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SERGEI DOVLATOV and HIS CHARACTERS in the CONTEXT of the LENINGRAD L1TERATURE of the 1960S and 70S

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SERGEI DOVLATOV and HIS CHARACTERS in the CONTEXT of the LENINGRAD L1TERATURE of the 1960S and 70S MARGINAL VOlCES: SERGEI DOVLATOV AND HIS CHARACTERS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LENINGRAD L1TERATURE OF THE 1960s AND 70s by Natalia Pakhomova Department of Russian and Siavic Studies McGi11 University, Montreal August 2001 A thesis submiUed ta The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Natalia Pakhomova National Library Bibliothèque nationale +1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1 A ON4 canada canada Our fie Notre Tlifér_ The author bas granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microfonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmSSlon. autorisation. 0-612-78749-4 Canaàâ 11 MARGINAL VOlCES: SERGEI DOVLATOV AND HIS CHARACTERS IN THE CONTEXT OF LENINGRAD L1TERATURE OF THE 1960s AN D70s Abstract In spite of the growing interest of Russian and Western scholars in Sergei Dovlatov and his art, his place in Russian literature has not yet been clearly defined. His position as a writer in Russia in the 1960s and early 70s was ambiguous due to his opposition to the traditional Soviet canon and rejection by the current literary establishment. However, he 1ater gained recognition and popularity as an émigré writer in the United States. The concept of 'marginality' colours his biography and art, for his life itself was a succession of marginal experiences and marginality is the key topie of his writings. Marginality unifies Dovlatov's art. This is evident in his marginal status as a writer in and outside the Soviet Union, and in his writing which uses the underappreciated short form of narration (the novella and short story), develops a non-traditional conversational style, pm'sues the themes of non-conventional behaviour and introduces eccentric characters. However, it is not possible to discuss Dovlatov's status as a marginal writer without contextualizing his life and art in the ambience of the entire generation of Leningrad writers of the sixties. Writers and poets such as Brodskii, Goliavkin, Gubin, Vakhtin and Ufliand do not only represent the culture of Leningrad's artistic non-conformists, they are also Dovlatov's prototypes and protagonists. Apart from their marginal status, all these writers shared the determination to make independent choices in life and in art. They refused to be viewed as marginal authors by the dominant canon, which disregarded their works as insignificant. Here as well marginality emerges as a literary concept and a behavioural model, shaped by sodetal norms (the positive type of citizen or official Soviet writer) and traditional canons (the Russian didactic tradition or Soviet ideological writing). This literary concept includes an orientation towards American literature, the creation of marginal characters and themes as well as an exploration of different styles. The works of writers of the Leningrad circle laid the foundation for the emergence of a literary phenomenon such as Dovlatov. It is in delineating this context that this dissertation demonstrates Dovlatov's original approach to marginality, as weIl as the way he tumed his life experience into literature and became a spokesman for neglected fellow writers and citizens. 111 VOIX MARGINALES: SERGEI DOVLATOV ET SES PERSONNAGES DANS LE CONTEXTE DE LA UTIÉRATURE DE LENINGRAD DES ANNÉES 1960 ET 1970 Résumé En dépit de l'intérêt croissant que les chercheurs russes et occidentaux montrent pour Sergei Dovlatov et son art, sa place dans la littérature lUsse n'a pas encore été clairement définie. Sa position comme écrivain dans la Russie des années 1960 et du début des années 1970 était ambiguë à cause de son opposition au canon soviétique traditionnel et son exclusion des organismes littéraires officiels. Toutefois, il a ensuite obtenu reconnaissance et popularité lorsqu'il a émigré aux États-Unis. Le concept de 'marginalité' caractérise sa biographie et son att, car sa vie elle-même fut une succession d'expériences marginales et la marginalité est le thème central de ses écrits. La marginalité unifie l'art de Dovlatov. Ceci se manifeste dans son statut d'écrivain marginal à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur de l'Union Soviétique, ainsi que dans ses écrits, qui utilisent des genres narratifs sous-estimés (le récit et la nouvelle), développent un style conversationnel non traditionnel, représentent des comportements non conventionnels et mettent en scène des personnages excentriques. Toutefois, pour définir le statut de Dovlatov en tant qu'écrivain marginal, il est indispensable de considérer sa vie et son art dans le contexte de la génération des écrivains de Leningrad des années 1960. Des écrivains et poètes tels Brodskii, Goliavkin, Gubin, Vakhtin et Ufliand ne représentent pas seulement la culture des artistes non-confOlmistes de Leningrad, ils sont également les prototypes et les protagonistes de Dovlatov. Outre leur statut marginal, ces écrivains partageaient la même volonté de conserver leur indépendance dans la vie et dans l'art. Ils refusaient d'être perçus comme des écrivains mat'ginaux par le canon dominant, qui méprisait leurs oeuvres. La marginalité apparaît ici encore à la fois comme un concept littéraire et un modèle de comportement, déterminés par des normes sociales (le citoyen ou l'écrivain soviétique exemplaire) et des canons traditionnels (la tradition didactique en Russie ou l'écriture idéologique en Union Soviétique). En tant que concept littéraire, la marginalité implique un attrait pour la littérature américaine, la création de personnages et de thèmes marginaux, ainsi que l'exploration de styles différents. Les oeuvres des écrivains de Leningrad ont préparé le terrain qui a rendu possible l'émergence d'un phénomène littéraire tel Dovlatov. C'est en délimitant ce contexte que cette thèse montre la conception Oliginale de la marginalité chez Dovlatov et explique comment il a transformé sa vie en littéraire et est devenu le porte-parole des citoyens et écrivains négligés de son époque. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The framework of this study took shape over a period of several years when 1 was fortunate to observe the development of the literary careers in the West of the former Leningrad writers Dovlatov, Brodskii, Efimov and Maramzin, as weIl as changes in the literary situation in Russia in the nineties. A great source of inspiration for the study were the conferences on Brodskii's and Dovlatov's art held in St. Petersburg at the editorial office of the literary journal Zvezda in 1997 and 1998. This study would not have been possible without the assistance, advice and encouragement of many people. It is to them that 1 would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation. 1 am very grateful to Prof. Laura Beraha, my thesis advisor, who devoted much time and effort to this research. She provided me with vital criticism, extensive help with the articulation of many versions of my chapters and countless guidance on linguistic matters. 1 am deeply obliged to Marina Swoboda, PhD for her genuine interest, professional advice, insightful suggestions and unfailing support. Many thanks to Prof. Paul Austin, Chainnan of the Department, for his helpfulness and readiness to discuss many questions related to my topic. 1 am particularly grateful to Prof. Tat'iana Patera for her kind understanding, much needed encouragement, generosity in sharing her knowledge and help with sorne stages of the research. My special gratitude to Eric Lozowy, Ph.D. and Tatiana Bedjanian of McGill Library for their assistance. 1 am lucky to have dear friends who read through my chapters carefuIly and offered many useful suggestions. Sarah Kadarabek, Krystyna Steiger and Nicola Philpott helped with proofreading and editing this thesis. Mary Sweeney was indispensible to aIl stages of this research and writing. Her insights on multiculturalism were very illuminating, her friendly comments helped significantly, not to mention her affection, words of inspiration and comfort in the most difficult time. Sergei lamaletdinov deserves special thanks for providing invaluable help with the final stages of the thesis - formatting and printing. His dedication helped me a great deal. 1 owe much gratitude to my husband Marek Daniluk who helped with aIl the technical difficulties 1encountered, and 1 could not have devoted so much time to this study without his support and that of my son Misha. 1 would also like to thank my parents in St. Petersburg, Irina and Innokentii Pakhomov, for their enthusiasm for my work and their constant flow of information on cultural matters in St. Petersburg. 1 would like to express my appreciation to Andrei Ar'ev, the editor-in-chief of the St. Petersburg journal Zvezda for his involvement and assistance. Thanks also go to Prof. Ksana Mechik and Igor' Pekhovich of Moscow Taganka Theatre for their input. As weIl, my acknowledgements go to aIl those who granted me an interview: Vladimir Ufliand, Vladimir Gubin, Valerii Popov, Viktor Goliavkin, Igor' Sukhikh and Aleksandr Genis. v A NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION. Proper names appearing in the English sections of the text are transliterated according to the modified Library of Congress system, i.e. without the diacritical marks and ligatures required by the strict style. Citations and source references are given in the original Cyrillic with my own translations fram Russian into English, unless otherwise indicated.
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