THE POVESTI OF V. G. RASPUTIN: GENRE, LANGUAGE AND STYLE by TERESA LYNN POLOWY B.A., University of British Columbia, 1975 M.A., University of British Columbia, 1979 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Slavonic Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA May, 1986 8 Teresa Lynn Polowy, 1986 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Slavonic Studies The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 DE-6(3/81) ii Abstract Valentin Grigorevic' Rasputin (b. 1937) is widely acknowledged as a major author by both Soviet and Western critics of contemporary Russian literature. His characters and settings deal with the inhabitants of the Siberian countryside (where Rasputin was born, raised, and continues to live), but the themes and questions that he presents in his works have broader import in their complex moral and social dilemmas. This study represents one of the first book-length attempts at a comprehensive analysis of Rasputin's prose style. It considers his four povesti 'novellas' as a unified corpus. Den'gi dlja Marii (Money for Maria), Poslednij srok (The Final Hours), 2ivi i pomni (Live and Remember), and Proscanie s Materoj (Farewell to Matera) were all written between 1967 and 1976. Since 1976. Rasputin has not published a major work and this hiatus makes it appropriate to treat the povesti as a coherent body of writings. This thesis is composed of two parts. The Introduction outlines Rasputin's personal and literary biographies as well as various critical responses to his works. Chapter I examines some critical approaches to the povest\ Rasputin's preferred genre, and then discusses some general features of the povest' as employed by Rasputin. His four povesti are treated in Chapter II, both individually and with regard to their common aspects of plot structure, conflict, and time structure. As well, recurrent character types, themes, and motifs are outlined, and the characterization of Rasputin's major personages, particularly his heroine, is examined. Chapters III and IV treat two of Rasputin's povesti in greater detail. In Chapter III, the classical literary forms of tragedy and myth are applied to Zivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj respectively. Chapter IV provides a close formal analysis of the various stylistic features and devices from which 2ivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj iii are composed. These are identified in separate discussions of language, narrative technique, use of internal speech forms, imagistic devices and figurative language, and use of devices, commonly found in folklore. 2ivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj are generally considered to be Rasputin's most mature and accomplished works and they are juxtaposed and their style analyzed from this point of view. However, the broader purpose of this chapter is to provide a systematic analysis of the most typical and important features of Rasputin's prose style using Zivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj as models for discussion. Elements of style which unite all his povesti include: a narrative text written in flawless, literary Russian into which is blended a distinct mixture of dialectal, jargon, and sub-standard language elements; a close identification of the narrator with the points of view of his characters; lyricism of the narrative text and its attention to minute detail in terse descriptions of landscape and natural phenomena; the reflection of the mood of Rasputin's protagonists in depictions of natural phenomena; the coexistence of Christian symbols and images with folk symbolism and imagery; the use of the dream and dream symbolism, visions, and semi-conscious mental and emotive states that reveal the characters from within. The Conclusion of this thesis discusses Rasputin's most recent works—stories written in the first half of the 1980s, and identifies features of continuity and change between them and his earlier prose. To conclude, Rasputin's place within the Soviet Russian literary process is discussed with particular reference to the "village theme" and "village prose." Common features which unite Rasputin with writers of "village prose" are outlined. Qualitative and fundamental differences are then discussed in some detail. The milieu in Rasputin's povesti is typically Soviet and Siberian, and such localizing features as Siberian dialect and Russian folklore are basic components in his work. However, in its portrayal of psychology and emotions, in its representation of the iv dynamics of social and personal relationships, and in its emphasis on the ethical dilemmas of a modernizing society, the prose of Valentin Rasputin is accessible to the general and non-Russian reader. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Note on Transliteration vii Acknowledgements viii INTRODUCTION 1 Notes 26 CHAPTER I: The PovesV: A Genre Study of Rasputin's Prose 31 Notes 41 CHAPTER II: Plot, Theme, and Characterization in Rasputin's Povesti 43 1 Structure and Plot .45 2 Thematics .78 3 Characterization 82 (i) The Heroine 87 (ii) Other Central Characters 100 (iii) Sons and Daughters 105 (iv) Young Children Ill (v) Bureaucrats and Officials 115 (vi) The Peasantry 118 (vii) Folkloric Characters 120 Notes 123 CHAPTER EQ: Tragedy and Myth in tivi i Pomni and Proscanie s Materoj 126 Notes 150 CHAPTER IV: Language and Style in iivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj. 152 1. Language 154 (i) Dialect 154 vi (ii) Jargon 164 (iii) Folklore Elements 169 2 Style 171 (i) Narrative Technique 171 (ii) Internal Speech 178 (iii) Imagistic Devices and Figurative Language 186 (iv) Folklore Devices 225 Notes 245 CONCLUSION 248 Notes 266 Selected Bibliography 267 Appendix 274 Note on Transliteration The system of transliteration used throughout this dissertation is the international system for the transliteration of Russian used by linguists and scholars specializing in Russian and Slavic studies. The system and its specific usages appear in J. Thomas Shaw, The Transliteration of Modern Russian for English-language Publications (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967). Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to the following persons for their assistance in the completion of my thesis: To Dr. Barbara Heldt, my research supervisor, for her informed and critical guidance which fostered independence and growth at all stages in the writing of my thesis. For this I am very grateful. To Dr. Peter Petro and Dr. C. J. G. Turner for their careful reading of the thesis which provided insightful comments for its improvement; and to Dr. Nicholas Poppe for his knowledgeable assistance in the writing of the section on language. To the Department of Slavonic Studies for its financial support in the form of teaching assistanceships and departmental scholarships. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Professor Alia Gerisimenko of the Department of Contemporary Soviet Literature at the University of Moscow who was my departmental consultant during an eight-month research period at that university in 1982. Thanks must go to Claire Winstone for her accurate and quick typing of the thesis manuscript. Finally, I extend deep gratitude to my mother and husband for their unflagging support which they showed in a multitude of ways, and to my daughter, Oksana who was born into, and has grown up with, the writing of a doctoral thesis. 1 INTRODUCTION Valentin Grigorevic" Rasputin, (b. 1937), the author of a relatively small collection of povesti 'novellas', short stories, and sketches is, by critical and popular acclaim, one of the most sensitive and thought-provoking writers living in the Soviet Union today. A native Siberian who still lives in Irkutsk, Rasputin's perceptions of and perspective on the world have been conditioned by the physical, social, and cultural factors of that environment The influence of these factors is revealed in his prose by his choice of characters, the language of both his narration and dialogue, and his descriptions of nature and landscape which differ considerably from those of writers who were born and raised in the urban literary capitals of the European Soviet Unioa Rasputin's prose is written with acute insight into human nature—he has intimate knowledge of his heroes and their problems (several works include autobiographical elements), and his descriptive narrative and lyrical landscapes are often linked with and augment the mood of his characters. His writings are regionally specific: people and settings depict ordinary folk of the Siberian countryside. Yet in their appeal to fundamental human values to resolve complex ethical and social problems (such as the degeneration of moral standards and the subsequent poverty of character and soul, or the loss of one's roots), the themes and questions he addresses are of universal import Stylistically, Rasputin is a masterful creator of direct uttered and internal speech which is often composed in regional Siberian dialect, as well as a fine painter of landscape and mood accomplished in the contemporary literary Russian language. It is within his preferred povesV genre that he is best able to develop his themes and demonstrate his control of structure and style. His four povesti, Den'gli dip. Marii {Money for Maria, 1967), Poslednij srok (The Final Hours, 1970), Zivi i pomni {Live and 2 Remember, 1974), and Proscanie s Materoj (Farewell to Matera, 1976), resonate with the entire gamut of shared, semi-articulated knowledge, feelings and perceptions about social and cultural life, values and ethics, and religious belief that has accumulated over the centuries and that may be perceived as the Russian soul.