The Cossacks: Analysis of Setting
"The Cossacks: Analysis of Setting" provides an exploration of the geographical and cultural landscape surrounding the Cossacks, a group deeply embedded in Russian history. Central to this analysis is the Caucasus Mountains, a historically significant region considered a boundary between Europe and Asia, and known for its diverse tribes, including the Chechens and Tatars, who have played a crucial role in the region's resistance to Russian control. The Terek River serves as a symbolic divide between the Christian Cossacks and various Islamic tribes, highlighting the tensions and interactions in this multicultural space.
The Cossack village of Novomlinsk showcases unique architectural features and a distinctive lifestyle, blending military camaraderie with agricultural practices. This village reflects a sense of independence and resilience among the Cossacks, contrasting sharply with the more urbanized and civilized notions embodied by Moscow, which is critiqued in the narrative for its "effete" qualities. The setting not only frames the characters' experiences but also enriches the thematic exploration of identity, conflict, and the romanticized ideals of warrior culture. Overall, the analysis underscores the complexities of life in this vibrant and turbulent region, inviting readers to consider the historical and cultural dimensions of the Cossacks' existence.
The Cossacks: Analysis of Setting
First published:Kazaki, 1863 (English translation, 1873)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of work: Nineteenth century
Asterisk denotes entries on real places.
Places Discussed
*Caucasus Mountains
*Caucasus Mountains. Mountain range south of Moscow between the Black and Caspian Seas that has historically been regarded as the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Now divided among several former Soviet republics, the region was under Russian domination in the nineteenth century. With its picturesque mountains and many fiercely independent tribes, the region occupies a place in Russian literary tradition similar to that of the Wild West in American literature. The various tribes of Tatars, Chechens, Circassians, Azeris, Georgians, Armenians, and others were often regarded as “noble savages” in a manner similar to the literary romanticization of Native Americans.
The Chechens in particular were renowned as fierce fighters, and the appellation dzhigit is often compared to the expression “brave” for a Native American warrior, although it is inextricably linked to expert horsemanship in a way that even the great Plains Indians never attained. The Chechens were also far more successful at resisting Russian overlordship than any Native American societies were at resisting the westward expansion of the United States. Indeed, since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, the Chechens have continued to resist Russian domination.
Although Tolstoy’s novel is to some degree the Russian equivalent of an American Western story, Tolstoy tempers the romantic imagery of the half-wild Cossacks and Chechens with knowledge taken from his own experiences as a soldier serving in the Caucasus. In fact, Tolstoy has Olenin thinking of how the reality of the area differs from the romantic stories he heard and dreamed about while living in Moscow.
*Terek River
*Terek River (TEH-rehk). Dividing line between the Christian Cossacks and the various Islamic tribes including the Tatars and Chechens. The Grebenskiye Cossacks were granted an area along the northern bank of the Terek to build their villages, with the understanding that they would defend the area against the depredations of Chechen bandits who rejected the czar’s authority.
Novomlinsk
Novomlinsk (no-vom-LIHNSK). Cossack village where Olenin is stationed. It is a typical village of the Grebenskiye Cossacks, larger than the peasant villages of central Russia, with neat thatch-roofed houses raised on pillars. The houses do not huddle close together as in a typical Russian peasant village, but all have ample space around them, and are located along several streets and lanes instead of a single central street. By each house is a small vegetable garden, orchard, and grape arbor, all carefully tended. The village is surrounded by an earthen berm upon which prickly hedges grow, and at the gates a sentry stands. In many ways the Cossack village resembles a military camp, with its watchposts and patrols of Cossack men bearing weapons; however, there is little of the spit and polish of a regular military installation. Rather, this is a sort of rough camaraderie of warriors who fight at one another’s back against tribes they often respect more than the regular soldiers of the czar, who are regarded as oppressors and intruders. It is believed that Starogladovskaya, a village in the area, home of a Tolstoy museum, served as the basis for Tolstoy’s fictional village.
*Moscow
*Moscow. Traditional capital and largest city of Russia. To Olenin it represents everything that is wrong with his life, effete and over-civilized. At the time the story takes place, Moscow is not Russia’s political capital. Peter the Great moved the seat of government to his new city of St. Petersburg in 1712, and it would not return to Moscow until 1918, when the Bolsheviks rejected the northern capital as too risky strategically. However, even during the period of this novel, Moscow remained in many ways a cultural capital.
Bibliography
Bayley, John. Tolstoy and the Novel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. For the nonspecialist, this book is the most readable survey of Tolstoy’s long fiction in the English language. Compares The Cossacks with other examples of Tolstoy’s fiction set in the Caucasus and finds it wanting.
Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch. The Cossack Hero in Russian Literature: A Study in Cultural Mythology. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992. Kornblatt places Tolstoy’s The Cossacks in a Russian tradition that runs from early nineteenth century writer Alexander Pushkin through twentieth century novelist Mikhail Sholokhov.
Turner, C. J. G. “Tolstoy’s The Cossacks: The Question of Genre.” Modern Language Review 73, no. 3 (July, 1978): 563-572. A detailed examination of Tolstoy’s conflicting intentions in The Cossacks, which he declares “a hybrid” of such genres as sketch, tale, novel, idyll, and autobiography. Elucidates this position by recounting the decade-long process of the novel’s composition.
Wasiolek, Edward. Tolstoy’s Major Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Notes that The Cossacks “has some clear deficiencies,” particularly in terms of the point of view it presents, but differs with Bayley as to the nature and extent of the problem. Argues that Tolstoy needed to establish two points of view, subjective and objective, but did not handle their juxtaposition skillfully.
Wilson, A. N. Tolstoy. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988. A lengthy biography in which Wilson calls The Cossacks Tolstoy’s “first masterpiece” and an example of his ability to make new, fresh use of clichéd material.