a fly on the dead

[Evelina Mendelevich]

I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my question.

The story I had in mind, as Cathy Popkin kindly reminded me, is Turgenev's
"Moi sosed Radilov". I agree with Andrew Durking that "a fly as a
metaphor/metonym of approaching death may have been a nineteenth-century
commonplace." What distinguishes these particular two passages, however, is
that the fly on the (dead) loved one's face makes a more powerful impact on
the characters  than the fact of death itself. It puts an end to denial. The
fly here is not a metaphor, but part of ostraneniya of death, and forces
recognition not only onto characters, but onto readers as well. In the
story, Radilov uses the fly episode as support of the idea that "часто самые
ничтожные вещи производят большее впечатление на людей, чем самые важные,"
and Joyce seems to be doing just that throughout Ulysses as well.  
 

All the best,
Evelina Mendelevich

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Cathy Popkin
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 9:42 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] a fly on the dead

I should have responded to the whole list yesterday instead of just 
emailing Evelina.  The particular description she is thinking of is from 
Turgenev's "Moi sosed Radilov" (Zapiski okhotnika).  (We had talked about 
it at some length in my Turgenev class a few years ago.)
Cathy Popkin

--On Wednesday, June 20, 2007 7:03 AM -0400 "Durkin, Andrew R." 
<durkin at INDIANA.EDU> wrote:

> I think that there is also a fly present at the scene of Andrei
> Bolkonskii's death in War and Peace.  In any case, a fly as a
> metaphor/metonym of approaching death may have been a nineteenth-century
> commonplace.   Cf. Emily Dickinson's "I heard a fly buzz when I died."
> ARDurkin
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on
> behalf of Evelina Mendelevich Sent: Tue 6/19/2007 7:14 PM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: [SEELANGS] a fly on the dead
>
>
>
> Dear Seelangers,
> I had something of a deja vu when I read the following description of
> Dignam's corpse in Joyce's Ulysses:
> "His face got all grey instead of being red like it was and there was a
> fly walking over it up to his eye."
>
> At first I was convinced I have seen a similar description of death in
> Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilyich, but I was wrong. As I am struggling to
> recollect were I have seen this fly-Chekhov? Turgenev?-I seem to remember
> that the episode I have in mind involves a husband dealing with a wife's
> death. of course, I might be wrong again.
>
> Any information (the title of the story/author) will be appreciated.
>
> Thank you in advance,
> Evelina Mendelevich
>
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