Contenu du sommaire

Jean-Philippe Jaccard, From the reality to the text. The absurd and Daniil Kharms. The object of this article is to demonstrate on basis of works - mostly unpublished - the coherence between the philosophical vision of the world of Daniil Kharms and his poetics. The label "absurd" is applied in the first place to the fundamental duality ruling the relationship between man and a world viewed as sum total of particles with no connection between them. A certain number of notions comprised in the theoretical texts of Kharms will be studied within this framework: the law of equilibrium, the principle of asymmetry, minor errors ("nebol 'shaia pogreshnost ' "), etc. We will then see that this duality is expressed in the texts in prose of the author. First, on the thematic level: the creation of a particular type of character: a "sucker" thrust into a hostile world. Also on the level of form: the general tendency of text towards autodestruction (either by withdrawal into itself or by dispersal). It will be noted that the resulting nonsense and the comical element it supposes, raises this prose to the rank of global parody of the traditional processes of narration, whilst Kharms suggests an attempt at extra-ideological reply to great metaphysical questions.

Leonid Heller, Konstantin Paustovskii, model writer. An approach to socialist realism. The present article should be classified among works the principal objective of which is to depict the specificity of the Soviet literature. The work of K. Paustovskii is considered here as highly significant in this respect. The first half of the article deals with the stakes that determine the recuperation to which Paustovskii is subjected springing from critical outlooks between which there is but little compatibility. The second part is based on an analysis on several levels of the writer's texts. It is attempted to demonstrate that the fact that Paustovskii adopted a number of structural elements, pertaining to realist socialist esthetics, lead to a "neutralisation" of his own poetics. The analysis winds up on a series of questions presenting interest from the point of view of a more general discussion of socialist realism, such as the hierarchy of thematic styles, the role ot hackneyed phrases or the contusion of readers' age criteria, a characteristic phenomenon of massovaia literatura. Paustovskii is viewed in this article as a "model" writer in both senses of the word. Valorized by opposite critical tendencies: "official" and "dissident", "western" and "émigré", his work appears as a model of marginal composition, entering also at the same time into the constitution of the system of socialist realism. Hence the study of Paustovskii allows to determine the limits of this system.

Danièle Beaune, The ideas of G. P. Fedotov in the 1930's. In 1930, the so-called "post-revolutionary" trends engaged in the research of a new "national conscience" assert themselves among the socialists belonging to the Russian emigration. Fedotov is a representative of their moderate wing. In his publications of that time, and especially in the journal Novyi grad of which he is the editor, he develops the four principal domains of his thought: the State, the Church, socialism, liberty. The State does not represent for Fedotov a blind power, nor a legal state, but an organizing force which ensures the geographical coherence of the country on the national level (in which pre-eminence is granted to Russia) and on the social one. The Church represented by its elite plays a cultural part (at present on the decline), a political one (side by side with monarchy or an Orthodox republic), and a social one (for instance monasteries of the Great North). In view of the present-day divorce between the Church and the society, the social part is entrusted to laymen and termed "socialism." In the nineteenth century, Christian socialism, respectful of the values of persons, inspired the German social-democracy but was alien to the spirit of Marx and Lenin, who produced the "new socialisms ," the last avatar of which are Stalinism and Nazism. However, socialism must not be globally condemned. Instead, new formulae must be found for a fairer repartition of resources. Fedotov proposes a "constructivist" socialism, based on ethics of work. The latter which admits a minimum of spoliation of individual property and the development of the administrative organ, comes inevitably up against the principles of liberty; economic liberty first of all, political liberty and that of conscience next. And Fedotov's work, rich elsewhere in concrete historical teachings, turns there into a constrained Utopia.

Jane Burbank, Waiting for the people's revolution: Martov and Chernov in revolutionary Russia, 1917-1923. In the chaotic and decisive years after the October Revolution, Iu. O. Martov and V. Chernov, leaders of the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary parties, were unwilling to give their full support either to the Bolsheviks or to popular rebellions against the new government. This article explains their cautious and ultimately self-destructive positions as a consequence of the contradictions between their theories of revolution and their observations of mass behavior after 1917. In particular, the revolutionary years shook the confidence of the democratic left in the national values of workers and peasants. Fearful of rebellions against the fragile state, yet repulsed by the authoritarian tactics of the Bolsheviks, Martov and Chernov could find no militant position consistent with their ideological commitments and retreated to their traditional, non-violent stance of moral criticism.

Samuel Schwarzband, A. Mickiewicz and A. Pushkin. 1830-1833. The article deals with certain textual problems of Pushkin's poem "The bronze horseman." The author's objective, which is not original, reduces to finding out associations between Pushkin's poem and Mickiewicz's poetry cycle "Fragment." However, a system approach to an analysis of the available manuscripts had enabled the author to arrive at sufficiently independent conclusions: 1. Associations between Pushkin's poem and Mickiewicz's "Fragment" suggest that polemics was involved in all stages and in all parts of "The bronze horseman" throughout the process of its creations. 2. The polemic mood of Pushkin's poem is a plot-forming factor rather than a peripherial characteristic of "The bronze horseman." 3. The antagonistic nature of the artistic standpoint is due to differences in the artistic concepts and methods to a greater extent than to the political or ideological divergences.

Konstantin Azadovskii, Kliuev and Esenin in October 1915. Kliuev and Esenin met for the first time at the beginning of October 1915 in Petrograd. Basing himself on archival documents and in particular on the Diary of F.F. Fidler, the author relates the first appearance in common of the two "peasant poets" in the intellectual society of the capital.

Michel Niqueux, A.V. Shiriaevets as seen through his unpublished works. The extracts of Shiriaevets' archives (1887-1924) yield a picture of one of the representatives of the "neo-peasant poetry." The correspondence of Shiriaevets with P. Porshakov (1913-1914) displays without any embellishment the life of the poet, "exiled" to Turkestan until 1922 and the guiding part played by Kliuev in the formation of Shiriaevets. The letters of 1923-1924 contain the impressions of Shiriaevets on the literary life of Moscow. Poems published here are branded with "Razinism," hostility to urban civilization and nostalgia for native Volga.

Jessie Davies, Documents about Esenin. In offering for publication the "Autobiography" of Esenin' s half-brother and three letters from his father, Jessie Davies aims to throw some light on the complicated relations between Esenin and his parents and some of the reason for them. In her introduction she traces the different references in articles, correspondence, conversations and interviews to Alexander Razguliaev - giving often identical information told from different points of view. She explains why she considers the autobiography relevant to the study of the poet. As a corollary to his mother's attitude to her husband as expressed in the "Autobiography," the three letters from Esenin' s father testify to his genuine Love and concern for his son. The anonymity of some living memoirists has been preserved.

Ternira Pachmuss, Extracts from V.A. Zlobin's archives: the poet A. S. Steiger. Anatoly Sergeevich Steiger (1907-1944), active in the literary life of "Russian Paris," authored several collections of poetry: This day (Paris, 1928), This life (Paris, 1932), Ingratitude (Paris, 1936), and Twice two is four: Poems 1926-1939 (Paris, 1950). He participated in the Merezhkovskys' Sunday salons; Zinaida Hippius, who Liked Steiger's personality and poetic gift, considered him a talented and engaging writer. Steiger's works expressed the essence of the "Parisian note" best of all. Elements of the passing of time and a prevalent mood of elegiac sadness combine in his poetry with an intense search for love and ultimate truth beyond the seemingly incomprehensible surface of reality. Steiger's correspondence with V.A. Zlobin reveals his attitudes towards various Russian poets and towards the Russian political, social, and literary life in Paris in the 1920' s , and his intense desire to succeed in writing poetry. His early poems, sent to Zlobin for his perusal, reveal that they did not approximate the "Parisian note," the manner of writing which he appropriated later.