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Four Demons of Valentin Kataev

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Dodona Kiziria
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Extract

“Revolution itself commanded men's lives in those days.”

Valentin Kataev, The Grass of Oblivion

The Grass of Oblivion, a novel by Valentin Kataev, is a tribute to the Russian writers who were forced to choose their path during the revolution and the civil war. The theme may seem outdated, but the approach to the theme and its literary treatment are amazingly original and modern. In all of Soviet literature it would be difficult to find tragic images comparable to the two poets in this narrative (Bunin and Maiakovskii) who are compelled, finally and irrevocably, either to accept or reject the role offered to them by the new social order. Yet these images are outlined with such grace and elegance, and so tempered with irony, that an ambivalence, an almost diabolic duality is etched into the characters and events. Even the character of the narrator appears split, further complicating the multileveled narrative structure of the novel in which reality is so densely interwoven with fantasy that a third, synthesizing plane of meaning emerges.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , Winter 1985 , pp. 647 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1985

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References

1. Trava zabveniia was first published in the journal Novyi mir, 1967, no. 3. Two years later itappeared in a book, Sviatoi kolodets. Trava zabveniia ( “Holy Well. The Grass of Oblivion “) (Moscow:Sovetskii pisatel', 1969), pp. 123–343. The novel was later included in Kataev's Sobranie sochinenii, 9 vols. (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1972), 9:249–446.

2. “Rastratchiki” (“The Embezzlers “) was first published in Krasnaia nov', 1926, nos. 10, 11,12. The sharp satirical tone characteristic of most of Kataev's early stories gradually disappeared inthe works of the next thirty years. In the mid-1960s, however, Kataev's literary career took a newturn with the novel Malen'kaia zheleznaia dver’ v stene (“Small Iron Door in the Wall “) (Moscow:Sovetskii pisatel', 1965). It was followed by eight more novels. Each one of them first appeared inNovyi mir: Sviatoi kolodets (“Holy Well “), 1965, no. 5; Trava zabveniia, 1967, no. 3; Kubik (thename of a dog), 1969, no. 2; Razbitaia zhizn', Hi volshebnyi rog Oberona (“A Mosaic of Life, orthe Magic Enchanted Horn of Oberon “), 1972, nos. 7, 8; Kladbishche v Skulianakh (“Graveyard inSkuliany “), 1975, no. 10; Almaznyi moi venets (“My Diamond Crown “), 1978, no. 6; Uzhe napisanVerier (“Werther is Already Written “), 1980, no. 6; Iunosheskii roman moego starogo druga SashiPchelkina, rasskazannaia im samim ( “The Youthful Novel of My Old Friend Sasha Pchelkin, Recountedby Himself), 1982, no. 10. Despite this impressive output, only three American studiesthat deal with his later works have appeared since 1971. Alayne Reilly in her America in ContemporarySoviet Literature (New York: New York University Press, 1971), pp. 117–71, discusses the reflection of America in Kataev's “Holy Well.” Robert Russell in “The Problem of Self-Expressionin the Later Works of Valentin Kataev” (Studies in Twentieth Century Russian Literature, ed.Christopher J. Barnes [New York: Barnes and Noble, 1975], pp. 78–91) analyzes Kataev's stylisticdevices. He also published Valentin Kataev (Boston: Twayne's World Authors Series, 1981). In thisthorough survey of Kataev's literary career the author dedicated a chapter, “The ‘New’ Kataev “(pp. 108–44), to his later novels.

3. “Vremia, vpered!” was first published in Krasnaia nov', 1932, nos. 1–9. It has often beenrepublished as a separate book. In The Grass of Oblivion Kataev mentions that it was Maiakovskiiwho suggested the title of the novel. “la, syn trudovogo naroda” (“I, Son of the Working People “)was first published in Krasnaia nov’ (1937). Several chapters of Catacombs under the title “Vsiavlast’ sovetam” ( “For the Power of the Soviets “) were published in lzvestiia, 1945, nos. 22–24.

4. Kataev, Valentin, The Grass of Oblivion, trans, from the Russian with an introduction by Daglish, Robert (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1969), p. 31.Google Scholar All further references will be to this edition.

5. Almaznyi moi venets, Novyi mir (1978), no. 6, p. 44. The translation is mine.

6. Malen'kaia zheleznaia dver’ v stene, p. 6.

7. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 108.

8. Pchelkin derives from the word pchela (“bee “). Kataev used this name again for another ofs his literary doubles in his “Youthful Novel of My Old Friend Sasha Pchelkin, Recounted by Himself, “substituting Sasha for Riurik. The story describes Pchelkin's adventures in World War I.

9. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 39.

10. Ibid., p. 86.

11. Ibid., p. 198–99.

12. Sviatoi kolodets. Trava zabveniia, p. 221.

13. The Grass of Oblivion, pp. 100–101.

14. Ibid., p. 216.

15. Ibid., p. 36. The last sentence of the passage is a quotation from Bunin's poem “Ty stranstvuesh',ty liubish', ty schastliva …” (1919). See his Sobranie sochinenii, 9 vols. (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaialiteratura, 1966), 8:29.

16. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 196.

17. Ibid., p. 120.

18. Ibid., pp. 122–23.

19. Ibid., p. 121. The quotation from Velemir Khlebnikov is from his poem “Mariia Vechora, “published in his Sobranie sochinenii, ed. Iu. Tynianov and N. Stepanov (Leningrad: 1928); reprintMunich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1968), 1:69. The poem by Nikolai Burliuk is not available.

20. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 46. In this passage Kataev quotes three different poems of Bunin.The first, “Tumanno utro krasnoe tumanno” is taken from “Kazn “’ (1915), in which the personspeaks to his executioners; the second, “Kniaz’ Viacheslav v zhelezy byl zakovan,” from Kniaz'Viacheslav” (1916), a poem about the morbid premonitions of a captive prince; the concludingpassage, “I t'ma i khlad v moei peshchere,” comes from “Matfei Prozorlivyi” (1916). The poem isa dialogue between a saint, Matfei, and a Devil who tempts his soul with wealth and power. Allthree poems were published in volume 1 of Bunin's Sobranie sochinenii on p. 377, p. 390, andpp. 388–89.

21. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 156. This quotation is taken from Maiakovskii's poem “Rossii. “See his Sobranie sochinenii, 13 vols. (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1965), 1:130–31.

22. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 8.

23. Ibid., p. 199.

24. Ibid., p. 200.

25. Ibid., p. 173. This is a stanza from Maiakovskii's narrative poem “150,000,000” (1919–1920) published in vol. 2 of his Sobranie sochinenii, p. 124.

26. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 172. The first fragment of this passage ends with a quotation from Maiakovskii's Levyi marsh (Sobranie sochinenii, 2:23–24). In Russian the syllable raz, when pronouncedenergetically and forcefully, could be understood as the first word of the military command: “Raz! Dva! Tri!” ( “Left! Right! Left! Right! “).

27. The beginning word of the poem in Russian is razvorachivaites’ (“line up “).

28. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 98. Here Kataev refers to Bunin's poem “Skazka o Koze” (1915),Sobranie sochinenii, 1:380.

29. Almaznyi moi venets, p. 66. The translation is mine.

30. Kataev quotes from many other Russian poets and writers besides Bunin and Maiakovskii,choosing those who, in one way or another, fit the image of a man with a “ripped-out heart “—Pushkin, Blok, Pasternak, Olesha, Babel', Mandel'shtam, Khlebnikov.

31. The Grass of Oblivion, pp. 194–95. Osip Mandel'shtam's poem “Dekabrist” (1917), whosefinal stanza ends the first fragment (Sobranie sochinenii, 4 vols., ed. by Gleb Struve and B. A.Filipoff [Washington: Inter-Language Literary Associates, 1967], 1:66.

32. The Grass of Oblivion, p. 5. In all the Russian editions of the novel the sentence starts withan ellipsis and a small letter, “ … a mozhet byt'.” In the English translation it is replaced by thecapital letter, ” … Or, perhaps.” It should be remembered that all typographical characteristics ofthe printed text in Kataev's novels are meaningful, and no changes should be made in translation.

33. Ibid., p. 7.

34. Ibid., p. 222. This very last passage of the novel is not taken from the English edition sincegender distinction in the nouns play an important role in creating an effect of montage collision.The words in the first fragment, “chetyrezhdy blagoslovennaia,” are an indirect quotation ofMaiakovskii's “Oda k Revoliutsii” (1918). The poem ends with the following line: “—o, chetyrezhdyslav'sia, blagoslovennaia” ( “— oh, be four times glorious, you who are blessed! “). See Maiakovskii, Sobranie sochinenii, 2:13; Bunin's “Kadil'nitsa” (1915) is published in vol. 1, p. 392 of his Sobraniesochinenii; Mandel'shtam's “Skripachka” in vol. 1, p. 209 of his Sobranie sochinenii.