January 01, 2006

Dobychin, Pasternak, Reindeer People and more

ENCOUNTERS WITH LISE

AND OTHER STORIES

Leonid Dobychin

NU Press (2005), $16.95

If there is a fine line between great poetry and great prose, Leonid Dobychin skated marvelously along that razor’s edge.

The short stories – vignettes, really – in this slim volume are full of powerful imagery, terse character studies, ironic juxtapositions and, well, poetic snapshots of life in early 20th century Russia.

A paragraph literally picked at random, from the heart-wrenching piece, The Father:

Walking the streets, soft with dust, was pleasant. Lanterns burned here and there. The little stalls gleamed. In courtyards women conversed with their decorous cows, returned from the herd. In the municipal garden firemen executed a waltz. The father bought a cigar and two gingerbreads. Silently, they enjoyed themselves.

Dobychin had a tragic, difficult life. In early 1936, soon after he made it as a writer, Dobychin was denounced for “formalism” – courtesy of the wave set in motion by the blackening of Dmitry Shostakovich. Dobychin’s masterful novel, The Town of N, was the purported subject. But it was his sardonic truth-telling, his unmasking of the absurdities of Soviet life that got him into trouble.

The day after he was denounced, Dobychin disappeared, assumedly of suicide. It was a great loss to Russian literature, but his work is enjoying a surge of interest in Russia, boosted by the likes of Pelevin and Erofeyev (who called him “one of the main heroes of 20th century Russian literature”).

This volume contains all of Dobychin’s short stories in very fine translations. Full of cutting observations, stunning portraits and shimmering images, it is the sort of book you can dip into at any point and feel refreshed within a few short moments. How could one, after all, not love a writer who has a character proclaim (“doefully”), that:

“I never like anyone who likes me. And there’s never any of whatever I like.”

– PR

Boris Pasternak

Dmitry Bykov

Molodaya Gvardiya (2005)

[in Russian] ISBN 5-235-02791-4

The Russian series “Life of Outstanding People” is well known and well-liked in Russia. It was founded in 1890 and then restarted by Maxim Gorky in 1933. Usually, biographies in this series are conventional yet thorough descriptions of great men’s (and women’s) lives.

The new biography in this series of the great Russian poet and writer, Boris Pasternak (1890 – 1960), penned by Dmitry Bykov, breaks this tradition. Bykov’s book belongs instead to a different genre, one practically unknown to Russian readers. It is a “companion” to Pasternak’s creative work, life as seen through the prism of poetry. It should have been called “Life and Letters,” in a nice old-fashioned way.

Of course, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Dmitry Bykov is himself a poet (as well as an author of several novels, a prolific journalist and critic, among other things). One critic warned, in fact, that there is a danger here: when Bykov says “poet,” we may not know whether he means himself or Pasternak. But if there was such a danger, Bykov happily avoided it. In fact, the biography benefited greatly from the author’s poetic disposition: it offers a subtle analysis of Pasternak’s texts, deep insight and a personal intonation. The unusual approach is explained by Bykov’s view of life and poetry:

This concept of God, one who is interested above all in good texts, is like a beekeeper who is interested only in receiving honey, and completely uninterested in the private life of bees. In general, this explains a lot about the lives of poets.

If the only driving force behind the twists of Pasternak’s fate was God’s desire to read good poetry – then, surely, there is no “life,” only “letters.”

– AB

NOTED BRIEFLY

DVDs

Sonata for Viola, by Semyon Aranovich and Alexander Sokurov (Facets • $29.95 • in Russian with English subtitles) An elegeic biography of composer Dmitry Shostakovich, begun by Aranovich but then completed by Sokurov (more recently famous for Russian Ark). Banned by the Soviets in the 1980s after it was finished, the film does not stun with revelations but with an awesome visual portrayal of Shostakovich’s life and time, with great archival footage of the early Soviet years, the war years, and family photographs.

Vasya, by Andrei Zagdansky (Facets • $24.95 • in Russian, English and German, with English subtitles) “No great genius,” Aristotle wrote, “has ever existed without some touch of madness.” The life of the charismatic, non-conformist artist of the Soviet era, Vasily Sitnikov, is vivid proof of these words. Sitnikov created works of genius – some of which are in New York’s Museum of Modern Art – and either feigned madness or was truly mad. But most agree he was somehow totally free in a very unfree environment. A wonderful portrait of the times and of the strange relationship that existed between Soviet authorities and the arts.

BOOKS

Vaganova, by Vera Krasovskaya, translated by Vera M. Siegel (University Press of Florida • $34.95) The only authorized biography of one of the most important dance teachers in Russian and Soviet history. Krasovskaya, a former dancer with the Kirov, was the leading historian of the St. Petersburg ballet for forty years.

The Life and Times of Andrei Zhdanov, by Kees Boterbloem (McGill-Queens • $55) The first full-length biography of this infamous member of Stalin’s inner circle. Thorough and well-documented, it is an invaluable contribution to the historical record, to understanding just how much power Stalin’s underlings really had.

MUSIC

Somewhere My Love: Russian Gems, Kalinka. Looking for something to spice up your next party? Or maybe just some fine instrumental Russian folk music to satisfy nostalgic or traveling urges? You can’t go wrong with this fine CD from Kalinka (Sergei Vashchenko, balalaika; Vladimir Kaliazine, accordion), a popular Russian folk duo that lives and works in the American Southwest. The musicianship is superb and the recording outstanding. This is a keeper!

January 01, 2006

Dobychin, Pasternak, Reindeer People and more

See Also

Kalinka: Somewhere My Love

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