Primitivist or Moralist?: The Biological Ethos in Boris Pil’niak’s Shorter Prose Helen Graves Halva A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures (Russian). Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Madeline G. Levine Radislav Lapushin Irene Masing-Delic Christopher Putney Ivana Vuletic © 2010 Helen Graves Crater Halva ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Helen Graves Halva: Primitivist or Moralist?: The Biological Ethos in Boris Pil’niak’s Shorter Prose (Under the direction of Madeline G. Levine) The so-called “woman question” raised by the “nihilists” of the 1860s and debated by the realist writers, notably Tolstoi, evolved into a revaluation of traditional sexual morality in the modernist movements of the twentieth century. In the wake of the dramatic social changes wrought by the 1905 and 1917 revolutions, there also arose a “neo-nihilist” reexamination of women’s emancipation issues, represented by political and cultural public figures such as Aleksandra Kollontai. This dissertation examines approximately twenty stories and novellas written between 1914 and 1936 by Russian/Soviet writer Boris Andreevich Vogau (pseudonym Pil’niak), and several units from his first novel, in order to present an interpretation of Pil’niak’s views on and position in that debate, based on close readings of the texts mentioned. This dissertation argues that Pil’niak, considered by many commentators a champion of primitive man and instinctive behavior, in fact defines a biological morality based on pre-marital virginity, permanent sexual fidelity to a single mate, personal integrity and self-awareness, and a reproductive mandate. In Pil’niak’s ethos , which evolved over time, human mating is to be governed first of all by love, and sexual union is inseparable from the procreative purpose. The most basic human role is to be a loving mate and parent, and the overarching purpose of procreation is to rear children to become loving, humane, and authentic human beings, an activity that is best undertaken within iii the nuclear family. This dissertation further argues, by presenting the Tolstoian subtext of three of Pil’niak’s stories, that Pil’niak’s basic moral views, especially concerning the family and personal integrity, are essentially in harmony with those of Lev Tolstoi. The dissertation also explores Pil’niak’s evolution away from his early valorization of “primitive” human life uncorrupted by urban “culture,” an evolution that was virtually complete by the mid-1920s. iv To the memory of Boris Pil’niak. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the members of my doctoral committee for their help and support in the process of writing this dissertation, especially to Dr. Irene Masing-Delic, who originally inspired this research project and whose continuing inspiration made its realization possible. I also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my friends and family for their unflagging encouragement. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 Basic Writing Chronology and Biography………………………………..1 Scholarship……………………………………………………………….12 Departures from Mainstream Criticism………………………………….60 Goals and Structure of the Dissertation…………….……………………67 II. The Role of Biology in Pil’niak’s Oeuvre ……………………………………73 Baseline Works: Pil’niak’s Earliest Positions on Biological Morality….73 The Early Domestic Phase: “Veter pered martom”……………………...90 Harmony with Nature: Day or Night, Cosmos or Chaos?......………….116 Perfection Stories: Meditations on Rightness………………………......152 Final Statement: Motherhood and Love Ascendant: “Rozhdenie cheloveka”…………………………………………………178 III. Pil’niak Channeling Tolstoi: Yes and No…………………………………..210 Introduction: The Tolstoian Subtext…………………………………....210 The Usual Thing is All Wrong: “Kak obyknovenno” and Voskresenie ……………………………………………………………..216 Anna Karenina nashego vremeni?: “Veter pered martom”…………….229 Love and/or Truth in Marriage: “Tul’skaia literatura”…………………245 IV. Investigatory Parameters…………………………………………………...258 vii Mating, First Love, and Expectations: “Ivan-da-Mar’ia”………………258 Love’s Boundaries: The Incest Temptation…………………………….287 Parents and Children……………………………………………………335 V. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..424 Mind over Matter……………………………………………………….424 Pil’niak’s Voice in the Sexual Morality Debate………………………..432 References………………………………………………………………………………437 viii Chapter I Introduction Basic Writing Chronology and Biography Boris Andreevich Vogau, better known by his pseudonym Pil’niak, was born in Mozhaisk, Russia, outside Moscow, in 1894. He began publishing, although usually anonymously, in small local newsletters even in his teens, but he considered 1915 to be the beginning of his true literary career. This was the year which saw his first few publications as “Pil’niak” as well as his first true love, which was to impact his thematics greatly. 1 His pre-revolutionary short stories focused primarily on nature and animal life, earning him a reputation as a “physiological writer,” as well as on family and professional life in Zemstvo communities and small provincial towns --- I refer to this phase as his “early domestic period.” The 1917 October Revolution did not change his interest in these themes but added a new focus on life under revolutionary conditions; this concentration led to his blockbuster first novel, Golyi god ,2 a sort of montage of experiences supposedly of the Revolution and famine year 1919 but actually reflecting events and conditions occurring as early as 1918. This novel put him on the literary map, with the work’s chaotic form reflective of the conditions prevailing in the Revolution/Civil War period. The year of its publication, 1 This particular year, so crucial in Pil’niak’s personal and professional life, is chronicled in “Boris Pil’niak: 1915 god. Istoriia liubvi i tvorchestva,” by Pil’niak’s granddaughter, Kira Borisovna Andronikashvili-Pil’niak. Boris Pil’niak: Opyt segodniashnego prochteniia (Moskva: Nasledie, 1995) 153- 171. 2 Usually translated The Naked Year or The Bare Year , written 1918-1920, first published 1922. 1922, was also a watershed year in that Pil’niak then had his first taste of international travel, which would add depth and breadth to his works. He traveled to Estonia and Berlin in 1922, to England the following year, to the North Pole in 1924, and so on. These travels opened his eyes and mind in new ways. Abroad he found himself an apologist and interpreter of the Revolution, and his own experiences in different cultures engendered new perceptions of his homeland, the larger world, the Revolution, and the human condition. His works written in 1922-1924 included greater emphasis on cultural issues while continuing his explorations of personal and family life under post- revolutionary conditions, now those of the New Economic Policy. One fruit of his sojourn among the émigré community in Berlin was a novella, “Tret’ia stolitsa” 3 (1923) 4 which simultaneously explored, (a) on a socio-cultural level, the moribund old-world European civilization and the still primitive but vital culture now developing in Russia, catalyzed by the Revolution, and (b), on the individual personal level, male-female relationships. The “Angliiskie rasskazy” 5 (1924) and others inspired by his trip to England continued the exploration of ancient, petrified cultures, the will to colonize, culture clashes, and the development of an entirely new culture in Russia, while sometimes focusing directly on his own experiences in Britain. His genres expanded to include travel sketches and quasi-journalistic pieces as well as artistic literature (fiction). 3 “The Third Capital,” also published as “Mat’-machekha,” “Mother-Stepmother.” 4 Dates in the Introduction are dates of first publication unless otherwise noted. In remaining chapters they are dates of writing. 5 “English Stories”: “Speranza,” “Otryvki iz ‘Povesti v pis’makh,’ kotoruiu skuchno konchit’,” (“Excerpts from ‘A Tale in Letters,’ which is Boring to Finish”) and “Staryi syr” (“The Old Cheddar Cheese”) were published together in 1924; later stories based on his impressions of English culture included “Zhenikh vo polunochi” (1927, “The Bridegroom at Midnight”) and “Bol’shoe serdtse” (1926, “A Big Heart”). 2 This period of writing, approximately 1919-1924 (publication often lagged a year or two behind), was stylistically Pil’niak’s most complex, characterized by fragmentation, genre-mixing, asynchronous plotless narration (“bessiuzhetnost’”), wordplay, mixed lexicons, and other ornamental devices. This is usually referred to as his “ornamental” period --- ornamentalism was a prevalent literary trend of which his works were merely the most prominent example. Some of his best known ornamental works include the novels Golyi god and Mashiny i volki 6 (1925), short stories “Pri dveriakh” 7 (1920) and “Riazan’-iabloko” 8 (1922) as well as the novella “Tret’ia stolitsa.” In terms of political ideology, if one can call it that with apolitical Pil’niak, this period marked the writer’s changing view of the Revolution, not unique to Pil’niak among the writers of the day, from a spontaneous peasant uprising which would restore the “real Russia” to its pre-Petrine, rural roots (a Slavophile concept) to a more forward-looking view of the Revolution’s promise of new cultural horizons, an elevated spiritual and intellectual human culture which could be made possible largely