Fear in Russian Literature
John Langran
john at RUSLAN.CO.UK
Mon Jun 9 08:51:20 UTC 2008
You mention fear of the absurd. Try Bulgakov "Master and Margarita". It
frightened me!
John Langran
www.ruslan.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Katsell" <jerry3 at ROADRUNNER.COM>
To: <SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 2:32 PM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Fear in Russian Literature
> Hi Sandra,
>
> You might consider including in your course Chekhov's "Fear: The Story
> of My Friend," ("Strakh, Rasskaz moego priiatelia"), from 1892. It's
> about fear of the ordinary: life, love, mistakes, injustice, loss,
> waste, leading to betrayal of others, but most especially the self. It's
> a subtle, psychologically nuanced story, un-sensational but highly
> sensitive in the Chekhov manner.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jerry Katsell
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
> [mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of White, Frederick
> Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 2:50 AM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Fear in Russian Literature
>
> Hello,
>
> I might recommend Leonid Andreev's "The Thief" (Vor) from 1905 about
> Feodor Iurasov - a thief, three times convicted - and his trip by train
> to see his former mistress who lives just outside Moscow. As the story
> begins he picks the pocket of a man out of habit, although he does not
> need the money. At a scheduled stop Iurasov overhears two conductors
> joking that the gendarme is looking for someone on the train. It is
> unclear about whom they are speaking, but Iurasov is obsessed with the
> idea that the gendarme is after him. He begins to panic and although
> there is no evidence that he is being sought, he rushes through the
> compartments in an attempt to get to the front of the train. Everyone
> and everything represents for him danger and he is gripped by an "animal
> fear." This terror overcomes him and he leaps from the train into the
> path of an on-coming postal train, still convinced that he was being
> pursued by the gendarme.
> Dr. M.O. Shaikevich, a professor of psychiatry at Moscow
> University and a contemporary of Andreev's, suggests in 1909 that
> Iurasov is forced to confront his loneliness at the scheduled stop when
> he is not allowed into a private dance which triggers his psychosis,
> rather than some ambiguous comment about the gendarme. He argues that a
> criminal thrice sentenced should not panic at the possibility of being
> caught for a petty crime and that the real reason for his sickly terror
> is psychological. Significantly, it is the threat of solitude and a life
> lacking in meaning which seems to trigger Iurasov's panic attack. The
> fear that he experiences is irrational as there is no evidence that the
> gendarme are even interested in or searching for a pickpocket. The
> anxiety is self-generated and results in a rather grotesque and possibly
> performative act of suicide.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on
> behalf of Robert Chandler
> Sent: Sun 6/8/2008 3:14 AM
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Fear in Russian Literature
>
> Dear Sandra,
>
> There is a lot about fear in Grossman's VSE TECHET.
>
> Chapter 3, for example contains this gem:
>
> ??, ??, ? ???????????, ? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ??? ?????, ?
> ??????
> ????? ???????, ??????, ????????? ????????. ?? ??? ? ???????? ??????
> ?????
> - ?????? ????????? ???? ???????? ???????. ? ????? ????????, ???????
> ??????
> ??????? ????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????????, - ???? ??
> ??
> ???????????, ???? ?? ??? ??????? ??????????, ???????????. ??, ??,
> ????? ??
> ???? ?????, ??? ?? ?? ??????? ? ?????? ??, ? ????? ???????? ?????????
> ??????
> ????? ??? ??????? ????.
>
> Yes, his whole life had passed by in obeisance, in a great act of
> submission, in fear of hunger, torture and forced labour in Siberia.
> But
> there had also been a particularly vile fear - the fear of receiving not
> black caviar but red caviar, mere salmon caviar, in his weekly parcel of
> food from the institute. And this vile, 'caviar' fear had co-opted his
> adolescent dreams from the years of War Communism to its own shameful
> ends.
> What mattered was not to doubt or hesitate; what mattered was to give
> his
> vote, to put his name to official letters, without a second thought.
> Yes,
> yes, what had nourished his unshakeable ideals was two very different
> fears:
> fear for his own skin - of being skinned alive - and fear of losing his
> entitlement to black caviar.
> ********
>
> And much of chapter 8, a mock trial of a number of different informers,
> is
> about fear.
>
> Vsego dobrogo,
>
> R.
>
>
>> Dear SEELANGerS,
>>
>> I am preparing a course on "fear in literature" and would greatly
>> appreciate your ideas and recommendations regarding Russian literary
>> texts in English or German translation (I would like to make this
>> course available to non-Russian speakers) dealing with different types
>> of fear ranging from angst to the absurd and terror to horror.
>> Suggestions for intersting films in this regard would also be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Thank you kindly in advance and I look forward to hearing from you!
>>
>> Sandra Evans
>> Slavic Studies
>> University of Tübingen
>>
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your
> subscription
>> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface
> at:
>> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the SEELANG
mailing list