Russian Short Fiction

Introduction

Russian short fiction began to be recognized as its own genre in the early nineteenth century. Although short stories were written before that time, critics did not consider these works worthy of attention. Poetry was deemed the highest literary art form, and most successful writers wrote in verse rather than prose.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the short story had no name. This led to a difficulty in distinction because so many terms were used interchangeably. Short fiction was often referred to as roman, which was also the term for a novel, or provest, which simply meant “tale.” Skazka, which meant “folktale,” was used occasionally but more frequently for verse-form writings than prose. By 1818, the term rasskaz, originally referring to a narration style, was consistently used to mean a short story. Eventually, the roman became the term for novel and the provest’ for a long tale, like a novella.

The Rise of Short Fiction

Russian literary critics did not hold short stories in high regard in the eighteenth century. At that time, poetry was considered a high art form, and short tales were often told in verse form. Although short prose was seen around 1770, it did not begin to develop into a recognized writing style until 1792, when Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin helped usher in this genre with his sentimentalist work, “Bednaia Liza” (“Poor Liza”). Early sentimentalist work consisted of traditional themes of love, betrayal, and tragedy rather than accurately portraying real life.

Short fiction became popular in the 1830s. In this decade, the Russian populace became interested in European authors, and Russian critics began to take note of short fiction written by Russian authors. George Sand, Thomas Moore, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are just a few of the popular European authors who influenced Russian literature. Most early Russian short stories were published in literary magazines during this time, though some were published as collections. Literary magazines sprang up frequently in this era, some falling out of existence as quickly as they were created, and all offered a publication medium for short fiction.

Alexander Pushkin

Another factor in the rise in popularity of short fiction was the writer Alexander Pushkin, who published Povesti Belkina (Russian Romance, 1875; better known as The Tales of Belkin, 1947) in 1831. Although he is also considered a skilled poet, many critics argue that Pushkin was also the source that truly shaped Russian short fiction, and he is often referred to as the founder of Russian literature.

Initially, The Tales of Belkin did not garner much respect from literary critics. However, this and other works by Pushkin laid the groundwork for future short-fiction writers. Pushkin’s brief storytelling, surprising and often abrupt endings, and ability to morph familiar and traditional plots into something new became staples for future writers attempting prose fiction. For example, the old tale of the prodigal son in Pushkin’s hands became a story of a prodigal daughter, whose father had visited upon him the evils of which he had warned his child. Additionally, in The Tales of Belkin, Pushkin developed the technique of multiple narration, taking several short stories that were only loosely related and linking them with a common thread, creating a cycle. This technique was something future writers would do frequently when the sketch came into dominance years later.

Romanticism and the Society Tale

The predominant literary style of the 1830s was initially Romanticism, which railed against the rationalization of the scientific and the norms of the aristocratic. Frequently told in a gothic style, Romantic literature focused on the aesthetic, on feeling and intuition, and on wild nature and old traditions as the only true type of nobility. This style served as a jumping-off point for both historical tales and the society tale.

The society tale dealt with issues of the Russian citizenry and societal norms. Though these stories often focused on topics like love and intrigue, society tales were more realistic than those written in the Romantic style and addressed spiritual, as well as societal, prejudices. Starting with Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev, who also wrote under the pseudonym Marlinsky, authors of society tales shifted the focus of stories from Romanticism’s emphasis on characters’ lives in the country to characters in more urban settings. Frequently satirical, these stories originally concentrated on external conflicts between citizens and society, but as they developed, they began to focus on internal conflicts in the characters’ minds.

The Natural School and the Sketch

Though the society tale had started to move away from the supernatural elements of the Romantic style, in the 1840s, the natural school completely removed those elements. Writers of this school chose to depict their characters with a gritty realism that bordered on biography. Many stories in this style contain elements of autobiography, and authors focus on the lower class and portray many mundane or minor details of everyday life. Characters are often sympathetic and are portrayed in extremely poor living and social conditions.

One of the most prominent genres in the natural school was called the sketch. This genre, like the school itself, was influenced by French frenetic schools. Sketches usually lacked a plot or had very little plot. Instead, they focused on specific Russian scenes and the psychological aspects of the characters they described. Sketches were frequently used to portray political injustice or the emptiness of the landed gentry’s lives and characters. With the sketch, the natural school blurred the line between narrator and character, separating them only by a tension seen by the reader, which both narrator and character were seemingly unaware of.

The 1850s

The 1850s were a transitional period between the natural school of realism, which took hold in the 1840s, and the realism school, which blossomed in the 1860s. The predominant writing of the 1850s dealt with human nature against the accepted societal norms of the time. Characters could no longer be accepted as villains or heroes simply because the writer labeled them as such. Instead, writers need to give psychological reasons for the characters’ behavior, which stems from some external influence. These stories were usually far more psychological and sociological than their predecessors.

During the nineteenth century, the Russian populace searched for self-definition, both personal and national, which led the nation’s writers to examine many heroes. Although Romantic writers were thought of as higher beings, by the 1850s, Russian writers were considered much more earthly and were deemed supporters of the common man. The difference between narrators and characters also widened. While the 1830s were a time for works about artists, and the 1840s found government clerks and officials fascinating, the 1850s featured stories centered on teachers as favorite characters, and peasants were also very fashionable. Like other tales, stories of peasants focused on the psychology of the character’s actions as opposed to the actions themselves, as was the case in previous peasant-centered stories. Peasant life was generally depicted in an ideal light, romanticizing the peasants’ traditional, often superstitious, ways.

Realism of the 1860s

Serfdom was eliminated in 1861 under the orders of Czar Alexander II. However, this action increased class conflicts. Most peasants had contempt for the upper class that had previously enslaved them, and all of Russia was still searching for a national and individual identity.

In response, new writers returned to the ideas of the 1840s but turned them toward darker avenues. While these writers were still considered realist writers by critical standards, the idea of the world being a place of brotherhood and common goals had been replaced by a survivalist, self-centered attitude. Realist writers considered the quest for enlightenment a battle and themselves the combatants. They wished to convey their stories with such realism and accuracy that their works were frequently more journalistic than fictional. Sketches again gained prominence, and sketch cycles, or collections of several short stories, were common. The stories in these cycles could be tightly or loosely related, but they showed different aspects of Russian society.

Women were portrayed during this decade as glib if they were George Sand followers, or feminine if they were not. Sensitive and strong but self-sacrificing and family-oriented, the ideal female character calmly sacrifices her happiness for the happiness of those around her. Fictional scenes often depicted husband-and-wife relationships and focused on women's societal roles. This was a change from the previous meekness seen in earlier stories of women, and many of these stories were often written by women under a male pseudonym.

Radical Writers and the Populists

Some writers in the 1860s also spoke out against the idealization of peasant life that was predominant in the 1850s. Writers like Nikolay Uspensky sharply described the miserable lives of the peasants. Exploitation was rampant, and the peasants’ superstitions and traditions that the writers of the 1850s found so charming were now seen as holding the peasantry back, surrounding them in an ignorance that kept them in appalling conditions. Outrage against violations of dignity and rights and the need for education were common themes among these writers. The sketches themselves were frequently told with a seemingly objective, even cold, voice.

In the 1870s, populist writers emerged following the radical political populist movement. The populist movement, as an ideology, began shortly after the Crimean War (1853-1856) and again idealized the Russian peasantry. The populists believed in socialist reform and viewed communal farming and traditional peasant life as near utopian. According to the populists, it was not the peasants who were to blame for their suffering but those who ruled the peasants. Writers called for a change, wishing to democratize Russia and end the totalitarian rule of the czars. However, the movement did not last much longer than a decade because the populists were persecuted and jailed. In contrast, the movement was further harmed by radicals inciting terror to be heard.

The 1880s

Around 1880, many realist literary giants died or went into seclusion. Since the 1860s, critics had considered work that had a social message as the only respectable form of literature, so often new authors of the 1880s felt confined to writing forms of social commentary. As a result, much of the new material seemed forced and dry. However, short fiction did not suffer from this problem as greatly as longer fiction, so shorter tales became even more popular.

In 1881, Czar Alexander II was assassinated. His murder set off almost three decades of extreme political oppression and control in a newly unstable government. Czar Alexander II had been a generally liberal leader. However, his son, Alexander III, who took power after his death, was not. Many civil liberties were suppressed, and anti-Jewish legislation was passed. The Russian populace was dissatisfied and lacked purpose, which also hurt the quality of much of the writing of this time. Despite the lackluster attitude of much of the Russian people, some of the best short fiction from Russia was written during the 1880s.

Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov

Though he was primarily known as a novelist, Leo Tolstoy also significantly contributed to short fiction. In the 1880s, Tolstoy wrote instructional tales based on legends and Christian teachings. These stories were told simply and had fablelike qualities, often ending in a moral-like quotation frequently taken from scripture. In addition to his simpler tales, Tolstoy wrote more complex short stories examining human nature. In these tales, he often devoted much time to studying the psychological aspects of dealing with the inevitability of death.

In the early 1880s, Anton Chekhov began writing short fiction. Arguably the greatest Russian writer of all time, some critics believe he was the greatest in the world. Chekhov was trained and practiced as a doctor. He considered medicine his career and writing a hobby, calling it his “mistress.” Originally, Chekhov began writing satirical sketches for a daily journal to help support his family while in medical school. However, on advice from fellow writer Dmitrii Vasil’evich Grigorovich, he turned his attention to more serious writing, publishing a short-story collection, V sumerkakh (1887; at dusk), which won him the Pushkin Prize, a distinguished award.

Though Chekhov wrote several plays, his true talent lay in his short stories. Always objective, Chekhov ignored the convention of writing exposition and giving background or explaining his characters’ behaviors to his readers. Chekhov’s medical training contributed to his belief in writing objectively. Using understatement and eliminating any subjective commentary, Chekhov relied on the reader to give his stories meaning. His sketches focus on the psychological aspects of the human condition, stressing ordinary, simple virtues as necessity.

Symbolists

The 1890s saw the rise of the symbolists, who reached their height about 1908. Also called neo-romantic, these writers moved away from an objective, realistic accounting of events and began to examine the world and people from an emotional and intuitive standpoint. These writers expressed their ideas through allusion and often left it up to the readers to decide the tale's significance rather than informing them directly, as many realist writers had done.

There were two stages in the symbolism movement. The first stage, decadence, viewed symbolism as a form of artistic expression; much like painting, the symbolist style was a writer’s canvas on which to paint. The second stage, however, developed symbolism into a philosophical idea, even giving it pseudoreligious connotations. Symbolists viewed the world as a covering for the actual reality, though they sometimes blended the symbolist style with the realist style.

Soviet Russia

In 1917, the October Revolution saw the removal of the royal family from power and the Communist Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilich Lenin, installed. Serious political upheaval followed until about 1921, when Lenin became firmly seated as the leader of the new Soviet Union. Under Lenin, writers still had relative freedom despite some restrictions. A new style emerged under Lenin: conformism. Conformists were often former populists and adapted their writing to Soviet needs and ideology.

Starting about 1929, when Joseph Stalin came to power, the government began to exercise more control over the subject matter and style of literature. Stalin believed that literature and art belonged to the people and should portray the people’s struggles and achievements. As a result, writing began to become more ideological, conforming to Communist ideals.

In 1934, the Union of Soviet Writers was formed, replacing all other writers’ organizations. For writers, membership in the union was obligatory. Literature could only be written on approved topics, and no experimentation with forms or themes was permitted. Writers who defied these policies were ejected from the union and could no longer publish their works. These authors were also publicly criticized and often fled the country, committed suicide, or were imprisoned or executed.

Officially sanctioned writing after 1934 was little more than propaganda. The Union of Soviet Writers had made Socialist Realism the required style for authors. Socialist Realism portrayed the working class's struggles in a heroic light. During this time, writers were required to write fiction that praised Communist ideals and condemned capitalist ideology. To help encourage writers to follow these guidelines, those who obliged were some of the highest-paid workers in Russia.

These stringent regulations were lightened somewhat when Germany attacked in 1941, bringing the Soviet Union into World War II. Patriotic themes reigned in literature, along with stories of Nazi villainy. Stories were often based in fact, either heard firsthand or autobiographical. Though the government still prescribed the themes of literary works, writers were allowed more freedom with style. After the German threat was gone, however, the reins were again tightened around writers and did not loosen until after Stalin’s death in 1953.

Unofficial Literature

Thousands of citizens went abroad during the Bolshevik Revolution and the years following. Many people, including writers, fled to France, Finland, and other European countries. These émigré writers continued to write and publish abroad. In addition, underground literature was created in the Soviet Union itself. Typewritten pages, called samizdat, were circulated among those who still hungered for nonrestricted literature. Some works, called tamizdat, were smuggled out of the country to be published abroad. Other works were held for future publication at a time when authors again had the freedom to write and publish what they wished. Called “delayed literature,” many of these works were published after Stalin’s death.

The Thaw

The period after Stalin’s death was called The Thaw. During this time, literature began to be free of restrictions, and writers gravitated to either a liberal or a conservative, Stalinist, ideology. The Thaw, however, only lasted until 1964, when Leonid Brezhnev came into power and arrested Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel for writing what he called anti-Soviet works. Periodic arrests continued for the eighteen years Brezhnev was in power. Despite the arrests, new writers continued to emerge and experiment with prose through the 1970s.

Urban and Village Prose

In the 1950s, a new style called young prose was introduced. This style featured teenage heroes modeled after those of Western authors like Jack Kerouac and J.D. Salinger. From young prose stemmed urban prose, which was prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. Urban prose dealt with ordinary people involved in everyday events and contained themes similar to those of the Romantics: love, conflict, and death. This style seemed to pick up in Russian literary evolution, where the styles of the 1920s left off. Urban-prose stories were frequently woman-centered or dealt with individuals in science or educational institutes. Science prose dominated, focusing on the intellectual and emotional issues of academics.

The 1950s also saw the introduction of village prose, which originally highlighted the administrative aspects of village life but later evolved to focus more on the personal daily routines of rural citizens. Russians considered villages to be spiritual representations of Russia itself, and frequently, in early village prose stories, a woman character would symbolize Mother Russia.

There were three trends to village prose: one examining the present, one looking toward the future, and one sentimentally remembering the past. The future trend often dealt with ecological concerns, while the past trend had a romanticized appeal for the old ways of life. The present trend examined concerns about the urbanization of villages and the psychological aspects of urban versus village mentality.

Post-Soviet Fiction

Though restrictions for writers were eased under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, they were not truly abolished until the Soviet Union was disbanded. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, writers enjoyed a new freedom. The need for official literature versus unofficial literature (or nonapproved topics) was eliminated. Some writers who had fled the country and subsequently had their citizenship revoked returned to Russia, and their citizenship was restored. Female writers, such as Ludmila Petrushevskaya, gained dominance in the short-fiction field. Contemporary Russian writers are generally split between pro-Soviet and pro-Western ideologies, and some, such as Valentin Rasputin, openly assert their political ideals. While authors continued publishing original works, many contemporary writers prioritized translating and republishing classical works that were long limited to Russian speakers. British-born Rosamund Bartlett specializes in Russian literature and has contributed important original works and translations of several short stories by Chekhov, such as About Love and Other Stories (2004). Another important fiction writer, Nina Kossman, creates short fiction that spans many topics, including Queen Elizabeth II, a personal account of a trip to Ukraine, and the impact of governmental decisions on individuals and refugees. In the early 2020s, she became the editor of an English-Russian literary magazine, EastWest. Other important contributions to twenty-first-century Russian short fiction include Anna Starobinets’s An Awkward Age (2010) and Lyudmila Ulitskaya’s "The Fugitive" (2014) and "The Autopsy" (2023), published in The New Yorker.

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