vsia lozh' ee porochnykh del,
I uzhas eiu ovladel.
And that gaze was like a ray of dawn/And all was opened to him /And in the
dark heart of the fomicatress/He cast out the nocturnal darkness;/.../Suddenly
it became clear to her/The wrongdoings of her sacrilegious life/The entire lie
of her depraved deeds/And horror possessed her.^*
Both the monk and the prostitute are severely affected by their respective visions— the
monk trembles when he rises ("Vstaet vstrevozhnyi monakh "), and the prostitute shakes
while standing ("Ona, kolebaias', stoiala").
As a result of Mary's appearance, John's mentor retracts his condition and
immediately commands the saint to sing: "Vospoi zhe, stradalets, voskresnuiu pesn'!"
Having applied his craft to the deceased, John now praises the Word of God, dormant in
him and in the world for so long:
To slyshen vsiudu plesk narodnyi.
To likovan'e khristian,
To slavit rechiiu svobodnoi
I khvalit V pesniakh Ioann.
What is heard everywhere is the splash of the people/And the exultation of
Christians/John glorifies all by his free speech/And praises all in his songs.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 512.
Tolstoi. Sobranie. vol. 1,534.
180
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Song, which makes the heavenly hosts indifferent in the lyrical trilogy, is a positive force
in "Ioann Damaskin." It is a constructive and edifying power that sweeps tfirough the
land, crushing the enemies of Christ: "Ona gromit, kak bozhii mechyVo prakh
protivnikov Khristovykh" (It thunders like a god's sword/And turns to ash the enemies of
Christ).'^
IV. Conclusions
Tolstoi’ s fascination with the esoteric is not limited to Spiritualism and the
theories of Swedenborg. In the 1860s, Tolstoi avidly read about magnetism and became
enthralled with Schopenhauer's theory of reincarnation and nirvana. Immortality is an
issue that Tolstoi seriously contemplated, especially toward the end of his life, when he
suffered from recurring bouts of severe respiratory illness. We will explore these topics
and their place in Tolstoi's oeuvre in the following chapter, focusing on his drama-in
verse Don Zhuan and his narrative poem " Alkhimik."
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. I, 534. 181
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IV. The Faustian Factor:
Don Zhuan and "The Alchemist"
"...jeder Don Juan endet als Faust and
jeder Faust als Don Juan."
~F. Hebei
In Don Juan: Variations on a Theme. J.W. Smeed writes that Don Juan is a
character who
...is bound to provoke strong feelings for or against him and who invites
constant reinterpretation as moral views and circumstances change. No doubt,
second- and third-rate minds [are] drawn to him for the wrong reasons, seeing
in this universally familiar character an easy option which seem[s] to reduce
the need for original invention... But more exacting and fastidious writers
[ajre drawn to this well-worn theme for precisely the opposite reason: because
it challenge[s] them to perceive and reveal fresh meaning in it....'
Smeed's statement is apropos both for detractors and supporters of Tolstoi's Don Zhuan.
Many literary critics view the play as an unoriginal imitation of previous works in the
Don Juan myth. Tolstoi himself is generally accepted as a second-rate or lesser writer,
and the criticism of his contribution to the Don Juan legend tends to follow suit. In
contrast, there are some critics who consider Tolstoi's Don Zhuan to be a significant
reworking of the Don Juan legend. For example, N.M. Sokolov writes: "Don-Zhuan gr.
A.K. Tolstago odno iz samykh "obdiunannykh" proizvedenii literatiuy, chto v osnove ego
lezhit izuchenie vsekh i vsiakikh versii ispanskoi legendy, chto poet v svoem geroe ulovil
obshchechelovecheskii smysl etogo tipa" (Coimt A.K. Tolstoi's Don Zhuan is one o f the
most deliberate works of literature, at its foundation lies the study of any and all versions
o f the Spanish legend, that the poet, in his protagonist, has captured the meaning of a type
common to all mankind).- Don Zhuan. however, is much more than a result of Tolstoi's
study of the Don Juan tradition-it also uses many aspects of the Faustian myth,
especially Goethe's Faust. In fact, Goethe's drama is tantamount to the Don Juan myth
for understanding Tolstoi's play. By introducing Faustian characters, and combining
' Qtd. in James Mandreil, Don Juan and the Point of Honor: Seduction. Patriarchal Society, and
Literary Tradition (University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 1992) 34.
^ Sokolov 40.
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themes and motifs from both the Juan legend and Faust Tolstoi produces a play that is
unprecedented in the Don Juan tradition. It is in this manner that Tolstoi succeeds in
contributing, to use Smeed's own words, "hesh meaning" to the legend of Don Juan.
This chapter examines just how Tolstoi accomplished this monumental task. As
such, I will examine a number of invariants and variants from both the Don Juan and
Faust legends found within Tolstoi's play. As in previous chapters, how the fantastic
functions in the play is central to my analysis. Special emphasis will be placed upon
mystical and supernatural elements, and how they relate to other wodcs within Tolstoi's
oeuvre, particularly his narrative-in verse "Alkhimik" ( "The Alchemist," 1867), an
unfinished work that also delves into a number of Faustian themes, from eternal life to
magical elixirs, and from ideal love to man's thirst for knowledge.
I Tolstoi's Place in the Don .T u an Tradition
In The Theater of Don Juan. Oscar Mandel writes that "[Don Juan] is not and
never was a god; his life does not explain cosmic phenomena, and yet, like Faust, he has
almost the stature of one of the immortals of the classical pantheon because he is the
incarnation of a fundamental human drive In Don Zhuan. Aleksei Tolstoi recognizes
the special affinity between these two literary characters by weaving together the
adventures of the Spanish "burlador " with the indomitable spirit found in the German
alchemist. In short, Tolstoi fuses the two characters into one being: Don Zhuan is
Tolstoi's protagonist who also assumes many of Faust's characteristics and aspirations.
In his extensive study, Mandel mentions in passing the existence of Tolstoi's play,
but admits to not having read it because no English translation exists. He merely
supposes that the play is, in many ways, an imitation of several works that had preceded
it. Had he read Tolstoi's version, he would likely have amended his rather absolute
^ Oscar Mandel, ed., The Theatre of Don Juan: A Collection of Plavs and Views. 1636-1963
(Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1963) 10.
183
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statement that is cited above. Indeed, by imbuing Zhuan with many of Faust's traits, and
by introducing Satan and the celestial spirits into his play, Tolstoi broadens the spectrum
in which his Don Zhuan lives, loves, and dies. With these additions, Tolstoi certainly
attempts to explain cosmic phenomena, especially how the powers of good and evil
impact the lives of men on earth through an intermediate astral force. Tolstoi's Zhuan is
certainly not a god, but his resurrection, reformation, and monastic life imply a saintly
status. These facts, combined with Zhuan's ultimate recognition of true love, assure him
of immortal status, not only in religious terms, but in the literary pantheon as well.
Very few authors have featured Don Juan and Faust within one and the same
work. For example, in Don Juan und Faust (1829). Christian Dietrich Grabbe depicts
how Faust and Don Juan compete for the love of Donna Anna, with Faust ultimately
killing her. Similarly, the first section of Eugen Robin's dramatic poem "Livia " (1836),
has Faust and Don Juan first confront one another, and then calmly discuss their
respective natures. Théophile Gautier's poem "LaComedie de la Mort" (1838) also
features Faust and Don Juan as the principal characters. The structure of this work is
unique in the Faustian legend. It actually involves Gautier himself conducting a series of
interviews with Faust and Don Juan, resulting in the conclusion that science is a better
pursuit than love.
Even fewer writers have attempted to combine Faust and Don Juan into one
character. The first author to do so was Nikolas Vogt in his drama Der Farberhof oder
die Buchdruckerei in Mavnz (The Farber's Yard or The Bookprinterv in Mavnz. 1809).
In this work, Faust assumes some of Don Juan's characteristics. Yet the play lacks unity,
and J. W. Smeed calls it "an indigestible mixture of the two legends."^ Smeed's opinion
of Vogt's drama directly contrasts with his brief review of Tolstoi's Don Zhuan.
Although he offers little analysis of Tolstoi's play, Smeed labels it "...the most ambitious
* J. W. Smeed, Faust in Literature (Westport: Greenwood P, 1975) 168. Chapter eight analyzes
the few works in which Faust and Don Juan are combined into one persona, or featured together. ^
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attempt to work motifs from the Faust legend into a Don Juan drama... While Smeed's
critical remadrs regarding Tolstoi's play are certainly positive, what is important to stress
is that Tolstoi and Vogt are combining Faust and Don Juan in two very different ways;
whereas Vogt's Faust assumes some of Don Juan's qualities, Tolstoi's Don Zhuan takes
on some o f Faust's characteristics. Faust is still the protagonist of Vogt's play, while Don
Zhuan is the hero of Tolstoi's work.
With regard to the Don Juan tradition itself, the Russian literary context offers a
limited number of works that deal directly with it; aside from Tolstoi's play, they include:
Aleksandr Pushkin's "Kammenyi gost' " ("The Stone Guest, " 1830), Nikolai Gumilev's
"Don Zhuan v Egipte " ( "Don Juan in Egypt"), and Vladimir Fetrovskii's Smert" Don
Zhuana (The Death of Don Zhuan. 1929). O f these, only Pushkin's miniature tragedy has
received extensive scholarly attention, while the remaining works, including Tolstoi's,
have been largely ignored. This chapter attempts to rectify that oversight.
Tolstoi completed and published Don Zhuan after several revisions. It is
important to stress that two versions of the play exist. The initial printing in "Russkii
vestnik " (1859-60, published 1862) is usually referred to as the complete work, whereas
the more commonly known 1867 edition excises the last scene and the entire epilogue.
Without these last parts, the play is decidedly unbalanced. In its original form, there is a
prologue in heaven, an interlude in a cemetery where a conversation takes place between
Satan and some celestial spirits, and an epilogue featuring a Anal battle between good and
evil as well as a scene in a monastery that reveals Don Zhuan's ultimate fate.
I have chosen to deal with the original and complete version, for I feel it more
correctly represents Tolstoi's religious and philosophical views. Equally important, the
removal of the Anal scenes and the epilogue changes the semantics of the play entirely.
While in the initial version Zhuan is saved, he is damned in the revised version. The
epilogue in particular holds special meaning for the play and its place in the Don Juan
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tradition. Despite the richness o f the complete form of the play, Tolstoi felt his work ill-
suited for the stage, and in actuality, it has been performed on only a few occasions and
never in the poet's lifetime.®
Rather than focusing on dramatic elements, Tolstoi is more concerned with
disseminating his religious attitudes in Don Zhuan. As such, the play is heavily laden
with Christian and esoteric issues. In this regard, the play is emblematic o f the double or
dual faith found in Tolstoi's oeuvre, and as such, it represents the core of Tolstoi's poetic
world. That several esoteric elements are present is not surprising, considering that Don
Zhuan was conceived in the late 1850s during Tolstoi's exposure to Spiritualism and his
tenure on the Imperial committee on religious sects. The concept of a Spanish romance is
also not a solitary one among Tolstoi's works. In fact, the poem "Zhelanie byt'
ispantsem" ("A Wish to be a Spaniard, " 1854), which was written with his cousins in the
guise of Koz'ma Prutkov, features events similar to those found in Don Zhuan. including
an evening serenade on balcony, a rendezvous at a fountain, and the concept of an eternal
ideal.
With regard to originality, there is no doubt that Tolstoi was influenced by his
predecessors in the Don Juan legend. As it is impossible not to compare his dramatic
trilogy with Pushkin's Boris Godunov, it would be unquestionable to avoid comparing
Don Zhuan with Pushkin's "Kamennyi Gost' " ( "The Stone Guest," 1830). In addition to
the Manara legend, Tolstoi was also familiar with Moliere's play Dom Juan ou le Festin
de Pierre. E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Don Juan," and Mozart's H dissoluto punito ossia Don
Giovanni. In fact, Tolstoi dedicates his play to the latter two figures: "Drama budet
posviashchena pamiati Motsarta i Gofmana, kotoryi pervym uvidel v Don-Zhuane
^ Joseph Gatto calls the play a "closet drama," noting that Tolstoi himself felt that "the drama was
not written for the stage, although with a few light changes it can be presented in the theatre." See Gatto's
dissertation, The Dramas of A.K. Tolstoi (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1963) 25. In contrast, and perhaps not
surprisingly, Don Zhuan was popular in Germany, where the Faustian feanires were no doubt well-
received. This acclaim was due in large part to Tolstoi's confidant, correspondent and critic, Karolina
Pavlova, who also translated other works by Tolstoi into German.
186
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iskatelia ideala, a ne prosto guliaku" (This drama will be dedicated to the memory of
Mozart and Hoffinaim, who first saw in Don Zhuan the seeker of the ideal and not the
rake)/
The first instance of Tolstoi appropriating elements from the Don Juan myth
occurs not in the play proper, but in the epigraph, which he takes from Hoffmaim's "Don
Juan":
No takovo neschasmoe posledsvie grekhopadeniia, chto vrag poluchil silu
podsteregat’ cheloveka i stavit' emu zlye lovushki dazhe v ego stremlenii k
vysshemu, v kotorom skazyvaetsia ego bozhestvennaia priroda. Eto
stolknovenie bozhestvennykh i demonicheskikh sil obuslovlivaet poniatie
zemnoi zhizni, tochno tak zhe, kak oderzhaimaia pobeda— poniatie zhizni
nezemnoi.
But this is the terrible result of the fall of man that the enemy retained the
power to lie in wait for man, and to set evil snares in the midst of that struggle
toward the highest which reveals man's divine nature. This conflict of divine
and demonic powers creates the concept of earthly life, just as the victorious
battle produces— the concept of supernatural life.^
In some ways, the epigraph is a miniature of Tolstoi’ s Don Zhuan. N.M. Sokolov states
that "My ne stali by ostanaviivat’ sia naepigrafe... poemy, esli by on ne daval nam kliucha
k zagadochnomu shifhi dramy" (We would not dwell on the epigraph... if it did not give
us the key to the enigma of the drama).’ In a very general sense, Tolstoi models his
protagonist on Hoffmann's version: the Spaniard is no longer just a conqueror o f women
or a rapist like many o f the Don Juans that precede him; instead, his many romantic
rendezvous are steps leading toward a definite goal: discovering tranquil and genuine
love. This is the underlying theme of the play— Zhuan is repeatedly frustrated and
disappointed with each woman he encounters because he seeks perfection. It is only
towards the end o f the play that he realizes that the ideal woman does not exist on earth,
and that Donna Anna actually represents genuine and real love.
’ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,113. It should be noted that it was Lorenzo da Ponte who actually
wrote the libretto for Mozart's Don Giovanni.
* Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,7.
’ Sokolov 140-41.
187
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Despite the immediate influences of Hoffmann, Moliete, and Pushkin, Tolstoi's
Don Zhuan differs in certain ways from his forerunners. For example, Dmitrii Zhukov
writes: "Mol'erovskii Don-Zhuan-kholodnyi tsinik, pushkinskii Don Guan-chelovek
uvlekaiushchiisia, on vliubliaetsia vsiakii raz, sovershaia zlo bezotchetno, i gibnet na
poroge schast’ ia, karaemyi besputnym proshlym" (Moliere's Don Juan is a cold cynic,
Pushkin's Don Juan is a man who gets carried away, he falls in love every time,
commiting evil and accounting to no one, and perishes on the threshold of happiness,
punished for his dissolute past).^° In contrast, Tolstoi's Zhuan was neither bom a cynic,
nor does he die one. Moreover, he does find happiness, albeit too late to enjoy it, dies,
becomes the prize in a battle between Satan and celestial spirits, is then resurrected, and
ultimately lives out his new life by doing penance for his previous abberations.
If Hoffmann and Mozart inspired the ideal inherent in Tolstoi's Don Zhuan. then
Goethe's Faust may be said to have influenced the overall spirit of the play. At times, in
fact, certain elements from Faust are more significant for Tolstoi's Don Zhuan than the
legend of Juan itself. Tolstoi's literary relationship with Goethe is long and varied. The
Russian writer's exposure to Goethe began early in life when he visited Germany; in a
letter to Karolina Pavlova in 1861, Tolstoi writes, "[v] epokhu detstva razve to
zamechatel'no, vprochem, dlia menia odnogo,... chto ia v 1826 godu sidel na koleniakh u
Gothe" (In my childhood, something remarkable happened to me alone,... that in 18261
sat on Goethe's lap)." Over the course of his literary career, Tolstoi translated four of
Goethe's poetic works, including "Die Braut von Korinth" ("Korfinskaia ne vesta," 1868)
and "Gott und die Bajadere" ( "Bog i Baiadera," 1867). Towards the end of his life
however, Tolstoi developed a certain amount o f animosity towards the German writer. In
a letter written in 1869, he states, " 1 continue to think that I could not possibly long
Zhukov, Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 248.
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 126.
188
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endure life together with Goethe!"*^ In fact, by this time "...Tolstoi developed a certain
dislike for the man, disdain for his Weimar surroundings, and a critical view of many of
his works."*^
A year before this outburst, in 1868, Tolstoi actually attempted to translate
Goethe's Faust, but this endeavor was short-lived. In a letter to Fet, Tolstoi's wife Sofia
writes that, "Neskol'ko raz Tolstoi dumal o nem [o Faustel i dazhe nachinal ego. Mnogo
my o nem govorili " (Tolstoi thought about it [Faust] several times and even began to
translate it. We spoke about it a lot).'^ There are even a few fragments that are extant in
Tolstoi's manuscripts. For example, in a letter written to Markevich in 1868, one finds
two brief examples of Tolstoi's translation of Faust, one from the beginning of Walpurgis
Night and a description of Arcadia.
Goethe's most obvious influence upon Tolstoi can be found in Don Zhuan. In
fact, Tolstoi was criticized by his contemporaries for using sections Goethe's Faust.
Tolstoi's response to claims of his plagiarizing Goethe is noteworthy. In a letter to his
publisher, Tolstoi defends the originality of his drama on the following grounds:
Chto zhe kasaetsia do soderzhaniia samoi dramy, to ia polagaiu, chto uprek v
podrazhanii sobstvenno k nemu ne otnositsia. Stremlenie Fausta
zakliuchaetsia v zhazhde beskonechnosti i proiavliaetsia osobenno v
nenasymostiiu znaniia. Don-Zhuan stremitsia tol'ko k prekrasnomu, kotoroe
est' lish odin iz vidov beskonechnosti, i sosredotochivaet svoe stremlenie v
liubvi k zhenshchine. Okonchatel'naia i nedosiagaemaia tsel' oboikh esf—
sovershenstvo; no puti, kotorymi oni idut, stol' razlichny i rozhdaiut stol'
razlichnye psikhicheskie polozhenia, chto vsiakoe zaimstvovanie delaetsia
nevozmozhnym. Predlagaemaia zdes' stsena, kak razvitie idei prologa,
mozhet, nadeius', sposobstvovat' k moemu opravdaniu i ochistit menia ot
podozreniia v sviatotatnom posiagatel'stve na velikoe sozdanie Gete.
Qtd. in Andre von Gronicka, The Russian Image of Goethe, vol. 2. (Philadelphia: U of
Pennsylvania P, 1985) 104.
von Gronicka, vol. 2, 104.
* ■ * See V.M. Zhirmunskii. Gete v russkoi literature (Leningrad: Nakuka, 1981).
For more details and some examples o f Tolstoi's translations of Goethe's works, see Zhirmunskii
189
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Concerning the content of the drama itself, I suppose that the reproach,
especially for imitating it FFaustl. is out of place. Faust's striving consists of a
thirst for eternity and it manifests itself as an insatiable desire for knowledge.
Don Zhuan strives only for the beautiful, which is only one aspect of eternity,
and he focuses his striving in love for a woman. The definitive and
unattainable goal for both is perfection; but the means by which they go about
seeking this end are so different, giving birth to diAerent psychological states,
that any borrowing appears impossible. The scene in question here, as a
development o f the prologue, may, I hope, further my justification and
absolve me from the scom in the sacrilegious infringement on Goethe's great
creation.'®
After reading Tolstoi's prologue, one can understand why many critics accused
Tolstoi of imitating "The Prologue in Heaven" ( "Prolog im Himmel") of Goethe's Faust.
and of imitating Mephistopheles. Even critics who defended the originality of Tolstoi's
play could not avoid the fact that the characters of Satan and Mephistopheles were very
similar. For example. Prince Tsertelev writes o f Don Zhuan: "On ne est' podrazhenie
Fausta'; te zhe mysli iavliaiutsia pered nami pretvorennymi v novykh poeticheskikh
obrazakh, i tol'ko figura Satany kholodnoi ironiei inogda cherezchur napominaet o svoem
rodstve s Mefistofelem..." (It is not an imitation of Faust"; the very same ideas appear
before us in an altered state, in new poetic forms, and only the figure of Satan, as cold
irony, exceedingly reminds one of his kinship to Mephistopheles...).'^
Tolstoi responded to similar criticism by Justifying his use of Satan in the
prologue, while continuing to distance himself further from the German master's work:
Menia obviniaiut v podrazhanii "Faustu. " Polozha ruku na serdtse, skazhu,
chto takoe obvinenie, otnosiashcheesia, vprochem, do odnogo prologa, mne
ne kazlKtsia osnovatel'nym. Ne govoria uzhe o tom, chto popytka podrazhat'
sozdaniiu, poluchivshemu izvestnost" i znachenie vsemimye, byla by
bespoleznoiu derzostiiu i obnaruzhila by ne tol'ko neuvazhenie k obraztsu, no
i neuvazhenie k samomu iskusstvu, ia zamechu, chto obvinenie k samomu
iskusstvu, padaia na skhodsvo vneshnei formy oboikh prologov, po mneniu
moemu, ne dovol'no seriozno. V "Don-Zhuane, " kak i v "Fauste, " vyvedeny
na stsenu zloi dukh i dobrye dukhi: no govonat oni sovershenno drugoe.
Znachenie prologa "Fausta"-eto bor'ba v cheloveke sveta i t'my, dobra i zla.
Znachenie prologa ''Don-Zh\iaaa''— neobkhodimost'zla, istekaiushchaia
organicheski iz sushchestvovaniia dobra. Samaia forma faustovskogo prologa
ne prinadlezhit Gete iskliuchitel'no, no zaimstvovana iz srednevekovykh
Tolstoi, O literature i iskusstve 110.
" Prince Tsertelev, "Osnovnaia ideia Don Zhuana'," Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 248.
190
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misteni i potomu est' dostoianie vsekh pisatelei. Esli b osnovyvat' obvinenie v
podrazhanii na tozhdestvennosti deistvuiushchikh lits, v takom sluchae "Don-
Zhuan" est' eshche bolee podrazhanie Tirso de Molina, Mol'eni, Baironu,
Pushkinu, i nakonets, vsego bolee abbatu Da-Ponte, sochineteliu libretto
motsartovskoi opery. No ne odna tozhdestvennost' lits navlekla na menia
poritsanie. Te zhe, vprochem, blagovolitel'nye, obviniteli nakhodiat, chto
Satana govorit u menia iazykom Mefistofelia. Eto sovershennaia pravda.
Chert est' chert.
I am accused of imitating "Faust " Placing my hand on my heart, I say that
such an accusation, which relates only to the prologue, seems to me to lack
foundation. It goes without saying that an attempt to imitate a work that has
received world wide notoriety and fame would k useless impertinence and
would display a lack of respect not only for the model, but for art itself, I note
that this accusation, falling on the similarity of the outer form between the two
prologues, in my opinion, is not very serious. In "Don-Zhuan, " as in "Faust, "
an evil spirit and good spirits enter on stage; but they say completely different
things. The meaning of the prologue in "Faust" is the battle in man between
light and darkness, good and evil. The meaning of the prologue in "Don-
Zhuan" is the necessity of evil, which emanates organically from the existence
of good. The actual form of the Faustian prologue does not belong to Goethe
exclusively, but is borrowed from Middle-Age mysteries and therefore is the
property of all writers. If one were to base this accusation on the imitation of
the identity of the characters of the play, then in this case, "Don-Zhuan" is
even more of an imitation of Tirso de Molina, Moliere, Byron, Pushkin, and
finally, most of all the Abbot da Ponte, the composer of the libretto of
Mozart's opera. The more favorably disposed accusers frnd that my Satan
speaks in Mephistopheles" language. That is absolutely true. The devil is the
devil.‘ *
Tolstoi thus chastises his critics not only by identifying some of the differences in his
play in comparison with Goethe's work, but also by correctly stating that Faust or
Faustian properties are the property of no one writer. By enumerating some of his
predecessors in the Don Juan legend, Tolstoi claims a place for his work as one additional
variation of the theme, arguing that each version will inevitably contain similar features.
Morever, by citing other writers who have previously utilized the Don Juan myth,
Tolstoi detracts from the position that his work is an imitation.
Originality for Tolstoi is thus a non-issue, though there are elements that are
unique to his play. Because he is aware of many Faust and Don Juan texts, Tolstoi is able
to select the best elements from each and refine them to suit his purposes. Tolstoi's
Tolstoi, O literature i iskusstve 109.
191
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contemporary critics were not farsighted or objective enough to see this advantage. For
example, in a letter to his wife, Tolstoi writes that Aksakov:
...proiavil takoe negodovanie na povedenie don Zhuana, chto on nachal ego
rugat' i uverial, chto on— troinaia peregonka podletsa, vsledstvie chego on ne
dostoin pokrovitel'stva angelov... i skazal, chto voobshche chelovek, kotoryi
begaet ot odnoi zhenshchiny k drugoi,— negodiai, a iskanie ideala— lish'
predlog dlia takikh negodiaev.
...expressed such indignation at the behavior of Don Zhuan, that he began to
curse him and was certain that he was a villain distilled three times, as a
consequence he was not worthy of the angels' protection... and he said that in
general a man who runs from one woman to another is a scoundrel, and his
search for an ideal is but a pretext for rascals o f this type.*’
More recently, however, critics have attempted to find unique elements in Tolstoi’ s Don
Zhuan. Foremost, miraculous Christian imagery abounds throughout the play.
Zhirmunskii was the first to recognize that "pri vsem skhodstve s "Faustom"
dramaticheskaia poema A. Tolstogo gluboko otlichaetsia ot svoego proobraza. Ona
proniknuta romanticheskoi mistikoi, tserkovnym blagochestiem " (given all its similarities
with "Faust," A. Tolstoi's dramatic poem differs greatly from its forerunner. It is imbued
with romantic mysticism and ecclesiastical piety).^ Andre von Gronicka states not only
that Goethe's Faust served as the foundation for Don Zhuan. but that Tolstoi's deep
religiosity led him to alter many of Goethe's positions: "...because of his leanings towards
Romantic mysticism and the Greek Orthodox Church, Tolstoi tends to exaggerate in
Goethe's idealistic humanist the religious and mystical elements, thus anticipating a view
of the German poet that was to be characteristic of the Symbolists.""*
In my opinion, Tolstoi's use of Faust is his attempt to make an original
contribution to the Don Juan legend. To appropriate a phrase from Bakhtin, Tolstoi
desires to impose "his own particular task " on the literary myth of Don Juan by including
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 141.
“ Zhirmunskii 108.
von Gronicka, vol. 2,108.
192
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elements of the Faustian legend in his play.^ Moreover, by incorporating mysticism and
arcane themes like alchemy, magnetism, and elixirs (subjects often associated with Faust,
though not solely), Tolstoi places his own personal stamp on the collective body of the
Don Juan myth. These features set Tolstoi’ s play apart from those of his predecessors. In
effect, by imbuing his play with various fantastic elements, Tolstoi carves out a niche for
himself in the Don Juan legend. The critic Salomon writes:
V poeme sverich"estestvennoe sviazano s sud’ boiu geroia gorazdo tesnee,
nezhele v samoi legende, iz kototoi zaimstvovana fabula.
Sverkh'estestvennye sily ne tol'ko v poslednii moment napravliaiut sud'bu
geroia, no neprestanno slediat za nim, okruzhaia ego svoim blagim ili zlym
vliianiem, i boriutsia iz-za nego. Sil'naia misticheskaia okraska poemy pridaet
ei osobuiu svoeobraznost ... Misticheskie verovaniia Tolstogo kak by
kristallizirovalis' v odnoi etoi poeme, chtoby nigde ne vyrazit'sia s takoi siloi.
In the dramatic poem, the supernatural is linked with the fate of the
protagonist more closely than in the legend itself, from which the plot of the
play was adapted. Supernatural powers not only guide the fate of the hero, but
incessantly follow after him, surrounding him with their good or evil
influence, and doing battle because of him. The strong mystical coloring of
the dramatic poem lends it its own particular originality... The mystical
beliefs of Tolstoi seem to be crystallized in this one poem, for they are not
expressed elsewhere with such strength.^
In the ensuing sections, it will become apparent how significant the supernatural is to
Tolstoi's Don Zhuan.
n. Don Zhuan: A Schizophrenic Character
"He who serves one woman only, robs every other."
— Don Giovanni
By adding certain Faustian characteristics to the persona of Don Zhuan, Tolstoi
creates an interesting and unusual character type unprecedented in the Don Juan legend.
Tolstoi's protagonist is still dictated by matters of the flesh, but his intellect is more acute
than that of his predecessors. He revels in his power over women, but also aspires
“ See Mikhail Bakhtin's Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics, ed. and trans. Caryl Emerson
(Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1984) 192-95.
^ Salomon, "Raznostoronnost' i glubina soderzhaniia Don Zhuana , " Aleksei Konstantinovich
Tolstoi 256.
193
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towards discovering perfection in females; he is a lover, and like Faust, he strives.
Tolstoi's Zhuan is thus a composite being of two distinct personalities battling for
ultimate control. This bifurcation in personality is reminiscent of Goethe's Faust himself,
who, before he signs a contract with Mephistopheles, states: "Zwei Seelen wohnen, ach,
in meiner BrustVDie eine will sich von der andem trennen" (Two souls, alas, are dwelling
in my breast, and one striving to forsake its brother).^
Unlike Dostoevskii's, Perovskii's, or Hoffmann's "doubles, " who actually make
themselves manifest to their respective "twins," Tolstoi's Zhuan suffers from a different
affliction-at times he is possessed by the devil. Never in the course of the play does
Faust appear or split from Don Zhuan, but there are specific moments when the Faustian
personality asserts its superiority over the Spaniard; and it is this Faustian side that is
controlled by Satan himself.
In order to understand Tolstoi's protagonist fully, one must first definitively
outline Zhuan's biography. Tolstoi's Zhuan was initially a noble creature whose saintly
manner was altered as a result of a wager between representatives of heaven and hell.
The terms of the wager are simple: if Zhuan ceases to be discontented with each woman
whom he encounters, if he recognizes the ideal in any woman, i.e., if he finds true love,
Satan will have won. Thus, Satan and the celestial spirits are responsible for Zhuan's
divided state. As Salomon states; "My naidem ob'iasnenie vnutrennogo razlada Zhuana s
samim soboi v predstavlenii o dvukh protivopolozhnykh vrazhdebnykh nachalakh
mirosozdaniia voobshche " (We discover the explanation for Zhuan's inner dissension
with himself in the presentation of the two opposing inimical essences of world creation
in general).^ The motif of gambling among Satan and the celestial spirits is also found in
Goethe: Mephistopheles challenges God to a wager over Faust's soul, when he states:
J.W. Goethe, Faust, trans. Walter Kaufman (New York: Anchor Books, 1961)144.
^ Salomon, "Kharaktemost" Don Zhuana," Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoi 260.
194
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"Was wettet Ihr? Den sollt Ihr noch verlieren..." (What will you bet? Youli lose him yet
to me...).“
Unlike most other worics of the Don Juan myth, Tolstoi makes it clear that Zhuan
is a positive character. In the prologue, the reader discovers that the young Spaniard is
clearly a favorite of God:
Sei don Zhuan liubimets est' prirody.
On prizvan k podvigam i blagosmym delam.
Pied nim piekloniatsia narody.
On budet slaven do kontsa.
On strazhei ogiazhden nebesnoi nepristupno,
K nemu ty ne prostresh' ruki svoei prestupnoi—
Poznai: sei don Zhuan izbrannik est' tvortsa!
This Don Zhuan is a favorite of nature/He is destined for noble acts and
featsyPeople will bow before himyHe will be glorified his whole life./He is
protected by an impregnable heavenly guard/Your criminal hand will not
reach him -Know this: this Don Zhuan is a chosen one of the creator!^
This exclamation is made by the celestial spirits, God's representatives who have
descended to earth. Their statement paints a picture of Zhuan that is sympathetic to the
reader. Despite Zhuan's favored position, Satan convinces the heavenly spirits to allow
Don Zhuan to be tempted as an ordinary man would be.
What makes the celestial spirits acquiesce and give in to Satan's demand is the
fact that Don Zhuan has one vice which the prince of darkness chooses to exploit— pride:
Ved' chertu, govoriat, dostatochno skhvatit'
Kogo-nibud' khot' za edinyi volos,
Chtob dushu vsiu ego derzhat' za etu nit'
1 chtoby s nim ona uzh ne borolas';
A don Zhuan dushoi kak ni vysok
I kak ni veliki v nem pravila i tverdost',
la u nego podmetil volosok,
Kotoromu nazvan'e-gordost' !
You know, they say it is enough for the devil/To catch someone even by a
single hair/In order to hold captive his whole soul by this thread/And so that
the soul no longer fights with him,/And Don Zhuan, with a soul however
“ Goethe 86.
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, IS.
195
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lofty/And however great in him are rules and frnnness/I noticed that he has
one little hair/It is called— pride !“
Satan then introduces a significant Faustian motif— that of striving or action. He states
that, "bez dela pravednik, pozhalui by, zasnul" ( A righteous man without activity would
likely have fallen asleep).® Zhuan himself later admits that he must forever strive:
"Nevozmozhen mne otdykh! Nesnosen pokoi!" (It is impossible for me to rest! Peace is
not forme!)*
As a result of Satan's exploitation, Don Zhuan will wander from woman to
woman in search o f the ideal beauty. Satan states:
Kogda zh zakhochet on, moim ognem palim,
V ob 'iatiiakh liubvi naiti sebe blazhenstvo,
Ischeznet dlia nego viden'e sovershenstva,
1 zhenshchina, kak est', poiavitsia pred nim.
I pust' on besitsia. Fust' lovit s vechnoi zhazhdoi
Vse novyi ideal v ob'iatiiakh devy kazhdoi!
Tak s volei plamennoi, s uporstvom na chele,
S otchaian'em v grudi, so strastiiu vo vzore,
Nebesnoe Zhuan pyst' ishchet na zemle
1V kazhdom torzhestve sebe goto vit gore!
When he will want, burning with my fire/To find bliss for himself in the
embraces o f love/And the woman will appear to him as she really is./And let
him go mad. Let him catch with every everlasting thirst/A new ideal in the
embraces o f each maiden !/Thus with a fiery will, with obstinacy on his
forehead/with disdain in his breast, and with passion in his gaze/Let Zhuan
search for the heavenly ideal on earth and let grief be prepared for him in
every triumph!^'
Here Satan's utterance can be traced to Hoffmann's story "Don Juan." Indeed, the
German author claims that:
Through the cunning of man's hereditary enemy, the thought was planted in
Don Juan's soul that through love, through the pleasure of the flesh, there
could be achieved on earth that which exists in our hearts as a heavenly
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 19.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 20.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 113.
Tolstoi, Sobranie, vol. 2, 19.
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promise only, and which amounts to just that longing for infinity which weds
us to heaven.®
Because of Satan, Zhuan encounters a distorted picture of each woman he encounters.
Initially, they all seem beautiful and perfect. This idea of obfuscating reality, i.e., altering
the true state of women on earth, recalls the actions of Faust, who, after drinking a
magical potion, is told by Mephistopheles that "Du siehst mit diesem Trank im
Leibe/Bald Helenen in jedem Weibe" (You'll soon find, with this potion's aid/Helen of
Troy in every maid).®
It is in Satan's description of Zhuan's future behavior that Tolstoi reveals the
origins of the Spaniard's insatiable desire for female flesh: Zhuan is a chaste and pious
person until his fifteenth year (not coincidentally a time when a young man is becoming
sexually aware) until Satan interferes with his moral development. Tolstoi makes it
known that Satan's intrusion is even premeditated: "la davno ego zametil... [ia] sdelaiu
ego pokhozhim na sebia"^ (I took note o f him long ago... 1 will make him like me).
Tolstoi's Don Zhuan thus differs from his literary progeny because he is somewhat of a
pawn in a wager between good and evil. While his mission is noble— Zhuan is seeking
the heavenly ideal in women— it is an impossible one because Satan himself distorts
Zhuan's vision of the ideal woman:
la etot prototip, ne zrimyi nikomu,
Iz druzhby pokazhu liubimtsu moemu.
Pust' V kazhdom lichike, khot' neskoUco godiashchem,
Kakoe by sebe on ni izbral.
On vmesto kopii vse zrit original...
I am that prototype, visible to no oneVOut of friendship I show it to my
favorite oneVLet there be in each person, although somewhat
suitedySomething he would not have chosen for himself/instead of a copy, he
will always see an original....®
E.T.A. Hoffmann, "Don Juan," trans. Christopher Lazare, The Theatre of Don Juan 323.
” Goethe 256.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 18.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 18-19.
197
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Satan is thus responsible for Zhuan's subsequent unseemly behavior with women. In
short, Satan provides the motivation for the plot of the play. It is he who gives the
illusion of perfection in each woman, in effect blinding the young man to the flaws
apparent in each conquest. Satan realizes that it is a simple matter for him to cause
Zhuan to lose his senses: " 1 s tolku sbilsia by iskatel' ideala."^ Indeed, Don Zhuan is a
puppet and "...the victim of an outside force.. .
When Zhuan's personality is split as a result of Satan's interference, the Spaniard
fights a seemingly losing battle to overcome his newly incorporated Faustian side. The
part of Zhuan that suddenly seeks a divine female is clearly the influence of the new
Faustian personality. By endowing his protagonist with the action of striving or seeking
knowledge of an ideal, Tolstoi effectively shifts the blame for Zhuan's lustful
philandering to the Faustian component of his divided consciousness. The introduction
of this new personality thus sets Tolstoi's Zhuan apart from his literary forerunners
because Zhuan is no longer entirely responsible for his disgraceful actions against
women. It is quite apparent that the prologue, though discounted as superfluous and
unoriginal by many critics, is thus central to understanding the true nature of Tolstoi's
Zhuan, as well as his final fate.
With the beginning of the first act, which includes a forward temporal shift of ten
years from the prologue, the reader is presented with a picture of Zhuan similar to that of
his literary predecessors— a conqueror of women and a foil to all forms of authority.
Earlier literary versions of Don Juan reveled in each new female conquest, and Tolstoi's
creation does as well; however, like Faust who forever seeks knowledge, Zhuan strives
to discover feminine perfection, but is miserable because he continuously falls short of
his lofty goal.* Essentially, Tolstoi gives Zhuan a sensuality that is limited by the
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 19.
” Sokolov 123.
Like the character Faust, Don Juan has dramatically evolved over the centuries as well. MancfeU
points out that Baroque or pre-Romantic versions of Don Juan are mainly pleasure-seeking rapists. It 198
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Faustian intellect— Zhuan is conscious of the fact that his sexual triumphs are but a means
to an unattainable end— finding the perfect woman. Tolstoi's Zhuan has tremendous
energy, but that energy is channeled by the consciousness of an ideal, and it is his
recognition of the vanity of such a goal which hinders and frustrates him.
Whereas many Faustian qualities are seen as noble and positive, Tolstoi is clearly
opposed to discovering the ideal woman on earth. For Tolstoi, ultimate knowledge is tied
to man's original sin and the fall in the Garden of Eden. Tolstoi unambiguously decrees
that Zhuan's need to find perfection on earth is sinful when he has the celestial spirits
proclaim:
Blazhen, kto prost i chist dushoiu,
Chei dukh molitve ne zakryt,
Kto vmeste s iunoiu zemleiu
Tvortsa mirov blagodarit.
No mysl'iu vechno voskhodiashchei
Ne V zhizni ishchet ideal,
1 kto dushi svoei liubiashchei
Upomo k nei ne prikoval!
Blessed is he who is simple and pure of soul/W hose spirit is not closed to
prayer/W ho together with the young earth/Blesses the creator o f worlds/But
with a rising thought/Does not search for an ideal in life/And who has not
stubbornly chained up his loving soul!^
The words of the celestial spirits reflect Tolstoi's strong Orthodox beliefs; specitically,
the premise that only God is perfect and that human beings should not aspire to compete
with God. Instead, what Zhuan should focus on is discovering the true love of a woman.
As in Goethe's FausL it is the quest itself and what he discovers along the way
that saves Zhuan. For, while seeking the ideal woman on earth, Zhuan realizes that he
has fallen in love with Anna. Unfortunately for Zhuan (and here Tolstoi borrows from
Pushkin's "Kamennyi gost' "), this epiphanic realization occurs moments before he is
struck dead by the Commander's statue. In an aside, Tolstoi's Zhuan states: "Eshche
was only with the advent of Romanticism that Don Juan was given some sort of goal (usually "the perfect
female" or "the perfect love”). In contrast, the Realist incarnations of Juan are often older, impotent and
physically unattractive.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 13.
199
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edinyi mig— /I ia padu k ee nogam" (in another instant, I will fall on my knees before
her).'” Moments later, Zhuan exclaims: "la liubliu ee/Liubliu tebia...” (I love her/I love
you...).'" Similarly, Pushkin's Don Guan tells Anna: "Vas poliubia, liubliu ia dobrodetel'/
IV pervyi raz smirenno pered nei/Drozhashchie kolena prekloniaiu" (Loving you, I love
virtue itselfi^And humbly, for the first tim e/I bend my trembling knees before it).'”
Zhuan's realization parallels another theme found in the Faustian legend. For Zhuan, to
fall in love means that he must pause, submit, or stop seeking the ideal woman on earth.
When this happens "...Don Juan loses... control over his destiny... [he] ceases to be
sensual, [and] he ceases to be. This moment of inaction echoes Faust's promise to
Mephistopheles: "Werd ich beruhigt je mich auf ein Faulbett legen/So sie es gleich um
mich getan" (If ever I recline, calmed, on a bed of sloth/You may destroy me then and
there).'”
I have already mentioned that Don Zhuan's split personality is somewhat different
from his literary predecessors, where a double of the protagonist manifests itself or when
an inner being escapes and exists without.'*^ Thus, it would be inaccurate to state that
Faust is Don Zhuan's doppelganger, since Faust neither appears, nor materially projects
himself during the play. What Don Zhuan actually suffers from is schizophrenia or a
split personality. Sigmund Freud posits that such a split may occur when a person's
"...ego is faced with an experience, an idea or a feeling which arouse[s] such a distressing
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,116.
■ “ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 118.
Pushkin, vol. 5,407.
Mandel, The Theatre of Don Juan 25.
Goethe 182.
The term doppelganger literally means "double-goer" and was introduced into literature by the
novelist Jean Paul Richter in 1796. He defines the word as "So heissen Leute, die sich selbst sehen" (So
people who see themselves are called). See Clifford Hallam, "The Double as Incomplete Self: Toward a
Definition of Doppelganger," Fearful Svmmetrv: Doubles and Doubling in Literature and Film. Sftlggted
Papers from the Fifth Annual Florida State Universitv Conference on Literature and Film, ed. Eugene J.
Crook, (Tallahassee: U Presses of Florida, 1981) 5.
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affect that the subject decide[s] to forget about it because he ha[s] no confidence in his
power to resolve the contradiction between [an] incompatible idea and his ego by means
o f thought-activity."^ However, Freud recognizes that "forgetting d[oes] not succeed...,"
and instead his patients became obsessive with resolving the contradiction.^^
Freud's diagnosis suits Tolstoi’s Don Zhuan well. Zhuan grapples with his
mistaken belief in the existence of the eternal feminine, a perfect woman who exists on
earth. He is continuously frustrated at the allusiveness of his quest. In an utterance
reminiscent o f John Damascene's requiem mass, Zhuan tells Donna Anna, "Vse prizrak i
mechta,/Vse dym i son— odna liubov' est' pravda!" (Everything is a phantom and a
daydream/ Everything is smoke and a dream).^ Zhuan's frustration is indicative of
Satan's influence; in the prologue, the prince of darkness desires that Zhuan fruitlessly
pursue feminine perfection on earth, never to possess it because it simply does not exist
among mortal men:
Uladit' delo nado tak,
Chtoby, V O chto by to ni stalo,
Vse pod nosom lovil dalekii on prizrak
1 s tolku sbilsia by iskatel' ideala.
To arrange it in such a way/That at all costs/He would try to catch a phantom
right under his nose/And this seeker of the ideal would lose his sense.*”
Zhuan himself fiuquendy uses the word phantom ("prizrak") to describe his quest and the
objects of his love; the frequency with which the word recurs testifies to Tolstoi's interest
in the fantastic. For example, while recounting his many romantic encounters, he states,
"Vse bylo lozh'. la obnimal lish' prizrak" (They were all lies. 1 embraced only a
^ Sigmund Freud, The Complete Works o f Sigmund Freud: Earlv Psvcho-Analvtic Publications.
vol. 3 (London: Hogarth, 1975) 46.
Freud, vol. 3,47.
^ At the funeral for one of his fellow monks, loarm chants, "Vse pepel, dym, i pyl', i prakh/Vse
prizrak, ten' i prividen'e," Sobranie. vol. 1,527.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 19.
201
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phantom).” As Zhuan reads a letter from Anna, he feels as if he is falling in love,
knowing that these sensations are false: "Vstaiut opiat' chudesnye viden'ia/I maniat
snova prizraki liubvi!" (Miraculous apparitions arise again/And the phantoms of love
beckon once more).®* Similarly, while falsely professing his love for Donna Anna,
Zhuan begins to believe in his own words, but his proclamation is cut short by the
entrance of Anna's father: "On mne napomnil, chto liubov’ est' prizrak/Chto ia siuda
prishel lish' rol' igrat' " (He reminded me that love is a phantom/That I came here only to
play a certain role).” Finally, before Zhuan abandons Spain, he feels that he must visit
Donna Anna one last time to obtain a final victory over her. He states, "Togda i etot
novyi prizrak schast'ia/Ischeznet, kak vse prezhnie" (Then this new phantom of
happiness/Will disappear like all the others).” Zhuan's failure to marry Anna as
promised recalls Christopher Marlowe's Mephistophilis' injunction to Faust: "Thou canst
not serve two masters, God and my prince. For wedlock is a chief institution ordained of
God, and thou has promised to defy, as we do all, and that hast thou also done; and
moreover thou has confirmed it with thy blood."®*
Like Freud's patients, Don Zhuan cannot forget the contradiction between the
supposed existence of an ideal feminine and its lesser incarnations on earth. This
disparity gnaws at his soul, especially as he realizes that Dotma Anna represents his one
true love, and is thus the closest conception of the ideal woman. In the course of the
play, Zhuan meets Donna Anna three times, and their last rendezvous seemingly seals his
fate. This final meeting transpires at Zhuan's castle during a farewell feast. Anna comes
in a mask to warn Don Zhuan of the advancing soldiers and also to beg him to repent of
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,31.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 33.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,50.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,79.
Christopher Marlowe. Doctor Faustus (New York: Penguin Books. 1969), 121.
202
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his sins. More importantly, she tells Zhuan of her intention to die: "Nadeius', vy ne
duraali, chto ia/Zhiva ostanus', don Zhuan?"” This admission stuns Zhuan; but with
great difficulty, he overcomes a strong desire to fall down at Anna's feet. His lack of
action results in Donna Anna's departure; as she does so, she shouts, "la ukhozhu... pora...
ia umiraiu..." (I am leaving... it is time... I am dying...).*
Anna's words cause Zhuan's true or original personality to overcome that of Faust.
In fact, Zhuan's revelation permanently suppresses his Faustian personality. He abandons
the ship on which he planned to flee from Spain to pursue Donna Anna— "Bezhat' za nei!
Ne vypuskat' iz vida! " (Run after her! Don't let her get out of your sight!).” As Zhuan
discharges his crew, he proclaims his love for Donna Anna: "Liubliu tebia! la tvoi, o
donna Anna!/Ko mne! la tvoi! Ko mne! Liubliu, liubliu! " (1 love you! 1 am yours, oh
Donna AnnaVCome to me! la m yours! Come to me! I love you, love you!).* As we
shall see, Zhuan's admission profoundly affects the rest of his life.
Zhuan's remarkable change in personality is in direct opposition to his actions
throughout the play, during which time he is mainly dominated by his Faustian side. For
example, Zhuan is often pictured alone and pensive. Satan first notices this aspect early
in Zhuan's life. The devil comments on Zhuan's contemplative nature and his need to
strive, despite his inexperience: "Kak razmyshliaet on gluboko/1 kak zadumchiv on poroi!
K kakoi-to tseli vse neiasnoi i vysokoi/Stremitsia on neopytnoi dushoi " (He ponders so
deeply/And he is so pensive at times! What unclear and lofty goal/ He strives towards
with an inexperienced soul).* Even Donna Anna notices Zhuan's pensive qualities:
"Dushe vysokoi, svetlomu umu/Kakuiu ty zadash" teper" zadachu? " (What problem have
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 115.
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 117.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 117.
' Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 118.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 17.
203
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you posed to your lofty soul and enlightened mind now?)" Another aspect that Zhuan
shares with Faust is that both are unwelcome wherever they go: Zhuan returns to Seville
despite being exiled, while Faust states: "Bin ich der FlQchtling nicht? Der Unbehauste?"
(Am 1 not fugitive? without a home?).®‘
Like a diagnosed schizophrenic, different sides of Zhuan's personality speak to
him. For example, he notes that an inner feeling motivates his quest for feminine
perfection: "Mne govorilo vnutreimee chuvstvo..." (an inner feeling spoke to me...)."
Zhuan himself notices that whenever he is about to act in anger, out of revenge or
personal pleasure, his Satanic side assists him. For example, when Don Zhuan realizes
that he will battle members of the Inquisition, he calls on an evil power from within for
assistance: "Vzoidi zh, moia zloveshchaia zvezda!" (Rise up, my ominous star!).®
Tolstoi later repeats the motif of a star when Donna Anna defends Zhuan to her father:
"Inykh putei dusha ego iskalaV Neiasnaia zvezda ego vela/Emu drugoi dushi
nedostavalo/Kotoraia b poniat' ego mogla!" (His soul sought other paths/ An unclear star
led him/He is lacking in another soul/That is able to understand him!).^ Donna Anna
believes herself to be that soul who understands Zhuan's split personality and the conflict
inside of him:
I chem s toboiu chashche ia vstrechalas',
Tem kazhdyi raz mne delalos' iasnee
Protivorech'e mezh tvoei dushoi
1 zhizniiu tvoei. la poniala,
Chto est' V tebe kakaia-to zagadka.
Da, don Zhuan, zagadka est' v tebe.
The more frequently that 1 met with you/Every time it became clearer to
me/The contradiction between your soul and life. 1 understand/That there is
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,43.
Goethe 318.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,48.
® Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 39.
* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,54.
204
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some sort of riddle inside o f you. Yes, Don Zhuan, there is a riddle inside of
you.®
The possession of Zhuan's soul is evident on other occasions as well. For example,
before he departs for Seville to seduce Anna one last time, Zhuan senses a being inside
him, ready to assist him in his ignoble endeavor:
No chuvstvuiu, chto uzh gotov moi demon
Mne snova pomogat'; v moei grudi
Uzh razduvaet on gubiashchii plamen',
K bezunmoi strasti primeshal vrazhdu...
But I feel that my demon is ready/To help me once again: in my breast/He is
already fanning a destructive flame/He Wds enmity to my senseless
passion....*
Zhuan also compares his despicable acts to an angel of destruction: "Vosstan" zhe, don
Zhuan!/Idi vpered kak angel istreblen'ia!" (Rise up, Don Zhuan!/Go forward like an angel
of destruction!).^ The idea of the devil assisting Don Juan in his amorous pursuits is also
found in Pushkin's "Kamennyi gost , " though clearly on a smaller scale. After Don Guan
remembers Ineza fondly, Leporello states: "Ineza!-chemoglazuiu... o, pomniuVTri
mesiatsa ukhazhivali vy/Za nei; nasilu-to pomog Lukavyi" (Ineza!— the black-eyed girl...
oh, I remember/You courted her for three months/The Evil One helped you
nonetheless).®
Tolstoi's protagonist not only recognizes the division in his personality, but also a
contradiction between his desires and goals. For Zhuan, Donna Arma embodies this
contradiction; his thoughts of her reflect the battle in his soul between his Faustian and
Don Zhuanian personalities:
V muchitel'nykh i sladkikh snoviden'iakh,
Kogda ee ia vizhu pred soboi,
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,47.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,80.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,36. These lines can also be read in light o f Pushkin's "Prorok. " In this
case, the semantics would be quite different, as Pushkin's persona is a representative o f God.
® Pushkin, vol. 5,373.
205
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la delaiusia slab, i, probuzhdaias',
la oshchushchaiu slezy na litse.
la sam sebia ne uznaiu. Kogda by
Ne gorldi moi i mnogokratnyi opyt,
la b eto chuvstvo priniai za liubov’.
No ia ne venu ei...
Chego zhe zhdat'? Ne budu malodushen,
Chuvstvitel'nost' rassudkom izgoniu...
In tormenting and sweet dreamsyWhen 1 see her before m e/l become weak,
and, upon awakening/I feel tears on my faceVI don't even know myself. If it
were not for /My bitter and frequent experiencesVI would have taken this
feeling for love. But I don't believe it.../..VWhat am I waiting for? I will not
be petty,/I will drive out sentimentality with reason....®
In this instance, the reader gets a rare glimpse of Zhuan's true personality exerting a
momentary amount of control; however, his Faustian side immediately overwhelms the
unfamiliar feelings Zhuan experiences, as is evidenced by the use of reason as a weapon
against sentimentality.
m . Tolstoi’ s Satan; One Side of Divinity's Dual Personality
Like the Faust legend, Tolstoi's play features an incarnation of the devil (in this
case, Satan himself) who plays a central role— throughout the play, he and God's spirits
battle for Zhuan's eternal soul. Tolstoi's Satan makes his presence known on three
different occasions during the play, beginning with the prologue. In each instance, Satan
discusses the fate of Don Zhuan with celestial spirits ( "dukhi "). Unlike works of the
Faustian legend, it is Zhuan and not Faust who is subject to the whims o f the devil and
his minions. This is despite the fact that Zhuan signs no contract relieving him of his
soul. Implicitly, the lack of a written pact plays a decisive role in the ultimate fate of
Tolstoi's protagonist. Even with Zhuan's schizophrenic disorder, Satan is the most
colorful character in the play. Although Tolstoi admitted that his version o f the devil
speaks the same language as Goethe's Mephistopheles, there are subtle differences
between the two.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,79.
206
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Initially, the affinity between Mephistopheles and Satan is striking. The celestial
spirits characterize Satan as "Dukh otritsaniia, bezveriia i t'my!/Dukh vozmushchen’ ia i
gordyni!” (Spirit o f negation, unbelief and darkness .'/Spirit of indignation and pride !).^
Tolstoi then has the devil describe himself in artistic and philosophical terms, stressing
that he is but one part of a structure, one half of a whole being, a negative number in
direct contrast to its positive counterpart, etc.:
la zhivopisi ten'. la temnyi fon kartiny,
Neobkhodimosti logicheskaia dan'.
la nechto vrode obshchei obolochki
la chemaia ta tkan',
Po koei sh'ete vy nariadnye tsvetochki.
Khotia ne Slovo ia, zato ia vse slova!
Vse dvigaiu soboi, kyda lish' sam ni dvinus';
Po matematike ia— minus,
Po filosofii— iznanka bozhestva;
Koroche, ia nichto; ia zhizni otritsan'e.
I am the shadow of art. I am the dark background of a picture 7 A logical
tribute of necessity 71 am something akin to a general shell/1 am that dark
clothyOn which you sew these elegant flowers 7. 7Although I am not The
Word, but then I am all words!/ I move all by myself, where I myself cannot
m ove/ln mathematical terms— I am a minus7In terms of philosophy— I am
divinity inside out/In short, I am nothing; I am a reflection of life. '
Goethe's Mephistopheles describes himself in similar terms:
Ein Teil von jener Kraft,
Die stets das Bôse will und stets das Gute schafft.
Ich bin der Geist, der stets vemeint.
Ich bin ein Teil des Teils, der anfangs allés war,
Ein Teil der Finstemis, die sich das Licht gebar.
Das stolze Licht, das nun der Mutter Nacht
Den alten Rang, den Raum ihr streitig macht,
Und doch gel ingt's ihm nicht, da es, soviet es
strebt,
Verhaftet an den Korpem klebt.
Part of that force which would/Do evil evermore, and yet creates good7.../I
am the spirit that negates./..7I am part of the part that once was
everythingTPart of the darkness which gave birth to lightTThat haughty light
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,16.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 14.
207
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which envies mother light^Her ancient rank and place and would be Idng-
/Yet it does not succeed; however it contend/It sticks to bodies in the end.^
Tolstoi's own depiction of Satan underscores the necessity of evil in all facets of life,
especially in terms of art, something which Tolstoi valued quite highly. Satan's
relationship to art is underscored later in the play. Demonstrating his overconfidence in
his ability to confuse Zhuan and lead him down the wrong path, Satan proclaims: "la
otkazalsia zdes' ot vsiakogo iskusstvaVNa gvozdik ia svoiu povesil set' " (Now I renounce
all art/And I hang my net on a nail).^ With this utterance, Satan assumes a more passive
role in the quest for Zhuan's soul, but negates his necessity in terms of art. Here the devil
resigns himself to becoming a spectator in the final act— "Mogu ia ruki polozhit' v
karman/I zritelem v komedii ostat'sia " (I can place my hands in my pockets/And become
a spectator in this comedy).’* What is telling in this statement is Satan's diction; the use
of the word comedy ("komedii") evidences his view of man's earthly pursuits.
Interestingly, Satan's comments about art also echo a comment made by Goethe's
Mephistopheles. While convincing Faust to sign away his life, the devil states: "Doch
nur vor einem ist mir bang:/Die Zeit ist kurz, die Kunst ist lang " (But I'm afiraid, though
you are clever/Time is too brief, though art's forever).’* This statement, of course,
echoes what Wagner had claimed earlier in Faust: "Ach Gott! Die Kunst is lang/Und
kurz ist unser Leben" (Oh God, art is fbrever/And our life is brief).’®
Tolstoi's Satan implies that he is the polar opposite of God: a dark being, the
background in art, a minus sign, the image that casts no reflection, etc. Satan first makes
himself known as a voice ( "golos ") that utters words ("slova "), but not The Word or
^ Goethe 158,160.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,86.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,85.
” Goethe 188.
Goethe 106.
208
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Logos ("Slovo"). Tolstoi's Satan is much more than a negation of God— he is a pragmatic
and multifunctional creature as well. For example, the devil claims responsibility for
holy and pious men on earth-"Moe vliian'e blagotvom o/...l esli b cherta ne bylo na
svete/To ne bylo by i sviatykh!" (My influence is beneficiaiy...And if there was no devil
on the earth/Then there would be no saints).^ Satan then acknowledges that mortals view
him in diverse ways: "Kak inogda moia meniaetsia natura:/Vzberus' naverkh— ia
mrachnyi ideaiySpushchusia vniz— karikatura" (Occasionally my nature changes:/I
ascend upwards and I am a dark ideal;/! move downwards— 1 am a caricature).^
Despite these occasional moments of sarcasm, Tolstoi leaves no doubt that Satan
is a creature of darkness— he uses the words "ten' " (shadow), "temnyi fon" (dark
background) and "cheranaia tkan' " (black cloth) to describe himself; he appears as a
black angel ("...v vide chemogo angela"), and the spirits call him a raven ("iavis' nam...
kak voron... "). Tolstoi uses this last image to describe Satan's presence or influence
throughout the play. For example, before Don Zhuan visits Donna Anna for the final
time, she is deeply disturbed and is obsessed with the desire for revenge upon Zhuan.
She states, "Vse ta zhe neotviazchivaia mysl'/Vokrug menia kak chemyi voron v'etsia... "
(Everything is the same obsessive thought/Hovering around me like a black raven...).^
Tolstoi may have borrowed this last image from Goethe, whose Mephistopheles is
sometimes accompanied by two ravens. In fact, a witch who fails to recognize
Mephistopheles asks him: "Wo sind derm Eure beiden Raben?" (And your two ravens,
where are they?).®
Tolstoi's epistolary defense of his prologue, cited earlier in this chapter, is thus
incomplete. Not only is the Russian writer's version of the devil different from his
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,20.
™ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,18.
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,92.
“ Goethe 246.
209
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predecessors in the Faustian legend, but there are other substantial dissimilarities as well.
Unlike Goethe's "Prologue in Heaven," Tolstoi's version transpires on earth. The setting
is described as such: "Krasivaia strana. Vesennii vecher. Zakhozhdenie solntsa.
Nebesnye dukhi spuskaiutsia na zemliu" (A beautiful land. A spring evening. The
setting of the sun. Heavenly spirits descend to earth).” By opening the play on earth
instead of in heaven, Tolstoi places the forthcoming conversation between the spirits and
Satan in the latter's realm, and therefore, on his terms. This fact may explain why Satan
convinces the celestial spirits to make a wager over Zhuan's soul. Tolstoi underscores the
disparity between heaven and earth when the spirits reveal where they came from and
what their mission entails. The description is reminiscent of Tolstoi's Spiritualist lyrics,
in particular "V strane luchei .
Iz inoi strany chudesnoi,
Liudiam v goresti pomoch',
Nas na zendiu tsar' nebesnyi
Posylaet v etu noch';
Prinesti zhivoe slovo...
From another wonderful land/To help people in sorrow/The heavenly king
sent us on this night/To bring the living word....®
Although the reader is aware that God ("nebesnyi tsar" ") has sent the celestial spirits to
earth. He never appears in Tolstoi's play. The absence of God likely reflects Tolstoi's
Eastern Christian beliefs, for Orthodox theology denies the possibility and desirability of
depicting divine figures in any realistic fashion, including human actors. God's absence
in Tolstoi's play contrasts with Goethe's prologue, where God and Mephistopheles
discuss the fate of Faust. In fact, Tolstoi offers an interesting definition of God, one in
which Satan is an integral part. Satan proclaims that God is actually a combination of
himself and the celestial spirits: "Vykhodit, vy da ia, my sovokupno— on... v samom dele
my odno."® With this statement, Satan offers another example o f a dual or split
*' Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 9.
® Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 9.
® Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 87. 2 1 0
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personality found in Tolstoi's play. Satan then expands upon his definition of God by
attempting to explain divine or absolute truth to the celestial spirits:
A chto est’ istina? Vy znaete li eto?
Predstav'te vypuklyi uzor
Na bliakhe zhestianoi. So storony obratnoi
On V glubinu izobrazhen;
Dvoiakim sposobom vykhodit s dvukh storon
Odno i to zhe akkuratno.
Uzor est' istina. Gospod' zhe bog i ia -
My obe storony eia;
My vyrazhaem tainu bytiia-
On verkhnei chast'iu, ia ispodnei,
I vot vsia raznitsa, druz'ia,
Mezhdu moei snorovkoi i gospodnei.
And what is truth? Do you know what it is?/..VImagine a prominent
pattem/On a tin number plate. From the reverse side/He is depicted in the
depths yOne and the same neatly/Exit from two sides by dual means/The
pattern is truth. The Lord God and I— /We are both sides of ityWe express the
secret of matter— /He by the upper part, 1 by the lower/And that is the
difference, my fiiends,/Between my methods and the Lord's.**
Finally, because Satan and the spirits are active on earth, the devil audaciously
pronounces that God is only a symbol, a figurehead of sorts: "On simvol lish'
zamyslovatyi."“
The role Satan plays is unlike that of Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust. Whereas
Mephistopheles accompanies Faust on his adventures, acting as a channel for Faust's
desires, Tolstoi's Satan works behind the scenes. Despite their different roles, Satan's
subversive presence does remind one of a statement made by Mephistopheles in Goethe's
play: "Den Teufel spurt das Volkchen nie/U nd wenn er sie beim Kragen hatte " (the Devil
people never sense/Though he may hold them by the collar).* Tolstoi's Satan, along
with God's celestial spirits, are supporting characters. They do not physically interact
with the characters of the play. Tolstoi himself calls the battling entities members of a
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 86.
“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 87.
“ Goethe 218.
211
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chorus: "Oni-ne aktery dramy, no oni v nei sostavliaiut khor" (They are not actors in a
drama, but they make up the choir found in the drama itself).^ This chorus is thus a
necessary element, and even Satan characterizes himself as a "fundamental'nyi bas " (a
fundamental bass).® As we have already seen, the "harmony" emanating from this
chorus does impact the actions of Don Zhuan.
Finally, like the celestial spirits who act as a group, Tolstoi subtly implies that
Satan does not work alone on earth. Recall Satan's statement about Zhuan's one vice:
Ved' chertu, govoriat, dostatochno skhvatit'
Kogo-nibud' khot' za edinyi volos,
Chtob dushu vsiu ego derzhat' za etu nit'
1 chtoby s nim ona uzh ne borolas';
la u nego podmetil volosok,
Kotoromu nazvan'e-gordost'!
You know, they say it is enough for the devil/To catch someone even by a
single hairyin order to hold captive his whole soul by this thread/And so that
the soul no longer fights with h im /../I noticed that he has one little hair/It is
called-pride!®
Satan's belief that a person may be controlled by a single hair or thread is repeated in the
first scene of the play. The holy fathers of the Inquisition demand knowledge that will
incriminate Don Zhuan. A spy working for the fathers tells Leporello: "Podumai,
vspomni. Dai nam v ruki nit'yChtob do ego bezveriia dobrat'sia" (Think hard, remember.
Give us a thiead/So that he may found to be a heretic). Anna sees the very same thread
at the end of the play. She glimpses the thread as a result of divine insight, because a fog
has been lifted from her eyes (a notion similar to the Symbolist concept of unveiling):
Kak vse mne stalo iasno i poniatno!
S moikh ochei kak budto spal tuman,
I bez truda ia razlichaiu nit'
Zaputannykh sobytii i dorogu,
Kotoroi vy k pogibeli prishli.
" Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 131.
* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 15.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 19.
212
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How clear and compréhensible everything is to me now!/It is as if a fog has
been lifted from my eyes/And without difficulty 1 discern a thiead/Of
intricate events and the roadVBy which you will go to your destruction.^
Because Satan and the Inquisition share the same means for entrapping Zhuan, one may
deduce that the Inquisition functions as an agent of evil. This claim becomes more
plausible when considering the punishment the Inquisition desires to inflict upon Zhuan:
iron fetters, poison, assault, and execution by fire. 1 maintain that by linking Satan and
the Inquisition together, Tolstoi was expressing his disdain towards the prosecution of
sectarians within his own country. In effect, this passage represents a protest, an action
Tolstoi could not undertake actively and openly without censure, especially while he
served on the Imperial Committee on religious sects. In addition, the link between Satan
and the Inquisition, in particular its tendency towards evil action (its members decide that
Zhuan must be executed), predates Dostoveskii's portrayal of the Grand Inquisitor in The
Brothers Karamazov. Indeed, both works feature the Spanish Inquisition, and both
underscore the disparity between celestial and earthly forms of justice.
IV. D onna A nna
What good is beauty, even youth?
AU that may be good and fair.
But does it get you anywhere?
— Margaret, Faust
If Satan serves as the motivator o f the plot of Don Zhuan. then Donna Anna
functions as Zhuan's saviour. Unlike many earlier versions of the Don Juan legend, in
which Anna is the means to Juan's destruction, Tolstoi's Anna is ultimately responsible
for saving Zhuan's soul. As Solomon states: "...otlichitel'noi chertoi "Don-Zhuana "
Tolstogo iavliaetsia glubina kharakteristiki donny-Anny, etoi ideal'noi zhenshchiny,
kotoraia odna sposobna... spasti ego ot neminuemoi gibeli" (a distinguishing feature of
Tolstoi's "Don Zhuan " is the depth o f characterization of Donna Anna, of this ideal
woman, who alone has the means... to save him [Don Zhuan] from inescapable
* * Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2 ,115.
213
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destruction).^' In Donna Anna, Tolstoi Anthers the development of the strong Russian
woman, one who remains true to herself and her principles, much like Pushkin's Tat iana
in Evgenii Onegin, who remains true to her marriage vows despite the temptation of the
male protagonist.
Zhuan and Anna are not always at odds in Tolstoi's play. In fact, at one point,
they reconcile their differences and formally announce their engagement despite the
initial objections of Anna's father, the Commander. Despite Zhuan's promises, he later
decides to seduce Inez in front of the Conunander and Anna as a means to break his
betrothal. A similar pattern is found in Moliere's Dom Juan, where Juan is actually
married to Elvira (there is no Donna Anna in Moliere's play). Juan, however, continues
to break his marriage vows by seducing other women— as Sgnarelle notes: "A marriage
don't cost him much, it is his accustom'd snare to entrap the fair sex."^
Many critics state that Tolstoi derives Anna from Hoffmann's own version of her.
For example, Gatto writes that "Tolstoj... turned to Hoffmann in his portrayal of the
character of Donna Anna."” Hoffmann himself writes of Anna as:
...the counterpart of Don Juan. Just as Don Juan was originally a marvelously
strong and handsome man, so she is a divine woman, over whose spirit the
Devil has no power. All the arts of Hell, combined for her undoing, could
ruin her only in an earthly fashion.^
The idea that the Devil has no power over Anna is also found in Tolstoi's play, as well as
in Goethe's Faust, where Mephistopheles tells Faust that he is powerless to influence
Margaret because she is so pious and chaste: "Über die hab ich keine Gewalt" (Over her
I don't have any power).”
Salomon, "Raznostoronnost' i glubina soderzhaniia 'Don Zhuana . "Aleksei Konstantinovich
Tolstoi 256.
” Mandel 121.
” Gatto 28.
^ E.T.A. Hofhnann, "Don Juan," trans. Christopher Lazare, The Theatre o f Don Juan 324.
” Goethe 258.
214
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I assert that there are even more similarities between Goethe's Margaret and
Tolstoi's Anna. As Don Zhuan and Satan demonstrate characteristics similar to Faust and
Mephistopheles, it is impossible not to compare Anna with Margaret/Gretchen. Zhuan
describes Anna in the following terms; she has a slender and beautiful figure ("stan, i
gibkii, i prekrasnyi"), and her lips are burning ("goriachie usta"); even when Anna is
about to kill herself, Zhuan notes how beautiful she is: "Net, pravo, nikogda eshche
dosel'/Ia ne vidal ee takoi prekrasnoi! " (No, it is true, I have never until this very
day/Seen her so beautiful!).* Similarly, Faust takes note of Margaret's physical features:
Beim Himmel, dieses Kind ist schon!
So etwas hab ich nie gesehn.
Sie ist so sitt- und tugendreich
Und etwas schnippisch doch zugleich.
Der Lippe Rot, der Wange Licht,
Der Tage der Welt vergess ich's nicht!
By heaven, this young girl is fair!/Her like I don't know anywhere./She is so
virtuous and pure/But somewhat pert and not dem ure./Tha^low of her
cheeks and her lips so red/I shall not forget until I am dead.
In addition to being attracted to the physical characteristics of the heroines, both
protagonists see their love interests in divine terms. For example, Faust, while looking in
a mirror, sees an image of Margaret and exclaims:
Was seh ich? Welch ein himmlisch Bild
Zeigt sich in diesem Zauberspiegel!
Das schonste Bild von einem Weibe!
Ist's moglich, ist das Weib so schon?
MuB ich an diesem hingestrechketen Leibe
Den Inbegriff von alien Himmeln sehn?
So etwas findet sich auf Erden?
What blissful image is revealed/To me behind this magic glass!/../The fairest
image of a woman !/Indeed, could woman be so fair?/Or is this body which 1
see reclining/Heaven's quintessence from another sphere?/Is so much beauty
found on earth?*
^ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,31, 116.
Goethe 256.
Goethe 240,242.
215
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Don Zhuan expresses similar sentiments regarding the heavenly nature of Donna Anna:
Ona menia rodnila so vselenoi,
Vsekh istin ia istochnik videl v nei
Vsekh del velikikh pervuiu prichinu.
Cherez nee ia poniinal uzh smumo
Chudesnyi stroi zakonov bytiia,
lavlenii vsekh sokrytoe nachalo.
She made me akin to the universe/In her, 1 saw the source of all truths/the
prime cause o f all greamessVThrough her, I dimly understood/The miraculous
structure of the laws of being/The secret beginning of all phenomena.”
Zhuan does qualify his utterance when he states: "Ona byla takaia zh, kak drugie!" (She
was just like all the o th ers).U ltim ately , Zhuan discovers that he is wrong— Donna
Anna is the closest thing to the ideal woman on earth, a fact that Satan himself
recognizes:
No nyneshnii ego predmet
Est' mezhdu vsemi iskliuchen’ e.
Mogu vam dolozhit', bez lesti i pokhval,
Ona toch'-v-toch' na svoi pokhodit ideal,
1 dazhe samomu mne stranno,
Chto V formu vylilas' tak chisto donna Anna.
But his current object /Is an exception among all71 can report to you without
flattery and praise/She bears an exact resemblance to the ideal/And even for
me it is strange/How purely Donna Anna has been cast into the mold.
Despite this recognition, Satan is convinced that Zhuan does not have the capacity to
recognize Anna for what she is. The devil states, "...slep on, slovno krot" (he is blind,
like a mole), and further says that if Zhuan were to see perfection in Anna, it would be
regarded as a miracle: "Kogda b ee sumel on otsenit'/Svershilos' by neslykhannoe
chudo...."^®
Zhuan's tragic quest for the eternal feminine not only predates the Symbolists'
search for the Divine Sophia, but is derived from Goethe's "das Ewig Weibliche. " This
” Tolstoi, Sobranie. 31.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. 31.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,85.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,85.
216
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particular being is found at the end o f Faust when Margaret/Gretchen is transformed into
the highest being in heaven. In her transfigured form as "Una Poenitentium," she marks
Faust's entrance into heaven with the following words: "Der friih Geliebte/Nicht mehr
G etnibte/Er kommt zuriick" (He whom I loved in pain/Now returns free from
stain/Comes back to me).‘ ® Margaret is then accompanied by a mystical chorus, who
refer to her as the eternal feminine:
Allés Vergangliche
1st nur ein Gleichnis;
Das Unzulangliche,
Hier wird's Ereigids;
Das Unbeschreibliche,
Hier ist's getan;
Das Ewig-Weibliche
Zieht uns hinan.
What is destructible/Is but a parable/W hat fails ineluctably/The
undeclarable/Here it was seen/Here it was action;/The Eternal
Feminine/Lutes to Perfection.*®
Direct reference to Goethe's conception o f the eternal feminine is found in Tolstoi's play
when Zhuan describes his frustrating quest to find the perfect woman:
1, esli by to serdtse ia nashel!
I s nim odno by tseloe sostavil,
Odno zveno toi beskonechnoi tsepi,
Kotoraia, v sviazi so vsei vselennoi
Voskhodit vechno vyshe k bozhestvu
I ottogo lish' slit'sia s nim ne mozhet,
Chto put' k nemu, kak vechnost', bez kontsa!
And if I were to find such a heart !/And together we would consist o f one
whole/One kernel of that endless chain/W % ch, in connection with all the
Universe/Rises forever higher towards divinity/And one can not fuse with
divinity,/Only because the path to it is, like eternity, without end!*®
Zhuan's monologue clearly parallels the end of Faust, as Goethe's hero ascends upward,
towards divinity, and towards the eternal feminine.
Goethe 500.
Goethe 502.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,31-32.
217
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Even in their earthly states, both Donna Anna and Margaret are highly religious
individuals— their pious nature is so great that they even pray for the male protagonists
despite being scorned by them. In the end, it is their devout religiosity which saves both
themselves and their respective love interests. As James Gatto writes, "having believed
in her [Anna], he [Zhuan] believed in God."‘ “ Margaret is given a place in heaven and is
then transformed into the eternal feminine, a being who lures Faust to heavenly
perfection. Although Anna is not miraculously transformed following her death, on earth
she acts as a prophetess, foretelling the means by which Zhuan will be saved from eternal
damnation:
Frestupnoi zhizni vashei, don Zhuan,
Naidutsia, ia nadeius", ob' iasnen'ia,
Kotorye smiagchat gospoden" sud.
No vy spasetes" tolTco pokaian'em!
For your criminal life, Don Zhuan/I hope that explanations will be
found/That will mollify God's judgement/But you will only be saved by
penance!'®^
The fact that Zhuan ultimately performs penance in a monastery attests to Anna's divine
insight. The need for an explanation to which Anna refers, is, of course, given at the
beginning of Goethe's tragedy, and applies not only to Faust, but to Tolstoi's Zhuan as
well: "Es irrt der Mensch, solang er strebt " (Man errs as long as he will strive).“*
There are even more commonalities between Anna and Margaret. Both heroines
suffer the loss of a male relative: Faust kills Margaret's brother Valentine in a duel, and
Don Zhuan strikes down Donna Anna's father as the result of the same ritual of honor.
The leitmotif of poison is also common to the actions o f both women: Margaret, using a
potion given to her by Faust, unknowingly poisons her mother, while Donna Anna
‘“ Gatto 41.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,115.
Goethe 86.
218
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commits suicide by imbibing poison. Like Anna, Margaret chooses to take her own life,
deciding not to flee before she is executed in prison.
Aside from using Goethe and Hoffmann, I believe that Tolstoi also turns to an
indigenous Russian literary character as a model for Arma: Pushkin's Tat iana in Evgenii
Onegin. This association is underscored early in the play, in which Zhuan reads a letter
addressed to him from Donna Anna.
1 k vam pisat' reshaius', don Zhuan,
Reshaius' ia ispolnit' vashu pros'bu.
No ob 'iasnit'sia s vami ia dolzhna.
Uspekhi vashi, nrav nepostoiannyi,
Otchaian'e i slezy stoHokh zhertv,
K neschast'iu, mne davno uzhe izvestny.
Dlia vas legko liubit' i razliubit ...
Uzhel' vy mkzhe i menia khoteli b
Ignishkoi sdelat’ prikhoti svoei?
Net, vopreki tiazhelym obvinen'iam,
Kotorykh mnogo tak na vas lezhit,
Mne govorit k ^ o i-to tainyi golos,
Chto uvazhat' vas mozhno, don Zhuan!
Skazhite, zh, kak dolzhna ia opravdat'
Presledovan'ia vashi? Mozhet byt,
Vam samoliub'e ne daet pokoia,
I trebuete vy, chtoby ia vam
Sama v liubvi priznalas'? Esli tak—
I pritvoriat'sia dole ne umeiu,—
1 vas liubliu— da— vyskazano slovo...
1 decided to write to you, Don Zhuan/l decided to fulfill your request/ But I
must make myself understood/Your successes, your inconsistent
character/The despair and tears of so many victims/Unfortunately were all
known to me a long time ago/For you it is easy to fall in and out of
love ./D id you really want to make me a toy as well/Of your whim?/But
despite such severe accusations/Of which there are many against you/A
secret voice speaks to m e / Telling me that it is possible to respect you, Don
Zhuan !/Tell me, how ought I to justify your pursuits?/Perhaps your vanity
does not give you any peace/And you demand, that 1 admit/To falling in love
with you?/lf that is so— /I am no longer able to pretend,— ! love you— yes-the
word has been uttered...
Anna's letter, in which she openly admits her love for Zhuan, parallels Tat iana's actions
in Evgenii Onegin. Anna's letter opens much in the same way as Tat iana's: "I k vam
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 33.
219
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pishu— chego zhe bole?" (I write to you— what mote is wanted?). As Anna admits her
love for Zhuan ("la vas liubliu'), so Tat iana does for Onegin:
...Net, nikomu na svete
Ne otdala by serdtse ia!
To V vyshnem suzhdeno sovete...
To volia neba: ia tvoia...
No, I could never/Give my heart to another on earth !/It must have been
decreed by a higher power..7It must be heaven's will: I am yours....
Non-earthly powers are at work in both instances: Tat iana believes her love for Onegin
was decided by a higher power, while a secret voice ("tainyi golos") tells Anna to respect
Zhuan. There are additional parallels between Anna and Tat iana. Both evolve
emotionally: initially they are naive, proclaiming their love without fully realizing the
consequences of such a bold act. Both are ultimately unfulfilled in love: Anna considers
entering a covent and then kills herself, while Tat iana enters into a loveless marriage. In
fact, at the end of each work, Anna and Tat iana are both in an untenable position, are in
full command of their emotions, and reject the love of the male protagonist. Though
these parallels attest to Tolstoi's status as an epigone, they also indicate an attempt on his
part to imbue his Eton Zhuan with a sense of Russianness.
V. Leporelio
"Tis enough to tell you that Heaven must overwhelm
him some day or other, that I had better belong to the
Devil than to him.... "
-Sgnarelle, Moiiere's Pom Juan
In most renditions of the Don Juan legend, the character who serves Juan (usually
either Sgnarelle or Leporelio) is given a minor, but nonetheless significant role. Often,
he is viewed as the mirror image to Juan: a coward, not as successful with women, and
more morally upright. Some critics suggest that Juan's servant represents the moral
““ Pushkin, vol. 5,69.
Pushkin, vol. 5, 70.
220
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opposite of his master, and is in fact, the repository of proper morals/^ Tolstoi's
Leporelio exhibits these characteristics; he is afraid to invite the Commander's statue to
dinner, he does not engage in romantic behavior, and on several occasions, he tells Zhuan
that he should settle down and marry. However, Tolstoi's Leporelio is not entirely
morally upright.
the Spanish Inquisition in Seville. In this rather lengthy scene, Leporelio functions as a
humorous foil to the members of the religious tribunal. When asked to tell what he
knows of Zhuan's position in regard to the Church, he not only answers them, but
responds so frankly and in such detail that his own life is threatened. For example,
Leporelio repeats what his master has said about the Church: "Sviatye brat'ia glupy, " at
which point the spy for the tribunal exclaims in anger: "Kogda ne zamolchish' ty,
popugai,/Tebia v zheleznuiu posadiat kletku!" (If you don't shut up, parrot/You will be
placed in an iron cage!)."^
To a certain extent, Leporello's role also parallels that of Wagner in Faust. Both
Leporelio and Wagner assist their masters, and are clearly regarded as "lesser"
individuals— Leporelio is not a free man, and Wagner is an apprentice-scholar who
studies under Faust. An even more effective comparison would be between Leporelio
and Mephistopheles. In Don Zhuan and Faust, a pair of men are on a quest— one is
master, and one is servant (recall Mephistopheles' statement to Faust that "I shall be your
servant or slave").”" * Although Zhuan's servant does not have any magical powers like
Mephistopheles, the opening scene o f Tolstoi’ s play implies that Leporelio has a direct
‘ For example, in Molieie, Sgnarelle represents the voice o f moral authority who opposes Juan's
atheistic stance. See Ian W att Mvths o f Modem Individualism: Faust. Don Quixote. Don Juan. Robinson
Crusoe (New York: Cambridge UP, 1996).
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,28.
'"G oethe 180.
221
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connection with evil powers— his actions lead the reader to believe that Leporelio is a
Judas o f sorts.
As a condition o f his release from the Holy Inquisition, Leporelio is ordered to
observe his master's activities and to report all his transgressions. At first, Leporelio is
recalcitrant; he tells the members, "Nechesmo donosit' na gospodina!" (It is dishonest to
inform on one's master)."^ After being threatened with severe forms of punishment, he
relents- "la gotov za nim sledit'/I donosit' pro vse s blagogoven'em" ( 1 am ready to
follow after him/And to tell you everything with veneration)."® The Judas motif is
emphasized further when the head of the Inquisition offers Leporelio money for his
deeds: "A chervontsy eti/Darit tebe sviataia inkvizitsiia" (And these gold coins/The Holy
Inquisition gives to you)."’ Leporelio attempts to qualify his treacherous act: "Bern iz
uvazhen'ia. Gospodina b/Ne prodal ia ni za kakie den'gi " (I take them out of respect. My
master/1 would never sell for any amount of money). In contrast to Judas' actions,
Leporelio informs Don Zhuan what the Inquisition desires o f him. Much like Christ,
Zhuan then tells his servant to go and inform on him: "Ty zh, Leporelio, budesh' k nim
iavliat'sia/1 donosit' im, slovo v slov, to/Chto kazhdyi raz tebe ia prodiktuiu.""’ Zhuan's
words are clearly reminiscent of Christ's to Judas at the Last Supper— "What you are
going to do, do quickly."^” What makes Leporello's role as Judas even more convincing
is the fact that Don Zhuan is resurrected after being killed by the statue of the
Commander. Leporelio is thus a double agent of sorts, acting in the interests o f both the
Inquistion and Don Zhuan.
“ ^Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 26.
" ‘ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 28.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 28. See Luke 22:3-6, Matthew 26:14-16, Mark 14:10-11.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,29.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 38.
‘“ John 14:27.
222
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VI. Resurrection and Réanimation
"Yet art thou still but Faustus and a man.
Could'st thou make men to live eternally
Or being dead raise them to life again.. . "
— Doctor Faustus. Christopher Marlowe
The truncated form of Don Zhuan (1867) has the protagonist die at the hands of
the statue of the dead Commander: grabbing Zhuan with his stone hand, he sentences the
Buriador to death— "Pogibni zh, cherv' " (Die, worm).^' In the original version of
Tolstoi’ s play, Zhuan’ s fate is markedly different. After Zhuan falls dead (’ ’padaet
meitvyi"), Satan and the celestial spirits materialize to battle over the Spaniard's soul.
Satan is convinced that Zhuan should be damned to hell because he blasphemed against
God and failed to repent despite being warned by the statue several times. The devil
exclaims, "On moi! Otvergon po pokaian'e!/On bogokhul'stvuet! O nm oi!"‘ “ Satan’ s
frustration is similar to that expressed by Mephistopheles during his vigil by Faust’ s
grave. He states that God’s angels "...leider hat man jetzt so viele Mittel/Dem Teufel
Seelen zu entziehn ” (...have so many means today/To rob the Devil of a soul).“
The spirits deem that Zhuan is worthy o f being saved because he admits to being
genuinely in love for the first time in his life. The representatives of heaven claim Zhuan
for their own, shouting:
Nazad, slepaia sila!
Ostav’ togo kto veruet i liubit!
Ego spaset liubvi soznan'e,
Liubov' est’ serdtsa pokaian'ie,
Liubov' est' very kliuch zhivoi...
Back, blind power/Leave the one who believes and loves!/..7The recogiiition
of love has saved him/..7Love is repentance of the heart/Love is the living
key of faith...
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 120.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,652.
Goethe 470.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,652.
223
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In this particular passage, Tolstoi uses a scene from Goethe's Faust. As the angels are
saving Faust's soul from Mephistopheles, they justify their presence with the following
words:
Was euch nicht angehort,
Miissset ihr meiden.
Was euch das Innre stort,
Diirfr ihr nicht leiden.
Dringt es gewaltig ein,
Miissen wir tüchdg sein.
Liebe nur Leibende
Fiihret herein!
What is not part o f your sphere/You may not shareyWhat fills you with
fear/You cannot bear./If the attack succeedsVWe must do valiant deeds VLove
alone leads/Loving ones there.
Though Goethe's work is the most obvious source from which Tolstoi bases the battle
between the celestial spirits and Satan, one other source is possible— Alexandre Dumas'
(pere) Don Juan de Marana. ou la chute d un Ange (1836). a play that Mandel calls, "so
trashy as to be magnificent. In Dumas' play, there is a scene in which a good angel
and a bad angel struggle for Don Juan's soul. In his correspondence, Tolstoi does not
mention Dumas' play, though he was familiar with The Three Musketeers.*^ It seems
pertinent to mention Dumas and his possible impact on Don Zhuan if only because it was
he who accompanied the Spiritualist medium D.D. Home from France to (and around)
Russia, and as a result, it is likely that Tolstoi and Dumas met during this period.
Despite Satan's earlier claim that "Svet pobedila mgla" (Darkness has triumphed
over light), Tolstoi makes it clear that quite the opposite has occured.'^ In contrast to the
reader's expectations, Don Zhuan's soul is not transported to heaven by the celestial
Goethe 480.
Mandel 454.
Tolstoi. Sobranie. vol. 4,94.
Thomas Berry writes that Home travelled throughout Russian with Dumas and was a guest of
the royal family at Peterhof for a week. See Berry's "Mediums and Spiritualism" 131.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,83.
224
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spirits; instead, they repeat on two occasions that Zhuan's life on earth is not over; "Me
konchen put’ ego zemnoi!"““ With this proclamation, the spirits disappear.
It is only at the onset of the ensuing scene that the reader discovers that Zhuan has
been raised from the dead: he is unconscious ("lezhit na krovati bez chuvst"), but
Leporelio finally manages to bring his master to his senses. At the opening of Don
Zhuan. Tolstoi hints at his protagonist's future fate. Specifically, Donna Anna considers
Zhuan a resurrected man who has radically altered his former womanizing ways. She
tells her father:
Tot don Zhuan, kotoryi bumoi zhizn'iu
Negodovan'e nashe vozbuzhdal.
Me est' Zhuan schastlivyi, vozrozhdennyi,
Kotoryi nyne liubit doch' tvoiu!
That Don Zhuan, who with his stormy life/Awakened our in d icatio n /is not
the same happy, resurrected Zhuan/W ho loves your daughter!
A similar notion of being bom again (i.e., not in a literal sense, but in the sense that one
has reformed his ways) is also found in "Kamennyi gost ," when Don Guan states: "...s toi
poroi kak vas uvidel ia/M ne kazhetsia, ia ves' pererodilsia " (...since I first saw you,/It
seemed to me that I had been entirely reborn).
Being raised from the dead is not an atypical event in Tolstoi's oeuvre. The
Spiritualist method of communicating with the dead through a living being (a medium) is
one example of Tolstoi's interest in reviving the deceased. In "Upyr ," "Sem'ia
vurdalaka, " and "Vstrecha cherez trista let," there are several examples of people who
have supposedly died and then wander the earth seeking sustenance and revenge
(Sugrobina, Teliaev, Praskova, Gorcha and his progeny, and the Knight Oberbois).
Tolstoi's historical ballad "Kniaz' Rostislav" is centered on a dead prince being
reanimated briefly, rising from his underwater grave only to discover that his wife has
‘“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,652-53.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,50.
Pushkin, Folnoe sobranie sochinenii. vol. 5,407.
225
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remarried and his comrades-in-arms have deserted him. Finally, in one of Tolstoi's
childhood ballads, "Vikhor-kon ," a dead horse comes back to life and gallops across the
plains. Whereas these latter examples of vampires and ghosts are reanimated by
supernatural means, Don Zhuan's return to life must be considered, in Christian terms, a
genuine miracle. Zhuan is not reanimated like a zombie, but resurrected like Christ or
Lazams: Zhuan was clearly dead ("mertvyi") and is given new life by the celestial
spirits.*^
In his later years, beginning in the 1860s, Tolstoi became personally interested in
the concept of rebirth or reincarnation. Margaret Dalton writes that "toward the end of
his life Tolstoy seems to have become fascinated with Arthur Schopenhauer's theory of
reincarnation and nirvana.... " This fascination finds expression in the excised parts of
Don Zhuan: the protagonist is resurrected, i.e., in a very literal sense, reborn. Indeed,
Tolstoi's letters to his wife attest to his interest in the German philosopher, though Tolstoi
was not always impressed with everything Schopenhauer wrote. For example, in a letter
dated January 12, 1868, Tolstoi writes: "la dorogoi vse chital "Parerga i Paralipomena" i
ne tol"ko vse ponial, no dazhe vse eto znal prezhde, chem prochel. Sobstvennym umom
doshel " (Along the way I read all of "Parerga and Paralipomena, " and not only did I
understand everything, but I even knew it before I began reading the essay. I came by
this knowledge all by myself). Similarly, in a letter dated June 20, 1871, he writes:
la vse chitaiu Shopengauera Hauptwerk. i ochen" strannoe on na menia
proizvodit deistvie. U menia samoe bol'shoe pochtenie k ego umu, i mnogoe
sovershenno iasno i pravdopodobno, a v samom Ausgangspunkt (iskhodnoi
tochke zreniia) dlia menia protivorechie, i voobshche vsia sistema osnovana
na cheloveke i na iavleniiakh nashei planety i tekh, o kotorykh mozhno
dogadyvat'sia, sudia s nashei planety... A obshchee vpechatlenie ot nego-i
khoroshee i dumoe. Dumoe, potomu chto, esli emu otdat'sia, chuvstvuesh'
neobyknovennoe prezrenie i k drugim, i k sebe; khoroshee, potomu chto vsia
drian" v zhizni kazhetsia tak melka, chto i dumat" o nei ne stoit.
Tolstoi is not alone in associating Zhuan with C hrist Kierkegaard, in "Either/Or," estimates
Mozart's Don Giovanni to be thirty-three years old, the age at which Christ was crucified and raised from
the dead.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,223.
226
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I read all of Schopenhauer’ s Hauptwerk. and it made a very strange impression
upon me. I have a great deal of respect for his mind, and much is completely
clear and probable, but in Ausgangspunkt itself, there is a contradiction for
me, and in general, the entire system is based upon man and the
manifestations observable on our planet and on that which can be guessed
about, judging from our planet... But my general impression of it is good and
bad. Bad, because if you give in to it, you then feel an unusual contempt both
for others and for yourself; good, because all the unpleasantries in life seem so
petty that it is not worth thinking about them.*^’
Interestingly enough, Tolstoi actually compares Schopenhauer to Goethe, claiming that it
would be much easier for him to get along with the former than the latter: "...mne
kazhetsia, chto s Shopengauerom ia by uzhilsia, a s Gete--net."‘“
Through the intervention of the celestial spirits, Zhuan overcomes death itself. By
raising Zhuan from the dead, Tolstoi imbues his play with the spirit found at the
beginning of Goethe's Faust. Recall that the first part of the tragedy takes place at Easter.
For example, Wagner tells Faust: "Ich hatte gem nur immer fortgewachtyUm so gelehrt
mit Euch mich zu besprechen/Doch morgen, als ersten Ostertage..." (Our conversation
was so erudite/1 should like to stay awake with you/Vet Easter comes tomorrow...).*^
Moments later, a choir of angels from heaven can be heard, glorifying the risen Lord and
those whom he came to save:
Christ ist erstanden!
Freude dem Sterblichen,
Den die verderblichen,
Schleichenden, erblichen
Mangel umwanden.
Christ is arisen/Hail the meek spirited/Whom the iU-merited/Creeping,
inherited/Faults held in prison.
Again, it would not be out of place to mention Dumas' Don Juan de Marana. which
actually features a mass resurrection scene.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,372.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,348.
Goethe 108.
Goethe 118.
227
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In addition to literary influences, 2%uan's resurrection reflects Tolstoi's deep
religious faith. Orthodox Christian doctrine certainly contributes to the possibility of
physical mortality; and all Christians believe that Christ and his mother Mary were
resurrected not only in spirit, but in body as well. Irene Masing-Delic writes that
"Orthodoxy... intimate[s] that the elimination of death somehow [lies] embedded in an
evolutionary plan conceived by God himself, who desire[s] that matter become
spiritualized... The possibility of overcoming death is a concept that became more
prominent as the nineteenth century came to a close and revolution loomed in the air. In
literature of the period, one finds the theme of bodily resurrection in several works,
including Pisarev’ s Sketches from the Historv of Labor (1863), Dostoevskii’ s The
Brothers Karamazov (1880. specifically "The Grand Inquisitor"), Gorldi's poem "Man"
(1904), Leonid Andreev's "Lazarus ' (1906), Sologub's A Legend in the Making (1907-
14), Nikolai Fedorov's The Philosophv of the Common Task ( 1906-7. 1913), Platonov's
"Secret Man " (1928) and Maiakovskii's play The Bedbug (1928).
Don Zhuan certainly anticipates Andreev's "Lazarus" in that the protagonists of
both works are not satisfied with their corporeal revival. Like Don Zhuan. Sologub's
work contains a Faustian motif: the alchemist poet Trirodov reanimates deceased
children; and as we shall see shortly, alchemy plays a central role in Tolstoi's "Alkhimik. "
Finally, Fedorov's philosophical work has a fervent Russian Orthodox streak running
through it (recall that Don Zhuan's revival is grounded in Christian imagery). In contrast,
the remaining works differ greatly from Don Zhuan thematically. For example, Pisarev's
work is based on analogies with the soil and cultivation.
Masing-Delic points out that with the onset of the twentieth century, the notion of
resurrection became not only a literary issue, but a cultural one as well. Marxist-
Communist ideology attempted to transform the concept of resurrection from a religious
Irene Masing-Delic, Abolishing Death: A Salvation Mvth o f Russian Twenrieth-Centurv
Literature (Stanford: Stanford UP, 1992) 4.
228
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myth to a plausible reality that would be realized in the near future. The idea of god-
building ("bogostroitel'stvo") became a fashionable topic at that time, and victory over
death was no longer regarded as a religious idea in which only the soul would triumph.
Instead, it was propagandized that the body could eventually be revived and rejuvenated
by scientific means. Lenin's embalming not only established a secular cult, but his death
was officially regarded as a temporary state; it was propagated that in the not-too-distant
future, the first leader of the Bolshevik state would be revived by scientific means.**
While the spirits resurrect Don 29iuan, Satan battles with God's representatives for
control over the Commander's animated statue, and implicitly over his soul as well. As
stated above, it is the graveside monument to the Commander who actually kills Don
Zhuan. The statue of the father of Donna Arma seems to be an instrument of God's
revenge— his violent means are tempered by the fact that he offers, even begs, Zhuan to
repent his sins. Several times the statue commands Zhuan to pray and to think of his
soul--"...molis ... podumai o dushe... v poslednii raz, molisia" (...pray to God... think of
your soul... for the last time, pray to God)."*
The actions of the statue are umemarkable when considering the Don Juan
legend, even in the Russian context. As in Pushkin's "The Stone Guest, " the statue in
Don Zhuan acts as an enforcer of divine justice. Where Tolstoi's version differs is in the
epilogue (and this is one reason why the prologue is significant)~for a brief moment, the
statue seems to be under the control of Satan. Realizing that he may lose Zhuan's soul,
Satan orders the Commander's statue to take Zhuan's body to hell; "Khvatai ego, nazlo
zemle i tverdi-/Il' provalis', bulyzhnyi komandor!" (Hold on to him despite earth and
firmamentyOr vanish, stone Commander!).*^ Only when the Commander fails to fulfill
See the first two chapters o f Masing-Delic's book for more detail. W hat she stresses is that the
religious elements regarding resurrection are lessened and ultimately deemed irrelevant following the
October 1917 Revolution. In essence, the Bolshevik state appropriated many religious rituals (e.g., "Red
Baptisms" and "Red Easters") to gain converts to communism.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 119-20.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,652. 229
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Satan's demand and then disappears does it become clear that the statue is not under the
devil's sway. One may conclude that the Commander's statue was controlled by Satan
because in the first part of the play, Tolstoi presents a scene in which the Commander
himself acts as an "unwilling" agent of evil. Don Zhuan had been serenading Anna for a
prolonged period of time in her room, and was beginning to feel that he truly loved her.
At a moment of bliss for Zhuan, the Commander interrupts and reminds Zhuan that love
is not real; "On mne napomnil, chto liubov' est' prizrak/Chto ia siuda prishel lish' rol'
igrat .
The motif of animating stone also appears in one of Tolstoi's last works, a
narrative-in verse entitled "Drakon" ( "The Dragon," 1875). In this "poema, " two twelfth-
century Italian warriors happen upon a gigantic statue of a horrifying dragon. They
realize that Christians could not have constructed such a monument, and wonder for what
reason it was erected:
Ne khristianskim, dumaiu, reztsom
Zver" vytesan. My drevnego naroda
Uznaem trud, kol" blizhe podoidem.
K chemu mog byt" tot pamiatnik vozdvignut?
It was not a Christian chisel, I think/That carved this monster. We will learn
about the labor of an ancient people, if we move closer to the statue/..TFor
what reason was such a monument erected?^"”
What actually causes this stone monument to become animate is, ironically, a stone itself.
When one of the warriors throws a stone at the statue, it eventually causes the dragon to
come to life: "...kamen' vziav, on sU'noiu rukoi/S razmakha im pustil povyshe ukha/V
chudovishche..." (...having taken a stone, with a strong hand he/with all his might, hit the
monster above the ear...).'"** From this point on, the statue slowly comes to life--a fire
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,50.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,577, 579.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1.581.
230
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seems to bum in the dragon’ s eyes ( "ogon" zeienyi v nikh gorit"), ultimately releasing it
from its inanimate state.
The recurrence of stone characters in Tolstoi's oeuvre brings to mind Roman
Jakobson's famous essay "The Statue in Pushkin's Poetic Mythology," which analyzes
common characters, functions and themes in "The Stone Guest," "The Bronze
Horseman, " and "The Fairy Tale of the Golden Cockerel If we apply Jakobson's
methodology, we find more parallels between Don Zhuan and "Drakon." Not only do
both works feature animate stone beings, but both also center on protagonists who are
soldiers on speciHc quests. In addition, the statues have similar functions: they are both
instruments of death. Whereas the Commander executes Don Zhuan, the Dragon feeds
on soldiers who fall in battle. The sculptural theme is also found in Koz'ma Prutkov's
"Plasticheskii grek " ("A Plastic Greek, " 1854); in addition, animated art is present in
Tolstoi's narrative-in-verse "Portret " ( "The Portrait") and "Upyr" " ("The Vampire"), in
which pictures of beautiful women materialize under mysterious circumstances.
At first, it would seem that Tolstoi's interest in Schopenhauer's belief in
reincarnation would apply to the réanimation of the Commander's statue— initially, one
assumes that the Commander's spirit inhabits the stone sculpture. This assumption,
however, proves false. As it turns out, the statue's réanimation involves neither his
corporeal body, nor his celestial being. Rather, the statue is inhabited by an astral force
that serves both good and evil. Tolstoi states that, "Eta statuia ne est" ni kamennoe
izvaianie, ni dukh komandora. Eto— astral'naia sila, ispolnitel'nitsa reshenii, sila,
sluzhashchaia ravno i dobru i zlu... " (This statue is neither a stone statue, nor the spirit of
the Commander. It is an astral force, it carries out orders, a power which serves good and
evil equally...)."^ This astral force was called forth earlier in the play by Satan to aide
him in Don Zhuan's downfall:
Roman Jakobson, "The Statue in Pushkin's Poetic Mythology," Pushkin and His Sculptural
Mvth. trans. and ed. John Burbank (The Hague: Mouton, 1975) 1-44.
'■ * ’ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,136. 231
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Pozvol'te mne siuda tu silu priglasit',
Kotoraia, bez voli i soznan'ia,
Privykla pervomu sluzhit',
Kto tollco dast ei prikazan'e.
Kto b ei ni ovladel, porok il' blagodat',
Slepa, mogucha, ravnodushna,
Gotova sila ta knishit' il' sozidat',
Dobru i zlu ravno poslushna.
Ty, chto filosofy zovut dushoi zemli,
Ty, chto magnitnyi tok skvoz' mir vsegda struila,
Ty slysh' teper' moi zov, slovam moim vnemli,
lavis', tainstvennaia sila!
Ty, zhiznennyi agent, alkhimikov azot,
Nezrimoe astral'noe techen'e,
Tvoi gospodin tebia zovet,
lavis' priniat' ego velen'ia.
Allow me to call here that very fbrce/Which, without will and
consciousness/ls accustomed to serving the firstyWho gives it an orderVNo
one can possess it, vice or abundance/It is blind, indiffeient/This force is
prepared to destroy or create,/It listens to good or evil equally ./You, who
philosophers call die soul of earth/You, who always pour a magnetic current
through the world/Hear my sununons now, listen to my words/Appear,
mysterious force !/You, living agent, nitrogen of alchemists/The unseen astral
flow/Your master calls you/Appear to undertake his commands!**
Given Satan's passive participation in the play, it comes as no surprise that he uses an
intermediate party to intervene for him. In a letter to Markevich, Tolstoi writes that
"Satana ne mozhet vziat' don Zhuana svoimi rukami, on nuzhdaetsia v
posredstvuiushchem litse, chtoby okonchatel'no im ovladet', i eto posredstvuiushchee
litso voploshchaetsia v podobie statui .. " (Satan can not seize Don Zhuan with his own
hands, he needs an intermediary individual in order to possess him definitively, and this
intermediary individual is embodied in the likeness of the statue).** In the same letter,
Tolstoi refers to the astral force as alchemic nitrogen ("alkhimicheskii azot"). These two
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,90. This excerpt provides yet another example of echoes of other
poets' verse in Tolstoi’ s works. Tolstoi probably took the rhyme "slepa, mogucha, ravnodushna/ . /Dobriu i
zlu ravno poslushna" from the last stanza of Pushkin's "la pamiatnik sebe vozdvig nerukotvomyi " :
"Velen'iu bozhiiu, o muza, bud' poslushna/.VSvalu i klevetu priemli ravnodushno."
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,136.
232
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references to alchemy directly link Don Zhuan to Tolstoi's narrative-in-verse "Alkhimik,"
in which a couple uses alchemy to gain eternal life.
Tolstoi demonstrates his knowledge o f the occult by defining the astral force as a
cabalistic idea ("kabalisticheskaia ideia") that is found in all works on hermetics
("vstrechaiushchaiasia vo vsekh trudakh po germetike"), and in the present day may be
encountered in every manifestation o f magnetic and magical means ("v kazhdom iavlenii
magneticheskogo i magicheskogo svoistva").*® Tolstoi even encourages Markevich to
pursue a closer study of the astral force, magnetism and alchemy. Satan's words and use
of the mysterious astral force, combined with the letter to Markevich, dramatically color
Tolstoi's play and make it a unique contribution to the Don Juan tradition. Indeed, it
gives the play a decidedly occultist hue more reminiscent of the Faustian tradition than
any work found in the corpus o f Don Juan texts. Moreover, by stressing the significance
of the statue's role, Tolstoi realizes that
the story of Don Juan is based not only on the presence of death ("la mort'),
but on die "Dead Man " or "Dead One" as represented by the Statue, on the
active presence of the Dead Man, of the animated statue... In this way, the
story of Don Juan taps into the "profound " substratum of Christianity and the
death cults of ancient (pagan) myth and ritiual.'^'
Thus, the statue in Don Zhuan offers yet another example of double faith in Tolstoi's
oeuvre. Not only is the sepulchral statue of the deceased Commander a reflection of
Tolstoi's interest in the occult, but it also combines traditional Christian and pagan beliefs
in one and the same image.
For the purposes of this study, the esoteric terms Tolstoi uses in his letter and
play are worth defining, if only briefly. Tolstoi's conception of an astral force stems from
a belief found in cabalistic doctrine. In the Zohar. the most famous book of the Cabala,
there is a theory of the division o f the soul into three parts, one o f which is called the
rouah (the spirit). This spirit moves around to animate certain bodies, and often refuses
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4, 136.
* * ' Qtd. in Mandrell 21.
233
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to leave its host. In the end, however, it must always obey God’ s will.*® This
interpretation corresponds to the role the astral force plays in Don Zhuan. Tolstoi's
reference to magnetism reflects his study of the magnetist theory, including the writings
o f Paracelsus, Heinrich Kuhnrath and Juan-Batiste von Gelmont, all of whom are
mentioned in Tolstoi's epistles.*® Margaret Dalton also writes that while in Paris, Tolstoi
arranged for a session with magnetist Jules du Potet (1796-1881), and "...was greatly
impressed with his powers. " * * *
Magnetism became popular in the nineteenth century following the publication of
Franz Anton Mesmer's "Memoir on the Discovery of Animal Magnetism" (1799).
Mesmer espouses the belief that there is "a universal magnetism... circulating in the
substance of the nerves.... " From this supposition, occultists derived the belief that
magnetism "unites all things...."*® Although Tolstoi never mentions Mesmer in his
letters, the magnetist's theories may have indirectly influenced the Russian writer via the
works of Hoffmann. Indeed, part of Mesmer's theory directly relates to Don Zhuan's
schizophrenic personality. Ralph Tymms writes:
Mesmer's theories form a basis for modem psychotherapy, in that they
identify a second personality which can be detected only in sleep-like states.
Hoffmann, an enthusiastic student of Mesmeric theory, was later to represent
this other self as a double, the physical projection of the second of the mind's
twin inmates; so that Mesmer's theories were evidently of importance in
advancing the theme, and with it the conception of subjective realism, in
literary psychology.*®
It would thus be fair to say that Tolstoi's character Don Zhuan was the result of a "dual
influence"; his study and profound knowledge of the occult, as well as his knowledge of
Ho%nann's texts, whose works in turn were partly influenced by Mesmer's ideas.
* * ^ For more information, see Andre Natafs The Occult (Edinburg: Chambers, 1991) 20-24.
* ® For a complete list, see Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,137.
Dalton 28.
* ” Nataf56.
* “ Qtd. in Hallam 10.
234
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The different means by which Tolstoi brings his characters back to life clearly
reflect a double faith within the corpus of his works. The recurring use of supernatural
and Christian means to revive the dead testifies to the paramount importance of this
particular motif. In Don Zhuan. Tolstoi leaves no doubt that the protagonist's
resurrection is a Christian event. The Spaniard's revival contrasts Satan's belief that God
is miserly when it comes to performing miracles on earth: "Na eti chudesa gospod'
dovol'no skup. In addition to being considered a Christ-like figure, Zhuan is also a
Lazarus of sorts, and thus an example o f God's miraculous power and ultimate
forgiveness. More significantly, Zhuan is akin to the convert Saul (Paul) in that the
Spaniard goes from disbelief to belief, from one who ridicules and persecutes to one who
preaches and observes Christian dogm a.Indeed, the conversion of Saul is an analogy
used throughout the play. For most of the work, Zhuan is at odds with the official
Church. At the very opening the reader learns that Zhuan has just rescued a man from the
clutches of the Inquisition. Later, when Zhuan's servant Leporelio is captured by the
Church, he admits to his master's atheism (a prominent theme in Moiiere's Pom Juan)
and disdain towards the Catholic Church:
...chasto r khodit v tserkov"?
Kol' pravdu govorit -ne slishkom chasto;
Tak, razve dUa zabavy; da i to
Kogda V kogo vliublen, to vstrechi radi.
...don Zhuan govarival ne raz:
"Sviatye brat'ia glupy. Chelovek
Molit'sia volen kak emu ugodno. "
Does he go to church often?/If truth be told-not very often;/Sometimes for
entertainment; and sometimes when he is in love, for the sake of meeting a
woman7..7...Don Zhuan has said many times:/ "The holy brothers are stupid.
A person should be free to pray as he wishes. "^
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2.90.
See Acts 9.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,25, 27.
235
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Zhuan himself later openly curses the Inquisition: "Vo imia li liubvi vy gromozdite/Dlia
vashikh zhertv sviashchennye kostry" (In the name of love do you pile up/The sacred
bones of your victims)?’ ® It is, of course, Moiiere’s Juan who preceeds Tolstoi's own
incarnation as a godless individual. Recall that Moiiere's Juan openly defends his
atheism, proclaiming that he only believes in the following equations: "I believe that two
and two make four..., and four and four make eight."’® ’ Zhuan’ s antagonistic feelings
toward the Church are also found in Goethe's Faust, though the German author's
mouthpiece in this instance is Mephistopheles, not the protagonist Faust:
Die Kirche hat einen guten Magen,
Hat ganze Lander aufgeffessen
Und doch noch nie sich iibergessen;
Die Kirch allein, meine lieben Frauen,
Kann ungerechtes Gut verdauen.
The Church has a superb digestion/Whole countries she's gobbled up/But
never is too full to sup/The Church alone has the good health/For stomaching
ill-gotten wealth.’®
Because o f his lack of faith and criminal acts against the official Church, Tolstoi's Zhuan
is excommunicated. It is Leporelio who informs Zhuan of the latter's fate:
Formal'nyi vam gotovitsia protsess;
Arestovat' dolzhny vas ochen' skoro.
Mezh tem razoslany vo vse kontsy
Glashatai, chtob vashe otluchen'e
Ot tserkvi i zakona ob'iavit'.
A formal trial is being prepared for you/They are to arrest you very
soon./Moreover, they have sent out heralds in all directions/To announce your
excommunication from the Church and the law.’ ®
Following his resurrection, 2[huan is a changed man. He realizes the error of his
ways and feels responsible for Donna Anna's death. He acknowledges that in Donna
Anna, he had experienced what Kierkegaard calls "psychical love, " as opposed to the
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,34.
Moliete, Don Juan or the Libertine, trans. John Ozell, The Theatre of Don Juan 141.
Goethe 274.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,76-77.
236
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many episodes of "sensuous love" that had come earlier.'^ In essence, Zhuan discovered
true or eternal love, not a romantic episode that is time-bound. In addition to being
resurrected, Zhuan learns of a second miracle-the ship on which he was to flee from
Spain sank in a terrible storm off the coast and all hands were lost. The revelation of this
second miracle causes 23man to become pensive. Like Saul, who persecuted the early
Church, Zhuan recalls his former desire to wage war on women: "la mnil vosstat' kak
angel-istrebitei yVoinu khotel ia zhizni ob' iavit' " (I thought of rising up like an angel of
destmction/I wanted to proclaim a war).‘ “ Zhuan is thus twice saved, and as a result, he
decides to live out the remainder of his days in religious seclusion.
The epilogue transpires within the confines of a monastery and is modeled on the
final fate of the historical person Don Miguel Manara Vincentelo de Leca. Bom in
Seville in 1626 at the time when Tirso de Molina was composing El Buriador de Sevilla y
Sonvidado de Piedra. the young Mahara eventually came to emulate Molina's protagonist.
What is known about Manara's life includes a strict Catholic upbringing, service abroad
in the Spanish army, and his rape of a nun, which ultimately led him to take vows and
enter a monastery. For the rest of his life Manara served the poor, built churches and
hospitals, and performed miracles. As a result of his transformation and pious acts, the
Vatican elevated Manara to the rank of a Venerable Person in 1778, a necessary step in
becoming a saint.
Tolstoi was obviously aware of Manara's exploits and ultimate fate; in a letter to
Markevich, Tolstoi writes: "la vospol'zovalsia sevil'skoi legendoi. Vam veroiatno,
izvestno, chto don Zhuan pokhoronen v odnom iz monastyrei etogo goroda i chto umer
on, ispolnennyi blagochestia " (1 used the Seville legend. It is probably known to you that
Don Zhuan was buried in one o f the monasteries of that city, and that he died, full of
'** Soren Kierkegaard, "Either/Or." The Theatre of Don Juan 456-57.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,654.
Mandel 452-53.
237
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piety The fact that Tolstoi incorporates part of the Manara legend into his play
evidences the writer's profound knowledge of the Don Juan legend, as well as his ability
to distinguish between literature and life. More importantly, by fusing a literary myth
with an actual historical person, Tolstoi offers an example of what the Symbolists would
later call "zhiznetvorchestvo." It should be noted that Tolstoi was not the first writer to
fuse the legend of Don Juan with the life of Don Manara— Prosper Merimee does so in his
novella Les Ames du purgatoire (1834). as does Alexander Dumas in Don Juan de
Marana.
Unlike the monastery in Pushkin's "Kamennyi gost ," where Don Guan begins to
seduce Anna, Tolstoi's Zhuan enters the monastery with pure and chaste intentions-it is
here that he has chosen to spend the rest of his life as an act of contrition. Zhuan's
penitential soul contrasts with Moiiere's Dom Juan, who feigns that he will enter a
monastery. He tells Don Carlos: "...I have now no other thought than to quit entirely all
worldly things, to lay aside as soon as possible all manner of vanity, and henceforth to
correct, by an austere conduct, all the criminal irregularities which the heat of blind youth
hurry'd me into. Unlike Dumas' Don Juan de Marana, where Juan becomes a Trappist
monk, Tolstoi's Zhuan is only a lay brother. Moreover, 23iuan himself is not actually
featured in the epilogue, for he is on the verge of death.
The monks and the prior of the monastery discuss the years of Zhuan's pious
behavior and hold him up as an example for the brotherhood:
Vysokii est' dlia bratii primer.
Do sei pory on khodit v vlasianitse.
Ni razu on ne snial svoikh verig.
la ne vidal podobnogo smiren'ia!
He is a lofty example for the brotherhood ./Up to now he has worn a
hairshirt/Not once did he remove his fetters./! have never seen a similar case
of humility!**
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 4,113-14.
Moliere, The Theatre o f Don Juan 160.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,656. 238
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Zhuan’ s lofty actions in the monastery are ironic if one considers that he had earlier
facetiously promised Donna Anna that if he could believe in God, he would go barefoot
and wear a hairshirt: "I mog by ia, bosoi i v vlasianitse/Prostertyi v prakh, i s peplom na
glave. "™ Zhuan has repeatedly confessed his transgressions and, as his final request, he
seeks to be buried in the same cemetery as the Commander and Donna Anna.
Tolstoi's epilogue is ironic given certain events within the text itself. In order to
keep the guards of the Inquisition from arresting Zhuan, Leporelio disguises himself as
the head of the Inquisition (Don Geronimo) and hears his master's spurious confession.
Zhuan facetiously claims that, "Mne mir postyl, ia byt' khochu monakhom" (The world is
hateful to me, 1 want to be a monk).'^ While both Zhuan and Leporelio laugh about this
false desire afterwards, the statement soon becomes fact. One other example that pertains
to monastic vows involves Donna Anna. During her greatest moment of despair, she tells
her protector and would-be husband Don Oktavio that she has decided to enter a
monastery: "la v monastyr' reshilas' udalit'sia. In yet another ironic twist, Donna
Anna, who has led a religious life, does not enter a monastery, but conunits suicide, a
grave sin by Christian standards.
Leporello's disguising himself as the head of the Inquisition brings to mind two
intertexts. In Pushkin's "Kamennyi gost , " Don Zhuan assumes the disguise o f a monk in
a monastery where the Commander is buried— "the purpose of this pious transformation is
to gain an opportunity to approach Donna Anna when she comes to pray at the grave of
her dead husband. A second, lesser intertext with the Faustian legend should also be
considered. In Christopher Marlowe's Faust. Mephistophilis often appears as a monk
Tolstoi, Snhranie. vol, 2, 95.
Tolstoi, Snhranie. vol. 2, 108.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,70.
Henry Kucera, "Pushkin and Don Juan," Russian Literature and Psvchoanalvsis. ed. Daniel
Rancour-Laferriere (Philadelphia: Benjamins, 1985) 127.
239
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when accompanying Faust. Although it is unlikely that Tolstoi had read Marlowe's
version, he was probably aware of its existence, though perhaps not in its original fbrm.'^^
Disguises in general are integral parts of both legends. For example, in Moiiere's Dom
Juan. Sgnarelle dresses like a physician; in Goethe’ s Faust. Mephistopheles desires to
appear as a noble squire, and dresses in Faust's own academic robes to fool a new
student; and in da Ponte's The Punished Libertine or Don Giovanni, the theme of people
disguising themselves recurs throughout the play— Anna, Ottavio, and Elvira don masks
at Don Giovanni's ball, while Giovanni and Leporelio exchange their clothing to escape
harm and win the affection of women.
Though the epilogue is set in a Catholic monastery, it nevertheless adds a sense of
Russianness to the Don Juan legend. In Muscovite literature, one of the most common
features o f either a saint's life (vita) or a secular tale involves the protagonist entering a
monastery to dedicate his life to God in repentance of his sins. Like Zhuan, some of
these characters originally led dissolute lives or were non-believers of the Christian faith;
for example, Fevronia of Murom in "The Tale of Peter and Fevroniia " ( "Povesf o Petre i
Fevronii "), "Saw a Grudtsyn," and the youth in the tale "Misery-Luckless Plight "
( "Povest" o gore-zlochasti "). All the protagonists in these tales enter monasteries. Like
the latter two characters, Zhuan enters a monastery to flee the consequences of his actions
and the harsh realities of the outside world. In fact, Zhuan, Peter, Savva and the youth in
" Misery-Luckless Plight " share something more in common— they were all tormented by
various incarnations of the devil. Recognizing the significance of the monastic tradition
in Russia is thus fundamental to comprehending the ending of Tolstoi's play. First,
having Zhuan die in a monastery following years of penitential acts implies that Zhuan
will be forgiven in heaven. Second, and perhaps more important, the conclusion directly
Goethe himself did not read the Englishman's version until after he had completed Part I of his
own Faust Nonetheless, Marlowe’ s version was well-known in Germany by the end o f the eighteenth-
century in various diluted forms such as chapbooks and puppet shows. See Hermann J. Weigand's
"Goethe's Faust: An Introduction for Students and Teachers of General Literature," German Ouaiterlv 37
(1964): 467-85.
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links the play to the Russian vita. It has been stated that the real Miguel Manara is a
person deemed worthy of veneration by religious edict, and Tolstoi seems to imply that
Don Zhuan satisfies the same high standards. Moreover, unlike Goethe's Faust, who is
saved and transported to heaven simply because God recognizes that man will always err
as long as he strives, Tolstoi makes Zhuan perform actual acts o f contrition involving
physical labor and sacrifice, two very Russian concepts. These aspects also color Don
Zhuan in more recognizable Russian hues.
Vn. Immortality and Eternal Life
After being raised from the dead, Zhuan realizes that he must repent fully for his
sins; and since his offenses are many, he wishes that he could live forever:
la dolzhen zhit'. 1 zhal', chto slishkom skoro
Menia izbavit smert' ot etoi muki.
O, esli b mog ia vechno, vechno zhit'!
1 must live. And it is a pity that death/Will too quickly deliver me from this
torment./ Oh, if I could live eternally, forever!
The theme of eternal life is featured prominently in another work of Tolstoi’ s, a narrative-
in-verse entitled "Alkhimik" (The Alchemist). Tolstoi bases this particular "poema" on a
thirteenth-century European legend in which a noblewoman demands that her suitor (a
literary version of the historical personage Don Raimund Lulle) find the elixir of life; in
return, she will accept the suitor as her true love.'^®
Lulle (1235-1315) is a significant figure in the history of alchemy. A Spanish
poet and philosopher, he is the author o f a number of occult texts including a codicil on
transmuting metals. Lulle also erected seven human like figures of various metals in the
region of Catalonia. On each figure there are phrases that tell of how each figure has
been transformed from common metals into gold and silver.'^ Had Tolstoi's "poema"
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 654.
Dalton 120-21.
Nataf 158. 241
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been fiilly realized, it likely would have developed how his poetic persona became well-
versed in the study of alchemy while on his quest for the elusive elixir.
Besides the theme o f eternal life, there are many other intertexts between
" Alkhimik" and Don Zhuan. As in Don Zhuan. which opens with a chorus of celestial
spirits, Tolstoi begins his narrative-in-verse with a choir singing in a cathedral;
Dymias’ , kachalisia kadila,
Khvalebnyi razdavalsia khor.
Altar' siial, organa sila
Sviashchennopeniiu vtorila
1 gromom polnila sobor.
Billowing smoke, the censers swayed/A praiseworthy choir resounded
throughout/The altar was glistening, the strength of the organ/Echoed the
sacred chanting of the priest/And filled the cathedral with thunder.’ ™
In addition, both choirs sing panegyrics to nature -distant shores, blue skies, and trees.
The fact that Tolstoi has a choir open both of his works reflects his knowledge of
Goethe's Faust, in which the first scene on earth occurs on Easter Sunday when heavenly
and earthly choirs sing praises to the resurrected Christ.
The opening of "Alkhimik" presents a clear example of "dvoeverie"-Tolstoi
juxtaposes the blood of Christ with a liquid elixir. Interestingly, it is in a church that Don
Lulle agrees to undertake a quest for a supernatural force. The protagonist's entrance into
the church coincides with the bishop's raising of the chalice symbolically filled with
Christ's blood. Tolstoi describes the moment of transubstantiation in the following
manner:
Episkop chashu voznosil,-
Razdalsia shum. Nevniatnyi ropot
Pronessia ot otkrytiykh vrat,
1 na kone vo khram pronik
Bezutimyi vsadnik...
The bishop raises up the chalice,-/A noise sounds out. An indistinct
murmur/Is carried from the open gates/..VA crazy rider on horseback/Entered
into the temple....™
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 535.
242
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The circumstances surrounding the entrance of the rider, i.e., the consecration of Christ's
blood, can be compared with the rider's quest— a liquid elixir of life. Both substances
promise eternal life: the blood of Christ offers eternal salvation for the soul, whereas the
magical elixir promises everlasting life for the body on earth. The similarity between
both substances is underscored again at the end of the third canto, when the knight
ruminates on inunortality. Once again, Tolstoi employs the image of a life-giving liquid
in a chalice:
I kto bessmert'e khochet pit'
Iz mimolemogo fiala.
Tot mikrokosma izuchit'
Speshi kipiashchie nachala!
And he who desires to drink of immortality/From a fleeting goblet/Is the one
who hurries to leam/The boiling elements of the microcosmos !‘ *
The identity of the intruding knight is not immediately known. The poet asks,
"Kto on, sviatyni oskorbitel'? " (Who is he, desecrater of this place of worship?). Several
answers are offered: is he from Egypt ("Egipta 1 ' on "), a citizen of Morocco ("Marokka 1 '
zhitel' "), or a proud son of Granada ("Granady gordyi syn")? These suggestions remind
one of Don Zhuan's remarks against the Inquisition's torture of non-Christians in Spain:
...mavry i moriski
Narod poleznyi byl i rabotiaiushchii;
Chto ikh ne sledovalo gnat', ni zhech';
Chto kol' oni ispravno platiat podat'.
To etogo dovol'no koroliu;
Chto iavnyi musul'manin il' eretik
Ne stol'ko vreden, skol' sokrytyi vrag...
...Moors and MoriscoesAVere useful and hard-working peoples;/One should
not drive them out or bum them /That if they punctually pay their
tribute/Then that should be enough for the king/That an overt Muslim or
heretic/Is not as harmful as a concealed enemy...
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,536.
* “ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,538.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,27.
243
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Another possibility is offered: is he a pirate moored to our shores from sly Tunis ("...ot
khishchnogo 1 ' Tunisa/K bregam prichaiivshii pirat")? The pirate m otif is also found in
Don Zhuan. Realizing that he must flee Spain to elude the clutches o f the Inquisition,
Zhuan hires a ship and crew, commanded by Boabdil, the man whom Zhuan rescued
from execution. Boabdil is armed like a pirate— "vkhodit Boabdil v vooruzhenii
p i r a ta ." The motif of sailing is common to both texts as well; in Zhuan's case it
represents flight, while in Lulle's case it is the means by which to obtain the elixir. The
last part of "Alkhimik" features the protagonist sailing to Rome ("vechnyi Rim") to begin
his quest for the elixir. While Rome is the starting point in Lulle's journey, Donna Anna
feels that Zhuan must go to Rome to receive full absolution for his sins: "Idite v Rim. K
nogam padite papyVPetra namestnik mozhet vas prostit' " (Go to Rome. Fall at the feet
of the Pope ./Peter's successor may forgive you).® The theme of travelling in Tolstoi's
works may also be the result of Goethe's influence. Indeed, as they prepare to travel the
globe, Mephistopheles tells Faust:
Wir breiten nur den Mantel aus,
Der soil uns durch die Liifte tragen.
Bin biBchen Feuerluft, die ich bereiten werde,
Hebt uns behend von dieser Erde.
Und sind wir leicht, so geht es schnell hinauff;
Ich gratuliere dir zum neun Lebenslauf!
I rather travel through the air/W e spread this cloak— that's all we needy.../A
little fiery air, which I plan to prepare,/Will raise us swiftly off the
earthyWithout ballast we’ll go up fast— /Congratulations, friend, on your
rebirth!®
In this passage, the theme of travelling is also linked to that of rebirth, as it is in Tolstoi's
"Alkhimik." Even Faust's and Mephistopheles' journey takes them to Spain, the setting
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,103.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2,96. One of the reasons that Don Zhuan is forced to flee from Spain is
due to the fact that the Pope has sent his own personal emissary (Don Jeronimo) from Rome itself to
expedite the trial against die newly proclaimed heretic.
‘"G oethe 208.
244
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for Tolstoi's play. Upon their return to Germany, Mephistopheles tells the patrons o f a
tavern: "Wir kommen erst aus Spanien zunick/Dem schonen Land des Weins und der
Gesange" (We have just recently returned from Spain./The beauteous land o f wine and
melodies).*®
In "Alkhimik," passionate love is the reason for the mounted knight's forced
entrance into the cathedral:
Prostit poryv moi derznovennyi,
Kogda ia, strastiiu goria,
Tvoi lik uznav blagoslovennyi,
Zabyl sviatyniu altaria!
Forgive my insolent interruption/When 1 , burning with passion/Recognized
your gracious face/And I forgot the sanctity of the altar!*®
Like Don Zhuan, the knight had previously offended one o f the women in the church
("Kto raz, sen'ora, vas uzrell"), and seeks forgiveness.*® In contrast to Zhuan's initial
actions, the knight Lulle is not afraid to confess his love for the woman ( "Moia liubov'
mne budet rai"), and asks her to name any task to atone for his insult:
Sen'ora, zdes' ia zhdu otveta,
Reshite slovom moi udel,
Na krai menia poshlite sveta,
Zadaite riad opasnykh del...
Senora, 1 await your reply here/Decide my fate with a word/Send me to the
end of the earth/Give me a series o f missions....*®
In the woman's answer, Tolstoi uses the ancient Italian legend about a mysterious
substance which guarantees eternal life. In an effort to get rid of her suitor, she tells him:
la vizhu, vami ovladela
Liubov' bez mery i predela,
Liubit', kak vy, nikto b ne mog.
No kratok zhizni nashei srok;
la vashu strast' delit' gotova.
Goethe 220.
‘“ Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 538.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 537.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1,538.
245
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My zakliuchit' by ne mogli
V uslov'ia brennye zemli;
Chtob ogn' vmestit' neugasimyi,
Bessmertny sdelat'sia dolzhny my.
1 see, you are possessed/By a boundless iove/To love, like you, no one
could/But the duration o f our life is brief/I am prepared to share your
passion/..VWe could not enter into/The transitory conditions of the earth/To
contain this indistinguishable Are/We must make ourselves immortal.'®
Sokolov remarks that the heroine's words are full of sarcasm: "Velikolepnyi sarkazm!'"*
Then, as if to outdo herself, she specifies how they must attain immortality:
la kak-to slyshala sluchaino,
Chto dostaiut dlia etoi tainy
Kakoi-to koren', ili zlak.
Ne znaiu gde, ne znaiu kak.
No vam po serdtsu podvig trudnyi—
Dostan'te zh etot koren' chudnyi.
Ko mne vemites'— i togda
la vasha budu navsegda!
I heard somewhere accidentally/That they found, for this secret/Some kind of
root, or grass/I don't know where or how,/But for you this is a difficult feat of
the heart— /Obtain this miraculous root, /Return to m e-and then/I will be
yours forever!'^'
The woman's desire to use magic again links "Alkhimik" to Goethe's Faust:
Drum hab ich mich der Magie ergeben,
Ob mir durch Geistes Kraft und Mund
Nicht manch Geheimnis wurder kund,
DaB ich erkenne, was die Welt
Im Innersten zusammenhalt.
Hence I have yielded to magic to see/Whether the spirit's mouth and
might/Would bring some mysteries to light/.../That 1 might see what secret
force/Hides in the world and rules its course.'®
There is one passage in Goethe's Faust that deals, at least indirectly, with eternal life.
Although Faust's mortal life is limited by his contract with the Devil, he does attempt to
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 2, 538-39.
•’“ Sokolov 155.
•’• Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. I, 539.
•” Goethe 94.
246
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prolong his life. This occurs when Mephistopheles transforms Faust into a younger man
in order to make him more attractive to Gretchen. At a witch's kitchen ("Hexenkuche"),
Faust complains, "Mir widersteht das tolle Zauberwesen!/.. AInd schafft die
Sudelkocherei/Wohl dreiBig Jahre mir vom Leibe?" (How I detest this crazy
sorcery!/..VAnd should this quackish sordidness reduce my age by thirty years?), to
which Mephistopheles responds, "Nicht Kunst und Wissenschaft allein" (Science is not
enough, nor art).‘ ® Even Mephistopheles later demands some of the witch's brew: "Bin
gutes Glas von dem bekannten Saft!/Doch muB ich Euch ums altste bitten/Die Jahre
doppeln seine Kraft" (a good glass of the famous juice, my dear!/But I must have the
oldest kind:/lts strength increases with each year).^^ Also in Faust, it is not eternal life
that is stressed, but the construction of life itself. In the second part of Faust. Wagner and
Mephistopheles construct an artificial man named Homunculus in a test tube.
Neither the woman's sarcasm, nor the vague nature of her request, cast suspicion
or doubt in the knight's mind-he willingly and enthusiastically undertakes the quest for
the miraculous root. At this point, Tolstoi formally introduces the theme of alchemy into
his narrative-in-verse. It is not the root or the grass itself that provides immortality but
some altered form of it, combined with other elements. As the knight is departing, his
hyperbolic imagination overwhelms him. He dreams that he will discover the seal of
Solomon ("Solomonova pechat' ") and a philosopher's stone ( "Trismegista divnyi
kamen' The seal refers to a mystic symbol in the form of a six-pointed star, whereas
the stone is actually an imaginary substance that supposedly turns base metals into gold
and silver. A lesser-known power of the stone includes a belief that it can make people
younger. It is likely that Tolstoi had this latter function in mind given the quest of the
knight.
Goethe 234, 236.
Goethe 248.
Tolstoi, Sobranie. vol. 1, 540.
247
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The unfînished nanative ends with the knight trying to comprehend the workings
of the universe. Margaret Dalton speculates that Tolstoi never finished "Alkhimik"
because "he incorporated [its] elements in the hero of his dramatic poem, Don Juan."‘ * 1
disagree with this statement for two reasons. First, in many of Tolstoi’s other works, a
strong interest in ancient and medieval legends is present. Second, in Don Zhuan. neither
alchemy nor magical elixirs, two well-established Faustian motifs, are mentioned. Thus,
it would be more accurate to say that "Alkhimik" complements Don Zhuan in its
presentation of various Faustian themes. Don Zhuan features an intrusive Satan and a
protagonist who seeks knowledge in the form of the eternal feminine, while "Alkhimik"
uses the obvious Faustian motif of alchemy and combines it with a different quest--the
search for eternal life.
Vn. Conclusions
Faust and Don Juan are two literary characters who reflect the scope of Tolstoi's
interests: a fascination with death and a means of overcoming it, some form of life
everlasting, a search for true love (recall that Tolstoi pursued his wife Sofia for many
years before he could marry her), and the veracity of fantastic beings and powers.
Don Zhuan and "Alkhimik" are deliberate attempts on Tolstoi's part to combine literary
traditions and his own esoteric interests with the goal of creating unique texts. By
imbuing both works with a number of Faustian themes, Tolstoi also allows himself the
luxury of exploring his fascination with resurrection, reincarnation, réanimation, and
magnetism. Some o f these themes may be considered Faustian, while others are
unrelated to Goethe's work. Regardless of their origins, they are all also central to
Tolstoi's oeuvre and his outlook on life.
At the beginning o f this chapter, I stated that Don Zhuan suffers from a split
personality or schizophrenia— at tiroes, he exhibits many of Faust's characteristics when
‘^D alton 21. ^ 4 8
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possessed by Satan. One might also say that Don Zhuan and Faust represent the two
sides o f Tolstoi's personality: like Zhuan, who believed in the existence of an ideal,
Tolstoi, as an adherent to the premises of art-for-art's sake, certainly sought out,
defended, and protected "pure " art; and, like Faust, Tolstoi turned to fantastic powers and
uncoventional means in an earnest attempt to discover the mysteries of life and death.
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V. Cultivating the Fantastic
In a brief monograph written in 1906, the Archimandrite Ioann Shakovskoi
proclaims A.K. Tolstoi to be "the seer o f the religious life of the Russian people," "a
religious realist" and "a realist of the soul." ^ Indeed, many of Tolstoi's works depict the
rich, but varied, spiritual sphere of Russian life. His focus on this integral aspect o f
Russian culture stems mainly from his being an active participant in Orthodoxy, whereby
he came to rely more on intuitive faith than on empirical fact. Given such a perspective,
it was not a great "leap o f faith" for Tolstoi to accept various esoteric religions that lacked
any semblance o f veracity or scientifically verifiable proof.
That is not to say that Tolstoi's fascination with esoteric religions, and the
fantastic in general, arose entirely as a consequence of his Orthodox beliefs. Rather, he
explores these phenomena in conjunction with his Eastern Christian faith, as many
aspects of the fantastic complement certain Orthodox principles. As 1 have demonstrated,
Tolstoi's personal interest in the fantastic finds many reflections in his literary works; it is
imperative to stress, however, that this process evolves in a gradual, dynamic marmer
over the course of Tolstoi's career. His fascination was first nurtured at home when, as a
child, Tolstoi was exposed to his uncle's popular tales featuring supernatural creatures.
The influence of Perovskii's stories, as well as several European Gothic works, are
manifestly apparent in Tolstoi's first attempts at literature, including his only novel.
However, this period represents Tolstoi's apprenticeship in literature, and only a few
sparks of originality can be glimpsed within these works.
From prose, Tolstoi turned to poetry, moving beyond the Gothic by imbuing his
lyrics with the precepts of Swedenborgianism and Spiritualism. Simultaneously, he
composed two narratives-in-verse, works that critics label as decidedly Christian in tone,
but which in actuality contain themes and images akin to his esoteric lyrics. As with his
prose, Tolstoi's writings of this period have established links with his literary
‘ Qtd. in Graham 43.
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predeccesors, especially Pushkin and Lermontov, but they are also marked by a degree of
originality. In fact, Tolstoi's combination and juxtaposition of Christian and
contemporary esoteric themes within the same wodc epitomizes his own brand of
"dvoeverie." This particular type of "dvoeverie" actually reflects Russian cultural reality
of the time: in Russia under Alexander II, many well-educated, devout Orthodox
Christians regularly attended seances in an attempt to contact the dead. In the 1860s,
Tolstoi attempted to add to the legend of Don Juan by introducing two characters entirely
unrelated to the Spanish myth: Satan and a magnetic astral force. Unlike his early prose
tales, where the reader senses that the young Tolstoi strains to break free from his literary
predecessors, in Don Zhuan. one finds a complex and creative work in which the author
makes a concerted effort to distinguish his drama from those of his forerunners in the
tradition, while simultaneously continuing to explore esoteric themes pertaining to death
and eternal life. It is during this period that one sees a complete convergence between
Tolstoi the mature writer, and Tolstoi the firm believer in the esoteric; it is the only
explicit instance in which he goes to great lengths in defending his literary work, while
also explaining in detail the function of esoteric elements.
The introduction and cultivation of myriad fantastic elements is one of Tolstoi's
lasting contributions to Russian literature. He serves as a link between the fantastic tales
of Pushkin, Perovskii, Lermontov and Bestuzhev-Marlinskii and the esoteric writings of
Blok, Briusov and Solov’ ev. Tolstoi is much more, however, than a static intermediary
between the Golden and Silver Ages of Russian literature. Instead of focusing on
Masonic themes found in the worics of his predecessors, Tolstoi turned to Spiritualism, a
new and contemporary religion at the time; and as a result of Tolstoi's inroads, the
modernists were able to portray this esoteric religion and others in literature in even
greater detail at the turn of the century.
The prominent Tolstoian critic l.G. lampol'skii writes: "Tolstoi ne okazal
znachitel'nogo vozdeistviia na literaturu kontsa XIX i XX veka" (Tolstoi did not have any
251
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significant effect on the literature of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries).^ There
is little doubt that Tolstoi is a secondary literary figure, one who dwells in relative
obscurity both due to his surname and his preference for verse during a period dominated
by prose. Though Tolstoi did enjoy brief periods of popularity during his lifetime, his
literary stance is regarded primarily as backward, a view practically etched in stone
during the decades of Soviet power, when only the proponents and forerunners of
Socialist Realism were given accolades. Despite lampol'skii's pronouncement of Tolstoi
as a "lesser writer," he did make a number of contributions to the development of Russian
literature, many o f them specifically related to the fantastic; in addition to being the first
poet to use inexact rhyme extensively, Tolstoi introduced the cosmopolitan vampire into
Russian culture, he was the first Russian trance poet, he was the first to compose lyrics
containing Swedenborgian and Spiritualist principles, and he is one of a few Russian
writers to make a direct and unique contribution to the Don Juan myth by making use of
Faustian and various other esoteric themes.
These accomplishments aside, Tolstoi's place or "function" in the course of
Russian literature will never be seen as innovative. Like Admiral Shishkov's literary
group "The Lovers of the Russian Word" ("Beseda liubiteli russkogo slova"), whose
members were opposed to the growing Europeanization o f Russian literature at the turn
of the nineteenth century, Tolstoi refused to follow the dominant trend of his time.
Unlike Shishkov and his followers, who promoted outdated concepts, Tolstoi was
rediscovered at the beginning of the twentieth century for two central reasons: he, along
with a few other writers, preserved many of the ideals of the art-for-art's sake school, and
equally important, he cultivated the growth of the fantastic in Russian literature. Unlike
Dostoevskii, whose realist works feature an occasional religious and/or miraculous event,
Tolstoi places the fantastic at the forefront of his works, making this quality evert bit as
“real” as an empirical fact.
' lampol'skii, introduction, Sobranie by A.K. Tolstoi, vol. 1, 52. 2 5 2
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Like the Symbolists, Tolstoi favored faith over reason, the irrational over the real,
and the fantastic over the feasible, positions that were not warmly received during his
literary career. Given Tolstoi's fascination with death, it seems somewhat ironic, even
appropriate, that the fantastic aspect of his works was appreciated only after he left this
world. To a certain extent, by rediscovering Tolstoi, the Symbolists accomplished what
Tolstoi himself did in many of his own works; they "contacted " a dead person and were
successful in bringing back to life, or at the very least, partly rejuvenating a forgotten
author.
A common figure in Tolstoi s early ballads and his historical novel is the bogatyr",
a warrior of the Muscovy period akin to a medieval knight. Tolstoi s position in Russian
literature may be compared to the actions of this heroic character. Throughout his life,
Tolstoi fought for certain ideals, refusing to sacrifice what he believed to be a noble
cause. He sustained and nurtured the principles of the Golden Age of Russian literature,
and in so doing, he allowed the direct heirs of this period, the writers of the Silver Age, to
flourish. To borrow an analogy from the Formalist critic Viktor Shklovskii, Tolstoi, like
a knight on a chessboard, cultivated the literary fantastic, advancing its status by
introducing new themes and characters; then, having moved ahead a. few paces, Tolstoi
turned to the side, allowing later writers to develop the fantastic further, and even to
receive many of the accolades he himself so richly deserved.
253
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Asset Metadata

Creator Gorman, Bartle Burke (author)

Core Title A necessary epigone: The fantastic and "dvoeverie" in the works of A. K. Tolstoi

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Slavic Languages and Literatures

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Literature, Slavic and East European,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor [illegible] (committee chair), [illegible] (committee member), Pratt, Sarah (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-346287

Unique identifier UC11350771

Identifier 9902801.pdf (filename),usctheses-c17-346287 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 9902801.pdf

Dmrecord 346287

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Gorman, Bartle Burke

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA