ENG-02-20 Institute of Distance and Open Learning Gauhati University MA in English Semester 4 Paper 20 European II - Modern European Fiction Contents: Block 1: Short Russian Fiction Block 2: The Novel in Russian Block 3: The Novel in German Block 4: The Novel in French (1) Contributors: Block 1: Short Russian Fiction Unit 1 : Afrah Abdul Kafi Mohammed & Musaeva Cholpon Mirbekovna EFL University, Hyderabad Unit 2 : Afrah Abdul Kafi Mohammed Musaeva Cholpon Mirbekovna & Shana Ninan EFL University, Hyderabad Unit 3 : Reju George Mathew & C. Arumugathai EFL University, Hyderabad Block 2: The Novel in Russian Unit 1 : Sradha Somraj EFL University,Hyderabad Unit 2 : Sweta Mukherjee EFL University, Hyderabad Unit 3 : Smitha Vallathol EFL University, Hyderabad Unit 4 : Apeksha Harsh & Vidya Kesavan EFL University, Hyderabad Block 3: The Novel in German Units 1, 3 & 4 : Prasenjit Das Assistant Professor in English KKHSOU Unit 2 : Dibyajyoti Borah Assistant Professor in English H B Girls’ College, Golaghat Block 4: The Novel in French Units 1, 2, 3 & 4 : Dr. H. Kalpana Rao Reader, Dept. of English Pondicherry University, Pondicherry Editorial Team Dr. Kandarpa Das Director, IDOL, GU Dr. Uttara Debi Assistant Professor in English IDOL, GU Sanghamitra De Guest Faculty in English IDOL, GU Manab Medhi Guest Faculty in English IDOL, GU (2) Cover Page Designing: Kaushik Sarma Graphic Designer CET, IITG February, 2012 © Copyright by IDOL, Gauhati University. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise. Published on behalf of Institute of Distance and Open Learning, Gauhati University by Dr. Kandarpa Das, Director, and printed at Maliyata Offset Press, Mirza-781125. Copies printed 1000. Acknowledgement The Institute of Distance and Open Learning, Gauhati University duly acknowledges the financial assistance from the Distance Education Council, IGNOU, New Delhi, for preparation of this material. (3) Contents Page No. Block 1: Short Russian Fiction Block Introduction 5 Unit 1: Russian Short Stories 7 Unit 2: Gogol and “The Overcoat” 37 Unit 3: Tolstoy and “The Death of Ivan Illyich” 63 Block 2: The Novel in Russian Block Introduction 81 Unit 1: The Russian Novel 83 Unit 2: Dostoevsky and His Work 107 Unit 3: Crime and Punishment 121 Unit 4: Themes and Techniques 147 Block 3: The Novel in German Block Introduction 191 Unit 1: German Novel 193 Unit 2: Kafka and His Works 213 Unit 3: The Trial 227 Unit 4: Themes and Techniques 235 Block 4: The Novel in French Block Introduction 259 Unit 1: Introducing the French novel 261 Unit 2: Albert Camus and His work 273 Unit 3: The Outsider 289 Unit 4: Themes and techniques 299 (4) Block 1: Short Russian Fiction Block Introduction: This block is concerned with short Russian fiction and here an attempt has been made to give you a brief account of the rise of the short story as a genre. The history of the Russian short story has also been connected with the socio-political and literary movements in Russia. The Russian short story emerged at the end of the 18th century, and “did not follow a single course of development and did not immediately take shape as a special and independent genre. For a long time it was ‘dissolved’ within such ‘minor’ prose forms as the novella, the anecdote, the joke and the fairy-tale. The term ‘short story’ did not come into use until the late 1820s. However, for two decades after this, all short prose works were usually called novellas. Only at the end of the 1840s did the short story finally acquire status as a genre although, as before, the dividing line between it and the novella was indeterminate and fluid. It is therefore hardly surprising that many writers often referred to their smaller works sometimes as novellas and sometimes as short stories.” (Bazhanova, G. 1985: 6. Anthology of Russian Short Stories). The development of the short story in Russian literature, in the19th century and afterwards, is not a stable process. At times, it was pushed aside by other literary genres; on other occasions, it was at the leading position. The emergence and development of the short story in Russia as, incidentally, of other forms took place under unique circumstances. Throughout nearly the whole of the 19th century, Russian literature was the only possible form of manifestation for the political activity of the advanced social consciousness. Apart from tracing the development of short fiction, the aim of this block is to help you study and contextualize Gogol’s “The Overcoat” and Tolstoy’s”The Death of Ivan Illyich” in the socio-political scenario of Russia. (5) Contents: Block Introduction Unit 1 : Russian Short Stories Unit 2 : Gogol and “The Overcoat” Unit 3 : Tolstoy and “The Death of Ivan Illyich” (6) Unit 1 Russian Short Stories Contents: 1.1 Objectives 1.2 Introduction 1.3 Form of the short story 1.4 Major Exponents 1.5 Summing Up 1.6 References and Suggested Readings 1.1 OBJECTIVES This unit will give you a brief account of the rise of the short story as a genre during the 19th century. By the end of this unit, you should be able to • make a quick survey of the early stages of short story writing • connect the life and career of short story writers to the stories you have to study 1.2 INTRODUCTION The genre of the short story was born in the early 19th century, and with the passage of time, it started gaining popularity among fiction readers. This, to some extent, has something to do with shrinking leisure time and shrinking patience. A short story is fictional work of prose that is shorter in length than a novel. Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” said that a short story should be read in one sitting, anywhere from a half hour to two hours. In contemporary fiction, a short story can range from 1,000 to 20,000 words. It ought to carry objective matter-of-fact description with poetic atmosphere and/or present a unified impression of tone, colour and effect, as Poe stated. (7) Critically it is agreed that the short story must conform to certain conditions. First, the writer must work hard to make the one and only impression. His time is too limited; his space is too confined; his risk of dividing the attention of the reader is too great, to admit of more than this one impression. Therefore, he selects some moment of action or some phase of character or some particular scene, and focuses attention upon that. In our daily life, we may witness this kind of brief, clear-cut impressions frequently. When we pass on the street corner two women talking, and from a chance sentence or two, we form a strong impression of the character of one or both. Sometimes we travel through a scene so sad and depressing or so lovely and inspiring that the effect is never forgotten. Such glimpses of life and scene are so vivid. To secure this single strong impression, the writer must decide which of the three essentials—plot, character, or setting—is to have first place. Russian authors give more importance to the social ideas and ideals as compared to other writers. They create their works as reflection of the spirit of their people. The two main requirements for Russian writers are: humanitarian ideals and fidelity. Thomas Seltzer indicates this in his book Best Russian Short Stories: The Russians take literature perhaps more seriously than any other nation. To them a book is not a mere diversion. They demand that fiction and poetry be a true mirror of life and be of service to life. A Russian author, to achieve the highest recognition, must be a thinker also. Everything is subordinated to two main requirements - humanitarian ideals and fidelity to life. This is the secret of the marvelous simplicity of Russian-literary art. Before the supreme function of literature, the Russian writer stands awed and humbled. He knows he cannot cover up poverty of thought, poverty of spirit and lack of sincerity by rhetorical tricks or verbal cleverness. And if he possesses the two essential requirements, the simplest language will suffice. One of the essential traits of Russian writers is the quite unaffected conception that the poor are on a plane of equality with the so-called upper classes. So when we compare them to some English writers who wrote with their profound pity and understanding of the poor, there was yet a bit of remoteness, perhaps, even, a bit of caricature, in their treatment of the (8) lower class. They depicted the sufferings of the lower class to the rest of the world with a “Behold how the other half lives!” The Russian writes of the poor from within, as one of them, with no eye to theatrical effect upon the well-to-do. In Russian Fiction, as Thomas Seltzer states, there is no insistence upon peculiar virtues or vices. The poor are portrayed just as they are, as human beings like the rest of us. A democratic spirit is reflected, breathing a broad humanity, a true universality, an unstudied generosity that proceed not from the intellectual conviction that to understand all is to forgive all, but from an instinctive feeling that no man has the right to set himself up as a judge over another, that one can only observe and record. The simplicity, sincerity, and veraciousness are other traits of Russian literature that we find some Russian writers taking over the perfect form, profiting by its enforced obligations of unity, simplicity, and harmony, and handling it with variety, with interest, and with originality.