Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The poet and terra incognita
- 3 Imaginative geography
- 4 Sentimental pilgrims
- 5 The national stake in Asia
- 6 The Pushkinian mountaineer
- 7 Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's interchange with the tribesman
- 8 Early Lermontov and oriental machismo
- 9 Little orientalizers
- 10 Feminizing the Caucasus
- 11 Georgia as an oriental woman
- 12 The anguished poet in uniform
- 13 Tolstoy's revolt against romanticism
- 14 Post-war appropriation of romanticism
- 15 Tolstoy's confessional indictment
- 16 Concluding observations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
12 - The anguished poet in uniform
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Map
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The poet and terra incognita
- 3 Imaginative geography
- 4 Sentimental pilgrims
- 5 The national stake in Asia
- 6 The Pushkinian mountaineer
- 7 Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's interchange with the tribesman
- 8 Early Lermontov and oriental machismo
- 9 Little orientalizers
- 10 Feminizing the Caucasus
- 11 Georgia as an oriental woman
- 12 The anguished poet in uniform
- 13 Tolstoy's revolt against romanticism
- 14 Post-war appropriation of romanticism
- 15 Tolstoy's confessional indictment
- 16 Concluding observations
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE
Summary
Two hours in the flowing water
The battle raged. In vicious slaughter,
Not speaking, face-to-face like beasts,
Men killed, and bodies dammed the river.
LermontovUnlike his writings inspired by Georgia, late Lermontov's works dealing with the Muslim tribes conveyed a suspicion that the conquest was a spiritually losing proposition for Russia. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky's vision of the “angel of death” in Eden hinted as much about the war. It was Lermontov, however, who most memorably illuminated the Caucasus' contradictory character as a redemptive space and a killing field. The autobiographical foundation was compelling. During his relatively brief exile in 1837 Lermontov did not see action. But after a duel with the son of the French ambassador in St. Petersburg in 1840, he was sent to a perilous area of the front by express orders from Nicholas I. A commissioned officer, the poet participated in combat and twice won recommendations for awards for bravery, which the government refused to approve, however, so that he could not demand a discharge for distinguished service. During his first exile Lermontov had decided to request retirement from the army in order to devote himself exclusively to writing. The wish to remain a civilian poet was already symptomatic of tensions inscribed in late works.
Lermontov's letters often struck notes of heroic adventure in the Caucasus. On the eve of his first exile, for example, the writer mused about his prospects with a self-mocking reference to Napoleon's claim: “Les grands noms se font a 1'Orient”. While heavily ironic, the comment none the less indicated the author's real interest in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign as an imperial venture with avowed scientific, as well as military objectives.
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- Information
- Russian Literature and EmpireConquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy, pp. 212 - 232Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995