Upload
peimacba
View
227
Download
1
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
1/16
American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, YouthAuthor(s): Anne HruskaSource: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), pp. 64-78Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/309628.
Accessed: 10/11/2013 09:14
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languagesis collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavic and East European Journal.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aatseelhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/309628?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/309628?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aatseel8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
2/16
LONELINESS
AND
SOCIAL
CLASS
IN
TOLSTOY'S
TRILOGY
CHILDHOOD,
BOYHOOD,
YOUTH
Anne
Hruska,
University
fCaliforniat
Berkeley
Manyyears
fter he
publication
f
Childhood,
oyhood,
Youth,
olstoy
reread he rilogyeforewritingis Reminiscences"n1903.Not urpris-
ingly,
he
ging olstoy
oundittle o admire
nhis
first
ublished
ork.He
was
particularlyispleased
with
he
atter wo
parts,
oyhood
nd
Youth,
faulting
hemwith
insincerity:
he
desire
o
present
s
good
nd
mportant
something
hat didn't t
that ime
really
elievewas
good
and
impor-
tant-that
s,
thedemocratic
endency"PSS
34:
348).
Although
heolder
Tolstoy
was
certainly
prejudiced
eader f
his own
works,
is
negative
review f
the
trilogy
its
on
a
very mportant
heme.
Tolstoy's
ero,
Nikolenka,
as
highly
mbivalent emocratic
ympathies,
nd simulta-
neouslydentifiesith nd srepulsed ymembersfthe ower lasses a
tendency
hared
y
Tolstoy
imself.
Despite
he
young olstoy's
ccasionalnfatuationsith he
democratic
tendency,"
is nstincts ere
decidedly
on-democratic,
nd he
generally
disliked is ow-born ellowwriters.n
particular,
olstoy's
ntense
nti-
pathy
o his
radical
ontemporary
ikolai
hernyshevsky
s
wellknown.n
his
unpublished
lay
"The Infected
amily"
Zarazhennoe
emeistvo,
1863-4),
henihilist
enerovsky
s
obviously
ntendeds a
vicious arica-
ture f
Chernyshevsky.
nd n
an 1856 etter o
Nekrasov,
olstoy
alled
Chernyshevsky"gentlemantinkingf bedbugs" klopovoniaiushchii
gospodin]
nd
complained,
I
can
ust
hear
himnow:
hat
hin,
npleasant
little
oice,
aying npleasanthings
nd
flaringp
even
more
becausehe
doesn't
now
ow
o
talk,
nd hisvoice
s
nasty"
PSS
60:
74).2
George
Orwell,
n his
rticle
Tolstoy,
ear,
and The
Fool,"
argues
hat
the
ging olstoy's
hoice f
King
Lear as the
play
on which
o found is
denunciationf
Shakespeare
n
a 1903 rticle
was occasioned
y
Tolstoy's
secret
ecognition
fhimselfn
the itle haracter. nable
o
accept
hake-
speare's
mage
f he
haughty,
elfishld
man,
rought
ow
by
his
ttempt
o
gain venmore ower hrougheemingorenounceower, olstoyttacked
SEEJ,
Vol.
4,
No. 1
2000):
. 64-p.
8
64
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
3/16
Loneliness
nd
Social
Class
n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh
65
the
play
with
ll of his considerable
nalytical
orce. t
is
possible
hat
similar
rinciple
as at work
n
Tolstoy'sntipathy
o
Chernyshevsky.
Thesocial neptness olstoyriticizednChernyshevskyas a trait ol-
stoy
etested
n
himself. adicals
f
plebeian
rigin,
ike
Dobroliubov nd
Chernyshevsky,
erefamous or
eing
wkward
n
society,
nd
estranged
fromwomen nd from
amily
ife.The
young
olstoy
lso,
as his diaries
poignantly
how,
eared hat
he
was unlovable
nd unfit or
ristocratic
society.3erhaps
he
recognition
fhisown
vulnerability,agnified
n
the
person
f
Chernyshevsky,
an account
n
part
or
he
trength
f
Tolstoy's
aversion
o him.4
Chernyshevsky
as
a
prominentepresentative
f a class
of men
who
weregainingncreasingultural ower n the 1850s. n Russia,formal
secular
iterature,
rom he ime f ts
nception,
asalmost
xclusively
he
business fthe
nobility;xceptions
ere
uite
rare.5 he
1850s,however,
saw an
increasing
umber f menof ess than ristocratic
rigin
n
promi-
nent
positions
s writers
nd critics. hese
plebeians
who
attempted
o
make career or
hemselves
n
whatwas
perceived
s an
essentially
risto-
cratic
phere
were ometimeseferred
o
disparagingly
s
"raznochintsy"
word
ranslatables
"people
ofvarious anks."
he
termwas first
sed
by
census akers n the
early ighteenthentury
s
a
catch-all erm or
hose
whodid not asily it ntomajor ocial ategoriesuch s nobleman,mer-
chant,
r serf.
At itsmost
ague,
he
erm
imply
meant
non-noble."
y
the 1850s nd
60s,
whenmen of
middle-class
rigin
ecame
ncreasingly
powerful
n
iterary
nd
cultural
ircles,
he
word
raznochinets"
egan
o
take on
a more
specific
meaning.
n
general
sage,
a
raznochinets
as
anyone
f ess han
ristocratic
rigins,
n
particular
he onof
priest,
ho
attempted
o
make
his
career
n
aristocraticircles.6
The
majority
f
these
figures,
aised
n
non-aristocratic
ettings,
ere
lacking
n
ome f he
major
kills onsidered
roper
or
gentleman.
rina
Paperno,in Chernyshevskynd theAge ofRealism,describes feeling f
social
solation ommon o
many
aznochintsy
fthe1850s
nd
1860s.
The
educated
lebeians
elt
lienated rom he
petit ourgeois
ircles f their
origins,
s
well
s
from he
upper-classociety
n which
hey
spired
o a
place.
"Separation
rom
heir
oots nd
hostility
oward
ociety
ontributed
to
a
spirit
f
loneliness nd
reticence
n
approaching
thers,
nd
to an
overwhelming
eeling
f
social
nferiority
nd
embarrassed
imidity"
Pa-
perno 75-6).
The
idea of the
raznochinets
s
isolatedboth from
ociety
nd from
love,
due to his
ack of
ease
in
social
settings,
as
very
ommon n
the
literaturef the1850s. nNekrasov's852
poem "Shyness,"
"Zastenchi-
vost"')
he
describes he
tormentsf a
raznochinets
n
love with
society
beauty.
e
feels
woefullynadequate
n
the
company
f
the
elegant
men
who
urround er:
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
4/16
66 Slavic and
East
European
Journal
Everythinghey
ay
s clever
Butwhen come
n,
'm all
befuddled,
And
my
eart
inks o
my
eels
It's as if have ron
weights
n
my
eet,
And s
if
my
headweremade
f
ead.
My
hands
ang
trangely
nd
uselessly,
Words ie on
my
ips.
1: 113)
B.
O.
Korman takes
this
poem
as
an
expression
f an
emotionaldilemma
familiar o all
raznochintsy
f the 1840s and
50s
(68-81);
Chernyshevsky
names
"Shyness"
as
one
of
several
poems
that
brought
im to the
point
of
tears.7
In Herzen's 1847 novel Who
Is To
Blame?,
the doctor's son
Krutsiferskys awkward o thepointof theabsurd;whenfirstntroduced o
his
employer's
wife,
he is "close to
fainting,"
nd
unable to look around
himfor
fear hat
here
might
e a
young
woman n the room
4:
13).
Later,
Krutsifersky's
eak
character
will make him unable to
prevent
his
wife,
Liubochka,
from
falling
n
love
with the aristocrat
Bel'tov.
Turgenev's
Bazarov,
though
more
at
ease
in
society,
s
still
essentially stranged
both
from
his
family
nd from he
object
of his
romantic
assion.
Nineteenth-
century
readers were familiar
with the
literary tereotype
of the
raz-
nochinets.
As soon as a doctor's
son or
a
tutorwas introduced
n
a
novel,
readersknew more
or
less what toexpect
fromhim.8
Tolstoy,
ike
Chernyshevsky,ontinually eproached
himself or
his so-
cial
awkwardness,
oting
nd
bemoaning
ach social
faux
pas
in
his
diary.
At one
point,
he writes
despairingly,
I
am
ugly,
wkward,
lovenly,
nd
uneducated
n
the
ways
of
society.
am
petulant,
oring
o
others,
mmod-
est,
ntolerant,
nd
bashful ike a child"
PSS
47:
8).
Tolstoy's
ack of social
skills n his
youth
was also noted
by
his
contempo-
raries.
One observer
emembers
im
dancing
t
balls,
apparently
part
of
the
upper
echelons
of
society,
but
far
from
he
sophisticated
adies' men
that thers fhis
age
were the
tudent-aristocrats.
n him ne
could
alwayssee somekind f
trange
wkwardness,
hyness."9
. D.
Zagoskina,
a Kazan
hostess
f
whom
Tolstoy
wrote hat he
"always
ttracted hemost omme l
faut
people
to her salon"
(PSS
34:
399),
told
Tolstoy,
n
irritation t his
clumsy ancing,
Mon cher
Leon,
vous
n'etes
qu'un
sac de
farine"
words
hardly
alculated to
put
him
more at his
ease
(Khodnev 227).
AnotherSt.
Petersburg
ostess,
rked
by
her
nability
o
charm
him,
told
Turgenev
hat
the
young
ountwas "some sortof wolf ub"
(Shelgunova
56).
Tolstoy's
amily
was
of
established
nobility
n
both
ides,
and
yet,despite
his
rankof
Count,
he
sometimes
xpresseduncertainty
bout the
degree
to
whichhe belongedto the aristocracy.n hisdiary n 1854,he complains,
"The so-called
aristocratsmake me
envious"
(PSS
47:
16).
A
year
later,
Tolstoy
writes
new
rule in his
diary:
"Be what
you
are:
a)
by ability,
literary
man;
b) by
birth,
n
aristocrat"
PSS
47:
53).
This
pronouncement
s
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
5/16
LonelinessndSocialClass
n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh 67
not as secure as
it
may
sound;
despite
the success of Childhood
n
1854,
Tolstoy's
iterary eputation
was,
at this
ime,
arfrom stablished.
urther-
more, hevery act hatCountTolstoywouldhave to remind imselfo be an
aristocrat
mplies
hat
he
felt
hat
ristocratictatus
was
something
e had
to
achieve,
rather
han
condition
ntowhichhe was born.
This
nsecurity
as
further
omplicatedby
the fact
that
Tolstoy,
n his
twenties,
eems not
to
have been
entirely
ure what
t
meant
o be
a Russian
aristocrat. s
long
as
his
conception
f
"aristocracy"
emained
loudy,
is
conception
f
himself s
aristocratwould of
necessity
e somewhat
haky.
Tolstoy,
hen,
hared with he
raznochintsy
f
the
1850s
a commonfeel-
ing
of
being
out of
place
in
aristocratic
ociety.
He
also sharedwith hem
feeling fgeneralunlovablenesswhich sextremely ell documented.10or
example,
n
1852,
he
writes,
Iapishka
put
t
excellently
when
he said
that
I'm
somehow unloved.
That's
ust
how I
feel,
that can't
please
anybody,
and
everybody's
ifficultor
me
[vse
dlia menia
tiazhely]"
PSS
46:
149).
It
seems
to me
that
he
young
Tolstoy's
eeling
f
being
cut off
rom
umanity
in
general
was
closely
connectedwithhis
feeling
f
being
cut
off
from he
aristocracy
n
particular.
or
Tolstoy
during
his
period,
the
word
"every-
body"
meant,
more often han
not,
"everybody pper-class."
His
awkward-
ness, then,
had vast
social
repercussions;
f
Tolstoy
was
estranged
rom he
aristocratic ocialmilieu,thenhe was estranged romwhathe saw as the
whole
world.
In
Tolstoy
scholarship,
here
has
long
been
a
controversy
ver
what
Tolstoy's
lass
sympathies
were,
and how
they
re reflected n his
works.
As
a
rule,
Soviet scholars
tend to
see
Tolstoy
as the
champion
of the
peasantry,
ho
rejects
the
corrupt
nd
oppressive
ristocracy,
nd
satirizes
its members n
his
novels."
However,
Boris
Eikhenbaum and
Viktor
Shklovsky, long
with
most Western riticswho
have discussed
Tolstoy's
viewsof
the
nobility, eject
this
nterpretation
f
Tolstoy,
nd
emphasize
his
status as a
self-proclaimedpholder
of the
standardof the
aristocracy.12
Andrew
Wachtel,
ndeed,
suggests
hat
Tolstoy's
ulogy
of
aristocratic am-
ily
happiness
n
Childhoodwas
part
of
a
tradition f
establishing
he
superi-
ority
f
the
gentry
ver
the
raznochintsy.
e
writes:
If the
gentry
were to
defend heir
osition
n
Russian
society,
t
became
extremely
mportant
for them
to
discover
virtues hat non-noblesdid
not
possess.
A
gentry
hildhood,
which,
according
to
the
myths
f
Tolstoy
and
Aksakov,
endowed a
person
with
certain
positive
principles
hat were
retained
for a
lifetime,
ecame
just
such
a
possession. Although
mbi-
tious
"upstarts"
rom
mong
the
raznochintsy
ould,
and
did,
make
up
for he
deficienciesn
their
arly
ducation,
they
ould
neverclose the
childhood
gap. (85)
Tales of unhappychildhoodstended,fordecades, to be written
nly
by
raznochintsy
nd their
ympathizers.
ccording
to
Wachtel,
the
nobility
saw
themselves
s
part
of a
tradition f
childhood
bliss,
which
Tolstoy's
trilogy
layed
a
major
role
in
establishing.
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
6/16
8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
7/16
Lonelinessnd
SocialClass n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh 69
brought
ver
to visit he
rtenev hildren
n
Moscow.
Meek,
badly
dressed,
and
stinking
f
pomade,
Ilinka
s,
at
best,
gnored
y
the other hildren.
At
one point,while theboys are showingoff t gymnastics, hey ry o per-
suade Ilinka
to
stand
on
his
head.
Gymnastics
was
one of the skills
aught
to aristocratic
hildren;
he fact
hat
linka confesses o
ignorance
f
gym-
nastics
urther
arks
him
s the
outsider
mong
the
gentry
hildren.14 s a
joke,
the
boys grab
Ilinka,
and
forcibly
tand him on his
head,
laughing
gleefully
while Ilinka
worriesabout
tearing
his
already shabby
clothing.
When
Ilinka
struggles
nd hits
eriozha
n the
eye,
Seriozha
pushes
him
to
the
ground,
and Ilinka bursts nto
tears.
Though
Nikolenka
feels
some
stirrings
f
pity
or
linka,
he
comes to
agree
with
eriozha that linka
s
to
be despised forcrying ver physicalpain. "I didn't understand hat the
poor boy
was
probably rying
ot
as
much from
hysical ain
as from
he
thought
hat
five
boys,
whom
perhaps
he
liked,
all
agreed
to
hate
and
persecute
him
without
ny
reason"
(Chapter
19).
Ilinka's social
isolation,
his
poverty,
is
cheap,
dirty
lothes,
his
gnorance
f
mportant
ristocratic
skills
ike
gymnastics,
nd his
feeling
of
being
unloved
by everyone,
all
place
him
firmly
ithin
he
iterary tereotype
f
the
raznochinets.
After
the torture f Ilinka
Grap,
the narrator erates himself or
his
childish
ruelty
o
Ilinka,
and
seems unable
to
understandhow
he
could
have been so bereft f "sympathy." ut almost mmediately fterwards,
Nikolenka
goes
to
his
first
all,
where
he
shows a
great
deal of
unspoken
fellow
feeling
with
linka,
committing
imilar aux
pas,
and
feeling qually
despised
and
persecuted.
The
wealthy
ristocratic ikolenka
rtenev
eems
to be haunted
by
the
ghost
of
his earlier
llegitimate
nd
socially
solated
incarnation
n
"The Four
Epochs
of
Development."
Nikolenka's
grand-
mother emarks
hat
he
is
"wild" and "doesn't even
know
how
to
enter
a
room"
(Chapter
18).
He
also has
the
wrong gloves
at
the
dance,
and
humiliates imselfwhile
trying
o dance a
mazurka,
prompting
is father
o
whirl waywithhispartner, issing, I/nefallaitpasdanser i vous nesavez
pas "
(Chapter 22).
In
the context
of the
1850s,
these
apparently
minor
details take on a
great
deal of
significance:
ikolenka's social
ineptitude
connects
him to
raznochintsy
n
general,
nd to Ilinka n
particular.
Tolstoy,
n an
1856
draft f
a
play,
"A
Family
of
Gentlefolk"
Dvorian-
skoe
semeistvo),
makes more
overt
what
he
implies,
ut
never tates
pecifi-
cally
in the
trilogy.
At one
point
in
this
very sketchy ragment,
young
prince
s called
a
raznochinets
ecause of his lack
of ease
in
society.
The
aging
Prince
Zatsepin
says
of
his son:
The fool stwenty earsold, I tookhim o thegovernor,ndhe didn't ven knowhow towalk
into the
room;
he
couldn't
say
two words.
The
governor
s
a
friend
f mine and an
old
pal
[...]
I was
embarrassed,
shamed before
him for
my
son. You
see,
he's
forgotten
ow to
speak
French,
he
can't hold
une
conversationuivie
n French.He's
some sortof
kuteinik,
ot
a
Prince
Zatsepin. (PSS
7:
157)
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
8/16
70 Slavic nd East
European
ournal
The untranslatableword "kuteinik"was
an
insulting
ermfor a son
of
a
priest.
or Prince
Zatsepin,
his
son's
embarrassing
ack of
aplomb
s almost
markedenoughto cancel out hisnoble birth; lthoughhe is ofcourse not
entirely
erious
n
calling
his
son a
kuteinik,
he connection f
faulty
man-
ners
with
oss of caste is
quite significant.
n this
fragment, olstoy
has a
character
ay outright
what
he had earlier
implied
in
Childhood-that
social
ineptitude
an make even a
blue-blood
nto a
seminarist.
Nikolenka at the ball
sees himself s
placed
in
the same
position
linka
recently ccupied,
when
everyone
agreed
to hate and
persecute
him
with-
out
any
reason." He is humiliated
y
his
father's
dmonition,
nd
avers,
with
pathetic ntensity:
Everyone
despises
me
and
always
will;
the
path
to
everythings blocked forme: tofriendship,o love, to honor everything
is lost." And
yet, despite
his
initial
reaction,
Nikolenka does
not,
as
yet,
entirelydentify
ith
he
despised
and
persecuted
linka
Grap.
When
ook-
ing
for
gloves
to wear for
dancing,
Nikolenka finds ne of
Karl
Ivanych's
old,
large, filthy
loves,
with
he middle
finger
ut out. Nikolenka
absent-
mindedly
wears this
glove
back to
the
ballroom,
where
his
grandmother
and his
new friend
onechka burst
ut
aughing
t him. Rather
than
feeling
humiliated,
Nikolenka
recognizes
his
aughter
s a
sign
of
affection,
nd
afterwards eelsmore at ease in
"the circleof the
salon,
which
was,
for
me,
themostfrightening."ater, afterhis father'sbrutalremark,Nikolenka
takes comfort
n the
thought
hat If
only
Mama
were
here,
she
would
not
blush
for her
Nikolenka "
Thus,
while
Irtenev embodies
paternal
law,
women,
nd
especially
Nikolenka's
mother,
ccept
with ffectionhe
eccen-
tricities orwhich rtenevhas no
tolerance.15
After he
death
of
his
mother,
Nikolenka
s
cut offfrom he
maternal
love that
formerly
omforted
im
during
is moments f
social humiliation.
Most
of
Boyhood
is
spent
in
the shadow
of
paternal rejection,
with
Nikolenka
dentifying
is fate
unequivocally
with
hat
f
the
raznochinets.
6
Boyhood
is rifewith
moments f
separation
nd
exclusion;
the
difference,
now,
s that
Nikolenka,
rather han
being
an observer fthealienated Karl
Ivanych
r Ilinka
Grap,
is himself
he one
left
ut.
At
his
sister's
name-day
party,
he children
lay
a
game
called
"Lange
Nase,"
which onsists f
the
boys
and
girls orming
ines
and
choosing
one
another
by
turns.
Nikolenka
is
bitterly
urt
o be
always
the
last one
chosen:
"I
understood hat
was
superfluous,
eft
ut"
(Chapter
13;
emphasis
n
original).
nstead of
being
rescued nd nurtured
y
female
ove,
Nikolenka s now cut
off rom
t;
this
image
of
Nikolenka
as
eternally
nchosen s the
backbone
of
Boyhood.
Convinced of
his
physicalugliness,
Nikolenka decides thathe
is
meant
to
be alone, and "concentrated ll [his] mind and imagination n finding
delight
n
proud
solation"
Chapter
6).
Here,
again,
as in
Childhood,
Nikolenka's sense
of exclusionhas
class
overtones.While
ocked
n
a
storage
oom,
awaiting unishment
or
having
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
9/16
Loneliness ndSocial
Class
n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh 71
hit
his
tutor,
Nikolenka
begins
to believe
he has discovered he reason
that
everyone
n the
house
despises
him:
"I
must
not
be the son
of
my
mother
andfather,r thebrother fVolodia,but anunfortunaterphan, cast-off
child
podkidysh]
aken
n
out of
charity"
Chapter 15).
Nikolenkauses
the
isolationof the
charity-child
o
provide
an understandable
xplanation
for
a
state of oneliness
nd
despair
whichhe
perceives
s
unaristocratic.
Nikolenka's solationcontinues
n Youth withone
very
ignificant
if-
ference. t is now
only
Nikolenka
who s
isolated;
the
raznochinets
n
Youth
is not a
symbolic
mbodiment
f
oneliness.17
ather,
here
s
an element
f
intimacy
n the
plebeian
students'
relationships
with each
other,
which
Nikolenka
has
difficultyinding
withhis more aristocratic
ompanions.
n
part,this s because the rules of aristocraticociety n Youth xclude any
genuine
emotion.
Unlike
in
Childhood
and
Boyhood,
where Nikolenka s
comforted
y
the
memory
f his
all-accepting
mother,
n
Youth
here s no
aristocratic lternative o the
harsh,
excluding
aws of Nikolenka's father.
Youth s
centered
n
large part
aroundNikolenka's obsessionwith omme l
faut,
a
set
of
rules
about
proper
aristocratic ehavior.
They
include
ong
and
perfectly
lean
nails,
excellent
French,
the
ability
o
bow, dance,
and
converse,
nd most
mportantly,
ndifference
o
everything,
nd an "air
of
elegant, supercilious
boredom"
(Chapter 31).
The rules of comme l
faut
recall thedescriptionfNikolenka's father rtenev nChildhood,who:
knew ow otake
he
pper
and n
relations
ith
veryone.
ever
aving
een
man
f
very
high
ociety,
e
nonetheless
lways
ssociated ith
eople
of
that
ircle,
nd n
such
way,
that e was
respected.
e knew he
utside imit f
pride
nd
elf-assuredness,
hich
aised
him n
the
opinion
f
society,
ithout
nsulting
thers. e
was
original,
utnot
lways;
e
used
originality
s
something
hat
ould,
n
certain
ituations,
ct
s
a substitute
or
wealth
r
social
osition.
othing
ould
urprise
im.
Chapter 0)
Irtenev's onnection o comme l
faut
s
later
strengthened
n
Nikolenka's
humiliating
cene
at the
ball,
when
rtenev
dmonishes
him,
"I/
ne
fallait
pas danser,
i vous
ne
savez
pas "
In
Youth,
Nikolenka dentifies xcellent
dancing
nd excellentFrench as two ofthemost
mportant
omponents
f
comme
lfaut.
And,
just
as
at the ball in
Childhood,
t
s
a rule
Nikolenka
himself
inds
difficult
o
follow.
Although
he
obsesses about his
nails and
French,
he is
seldom able to
appear
as
effortlessly
lawless s his
brother
Volodia.18
A
ball
scene in
Youth hows
Nikolenka not far
removedfrom
his
earlier
awkwardness.
Only
because his brother
watches
him
dress,
out of "fear
that
I
would
shame
myself,"
s Nikolenka's
clothing
t all
appropriate;
Nikolenka's uede
gloves
alone send
Volodia intofits
f horror.
At the
ball,
Nikolenka is overcomebyhis "usual, invincible, ver-growinghyness,"
and
stands
ilently
n one
spot
the whole
evening,
efusing
o dance
(Chap-
ter
38).
Again,
this
mage
of
being
stranded
t a dance is
one
interlinked
with he
raznochinets
n
the
Russian
nineteenth-century
magination.
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
10/16
72 Slavic
nd East
European
ournal
Nikolenka's sense of
behaving
ike
a
stereotypical
aznochinets
n
noble
society
s
made
painfully
lear when he
goes visiting
fter
having
entered
theuniversity. s he is getting eadyto leave on his visits,he is himself
visited
by
Ilinka
Grap
and his
father.
Acting
the
supercilious
ristocrat,
Nikolenka
greets
his visitors
oldly,
and
quickly
gets
rid of them. Poor
Ilinka
continually
miles
forcedly
nd
hardly ays
a
word;
as he
leaves,
"it
was clear
that
he would
never et foot
n
my
room
again" (Chapter
17).
But
just
as
in
Childhood,
Nikolenka,
fter
mistreating
linka,
mmediately
oes
into
a social situation imilar o
the
one Ilinka
occupied.
When
Nikolenka
goes
on his
visits,
he is haunted
by
his usual
shyness
nd social
ineptitude.
At the
house of Princess
Valakhina,
for
example, thoughfully
ware
that
he oughtto standup and leave when his visithas come to an end,he feels
"incapable
of
moving single body part naturally" Chapter
18).
Terrified
of
making
scene,
he sits
n
red-faced
ilence,
until
finally
escued
by
the
entranceof
PrincessValakhina's
secretary.
ven more
torturous s Niko-
lenka's
visit
to
the Ivins. The
general's
son,
clearly
not
overjoyed
to see
him,
ooks
him n
the
eyebrows
rather
han
the
eyes
as he
speaks
to
him,
and,
in
general,
treats
him,
"as
unpleasant
as
it
is for me to confess
t,
almost
exactly
the
way
I
treated
linka"
(Chapter
20).
Once
back
in
his
carriage,
Nikolenka
assuages
his
dignity y
assuring
himself
hat
"I
will
never set foot here again" -repeating the same words he had used to
describe linka n
a
similar
ituation.
n
Youth, hen,
nce
again,
Nikolenka
occupies
the
position
of linka and the solated
raznochinets.
The idea
of comme il
faut
is
important
o
Nikolenka
because
it
is so
deeply
concernedwith
xcluding
thers.Those
whose French s
faulty,
or
example,
mark
themselves
s
outsiders;
Nikolenka
mentally
sks
them,
"Why
do
you
want to talk
ike
us,
when
you
don't know
how?"
But,
while
so concerned
with
xcluding
veryone
lse,
Nikolenka does
not find
way
to be included
himself.
Comme il
faut
s
a
metaphor
for
the loss of
love;
Nikolenka's
obsession with t
marks
his
almost
complete
alienation from
any
form faffection. ven
during
imeswhen Nikolenkaknows that
he
ought
to
be
bonding
with
his fellow
aristocrats,
e
always
feels
painfully
alone. At one
point,
Nikolenka s invited
o a
drinking arty long
with ll
the other more
or less comme
lfaut"
students.
Despite
the outward how
of wild
merrimentnd all the
talk
of
"comradeship,"
Nikolenka
s
inwardly
certain
hat
"it
was
unpleasant
for ach
separate person, ust
as
much as
it
was
for
me,
but
each
person,
thinking
hat
only
he
felt
this,
considered
himself
bliged
to
pretend
o be
having
fun"
Chapter
39).
In
the
midst
f
the
festivities,
ach member s
truly
lone,
isolated
from
he others
because
unable toexpresshis emotions.The rule ofcomme lfautexcludesnotonly
outsiders,
ut even the
aristocrats
hemselves.
And
the
implications
re even
more
disturbing.
ikolenka
tells us that
"it even
seems to me
that
f
had
had a
brother,
mother r
a fatherwho
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
11/16
Loneliness
nd
SocialClass n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh 73
was
not
omme
lfaut,
wouldhave
aid that twasa
great
misfortune,
ut
that
we could have
nothing
n
commonwith ach other"
Chapter
1).
Although ikolenka'satherndbrotherrebothmpeccablyefined,is
mother's tatus
s
moredoubtful.
ertainly,
he
is an
aristocrat,
ut she
does not eem
n
complete
ccordance
ith
he awsofcomme l
faut.
Her
willingness
o tolerate
her
social
inferiors,
espite
heir tink nd
dirt,
makes er
uspect;
nd
certainly,
he
s
ncompatible
ith
he air
of
uper-
cilious boredom"
required
of
the
comme l
faut.
The
acceptance
f
Irtenev's ules f omme
lfaut
eems o entail he
ejection
f
Maman,
nd
the ove he
represents.
Not
coincidentally,
he
comme
l
faut,
which
mplies
he
rejection
f
Maman's ove, s also tiedto a rejectionfChristianrinciplesan idea
made more obvious
n the
writings
f the late
Tolstoy,
ut
still
ubtly
present
n
the
rilogy.
lexander
holkovsky
otes he
imilarity
etween
the mazurka
cenes
n Childhood nd in
the ate short
tory
After he
Ball."
In
both
cenes,
what
Zholkovsky
alls the "laws of the ball" are
stressed,
nd
n
particular
he
mportance
f
gloves
s
emphasized.
hol-
kovsky
races he imilarities
n
"After
he
Ball" between he lawsofthe
ball" that
egulate
he hero's
blissful omance
nd the
military
aw that
orders he
gauntlet-running
fthe
Tartar
60-65).
For
example,
he uede
glove
which he
heroine'soving atherrew ntohis hand
t
thedance,while
aying
Everything
ccording
o therules
vse
o
zakonu],"
ecomes
the
suede
glove
withwhich e
hits soldier
n the
face
when he
oldier
does nothit he
Tartar s hard s the
rules
equire. holkovsky
otes
hat
the
narrative
mplicates
he
heroine
n her
father's
uilt,
lthough
he
seems
utwardly
o
havedone
nothing rong. erhaps art
f
her
ulpabil-
ity
ies in the
fact
hat,
or
Tolstoy,
omplicity
ith
he
aws
of
the
ball
implies omplicity
n
cruelty.
The
connections f the
Tartar
withChrist
re
relatively
lear
(see
Zholkovsky3-4),
but
even
n
Tolstoy's arly
works,
heconnection
e-
tweenChrist nd thevictimxcluded ythecomme lfaut snoticeable.
Ilinka
Grap
s held
upside-down
ndhit n the
head;
his hriek f
Why
re
you
tyrannizing
e
[Za
chto
vy
menia
tiranite?]"
Chapter 18)
recalls the
biblical
"Why
do
you
persecute
me?".19
A
few
chapters
ater,
when
Nikolenka umiliates
imself,
ndhis
father
colds
him
ublicly,
e
thinks,
"Oh, Lord,
why
ost
Thou
punish
me
so
dreadfully?"
Chapter 2)-
thus
echoing
othChrist nd
Ilinka
Grap.
Later,
n
Youth,
when
Nikolenka's
brother,
mbarrassed
y
his lack
of social
skills,
gnores
im at a
ball,
Nikolenka
eflects,
My
God,
even
my
brother
bandons
me "
again
recallinghrist's bandonmentyPeter. ven for hevery arly olstoy,
the aws
of
the
ball
-
or comme l
faut-
implicate
he
participants
n
some-
thing
kin o
crucifixion.
Butat the ame
ime hat e
devotes imself
o thefalse
od
of
omme
l
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
12/16
74
Slavic
nd East
European
ournal
faut,
Nikolenka cannot
help
but be
attracted
y
the
raznochintsy
e meets
at
the
university. espite
their
filthy lothing
nd
disgusting
manners,
he
middle-class tudents hare a commonsense ofbelonging hatNikolenka
deeply
envies.
They
all
address
each other with the informal
y,
and are
affectionately
nsulting
with ach
other,
while still
being
"careful nd deli-
cate,
as
onlyverypoor
and
young
people
ever are"
(Chapter
43).
He feels
that theirdrunkenbouts
must
be
far removed from he "affectation ith
burntrum
and
champagne"
that
he
participated
n with
his fellow
aristo-
crats. Of
course,
the
dirty
nd
drunken
aznochintsy
re stillfarremoved
fromNikolenka'smaternal deal. And
yet,
hey
ossess
a
connection
o the
pure
affection hatMaman
represents.
Unlike
n
Childhood
and
Boyhood,
whereNikolenka dentified heraznochinetss an expression f hisfeelings
of
isolation,
Youth finds Nikolenka
estranged
from the world
of
the
raznochintsy,
s
well as from hatof the aristocrats.
While
attracted
o the
plebeians,
and
striving esperately
o
be
accepted
by
the
nobility,
Niko-
lenka
in truth its
nto
neither
roup.
Near
the
beginning
f
Youth,
Nikolenka fantasizes bout
the
new,
moral
lifehe
plans
to
lead,
but
apses
into exual
fantasy.
e
imagines
hat
he
will
go
to read
in
Sparrow
Hills,
"and then
he will
also
go
to
walk
in
Sparrow
Hills,
and some
day
will come
up
to
me
and
ask,
who am I? I
will
ook
at
her,
so
sadly,
and
say
that
am a
priest's on,
and that
am
happy only
here,
when
am
alone,
all
alone"
(Chapter
3).
Just
s in
the
earlier
fantasy
in
Boyhood,
Nikolenka
magines
himself s a lower-class
igure,
o
longer
his father's
on,
but the
son
of
a
priest.
But this s
no
longer
a
fantasy
f
perfect
oneliness.There
is
an
obvious
flaw
n
Nikolenka's
magined
tate-
ment hat
he
is
happy only
when he is
completely
lone.
In
fact,
he
whole
point
of his
daydream
s that
he is
not
alone,
but
in
the
presence
of
an
attractive
tranger
who findshim
intriguing,
nd
who,
further
n in
the
fantasy,
llows
him
to
kiss
her. The
image
of the
raznochinets
as
changed
for
Nikolenka;
rather
han
being
associated
with
complete
solation,
the
raznochinetss someone more
closely
connectedwith female love than
Nikolenka
can
hope
to be.
In
fact,
Nikolenka
now fits
he
literary
tereotype
f
the
raznochinets
better han the
raznochintsy
o
themselves.
Like
the
raznochintsy,
iko-
lenka s
clumsy
n
drawing
ooms,
nd
unskilled
n
thefiner
oints
f comme
ilfaut.
But
the
student-raznochintsy
n Youth re
not the
onely
nd forlorn
creatures
hat,
rchetypally,
e have been led to
expect.They
have a
loving,
closely
knit
ommunity,
ithinwhich heir
manners,
ather
ulgar y
aristo-
cratic
tandards,
re correct.
n
fact,Nikolenka,
while
rying
o befriend
he
student-raznochintsy,nce again humiliateshimselfby breakingthe ac-
cepted
social code
-
this
ime
by offering
hem
money
nd
bragging
bout
his
mportant
onnections.
Nikolenka, then,
s
even more
clumsy
han
the
clumsiest
f
raznochintsy,
ince he
is able to
disgrace
himself ot
only
n
a
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
13/16
Lonelinessnd
Social
Class
n
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
outh 75
ballroom
but also
in
a
group
of
poor
students.
n
the
first wo
parts
of the
trilogy,
he
raznochinets
unctions s
an
image
of absolute
oneliness,
with
whichNikolenkaoccasionallydentifies. utinYouth, heraznochintsyre,
for
he most
part,
uccessful
egotiators
f the conflict
etween
dulthood
and affection.
nstead,
t is
Nikolenka,
the awkward
ristocrat,
who
is ex-
cluded
on
all
sides,
theultimate utsider.
As
Tolstoy mplied
n
the
fragment
"A
Family
f
Gentlefolk,"
escribed
arlier,
whenPrince
Zatsepin
called
his
son a
kuteinik,
ne
does
not need
to
be
a
priest's
on
in
order o
be
despised
for
ne's
seminary
manners.
Clumsy
ristocrats re the truest
aznochintsy
of
all,
since
they
re
accepted
nowhere.
Dostoevsky,
n his
Diary of
a
Writer,
neers
t the
privileged
tmosphere
ofTolstoy'strilogy. e comparesNikolenka's scene in thestoragecloset
with the real-life
tory
of
another
ittle
boy,
who
hanged
himself
fter
having
been
kept
after chool as
punishment
or bad
grade.
Nikolenka,
s
a
young
ristocrat,
ould,
Dostoevsky
laims,
have been
incapable
of such
an
act,
since "the
rigorous
order
of
the
historically
ormednoble
family
would
have had its
effect,
ven
upon
a
twelve-year-old
hild,
and
would
have
prevented
the
dream
from
being
converted nto
reality" 25:
35).
Dostoevsky
laimsthat
he
calm,
upper-class
ecurity
e
sees
in
Childhood
now
belongs
only
to
an
"insignificant
nd
segregated
ittle
orner
of
Rus-
sianlife."He callsfor new kindofhistorian,o chronicle hedisintegrat-
ing
"accidental
families,"
which
he
feltwere
becoming ncreasingly
more
common. The Adolescent s
in
part
a
response
to
Tolstoy's trilogy,
nd
dwells
on
the issues which
Dostoevsky
thought
olstoy
had
ignored:
pov-
erty, llegitimacy,
amilial
ruelty
nd
betrayal.
And
yet,
n
his
rewriting
f
Childhood,
Boyhood,
Youth,
Dostoevsky
hits
on more of the concerns of
Tolstoy's
trilogy
han
he
himself
uspected.
PerhapsDostoevsky ecognized,
f
only
ubliminally,
he
underlying
hemes
of
llegitimacy,nadequacy
and
isolation
n his rival'swork.20
hese
themes
are made muchmore obvious n
The
Adolescent,
while
n
Tolstoy's rilogy
they
emain, or hemost
part,
mplied
butunstated.Butthe
wealthy
Niko-
lai
Irtenev s brother nder he
kin o the
llegitimate
nd
miserable
Arkady.
The differences
that,
n
Tolstoy's
work,
the tribulations f
the
accidental
family
re obscured
beneath
a
veneer of
family appiness.21
NOTES
1
This caricature f
Chernyshevsky
an
also be read
as
a
self-portrait
f
Tolstoy
himself.
Tolstoy'sportrait fVenerovsky,n ugly, wkward, elfish nd sexuallydepravedman
forcing
is
way
nto
family espite
his
essential
unlovableness,
as
particular
oignancy,
given
hat
Tolstoy
himself ad
married ne
year
before,
nd had
lurking
oubts
bout
the
depth
of
Sofia Andreevna's ove
and
his own
suitableness or he
married
tate.
2
Significantly,olstoy
chooses
as the focus
of
his
hostility
ot
Chernyshevsky's
adical
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
14/16
76 Slavic and East
European
Journal
philosophy,
ut ather ismannersnd
way
f
peaking.
n
the
ame
etter,
olstoy
oes
on to call
Chernyshevsky"repulsive
mitator"
fthe
iterary
ritic issarion
elinsky,
and remarkshat othChernyshevskyndBelinskyamefromhe"ordinaryanks f
people."
Tolstoy
eems
o have
despised
he
gentlemantinking
f
bedbugs"
n
arge
part
ecause f
his ocial lass
nd
his
eminary
anners;
deology
as
econdary.
3 Morozenko as
also
noted
olstoy
nd
Chernyshevky's
hared
eeling
f
solation,
nd
tendency
o
upbraid
hemselvesor
ocial
affes
n their
iaries;
e
argues
hat
his tems
in
part
rom oth
young
men
modeling
hemselvesn Lermontov's
echorin.
4
Another
onnectionetween
olstoy
nd
Chernyshevsky
as heirmutualovefor ous-
seau. Both Scanlan
105-30)
and
Paperno
94)
have
suggested
hat
Chernyshevsky
strongly
dentified
ith
Rousseau,
nd
saw him s a fellow
aznochinets.
rwin,
n
remarks ade t the1998AATSEEL
convention,
as
suggested
hat
olstoy
lso read
Rousseau s
a
raznochinets.
ousseau erved or
olstoy,
s
well
s
for
hernyshevsky,
s
a model orways f xpressingocial ndemotionalnsecurities.
5 William
ills
odd
rgues
hat
n
the
eginning
f he ineteenth
entury
ussian
iterary
salons
were
powerful
nstitutions,
hich,
n
imitation
f their rench
models,
alued
talent nd
elegant
mannersver
high
irth. ecause
f
his,
few alentedndfortunate
menwere ble
to
become uccessful
n
iterary
nd
political
ircles
n
the
arly art
f
he
century.
y
the
830s,
owever,
alons
were
oth ess nfluential
nd ess
open
o
outsid-
ers
55-72).
6 Wirtschafter
rgues
hat
n
thenineteenth
entury
heterm
raznochinets"
as
always
pejorative;
nly
ormodern ommentators
as
t
become neutral erm
98-101).
For
more n the
history
f he erm
raznochinets,"
eeBecker swell sWirtschafter.
7
Chernyshevsky
4:
322,
uoted
n Korman 2.
8 IrinaPaperno rgues hatn Whats To Be Done? (1862)Chernyshevskyonsciously
subvertshe tandard
mage
f the
raznochinets,
urning
eaders'
xpectations
ntheir
heads.The novel s
particularly
evolutionary
n that t
providesmages
f
raznochintsy
who,
atherhan
eing
wkward
nd
unloved,
reat ease
n
ociety,
now ow
o
dance,
and end
by winning
he heroines'
ove
(Paperno
83-4).
In
writing
ucha
story,
Chernyshevsky
as
ontradicting
he
cceptediterary
ythos
f
he
aznochinets
efore
the
1860s;
n the
arly
850s,
when
olstoy
as
writing
hildhood,
he onelinessfthe
raznochinets
as
ccepted
s
a
truism.
9
Zagoskin
: 107.
Quoted
n
Ostrovskii
02-3.
10 See
Gustafson
or
particularlynsightful
iscussion
f
Tolstoy
s
"Stranger."
11
See,
for
xample,
aburov ndErmilov.
12 NotablemongtudiesyWesterncholarsoncerninglass nTolstoy's orks reKath-
ryn
euer's
Tolstoy
ndtheGenesis
f
War
nd
Peace" ndAndrew
Wachtel's
heBattle
for
Childhood.ee Christian8-102for
summary
ndrefutationfthe oviet lass-
conscious
eading
f War nd
Peace.
13 In War nd
Peace,
Tolstoy
esolveshis
iscrepancyy
mplying
hat hosewho xclude
are
not rue
ristocrats,
ut onnectedo
Napoleon
nd
Speransky,
ho,
s
Shklovsky
(57-8)
andFeuer
163)
have
rgued,
remeant o be read
s
raznochintsy.
14
Dobroliubov,
omplaining
fhis
ack f ocial
kills,
ites is
gnorance
f
gymnastics,
s
well
s of
dancing, rawing,
rench,
ndGerman
Dobroliubov
:
307-8).
15 In
his
notes or iriukov's
iography
f
him,
olstoy
ecallsn ncidenthat ccurredn
1851,
while e waswith is
brother
ikolai
n
Kazan.
The
brothers
assed
manwithout
gloves, ausingev to neer,Howcleart s thathat entlemanssome ort f ubbish "
When isbrother
nquired
he eason
or his
udgment,
ev
returned,
Why,
edoesn't
have
nygloves "
Nikolai's ather
easonable
esponse-"So,
whatmakes im
ubbish,
just
becausehe
doesn'thave
gloves?"
was,
for
Lev,
a
strikingxample
fNikolai's
wisdom nd
goodness,
hich e remembered
any
ecades ater
PSS
34:
399).
One
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
15/16
Loneliness and
Social Class
in
Tolstoy's
Childhood,
Boyhood,
Youth 77
wonders
f
he was
perhaps
recalling
this moment n
writing
f how
Nikolenka,
even
without he
gloves
required
o
make
him
fit
n,
s not considered rubbish"
by
the
oving
figuresround him.
16
Gustafsonwrites hat
Boyhood
"represents
he
experience
of life
as
rejection
and be-
trayal
y
others"
32).
He
goes
on to
describeKarl
Ivanych
s the "eternal
tranger,"
ith
whom,
n
Boyhood,
Nikolenka
deeply
dentifies.
17 This is the
first
major
shift n
Tolstoy's
always
relatively
luid
thinking
n the
razno-
chintsy.
aznochintsy lay
major
roles
n
severalof
his
worksbesides the
trilogy, otably
"The Infected
Family,"
War and
Peace,
and Resurrection.
olstoy's shifting
iews on
raznochintsy
re
connected o the evolution n his
thinking
n the
aristocracy,
he
family,
emotional
closeness,
and isolation. For a more
detailed
exploration
f
raznochintsy
n
Tolstoy's
works,
ee
my
forthcoming
issertation.
18
Tolstoy
eturns o the dea of comme
lfaut
n aterworks
s
well;
significantly,
uring
he
1860s theconceptof comme lfautbecomesforhimconnectedwith uccessful arvenus
more than
with
ristocrats.n "The
Infected
amily"
the rude and low-born
Venerovsky
is
called "comme
lfaut,"
and in War nd Peace
the
most
legant
manners re those
of
the
raznochintsy
peransky
nd
Napoleon.
Aristocrats
who
are
overly
comme il
faut
are
linked to these
parvenu figures;
olkonsky,
who
manages
to
overcome
his
infatuations
with
both
Napoleon
and
Speransky,
never
overcomes
his
need for external
poise
and
polished
manners,which,
n
conflictwithhis
longing
or
motional
truth,
auses him so
much
suffering.
n Anna
Karenina,
the awkward Levin claims
that
only
he is
a
true
aristocrat,
while the
suave
Vronsky
s the descendant
of
a
man who "crawled
up
from
nowhere."
19 It
also,
of
course,
connects o the down-trodden
kaky
Akakievich's
ry
f
"Zachem
vy
meniaobizhaete?"
20
Elements of the Radcliffean
Gothic
novel
are also
present
both
n
The Adolescent
nd,
less
overtly
ut
very ignificantly,
n the
trilogy
Hruska,
"Ghosts").
21 I am
grateful
o Liza
Knapp, Hugh
McLean,
Stephen
Baehr,
and two
anonymous
eview-
ers for
heir omments.
WORKS CITED
Becker,Christopher.Raznochintsy: he Developmentof theWordand of the Concept."
The American
lavic and East
European
Review 18
(Feb. 1959):
63-80.
Chernyshevskii,
. G. Polnoe sobranie
sochinenii.
16
vols. Moscow:
Gosudarstvennoe
izdatel'stvokhudozhestvennoi
iteratury,
939-53.
Christian,
. F
Tolstoy's
War
nd Peace: A
Study.
Oxford:
Clarendon
Press,
1962.
Dobroliubov,
N. A.
Sobranie sochinenii.
9
vols.
Moscow-Leningrad:
Goslitizdat,
1961-64.
Dostoevskii,
F. M. Polnoe
sobranie
ochinenii. 0
vols.
Leningrad:
Nauka,
1972-90.
Eikhenbaum,
Boris. Lev
Tolstoi:
Kniga pervaia,
piatidesiatye
ody.
Leningrad:
Priboi,
1928.
Ermilov,
V. Tolstoi-romanist:Voina
i
mir,"
"Anna
Karenina,"
"Voskresenie."
Moscow:
Khudozhestvennaia
iteratura,
965.
Feuer,
Kathryn
.
Tolstoy
nd the
Genesis
of
"War and
Peace." Eds. Robin Feuer
Miller and
Donna TussingOrwin. thaca,NY: CornellUP, 1996.
Gertsen,
Aleksandr.
Sobranie
sochinenii tridtsati
omakh.
Moscow:
Akademii nauk
SSSR,
1954-66.
Gustafson,
Richard. Leo
Tolstoy:
Resident
nd
Stranger.
A
Study
n Fiction nd
Theology.
Princeton,
NJ:
Princeton
UP,
1986.
This content downloaded from 160.45.152.64 on Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:14:17 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp8/11/2019 Loneliness and Social Class in Tolstoy's Trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, Youth.pdf
16/16
78
Slavic and
East
European
Journal
Hruska,
Anne.
"Ghosts n the
Garden:
Ann
Radcliffend
Tolstoy's
hildhood,
oyhood,
Youth."
Tolstoy
tudies
Journal
(1997):
1-10.
.
"Infected
amilies:Outsiders
n
the Works f Leo
Tolstoy."
iss.
University
f
CaliforniatBerkeley,orthcoming.
Khodnev,
A.
D.
"Moi vstrechi
L.
N.
Tolstym." etopisi. Kniga
dvenadtsataia:
.
N. Tolstoi.
Ed. N. N.
Gusev. zd.
Gosudarstvennogo
iteraturnogo
uzeia,
948. 27-32.
Korman,
.
0. Lirika
Nekrasova.zhevsk:
dmurtiia,
978.
Morozenko,
.
N.
"U
istokov
ovogo
tapa
v
razvitii
sikhologizma.Rannie
dnevniki
Tolstogo
Chernyshevskogo.)"
. N.
Tolstoi russkaia iteraturno-obschestvennaia
ysl'.
Eds. G. Ia.
Galagan
ndN.
I. Prutskov.
eningrad:
auka,
979.
12-132.
Nekrasov,
N. A.
Polnoe sobranie ochinenii
pisem.
15
vol.
Leningrad:
Nauka,
1981-.
Orwell,
George. "Tolstoy,
ear,
and
the Fool."
Shooting
n
Elephant
nd Other
Essays.
New
York:
Harcourt,
race
nd
World,
950.
Orwin,
onna.
Address.North merican
olstoy ociety
orum.
AATSEEL
Convention.
San Francisco.8Dec. 1998.
.
Tolstoy's
rt nd
Thought,
847-1880. Princeton: rinceton
UP,
1993.
Ostrovskii,
A.
ed.
Molodoi
Tolstoi
v
zapisiakh
sovremennikov.
eningrad:
Izdatel'stvo
pisatelei
Leningrade,
929.
Paperno,
rina,
Chernyshevsky
nd the
Age
of
Realism: A
Study
n
theSemiotics
f
Behavior.
Stanford,
A:
Stanford
P,
1988.
Saburov,
A. A. "Voina i
mir" L.
N.
Tolstogo:
Problematika
poetika.
Moscow:
Moskovskogo
universiteta,
959.
Scanlan,
JamesP.
"Chernyshevsky
nd
Rousseau." Western
hilosophical
Systems
n Russian
Literature: Collection
f
Critical tudies.Ed.
Anthony
M.
Mlikotin.
Los
Angeles:
U of
Southern alifornia
,
1979. 03-20.
Shelgunova,N. V. Iz dalekogoproshlogo: PerepiskaN. V Shelgunova zhenoi. St. Peters-
burg,
901.
Shklovskii,
iktor.
ev
Tolstoi. oscow:Molodaia
Gvardiia,
963.
Todd,
William
Mills.
Fiction
nd
Society
n the
Age of
Pushkin:
deology,
nstitutions,
nd
Narrative.
ambridge,
ass.:
Harvard
P,
1986.
Tolstoy,
. N. Polnoe
sobranie
ochinenii
PSS).
Iubileinoe
zdanie. 90
vols. Moscow:
Khudozhestvennaia
iteratura,
928-58.
Wachtel,
Andrew Baruch.
The Battle
or
Childhood: Creation
of
a Russian
Myth.
Stanford,
CA: Stanford
P,
1990.
Wirtschafter,
lise
Kimerling.
Structure
f
Society: Imperial
Russia's
"People of
Various
Ranks."
ekalb,
llinois:
orthernllinois
P,
1994.
Zagoskin,N. "L. N. Tolstoi ego studentcheskieody." storicheskiiestnik:storiko-
literaturnyi
hurnal,
1894.
Zholkovsky,
Alexander. Text
Counter
Text:
Rereadings
n
Russian
Literary
istory.
tanford,
CA:
Stanford
P,
1994.