More questions on Onegin

[Elena Gapova]

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere wrote:

<Why would homosexuality only be an urban thing? (it exists even in
preindustrial cultures, and has been documented by <anthropologists
worldwide...

The thing which exists in preundustrial sociaties (and even in the animal
world) is a "biological act", which happens  because it is "technically
possible". The biological acts of sex acquire a certain meaning which is
beyond biology (that of "norm",  or "deviation", or "perversion",
"identity", "lifestyle", "human right" etc.) as they are inscribed into
social relations: they are constructed as such toghether with the
construction of relations of power, of which (the institution of) normative
heterosexuality is the most fundamental one. Human history can be thought of
as the attempts to organize in a certain way bodies, pleasures and desires
in their relationship to the public and private life (according to Foucault,
human history has been the process of formation of sexual regimes).

Sexual beings are at the same time social beings, having certain ideas (or
knowledge) about what is "sexy", what sexual behaviour is acceptible and
what is beyond the limit, what is pleasant and what must not be; there are
certain forms of sexuality (sexual behaviour)that "cannot be imagined"
before they have been "invented" (described, put into words, theorized,
medicalized, declared immoral, forbidden etc.). Tatyana lives in the (rural
and historical) world where gay identity and way of life have not been
invented yet: she cannot guess about them, because they "do not exist".
Alexander Etkind writes in one of his papers that when Medieval Russian
priests asked their prikhozhanki (at confession)if they had sinned by doing
this or that, they were, actually, "informing" these women of smth. which
they did not know existed.

e.g.



-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Daniel
Rancour-Laferriere
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 2:51 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] More questions on Onegin


3 April 2006

Dear Svetlana,

Why would homosexuality be something a country maiden NOT be aware of?
Why assume the woman is not bright enough to know or imagine certain
things (a sexist assumption)?  Why would homosexuality only be an urban
thing? (it exists even in preindustrial cultures, and has been
documented by anthropologists worldwide: see the chapter titled "The
Homosexual Hominid," in my _Signs of the Flesh_ (Mouton de Gruyter,
1985; reprinted by Indiana University Press, 1992).

But of course, we are dealing with a literary work, and you are asking a
question about authorial intention (sometimes denigrated as "the
intentional fallacy").  As I say in the essay, we cannot know for sure
what Pushkin intended (consciously or unconsciously) by the violent
finale of that dream - except for the obvious prophecy of a conflict
with Lensky, noted by many critics.  But, assuming that _Tat'iana_
cannot see into the future her author creates for her, and viewing the
upshot of the dream from _her_ current viewpoint (which would be the way
a feminist ought to proceed), and, finally, interpreting the dream in
the customary psychoanalytic fashion as a "wish-fulfillment," then the
SUDDEN CHANGE from the imagery of violent heterosexual defloration
earlier in the dream (the standard folkloric imagery of the dangerous
bear-groom, the tearing off of Tat'iana's ear-rings, the khoboty krivye,
khvosty khokhlatye, klyki, usy, krovavy iazyki....etc.) to a NEW
male-on-male violence instead - is motivated.  Alas, the beloved Onegin
suddenly stabs Lensky instead of "stabbing" Tat'iana.

By the way, I would be pleased to hear alternative interpretations of
the climax of Tat'iana's dream; and also why they would necessarily
exclude the above interpretation.

On the other hand, perhaps we are all very sick of Eugene Onegin.

Cheers,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere

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