The Crisis of the Russian Family in the Works of These Three Authors
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THE CRISIS OF THE RUSSIAN FAMILY IN THE WORKS OF DOSTOEVSKY, TOLSTOY AND CHEKHOV A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Russian Studies at the University of Canterbury by Aliandra Antoniacci University of Canterbury 2015 1 Contents Note on Translation and Transliteration .................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER ONE ...................................................................................................................... 44 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 44 The Family in Crisis in The Diary of a Writer (1876-77)........................................................ 49 The Brothers Karamazov ......................................................................................................... 61 The Karamazov Family............................................................................................................ 65 Relationship of Humans with God in the Family Problematic ................................................ 80 The Theme of Evil as Relevant to the ‘Karamazov Problem’ ................................................. 82 Captain Snegiryov’s Family .................................................................................................... 90 The Influence of Fedorov’s Ideas on Dostoevsky’s Views on the Family .............................. 94 “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”: a New Visionary Ideal of the Russian Family .............. 102 Children and Folk Mystical Beliefs in The Brothers Karamazov.......................................... 106 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 112 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................... 115 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 115 Development of Tolstoy’s Ideas on Marriage and Family Life ............................................. 121 A Peasant Family in The Power of Darkness (1886) ............................................................. 125 The Upper Class in The Kreutzer Sonata (1889) ................................................................... 142 Tolstoy’s Moralizing Through the Prism of the Bible ........................................................... 182 The Afterword Controversy ................................................................................................... 190 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 195 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 204 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 204 “The Duel” (1891) and The Kreutzer Sonata (1889); Chekhov’s Response to Tolstoy ........ 207 Chekhov’s Interest in Social Issues ....................................................................................... 218 Chekhov and the Crisis of the Russian family ....................................................................... 224 2 Chekhov and Christianity ...................................................................................................... 232 Faith and the Family: “The Duel” .......................................................................................... 242 Chekhov and Women ............................................................................................................. 249 Emancipation of Women in “The Duel” (1891) ................................................................ 253 “The Betrothed” (1903): the Story of an Emancipated Woman ........................................ 260 “Ariadne” (1895): a Coquettish and Manipulative Woman ............................................... 266 Adultery in 19th Century Russia ............................................................................................. 274 “The Lady with the Little Dog” (1899): Morals and the Meaning of Life ........................ 278 “My Life” (1896) and Divorce ........................................................................................... 283 “Supruga” (My Wife), (1895) and Divorce ....................................................................... 292 Infanticide and Illegitimate Children: the Voice of Vasily Rozanov .................................... 294 Marriage and Divorce in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century to the Beginning of Twentieth Century in Russia. An Overview. ......................................................................... 299 “The Darling” (1899): a Story about Love......................................................................... 301 “The Man in a Case” (1898): Marriage out of Boredom ................................................... 305 “Three Years” (1895): a Marriage of Convenience ........................................................... 309 Extended families................................................................................................................... 314 “In the Ravine” (1900): a New Dark Kingdom.................................................................. 314 “Peasants” (1897): the World of Darkness and Wife Beating ........................................... 320 “Peasants” and “In the Ravine”: Literary Anthropology of Russian Provincial Life ........ 323 Baby (“Peasant women”) (1891) and the Mistreatment of Women ................................... 326 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 328 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 337 Works Cited ........................................................................................................................... 366 3 Note on Translation and Transliteration All translations are my own unless otherwise stated. Russian names and titles have been transliterated in accordance with the Library of Congress system, except for well-known names (e.g. Tolstoy) in which case the common English spelling has been used. Acknowledgments This thesis started in a set of circumstances resulting from the upheaval caused by the Canterbury earthquake (2011), and completing it forms part of my own experience in coping with this event. I thank Jesus Christ, my Saviour and my Lord, for His unconditional love and for His various graces received throughout this process. I thank God for His constant help and for permitting me to complete this project. I am also very thankful to my family, for their unfailing moral and economic help. I am deeply grateful to my supervisors: Professor Henrietta Mondry and Associate Professor Evgeny Pavlov, and to my external advisor Dr. Mark Swift, from the University of Auckland. Their careful guidance of this project is very much appreciated as well as their wise advice, feedback, discussions, and encouragement. The University of Canterbury has helped me in many ways, for example in granting me a doctoral scholarship that provided financial support for the duration of three years. A special thanks, too, to the library and interloans staff, staff from the student support team, particularly Shelley Chappell for her constant advice, support and great patience. A big thank you also to the Learning Centre Skills staff for their invaluable abilities that they pass onto students. 4 Various people stand out for kindness shown along the way. Particularly, Prof. Maria Zalambani from the University of Bologna (Italy), Dr. Bronwyn Betty, Anastasia, Steph, Patrick, Andy and Paul for their help at various points in the research process. Finally, I would like to thank all my friends, particularly Steve and Fr. Mike, and all the people who supported me in various ways and prayed for me and for this project, for their constant inspiration and persistent optimism that I would, one day, complete this project. 5 Abstract This thesis examines the crisis of the Russian family through the eyes of the key Russian writers of the second half of the 19th century: Tolstoy (1828-1910), Dostoevsky (1821-1881), and Chekhov (1860-1904). The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate that the works of these authors are not just novels or short stories about the crisis of the family, but representative of the societal situation in Russia at the time. The aim of this study is also to show the continuity in ideas between these authors in the context of family life and marriage and to explore what kind of solutions they envisioned for the future of the Russian family. Although there has been extensive research on the family in the works of these great classics of 19th century Russian