On the Golden Porch by Tatyana Tolstaya
"On the Golden Porch" is a poignant short story by Tatyana Tolstaya that explores themes of memory, childhood, and the passage of time through the lens of an unnamed young woman's reflections on her upbringing in a small Russian town. The narrative is set primarily in an enchanting garden, where the innocence of childhood is juxtaposed with early encounters with the complexities of life. Central to the story are two contrasting characters: Veronika, a strong and domineering woman referred to as "Tsaritsa," and her gentle husband, Pasha, affectionately known as "Uncle Pasha." While Veronika's harshness and controlling nature create tension, Pasha's kindness and musical talent, especially his rendition of Beethoven’s "Moonlight Sonata," offer a softer, more enriching perspective of life.
The story delves into the children's fond memories of Pasha and Veronika's younger sister, Margarita, whose lighthearted spirit brings joy amidst the darker themes. As the narrator revisits her childhood home, she confronts the realities of aging and loss, culminating in Pasha's tragic fate, which serves as a metaphor for the inevitability of time’s passage. Ultimately, "On the Golden Porch" captures the bittersweet nature of nostalgia, revealing how cherished memories can coexist with the harsh truths of life and mortality.
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On the Golden Porch by Tatyana Tolstaya
First published: "Na zolotom kryl'tse sideli," 1987 (English translation, 1989)
Type of plot: Magical Realism
Time of work: The late 1940's
Locale: A small town in Russia, near Leningrad
Principal Characters:
A young woman , the narratorVeronika Vikentievna , a strong-willed housewifeUncle Pasha , her henpecked husbandMargarita , her younger sister
The Story
"On the Golden Porch" is told in the first person by an unnamed young woman who is attempting to recall her childhood experiences in a small Russian town near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The story opens with a detailed description of an enchanted garden, in and around which most of the action takes place. In this garden, several girls experience for the first time some of the secrets of life, including accidentally seeing a naked man. The two main characters, Veronika Vikentievna and her husband, Pasha, become the focus of the reminiscences. Veronika, a strong woman who bragged of killing a calf and possesses "a luxurious, golden, applelike" beauty, is a domineering wife and rules over her husband as well as over the stock and barrel of the household. Even when she does something good, such as selling an egg from her prized hen to the narrator's mother, she does it under the condition that it be eaten right away and not be used surreptitiously for breeding a superior chicken. When she discovers that the narrator's mother has given the egg to someone else, Veronika can never forgive her. For all these reasons, the narrator calls her Tsaritsa.
Veronika's husband, Pasha, whom the children call "Uncle Pasha," is exactly the opposite of his wife. Even though he obeys duly and meekly, he leads a rich life of his own, almost slyly. He walks for hours to and from his job without complaint, and he does his work well. Most important, he plays piano skillfully and sensitively; the piece the narrator remembers best is, fittingly, Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. However, Pasha not only provides a badly needed antipode and balance to his tyrannical wife but also convinces the young children who observe him that life is full of rich and mysterious offerings. Needless to say, their sympathies lie with Uncle Pasha.
Veronika is contrasted also by her younger sister, Margarita, who is just as pale, large, and beautiful as her sister but is of a much more pleasant nature. She laughs a lot and is almost silly. She has sometimes "a Mona Lisa smile" on her "golden face" as she holds open "the sacred door to Aladdin's cave," the room in which Pasha plays the piano. Thus, she and Pasha provide the happiest memories of childhood for the narrator, enticing her to come back to reminiscences time and again and to forget the unpleasant, though all too human, character of Veronika.
Not much of the plot is built into the story, just reminiscences, most of which serve to portray the main characters and, more important, to lend the reminiscences the gossamer of a happy childhood despite the unpleasantries. At the end of the story, the young narrator learns the basic secret of life—the autumn arrives, the leaves fall, and the days grow dark. On revisiting the village and "the enchanted house," she realizes that Margarita has grown stooped, Uncle Pasha has gotten much older, Veronika's white chickens have died, and the north wind howls at night. Inexplicably, Pasha freezes to death on the porch, on which they all often sat (hence the meaning of the title in Russian, "they sat on the golden porch"). The new owner, Margarita's elderly daughter, find it too much trouble to bury him: Instead, she pours his ashes into a metal can and sets it on a shelf in the empty chicken house. The narrator realizes that she too is getting older. Her wonderful memories are overshadowed by the inexorable advance of the golden lady of time, who will strike a final midnight for Uncle Pasha and for all of them.
Bibliography
Goscilo, Helena. "Tat'iana Tolstaia's ‘Dome of Many-Colored Glass': The World Refracted Through Multiple Perspectives." Slavic Review 47 (Summer, 1988): 280-290. A useful and insightful introduction to Tolstaya's work, which describes the key elements of her short-story writing and places her in the context of Russian literature. The author cites the stories as published in journals before the book-length collection On the Golden Porch was published.
Goscilo, Helena. "Tolstaian Times: Traversals and Transfers." In New Directions in Soviet Literature:Selected Papers from the Fourth World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies, Harrogate, 1990, edited by Sheelagh Duffin Graham. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Goscilo discusses the way in which Tolstaya handles past and present in her characters' intertwining of their lives with their memories. Touching on such aspects as voice, metaphors, objects, and memory, the author studies the complexities of Tolstaya's use of time in her writing.
Simmons, K. A. "Zhenskaia proza and the New Generation of Women Writers." Slovo: A Journal of Contemporary Soviet and East European Affairs 3 (May, 1990): 66-77. Discussing Tolstaya in terms of other female Soviet writers, Simmons concludes that Tolstaya transcends any constrictions of gender labels: Rather than confining herself solely to feminist concerns, she deals with universal issues that affect all humanity.