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diff --git a/41495-8.txt b/41495-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5b93110..0000000 --- a/41495-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7691 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Russia: Its People and Its Literature, by -Emilia Pardo Bazán, Translated by Fanny Hale Gardiner - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Russia: Its People and Its Literature - - -Author: Emilia Pardo Bazán - - - -Release Date: November 26, 2012 [eBook #41495] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIA: ITS PEOPLE AND ITS -LITERATURE*** - - -E-text prepared by Andrea Ball & Marc D'Hooghe -(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available -by Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/russiaitspeoplei00pardiala - - - - - -RUSSIA - -ITS PEOPLE AND ITS LITERATURE - -BY - -EMILIA PARDO BAZÁN - -Translated from the Spanish - -By FANNY HALE GARDINER - -CHICAGO - -A.C. McCLURG & CO. - -1901 - - - - -TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. - - -Emilia Pardo Bazán, the author of the following critical survey of -Russian literature, is a Spanish woman of well-known literary -attainments as well as wealth and position. Her life has been spent in -association with men of mark, both during frequent sojourns at Madrid -and at home in Galicia, "the Switzerland of Spain," from which province -her father was a deputy to Cortes. - -Books and libraries were almost her only pleasures in childhood, as she -was allowed few companions, and she says she could never apply herself -to music. By the time she was fourteen she had read widely in history, -sciences, poetry, and fiction, excepting the works of the French -romanticists, Dumas, George Sand, and Victor Hugo, which were forbidden -fruit and were finally obtained and enjoyed as such. At sixteen she -married and went to live in Madrid, where, amid the gayeties of the -capital, her love for literature suffered a long eclipse. - -Her father was obliged, for political reasons, to leave the country -after the abdication of Amadeus, and she accompanied him in a long and -to her profitable period of wandering, during which she learned French, -English, and Italian, in order to read the literatures of those tongues. -She also plunged deep into German philosophy, at first out of curiosity, -because it was then in vogue; but she confesses a debt of gratitude to -it nevertheless. - -While she was thus absorbed in foreign tongues and literatures, she -remained almost entirely ignorant of the new movement in her own land, -led by Valera, Galdos, and Alarcon. The prostration which characterized -the reign of Isabella II. had been followed by a rejuvenation born of -the Revolution of 1868. When this new literature was at last brought to -her notice, she read it with delighted surprise, and was immediately -struck by something resembling the spirit of Cervantes, Hurtado, and -other Spanish writers of old renown. Inspired by the possibility of this -heredity, she resolved to try novel-writing herself,--a thought which -had never occurred to her when her idea of the novel had been bounded by -the romantic limitations of Victor Hugo and his suite. But if the novel -might consist of descriptions of places and customs familiar to us, and -studies of the people we see about us, then she would dare attempt it. -As yet, however, no one talked of realism or naturalism in Spain; the -tendency of Spanish writers was rather toward a restoration of elegant -Castilian, and her own first novel followed this line, although -evidently inspired by the breath of realism as far as she was then aware -of it. The methods and objects of the French realists became fully -manifest to her shortly afterward; for, being in poor health, she went -to Vichy, where in hours of enforced leisure she read for the first time -Balzac, Flaubert, Goncourt, and Daudet. The result led her to see the -importance of their aims and the force of their art, to which she added -the idea that each country should cultivate its own tradition while -following the modern methods. These convictions she embodied first in a -prologue to her second novel, "A Wedding Journey," and then in a series -of articles published in the "Epoca" at Madrid, and afterward in Paris; -these she avers were the first echoes in Spain of the French realist -movement. - -All of her novels have been influenced by the school of art to which she -has devoted her attention and criticism, and her study of which has well -qualified her for the essays contained in this volume. This work on -Russian literature was published in 1887, but prior to its appearance -in print the Señora de Bazán was invited to read selections from it -before the Ateneo de Madrid,--an honor never before extended to a woman, -I believe. - -Few Spanish women are accustomed to speaking in public, and she thus -describes her own first attempt in 1885, when, during the festivities -attending the opening of the first railway between Madrid and Coruña, -the capital of her native province, she was asked to address a large -audience invited to honor the memory of a local poet:-- - - "Fearful of attempting so unusual a performance, as well as - doubtful of the ability to make my voice heard in a large - theatre, I took advantage of the presence of my friend - Emilio Castelar to read to him my discourse and confide to - him my fears. On the eve of the performance, Castelar, - ensconced in an arm-chair in my library, puzzled his brains - over the questions whether I should read standing or - sitting, whether I should hold my papers in my hand or no, - and having an artist's eye to the scenic effect, I think he - would have liked to suggest that I pose before the mirror! - But I was less troubled about my attitude than by the - knowledge that Castelar was to speak also, and before me, - which would hardly predispose my audience in my favor.... - The theatre was crowded to suffocation, but I found that - this rather animated than terrified me. I rose to read (for - it was finally decided that I should stand), and I cannot - tell how thin and hard and unsympathetic my voice sounded in - the silence. My throat choked with emotion; but I was - scarcely through the first paragraph when I heard at my - right hand the voice of Castelar, low and earnest, saying - over and over again, 'Very good, very good! That is the - tone! So, so! 'I breathed more freely, speaking became - easier to me; and my audience, far from becoming impatient, - gave me an attention and applause doubly grateful to one - whose only hope had been to avoid a fiasco. Castelar greeted - me at the close with a warm hand-grasp and beaming eyes, - saying, 'We ought to be well satisfied, Emilia; we have - achieved a notable and brilliant success; let us be happy, - then!'" - -Probably the Señora de Bazán learned her lesson well, and had no need of -the friendly admonitions of Castelar when she came to address the -distinguished audience at the Ateneo, for she is said to have "looked -very much at ease," and to have been very well received, but a good deal -criticised afterward, being the first Spanish woman who ever dared to -read in the Ateneo. - -Turning from the authoress to the work, I will only add that I hope the -American reader may find it to be what it seemed to me as I read it in -Spanish,--an epitome of a vast and elaborate subject, and a guide to a -clear path through this maze which without a guide can hardly be clear -to any but a profound student of belles-lettres; for classicism, -romanticism, and realism are technical terms, and the purpose of the -modern novel is only just beginning to be understood by even fairly -intelligent readers. In the belief that the interest awakened by Russian -literature is not ephemeral, and that this great, young, and original -people has come upon the world's stage with a work to perform before the -world's eye, I have translated this careful, critical, synthetical study -of the Russian people and literature for the benefit of my intelligent -countrymen. - -F.H.G. - -Chicago, March, 1890. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -Book I. - -THE EVOLUTION OF RUSSIA. - - I. Scope and Purpose of the Present Essay - II. The Russian Country - III. The Russian Race - IV. Russian History - V. The Russian Autocracy - VI. The Agrarian Communes - VII. Social Classes in Russia -VIII. Russian Serfdom - - -Book II. - -RUSSIAN NIHILISM AND ITS LITERATURE. - - I. The Word "Nihilism" - II. Origin of the Intellectual Revolution - III. Woman and the Family - IV. Going to the People - V. Herzen and the Nihilist Novel - VI. The Reign of Terror - VII. The Police and the Censor - - -Book III. - -RISE OF THE RUSSIAN NOVEL. - - I. The Beginnings of Russian Literature - II. Russian Romanticism.--The Lyric Poets - III. Russian Realism: Gogol, its Founder - - -Book IV. - -MODERN RUSSIAN REALISM. - - I. Turguenief, Poet and Artist - II. Gontcharof and Oblomovism - III. Dostoiëwsky, Psychologist and Visionary - IV. Tolstoï, Nihilist and Mystic - V. French Realism and Russian Realism - - - - -Book I. - - -THE EVOLUTION OF RUSSIA. - - - - -I. - -Scope And Purpose of the Present Essay. - - -The idea of writing something about Russia, the Russian novel, and -Russian social conditions (all of which bear an intimate relationship to -one another), occurred to me during a sojourn in Paris, where I was -struck with the popularity and success achieved by the Russian authors, -and especially the novelists. I remember that it was in the month of -March, 1885, that the Russian novel "Crime and Punishment," by -Dostoiëwsky, fell into my hands and left on my mind a deep impression. -Circumstances prevented my following up at that time my idea of literary -work on the subject; but the next winter I had nothing more important to -do than to make my projected excursion into this new realm. - -My interest was quickened by all the reports I read of those who had -done the same. They all declared that one branch of Russian literature, -that which flourishes to-day in every part of Europe, namely, the novel, -has no rival in any other nation, and that the so much discussed -tendency to the pre-eminence of truth in art, variously called realism, -naturalism, etc., has existed in the Russian novel ever since the -Romantic period, a full quarter of a century earlier than in France. I -saw also that the more refined and select portion of the Parisian -public, that part which boasts an educated and exacting taste, bought -and devoured the works of Turguenief, Tolstoï, and Dostoiëwsky with as -much eagerness as those of Zola, Goncourt, and Daudet; and it was -useless to ascribe this universal eagerness merely to a conspiracy -intended to produce jealousy and humiliation among the masters and -leaders of naturalism or realism in France, even though I may be aware -that such a conspiracy tacitly exists, as well as a certain amount of -involuntary jealousy, which, in fact, even the most illustrious artist -is prone to display. - -I do not ignore the objections that might be urged against going to -foreign lands in search of novelties, and I should decline to face them -if Russian literature were but one of the many caprices of the exhausted -Parisian imagination. I know very well that the French capital is a city -of novelties, hungry for extravagances which may entertain for a moment -and appease its yawning weariness, and that to this necessity for -diversion the _decadent_ school (which has lately had such a revival, -and claims the aberrations of the Spanish Gongora as its master), though -aided by some talent and some technical skill, owes the favor it enjoys. -Some years ago I attended a concert in Paris, where I heard an orchestra -of Bohemians, or Zingaras, itinerant musicians from Hungary. I was -asked my opinion of them at the close, and I frankly confessed that the -orchestra sounded to me very like a jangling of mule-bells or a -caterwauling; they were only a little more tolerable than a street band -of my own country (Spain), and only because these were gypsies were -their scrapings to be endured at all. Literary oddities are puffed and -made much of by certain Parisian critics very much as the Bohemian -musicians were, as, for example, the Japanese novel "The Loyal Ronins," -and certain romantic sketches of North American origin. - -It is but just, nevertheless, to acknowledge that in France the mania -for the exotic has a laudable aim and obeys an instinct of equity. To -know everything, to call nothing outlandish, to accord the highest right -of human citizenship, the right of creating their own art and of -sacrificing according to their own rites and customs on the altar sacred -to Beauty, not only to the great nations, but to the decayed and obscure -ones,--this surely is a generous act on the part of a people endowed -with directive energies; the more so as, in order to do this, the French -have to overcome a certain petulant vanity which naturally leads them to -consider themselves not merely the first but the only people. - -But confining myself now to Russia, I do not deny that to my curiosity -there were added certain doubts as to the value of her literary -treasures. During my investigations, however, I have discovered that, -apart from the intrinsic merit of her famous authors, her literature -must attract our attention because of its intimate connections with -social, political, and historical problems which are occupying the mind -of Europe to-day, and are outcomes of the great revolutionary movement, -unless it would be more correct to say that they inspired and directed -that movement. - -I take this opportunity to confess frankly that I lack one almost -indispensable qualification for my task,--the knowledge of the Russian -language. It would have been easy for me, during my residence in Paris, -to acquire a smattering of it perhaps, enough to conceal my ignorance -and to enable me to read some selections in poetry and prose; but not so -easy thus to learn thoroughly a language which for intricacy, splendid -coloring, and marvellous flexibility and harmony can only be compared, -in the opinion of philologists, to the ancient Greek. Of what use then a -mere smattering, which would be insufficient to give to my studies a -positive character and an indisputable authority? Two years would not -have been too long to devote to such an accomplishment, and in that -length of time new ideas, different lines of thought, and unexpected -obstacles might perhaps arise; the opportunity would be gone and my plan -would have lost interest. - -Still, I mentioned my scruples on this head to certain competent -persons, and they agreed that ignorance of the Russian language, though -an ignorance scarcely uncommon, would be an insuperable difficulty if I -proposed to write a didactic treatise upon Russian letters, instead of -a rapid review or a mere sketch in the form of a modest essay or two. -They added that the best Russian books were translated into French or -German, and that in these languages, and also in English and Italian, -had been published several able and clever works relative to Muscovite -literature and institutions, solid enough foundations upon which to -build my efforts. - -It may be said, and with good reason, that if I could not learn the -language I might at least have made a trip to Russia, and like Madame de -Staël when she revealed to her countrymen the culture of a foreign land, -see the places and people with my own eyes. But Russia is not just -around the corner, and the women of my country, though not cowardly, are -not accustomed to travel so intrepidly as for example the women of Great -Britain. I have often envied the good fortune of that clever Scotchman, -Mackenzie Wallace, who has explored the whole empire of Russia, ridden -in sleighs over her frozen rivers, chatted with peasants and _popes_, -slept beneath the tents of the nomadic tribes, and shared their offered -refreshment of fermented mare's-milk, the only delicacy their -patriarchal hospitality afforded. But I acknowledge my deficiencies, and -can only hope that some one better qualified than I may take up and -carry on this imperfect and tentative attempt. - -I have tried to supply from other sources those things which I lacked. -Not only have I read everything written upon Russia in every language -with which I am acquainted, but I have associated myself with Russian -writers and artists, and noted the opinions of well-informed persons -(who often, however, be it said in parenthesis, only served to confuse -me by their differences and opposition). A good part of the books (a -list of which I give at the end) were hardly of use to me, and I read -them merely from motives of literary honesty. To save continual -references I prefer to speak at once and now of those which I used -principally: Mackenzie Wallace's work entitled "Russia" abounds in -practical insight and appreciation; Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu's "The Empire -of the Czars" is a profound, exact, and finished study, so acknowledged -even by the Russians themselves in their most just and calm judgments; -Tikomirov's "Russia, Political and Social" is clear and comprehensible, -though rather radical and passionate, as might be expected of the work -of an exile; Melchior de Voguié's "The Russian Novel" is a critical -study of incomparable delicacy, though I do not always acquiesce in his -conclusions. From these four books, to which I would add the remarkable -"History of Russia" by Rambaud, I have drawn copious draughts; and -giving them this mention, I may dispense with further reference to -them. - - - - -II. - -The Russian Country. - - -If we consider the present state of European nations, we shall observe a -decided decline of the political fever which excited them from about the -end of the last century to the middle of the present one. A certain -calm, almost a stagnation with some, has followed upon the conquest of -rights more craved than appreciated. The idea of socialistic reforms is -agitated darkly and threateningly among the masses, openly declaring -itself from time to time in strikes and riots; but on the other hand, -the middle classes almost everywhere are anxious for a long respite in -which to enjoy the new social conditions created by themselves and for -themselves. The middle classes represent the largest amount of -intellectual force; they have withdrawn voluntarily (through egoism, -prudence, or indifference) from active political fields, and renounced -further efforts in the line of experiment; the arts and letters, which -are in the main the work of well-to-do people, cry out against this -withdrawal, and, losing all social affinities, become likewise isolated. - -France possesses at this moment that form of government for which she -yearned so long and so convulsively; yet she has not found in it the -sort of well-being she most desired,--that industrial and economical -prosperity, that coveted satisfaction and compensation which should -restore to the Cock of Brenus his glittering spurs and scarlet crest. -She is at peace, but doubtful of herself, always fearful of having to -behold again the vandalism of the Commune and the catastrophes of the -Prussian invasion. Italy, united and restored, has not regained her -place as a European power, nor, in rising again from her glorious ashes, -can she reanimate the dust of the heroes, the great captains and the -sublime artists, that lie beneath her monuments. And it is not only the -Latin nations that stand in more or less anxious expectation of the -future. If France has established her much desired republic, and Italy -has accomplished her union, England also has tasted all the fruits of -the parliamentary system, has imparted her vigor to magnificent -colonies, has succeeded in impressing her political doctrines and her -positive ideas of life upon the whole continent; while Germany has -obtained the military supremacy and the amalgamation of the fatherland -once dismembered by feudalism, as well as the fulfilment of the old -Teutonic dream of Cæsarian power and an imperial throne,--a dream -cherished since the Middle Ages. For the Saxon races the hour of change -has sounded too; in a certain way they have fulfilled their destinies, -they have accomplished their historic work, and I think I see them like -actors on the stage declaiming the closing words of their rôles. - -One plain symptom of what I have described seems to me to be the -draining off of their creative forces in the domain of art. What -proportion does the artistic energy of England and Germany bear to -their political strength? None at all. No names nowadays cross the -Channel to be put up beside--I will not say those of Shakspeare and -Byron, but even those of Walter Scott and Dickens; there is no one to -wear the mantle of the illustrious author of "Adam Bede," who was the -incarnation of the moral sense and temperate realism of her country, and -at the same time an eloquent witness to the extent and limit allowed by -these two tendencies, both of puritanic origin, to the laws of æsthetics -and poetry. On the other side of the Rhine the tree of Romance is dry, -though its roots are buried in the mysterious sub-soil of legend, and -beneath its branches pass and repass the heroes of the ballads of Bürger -and Goethe, and within its foliage are crystallized the brilliant -dialectics of Hegel. To put it plainly, Germany to-day produces nothing -within herself, particularly if we compare this to-day with the not -distant yesterday. - -But I would be less general, and set forth my idea in a clearer manner. -It is not my purpose to sacrifice on the altar of my theme the genius of -all Europe. I recognize willingly that there are in every nation writers -worthy of distinction and praise, and not only in nations of the first -rank but in some also of second and third, as witness those of Portugal, -Belgium, Sweden, modern Greece, Denmark, and even Roumania, which can -boast a queenly authoress, extremely talented and sympathetic. I merely -say--and to the intelligent reader I need give but few reasons why--that -it is easy to distinguish the period in which a people, without being -actually sterile, and even displaying relatively a certain fecundity -which may deceive the superficial observer, yet ceases to produce -anything virile and genuine, or to possess vital and creative powers. - -To this general rule I consider France an exception, for she is really -the only nation which, since the close of the Romantic period, has seen -any spontaneous literary production great enough to traverse and -influence all Europe,--a phenomenon which cannot be explained by the -mere fact of the general use of the French tongue and customs. It will -be understood that I refer to the rise and success of Realism, and that -I speak of it in a large sense, not limiting my thoughts to the master -minds, but considering it in its entirety, from its origin to its newest -ramifications, from its antecedent encyclopedists to its latest echoes, -the pessimists, _decadents_, and other fanatics. Looking at what are -called French naturalists or realists in a group, as a unity which -obliterates details, I cannot deny to France the glory of presenting to -the world in the second half of this century a literary development, -which, even if it carries within itself the germs of senility and -decrepitude (namely, the very materialism which is its philosophic -basis, its very extremes and exaggerations, and its erudite, and -reflective character, a quality which however unapparent is nevertheless -perfectly demonstrable), yet it shows also the vigor of a renaissance in -its valiant affirmation of artistic truth, its zeal in maintaining this, -in the faith with which it seeks this truth, and in the effectiveness -of its occasional revelations thereof. When party feeling has somewhat -subsided, French realism will receive due thanks for the impulse it has -communicated to other peoples; not a lamentable impulse either, for -nations endowed with robust national traditions always know how to give -form and shape to whatever comes to them from without, and those only -will accept a completed art who lack the true conditions of nationality, -even though they figure as States on the map. - -There are two great peoples in the world which are not in the same -situation as the Latin and Saxon nations of Europe,--two peoples which -have not yet placed their stones in the world's historic edifice. They -are the great transatlantic republic and the colossal Sclavonic -empire,--the United States and Russia. - -What artistic future awaits the young North American nation? That land -of material civilization, free, happy, with wise and practical -institutions, with splendid natural resources, with flourishing commerce -and industries, that people so young yet so vigorous, has acquired -everything except the acclimatization in her vast and fertile territory -of the flower of beauty in the arts and letters. Her literature, in -which such names as Edgar Poe shine with a world-wide lustre, is yet a -prolongation of the English literature, and no more. What would that -country not give to see within herself the glorious promise of that -spirit which produced a Murillo, a Cervantes, a Goethe, or a Meyerbeer, -while she covers with gold the canvases of the mediocre painters of -Europe! - -But that art and literature of a national character may be spontaneous, -a people must pass through two epochs,--one in which, by the process of -time, the myths and heroes of earlier days assume a representative -character, and the early creeds and aspirations, still undefined by -reflection, take shape in popular poetry and legend; the other in which, -after a period of learning, the people arises and shakes off the outer -crust of artificiality, and begins to build conscientiously its own art -upon the basis of its never-forgotten traditions. The United States was -born full-grown. It never passed through the cloudland of myth; it is -utterly lacking in that sort of popular poetry which to-day we call -folk-lore. - -But when a nation carries within itself this powerful and prolific seed, -sooner or later this will sprout. A people may be silent for long years, -for ages, but at the first rays of its dawning future it will sing like -the sphinx of Egypt. Russia is a complete proof of this truth. Perhaps -no other nation ever saw its æsthetic development unfold so -unpromisingly, so cramped and so stunted. The stiff and unyielding -garments of French classicism have compressed the spirit of its national -literature almost to suffocation; German Romanticism, since the -beginning of this century, has lorded it triumphantly there more than in -any other land. But in spite of so many obstacles, the genius of Russia -has made a way for itself, and to-day offers us a sight which other -nations can only parallel in their past history; namely, the sudden -revelation of a national literature. - -I do not mean to prophesy for others an irremediable sterility or -decadence; I merely confine myself to noting one fact: Russia is at this -moment the only young nation in Europe,--the last to arrive at the -banquet. The rest live upon their past; this one sets out now -impetuously to conquer the future. Over Russia are passing at present -the hours of dawn, the golden days, the times that after a while will be -called classic; some even of the men whom generations to come will call -their glorious ancestors are living now. I insist upon this view in -order to explain the curiosity which this empire of the North has -aroused in Europe, and also to explain why so much thoughtful and -serious study and attention is given to Russia by all foreigners; while -every book or article on such a country as Spain, for instance, is full -of so many careless and superficial errors. That elegant and subtle -author, Voguié, in writing of Léon Tolstoï, says that this Russian -novelist is so great that he seems to belong to the dead,--meaning to -express in this wise the idea that the magnitude of Tolstoï's genius -annuls the laws of temporal criticism by which we are accustomed to see -the glory of our contemporaries less or more than the reality. I would -apply Voguié's phrase to the Russian national literature as a whole. -Though I see it arise before my very eyes, yet I view it amid the halo -of prestige enjoyed only by things that have been. - -There is indeed no parallel to it anywhere. The modern phenomenon of the -resurrection of local literatures, and the reappearance of forgotten or -amalgamated races, bears no analogy to this Russian movement; for apart -from the fact that the former represents a protest by race individualism -against dominant nationalities, and the latter, on the contrary, bears -the seal of strong unity of sentiment (which distinguishes Russia), it -must be borne in mind that local literatures are reactionary in -themselves,--restorers of traditions more or less forgotten and lost -sight of,--while Russian literature is an innovation, which accepts the -past, not as its ideal, but as its root. - -I have heard Émile Zola say, with his usual ingenuousness, that between -his own spirit and that of the Russian novel there was something like a -haze. This gray vapor may be the effect of the northern mist which is so -asphyxiating to Latin brains, or it may be owing to the eccentricity -which sometimes produces a work entirely independent of accepted social -notions and historical factors. In order to dissipate this haze, this -mist, I must devote a part of this essay to a study of the race, the -natural conditions, the history, the institutions, the social and -political state of Russia, especially to that revolutionary -effervescence known as Nihilism. Without such a preliminary study I -could scarcely give any idea of this literary phenomenon. - -Let us, then, cross the Russian frontier and enter her colossal expanse, -without being too much abashed by its size, which, says Humboldt, is -greater than that of the disk of the full moon. Really, when we cast our -eyes upon the map, fancy refuses to believe or to conceive that so large -an extent of territory can form but one nation and obey but one man. We -are amazed by its geographical bigness, and a sentiment of respect -involuntarily enters the mind, together with the instinctive conviction -that God has not modelled the body of this Titan without having in view -for it some admirable historical destiny to be achieved by the fine -diplomacy of Providence. Truly it is God's handiwork, as is proved by -its solid unity,--geographical as well as ethnographical,--and its -duration as an independent empire. Russia is no artificial -conglomeration, nor a federation of States,--each with distinct internal -life and traditions,--the result of conquest or of the necessity of -resistance to a common enemy; for while the strife against the nomadic -Asiatics may have contributed to solidify her union, it was Nature that -predisposed her to a community of aspirations and political existence. -There are islands like Sicily, peninsulas like Spain, whose territory, -though so small, is far more easily subdivided than Russia, which is -intersected by no mountain chains, and which is everywhere connected by -rivers,--water-ways of communication. The vast surface of Russia is like -a piece of cloth which unfolds everywhere alike, seamless and level. The -northern regions, which produce lumber, cannot exist without the -southern regions, which produce cereals; the two halves of Russia are -complementary; there is nowhere any conception of the provincialisms -which honeycomb the Spanish peninsula; and in spite of the imposing -magnitude of the nation, which at first glance would seem necessarily -divided into different if not inimical provinces, especially those most -distant, the cohesion is so strong that all Russia considers herself, -not so much a state as a family, subject to the law of a father; and -Father they call, with tender familiarity, the Autocrat of all the -Russias. Even to-day the name of the famous Mazeppa, who tried to -separate Ukrania from Russia, is a term of insult in the Ukranian -dialect, and his name is cursed in their temples. To this sublime -sentiment Russia owes that national independence which the other -Sclavonic peoples have lost. - - - - -III. - -The Russian Race. - - -It is no hindrance to Muscovite unity that within it there are two -completely opposing elements, namely, the Germanic and the Semitic. The -influence of the Germans is about as irritating to the Russians as was -that of the Flemings to the Spaniards under Charles V. They are petted -and protected by the government, especially in the Baltic provinces, all -the while that the Russians accuse them of having introduced two -abominations,--bureaucracy and despotism. But even more aggravating to -the Russian is the Jewish usurer, who since the Middle Ages has fastened -himself like a leach upon producer and consumer, and who, if he does not -borrow or lend, begs; and if he does not beg, carries on some -suspicious business. A nation within a nation, the Jews are sometimes -made the victims of popular hatred; the usually gentle Russians -sometimes rise in sudden wrath, and the newspapers report to us dreadful -accounts of an assault and murder of Hebrews. - -Russian national unity is not founded, however, upon community of race; -on the contrary, nowhere on the globe are the races and tribes more -numerous than those that have spread over that illimitable territory -like the waves of the sea; and as the high tide washes away the marks of -every previous wave, and levels the sandy surface, these divers races -have gone on stratifying, each forgetful of its distinct origin. Those -who study Russian ethnography call it a chaos, and declare that at least -twenty layers of human alluvium exist in European Russia alone, without -counting the emigrations of prehistoric peoples whose names are lost in -oblivion. And yet from these varied races and origins--Scythians, -Sarmatians, Kelts, Germans, Goths, Tartars, and Mongols--has proceeded a -most homogeneous people, a most solid coalescence, little given to -treasuring up ancient rights and lost causes. Geographical oneness has -superseded ethnographical variety, and created a moral unity stronger -than all other. - -When so many races spread themselves over one country, it becomes -necessary and inevitable that one shall exercise sovereignty. In Russia -this directive and dominant race was the Sclav, not because of numerical -superiority, but from a higher character more adaptable to European -civilization, and perhaps by virtue of its capability for expansion. -Compare the ethnographical maps of Russia in the ninth and nineteenth -centuries. In the ninth the Sclavs occupy a spot which is scarcely a -fifth part of European Russia; in the nineteenth the spot has spread -like oil, covering two thirds of the Russian map. And as the Sclavonic -inundation advances, the inferior races recede toward the frozen pole or -the deserts of Asia. When the monk Nestor wrote the first account of -Russia, the Sclavs lived hedged in by Lithuanians, Turks, and Finns; -to-day they number above sixty million souls. - -Thus it is once more demonstrated that to the Aryan race, naturally and -without violence, is reserved the pre-eminence in modern civilization. A -thousand years ago northern Russia was peopled by Finnish tribes; in -still more recent times the Asiatic fisherman cast his nets where now -stands the capital of Peter the Great; and yet without any war of -extermination, without any emigration of masses, without persecutions, -or the deprivation of legal privileges, the aboriginal Finns have -subsided, have been absorbed,--have become Russianized, in a word. - -This is not surprising, perhaps, to us who believe in the absolute -superiority of the Indo-European race, noble, high-minded, capable of -the loftiest and profoundest conceptions possible to the human -intellect. I may say that the Russian ethnographical evolution may be -compared with that of my own country, if we may trust recent and -well-authenticated theories. The most remote peoples of Russia were, -like those of Spain, of Turanian origin, with flattish faces, and high -cheek-bones, speaking a soft-flowing language; and to this day, as in -Spain also, one may see in some of the physiognomies clear traces of the -old blood in spite of the predominance of the invading Aryan. In Spain, -perhaps, the aboriginal Turanian bequeathed no proofs of intellectual -keenness to posterity, and the famous Basque songs and legends of Lelo -and Altobizkar may turn out to be merely clever modern tricks of -imitation; but in Russia the Finnish element, whose influence is yet -felt, shows great creative powers. One of the richest popular -literatures known to the researches of folk-lore is the epic cycle of -Finland called the Kalevala, which compares with the Sanscrit poems of -old. - -A Castilian writer of note, absent at present from his country, in -writing to me privately his opinions on Russia, said that the -civilization which we behold has been created, so far as concerns its -good points, exclusively by the Mediterranean race dwelling around that -sea of inspiration which stretches from the Pillars of Hercules to Tyre -and Sidon; that sea which brought forth prophets, incarnate gods, great -captains and navigators, arch-philosophers, and the geniuses of mankind. -Recently the most celebrated of our orators has stirred up in Paris some -Greco-Latin manifestations whose political opportuneness is not to the -point just here, but whose ethnographical significance, seeking to -divide Europe into northern barbarians and civilized Latin folk,--just -as happened at the fall of the Roman Empire,--is of no benefit to me. -Who would listen without protest nowadays to the famous saying that the -North has given us only iron and barbarism, or read tranquilly Grenville -Murray's exclamation in an access of Britannic patriotism, "Russia will -fall into a thousand pieces, the common fate of barbarous States!" The -intelligence of the hearers would be offended, for they would recall the -part played in universal civilization by Germans and Saxons,--Germany, -Holland, England; but confining myself to the subject in hand, I cannot -credit those who taunt the Sclav with being a barbarian, when he is as -much an Aryan, a descendant of Japhet, as the Latin, descended as much -as he from the sacred sources beside which lay the cradle of humanity, -and where it first received the revelation of the light. Knowing their -origin, are we to judge the Sclav as the Greeks, the contemporaries of -Herodotus, did the Scythian and the Sarmatian, relegating him forever to -the cold eternal night of Cimmerian regions? - -It is nothing remarkable that, in the varied fortunes of this great -Indo-European family of races, if the Kelt came early to the front, the -Sclav came correspondingly late. Who can explain the causes of this -diversity of destiny between the two branches that most resemble each -other on this great tree? - -In the study of Russian writings I was ofttimes surprised at the -resemblances in the character, customs, and modes of thought of the -Russian _mujik_ to those of the peasants of Gallicia (northern Spain), -my native province. Then I read in various authors that the Sclav is -more like the Kelt than like his other ancestors, which observation -applied equally well to my own people. Perhaps the Kelt brought to Spain -and France the first seeds of civilization; but the superiority of the -Greek and the Latin obliterated the traces of that primitive culture -which has left us no written monuments. More fortunate is the Sclav, the -last to put his hand to the great work, for he is sure of leaving the -marks of his footprints upon the sands of time. - -It is undeniable that he has come late upon the world's stage, and after -the ages of inspiration and of brilliant historic action have passed. It -sometimes seems now as though the brain of the world had lost its -freshness and plastic quality, as though every possible phase of -civilization had been seen in Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages and the -Renaissance, and in the scientific and political development of our own -day. But the backwardness of the Russian has been caused by no -congenital inferiority of race; his quickness and aptitude are apparent, -and sufficient to prove it is the rich treasure of popular poetry to be -found among the peoples of Sclav blood,--Servians, Russians, and Poles. -Such testimony is irrefutable, and is to groups of peoples what -articulate speech is to the individual in the zoological scale. What the -Romanceros are to the Spaniard, the Bilinas are to the Russian,--an -immense collection of songs in which the people have immortalized the -memory of persons and events indelibly engraved on their imagination; a -copious spring, a living fountain, whither the future bards of Russia -must return to drink of originality. What the poem of the Cid represents -to Spain, and the Song of Roland to France, is symbolized for the -Russian by the Song of the Tribe of Igor, the work of some anonymous -Homer,--a pantheistic epic impregnated with the abounding and almost -overwhelming sense of realism which seems to preponderate in the -literary genius of Russia. - -History--and I use this word in the broadest sense known to us -to-day--thrusts some nations to the fore, as the Latins, for example; -others, like the Sclavs, she holds back, restraining their instinctive -efforts to make themselves heard. We are accustomed to say that Russia -is an Asiatic country, and that the Russian is a Tartar with a thin coat -of European polish. The Mongolian element must certainly be taken into -account in a study of Muscovite ethnography, in spite of the supremacy -of the Byzantine and Tartar influence, and in order to understand -Russia. In the interior of European Russia the ugly _Kalmuk_ is still to -be seen, and who can say how many drops of Asiatic blood run in the -veins of some of the most illustrious Russian families? Yet within this -question of purity of race lies a scientific and social _quid_ easily -demonstrable according to recent startling biological theories, and only -the thoughtless will censure the old Spaniards for their efforts to -prove their blood free of any taint of Moor or Jew. Russia, with her -double nature of European and Asiatic, seems like a princess in a -fairy-tale turned to stone by a malignant sorcerer's art, but restored -to her natural and living form by the magic word of some valiant knight. -Her face, her hands, and her beautiful figure are already warm and -life-like, but her feet are still immovable as stone, though the damsel -struggles for the fulness of reanimation; even so Imperial Russia -strives to become entirely European, to free herself from Asiatic -inertia to-day. - -Apart from the undeniable Asiatic influence, we must consider the -extreme and cruel climate as among the causes of her backwardness. The -young civilization flourishes under soft skies, beside blue seas whose -soft waves lave the limbs of the new-born goddess. Where Nature -ill-treats man he needs twice the time and labor to develop his vocation -and tendencies. To us of a more temperate zone, the description of the -rigorous and overpowering climate of Russia is as full of terrors as -Dante's Inferno. The formation of the land only adds to the trying -conditions of the atmosphere. Russia consists of a series of plains and -table-lands without mountains, without seas or lakes worthy of the -name,--for those that wash her coasts are considered scarcely navigable. -The only fragments of a mountain system are known by the generic and -expressive term _ural_, meaning a girdle; and in truth they serve only -to engirdle the whole territory. To an inhabitant of the interior the -sight of a mountainous country is entirely novel and surprising. Almost -all the Russian poets and novelists exiled to the Caucasus have found an -unexpected fountain of inspiration in the panorama which the mountains -afforded to their view. The hero of Tolstoï's novel "The Cossacks," on -arriving at the Caucasus for the first time, and finding himself face to -face with a mountain, stands mute and amazed at its sublime beauty. - -"What is that?" he asked the driver of his cart. - -"The mountain," is the indifferent reply. - -"What a beautiful thing!" exclaims the traveller, filled with -enthusiasm. "Nobody at home can imagine anything like it!" And he loses -himself in the contemplation of the snow-covered crests rising abruptly -above the surface of the steppes. - -The oceans that lie upon the boundaries of Russia send no refreshing -breezes over her vast continental expanse, for the White Sea, the -Arctic, the Baltic, and sometimes the Caspian, are often ice-bound, -while the waves of the Sea of Asof are turbid with the slime of marshes. -Neither does Russia enjoy the mild influence of the Gulf Stream, whose -last beneficent waves subside on the shores of Scandinavia. The winds -from the Arctic region sweep over the whole surface unhindered all the -winter long, while in the short summer the fiery breath of the central -Asian deserts, rolling over the treeless steppes, bring an intolerable -heat and a desolating drought. Beyond Astrakan the mercury freezes in -winter and bursts in the summer sun. Under the rigid folds of her winter -shroud Russia sleeps the sleep of death long months at a time, and upon -her lifeless body slowly and pauselessly fall the "white feathers" of -which Herodotus speaks; the earth becomes marble, the air a knife. A -snow-covered country is a beautiful sight when viewed through a -stereopticon, or from the comfortable depths of a fur-lined, -swift-gliding sleigh; but snow is a terrible adversary to human -activity. If its effects are not as dissipating as excessive heat, it -none the less pinches the soul and paralyzes the body. In extreme -climates man has a hard time of it, and Nature proves the saying of -Goethe: "It envelops and governs us; we are incapable of combating it, -and likewise incapable of eluding its tyrannical power." Formidable in -its winter sleep, Nature appears even more despotic perhaps in its -violent resurrection, when it breaks its icy bars and passes at once -from lethargy to an almost fierce and frenzied life. In the spring-time -Russia is an eruption, a surprise; the days lengthen with magic -rapidity; the plants leaf out, and the fruits ripen as though by -enchantment; night comes hardly at all, but instead a dusky twilight -falls over the land; vegetation runs wild, as though with impatience, -knowing that its season of happiness will be short. The great writer, -Nicolaï Gogol, depicts the spring-time on the Russian steppes in the -following words: - - "No plough ever furrowed the boundless undulations of this - wild vegetation. Only the unbridled herds have ever opened a - path through this impenetrable wilderness. The face of earth - is like a sea of golden verdure, broken into a thousand - shades. Among the thin, dry branches of the taller shrubs - climb the cornflowers,--blue, purple, and red; the broom - lifts its pyramid of yellow flowers; tufts of white clover - dot the dark earth, and beneath their poor shade glides the - agile partridge with outstretched neck. The chattering of - birds fills the air; the sparrow-hawk hangs motionless - overhead, or beats the air with the tips of his wings, or - swoops upon his prey with searching eyes. At a distance one - hears the sharp cry of a flock of wild duck, hovering like a - dark cloud over some lake lost or unseen in the immensity of - the plain. The prairie-gull rises with a rhythmic movement, - bathing his shining plumage in the blue air; now he is a - mere speck in the distance, once more he glistens white and - brilliant in the rays of the sun, and then disappears. When - evening begins to fall, the steppes become quite still; - their whole breadth burns under the last ardent beams; it - darkens quickly, and the long shadows cover the ground like - a dark pall of dull and equal green. Then the vapors - thicken; each flower, each herb, exhales its aroma, and all - the plain is steeped in perfume. The crickets chirp - vigorously.... At night the stars look down upon the - sleeping Cossack, who, if he opens his eyes, will see the - steppes illuminated with sparks of light,--the fireflies. - Sometimes the dark depths of the sky are lighted up by fires - among the dry reeds that line the banks of the little - streams and lakes, and long lines of swans, flying northward - and disclosed to view by this weird light, seem like bands - of red crossing the sky." - -Do we not seem to see in this description the growth of this impetuous, -ardent, spasmodic life, goaded on to quick maturity by the knowledge of -its own brevity? - -Without entirely accepting Montesquieu's theory as to climate, it is -safe to allow that it contains a large share of truth. It is indubitable -that the influence of climate is to put conditions to man's artistic -development by forcing him to keep his gaze fixed upon the phenomena of -Nature and the alternation and contrast of seasons, and helps to develop -in him a fine pictorial sense of landscape, as in the case of the -Russian writers. In our temperate zone we may live in relative -independence of the outside world, and almost insensible to the -transition from summer to winter. We do not have to battle with the -atmosphere; we breathe it, we float in it. Perhaps for this reason good -word-painters of landscape are few in our (Spanish) literature, and our -descriptive poets content themselves with stale and regular phrases -about the aurora and the sunset. But laying aside this parallel, which -perhaps errs in being over-subtle, I will say that I agree with those -who ascribe to the Russian climate a marked influence in the evolution -of Russian character, institutions, and history. - -Enveloped in snow and beaten by the north wind, the Sclav wages an -interminable battle; he builds him a light sleigh by whose aid he -subjects the frozen rivers to his service; he strips the animals of -their soft skins for his own covering; to accustom his body to the -violent transitions and changes of temperature, he steams himself in hot -vapors, showers himself with cold water, and then lashes himself with a -whip of cords, and if he feels a treacherous languor in his blood he -rubs and rolls his body in the snow, seeking health and stimulus from -his very enemy. But strong as is his power of reaction and moral -energy, put this man, overwrought and wearied, beside a genial fire, in -the silence of the tightly closed _isba_, or hut, within his reach a jug -of _kvass_ or _wodka_ (a terrible _fire-water_ more burning than any -other), and, obeying the urgency of the long and cruel cold, he drinks -himself into a drunken sleep, his senses become blunted, and his brain -is overcome with drowsiness. Do not exact of him the persevering -activity of the German, nor talk to him of the public life which is -adapted to the Latin mind. Who can imagine a forum, an oracle, a -tribune, in Russia? Study the effect of an inclement sky upon a Southern -mind in the Elegies of Ovid banished to the Pontus; his reiterated -laments inspire a profound pity, like the piping of a sick bird cowering -in the harsh wind. The poet's greatest dread is that his bones may lie -under the earth of Sarmatia; he, the Latin voluptuary, son of a race -that desires for its dead that the earth may lie lightly on them, -shrinks in anticipation of the cold beyond the tomb, when he thinks that -his remains may one day be covered by that icy soil. - -The Sclav is the victim of his climate, which relaxes his fibres and -clouds his spirit. The Sclav, say those who know him well, lacks -tenacity, firmness; he is flexible and variable in his impressions; as -easily enthusiastic as indifferent; fluctuating between opposite -conclusions; quick to assimilate foreign ideas; as quick to rid himself -of them; inclined to dreamy indolence and silent reveries; given to -extremes of exaltation and abasement; in fact, much resembling the -climate to which he has to adapt himself. It needs not be said that -this description, and any other which pretends to sum up the -characteristics of the whole people, must have numerous exceptions, not -only in individual cases but in whole groups within the Russian -nationality: the Southerner will be more lively and vivacious; the -Muscovite (those properly answering to that name) more dignified and -stable; the Finlander, serious and industrious, like the Swiss, to whose -position his own is somewhat analogous. There is in every nation a -psychical as well as physical type to which the rank and file more or -less correspond, and it is only upon a close scrutiny that one notices -differences. The influence of the Tropics upon the human race has never -been denied; we are forced to admit the influence of the Pole also, -which, while beneficial in those lands not too close upon it, -invigorating both bodies and souls and producing those chaste and robust -barbarians who were the regenerators of the effete Empire, yet too -close, it destroys, it annihilates. Who can doubt the effect of the snow -upon the Russian character when it is stated upon the authority of -positive data and statistics that the vice of drunkenness increases in -direct proportion to the degrees of latitude? There is a fine Russian -novel, "Oblomof" (of which I shall speak again later), which is more -instructive than a long dissertation. The apathy, the distinctively -Russian enervation of the hero, puts the languor of the most indolent -Creole quite in the shade, with the difference that in the case of the -Sclav brain and imagination are at work, and his body, if well wrapped, -is able to enjoy the air of a not unendurable temperature. - -Not only the rigors of climate but the aspect of the outside world has a -marked influence on character. Ovid in exile lamented having to live -where the fields produced neither fruits nor sweet grapes; he might have -added, had he lived in Russia, where the fields are all alike, where the -eye encounters no variety to attract and please it. Castile is flat and -monotonous like Russia, but there the sky compensates for the nakedness -of the earth, and one cannot be sad beneath that canopy of turquoise -blue. In Russia the dark firmament seems a leaden vault instead of a -silken canopy, and oppresses the breast. The only things to diversify -the immense expanse of earth are the great rivers and the broad belts or -zones of the land, which may be divided into the northern, covered with -forests; the _black lands_, which have been the granary of the empire -from time immemorial; the arable steppes, so beautifully described by -Gogol, like the American prairies, the land of the wild horses of the -Russian heroic age; and lastly, the sandy steppes, sterile deserts only -inhabited by the nomadic shepherds and their flocks. Throughout this -vast body four large arteries convey the life-giving waters: the Dnieper -which brought to Russia the culture of old Byzantium; the Neva, beside -which sits the capital of its modern civilization; the Don, legendary -and romantic; and the Volga, the great _Mother Volga_, the marvellous -river, whose waters produce the most delicious fish in the world. -Without the advantage of these rivers, whose abundance of waters is -almost comparable to an ocean, the plains of Russia would be -uninhabitable. Land, land everywhere, an ocean of land, a uniformity of -soil, no rocks, no hills, so that stone is almost unknown in Russia. St. -Petersburg was the first city not built entirely of wood, and it is an -axiom, that Russian houses, as a rule, burn once in seven years. This -dulness and desolation of Nature's aspect must of course influence brain -and imagination, and consequently must be reflected in the literature, -where melancholy predominates even in satire, and whence is derived a -tendency to pessimism and a sort of religious devotion tinged with -misery and sadness. Indolence, fatalism, inconstancy,--these are the -defects of Russian character; resignation, patience, kindness, -tolerance, humility, its better qualities. Its passive resignation may -be readily transformed into heroism; and Count Léon Tolstoï, in his -military narrative of the "Siege of Sevastopol," and his novel "War and -Peace," studies and portrays in a wonderful way these traits of the -national soul. - - - - -IV. - -Russian History. - - -History has been for Russia as inclement and hostile as Nature. A -cursory glance will suffice to show this, and it is foreign to my -purpose to devote more than slight attention to it. - -The Greeks, the civilizers of the world, brought their culture to -Colchis and became acquainted with the very southernmost parts of Russia -known as Sarmatia and Scythia. Herodotus has left us minute descriptions -of the inhabitants of the Cimmerian plains, their ways, customs, -religions, and superstitions, distinguishing between the industrious -Scythians who produce and sell grain, and the nomadic Scythians, the -Cossacks, who, depending on their pastures, neither sow nor work. The -Sarmatian region was invaded and subjugated by the northern Sclavs, who -in turn were conquered by the Goths, these by the Huns, and finally, -upon the same field, Huns, Alans, and Bulgarians fought one another for -the mastery. In this first confused period there is no historical -outline of the Russia that was to be. Her real history begins in a, to -us, strange event, whose authenticity historical criticism may question, -but which is the basis of all tradition concerning the origin of Russian -institutions; I mean the famous message sent by the Sclavs to those -Norman or Scandinavian princes, those daring adventurers, the Vikings -supposedly (but it matters not), saying to this effect, more or less: -"Our land is broad and fertile, but there is neither law nor justice -within it; come and possess it and govern it." - -Upon the foundation provided by this strange proceeding many very -original theories and philosophical conclusions have been built -concerning Russian history; and the partisans of autocracy and the -ancient order of things consider it a sure evidence that Russia was -destined by Heaven to acknowledge an absolute power of foreign -derivation, and to bow voluntarily to its saving yoke. Whether the -triumphal rulers were Normans or Scandinavians or the original Sclavs, -it is certain that with their appearance on the scene as the element of -military strength and of disciplined organization, the history of Russia -begins: the date of this foreign admixture (which would be for us a day -of mourning and shame) Russia to-day celebrates as a glorious -millennium. Heroic Russia came into being with the Varangian or Viking -chieftains, and it is that age which provides the subject of the -_bilinas_; it was the ninth century after Christ, at the very moment -when the epic and romantic life of Spain awoke and followed in the train -of the Cid. - -With the establishment of order and good government among the Sclavs, -Rurik founded the nation, as certainly as he founded later the legendary -city of Novgorod, and his brother and successor, Olaf, that of Kief, -mother of all the Russian cities. It fell to Rurik's race also to give -the signal for that secular resistance which even to-day Russia -maintains toward her perpetual enemy, Constantinople; the Russian fleets -descended the Dnieper to the Byzantine seas to perish again and again -under the Greek fire. Russia received also from this same Byzantium, -against which her arms are ever turned, the Christian religion, which -was delivered to Olga by Constantine Porfirogenitus. Who shall say what -a change there might have been over the face of the earth if the -Oriental Sclavs had received their religion from Rome, like the Poles? - -Olga was the Saint Clotilde of Russia; in Vladimir we see her -Clodovicus. He was a sensuous and sanguinary barbarian, though at times -troubled with religious anxieties, who at the beginning of his reign -upheld paganism and revived the worship of idols, at whose feet he -sacrificed the Christians. But his darkened conscience was tortured -nevertheless by aspirations toward a higher moral light, and he opened a -discussion on the subject of the best religion known to mankind. He -dismissed Mahometanism because it forbade the use of the red wine which -rejoiceth the heart of man; Judaism because its adherents were wanderers -over the face of the earth; Catholicism because it was not sufficiently -splendid and imposing. His childish and primitive mind was taken with -the Asiatic splendors of the church of Constantinople, and being already -espoused to the sister of the Byzantine emperor, he returned to his own -country bringing its priests with him, cast his old idols into the -river, and compelled his astonished vassals to plunge into the same -waters and receive baptism perforce, while the divinity he venerated but -yesterday was beaten, smeared with blood, and buried ignominiously. -Happy the people upon whom the gospel has not been forced by a cruel -tyrant, at the point of the sword and under threats of torture, but to -whom it has been preached by a humble apostle, the brother of -innumerable martyrs and saintly confessors! In the twelfth century, when -Christianity inspired us to reconquer our country, Russia, more than -half pagan, wept for her idols, and seemed to see them rising from the -depths of the river demanding adoration. From this corrupt Byzantine -source Russia derived her second civilization, counting as the first -that proceeding from the colonization and commerce of the Greeks, as -related by Herodotus. The dream of Yaroslaus, the Russian Charlemagne, -was to make his capital, Kief, a rival and imitator of Byzantium. From -Byzantium came the arts, customs, and ideas; and it seemed the fate of -the Sclav race to get the pattern for its intellectual life from abroad. - -Some Russian thinkers deem it advantageous for their country to have -received its Christianity from Byzantium, and consider it an element of -greater independence that the national Church never arrogated to itself -the supremacy and dominion over the State. Let such advantages be judged -by the rule of autocracy and the nullity of the Greek Church. The -Catholic nations, being educated in a more spiritual and exalted idea of -liberty, have never allowed that the monarch could be lord of the human -conscience, and have never known that monstrous confusion of attributes -which makes the sovereign absolute dictator of souls. The Crusade, that -fecund movement which was the work of Rome, never spread over Russia; -and when the Sclavs fell under the Tartar yoke, the rest of Europe left -her to her fate. Russia's choice of this branch of the Christian -religion was fatal to her dominion over other kindred Sclavs; for it -embittered her rivalry with the Poles, and raised an insurmountable -barrier between Russia and European civilization which was inseparably -intertwined with the Catholic faith even in such phenomena as the -Renaissance, which seems at first glance laic and pagan. - -Nevertheless, so much of Christianity as fell to Russia through the -accepted channel sufficed to open to her the doors of the civilized -world, and to rouse her from the torpid sleep of the Oriental. It gave -her the rational and proper form of family life as indicated by -monogamy, whose early adoption is one of the highest and most -distinguishing marks of the Aryan race; and instead of the savage -chieftain surrounded by his fierce vassals always ready for rebellion -and bloodshedding, it gave the idea of a monarch who lives as God's -vicar upon the earth, the living incarnation of law and order,--an idea -which, in times of anarchy and confusion, served to constitute the State -and establish it upon a firm basis. Lastly, Russia owes to Christianity -her ecclesiastical literature, the fount and origin of literary culture -throughout Europe. - -In the thirteenth century--that bright and luminous age, the time of -Saint Thomas, of Saint Francis of Assisi, of Dante, of Saint -Ferdinand--Russia was suddenly invaded by the Mongols, and, like locusts -in a corn-field, those hideous and demoniacal foes fell upon her and -made all Christendom tremble, so that the French historian Joinville -records it as a sign of the coming of Antichrist. "For our sins the -unknown nations covered our land," say the Russian chroniclers. Genghis -Khan, after subduing all Asia, drew around him an immense number of -tribes, and fell upon Russia with irresistible force, sowing the land -with skulls as the flower of the field sows it with seeds, and -compelling the once free and wealthy native Boyars to bring grist to the -mill and serve their conquerors as slaves. The Russian towns and princes -performed miracles of heroism, but in vain. The Tartar hordes, let loose -upon those vast plains where their horses found abundant pasture, rolled -over the land like an inundation. In a more varied country, more densely -populated and with better communication, the Tartars would have been -beaten back, as they were from Moravia. Again Nature's hand was upon the -destinies of Russia; the topographical conditions laid her under the -power of the Golden Horde. - -This great misfortune not only isolated Russia from the Occident and -left her under Asiatic sway, but it also subjugated her to the growing -autocracy of the Muscovite princes who were becoming formidable -oppressors of their subjects, and they in turn were victims, -tributaries, and vassals of the great Khans. So the invasion came to -exercise a decisive influence upon the institutions of the future -empire, pernicious in consequence of the abnormal development allowed to -monarchical authority, and beneficent inasmuch as it aided forcibly in -the formation of the nationality. At the time of the Mongol irruption -Russia was composed of various independent principalities governed by -the descendants of Rurik; the necessity of opposing the invader -demonstrated the necessity also of uniting all under one sceptre. - -Continually chafing at the bit, dissimulating and temporizing with the -enemy by means of clever diplomatic envoys, the princes slowly cemented -their power and prepared the land for a homogeneous state, until one day -the chivalrous Donskoï, the victor at the battle of the Don, opened the -era of reconquest, exclaiming in the exuberance of his first triumph -over the Tartars, "Their day is past, and God is with us!" But Russia's -evil star awoke one of the greatest captains named in history, -Tamerlane, who ruined the work begun by Donskoï, and toward the end of -the fourteenth century once more laid the Muscovite people under -subjection. - -At the meeting of the Council of Florence, when the Greek Emperor John -Paleologos agreed to the reunion of the two churches, the prince of -Moscow, Basil the Blind, showed himself blind of soul as well as of eye, -in obstinately opposing such a union, thus cutting off Russia again from -the Occident. When the Turks took Constantinople and consummated the -fall of the Byzantine empire, Moscow became the capital of the Greek -world, the last bulwark of the schismatic church, the asylum of the -remains of a depraved and perishing organism, of the senile decadence of -the last of the Cæsars. - - - - -V. - -The Russian Autocracy. - - -Such was the sad situation in Russia at the opening of the period of -European Renaissance, out of which grew the modern age which was to -provide the remedy for her ills through her own tyrants. For without -intending a paradox, I will say that tyranny is the liberator of Russia. -Twice these tyrants who have forced life into her, who have impelled her -toward the future, have been called _The Terrible_,--Ivan III., the -uniter of the provinces, he whose very look made the women faint, and -Ivan IV., the first to use the title of Czar. Both these despots cross -the stage of history like spectres called up by a nightmare: the former -morose, dissimulating, and hypocritical, like Louis XI. of France, whom -he resembles; the latter demented, fanatical, epileptic, and -hot-tempered, clutching his iron pike in hand, with which he transfixed -Russia as one may transfix a fluttering insect with a pin. But these -tyrants, gifted and guided by a saving instinct, created the nation. -Ivan III. instituted the succession to the throne, thus suppressing the -hurtful practice of partition among brothers, and it was he who finally -broke the yoke of the Mongols. Ivan IV. did more yet; he achieved the -actual separation of Europe from Asia, put down the anarchy of the -nobles, and taught them submission to law; and not content with this, -he put himself at the head of the scanty literature of his time, and -while he widened the domains of Russia, he protected within her borders -the establishment of the press, until then persecuted as sacrilegious. -It is difficult to think what would have become of the Russian nation -without her great tyrants. Therefore it is that the memory of Ivan IV. -still lives in the popular imagination, and the Terrible Czar, like -Pedro the Cruel of Spain, is neither forgotten nor abhorred. - -The consolidation of the autocratic idea is easily understood in the -light of these historic figures. No wonder that the people accepted it, -from a spirit of self-preservation, since it was despotism that -sustained them, that formed them, so to speak. It is folly to consider -the institutions of a nation as though they were extraneous to it, fruit -of an individual will or of a single event; society obeys laws as exact -as those which regulate the courses of the stars, and the historian must -recognize and fix them. - -The autocracy and the unity of Russia were consolidated together by the -genius of Ivan III., who made their emblem the double-headed eagle, and -by Ivan IV., who sacrificed to them a sea of blood. The municipal -autonomies and the petty independent princes frowned, but Russia became -a true nation; at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the brilliant -age of the monarchical principle, no European sovereign could boast of -being so thoroughly obeyed as the sovereign prince of Moscow. - -The radical concept of omnipotent power, not tempered as in the West by -the humanity of Catholicism, at once rushed headlong to oppression and -slavery. The ambitious regent Boris Godonof was not long in attaching -the serfs to the soil, and upon the heels of this unscrupulous act -followed the dark and bloody days of the false Demetrii, in which the -serf, irritated by the burden of his chains, welcomed, in every -adventurer, in every impostor, a Messiah come to redeem him. Then the -Poles, the eternal enemies of Russia, seized the Kremlin, the Swedes -threatened to overcome her, and the nation seemed ready to perish had it -not been for the heroism of a butcher and a prince; a suggestive example -of the saving strength which at supreme moments rises up in every -nation. - -But one more providential tyrant was needed, the greatest of all, the -most extraordinary man of Russia's history, of the house of Romanoff, -successor to the extinct dynasty of the Terrible Ivans. "Terrible" might -also be applied to the name of the imperial carpenter whose character -and destiny are not unlike those of Ivan IV. Both were precocious in -intellect, both were self-educated, and both cooled their hot youth in -the hard school of abandonment. Out of it came Peter the Great, -determined at all costs to remodel his gigantic empire. - -Herodotus relates how the young Anacarsis, on returning from foreign -lands wherein he had learned new arts and sciences, came to Scythia his -native country, and wished to celebrate there a great feast, after the -manner of the Greeks, in honor of the mother of the gods; hearing of -which the king Sarillius impaled him with a lance. He tells also how -another king who wearied of the Scythian mode of living, and craved the -customs of the Greeks, among whom he had been educated, endeavored to -introduce the Bacchanalian dances, himself taking part in them. The -Scythians refused to conform to these novel ideas, and finally cut off -the king's head; for, adds the historian, "The Scythians detest nothing -so much as foreign customs." The tale of Herodotus was in danger of -being repeated at the beginning of the reign of Peter Romanoff. With him -began the battle, not yet ended, between old Russia, which calls itself -Holy, and new Russia, cut after the Western pattern. While Peter -travelled and studied the industry and progress of Europe with the idea -of bringing them to his Byzantine empire, the rebels at home conspired -to dethrone this daring innovator who threatened to use fire and sword, -whips and scourges, the very implements of barbarism, against barbarism -itself. - -It is a notable fact in Russian history that none of her mighty -sovereigns was possessed of moral conditions in harmony with the vigor -of their intelligence and will force. Russia has had great emperors but -not good emperors. The halo that wreathes the head of Berenguela of -Castile and Isabel the Catholic, Saint Ferdinand, or Saint Louis,--men -and women in whom the ideal of justice seemed to become incarnate,--is -lacking to Vladimir the Baptizer, to Ivan IV., to Peter the Great. -Among Occidental peoples the monarchy owed its prestige and sacred -authority to good and just kings, vicars of God on earth, who were -impressed with a sense of being called to play a noble part in the drama -of history, conscious of grave responsibilities, and sure of having to -render an account of their stewardship to a Supreme Power. The Czars -present quite a different aspect: they seem to have understood -civilization rather by its externals than by its intrinsic doctrines, -which demand first of all our inward perfecting, our gradual elevation -above the level of the beast, and the continuous affirmation of our -dignity. Therefore they used material force as their instrument, and -spared no means to crown their efforts. - -But with all it is impossible to withhold a tribute of admiration to -Peter the Great. That fierce despot, gross and vicious, was not only a -reformer but a hero. Pultowa, which beheld the fall of the power of -Sweden, justified the reforms and the military organization instituted -by the young emperor, and made Russia a European power,--a power -respected, influential, and great. Whatever may be said against war, -whatever sentimental comparisons may be made between the founder and the -conqueror, it must still be admitted that the monarch who leads his -people to victory will lead them _ipse facto_ to new destinies, to a -more glorious and intense historic life. - -If Peter the Great had vacillated one degree, if he had squandered time -and opportunity in studying prudent ways and means for planting his -reforms, if his hand had trembled in laying the rod across the backs of -his nobles, or had spared the lash upon the flesh of his own son, -perhaps he would never have achieved the transformation of his Oriental -empire into a European State, a transformation which embraced -everything,--the navy, the army, public instruction, social relations, -commerce, customs, and even the beards of his subjects, the much -respected traditional long beards, mercilessly shaven by order of the -autocrat. In his zeal for illimitable authority, and that his decrees -might meet with no obstacles either in heaven or earth, this Czar -conceived the bright idea of assuming the spiritual power, and having -suppressed the Patriarchy and created the Synod, he held in his hands -the conscience of his people, could count its every pulsation, and wind -it up like a well-regulated clock. What considerations, human or divine, -will check a man who, like Abraham, sacrifices his first-born to an -idea, and makes himself the executioner of his own son? - -The race sign was not obliterated from the Russian culture produced by -immoral and short-sighted reformers. A woman of low extraction and -obscure history, elevated to the imperial purple, was the one to -continue the work of Peter the Great; his daughter's favorite became the -protector of public instruction and the founder of the University of -Moscow; a frivolous and dissolute Czarina, Elisabeth Petrowna, modified -the customs, encouraged intellectual pleasures and dramatic -representations, and put Russia in contact with the Latin mind as -developed in France; another empress, a parricide, a usurper and -libertine, who deserves the perhaps pedantic name of the Semiramis of -the North given her by Voltaire, hid her delinquencies under the -splendor of her intellect, the refined delicacy of her artistic tastes, -her gifts as a writer, and her magnificence as a sovereign. - -It was the profound and violent shock administered by the hard hand of -Peter the Great that impelled Russia along the road to French culture, -and with equal violence she retraced her steps at the invasion of the -armies of Napoleon. The nobility and the patriots of Russia cursed -France in French,--the language which had been taught them as the medium -of progress; and the nation became conscious of its own individuality in -the hour of trial, in the sudden awakening of its independent instincts. -But in proportion as the nationality arose in its might, the low murmur -of a growing revolution made itself heard. This impulse did not burst -first from the hearts of the people, ground down by the patriarchal -despotism of Old Russia, but from the brain of the educated classes, -especially the nobility. The first sign of the strife, predestined from -the close of the war with the French, was the political repression of -the last years of the reign of Alexander I., and the famous republican -conspiracy of December against Nicholas,--an aristocratic outbreak -contrived by men in whose veins ran the blood of princes. Of these -events I shall speak more fully when I come to the subject of Nihilism; -I merely mention it here in this general glimpse of Russian history. - -Menaced by Asia, Russia had willingly submitted to an absolute power, -because, as we have seen, she lacked the elements that had concurred in -the formation of modern Europe. Classic civilization never entered her -veins; she had no other light than that which shone from Byzantium, nor -any other model than that offered by the later empire; she had no place -in the great Catholic fraternity which had its law and its focus in -Rome, and the Mongolian invasion accomplished her complete isolation. -Spain also suffered an invasion of a foreign race, but she pulled -herself together and sustained herself on a war-footing for seven -centuries. Russia could not do this, but bent her neck to the yoke of -the conqueror. Our national character would have chafed indeed to see -the kings of Asturias and Castile, instead of perpetually challenging -the Moors, become their humble vassals, as the Muscovite princes were to -the Khans. With us the struggle for re-conquest, far from exhausting us, -redoubled our thirst for independence,--a thirst born farther back than -that time, in spite of Leroy-Beaulieu's statement, although it was -indeed confirmed and augmented during the progress of that -Hispano-Saracenic Iliad. The Russians being obliged to lay down their -arms, to suffer and to wait, assumed, instead of our ungovernable -vehemence, a patient resignation. But they none the less considered -themselves a nation, and entertained a hope of vindicating their rights, -which they accomplished finally in the overthrow of the Tartars, and in -later days in rising against the French with an impetuosity and -spontaneity almost as savage as Spain had shown in her memorable days. -Moreover, Russia lacked the elements of historic activity necessary to -enable her to play an early part in the work of modern civilization. She -had no feudalism, no nobility (as we understand the term), no chivalry, -no Gothic architecture, no troubadours, no knights. She lacked the -intellectual impetus of mediæval courts, the sturdy exercise of -scholastic disputations, the elucidations of the problems of the human -race, which were propounded by the thirteenth century. She lacked the -religious orders, that network which enclosed the wide edifice of -Catholicism; and the military, uniting in mystic sympathy the ascetic -and chivalric sentiments. She lacked the councils of the laws of modern -rights; and that her lack might be in nothing lacking, she lacked even -the brilliant heresies of the West, the subtle rationalists and -pantheists, the Abelards and Amalrics, whose followers were brilliant -ignoramuses or rank bigots roused by a question of ritual. Lastly, she -lacked the sunny smile of Pallas Athene and the Graces, the Renaissance, -which brightened the face of Europe at the close of the Middle Ages. - -And as the civilization brought at last to Russia was the product of -nations possessed of all that Russia lacked, and as finally, it was -imposed upon her by force, and without those gradual transitions and -insensible modifications as necessary to a people as to an individual, -she could not accept it in the frank and cordial manner indispensable to -its beneficent action. A nation which receives a culture ready made, and -not elaborated by itself, condemns itself to intellectual sterility; at -most it can only hope to imitate well. And so it happened with Russia. -Her development does not present the continuous bent, the gentle -undulations of European history in which yesterday creates to-day, and -to-day prepares for to-morrow, without an irregular or awkward halt, or -ever a trace broken. In the social order of Russia primitive -institutions coexist with products of our spick and span new sociology, -and we see the deep waters of the past mixed with the froth of the -Utopia that points out the route of the unknown future. This confusion -or inharmoniousness engenders Russian dualism, the cause of her -political and moral disturbances. Russia contains an ancient people, -to-day an anachronism, and a society in embryo struggling to burst its -bounds. - -But above all it is evident there is a people eager to speak, to come -forth, to have a weight in the world, because its long-deferred time has -come; a race which, from an insignificant tribe mewed in around the -sources of the Dnieper, has spread out into an immense nation, whose -territory reaches from the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the -borders of Turkey, Persia, and China; a nation which has triumphed over -Sweden, Poland, the Turks, the Mongols, and the French; a nation by -nature expansive, colonizing, mighty in extent, most interesting in the -qualities of the genius it is developing day by day, and which is more -astonishing than its material greatness, because it is the privilege of -intellect to eclipse force. Half a dozen brains and spirits who are now -spelling out their race for us, arrest and captivate all who contemplate -this great empire. Out of the poverty of traditions and institutions -which Russian history bewails, two characteristic ones appear as bases -of national life: the autocracy, and the agrarian commune,--absolute -imperial power and popular democracy. - -The geography of Russia, which predisposes her both to unity and to -invasion, which obliges her to concentrate herself, and to seek in a -vigorous autocratic principle the consciousness of independent being as -a people, created the formidable dominion of the Muscovite Czars, which -has no equal in the world. Like all primordial Russian ideas, the plan -of this Cæsarian sovereignty proceeded from Byzantium, and was founded -by Greek refugee priests, who surrounded it with the aureole of divinity -indispensable to the establishment of advantageous superstitions so -fecund in historical results. Since the twelfth century the autocracy -has been a fixed fact, and has gone on assuming all the prerogatives, -absorbing all the power, and symbolizing in the person of one man this -colossal nation. The sovereign princes, discerning clearly the object -and end of these aims, have spared no means to attain to it. They began -by checking the proud Boyars in their train, reducing them from -companions and equals to subjects; later on they devoted themselves to -the suppression of all institutions of democratic character. - -For the sake of those who judge of a race by the political forms it -uses, it should be observed that Russia has not only preserved latent in -her the spirit of democracy, but that she possessed in the Middle Ages -republican institutions more liberal and radical than any in the rest of -Europe. The Italian republics, which at bottom were really oligarchies, -cannot compare with the municipal and communist republics of Viatka, -Pskof, and especially the great city of Novgorod, which called itself -with pride Lord Novgorod the Great. The supreme power there resided in -an assembly of the citizens; the prince was content to be an -administrator or president elected by free suffrage, and above all an -ever-ready captain in time of war; on taking his office he swore -solemnly to respect the laws, customs, and privileges of the republic; -if he committed a perjury, the assembly convened in the public square at -the clang of an ancient bell, and the prince, having been declared a -traitor, was stripped, expelled, and _cast into the mud_, according to -the forcible popular expression. This industrious republic reached the -acme of its prosperity in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, after -which the rising principality of Moscow, now sure of its future, came -and took down the bells of Novgorod the Great, and so silenced their -voices of bronze and the voice of Russian liberties, though not without -a bloody battle, as witnesseth the whirlpool--which is still pointed out -to the curious traveller--under the bridge of the ancient republican -city, whose inhabitants were drowned there by Ivan the Terrible. Upon -their dead bodies he founded the unity of the empire. Nor are the free -towns the only tradition of autonomy which disturbed the growing -autocratic power. The Cossacks for a long time formed an independent and -warlike aristocracy, proud and indomitable; and to subdue and -incorporate these bellicose tribes with the rest of the nation it was -necessary to employ both skill and force. - -We may say without vanity that although the Spaniards exalted -monarchical loyalty into a cult, they never depreciated human dignity. -Amongst us the king is he who makes right (_face derecho_), and if he -makes it not, we consider him a tyrant, a usurper of the royal -prerogative; in acknowledging him lord of life and property, we protest -(by the mouth of Calderon's honest rustic) against the idea that he can -arrogate to himself also the dominion over conscience and soul; and the -smallest subject in Spain would not endure at the king's hand the blows -administered by Peter the Great for the correction of his nobles, -themselves descendants of Rurik. In Russia, where the inequalities and -extremes of climate seem to have been communicated to its institutions, -there was nothing between the independent republics and the autocracy. -In Spain, the slightest territorial disaffection, the fruit of partial -conquests or insignificant victories, was an excuse for some upstart -princeling, our instinctive tendencies being always monarchical and -anything like absolute authority and Cæsarism, so odious that we never -allowed it even in our most excellent kings; a dream of imperial power -would almost have cost them the throne. In Russia, absolutism is in the -air,--one sole master, one lord omnipotent, the image of God himself. - -Read the Muscovite code. The Czar is named therein _the autocrat whose -power is unlimited_. See the catechism which is taught in the schools of -Poland; it says that the subject owes to the Czar, not love or loyalty, -but adoration. Hear the Russian hymn; amid its harmonies the same idea -resounds. In all the common forms of salutation to the Czar we shall -find something that excites in us a feeling of rebellion, something that -represents us as unworthy to stand before him as one mortal before -another. Paul I. said to a distinguished foreigner, "You must know that -in Russia there is no person more important than the person to whom I -speak and while I speak." A Czar who directs by means of _ukases_ not -only the dress but even the words of the language which his subjects -must use, and changes the track of a railroad by a stroke of his pen, -frightens one even more than when he signs a sentence of proscription; -for he reaches the high-water mark of authority when he interferes in -these simple and unimportant matters, and demonstrates what one may call -the micrography of despotism. If anything can excuse or even commend to -our eyes this obedience carried to an absurdity, it is its paternal -character. There are no offences between fathers and sons, and the Czar -never can insult a subject. The serf calls him _thou_ and _Father_, and -on seeing him pass he takes off his cap though the snow falls, crossing -his hands over his breast with religious veneration. For him the Czar -possesses every virtue, and is moved only by the highest purposes; he -thinks him impeccable, sacred, almost immortal. If we abide by the -judgment of those who see a symbol of the Russian character in the call -of Rurik and the voluntary placing of the power in his hands, the -autocracy will not seem a secular abuse or a violent tyranny, but rather -an organic product of a soil and a race; and it will inspire the respect -drawn forth by any spontaneous and genuine production. - -There exists in Russia a small school of thinkers on public affairs, -important by reason of the weight they have had and still have upon -public opinion. They are called Sclavophiles,--people enamoured of their -ancient land, who affirm that the essence of Russian nationality is to -be found in the customs and institutions of the laboring classes who are -not contaminated by the artificial civilization imported from the -corrupt West; who make a point of appearing on occasions in the national -dress,--the red silk blouse and velvet jacket, the long beard and the -clumsy boots. According to them, the only independent forces on which -Russia can count are the people and the Czar,--the immense herd of -peasants, and, at the top, the autocrat. And in fact the Russian empire, -in spite of official hierarchies, is a rural state in which the -sentiment of democratic equality predominates so entirely that the -people, not content with having but yesterday taken the Czar's part -against the rich and mighty Boyars, sustains him to-day against the -revolution, loves him, and cannot conceive of intermediaries between him -and his subjects, between lord and vassal, or, to put it still more -truly, between father and son. And having once reduced the nobles, with -the consent of the people, to the condition of inoffensive hangers-on of -the court, many thinkers believe that the Czar need only lean upon the -rude hand of the peasant to quell whatever political disaffection may -arise. So illimitable is the imperial power, that it becomes impotent -against itself if it would reduce itself by relegating any of its -influence to a class, such as, for instance, the aristocracy. If -turbulent magnates or sullen conspirators manage to get rid of the -person of the Czar, the principle still remains inviolate. - - - - -VI. - -The Agrarian Communes. - - -At the right hand of the imperial power stands the second Russian -national institution, the municipal commune known as the _mir_, which is -arresting the attention of European statesmen and sociologists, since -they have learned of its existence (thanks to the work of Baron -Haxsthausen on the internal life of Russia). Who is not astonished at -finding realized in the land of the despots a large number of the -communist theories which are the terror of the middle classes in -liberal countries, and various problems, of the kind we call formidable, -there practically solved? And why should not a nation often called -barbarous swell with pride at finding itself, suddenly and without noise -or effort, safely beyond what in others threatens the extremity of -social revolution? Therefore it happens that since the discovery of the -_mir_, the Russians have one argument more, and not a weak one, against -the corrupt civilization of the Occident. The European nations, they -say, are running wildly toward anarchy, and in some, as England, the -concentration of property in a few hands creates a proletariat a -thousand times more unhappy than the Russian serf ever was, a hungry -horde hostile to the State and to the wealthy classes. Russia evades -this danger by means of the _mir_. In the Russian village the land -belongs to the municipality, amongst whose members it is distributed -periodically; each able-bodied individual receives what he needs, and is -spared hunger and disgrace. - -Foreigners have not been slow to examine into the advantages of such an -arrangement. Mackenzie Wallace has pronounced it to be truly -constitutional, as the phrase is understood in his country; not meaning -a sterile and delusive law, written upon much paper and enwrapped in -formulas, but a traditional concept which came forth at the bidding of -real and positive necessities. What an eloquent lesson for those who -think they have improved upon the plan of the ages! History, scouting -our thirst for progress, offers us again in the _mir_ the picture of the -serpent biting his own tail. This institution, so much lauded by the -astonished traveller and the meditative philosopher, is really a -sociological fossil, remains of prehistoric times, preserved in Russia -by reason of the suspension or slow development of the history of the -race. Students of law have told me that in the ancient forms of -Castilian realty, those of Santander, for example, there have been -discovered traces of conditions analogous to the Russian _mir_. And when -I have seen the peasants of my own province assembled in the -church-porch after Mass, I have imagined I could see the remains of this -Saturnian and patriarchal type of communist partition. Common possession -of the land is a primitive idea as remote as the prehistoric ages; it -belongs to the paleontology of social science, and in those countries -where civilization early flourished, gave way before individual interest -and the modern idea of property. "Happy age and blessed times were -those," exclaimed Don Quixote, looking at a handful of acorns, "which -the ancients called golden, and not because gold which in our iron age -has such a value set on it, not because gold could be got without any -trouble, but because those who lived in it were ignorant of those two -words, _mine_ and _thine_! In that blessed age everything was in common; -nobody needed to take any more trouble for his necessities than to -stretch forth his hand and take from the great oak-trees the sweet and -savory fruit so liberally offered!" Gone long ago for us is the time -deplored by the ingenious knight, but it has reappeared there in the -North, where, according to our information, it is still recent; for it -is thought that the _mir_ was established about the sixteenth century. - -The character of the _mir_ is entirely democratic; the oldest peasant -represents the executive power in the municipal assembly, but the -authority resides in the assembly itself, which consists of all the -heads of families, and convenes Sundays in the open air, in the public -square or the church-porch. The assembly wields a sacred power which no -one disputes. Next to the Czar the Russian peasant loves his _mir_, -among whose members the land is in common, as also the lake, the mills, -the canals, the flocks, the granary, the forest. It is all re-divided -from time to time, in order to avoid exclusive appropriation. Half the -cultivable land in the empire is subject to this system, and no -capitalist or land-owner can disturb it by acquiring even an inch of -municipal territory; the laborer is born invested with the right of -possession as certainly as we are all entitled to a grave. In spite of a -feeling of distrust and antipathy against communism, and of my own -ignorance in these matters which precludes my judgment of them, I must -confess to a certain agreement with the ardent apologists of the Russian -agrarian municipality. Tikomirov says that in Russia individual and -collective property-rights still quarrel, but that the latter has the -upper hand; this seems strange, since the modern tendency is decidedly -toward individualism, and it is hard to conceive of a return to -patriarchal forms; but there is no reason to doubt the vitality of the -_mir_ and its generation and growth in the heart of the fatherland, and -this is certainly worthy of note, especially in a country like Russia, -so much given to the imitation of foreign models. Mere existence and -permanence is no _raison d'être_ for any institution, for many exist -which are pernicious and abominable; but when an institution is found to -be in harmony with the spirit of the people, it must have a true merit -and value. It is said that the tendency to aggregate, either in agrarian -municipalities or in trades guilds and corporations, is born in the -blood and bred in the bone of the Sclavs, and that they carry out these -associations wherever they go, by instinct, as the bee makes its cells -always the same; and it is certainly true that as an ethnic force the -communistic principle claims a right to develop itself in Russia. It is -certain that the _mir_ fosters in the poor Russian village habits of -autonomous administration and municipal liberty, and that in the shadow -of this humble and primitive institution men have found a common home -within the fatherland, no matter how scattered over its vast plains. -"The heavens are very high, and the Czar is far off," says the Russian -peasant sadly, when he is the victim of any injustice; his only refuge -is the _mir_, which is always close at hand. The _mir_ acts also as a -counterbalance to a centralized administration, which is an inevitable -consequence of the conformation of Russian territory; and it creates an -advantageous solidarity among the farmers, who are equal owners of the -same heritages and subject to the same taxes. - -Since 1861 the rural governments, released from all seignorial -obligations, elect their officers from among themselves, and the smaller -municipal groups, still preserving each its own autonomy, meet together -in one larger municipal body called _volost_, which corresponds to the -better-known term _canton_. No institution could be more democratic: -here the laboring man discusses his affairs _en famille_, without -interference from other social classes; the _mir_ boasts of it, as also -of the fact that it has never in its corporate existence known head or -chief, even when its members were all serfs. In fine, the _mir_ holds -its sessions without any presiding officer; rooted in the communist and -equal-rights idea, it acknowledges no law of superiority; it votes by -unanimous acclamation; the minority yields always to the general -opinion, to oppose which would be thought base obstinacy. "Only God -shall judge the _mir_" says the proverb; the word _mir_, say the -etymological students and admirers of the institution, means, "world," -"universe," "complete and perfect microcosm," which is sufficient unto -itself and is governed by its own powers. - -To what does the _mir_ owe its vitality? To the fact that it did not -originate in the mind of the Utopian or the ideologist, but was produced -naturally by derivation from the family, from which type the whole -Russian state organization springs. It should be understood, however, -that the peasant family in Russia differs from our conception of the -institution, recalling as it does, like all purely Russian institutions, -the most ancient or prehistoric forms. The family, or to express it in -the language of the best writers on the subject, _the great Russian -family_, is an association of members submitted to the absolute -authority of the eldest, generally the grandfather,--a fact personally -interesting to me because of the surprising resemblance it discloses -between Russia and the province of Gallicia, where I perceive traces of -this family power in the _petrucios_, or elders. In this association -everything is in common, and each individual works for all the others. -To the head of the house is given a name which may be translated as -administrator, major-domo, or director of works, but conveys no idea of -relationship. The laws of inheritance and succession are understood in -the same spirit, and very differently from our custom. When a house or -an estate is to be settled, the degree of relationship among the heirs -is not considered; the whole property is divided equally between the -male adults, including natural or adopted sons if they have served in -the family the same as legitimate sons, while the married daughter is -considered as belonging to the family of her husband, and she and the -son who has separated himself from the parent house are excluded from -the succession, or rather from the final liquidation or settlement -between the associates. Although there is a law of inheritance written -in the Russian Code, it is a dead letter to a people opposed to the idea -of individual property. - -Intimately connected with this communist manner of interpreting the -rights of inheritance and succession are certain facts in Russian -history. For a long time the sovereign authority was divided among the -sons of the ruler; and as the Russian nobility rebelled against the -establishment of differences founded upon priority in birth, entail and -primogeniture took root with difficulty, in spite of the efforts made by -the emperors to import Occidental forms of law. Their idea of succession -is so characteristic that, like the Goths, they sometimes prefer the -collateral to the immediate branch, and the brother instead of the son -will mount the steps of the throne. It is important to note these -radical differences, because a race which follows an original method in -the matter of its laws has a great advantage in setting out upon genuine -literary creations. - -But while the family, understood as a group or an association, offers -many advantages from the agrarian point of view, its disadvantages are -serious and considerable because it annuls individual liberty. It -facilitates agricultural labors, it puts a certain portion of land at -the service of each adult member, as well as tools, implements, fuel, -and cattle; helps each to a maintenance; precludes hunger; avoids legal -exactions (for the associated family cannot be taxed, just as the _mir_ -cannot be deprived of its lands); but on the other hand it puts the -individual, or rather the true family, the human pair, under an -intolerable domestic tyranny. According to traditional usage, the -authority of the head of the family was omnipotent: he ordered his -house, as says an old proverb, like a Khan of the Crimea; his gray hairs -were sacred, and he wielded the power of a tribal chieftain rather than -of a head of a house. In our part of the world marriage emancipates; in -Russia, it was the first link in a galling chain. The oppression lay -heaviest upon the woman: popular songs recount the sorrows of the -daughters-in-law subjected to the maltreatment of mothers-in-law and -sisters-in-law, or the victims of the vicious appetites of the chief, -who in a literally Biblical spirit thought himself lord of all that -dwelt beneath his roof. Truly those institutions which sometimes elicit -our admiration for their patriarchal simplicity hide untold iniquities, -and develop a tendency to the abuse of power which seems inherent in the -human species. - -At first sight nothing could be more attractive than the great Russian -family, nothing more useful than the rural communes; and nowadays, when -we are applying the laws and technicism of physiology to the study of -society, this primordial association would seem the cell from which the -true organism of the State may be born; the family is a sort of lesser -municipality, the municipality is a larger family, and the whole Russian -people is an immense agglomeration, a great ant-hill whose head is the -emperor. In the popular songs we see the Oriental idea of the nation -expressed as the family, when the peasant calls the Czar _father_. But -this primitive machinery can never prevail against the notion of -individualism entertained among civilized peoples. Our way of -understanding property, which the admirers of the Russian commune -consider fundamentally vicious, is the only way compatible with the -independence and dignity of work and the development of industries and -arts. The Russian _mir_ may prevent the growth of the proletariat, but -it is by putting mankind in bonds. It may be said that agrarian -communism only differs from servitude in that the latter provides one -master and the former many; and that though the laboring man -theoretically considers himself a member of a co-operative agricultural -society, he is in reality a slave, subject to collective -responsibilities and obligations, by virtue of which he is tied to the -soil the same as the vassals of our feudal epochs. Perhaps the new -social conditions which are the fruit of the emancipation of the serfs, -which struck at and violated the great associated family, will at last -undermine the _mir_, unless the _mir_ learns some way to adapt itself to -any political mutations. What is most important to the study of the -historical development and the social ideas as shown in modern Russian -literature, is to understand how by means of the great family and the -agrarian municipality, communism and socialism run in the veins of the -people of Russia, so that Leroy-Beaulieu could say with good reason, -that if they are to be preserved from the pernicious effects of the -Occidental proletariat it must be by inoculation, as vaccination exempts -from small-pox. - -The socialist leaven may be fairly said to lie in the most important -class in the Russian State,--important not alone by reason of numerical -superiority, but because it is the depositary of the liveliest national -energies and the custodian of the future: I mean the peasants. There -are some who think that this _mitjik_, this _little man_ or _black man_, -tiller of still blacker soil, holds the future destinies of Europe in -his hands; and that when this great new Horde becomes conscious some day -of its strength and homogeneity, it will rise, and in its concentrated -might fall upon some portion of the globe, and there will be no defence -or resistance possible. In the rest of Europe it is the cities, the -urban element, which regulates the march of political events. Certainly -Spain is not ignorant of this fact, since she has a vivid remembrance of -civil wars in which the rustic element, representing tradition, was -vanquished. In Russia, the cities have no proportionate influence, and -that which demands the special attention of the governor or the -revolutionist is the existence, needs, and thoughts of the innumerable -peasant communities, who are the foundation and material of an empire -justly termed rural. From this is derived a sort of cult, an apotheosis -which is among the most curious to be found in Russian modern -literature. Of the peasant, wrapped in badly cured sheepskins, and -smelling like a beast; the humble and submissive peasant, yesterday -laden with the chains of servitude; the dirty, cabbage-eating peasant, -drunk with _wodka_, who beats his wife and trembles with fright at -ghosts, at the Devil, and at thunder,--of this peasant, the charity of -his friends and the poetic imagination of Russian writers has made a -demi-god, an ideal. So great is the power of genius, that without -detriment to the claims of truth, picturing him with accurate and even -brutal realism (which we shall find native to the Russian novel), -Russian authors have distilled from this peasant a poetic essence which -we inhale involuntarily until we, aristocratic by instinct, disdainful -of the rustic, given to ridicule the garlic-smelling herd, yield to its -power. And not content with seeing in this peasant a brother, a -neighbor, whom, according to the word of Christ, we ought to love and -succor, Russian literature discovers in him a certain indefinable -sublimity, a mysterious illumination which other social classes have -not. Not merely because of the introduction of the picturesque element -in the description of popular customs has it been said that Russian -contemporary literature smells of the peasant, but far rather because it -raises the peasant to the heights of human moral grandeur, marks in him -every virtue, and presupposes him possessed of powers which he never -puts forth. From Turguenief, fine poet as he is, to Chtchédrine, the -biting satirist, all paint the peasant with loving touch, always find a -ready excuse for his defects, and lend him rare qualities, without ever -failing to show faithfully his true physiognomy. Corruption, effeminacy, -and vice characterize the upper classes, particularly the employees of -government, or any persons charged with public trusts; and to make these -the more odious, they are attributed with a detestable hypocrisy made -more hateful by apparent kindliness and culture. - -There is a humorous little novel by Chtchédrine (an author who merits -especial mention) entitled "The Generals[1] and the _Mujik_," which -represents two generals of the most ostentatious sort, transported to a -desert island, unable either to get food or to get away, until they meet -with a _mujik_, who performs all sorts of services for them, even to -_making broth in the hollow of his hand_, and then, after making a raft, -conveys them safely to St. Petersburg; whereupon these knavish generals, -after recovering back pay, send to their deliverer a glass of whiskey -and a sum amounting to about three cents. But this bitter allegory is a -mild one compared with the mystical apotheosis of the _mujik_ as -conceived by Tolstoï. In one of his works, "War and Peace," the hero, -after seeking vainly by every imaginable means to understand all human -wisdom and divine revelation, finds at last the sum of it in a common -soldier, imperturbable and dull of soul, and poor in spirit, a prisoner -of the French, who endures with calm resignation ill treatment and death -without once entertaining the idea of taking the life of his foreign -captors. This poor fellow, who, owing to his rude, uncouth mode of life, -suffers persecution by other importunate lesser enemies which I forbear -to name, is the one to teach Pierre Besukof the alpha and omega of all -philosophy, wherein he is wise by intuition, and, in virtue of his -condition as the peasant, fatalistic and docile. - -I have had the good fortune to see with my own eyes this idol of Russian -literature, and to satisfy a part of my curiosity concerning some -features of Holy Russia. Twenty or thirty peasants from Smolensk who had -been bitten by a rabid wolf were sent to Paris to be treated by M. -Pasteur. In company with some Russian friends I went to a small hotel, -mounted to the fourth floor, and entered a narrow sleeping apartment. -The air being breathed by ten or twelve human beings was scarcely -endurable, and the fumes of carbolic acid failed to purify it; but while -my companions were talking with their compatriots, and a Russian -young-lady medical student dressed their wounds, I studied to my heart's -content these men from a distant land. I frankly confess that they made -a profound impression upon me which I can only describe by saying that -they seemed to me like Biblical personages. It gave me a certain -pleasure to see in them the marks of an ancient people, rude and rough -in outward appearance, but with something majestic and monumental about -them, and yet with a suggestion of latent juvenility, the grave and -religious air of dreamer or seer, different from really Oriental -peoples. Their features, as well as their limbs (which bearing the marks -of the wild beast's teeth they held out to be washed and dressed with -tranquil resignation), were large and mighty like a tree. One old man -took my attention particularly, because he presented a type of the -patriarchs of old, and might have served the painter as a model for -Abraham or Job,--a wide skull bald at the top, fringed about with -yellowish white hair like a halo; a long beard streaked with white also; -well-cut features, frontal development very prominent, his eyes half -hidden beneath bushy eyebrows. The arm which he uncovered was like an -old tree-trunk, rough and knotty, the thick sinuous network of veins -reminding one of the roots; his enormous hands, wrinkled and horny, -bespoke a life of toil, of incessant activity, of daily strife with the -energies of Mother Nature. I heard with delight, though without -understanding a word, their guttural speech, musical and harmonious -withal, and I needed not to heat my imagination overmuch to see in those -poor peasants the realization of the great novelists' descriptions, and -an expression of patience and sadness which raised them above vulgarity -and coarseness. The sadness may have been the result of their unhappy -situation; nevertheless it seemed sweet and poetic. - -The attraction which _the people_ exercises upon refined and cultivated -minds is not surprising. Who has not sometimes experienced with terrible -keenness what may be called the æsthetic effect of collectivity? A -regiment forming, the crew of a ship about to weigh anchor, a -procession, an angry mob,--these have something about them that is epic -and sublime; so any peasant, if we see in him an epitome of race or -class, with his historic consequence and his unconscious majesty, may -and ought to interest us. The _payo_ of Avila who passes me -indifferently in the street; the beggar in Burgos who asks an alms with -courteous dignity, wrapped in his tattered clothes as though they were -garments of costly cloth; the Gallician lad who guides his yoke of oxen -and creaking cart,--these not only stir in my soul a sentiment of -patriotism, but they have for me an æsthetic charm which I never feel in -the presence of a dress-coat and a stiff hat. Perhaps this effect -depends rather on the spectator, and it may be our fancy that produces -it; for, as regards the Russian peasant, those who know him well say -that he is by nature practical and positive, and not at all inclined to -the romantic and sentimental. The Sclav race is a rich poetic -wellspring, but it depends upon what one means by poetry. For example, -in love matters, the Russian peasant is docile and prosaic to the last -degree. The hardy rustic is supposed to need two indispensable -accessories for his work,--a woman and a horse; the latter is procured -for him by the head or _old man_ of the house, the former by the _old -woman_; the wedding is nothing more than the matriculation of the -farmer; the pair is incorporated with the great family, the agricultural -commune, and that is the end of the idyl. Amorous and gallant conduct -among peasants would be little fitting, given the low estimation in -which women are held. Although the Russian peasant considers the woman -independent, subject neither to father nor husband, invested with equal -rights with men; and although the widow or the unmarried woman who is -head of the house takes part in the deliberations of the _mir_ and may -even exercise in it the powers of a mayor (and in order to preserve this -independence many peasant-women remain unmarried), this consideration is -purely a social one, and individually the woman has no rights whatever. -A song of the people says that seven women together have not so much as -one soul, rather none at all, for their soul is smoke. The theory of -marriage relations is that the husband ought to love his wife as he does -his own soul, to measure and treasure her as he does his sheepskin coat: -the rod sanctions the contract. In some provinces of Finnish or Tartar -origin the bride is still bought and sold like a head of cattle; it is -sometimes the custom still to steal her, or to feign a rape, symbolizing -indeed the idea of woman as a slave and the booty of war. So rigorous is -the matrimonial yoke, that parricides are numerous, and the jury, -allowing attenuating circumstances, generally pardons them. - -Tikomirov, who, though a radical, is a wise and sensible man, says, that -far from considering the masses of the people as models worthy of -imitation, he finds them steeped in absolute ignorance, the victims of -every abuse and of administrative immorality; deprived for many -centuries of intercourse with civilized nations, they have not outgrown -the infantile period, they are superstitious, idolatrous, and pagan, as -shown by their legends and popular songs. They believe blindly in -witchcraft, to the extent that to discredit a political party with them -one has only to insinuate that it is given to the use of sorcery and the -black arts. The peasant has also an unconquerable propensity to -stealing, lying, servility, and drunkenness. Wherefore, then, is he -judged superior to the other classes of society? - -In spite of the puerile humility to which the Russian peasant is -predisposed by long years of subjection, he yet obeys a democratic -impulse toward equality, which servitude has not obliterated; the -Russian does not understand the English peasant's respect for the -_gentleman_, nor the French reverence for the _chevalier_ well-dressed -and decorated. When the government of Poland ordered certain Cossack -executions of the nobility, these children of the steppes asked one -another, "Brother, has the shadow of my body increased?" Taught to -govern himself, thanks to the municipal regimen, the Russian peasant -manifests in a high degree the sentiment of human equality, an idea both -Christian and democratic, rather more deeply rooted in those countries -governed by absolute monarchy and municipal liberty, than in those of -parliamentary institutions. The Spaniard says, "None lower than the -King;" the Russian says the same with respect to the Czar. Primitive and -credulous, a philosopher in his way, the dweller on the Russian steppes -wields a dynamic force displayed in history by collectivities, be the -moral value of the individual what it may. In nations like Russia, in -which the upper classes are educated abroad, and are, like water, -reflectors and nothing more, the originality, the poetry, the epic -element, is always with the masses of the people, which comes out strong -and beautiful in supreme moments, a faithful custodian of the national -life, as for example when the butcher Minine saved his country from the -yoke of Sweden, or when, before the French invasion of 1812, they -organized bands of guerillas, or set fire to Moscow. - -Hence in Russia, as in France prior to the Revolution, many thinkers -endeavor to revive the antiquated theory of the Genevan philosopher, and -proclaim the superiority of the natural man, by contact with whom -society, infected with Occidental senility, must be regenerated. -Discouraged by the incompatibility between the imported European -progress and the national tradition, unable to still the political -strife of a country where pessimist solutions are most natural and -weighty, their patriotism now uplifts, now shatters their hopes, even in -the case of those who disclaim and condemn individual patriotism, such -as Count Tolstoï; and then ensues the apotheosis of the past, the -veneration of national heroes and of the people. "The people is great," -says Turguenief in his novel "Smoke;" "we are mere ragamuffins." And so -_the people_, which still bears traces of the marks of servitude, has -been converted into a mysterious divinity, the inspiration of -enthusiastic canticles. - - -[1] Voguié explains this title of "General" to be both in the civil and -military order with the qualification of "Excellency." Without living in -Russia one can hardly understand the prestige attached to this title, or -the facilities it gives everywhere for everything. To attain this -dignity is the supreme ambition of all the servants of the State. The -common salutation by way of pleasantry among friends is this line from -the comedy of Griboiëdof, which has become a proverb: "I wish you health -and the tchin of a General."--TR. - - - - -VII. - -Social Classes in Russia. - - -Properly speaking, there are no social classes in Russia, a phenomenon -which explains to some extent the political life and internal -constitution; there is no co-ordinate proportion between the rural and -the urban element, and at first sight one sees in this vast empire only -the innumerable mass of peasants, just as on the map one sees only a -wide and monotonous plain. Although it is true that a rural and -commercial aristocracy did arise and flourish in old Moscow in the -twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the era of invasions, yet the passions -of the wars that followed gave it the death-blow. The middle classes in -the rich and independent republics lost their wealth and influence, and -the people, being unable of themselves to reorganize the State, -sustained the princes, who soon became autocrats, ready at the first -chance to subdue the nobles and unite the disintegrated and war-worn -nation. With the sub-division into independent principalities and the -institution of democratic municipalities the importance of the cities -decreased, and the privileged classes were at an end. The middle class -is the least important. In the same districts where formerly it was most -powerful it has been dissolved by the continuous infusion of the -peasant element, owing to the curious custom of emigration, which is -spontaneous with this nomadic and colonizing people. Many farmers, -although enrolled in the rural villages, spend a large part of the year -in the city, filling some office, and forming a hybrid class between the -rural and artisan classes, thus sterilizing the natural instincts of the -laboring proletariat by the enervation of city life. The emperors were -not blind to the disproportion between the civic and rural elements, and -have endeavored to remedy it. The industrial and commercial population -fled from the cities to escape the taxes; therefore they promulgated -laws prohibiting emigration and the renunciation of civic rights, under -severe penalties. Yet with all these the cities have taken but a second -place in Russian history. Western annals are full of sieges, defences, -and mutinies of cities; in Russia we hear only of the insurrection of -wandering tribes or hordes of peasants. Russian cities exist and live -only at the mandate or protection of the emperor. Every one knows what -extraordinary means were taken by Peter the Great to build St. -Petersburg upon the swamps along the Neva; in twenty-three years that -remarkable woman called the Semiramis of the North founded no less than -two hundred and sixteen cities, determined to create a mesocratic -element, to the lack of which she attributed the ignorance and misery of -her empire. Whenever we see any rapid advancement in Russia we may be -sure it is the work of autocracy, a beneficence of despotism (that word -so shocking to our ears). It was despotism which created the modern -capital opposite the old Byzantine, legendary, retrogressive town,--the -new so different from the old, so full of the revolutionary spirit, its -streets undermined by conspirators, its pavements red with the blood of -a murdered Czar. These cities, colleges, schools, universities, -theatres, founded by imperial and autocratic hands, were the cradle of -the political unrest that rebels against their power; were there no -cities, there would be no revolutions in Russia. Although they do not -harbor crowds of famishing authors like those of London and Paris, who -lie in wait for the day of sack and ruin, yet they are full of a strange -element composed of people of divers extraction and condition, and of -small intellect, but who call themselves emphatically _the intelligence -of Russia_. - -I have felt compelled to render justice to the good will of the -autocrats; and to be equally just I must say that whatever has advanced -culture in Russia has proceeded from the nobility, and this without -detriment to the fact that the larger energies lie with the masses of -the people. The enlightenment and thirst for progress manifested by the -nobility is everywhere apparent in Russian history. They are descended -from the retinues of the early Muscovite Czars, to whom were given -wealth and lands on condition of military service, and they are -therefore in their origin unlike any other European nobility; they have -known nothing of feudalism, nor the Germanic symbolism of blazons, arms, -titles, and privileges, pride of race and notions of caste: these have -had no influence over them. The Boyars, who are the remnants of the -ancient territorial aristocracy, on losing their sovereign rights, -rallied round the Czar in the quality of court councillors, and received -gold and treasure in abundance, but never the social importance of the -Spanish grandee or the French baron. Hence the Russian aristocracy was -an instrument of power, but without class interests, replenished -continually by the infusion of elements from other social classes, for -no barrier prevented the peasant from becoming a merchant and the -merchant from becoming a noble, if the fates were kind. There are -legally two classes of aristocracy in Russia,--the transmissible, or -hereditary, and the personal, which is not hereditary. If the latter -surprise us for a moment, it soon strikes us with favor, since we all -acknowledge to an occasional or frequent protest against the idea of -hereditary nobility, as when we lament that men of glorious renown are -represented by unworthy or insignificant descendants. In Russia, Krilof, -the Æsop of Moscow, as he is called, put this protest into words in the -fable of the peasant who was leading a flock of geese to the city to -sell. The geese complained of the unkindness with which they were -treated, adding that they were entitled to respect as being the -descendants of the famous birds that saved the Capitol, and to whom Rome -had dedicated a feast. "And what great thing have _you_ done?" asked the -peasant. "We? Oh, nothing." "Then to the oven!" he replied. - -The only title of purely national origin in Russia is that of -prince;[1] all others are of recent importation from Europe; in the -family of the prince, as in that of the humblest _mujik_, the sons are -equals in rights and honors, and the fortune of the father, as well as -his title, descends equally to all. Feudalism, the basis of nobility as -a class, never existed in Russia: according to Sclavophiles, because -Russia never suffered conquest in those ancient times; according to -positivist historians, by reason of geographical structure which did not -favor seignorial castles and bounded domains, or any other of those -appurtenances of feudalism dear to romance and poetry, and really -necessary to its existence,--the moated wall, the mole overhanging some -rocky precipice washed by an angry torrent, and below at its foot, like -a hen-roost beneath a vulture's nest, the clustered huts of the vassals. -But we have seen that the Russian nobility acknowledges no law of -superiority; like the people, they hold the idea of divisible and common -property. Hence this aristocracy, less haughty than that of Europe, -ruled by imperial power, subject until the time of Peter III. to -insulting punishment by whip or rod, and which, at the caprice of the -Czar, might at any time be degraded to the quality of buffoons for any -neglect of a code of honor imposed by the traditions of their -race,--never drew apart from the life of the nation, and, on the -contrary, was always foremost in intellectual matters. Russian -literature proves this, for it is the work of the Russian nobility -mainly, and the ardent sympathy for the people displayed in it is -another confirmation. Tolstoï, a noble, feels an irrepressible -tenderness, a physical attraction toward the peasant; Turguenief, a -noble and a rich man, in his early years consecrated himself by a sort -of vow to the abolition of servitude. - -The same lack of class prejudices has made the Russian nobility a quick -soil for the repeated ingrafting of foreign culture according to the -fancy of the emperors. Catherine II. found little difficulty in -modelling her court after that of Versailles; but the same aristocracy -that powdered and perfumed itself at her behest adopted more important -reforms to a degree that caused Count Rostopchine to exclaim, "I can -understand the French citizen's lending a hand in the revolution to -acquire his rights, but I cannot understand the Russian's doing the same -to lose his." They are so accustomed to holding the first place in -intellectual matters, that no privilege seems comparable to that of -standing in the vanguard of advanced thought. They had been urged to -frequent the lyceums and debating societies, to take up serious studies -and scientific education by the word of rulers who were enlightened, and -friends to progress (as were many of them), when all at once sciences -and studies, books and the press, began to be suspected, the censorship -was established, and the conspiracy of December was the signal for the -rupture between authority and the liberal thought of the country. But -the nobles who had tasted of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil -did not resign themselves easily to the limited horizon offered by the -School of Pages or the antechamber of the palace; their hand was upon -the helm, and rather than let it go they generously immolated their -material interests and social importance. The aristocracy is everywhere -else the support of the throne, but in Russia it is a destroying -element; and while the people remains attached to the autocrat, the -nobles learn in the very schools founded by the emperors to pass -judgment upon the supreme authority and to criticise the sovereign. -Nicholas I. did not fail to realize that these establishments of -learning were focuses of revolutionary ardor, and he systematically -reduced the number of students and put limits to scientific education. - -It follows that the most reactionary class, or the most unstable class -in Russia, the class painted in darkest colors by the novelists and used -as a target for their shafts by the satirists, is not the noble but the -bureaucratic, the office-holders, the members of the _tchin_ (an -institution Asiatic in form, comparable perhaps to a Chinese -mandarinate). Peter the Great, in his zeal to set everything in order, -drew up the famous categories wherein the Russian official microcosm is -divided into a double series of fourteen grades each, from -ecclesiastical dignitaries to the military. This Asiatic sort of -machinery (though conceived by the great imitator of the West) became -generally abhorred, and excited a national antipathy, less perhaps for -its hollow formalism than on account of the proverbial immorality of the -officers catalogued in it. Mercenariness, pride, routine, and indolence -are the capital sins of the Russian office-holder, and the first has so -strong a hold upon him that the people say, "To make yourself understood -by him you must talk of rubles;" adding that in Russia everybody robs -but Christ, who cannot because his hands are nailed down. Corruption is -general; it mounts upward like a turbid wave from the humblest clerk to -the archduke, generalissimo, or admiral. It is a tremendous ulcer, that -can only be cured by a cautery of literary satire, the avenging muse of -Gogol, and the dictatorial initiative of the Czars. In a country -governed by parliamentary institutions it would be still more difficult -to apply a remedy. - -The contrast is notable between the odium inspired by the bureaucracy -and the sympathy that greets the municipal institutions,--not only those -of a patriarchal character such as the _mir_, but those too of a more -modern origin. Among the latter may be mentioned the _zemstvo_, or -territorial assembly, analogous to our provincial deputations, but of -more liberal stripe, and entirely decentralized. In this all classes are -represented, and not, as in the _mir_, the peasants merely. The form of -this local parliament is extremely democratic; the cities, the peasants, -and the property-holders elect separate representatives, and the -assembly devotes itself to the consideration of plain but interesting -practical questions of hygiene, salubrity, safety, and public -instruction. This offers another opportunity to the nobility, for this -body engages itself particularly with the well-being and progress of the -poorer classes, in providing physicians for the villages in place of the -ignorant herb-doctors, in having the _mujiks_ taught to read, and in -guarding their poor wooden houses from fire. - -While the Russian nobility has never slept, the Russian clergy, on the -contrary, has been permanently wrapped in lethargy. The rôle accorded to -the Greek Church is dull and depressing, a petrified image, fixed and -archaic as the _icons_, or sacred pictures, which still copy the -coloring and design of the Byzantine epoch. Ever since it was rent by -schism from the parent trunk of Catholicism, life has died in its roots -and the sap has frozen in its veins. Since Peter the Great abolished the -Patriarchy, the ecclesiastical authority resides in a Synod composed of -prelates elected by the government. According to the ecclesiastical -statutes, the emperor is Head of the church, supreme spiritual chief; -and though there has been promulgated no dogma of his infallibility, it -amounts to the same in effect, for he may bind and loose at will. At the -Czar's command the church anathematizes, as when for example to-day the -_popes_ are ordered to preach against the growing desire for partition -of land, against socialism, and against the political enemies of the -government; the priest is given a model sermon after which he must -pattern his own; and such is his humiliation that sometimes he is -obliged by order of the Synod to send information, obtained through his -office as confessor, to the police, thus revealing the secrets of -confiding souls. What a loss of self-respect must follow such a -proceeding! Is it a marvel that some independent schismatics called -_raskolniks_, revivalists and followers of ancient rites and truths, -should thrive upon the decadence of the official clergy, who are -subjected to such insulting servitude and must give to Cæsar what -belongs to God? - -In view of these facts it is in vain to boast of spiritual independence -and say that the Greek church knows no head but Christ. The government -makes use of the clergy as of one arm more, which, however, is now -almost powerless through corruption. The Oriental church has no -conception of the noble devotion which has honored Catholicism in the -lives of Saint Thomas of Canterbury and Cardinal Cisneros. - -The Russian clergy is divided into _black_ and _white_, or regular and -secular; the former, powerful and rich, rule in ecclesiastical -administration; the latter vegetate in the small villages, ill paid and -needy, using their wits to live at the expense of their parishioners, -and to wheedle them out of a dozen eggs or a handful of meal. Is it -strange that the parishioner respects them but little? Is it strange -that the _pope_ lives in gross pride or scandalous immorality, and that -we read of his stealing money from under the pillow of a dying man, of -one who baptized a dog, of another who was ducked in a frozen pond by -his _barino_, or landlord, for the amusement of his guests? It is true -that a few occasional facts prove nothing against a class, and that -malice will produce from any source hurtful anecdotes and more or less -profane details touching sacred things; but to my mind, that which tells -most strongly against the Russian clergy is its inanity, its early -intellectual death, which shut it out completely from scientific -reflection, controversy, and apology, and therefore from all -philosophy,--realms in which the Catholic clergy has excelled. Like a -stripped and lifeless trunk the Oriental church produces no theologians, -thinkers, or _savants_. There are none to elaborate, define, and ramify -her dogmas; the human mind in her sounds no depths of mystery. If there -are no conflicts between religion and science in Russia, it is because -the Muscovite church weighs not a shadow with the free-thinkers. - -Certainly the adherents and members of the earlier church bear away the -palm for culture and spiritual independence. At the close of the -seventeenth century, after the struggles with Sweden and Poland, the -schismatic church aroused the national conscience, and satisfied, to a -certain extent, the moral needs of a race naturally religious by -temperament It began to discuss liturgical minutiæ, and persecuted -delinquents so fiercely that it infused all dissenters with a spirit of -protest against an authority which was disposed to treat them like -bandits or wild beasts. Such persecution demonstrates the fact that not -only ecclesiastical but secular power is irritated by heterodoxy. In -Russia, whose slumbering church is unmoved even by a thunder-bolt, an -instinct of orderliness led the less devout of the emperors against the -schismatics. To-day there are from twelve to fifteen millions of -schismatics and sects; and many among them are given to the coarsest -superstitions, practise obscene and cruel rites, worship the Devil, and -mutilate themselves in their insane fervors. Probably Russia is the only -country in the civilized world to-day where superstition, quietism, and -mysticism, without law or limit, grow like poisonous trees; and in my -work on Saint Francis of Assisi I have remarked how the communist -heresies of the Middle Ages have survived there in the North. Some -authors affirm that the clergy shut their eyes and open their hands to -receive hush-money for their tolerance of heterodoxy. But let us not be -too ready always to believe the worst. Only lately there fell into my -hands an article written by that much respected author, Melchior de -Voguié, who assures us that he has observed signs of regeneration in -many Russian parishes. - -From this review of social classes in Russia it may be deduced that the -peasant masses are the repository of national energies, while the -nobility has until now displayed the most apparent activity. The proof -of this is to be found in the consideration of a memorable historical -event,--the greatest perhaps that the present century has known,--the -emancipation of the serfs. - - -[1] "The term translated 'prince' perhaps needs some explanation. A -Russian prince may be a bootblack or a ferryman. The word _kniaz_ -denotes a descendant of any of the hundreds of petty rulers, who before -the time of the unification of Russia held the land. They all claim -descent from the semi-mythical Rurik; and as every son of a _kniaz_ -bears the title, it may be easily imagined how numerous they are. The -term 'prince,' therefore, is really a too high-sounding title to -represent it."--Nathan Haskell Dole. - - - - -VIII. - -Russian Serfdom. - - -Russia boasts of never having known that black stain upon ancient -civilizations, slavery; but the pretension, notwithstanding many -allegations thereto in her own chronicles, is refuted by Herodotus, who -speaks of the inhuman treatment inflicted by the Scythians on their -slaves, even putting out their eyes that they might better perform -certain tasks; and the same historian refers to the treachery of the -slaves to their masters in raping the women while they were at war with -the Medes, and to the insurrection of these slaves which was put down by -the Scythians by means of the whip alone,--the whip being in truth a -characteristic weapon of a country accustomed to servitude. Herodotus -does say in another place that "among the Scythians the king's servants -are free youths well-born, for it is not the custom in Scythia to buy -slaves;" from which it may be inferred that the slaves were prisoners of -war. Howbeit, Russian authors insist that in their country serfs were -never slaves, and serfdom was rather an abuse of the power of the -nobility and the government than an historic natural result. - -To my mind this is not so; and I must say that I think servitude had an -actual beginning, and that there was a cause for it. The Muscovite -empire was but sparsely populated, and the population was by -temperament adventurous, nomadic, restless, and expansive. We have -observed that the limitless plains of Russia offer no climatic -antagonisms, for the reason that there are no climatic boundaries; but -it was not merely the love of native province that was lacking in the -Russian, but the attachment to the paternal roof and to the home -village. It is said that the origin of this sentiment is embedded in -rock; where dwellings are built of wood and burn every seven years on an -average, there is no such thing as the paternal roof, there is no such -thing as home. With his hatchet in his belt the Russian peasant will -build another house wherever a new horizon allures him. But if the -scanty rural population scatters itself over the steppes, it will be -lost in it as the sand drinks in the rain, and the earth will remain -unploughed and waste; there will be nothing to tax, and nobody to do -military service. Therefore, about the end of the sixteenth century, -when all the rest of Europe was beginning to feel the stirrings of -political liberty and the breath of the Renaissance, the Regent, Boris -Godonof, riveted the chains of slavery upon the wrists of many millions -of human beings in Russia. It is very true that Russian servitude does -not mean the subjection of man to man, but to the soil; for the decree -of Godonof converted the peasant into a slave merely by abrogating the -traditional right of the "black man" to change his living-place on Saint -George's day. The peasant perceived no other change in his condition -than that of finding himself fastened, chained, bound to the soil. The -Russian word which we translate "serf" means "consolidated," -"adherent." - -It is easy to see the historical transition from the free state to that -of servitude. The military and political organization of the Russian -State in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries hedged in the peasant's -liberty of action, and his situation began to resemble that of the Roman -_colonus_, or husbandman, who was neither "bond nor free." When the -nation was constituted upon firmer bases, it seemed indispensable to fix -every man's limitation, to range the population in classes, and to lay -upon them obligations consistent with the needs of the empire. These -bonds were imposed just as the other peoples of Europe were breaking -away from theirs. - -Servitude, or serfdom, did not succeed throughout the empire, however. -Siberia and the independent Cossacks of the South rejected it; only -passive consent could sanction a condition that was not the fruit of -conquest nor had as an excuse the right of the strongest. Even in the -rest of Russia the peasant never was entirely submissive, never -willingly bent his neck to the yoke, and the seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries witnessed bitter and sanguinary uprisings of the serfs, who -were prompt to follow the first impostor who pronounced words of -promise; and, strange to say, what was most galling was his entail upon -the land rather than the deprivation of his own liberty. He imagined -that the lord of the whole earth was the Czar, that by his favor it was -temporarily in possession of the nobles, but that in truth and justice -it belonged to him who tilled it. Pugatchef, the pretender to the title -of Peter III., in order to rally to his standard an innumerable host of -peasants, called himself the rural emperor, and declared that no sooner -should he gain the throne of his ancestors than he would shower treasure -upon the nobles and restore the land to the tillers of it. - -Those who forged the fetters of serfdom had little faith in the -stability of it, however. And although the abuses arising out of it were -screened and tacitly consented to,--and never more so than during the -reign of the humane philosopher, friend, and correspondent of Voltaire, -the Empress Catherine II.,--yet law and custom forever refused to -sanction them. Russian serfdom assumed rather a patriarchal character, -and this softened its harshness. It was considered iniquitous to -alienate the serfs, and it was only lawful in case of parting with the -land whereon those serfs labored; in this way was preserved the thin -line of demarcation between agrarian servitude and slavery. - -There were, however, serfs in worse condition, true helots, namely, the -domestic servants, who were at the mercy of the master's caprice, like -the fowls in his poultry-yard. Each proprietor maintained a numerous -household below stairs, useless and idle as a rule, whose children he -brought up and had instructed in certain ways in order to hire them out -or sell them by and by. The players in the theatres were generally -recruited from this class, and until Alexander I. prohibited such -shameless traffic, it was not uncommon to see announced in the papers -the sale of a coachman beside that of a Holstein cow. But like every -other institution which violates and offends human conscience, Russian -serfdom could not exist forever, in spite of some political and social -advantages to the empire. - -Certain Russian writers affirm that the assassination of masters and -proprietors was of frequent occurrence in the days of serfdom, and that -even now the peasant is disposed to quarrels and acts of violence -against the nobles. Yet, on the whole, I gather from my reading on the -subject that the relations in general between the serf and the master -were, on the one side, humble, reverent, and filial; on the other, kind, -gentle, and protecting. The important question for the peasant is that -of the practical ownership of the land. It is not his freedom but his -agrarian rights that have been restored to him; and this must be borne -in mind in order to understand why the recent emancipation has not -succeeded in pacifying the public mind and bringing about a new and -happy Russia. - -Given the same problem to the peasant and the man of mind, it will be -safe to say that they will solve it in very different ways, if not in -ways diametrically opposed. The peasant will be guided by the positive -and concrete aspect of the matter; the man of mind by the speculative -and ideal. The peasant calculates the influence of atmospheric phenomena -upon his crops, while the other observes the beauty of the sunset or -the tranquillity of the night. In social questions the peasant demands -immediate utility, no matter how small it may be, while the other -demands the application of principles and the triumph of ideas. Under -the care of a master the Russian serf enjoyed a certain material -welfare, and if he fell to the lot of a good master--and Russian masters -have the reputation of being in general excellent--his situation was not -only tolerable but advantageous. On the other hand, the intelligent -could not put up with the monstrous and iniquitous fact of human liberty -being submitted to the arbitrary rule of a master who could apply the -lash at will, sell men like cattle, and dispose as he would of bodies -and souls. Where this exists, since Christ came into the world, either -there is no knowledge, or the ignominy must be stamped out. - -We all know that celebrated story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the famous -Abolitionist novel by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. There were also -novelists in Russia who set themselves to plead for the emancipation of -the serfs. But there is a difference between them and the North American -authoress, in that the Russians, in order to achieve their object, had -no need to exaggerate the reality, to paint sensitive slaves and -children that die of pity, but, with an artistic instinct, they appealed -to æsthetic truth to obtain human justice. "Dead Souls," by Gogol, or -one of the poetical and earnest _brochures_ of Turguenief, awakens a -more stirring and permanent indignation than the sentimental allegory -of Mrs. Stowe; and neither Gogol nor Turguenief misrepresented the serf -or defamed the master, but rather they present to us both as they were -in life, scorning recourse to bad taste for the sake of capturing tender -hearts. The noblest sentiments of the soul, divine compassion, equity, -righteous vengeance, the generous pity that moves to sacrifice, rise to -the inspired voice of great writers; we see the abuse, we feel it, it -hurts us, it oppresses us, and by a spontaneous impulse we desire the -good and abhor the evil. This enviable privilege has been granted to the -Russian novelists; had they no greater glory, this would suffice to save -them from oblivion. - -The Abolitionist propaganda subtly and surely spread through the -intelligent classes, created an opinion, communicated itself naturally -to the press in as far as the censor permitted, and little by little the -murmur grew in volume, like that raised against the administrative -corruption after the Crimean War. And it is but just to add that the -Czars were never behind in this national movement. Had it not been for -their omnipotent initiative, who knows if even now slavery would not -stain the face of Europe? There is reason to believe it when one sees -the obstacles that hinder other reforms in Russia in which the autocrat -takes no part. Doubtless the mind of the emperor was influenced by the -words of Alexander II., in 1856, to the Muscovite nobles: "It is better -to abolish serfdom by decrees from above than to wait for it to be -destroyed by an impulse from below." A purely human motive; yet in every -generous act there may be a little egotistical leaven. Let us not judge -the unfortunate Emancipator too severely. - -The Crimean War and its grave internal consequences aided to undermine -the infamous institution of serfdom, at the same time that it disclosed -the hidden cancer of the administration, the misgovernment and ruin of -the nation. With the ill success of the campaign, Russia clearly saw the -need for self-examination and reorganization. Among the many and -pressing questions presented to her, the most urgent was that of the -serfs, and the impossibility of re-forming a prosperous State, modern -and healthy, while this taint existed within her. Alexander II., whose -variability and weakness are no bar to his claim of the honored title of -the Liberator, exhorted the aristocracy to consummate this great work, -and (a self-abnegation worthy of all praise, and which only a blind -political passion can deny them) the nobles coincided and co-operated -with him with perfect good faith, and even with the electrical -enthusiasm characteristic of the Sclavic race. One cannot cease to extol -this noble act, which, taken as a whole, is sublime, although, being the -work of large numbers, it may be overloaded with details and incidents -in which the interest flags. It may be easy to preach a reform whose -aims do not hurt our pride, shatter our fortunes, alter our way of -living, or conflict with the ideas inculcated upon us in childhood by -our parents; but to do this to one's own detriment deserves especial -recognition. The nobility on this occasion only put into practice -certain theories which had stirred in their hearts of old. The first -great Russian poet, Prince Kantemire, wrote in 1738, in his satires, -that Adam did not beget nobles, nor did Noah save in the ark any but his -equals,--humble husbandmen, famous only for their virtues. To my mind -the best praise to the Russian nobility is for having offered less -hindrance to the emancipation of the serfs than the North American -democracy to the liberation of the slaves; and I solicit especial -applause for this self-sacrificing, redeeming aristocracy. - -The fruits of the emancipation were not what desire promised. The -peasants, from their positivist point of view, set little value on -liberty itself, and scarcely understood it. "We are yours," they were -accustomed to say to their masters; "but the soil is ours." When it -became known that they must go on paying even for the goods of the -community, they rebelled; they declared that emancipation was a farce, a -lie, and that true emancipation ought to abolish rent and distribute the -land in equal parts. Did not the proclamation of the Czar read that they -were free? Well, freedom, in their language, meant emancipation from -labor, and the possession of the land. One _mir_ even sent a deputation -to the governor, announcing that as he had been a good master he would -still be allowed the use and profit of his house and farm. The peasant -believed himself free from all obligation, and even refused to work -until the government forced him to do so; and the result was that the -lash and the rod were never so frequently laid across Russian shoulders -as in the first three years of emancipation and liberty. - -What cared they--"the little black men"--for the dignity of the freeman -or the rights of citizenship? That which laid strongest hold of their -primitive imagination was the desire to possess the whole land,--the old -dream of what they called the _black partition_, the national Utopia. -One Russian revolutionary journal adopted the name of "Land and -Liberty," a magic motto to a peasant country, giving the former the -first place, or at least making the two synonymous. The Russian -people ask no political rights, but rather the land which is watered -by the sweat of their brow; and if some day the anarchists--the -agitators who go from village to village propagating their sanguinary -doctrines--succeed in awakening and stirring this Colossus to action, it -will be by touching this tender spot and alluring by the promise of this -traditional dream. The old serf lives in hopes of a Messiah, be he -emperor or conspirator, who shall deliver the earth into his hands; and -at times the vehemence of this insatiable desire brings forth popular -prophets, who announce that the millennium is at hand, and that by the -will of Heaven the land is to be divided among the cultivators thereof. -From his great love to the autocrat the peasant believes that _he_ also -desires this distribution, but being hampered by his counsellors and -menaced by his courtiers, he cannot authorize it yet. "For," says the -peasant, "the land never belonged to the lords, but first to the -sovereign and then to the _mir_." The idea of individual proprietorship -is so repugnant to this people that they say that even death is -beautiful shared in common. - -All the schismatic sects in Russia preach community of possessions. Some -among them live better than the orthodox Greeks; some are voluntarily -consecrated to absolute poverty, such as characterized the early orders -of mendicants, and literally give their cloak to him who asks; but both -the more temperate and the fanatics agree in the faith of the general -and indisputable right of man to possess the land he cultivates. - -With society as with the individual, after great effort comes -prostration, after a sudden change, inevitable uneasiness. So with -Russian emancipation. Although in some localities the condition of the -peasants was ameliorated, in others their misery and retrogression -seemed only to increase, and led them to pine for the old bonds. The -abuse, arbitrariness, and cruelty which are cited, and which shock the -nerves of Westerners, caused no alarm to the Russian peasant, who was -well used to baring his back in payment for any delinquency. The worst -extent to which the master allowed his anger to spend itself was an -unlimited number of stripes; and this very punishment, which to-day no -master would inflict, and which the law expressly forbids, is still -frequently imposed by the peasant tribunals of the _volost_ or -_canton_; their confidence in its efficacy is well grounded, and it is -well authorized by custom and experience. What the peasant fears and -hates most is not the rod or the whip, but the rent-collector, the -tax-gatherer, the burden of the taxes themselves, and hunger. - -What must be the æsthetic and political determination of this race, -which prefers the possession of the soil to the liberty of the -individual? In literature, toward a plain and candid realism; in form of -government, a communist absolutism. The abstract constitutional idea, -which, in spite of its Anglo-Saxon origin, meets perfectly the ideal -entertained by Latin minds, has no charm for the Sclav. Yet at the same -time the Russian combines, with his practical and concrete notions of -life and his preponderating sense of realism, a dreamy and childlike -imagination, which acts upon him like a dangerous dose of opium. - -In the next essay I propose to show how there has grown up within this -patient and submissive rural people, and has finally burst forth, that -most terrible of revolutionary volcanoes, nihilism. - - - - -Book II. - -RUSSIAN NIHILISM AND ITS LITERATURE. - - - - -I. - -The Word "Nihilism." - - -I have scarcely realized until now the difficulties in the way of the -subject I am treating. To talk of nihilism is an audacious undertaking, -and in spite of all my endeavors to hold the balance true, and to -consider calmly the social phenomena and the literature into which it -has infiltrated, I shall perhaps not be able to avoid a note of -partiality or emotion. To some I shall seem too indulgent with the -Russian revolutionaries, and they may say of me, as of M. -Leroy-Beaulieu, that my opinions are imbibed from official sources and -my words taken from the mouth of reactionaries. - -The first stumbling-block is the word "nihilism." In Tikomirov's work on -Russia seven or eight pages are devoted to the severe condemnation of -the use of the expressions "nihilism" and "nihilist," Nevertheless, at -the risk of offending my friend the author, I must make use of them, -since, as he himself allows, they are employed universally, and all the -world understands what is meant by them in an approximate and relative -way. I do not reject the term proposed by Tikomirov, who would call -nihilism "the militant intelligence;" but this is much too long and -obscure, and before accepting it, it behooves one to understand what is -meant by _Russian intelligence_. The nihilists call themselves by a -variety of names,--democrats, socialists, propagandists, _new men_, or -sometimes by the title of some organ of their clandestine press. This -war of names seems puerile, and I prefer to face the fury of Tikomirov -against those who not only use the objectionable term but dedicate a -chapter to what it represents, and study nihilism as a doctrine or -tendency distinct among all that have arisen until now. I cannot agree -to the idea that nihilism is merely a Russian intellectual movement, nor -do I think that all Europe is mistaken in judging that the nihilist -explosions are characteristic of the great Sclav empire. On the -contrary, I believe that if Russia were to-morrow blotted from the map, -and her history and every trace of her national individuality -obliterated, only a few pages of her romances and a few fragments of her -revolutionary literature being left to us, a philosopher or a critic -could reconstruct, without other data, the spirit of the race in all its -integrity and completeness. - -Now, to begin, how did this much-discussed word originate? It was a -novelist who first baptized the party who called themselves at that time -_new men_. It was Ivan Turguenief, who by the mouth of one of the -characters in his celebrated novel, "Fathers and Sons," gave the young -generation the name of nihilists. But it was not of his coinage; -Royer-Collard first stamped it; Victor Hugo had already said that the -negation of the infinite led directly to nihilism, and Joseph Lemaistre -had spoken of the nihilism, more or less sincere, of the contemporary -generations; but it was reserved for the author of "Virgin Soil" to -bring to light and make famous this word, which after making a great -stir in his own country attracted the attention of the whole world. - -The reign of Nicholas I. was an epoch of hard oppression. When he -ascended the throne, the conspiracy of the Decembrists broke out, and -this sudden revelation of the revolutionary spirit steeled the already -inflexible soul of the Czar. Nicholas, although fond of letters and an -assiduous reader of Homer, was disposed to throttle his enemies, and -would not have hesitated to pluck out the brains of Russia; he was very -near suppressing all the universities and schools, and inaugurating a -voluntary retrocession to Asiatic barbarism. He did mutilate and reduce -the instruction, he suppressed the chair of European political laws, and -after the events of 1848 in France he seriously considered the idea of -closing his frontiers with a cordon of troops to beat back foreign -liberalism like the cholera or the plague. Those who have had a near -view of this Iron Czar have described him to me as tall, straight, -stiff, always in uniform, a slave to his duties as sovereign, the -living personification of the autocrat, and called, not without reason, -the Quixote of absolutism. At the close of a life devoted to the -fanatical inculcation of his convictions, this inflexible emperor, who -believed himself to be guided by the Divine hand, saw only the -dilapidation and ruin of his country, which then started up dismayed and -raised a cry of reprobation, a chorus of malediction against the emperor -and the order of things established by him. Satire cried out in strident -and indignant tones, and spit in the face of the Czar with terrible -anathemas. "Oh, Emperor," it said to him, "Russia confided the supreme -power to you; you were as a god upon the earth. What have you done? -Blinded by ignorance and selfishness, you longed for power and forgot -Russia; you spent your life in reviewing troops, in changing uniforms, -in signing decrees. You created the vile race of press-censors, so that -you might sleep in peace, that you might ignore the needs of the people, -and turn a deaf ear to their cries; and the truth you buried deep, and -rolled a great stone over the door of the sepulchre, and put a guard -over it, so that you might think in your proud heart that it would never -rise again. But the light of the third day is breaking, and truth will -come forth from among the dead." And so the great autocrat heard the -crash of the walls that he had built with callous hands and cemented -with the blood and tears of two millions of human beings whom he had -exiled to Siberia. Perhaps the inflexible principles, the mainspring of -his hard soul, gave way then; but it was indeed too late to give the -lie to his whole life, and according to well-authenticated reports he -sought a sure and speedy death by wilful exposure to the rigors of the -terrible climate. "I cannot go back," were the dying words of this -upright and consistent man, who, notwithstanding his hardness, was yet -not a tyrant. - -However, it was under his sceptre, under his systematic suppression, -that, by confession of the great revolutionary statesman Herzen, Russian -thought developed as never before; that the emancipation of the -intelligence, which this very statesman calls a tragic event, was -accomplished, and a national literature was brought to light and began -to flourish. When Alexander II. succeeded to the throne, when the bonds -of despotism were loosened and the blockade with which Nicholas vainly -tried to isolate his empire was raised, the field was ready for the -intellectual and political strife. - -Russia is prone to violent extremes in everything. No social changes are -brought about in her with the slow gradations which make transitions -easy and avoid shocks and collisions. In the rest of Europe modern -scientific progress was due to numerous coincident causes, such as the -Renaissance, the art of printing, the discovery of America; but in -Russia the will of the autocrat was the motor, and the country was -forced and surprised into it. And when this drowsy land one day shakes -off its lethargy and takes note of the latent political effervescence -within itself, it will be with the same fiery earnestness, the same -exaggeration, the same logical directness, straight to the end, even -though that end culminate in absurdity. - -Before explaining how nihilism is the outcome of intelligence, we must -understand what is meant by intelligence in Russia. It means a class -composed of all those, of whatever profession or estate, who have at -heart the advancement of intellectual life, and contribute in every way -toward it. It may be said, indeed, that such a class is to be found in -every country; but there is this difference,--in other countries the -class is not a unit; there are factions, or a large number of its -members shun political and social discussion in order to enjoy the -serene atmosphere of the world of art, while in Russia _the -intelligence_ means a common cause, a homogeneous spirit, subversive and -revolutionary withal. To write a history of modern literature, -particularly of the novel, in Russia, is equivalent to writing the -history of the revolution. - -The subversive, dissolvent character of this intelligence--working now -tacitly, now openly, and with a candor surprising in a country subjected -to such suspicious censorship--explains why the czars, once the -protectors of the arts, have become since the middle of this century so -out of humor with authors, books, and the press. We have heard of one -emperor--the cleverest of them all--who in the interest of his reforms -had his own son whipped to death. Russian art, also son of the czars, -figuratively speaking, received scarcely better treatment when it -signified a desire to stand on its own feet. - -Long and painful is the list of persecutions directed against the -growth of Thought, in prose and verse, and above all against illustrious -men. But we must make a distinction, so as not to be unjust. Herzen, -exiled and deprived of all his possessions, and the famous martyr -Tchernichewsky, confined twenty and odd years in a Siberian prison or -fortress, do not arouse our astonishment, for they suffered the common -fate of the political agitator; but it seems a pity that such artists as -Dostoiëwsky and Turguenief should suffer any such infliction at all. All -Russian literature is charged with a revolutionary spirit; but there is -the same difference between those authors whose aim is political and -those who merely speak of Russia's wounds when occasion offers, that -there is between those who are licentious and those who are simply open -and candid. And by this I do not mean to compare the nihilist writers -with licentious ones, nor to convey any stigma by my words. I merely say -that when literature deliberately attacks established society, the -instinct of self-preservation obliges the latter to defend itself even -to persecuting its adversary. - - - - -II. - -Origin of the Intellectual Revolution. - - -Whence came the revolutionary element in Russia? From the Occident, from -France, from the negative, materialist, sensualist philosophy of the -Encyclopædia imported into Russia by Catherine II. and later from -Germany, from Kantism and Hegelianism, imbibed by Russian youth at the -German universities, and which they diffused throughout their own -country with characteristic Sclav impetuosity. By "Pure Reason" and -transcendental idealism, Herzen and Bakunine, the first apostles of -nihilism, were inspired. But the ideas brought from Europe to Russia -soon allied themselves with an indigenous or possibly an Oriental -element; namely, a sort of quietist fatalism, which leads to the darkest -and most despairing pessimism. On the whole, nihilism is rather a -philosophical conception of the sum of life than a purely democratic and -revolutionary movement. Since the beginning of this century Europe has -seen mobs and revolutions, dynasties wrecked and governments overturned; -but these were political disturbances, and not the result of mind -diseased or anguish of soul. - -Nihilism had no political color about it at the beginning. During the -decade between 1860 and 1870 the youth of Russia was seized with a sort -of fever for negation, a fierce antipathy toward everything that -was,--authorities, institutions, customary ideas, and old-fashioned -dogmas. In Turguenief's novel, "Fathers and Sons," we meet with Bazarof, -a froward, ill-mannered, intolerable fellow, who represents this type. -After 1871 the echo of the Paris Commune and emissaries of the -Internationals crossed the frontier, and the nihilists began to bestir -themselves, to meet together clandestinely, and to send out propaganda. -Seven years later they organized an era of terror, assassination, and -explosions. Thus three phases have followed upon one another,--thought, -word, and deed,--along that road which is never so long as it looks, the -road that leads from the word to the act, from Utopia to crime. - -And yet nihilism never became a political party as we understand the -term. It has no defined creed or official programme. The fulness of its -despair embraces all negatives and all acute revolutionary forms. -Anarchists, federalists, cantonalists, covenanters, terrorists, all who -are unanimous in a desire to sweep away the present order, are grouped -under the ensign of _nihil_. - -The frenzy which thus moves a whole people to tear their hair and rend -their garments has at bottom an element of passionate melancholy born of -just and noble aspirations crushed by fatal circumstances. We have seen -what Nature and history have made of Russia,--a nation civilized by -violence, whose natural and harmonious development was checked, and -which was isolated from Europe as soon as the ruling powers perceived -the dangers likely to ensue from communication therewith. The impulse of -youth toward the unknown and the new, toward vague dreams and -abstractions, was thus exasperated; and from out the seminaries, -universities, and schools, from the ranks of the nobility and from the -bosom of the literature, there arose a host composed of women hungering -for the ideal, and young students, poor in pocket and position, who gave -themselves up to a Bohemian sort of life well calculated to set at -nought society and the world in general. A Russian friend once told me -that seeing a _mujik_ looking very dejected and melancholy he asked what -was the matter, and received answer, "Sir, we are a sick people." His -reply defines the whole race; and of all the explanations of nihilism, -that which describes it as a pathological condition of the nation is -perhaps the most accurate. - -One must be prudent, however, in calling an intellectual phenomenon -based upon historical reasons a sickness or dementia; and above all one -must not confound the mental exaltation of the enthusiast with the -vagaries of the unsound mind. We do not allow ourselves to call him a -fool who does not think as we do, nor even him who leaves the beaten -common track for dizzy heights above our ken. No reformer or other great -man, however, has escaped the insinuation of foolishness, not even Saint -Francis of Assisi, who openly professed idiocy. But we have a kind of -sympathy for madness of a speculative character,--the sort of lunacy -which makes mankind dream sometimes that material good does not entirely -satisfy, that makes it yearn anxiously for something that it may never -obtain on this earth. - -To begin with, is nihilism pure negation? No. Pure negation conceives -nothing further, and whatever it denies it affirms at the same time. -Nihilism, or to use their own term, Russian _intelligence_, contains the -germs of social renovation; and before referring to its political -history I will explain some of its strange and curious doctrines. - - - - -III. - -Woman and the Family. - - -Among the most important of the nihilist doctrines is that which refers -to the condition of woman and the constitution of the family; and the -attempt radically to modify things so guarded and so sacred presupposes -an extraordinary power in the moving principle. The state of woman in -Russia has been far more bitter and humiliating than in the rest of -Europe; she wore her face covered with the Oriental veil until an -empress dared to cast it aside,--to the great horror of the court; among -the peasants she was a beast of burden; among the nobles an odalisque; -in the most enlightened classes of society the whip hung at the head of -the bed as a symbol of the husband's authority. The law did not keep her -perpetually a minor, as with us, but allowed her to administer her -property freely; yet the invisible and unwritten bonds of custom made -this freedom illusory. The new ideas have changed all this, however, and -to-day the Russian woman is more nearly equal to the man in condition, -more free, intelligent, and respected than elsewhere in Europe. Even the -peasants, accustomed to bestow a daily allowance of the lash upon their -women, are beginning to treat them with more gentleness and regard, for -they realize, tardily though certainly, the worth of the ideas of -justice deduced from the Gospels, which once planted can never be rooted -out. Their conquests are final. A few years hence the conjugal relation -in Russia will be based on ideas of equality, fraternity, and mutual -respect. I have never gone about preaching emancipation or demanding -rights, but I am nevertheless quite capable of appreciating everything -that savors of equity. - -The great Russian romantic poet, Lermontof, lamented the moral -inferiority of the women of his country. "Man," said this Russian Byron, -"should not be satisfied with the submission of his slave or the -devotion of his dog; he needs the love of a human being who will repay -insight for insight, soul for soul." This noble aspiration, derived from -the profound Platonic allegory of the two soul-halves that seek each -other and thereby find completion, the Russian intelligence desired to -realize, and as a step toward it procured participation for woman in -intellectual and political life; she, on her part, proved her worth by -bringing to nihilism a passionate devotion, absolute faith, and -initiative energy. When the early Christians rehabilitated the pagan -woman, somewhat the same thing happened, and a tender gratitude toward -the gentle Nazarene led virgins and matrons to vie with strong men in -the heroism displayed in the amphitheatre. - -But in our times the systematic efforts toward female emancipation have -a tendency to stumble into absurdities. To show to what an extent -conjugal equality has been carried in certain Russian families of -humble position, I was told that the wife cooks one day and the husband -the next! At the beginning of the reign of Alexander II. the longing for -feminine independence was expressed in the wearing of short hair, blue -spectacles, and extraordinary dress; in smoking, in scorn of neatness, -and the assumption of viragoish and disgusting manners. The serious side -of the movement led them on the other hand to study, to throw themselves -into every career open to them, to show a brave front in the hospitals -of typhus and the plague, to win honors in the clinics, and to practise -medicine in the small villages with noble self-abnegation, seriousness, -and sagacity. - -It is worthy of note, in examining Russian revolutionary tendencies, -that political rights are a secondary consideration, and that they go -down to the root of the matter, and seek first to reclaim natural -rights. In countries that are under parliamentary regimen, half of the -human race is judicially and civilly the servant of the other half; -while in the classic land of absolutism all parts are equal before the -law, especially among the reformatory class, the nobility. - -There is one fact in this connection which, though rather dubious on the -face of it, is yet so original and typical that it ought not to be -omitted. Owing to these modifications in the social condition of women, -and also to political circumstances, we are told that one frequently -hears in Russia--among the _intelligent_ class particularly--of a sort -of free unions, having no other bond than the mutual willingness of the -contracting parties, and marked by singular characteristics. Some of -these unions may be compared to the espousals of Saint Cecilia and her -husband, Saint Valerian, or to the nuptials of the legendary hero -separated by a naked sword from the bride. The Russians call this a -fictitious marriage. It sometimes happens that a young girl, bold, -determined, and full of a longing for life,--in the social sense of the -word,--leaves the paternal roof and takes up her abode under that of -another man. Having obtained the liberty and individuality enjoyed by -the married woman, the protector and the _protégée_ maintain a fraternal -friendship mutually and willingly agreed to. In Turguenief's novel, -"Virgin Soil," a young lady runs away from her uncle's house with the -tutor, a young nihilist poet, with whom she believes herself to be -deeply in love; but she finds out that what she really loved and craved -was liberty, and the chance to practise her politico-social principles; -and as these two runaways live in chastity, the heroine finally, and -without any conscientious scruples, marries another poet, also a -nihilist, but more practical and intelligent, who has really succeeded -in interesting her heart. - -Is such a voluntary restriction the result of a hyperæsthesia of the -fancy, natural to an age of persecution, in which those who fight for -and defend an idea are ready at any moment to go to the gallows for its -sake? Is it mere woman's pride demanding for her sex liberty and -franchises which she scorns to make use of? Is it a manifestation of an -idealist sentiment which is always present in revolutionary outbursts? -Is it a consequence of the theory which Schopenhauer preached, but did -not practise? Is it Malthusian pessimism which would refuse to provide -any more subjects for despotism? Is it a result of the natural coldness -of the Scythian? There seems to be no doubt, according to the statement -of trustworthy authors, that there are nihilist virgins living -promiscuously with students, helping them like sisters, united by this -strange understanding. Solovief, who made a criminal attempt on the life -of Alexander II., was thus _married_, as was shown at his trial. - -Among the young generation of nihilists this sort of union was really an -affiliation in devotion to their party. The bride's dower went into the -party treasury, her body was consecrated to the worship of the unknown -God; and being but slightly bound to his or her nominal spouse, each one -went his or her way, sometimes to distant provinces, to propagate and -disseminate the good news. - -Tikomirov (from whose interesting book I have taken most of my -information concerning the constitution of the Russian revolutionary -family) seems to think that French authors have not done full justice to -the austerity and purity of nihilist customs, and he depicts a charming -scene in the home of intelligence, whose members are united and -affectionate, where moral and intellectual equality produce solid -friendship, precluding tyranny on the one hand and treason on the other; -adding that in Russia everybody is convinced of the superiority of this -sort of family, and only foreigners think that nihilism undermines the -foundations of conjugal union. Is this really true? In any case it seems -possible that such a beautiful ideal might be attained to in our Latin -societies, given the elevated conception of the Catholic marriage, which -makes it a sacrament, were there only a little more equity, toward which -it is evident, however, that laws and customs are ever tending. - -In speaking of nihilist marriages, it is well to add that in general the -Russian revolutionary movement has a pronounced flavor of mysticism, -although at first sight it seems an explosion of free-thinking and -blasphemy. It is true that nihilist youth laughs at the supernatural, -and has been steeped in the crudities of German materialism and in the -pliant philosophies of the clinic and the laboratory; but at the same -time, whether because of the religious character of the race, or because -of a certain exaltation which may be the fruit of a period of stress, -the nihilist young people are mystics in their own way, and talk about -the martyrs to the cause with an inspired voice and with the unction of -a devotee invoking the saints. In proof of this I will give here a -nihilist madrigal dedicated to the young heroine in a political trial, -Lydia Figuier, who had studied medicine in Zurich and Paris. - - "Deep is the impression, O maiden, left by thy enchanting - beauty; but more powerful than the charm of thy face is the - purity of thy soul. Full of pity is the image of the - Saviour, and his divine features are full of compassion; but - in the unfathomable depths of thine eyes there is still more - love and suffering." - -The extremes of this rare sort of fanaticism are still better shown in a -famous novel of Tchernichewsky, the hero of which outdoes the Hindu -fakirs and Christian anchorites in point of macerations, penances, and -austerities. He is offered several kinds of fruit, but he will taste -only the apple, which is what the people eat; he fasts in grief and -anguish, and one day, in order to accustom himself to bear any sort of -trial, he lays himself down upon a cloth thickly studded with nails an -inch long, points upward, and there he remains until his blood saturates -the ground. Not content with mortifying the flesh in this way, he -disposes of all his worldly goods among the poor, and vows never to -touch a drop of wine or the lips of woman. This is only the hero of a -story-book; yes, but this story endeavors to present a type, an ideal -pattern, to which the _new men_, or nihilists, try to conform -themselves. - -It must be understood that when I say mysticism, I use the word in a -generic and not in a theological sense. It seems contradictory to say -that an atheist can do and feel like the most fervent believer; but a -man may pass a whole lifetime in parrying logic, and yet sometimes what -his reason refuses his imagination accepts. There is something in -nihilism that recalls the transcendental contradictions of the Hindu -philosophies and religions, especially Buddhism; and in Russian brains -there is a fermentation of heterodox illumination which is manifested -among the common people by sects of tremblers, jumpers, and others, and -among the more learned classes by revolutionary mysticism, amorphism, -anarchy, and a gloomy and rebellious pessimism. The prophets of the -ignorant sects among the people preach many of the revolutionary dogmas, -teaching disobedience to all authority, community of goods, social -liquidation and free love, yet without political intention; and better -educated nihilists, even reactionary minds like Dostoiëwsky, feel the -pulse of mystic enthusiasm which runs in the blood. The people are so -predisposed to color the language of the political devotee that they -were quite satisfied with the answer given by the propagandist Rogatchef -to the peasants who asked what he sought among them. He replied, "The -true faith." - -To the honor of humanity be it said that the most profound emotions it -has experienced have been produced by its own thirst for the ideal, and -caused by the need of belief, and of feeling in one form or another a -religious excitement. It is this element which conquers our sympathy for -nihilism; this shows us a young and enthusiastic people given to visions -and sublime ardors. To put it more explicitly, I am not passing judgment -upon the only revolutionaries just now extant in the world. I have very -little liking for political upheavals; but, to the egotistical -indifference that afflicts some nations, I believe that I prefer the -passionate extremes of nihilism. In politics as in art we want the -living. - -It will be seen therefore that the people were not irrelevant in -confounding nihilism with a religions sect. As far as our rationalist -age will admit, the nihilist dissenter resembles the great heretics of -the Middle Ages; he has traces of the Millenarian, of Sakya Muni, and of -the German pantheists; and he has the blind faith, the hazy transports, -the dogmatical and absolute affirmation of the persecuted religious -sects, and of esoteric and subterranean beliefs. He adores a divinity -without feelings, deaf and primitive, and this adoration is the -corner-stone of the nihilist temple. The _mujik_ sublimated by Russian -literature is the god of nihilism. - - - - -IV. - -Going to the People. - - -Here is a passage from Tikomirov's book to illustrate this aspect of -Russian revolution:-- - - "Where is there any sociological theory that can explain the - crusade taken up in 1873 by thousands of young men and women - determined to _go to the people_? The word crusade is - appropriate. Our youths left the bosom of their families; - our maidens abandoned the worldly pleasures of life. Nobody - thought of his own welfare; the great cause absorbed all - attention, and the nervous tension was such that many were - able to endure, without injury to health, unusual and - dreadful privations. They gave up their past life and all - their property, and if any vacillated in offering his - fortune to the cause, he was looked upon with pity and - contempt. Some renounced official positions and gave all - their means, even to thousands of rubles; others, like - Prince Krapotkine, from being _savants_, diplomats and - opulent, became humble artisans. The prince took to painting - doors and windows. Rich heiresses sought occupation as - factory operatives, even some who had reigned as belles in - aristocratic salons. It was as though, exiled from other - classes of society, they found, in turning to the people, - their souls' true country." - -Do not these words almost seem to describe the beginnings of -Christianity in Rome? - -The idol takes no notice of his fanatical adorers, nor perhaps does he -understand them any better than the peasant-woman of Toboso understood -the amorous suit with which Don Quixote wooed her malformed and -dishevelled person. The Russian peasant cannot make anything of theories -and apotheoses evolved from an intellectual condition amounting to -rapturous frenzy. "Oh that I might die," exclaims a devout nihilist, -"and that my blood like a drop of hot lead could burn and arouse the -people!" This thirst for martyrdom is common, but above all is the -anxiety to be amalgamated with the people, to know them, and if possible -to infuse them with the enthusiasm they feel themselves. - -It requires more courage to do what Russians call _going to the people_, -than to bear exile or the gallows. In our society, which boasts of its -democracy, the very equalization of classes has strengthened the -individual instinct of difference, and especially the aristocrats of -mind, the writers and thinkers, have become terribly nervous, finicky, -and inimical to the plebeian smell, to the extent that even novels which -describe the common people with sincerity and truth displease the public -taste. Yet the nihilists, a select company from the point of view of -intellectual culture, go, like apostles, in search of the poor in -spirit, the ignorant and the humble. The sons of families belonging to -the highest classes, alumni of universities, leave fine clothes and -books, dress like peasants, and mix with factory hands, so as to know -them and to teach them; young ladies of fine education return from a -foreign tour and accept with the utmost contentment situations as cooks -in manufacturers' houses, so as to be able to study the labor question -in their workshops. We find very curious instances of this in -Turguenief's novel "Virgin Soil." The heroine, Mariana, a nihilist, in -order to learn how the people live, and to _simplify herself_ (this is a -sacramental term), helps a poor peasant-woman in her domestic duties. -Here we have the way of the world reversed: the educated learns of the -ignorant, and in all that the peasant-woman does or says the young lady -finds a crumb of grace and wisdom. "We do not wish to teach the people," -she explains, "we wish to serve them." "To serve them?" replies the -woman, with hard practicality. "Well, the best way to serve them is to -teach them." Equally fruitless are the efforts of Mariana's _fictitious -husband_, or _husband by free grace_, as the peasant-woman calls -him,--the poet and dreamer Nedjanof, who thinks himself a nihilist, but -in the bottom of his soul has the aristocratic instincts of the artist. -Here is the passage where he presents himself to Mariana dressed in -workman's clothes:-- - - "Mariana uttered an exclamation of surprise. At first she - did not know him. He wore an old caftan of yellowish drill, - short-waisted, and buttoned with small buttons; his hair was - combed in the Russian style, with the part in the middle; a - blue kerchief was tied around his neck; he held in his hand - an old cap with a torn visor, and his feet were shod with - undressed calfskin." - -Mariana's first act on seeing him in this guise is to tell him that he -is indeed ugly, after which disagreeable piece of information, and a -shudder of repugnance at the smell of his greasy cap and dirty sleeves, -they provide themselves with pamphlets and socialist proclamations and -start out on their Odyssey among the people, hoping to meet with -ineffable sufferings. He would be no less glad than she of a heroic -sacrifice, but he is not content with a grotesque farce; and the girl is -indignant when Solomine, her professor in nihilism, tells her that her -duty actually compels her to wash the children of the poor, to teach -them the alphabet, and to give medicine to the sick. "That is for -Sisters of Charity," she exclaims, inadvertently recognizing a truth; -the Catholic faith contains all ways of loving one's neighbor, and none -can ever be invented that it has not foreseen. But the human type of the -novel is Nedjanof, although the nihilists have sought to deny it. There -is one very sad and real scene in which he returns drunk from one of -his propagandist excursions, because the peasants whom he was -haranguing compelled him to drink as much as they. The poor fellow -drinks and drinks, but he might as well have thrown himself upon a file -of bayonets. He comes home befuddled with _wodka_, or perhaps more so -with the disgust and nausea which the brutish and mal-odorous people -produced in him. He had never fully believed in the work to which he had -consecrated himself: now it is no longer scepticism, it is invincible -disgust that takes hold upon his soul, urging him to despair and -suicide. The lament of his lost revolutionary faith is contained in the -little poem entitled "Dreaming," which I give literally, as follows:-- - - "It was long since I had seen my birthplace, but I found it - not at all changed. The deathlike sleep, intellectual - inertia, roofless houses, ruined walls, mire and stench, - scarcity and misery, the insolent looks of the oppressed - peasants,--all the same! Only in sleeping, we have - outstripped Europe, Asia, and the whole world. Never did my - dear compatriots sleep a sleep so terrible! - - "Everything sleeps: wherever I turn, in the fields, in the - cities, in carnages, in sleighs, day and night, sitting or - walking; the merchant and the functionary, and the watchman - in the tower, all sleep in the cold or in the heat! The - accused snores and the judge dozes; the peasants sleep the - sleep of death; asleep they sow and reap and grind the - corn; father, mother, and children sleep! The oppressed and - the oppressor sleep equally well! - - "Only the gin-shop is awake, with eyes ever open! And - hugging to her breast a jug of fire-water, her face to the - pole, her feet to the Caucasus, thus sleeps and dreams on - forever our Mother, Holy Russia!" - -To all nihilist intents and purposes, particularly to those of a -political character, the masses are apparently asleep. Many eloquent -anecdotes refer to their indifference. A young lady propagandist, who -served as cook on a farm, confesses that the peasants spitefully accused -her of taking bread from the poor. In order to get them to take their -pamphlets and leaflets, the nihilists present them as religious tracts, -adorning the covers with texts of Scripture and pious mottoes and signs. -Only by making good use of the antiquated idea of distribution (of -goods) have they any chance of success; it is of no use to talk of -autonomous federations, or to attack the emperor, who has the people on -his side. - -The active nihilists are always young people, and this is reason enough -why they are not completely discouraged by the sterility of their -efforts. Old age abhors fruitless endeavors, and better appreciating the -value of life, will not waste it in tiresome experiments. And this -contrast between the ages, like that between the seasons, is nowhere so -sharp as in Russia; nowhere else is the difference of opinions and -feelings between two generations so marked. Some one has called nihilism -a disease of childhood, like measles or diphtheria; perhaps this is not -altogether erroneous, not only as regards individuals but also as -regards society, for vehemence and furious radicalism are the fruit of -historical inexperience, of the political youth of a nation. The -precursor of nihilism, Herzen, said, with his brilliant imagery and -vigor of expression, that the Russia of the future lay with a few -insignificant and obscure young folks who could easily hide between the -earth and the soles of the autocrat's boots; and the poet Mikailof, who -was sentenced to hard labor in 1861, and subsequently died under the -lash, exclaimed to the students, "Even in the darkness of the dungeon I -shall preserve sacredly in my heart of hearts the incomparable faith -that I have ingrafted upon the new generation." - -It is sad to see youth decrepit and weary from birth, without enthusiasm -or ambition for anything. It is more natural that the sap should -overflow, that a longing for strife and sacrifice, even though foolish -and vain, should arise in its heart. This truth cannot be too often -repeated: to be enthusiastic, to be full of life, is not ridiculous; but -our pusillanimous doctrine of disapproval is ridiculous indeed, -especially in life's early years,--as ridiculous as baldness at twenty, -or wrinkles and palsy at thirty. Besides, we must recognize something -more than youthful ardor in nihilism, and that is, sympathetic -disinterestedness. The path of nihilism does not lead to brilliant -position or destiny: it may lead to Siberia or to the gibbet. - - - - -V. - -Herzen and the Nihilist Novel. - - -But it is time to mention some of the precursors of nihilism. First of -all there is Alexander Herzen, a brilliant, paradoxical writer, a great -visionary, a keen satirist, the poet of denial, a romanticist and -idealist to his own sorrow, and, in the bottom of his soul, sceptical -and melancholy. Herzen was born in Moscow in the year of the Fire, and -his mind began to mature about the time the December conspirators forced -Nicholas I. into trembling retirement. He was wont to say that he had -seen the most imposing personification of imperial power, had grown up -under the shadow of the secret police and panted in its clutches. -Charmed by the philosophical doctrines of Hegel and Feuerbach, which -were then superseding the French, he became a socialist and a -revolutionary. Just at the time when to have a constitution was the -ideal and the dream of the Latin peoples, who were willing to tear -themselves to pieces to obtain it, this Sclav was writing that a -constitution was a miserable contract between a master and his slaves! -Herzen was but a little more than twenty years old when he was sent to -Siberia. On his return from exile he found at home a mental -effervescence, a Germanic and idealist current in the wake of the -eminent critic Bielinsky, Sclavophiles singing hymns in praise of -national life and repudiating European civilization which was in turn -defended by the so-called Occidentals; and lastly he found a set of -literary, innovators who formed the famous _natural school_, at the head -of which was the great Gogol. Herzen fell into this whirl of ideas, and -his æsthetic doctrines and advanced Hegelianism had great influence, and -after some more serious works he published his celebrated novel, "Who is -to Blame?"--a masterly effort, which gained him immense renown in -Russia. It was masterly more by reason of the popularity it achieved -than by its literary merit, for Herzen is, after all, not to be counted -among the chief novel-writers of Russia. Herzen was born to point the -way to a social Utopia rather than the road to pure Beauty. He invented -new phases of civilization, societies transformed by the touch of a -magic wand. The star of Proudhon was at this time in the ascendant, and -Herzen, attracted by its brilliancy, left his country never to return; -but he did not on this account cease to exercise a great influence upon -her destinies, so great, indeed, that some profess to think that had -Herzen never lived, nihilism would have perished in the bud. - -Herzen hailed with delight the French revolution of 1848. He expected to -behold a social liquidation, but he saw instead only a conservative -republic,--a change of form. Then he cried out in savage despair, and -his words have become the true nihilist war-cry: "Let the old world -perish! Let chaos and destruction come upon it! Hail, Death! Welcome to -the Future!" - -To sweep away the past with one stroke became his perennial aspiration. -He drew a vivid picture of a secret tribunal which every _new man_ -carries within himself, to judge, condemn, and guillotine the past; he -described how a man, fearful of following up his logical conclusions, -after citing before this tribunal the Church, the State, the family, the -good, and the evil, might make an effort to save a rag of the worn-out -yesterday, unable to see that the lightest weight would prove a -hindrance to his passage from the old world to the new. "There is a -remarkable likeness between logic and terror," he said. "It is not for -us to pluck the fruits of the past, but to destroy them, to persecute -them, to judge them, to unmask them, and to immolate them upon the -altars of the future. Terror sentenced human beings; it concerns us to -judge institutions, demolish creeds, put no faith in old things, -unsettle every interest, break every bond, without mercy, without -leniency, without pity." - -This was his programme: Not to civilize or to progress, but to -obliterate, to demolish; to replace what he called the senile barbarity -of the world with a juvenile barbarity; "to go to the very limits of -absurdity,"--these are his own words. They contain the sum of nihilism; -they include the pessimist despair, and the foolish proscription of art, -beauty, and culture, which to an artistic mind is the greatest crime -that can be laid at the door of any political or philosophical doctrine. -A tendency that aspires to overthrow the altar sacred to the Muses and -the Graces can never prevail. - -Herzen went to London, established a press for the dissemination of -political writings in Russia, and organized a secret society for Russian -refugees, among whom he counted Bakunine; and having refused to return -to his country, he founded a singular paper called "The Bell" -(_Kolokol_), of which thousands of copies, though strictly prohibited by -the censor, crossed the frontier. They were distributed and read on -every hand, and a copy was regularly placed, by invisible hands, in the -chamber of the emperor, who devoured it no less eagerly than his -faithful subjects. From the pages of this illegal publication the -sovereign learned of secret intrigues in his palace, of plots among his -high officials, and scandalous stories reported by the socialist refugee -with incredible accuracy. By the side of these evidences of dexterity -and cleverness, some of the stratagems recounted of the times of our own -Carlist war seem mere child's play. - -As the precursor of nihilism Herzen excites great interest, but there is -much to be said of Tchernichewsky and Bakunine. It is said that the -latter's influence was more felt abroad than at home, and that he fanned -the activity of the Internationalist societies, and of the Swiss, -Italian, and Spanish laboring classes. Be that as it may, Bakunine was a -classic type of the conspirator by profession,--in love with his -dangerous work. He adopted as his motto that to destroy is to create. -Caussidière saw him and watched him during the insurrections in Paris, -and exclaimed, "What a man! The first day of the revolution he is a -treasure; on the second we must shoot him!" Paris was not the only -witness of his feats; he fought like a lion at the barricades in -Dresden, and was elected dictator; he took an active part in the Polish -insurrection; he quite outshone Carl Marx in the International, and with -him originated the anarchist faction, and that last grade of revolution, -amorphism. As for Tchernichewsky, he is considered the great master and -inspirer of contemporary nihilism, his principal claim to such a place -being based on a novel; and at the bottom of the Russian revolution we -shall always find the epic fictions of our day exerting a powerful -influence. - -With Herzen's novel the tendencies of nihilism were first revealed; with -Tchernichewsky's they became fixed and decisive. Novels of Gogol and -Turguenief overthrew serfdom, and novels of Turguenief, Dostoiëwsky, -Tolstoï, Gontcharof, and Tchedrine are the documents which historians -will consult hereafter when the great contest between the revolution and -the old society shall be written. When Tchernichewsky wrote his famous -novel, he had already tried his hand at various public questions, had -made a compilation from the "Political Economy" of John Stuart Mill, and -was a prisoner on the charge of organizing the revolutionary propaganda -in Russia along with Herzen, Ogaref, and Bakunine, who were refugees in -London. Before setting out to suffer his sentence of fifteen years' -imprisonment and perpetual residence in Siberia, he was tied to a stake -in a public square of St. Petersburg, and after the reading of the -sentence a sword was broken over his head. What a blow was dealt at -absolute power by this man, shut up, annihilated, suppressed, and -civilly dead! Happy the cause that hath martyrs! - -His novel produced an indescribable sensation. The nihilists were -inclined to resent Turguenief's "Fathers and Sons," whose hero, the -materialist Bazarof, represented the new generation, or, according to -them, caricatured it. Tchernichewsky's book was considered to be a -faithful picture, and a model besides for the party; it was the -nihilists painted by one of themselves, so to speak. Although it is -tedious and inconsistent in its arguments, the book shows much talent -and a fertile imagination; the author declares that it is his purpose to -stereotype the personality of the _new man_, who is but an evanescent -type, a sign of the times, destined to disappear with the epoch he has -initiated. Writing about the year 1850, he says, "Six years ago there -were no such men; three years ago they were little noticed, and now--but -what matters what is thought of them now? Soon enough they will hear the -cry, Save us! and whatever they command shall be done." Farther on he -says that these _new men_ in turn shall disappear to the last man; and -after a long time men shall say, "Since the days of those men things go -on better, although not entirely well yet." Then the type shall reappear -again in larger numbers and in greater perfection, and this will -continue to happen until men say, "Now we are doing well!" And when this -hour arrives, there will be no special types of humanity, there will be -no _new men_, for all shall realize the largest sum of perfection -possible. Such is the theory of this famous martyr, and it is certainly -as original as it is curious. - -The admirers of Tchernichewsky's novel compare it to "The City of the -Sun," by Campanella, "Utopia," by Sir Thomas More, "The Journey to -Icaria," by Cabet, and the phalansterian sketches by Fourier's -disciples. This comparison is alone sufficient to decide the rivalry in -favor of Turguenief; for the Siberian exile wrought only in the interest -of socialist propaganda, while the author of "Virgin Soil," whether -accurate or not in detail, was a consummate artist. Only political -excitement can dictate certain judgments and decisions. If I speak now -more at length of the exile's novel, it is for the sake of its -representative value, and as a reflection of nihilism in literature. The -title is, "What to do?" The author wishes to solve the problem put by -Herzen in the title to his novel, "Who is to blame?" and under the guise -of a love-quarrel he delineates the ideal of the contemporary generation -represented by two favorite characters, the two classic types of the -nihilist novel,--the student of medicine, a _new man_, saturated with -science and German metaphysics, and a brave girl longing to be -_initiated_ and thirsting to consecrate herself to some lofty cause. -Among other curiosities there is a nihilist husband, who, on discovering -that his wife is enamoured of somebody else, calculates his moral -sufferings as equivalent to the excitement produced by four cupfuls of -strong coffee, and he therefore takes two morphine pills and declares -that he feels better! In spite of being prohibited by the censor, this -novel, as might be expected, had a great success; the editions -multiplied clandestinely; the heroine's type became immensely popular; -the young girls took to the study of medicine with an enthusiasm and a -will to which I can personally testify; and if report be true, a part of -the new ideas concerning conjugal equality and the constitution of the -family proceeded from this novel. The popularity of the author, -glorified by the halo of his sufferings and imprisonment, far superseded -that of Herzen. - -Materialism and positivism soon came also to replace the visions of -Herzen; for when Alexander II. opened the frontiers which the inflexible -Nicholas had closed, the students brought home new idols from the German -universities. Schopenhauer and Buchner superseded Hegel and Feuerbach. -Schopenhauer, with his pessimism, his theory of Nirvana and universal -annihilation, arrived just in time to foster the germs of fatalism -dormant within the Russian soul; and Buchner, by means of his very -superficial but eloquent book, was also in season to offer an -accessible, clear, and popular formula to unthinking minds and negative -or indolent temperaments; "Force and matter" was for a time the Bible of -Russian students. It will be readily seen that the revolutionary formula -and methods in Russia always came from abroad; but they met with -tendencies which were unexpected, even though they proved favorable to -development. The philosophy of nihilism was drawn from Western sources, -no doubt; yet this phenomenon made its appearance only in Russia, a land -predisposed to realism and mysticism, to brutality and languor, and -above all to melancholy limitless as its plains. - -We are told of the now famous saying of a nihilist, who, being asked his -doctrines, replied, "To see earth and heaven, Church and State, God and -king, and to spit upon them all!" Although the verb to _spit_ is not so -offensive in Russia as here, and is rather a sign of repugnance than of -insult, such a reply contains the sum of negative nihilism; and -negation, the critical period, cannot last longer than the despairing -sigh of the dying. The active phase of nihilism, the reign of terror, -passed by quickly, and now the party is beginning to lay aside its -ferocious radicalism and deal with realities. - - - - -VI. - -The Reign of Terror. - - -The reign of terror was short but tragic. We have seen that the active -nihilists were a few hundred inexperienced youths without position or -social influence, armed only with leaflets and tracts. This handful of -boys furiously threw down the gauntlet of defiance at the government -when they saw themselves pursued. Resolved to risk their heads (and with -such sincerity that almost all the associates who bound themselves to -execute what they called _the people's will_ have died in prison or on -the scaffold), they adopted as their watchword _man for man_. When the -sanguinary reprisals fell upon Russia from one end to the other, the -frightened people imagined an immense army of terrorists, rich, strong, -and in command of untold resources, covering the empire. In reality, the -twenty offences committed from 1878 to 1882, the mines discovered under -the two capitals, the explosions in the station at Moscow and in the -palace at St. Petersburg, the many assassinations, and the marvellous -organization which could get them performed with circumstances so -dramatic and create a mysterious terror against which the power of the -government was broken in pieces,--all this was the work of a few dozens -of men and women seemingly endowed with ubiquitousness, so rapid and -unceasing their journeys, and so varied the disguises, names, and -stratagems they made use of to bewilder and confound the police. It was -whispered that millions of money were sent in from abroad, that there -were members of the Czar's family implicated in the conspiracy, that -there was an unknown chief, living in a distant country, who managed the -threads of a terrible executive committee which passed judgment in the -dark, and whose decrees were carried out instantly. Yet there were only -a few enthusiastic students, a few young girls ready to perform any -service, like the heroine of Turguenief's "Shadows;" a few thousand -rubles, each contributing his share; and, after all, a handful of -determined people, who, to use the words of Leroy-Beaulieu, had made a -covenant with death. For a strong will, like intelligence or -inspiration, is the patrimony of the few; and so, just as ten or twelve -artist heads can modify the æsthetic tendency of an age, six or eight -intrepid conspirators are enough to stir up an immense empire. - -After Karakozof's attempt upon the life of the Czar (the first spark of -discontent), the government augmented the police and endowed Muravief, -who was nicknamed _the Hangman_, with dictatorial powers. In 1871 the -first notable political trial was held upon persons affiliated with a -secret society. Persecutions for political offences are a great mistake. -Maltreatment only inspires sympathy. After a few such trials the doors -had to be closed; the public had become deeply interested in the -accused, who declared their doctrines in a style only comparable to the -acts of the early Christian martyrs. Who could fail to be moved at the -sight of a young woman like Sophia Bardina, rising modestly and -explaining before an audience tremulous with compassion her -revolutionary ideas concerning society, the family, anarchy, property, -and law? Power is almost always blind and stupid in the first moments of -revolutionary disturbances. In Russia men risked life and security as -often by acts of charity toward conspirators as by conspiracy itself. In -Odessa, which was commanded by General Totleben, the little blond heads -of two children appeared between the prison bars; they were the children -of a poor wretch who had dropped five rubles into a collection for -political exiles, and these two little ones were sentenced to the -deserts of Siberia with their father. And the poet Mikailof chides the -revolutionaries with the words: "Why not let your indignation speak, my -brothers? Why is love silent? Is our horrible misfortune worthy of -nothing more than a vain tribute of tears? Has your hatred no power to -threaten and to wound?" - -The party then armed itself, ready to vindicate its political rights by -means of terror. The executive committee of the revolutionary -socialists--if in truth such a committee existed or was anything more -than a triumvirate--favored this idea. Spies and fugitives were quickly -executed. The era of sanguinary nihilism was opened by a woman, the -Charlotte Corday of nihilism,--Vera Zasulitch. She read in a newspaper -that a political prisoner had been whipped, contrary to law,--for -corporal punishment had been already abolished,--and for no worse cause -than a refusal to salute General Trepof; she immediately went and fired -a revolver at his accuser. The jury acquitted her, and her friends -seized her as she was coming out of court, and spirited her away lest -she should fall into the hands of the police; the emperor thereupon -decreed that henceforth political prisoners should not be tried by jury. -Shortly after this the substitute of the imperial deputy at Kief was -fired upon in the street; suspicion fell upon a student; all the others -mutinied; sixteen of them were sent into exile. As they were passing -through Moscow their fellow-students there broke from the lecture-halls -and came to blows with the police. Some days later the rector of the -University of Kief, who had endeavored to keep clear of the affair, was -found dead upon the stairs; and again later, Heyking, an officer of the -_gendarmerie_, was mortally stabbed in a crowded street. The clandestine -press declared this to have been done by order of the executive -committee; and it was not long before the chief of secret police of St. -Petersburg received a very polite notice of his death-sentence, which -was accomplished by another dagger, and the clandestine paper, "Land and -Liberty," said by way of comment, "The measure is filled, and we gave -warning of it." Months passed without any new assassinations; but in -February, 1879, Prince Krapotkine, governor of Karkof, fell by the hand -of a masked man, who fired two shots and fled, and no trace of him was -to be found, though sentence of death against him was announced upon the -walls of all the large towns of Russia. The brother of Prince Krapotkine -was a furious revolutionary, and conducted a socialist paper in Geneva -at that time. In March it fell to the turn of Colonel Knoup of the -_gendarmerie_, who was assassinated in his own house, and beside him was -found a paper with these words: "By order of the Executive Committee. So -will we do to all tyrants and their accomplices." A pretty nihilist girl -killed a man at a ball; it was at first thought to be a love-affair, but -it was afterward found out that the murderess did the deed by order of -the executive committee, or whatever the hidden power was which inspired -such acts. On the 25th of this same March a plot against the life of -the new chief of police, General Drenteln, was frustrated, and the walls -of the town then flamed with a notice that revolutionary justice was -about to fall upon one hundred and eighty persons. It rained -crimes,--against the governor of Kief, against Captain Hubbenet, against -Pietrowsky, chief of police, who was riddled with wounds in his own -room; and lastly on the 14th of April Solovief attempted the life of the -Czar, firing five shots, none of which took effect. On being caught, the -would-be assassin swallowed a dose of poison, but his suicide was also -unsuccessful. Solovief, however, had reached the heights of nihilism; he -had dared to touch the sacred person of the Czar. He was the ideal -nihilist: he had renounced his profession, determined to _go with the -people_, and became a locksmith, wearing the artisan's dress; he was -married _mystically_, and by _free grace_ or _free will_, and it was -said that he was a member of the terrible executive committee. He -suffered death on the gallows with serenity and composure, and without -naming his accomplices. "Land and Liberty" approved his acts by saying, -"We should be as ready to kill as to die; the day has come when -assassination must be counted as a political motor." From that day -Alexander II. was a doomed man, and his fatal moment was not far off. -The revolutionaries were determined to strike the government with -terror, and to prove to the people that the sacred emperor was a man -like any other, and that no supernatural charm shielded his life. At the -end of 1879 and the beginning of 1880 two lugubrious warnings were -forced upon the emperor: first, the mine which wrecked the imperial -train, and then the explosion which threw the dining-room of the palace -in ruins, which catastrophe he saw with his own eyes. About this time -the office of a surreptitious paper was attacked, the editors and -printers of which defended themselves desperately; alarmed by this -significant event, the emperor intrusted to Loris Melikof, who was a -liberal, an almost omnipotent dictatorship. The conciliatory measures of -Melikof somewhat calmed the public mind; but just as the Czar had -convened a meeting for the consideration of reforms solicited by the -general opinion, his own sentence was carried out by bombs. - -It is worthy of note that both parties (the conservative and the -revolutionary) cast in each other's face the accusation of having been -the first to inflict the death-penalty, which was contrary to Russian -custom and law. If Russia does not deserve quite so appropriately as -Spain to be called the country of _vice versas_, it is nevertheless -worth while to note how she long ago solved the great juridical problem -upon which we are still employing tongue and pen so busily. Not only is -capital punishment unknown to the Russian penal code, but since 1872 -even perpetual confinement has been abolished, twenty years being the -maximum of imprisonment; and this even to-day is only inflicted upon -political criminals, who are always treated there with greater severity -than other delinquents. Before the celebrated Italian criminalist -lawyer, Beccaria, ever wrote on the subject, the Czarina Elisabeth -Petrowna had issued an edict suppressing capital punishment. The -terrible Muscovite whip probably equalled the gibbet, but aside from the -fact that it had been seldom used, it was abolished by Nicholas I. If we -judge of a country by its penal laws, Russia stands at the head of -European civilization. The Russians were so unaccustomed to the sight of -the scaffold, that when the first one for the conspirators was to be -built, there were no workmen to be found who knew how to construct it. - - - - -VII. - -The Police and the Censor. - - -It is not easy to say whether the government was ill-advised in -confronting the terrors of nihilism with the terrors of authority. -Public executions are contageous in their effect, and blood intoxicates. -The nihilists, even in the hour of death, did not neglect their -propaganda, and held up to the people their dislocated wrists as -evidences of their tortures. One must put one's self in the place of a -government menaced and attacked in so unusual a manner. Certain extreme -measures which are the fruit of the stress of the moment are more -excusable than the vacillating system commonly practised from time -immemorial; and which is foster-mother to professional demagogues, and -dynamiters by vocation and preference. - -The police as organized in Russia seem to inspire greater horror even -than the nihilist atrocities. In the face of judicial reforms there -exists an irresponsible tribunal, called the Third Section of the -Imperial Chancellorship. The worst of this kind of arbitrary and -antipathetic institutions is that imagination attributes many more -iniquities to them than they in reality commit. Russian written law -declares that no subject of the Czar can be condemned without a public -trial; but the special police has the right to arrest, imprison, and -make way with, rendering no account to any one. Thus absolute power -leaps the barriers of justice. It must be acknowledged that the dark -ways of the special police only reflected those of their nihilist -adversary. Nowhere in the world, however, is the police so hated; -nowhere do they perform their work in so irritating a manner as in -Russia; and the public, far from assisting them, as in England and -France, fights and circumvents them. The proneness to secret societies -in Russia is the result of the perpetual and odious tyranny of the -police. The Russian lives in clandestine association like a fish in -water; so much so that after the fall of Loris Melikof the reactionaries -were no less eager for it than the nihilists, and bound themselves -together under the name of the Holy League, taking as a model the -revolutionary executive committee, and even including the death-sentence -in their rules. - -War without quarter was declared, and the police organized a -counter-terror characterized by impeachment, suspicion, espionage, and -inquisition. There were domiciliary visitations; every one was obliged -to take notice whether any illegal meetings were held in his -neighborhood, or any proscribed books or explosive materials were to be -seen; no posters were allowed to be put on the walls, and every one was -expected to aid the arrest of any suspicious person; a vigilant watch -was kept upon Russian refugees; the rigors of confinement were enforced; -and all this made the police utterly abhorred, even in a country -accustomed to endure them as a traditional institution since the last of -the Ruriks and the first of the Romanoffs. - -The chief of the Third Section became a power in the land. The Section -worked secretly and actively. The chief and the emperor maintained -incessant communication, and the former was made a member of the -cabinet, and could arrest, imprison, exile, and put out of the way, -whomever he pleased. During the reign of the kind-hearted Alexander II. -his power declined for a while, until nihilist plots and manoeuvres -caused it to be redoubled. There was a struggle unto death between two -powers of darkness, from which the police came out beaten, having been -unable to save the lives of their chief and the sovereign. - -While the Third Section attacked personal security and liberty, the -censorship, more intolerable still, hemmed in the spirit and condemned -to a death by inanition a young people hungry for literature and -science, for plays, periodicals, and books. Mutilated as it is, the -newspaper is bread to the soul of the Russian. The Russian press, like -all the obstacles that absolute power finds in its way, was founded by -one of their imperial civilizers, Peter the Great, and it maintained a -purely literary character until the reign of Alexander II., when it took -a political form. Under the iron hand of the censor, the Russian press -has learned the manner and artifices of the slave; in allusions, -insinuations, retentions, and half-meanings it is an adept, for only so -can it convey all that it is forbidden to speak. It must emigrate and -recross the frontier as contraband in order to speak freely. - -The censor lies ever in ambush like a mastiff ready to bite; and -sometimes its teeth clinch the most inoffensive words on the page, the -most innocent page in the book, the librettos of operas, as for example -"The Huguenots" and "William Tell." In 1855 certain literary works were -exempted from the previous censure, but this beneficence was not -extended to the periodical press. The newspapers of St. Petersburg and -Moscow were open to a choice between the new and old systems, between -submitting to the rule of the censor and a deluge of denunciations, -seizures, suspensions, and suppressions; and they willingly chose the -former. So the Russian press exists under an entirely arbitrary -sufferance, and according as the political scales rise and fall they are -allowed to-day what was prohibited yesterday, and sometimes their very -means of sustenance are cut off by an embargo on certain numbers or the -proscription of advertisements. If a liberal minister is to the fore, -times are prosperous; if there is a reaction, they are crushed to death. -This accounts for the popularity of the secret press, which is at work -even in buildings belonging to the crown, in seminaries and convents, -and in the very laboratory of dynamite bombs. - -Books are as much harassed as periodicals. The Russians, being very fond -of everything foreign, sigh for books from abroad, especially those that -deal with political and social questions; but the censor has -custom-houses at the frontier, and the officials, with the usual -perspicacity of literary monitors, finally let slip that which may prove -most dangerous and subversive, and exercise their zeal upon the most -ingenuous. They have even cut off the _feuilletines_ of thousands of -French papers,--what patience it must have required to do it!--while -Madame Gagneur's novel, "The Russian Virgins," passed unmutilated. I -wonder what would be the fate of my peaceful essays should they receive -the unmerited honor of translation and reach the frontiers of Muscovy! - -As to the foreign reviews, they are submitted to a somewhat amusing -process, called the _caviar_. Suspicious passages, if they escape the -scissors, get an extra dash of printing-ink. Thus the Russian is not -even free to read till he goes from home, and by force of dieting he -suffers from frequent mental indigestion, and the weakest sort of -_spirits_ goes to his head! - -All this goes to prove that if speculative nihilism is a moral -infirmity congenital to the soul of the Russian, active and political -nihilism is the fruit of the peculiar situation of the empire. The -phrase is stale, but in the present case accurate. Russia is passing -through a period of transition. She goes forward to an uncertain future, -stumbles and falls; her feet bleed, her senses swim; she has fits of -dementia and even of epilepsy. Good intention goes for nought, whether -the latent generosity of revolutionaries, or of government and Czar. -Where is there a person of nobler desires and projects than Alexander -II.? But his great reforms seemed rather to accelerate than to calm the -revolutionary fever. - -As long as the revolution does not descend from the cultivated classes -upon the masses of the people, it must be content with occasional -spurts, chimerical attempts, and a few homicides; but if some day the -socialist propaganda, which now begins to take effect in the workshops, -shall make itself heard in the country villages, and the peasant lend an -ear to those who say to him, "Rise, make the sign of the Cross and take -thy hatchet with thee," then Russia will show us a most formidable -insurrection, and that world of country-folk, patient as cattle, but -fanatical and overwhelming in their fury, once let loose, will sweep -everything before it. Nothing will appease or satisfy it. The -constitutions of Western lands they have already torn in pieces without -perusal. Even the revolutionaries would prefer to those illusory -statutes a Czar standing at the head of the peasants, and institutions -born within their own land. It is said that now, just as the nihilist -frenzy is beginning to subside, one can perceive a smouldering agitation -among the people manifesting itself occasionally in conflagrations, -anti-Semitic outbreaks, and frequent agrarian crimes. What a clouded -horizon! What volcanic quakings beneath all that snow! On the one hand -the autocratic power, the secular arm, consecrated by time, tradition, -and national life; on the other the far-reaching revolution, fanatical -and impossible to appease with what has satisfied other nations; and at -bottom the cry of the peasants, like the sullen roar of the ocean, -for--it is a little thing--the land! - - - - -Book III. - -RISE OF THE RUSSIAN NOVEL. - - - - -I. - -The Beginnings of Russian Literature. - - -From this state of anguish, of unrest, of uncertainty, has been brought -forth, like amber from the salt sea, a most interesting literature. Into -this relatively peaceful domain we are about to penetrate. But before -speaking of the novel itself I must mention as briefly as possible the -sources and vicissitudes of Russian letters up to the time when they -assumed a national and at the same time a social and political -character. - -I will avoid tiresome details, and the repetition of Russian names which -are formidable and harsh to our senses, besides being confusing and at -first sight all very much alike, and much given to terminating in -_of_,--a syllable which on Russian lips is nevertheless very euphonious -and sweet. I will also avoid the mention of books of secondary -importance; for as this is not a course of Russian literature, it would -be pedantry to refer to more than those I have read from cover to -cover. I will mention in passing only a few authors of lesser genius -than the four whom Melchior de Voguié very correctly estimates as the -perfect national types; namely, Gogol, Turguenief, Dostoiëwsky, and -Tolstoï, and I will give only a succinct review of the primitive period, -the classicism and romanticism, the satire and comedy antecedent to -Gogol, this much being necessary in order to bring out the -transformation due to the prodigious genius of this founder of realism, -and consummated in the contemporary novel. - -Literature, considered not as rhetorical feats or as the art of speaking -and writing well, but as a manifestation of national life or of the -peculiar inclinations of a people, exists from the time when the spirit -of the people is spontaneously revealed in legends, traditions, -proverbs, and songs. The fertility of Russian popular literature is well -known to students of folk-lore. Critics have demonstrated to us that -between the primitive oral, mythical, and poetical literature of Russia -and the present novel (which is profoundly philosophical in character, -and inspired by that austere muse, the Real) there is as close a -relationship as between the gray-haired grandfather who has all his life -followed the plough, and his offspring who holds a chair in a -university. Russian literature was born beside the Danube, in the -fatherland of the Sclavonic people. The various tribes dispersed -themselves over the Black Sea, and the Russian Sclavs, following the -course of the Dnieper, began to elaborate their heroic mythology with -feats of gods and demi-gods against the forces of Nature, and monsters -and other fantastic beings. A warlike mode of life and a semi-savage -imagination are reflected in their legends and songs. All this period is -covered by the _bilinas_, a word which is explained by Russian etymology -to mean _songs of the past_. These epics tell of the exploits of ancient -warriors who personify the blind and chaotic forces of Nature and the -elements. _Esviatogor_, for example, represents a mountain; _Volk_ may -mean a wolf, a bull, or an ant; there is a godlike tiller of the soil -who stands for Russian agriculture, and who is the popular and -indigenous hero, in opposition to the fighting and adventurous hero -_Volga_, who stands for the ruling classes. Perhaps these _bilinas_ and -the Finnish Kalevala are the only primitive epics in which the laborer -plays a first part and puts the fighting hero into the shade. In these -national poems of a people descended from the Scythians, who in the days -of Herodotus were proud of calling themselves _farmers_ or _laborers_, -the two most attractive figures are the heroes of the plough, Mikula and -Ilia; it is as though the singers of long ago started the worship of the -peasant, which is the dogma of the present novel, or as though the -apotheosis of agriculture were an idea rooted in the deepest soil of the -national thought of Russia. - -Next after this primitive cycle comes the age of chivalry, known under -the name of Kief cycle, which has its focus in the Prince Vladimir -called the Red Sun; but even in this Round Table epic we find the -heroic _mujik_, the giant Cossack, Ilias de Moron. The splendor of the -hero-mythical epoch faded after the advent of Christianity, and the -heroes of Kief and Novgorod fell into oblivion; one _bilina_ tells now -"the paladins of Holy Russia disappeared; a great new force that was not -of this world came upon them," and the paladins, unable to conquer it, -and seeing that it multiplied and became only more powerful with every -stroke, were afraid, and ran and hid themselves in the caverns, which -closed upon them forever. Since that day there are no more paladins in -Holy Russia. - -In every _bilina_, and also in songs which celebrate the seed-time, the -pagan feast of the summer solstice, and the spring-time, we notice the -two characteristics of Russian thought,--a lively imagination and a -dreamy sadness, which is most evident in the love-songs. On coming in -contact with Christianity the pagan tale became a legend, and the -clergy, brought from Byzantium by Valdimir the Baptizer, gave the people -the Gospel in the Sclavonic tongue, translated by two Greek brothers, -Cyril and Methodius, and the day of liturgical and sacred literature was -at hand. The apostles of Christianity arranged the alphabet of -thirty-eight letters, which represent all the sounds in the Sclav -language, and founded also the grammar and rhetoric. As in every other -part of Christendom, these early preachers were the first to enlighten -the people, bringing ideas of culture entirely new to the barbarous -Sclavonic tribes; and the poor monk, bent over his parchment, writing -with a sharp-pointed reed, was the first educator of the nation. In the -eleventh century the first Russian literary efforts began to take shape, -being, like all early-written literature, of essentially clerical origin -and character,--such as epistles, sermons, and moral exhortations. The -chief writers of that time were the monk Nestor, the metropolitan -Nicephorous, and Cyril the Golden-Mouthed, who imitated the florid -Byzantine eloquence. At the side of ecclesiastical literature history -was born; the lives of the saints prepared the ground for the -chroniclers, and Nestor's Chronicle, the first book on Russian history, -was written. The early essays in profane history, which took the form of -fables and trenchant sayings disclosing a vein of satire, still smack of -the ecclesiastical flavor, although they contain the instincts of a laic -and civil literature. - -The people had their epic, the clergy accumulated their treasures, but -the warriors and knights, who with the sovereign formed a separate -society, must have their heroic cycle also; and bards and singers were -found to give it to them in fragmentary pieces, among which the most -celebrated is the "Song of the Host of Igor," which relates the -victories of a prince over the savage tribes of the steppes. The poem is -a mixture of pagan and Christian wonders, which is only natural, since -in the twelfth century (the era of its composition) Christianity, while -triumphant in fact, had not yet succeeded in driving out the old -Sclavonic deities. - -In the eighth century the Tartar invasion interrupted the course of -civil literature. Russia then had no time for the remembrance of -anything but her disasters, and the Church became again the only -depository of the civilization brought from Byzantium, and of the -intellectual riches of the nation; for the Khans, who destroyed -everything else, regarded the churches and images with superstitious -respect. The little then written expresses the grief of Russia over her -catastrophe, but in sermon form, presenting it as a punishment from -Heaven, and a portent of the end of the world; it was the universal -panic of the Middle Ages arrived in Russia three centuries late. Until -the fourteenth century there was no revival of historical narrations in -sufficient numbers to show the preponderance of the epic spirit in the -Russian people. In the fifteenth century, for the first time, oral -literature really penetrated into the domain of the written; but the -inevitable and tiresome mediæval stories of Alexander the Great and the -Siege of Troy, the Thousand and One Nights, and others, entering by way -of Servia and Bulgaria, appear among the literature of the southern -Sclavs; and tales of chivalry from Byzantium are also rearranged and -copied,--an element of imitation and artificiality which never took deep -root in Russia, however. Aside from some few tales, the only germs of -vitality are to be found in the apocryphal religious narratives, which -were an early expression of the spirit of mysticism and exegesis, -natural to Muscovite thought; and in the songs, also religious, chanted -by pilgrims on their way to visit the shrines, and by the people also, -but probably the work of the monks. These are still sung by beggars on -the streets, and the people listen with delight. - -In the sixteenth century there were Maximus the Greek (the Savonarola of -Russia), the priest Silvester, author of "Domostrof," a book which was -held to contain the model of ancient Russian society, and lastly the -Czar, Ivan the Terrible himself, who wrote many notable epistles, models -of irony. The songs of the people still flourished, and they were -provided with subject-matter by the awful figure and actions of the -emperor, who was beloved by the people, because, like Pedro the Cruel of -Castile, he dared to bridle the nobles. The popular poet describes him -as giving to a potter the insignia and dignity of a Boyar. This tyrant, -the most ferocious that humanity ever endured, busied himself with -establishing the art of printing in Russia, with the help of Maximus the -Greek, who was a great friend of Aldus the Venetian, the famous printer. -According to the Metropolitan Macarius, God himself from his high throne -put this thought into the heart of the Czar. On the 1st of May, 1564, -the first book printed in Russia, "The Acts of the Apostles," made its -appearance. - -The Russian theatre grew out of the symbolic ceremonies of the church -and the representations given by the Polish Jesuits in the colleges; and -through Poland, in the seventeenth century, by means of translations or -imitations, came also that kind of literary recreations known in France -and Italy during the fourteenth century under the name of novels and -facetias. But these did not intercept the natural course of the -national spirit, nor drown the popular voice,--the _duma_, or -meditation, the religious canticle, the satire, and especially the -incessant reiteration of the _bilinas_, which were now devoted to -relating the heroic conquests of the Cossacks. The impulse communicated -to Russian thought by Peter the Great at last obliterated the chasm -between popular and written literature. Peter established in Russia a -school of translators; whatever he thought useful and beneficial he had -correctly translated, and then he established the academy. He set up the -first regular press and founded the first periodical paper. Not having -much confidence in ecclesiastical literature, he commanded that the -monks should be deprived of pen, ink, and paper; and on the other hand -he revived the theatre, which was apparently dead, and under the -influence of his reforms there arose the first Russian writer who can -properly be called such,--Lomonosof, the personification of academical -classicism, who wrote because he thought it his business, in a -well-ordered State, to write incessantly, to polish and perfect the -taste, the speech, and even the characters of his fellow-countrymen; he -was always a rhetorician, a censor, a corrector, and we seem to see him -always armed with scissors and rule, pruning and shaping the myrtles in -the garden of literature. The Czar pensioned this ornamental poet, after -the fashion of French monarchs, and he in turn bequeathed to his -country, of course, a heroic poem entitled "Petriada." His best service -to the national literature was in the line of philology; he found a -language unrefined and hampered by old Sclavonic forms, and he refined -it, softened it, made it more flexible, and ready to yield sweeter -melody to those who played upon it thereafter. - -Semiramis, in her turn, was not less eager to forward the cause of -letters; she had also her palace poet, Derjavine, the Pindar of her -court; and not being satisfied with this, her imperial hands grasped the -foils and fought out long arguments in the periodicals, to which she -contributed for a long time. Woman, just at that time emerging from -Oriental seclusion, as during the Renaissance in Europe, manifested an -extraordinary desire to learn and to exercise her mind. Catherine became -a journalist, a satirist, and a dramatic author; and a lady of her -court, the Princess Daschkof, directed the Academy of Sciences, and -presided over the Russian Academy founded by Catherine for the -improvement and purification of the language, while three letters in the -new dictionary are the exclusive work of this learned princess. - -Catherine effectively protected her literary men, being convinced that -letters are a means of helping the advancement of a barbarous people, in -fact the highways of communication; and under her influence a literary -Pleiad appeared, among whom were Von-Vizine, the first original Russian -dramatist; Derjavine, the official bard and oracle; and Kerakof, the -pseudo-classic author of the "Rusiada." Court taste prevailed, and -Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot ruled as intellectual -masters of a people totally opposed to the French in their inmost -thoughts. - -The thing most grateful to the Russian poet in Catherine's time was to -be called the Horace or the Pindar of his country; the nobles hid their -Muscovite ruggedness under a coat of Voltairian varnish, and even the -seminaries resounded with denunciations of _fanaticism_ and _horrid -superstition_. Other nations have been known to go thus masked unawares. -But new currents were undermining the possessions of the Encyclopedists. -During the last years of Catherine's reign the theosophical doctrines -from Sweden and Germany infiltrated Russia; mysticism brought -free-masonry, which finally mounted the throne with Alexander I., the -tender friend of the sentimental Valeria; and even had Madame Krudener -never appeared to shape in her visions the protest of the Russian soul -against the dryness and frivolity of the French philosophers, the fresh -lyric quality of Rousseau, Florian, and Bernardin Saint-Pierre would -still have flowed in upon the people of the North by means of that -eminent man and historian, Karamzine. - -Before achieving the title of the Titus Livius of Russia, Karamzine, -being a keen intellectual observer of what was going on abroad, founded, -by means of a novel, the _emotional school_, declaring that the aim of -art is "to pour out floods of grateful impressions upon the realms of -the sentimental." This sounds like mere jargon, but such was their mode -of speech at the time; and that their spirits demanded just such food is -proved by the general use of it, and by the tears that rained upon the -said novel, in which the Russian _mujik_ appears in the disguise of a -shepherd of Arcadia. These innocent absurdities, which were the delight -of our own grandmothers, prepared the way for Romanticism, and the -appearance of Lermontof and Puchkine. - - - - -II. - -Russian Romanticism.--the Lyric Poets. - - -The period of lyric poetry represented by these two excellent poets, -Lermontof and Puchkine, was considered the most glorious in Russian -literature, and there are yet many who esteem it as such in spite of the -contemporary novel. Undoubtedly rhyme can do wonders with this rich -tongue in which words are full of color, melody, and shape, as well as -ideas. A fine critic has said that Russian poetry is untranslatable, and -that one must feel the beauty of certain stanzas of Lermontof and -Puchkine sensually, to realize why they are beyond even the most -celebrated verses in the world. - -At the beginning of the century classicism was in its decline; Russia -was leaving her youth behind her, and after 1812 she became totally -changed. The Napoleonic wars caused the alliance with Germany, and -secret societies of German origin flourished under the favor of the -versatile Alexander I. Weary of the artificial literature imposed by -the iron will of Peter the Great, and stirred by a great desire for -independence, like all the other nations awakened by Napoleon, Russia -held her breath and listened to the birdlike song of the harbingers of a -new era, to the great romantic poets who, almost simultaneously and with -marvellous accord, burst forth in England, Italy, France, Spain, and -Russia. The air was full of melody like the sudden twang of harp-strings -in the darkness of the night; and perhaps the autocratic severity of -Nicholas I. by forcing attention from public affairs and concentrating -it upon literature, was a help rather than a hindrance to this -revelation and development. - -Alexander Puchkine, the demi-god of Russian verse, carried African as -well as Sclavonic blood in his veins, being the grandson of an -Abyssinian named Abraham Hannibal, a sort of Othello upon whom Peter the -Great bestowed the rank of general and married him to a lady of the -court. During the poet's childhood an old servant beguiled him with -legends, fables, and popular tales, and the seed fell upon good ground. -He left home at the age of fourteen, having quarrelled with all his -family and become an out-and-out Voltairian; his professor at the -Lyceum--of whom no more needs be said than that he was a brother of -Marat--had instilled into his youthful mind the superficial atheism then -the fashion; his other tutors declared that this impetuous and fanciful -child was throwing away body and soul; yet, when the occasion came, -Puchkine remembered all that his old nurse had told him, and found -himself with an exquisite æsthetic instinct, in touch with the popular -feeling. - -When Nicholas I., in December, 1825, mounted the throne vacated by the -death of Alexander I. and the renunciation of the Grand-Duke -Constantine, Puchkine, then scarcely more than twenty-six years of age, -found himself in exile for the second time. His first appearance in -public life coincided with the reactionary mood of Alexander I. and the -favoritism of the retrogressive minister, Count Arakschef; and the young -men from the Lyceum, who had been steeping their souls in liberalism, -found themselves defrauded of their expectations of active life, -discussions closed, meetings prohibited, and Russia again in a trance of -Asiatic immobility. The young nobility began to entertain themselves -with conspiracy; and those who had no talent for that, spent their time -in drinking and dissipation. Puchkine was as much inclined toward the -one as the other. His passionate temperament led him into all sorts of -adventures; his eager imagination and his literary tastes incited him to -political essays, though under pain of censure. Living amid a whirl of -amusement, and coveting an introduction to aristocratic circles, he -launched his celebrated poem of "Russia and Ludmilla," which placed him -at once at the head of the poets of his day, who had formed themselves -into a society called "Arzamas," which was to Russian Romanticism what -the Cénacle was to the French,--a centre of attack and defence against -classicism; but at length their literary discussions overstepped the -forbidden territory of politics, and certain ideas were broached which -ended in the conspiracy of December. If Puchkine was not himself a -conspirator, he was at least acquainted with the movement; his ode to -liberty alarmed the police, and the Czar said to the director of the -Lyceum, "Your former pupil is inundating Russia with revolutionary -verses, and every boy knows them by heart." That same afternoon the Czar -signed the order for Puchkine's banishment,--a great good-fortune for -the poet; for had he not been banished he might have been implicated in -the conspiracy about to burst forth, and sent to Siberia or to the -quicksilver mines. He was expelled from Odessa, which was his first -place of confinement, because his Byronic bravado had a pernicious -influence upon the young men of the place, and he was sent home to his -father, with whom he could come to no understanding whatever. While -there he heard of the death of Alexander and the events of December. -Upon knowing that his friends were all compromised and under arrest, he -started for St. Petersburg, but having met a priest and seen a hare -cross his path, he considered these ill omens, and, yielding to -superstition, he turned back. Soon afterward he wrote to the new Czar -begging reprieve of banishment, which was granted. The Iron Czar sent -for him to come to the palace, and held with him a conversation or -dialogue which has become famous in the annals of the historians: - -"If you had found yourself in St. Petersburg on the 25th of December, -where would you have been?" asked Nicholas. - -"Among the rebels," answered the poet. - -Far from being angry, the sovereign was pleased with his reply, and he -embraced Puchkine, saying: "Your banishment is at an end; and do not let -fear of the censors spoil your poetry, Alexander, son of Sergius, for I -myself will be your censor." - -This is not the only instance of this inflexible autocrat's -warm-heartedness. More than once his imperial hand stayed the sentence -of the censors and gave the wing to genius. Nicholas was not afraid of -art, and was, besides, an intelligent amateur of literature. We shall -see how he protected even the satire of Gogol. And so, with a royal -suavity which softens the most selfish character, Nicholas gained to his -side the first poet of Russia, and forever alienated him from the cause -for which his friends suffered in gloomy fortresses and in exile, or -perished on the scaffold. Puchkine had no other choice than to accept -the situation or forfeit his freedom,--to make peace with the emperor or -to go and vegetate in some village and bury his talent alive. He chose -his vocation as poet, accepted the imperial favor, and returned to St. -Petersburg, where he found a remnant of the Arzamas, but now languid and -without creative fire. Being restored to his place in high society, he -tasted the delights of living in a sphere with which his refined and -aristocratic nature was in harmony. He was a poet; he enjoyed the -privileges and immunities of a demi-god, the just tribute paid to the -productive genius of beauty. And yet at times the pride and independence -hushed within his soul stirred again, and he thought with horror upon -the hypocrisy of his position as imperial oracle. But he found himself -at the height of his glory, doing his best work, seldom annoyed by the -censorial scissors, thanks to the Czar; and so, flattered by the throne, -the court, and the public, he led to the altar his "brown-skinned -virgin," his beautiful Natalia, with whom he was so deeply in love. -Having satisfied every earthly desire, he must needs, like Polycrates, -throw his ring into the sea. - -All his happiness came to a sudden end, and not only his happiness, but -his life, went to pay his debt to that high society which had received -him with smiles and fair promises. Puchkine's end is as dramatic as any -novel. A certain French Legitimist who had been well received by the -nobility at St. Petersburg took advantage of the chivalrous customs then -in vogue there, to pay court to the poet's beautiful wife, electing her -as the lady of his thoughts without disguise. Society protected this -little skirmish, and assisted the gallant to meet his lady at every -entertainment and in every _salon_; and as Puchkine, though quite -unsuspicious, showed plainly that he did not enjoy the game, they amused -themselves with exciting and annoying him, ridiculing him, and making -him the butt of epigrams and anonymous verses. The marriage of -"Dante"--as the adorer of his wife was called--with his wife's sister, -far from calming his nerves, only irritated him the more, and he -believed it to be a stratagem on the lover's part, a means of -approaching the nearer to his desires. Becoming desperate, he sought and -obtained a challenge to a duel, and fell mortally wounded by a ball from -his adversary. Two days later he died, having just received a letter -from the emperor, saying:-- - - "Dear Alexander, Son of Sergius,--If it is the will of - Providence that we should never meet again in this world, I - counsel you to die like a Christian. Give yourself no - anxiety for your wife and children; I will care for them." - -Russia cried out with indignation at the news of his death, accusing -polite society in round terms of having taken the part of the -professional libertine against the husband,--of the French adventurer -against their illustrious compatriot; and Lermontof voiced the national -anger in some celebrated lines to this effect:-- - - "Thy last days were poisoned by the vicious ridicule of low - detractors; thou hast died thirsting for vengeance, moaning - bitterly to see thy most beautiful hopes vanished; none - understood the deep emotion of thy last words, and the last - sigh of thy dying lips was lost." - -But I agree with those who, in spite of this fine elegy, do not regret -the premature end of the romantic poet. His life, exuberant, brilliant, -fecund, passionate, like that of Byron, could have no more appropriate -termination than a pistol-shot. He died before the end of -romanticism--his tragic history lent him a halo which lifts his figure -above the mists of time. I have seen Victor Hugo and our own Zorilla in -their old age, and I was not guilty of wishing them anything but long -life and prosperity; but, æsthetically speaking, it seemed to me that -both of them had lived forty years too long, and that Alfred de Musset, -Espronceda, and Byron were well off in their glorious tombs. - -Puchkine belongs undeniably to the great general currents of European -literature; only now and then does he manifest the peculiar genius of -his country which was so strongly marked in Gogol. But it would be -unjust to consider him a mere imitator of foreign romanticists, and some -even claim that he always had one foot upon the soil of classicism, -taking the phrase in the Helenic sense, as particularly shown in his -"Eugene Oneguine," and that, were he to live again, his talents would -undergo a transformation and shine forth in the modern novel and the -national theatre. Besides being a lyric poet of first rank, Puchkine -must also be considered a superb prose writer, having learned from -Voltaire a harmony of arrangement, a discreet selection of details, and -a concise, clear, and rapid phrasing. His novel, "The Captain's -Daughter," is extremely pretty and interesting, at times amusing, or -again very touching, and in my opinion preferable in its simplicity to -the interminable narratives of Walter Scott. But Puchkine has one -remarkable peculiarity, which is, that while he had a keen sympathy -with the popular poetry, and was fully sensible of the revelation of it -by Gogol, which he applauded with all his heart, yet the author of -"Boris Godonof" was so caught in the meshes of romanticism that he never -could employ his faculties in poetry of a national character. Puchkine's -works have no ethnical value at all. His melancholy is not the -despairing sadness of the Russian, but the romantic _morbidezza_ -expressed often in much the same words by Byron, Espronceda, and de -Musset. The phenomenon is common, and easily explained. It lies in the -fact that romanticism was always and everywhere prejudicial to the -manifestation of nationality, and made itself a nation apart, composed -of half-a-dozen persons from every European country. Realism, with its -principles--whether tacitly or explicitly accepted--of human verities, -heredity, atavism, race and place influences, etc., became a necessity -in order that writers might follow their natural instincts and speak in -their own mother tongue. - -Within the restricted circle of poets who hovered around Puchkine, one -deserves especial mention, namely, Lermontof. He is the second lyric -poet of Russia, and perhaps embodies the spirit of romanticism even more -than Puchkine; he is the real Russian Byron. His life is singularly like -that of Puchkine, he having also been banished to the Caucasus, and for -the very reason of having written the elegy upon Puchkine's death; like -him he was also killed in a duel, but still earlier in life, and before -he had reached the plenitude of his powers. - -Lermontof became the singer of the Caucasian region. At that time it was -really a great favor to send a poet to the mountains, for there he came -in contact with things that reclaimed and lifted his fancy,--air, sun, -liberty, a wooded and majestic landscape, picturesque and charming -peasant-maidens, wild flowers full of new and virginal perfume like the -Haydees and Fior d'Alizas sung of by our Western poets. There they -forgot the deceits of civilization and the weariness of mind that comes -of too much reading; there the brain was refreshed, the nerves calmed, -and the moral fibre strengthened. Puchkine, Lermontof, and Tolstoï, each -in his own way, have lauded the regenerative virtue of the snow-covered -mountains. But Lermontof in particular was full of it, lived in it, and -died in it, after his fatal wound at the age of twenty-six, when public -opinion had just singled him out as Puchkine's successor. He had drunk -deeply of Byron's fountain, and even resembled Byron in his discontent, -restlessness, and violent passions, which more than Byron's were tinged -with a stripe of malice and pride, so that his enemies used to say that -to describe Lucifer he needed only to look at himself in the glass. -There is an unbridled freedom, a mocking irony, and at times a deep -melancholy at the bottom of his poetic genius; it is inferior to -Puchkine's in harmony and completeness, but exceeds it in an almost -painful and thrilling intensity; there was more gall in his soul, and -therefore more of what has been called subjectivity, even amounting to -a fierce egoism. Lermontof is the high-water mark of romanticism, and -after his death it necessarily began to ebb; it had exhausted curses, -fevers, complaints, and spleens, and now the world of literature was -ready for another form of art, wider and more human, and that form was -realism. - -I am sorry to have to deal in _isms_, but the fault is not mine; we are -handling ideas, and language offers no other way. The transition came by -means of satire, which is exceptionally fertile in Russia. A genius of -wonderful promise arose in Griboiëdof, a keen observer and moralist, who -deserves to be mentioned after Puchkine, if only for one comedy which is -considered the gem of the Russian stage, and is entitled (freely -rendered) "Too Clever by Half." The hero is a misanthropic patriot who -sighs for the good old times and abuses the mania for foreign education -and imitation. This shows the first impulse of the nation to know and to -assert itself in literature as in everything else. Being prohibited by -the censor, the play circulated privately in manuscript; every line -became a proverb, and the people found their very soul reflected in it. -Five years later, when Puchkine was returning from the Caucasus, he met -with a company of Georgians who were drawing a dead body in a cart: it -was the body of Griboiëdof, who had been assassinated in an -insurrection. - -Between the decline of the romantic period and the appearance of new -forms inspired by a love of the truth, there hovered in other parts of -Europe undefined and colorless shapes, sterile efforts and shallow -aspirations which never amounted to anything. But not so in Russia. -Romanticism vanished quickly, for it was an aristocratic and artificial -condition, without root and without fruit conducive to the well-being of -a nation which had as yet scarcely entered on life, and which felt -itself strong and eager for stimulus and aim, eager to be heard and -understood; realism grew up quickly, for the very youth of the nation -demanded it. Russia, which until then had trod with docile steps upon -the heels of Europe, was at last to take the lead by creating the -realistic novel. - -She had not to do violence to her own nature to accomplish this. The -Russian, little inclined to metaphysics, unless it be the fatalist -philosophy of the Hindus, more quick at poetic conceptions than at -rational speculations, carries realism in his veins along with -scientific positivism; and if any kind of literature be spontaneous in -Russia it is the epic, as shown now in fragmentary songs and again in -the novels. Before ever they were popular in their own country, Balzac -and Zola were admired and understood in Russia. - -The two great geniuses of lyric poetry, Puchkine and Lermontof, confirm -this theory. Though both perished before the descriptive and observing -faculties of their countrymen were matured, they had both instinctively -turned to the novel, and perhaps the possible direction of their genius -was thus shadowed forth as by accident. Puchkine seems to me endowed -with qualities which would have made him a delightful novel-writer. His -heroes are clearly and firmly drawn and very attractive; he has a -certain healthy joyousness of tone which is quite classic, and a -brightness and freedom of coloring that I like; in the short historic -narrative he has left us we never see the slightest trace of the lyric -poet. As to Lermontof, is it not marvellous that a man who died at the -age of twenty-six years should have produced anything like a novel? But -he left a sort of autobiography, which is extremely interesting, -entitled "A Contemporary Hero," which hero, Petchorine by name, is -really the type of the romantic period, exacting, egotistical, at war -with himself and everybody else, insatiable for love, yet scorning life, -a type that we meet under different forms in many lands; now swallowing -poison like De Musset's Rolla, now refusing happiness like Adolfo, now -consumed with remorse like Réné, now cocking his pistol like Werther, -and always in a bad humor, and to tell the truth always intolerable. "My -hero," writes Lermontof, "is the portrait of a generation, not of an -individual." And he makes that hero say, "I have a wounded soul, a fancy -unappeased, a heart that nothing can ease. Everything becomes less and -less to me. I have accustomed myself to suffering and joy alike, and I -have neither feelings nor impressions; everything wearies me." But there -are many fine pages in the narratives of Lermontof besides these -poetical declamations. Perhaps the novel might also have offered him a -brilliant future. - -The sad fate of the writers during the reign of Nicholas I. is -remarkable, when we consider how favorable it was to art in other -respects. Alexander Herzen calculated that within thirty years the three -most illustrious Russian poets were assassinated or killed in a duel, -three lesser ones died in exile, two became insane, two died of want, -and one by the hand of the executioner. Alas! and among these dark -shadows we discern one especially sad; it is that of Nicholas Gogol, a -soul crushed by its own greatness, a victim to the noblest infirmity and -the most generous mania that can come upon a man, a martyr to love of -country. - - - - -III. - -Russian Realism: Gogol, its Founder. - - -Gogol was born in 1809; he was of Cossack blood, and first saw the light -of this world amid the steppes which he was afterward to describe so -vividly. His grandfather, holding the child upon his knee, amused him -with stories of Russian heroes and their mighty deeds, not so very long -past either, for only two generations lay between Gogol and the Cossack -warriors celebrated in the _bilinas_. Sometimes a wandering minstrel -sang these for him, accompanying himself on the _bandura_. In this -school was his imagination taught. We may imagine the effect upon -ourselves of hearing the Romance of the Cid under such circumstances. -When Gogol went to St. Petersburg with the intention of joining the -ranks of Russian youth there, though ostensibly to seek employment, he -carried a light purse and a glowing fancy. He found that the great city -was a desert more arid than the steppes, and even after obtaining an -office under the government he endured poverty and loneliness such as no -one can describe so well as himself. His position offered him one -advantage which was the opportunity of studying the bureaucratic world, -and of drawing forth from amid the dust of official papers the material -for some of his own best pages. On the expiration of his term of office -he was for a while blown about like a dry leaf. He tried the stage but -his voice failed him; he tried teaching but found he had no vocation for -it. Nor had he any aptitude for scholarship. In the Gymnasium of Niejine -his rank among the pupils was only medium; German, mathematics, Latin, -and Greek were little in his line; he was an illiterate genius. But in -his inmost soul dwelt the conviction that his destiny held great things -in store for him. In his struggle with poverty, the remembrance of the -hours he had passed at school reading Puchkine and other romantic poets -began to urge him to try his fortune at literature. One day he knocked -with trembling hand at Puchkine's door; the great poet was still asleep, -having spent the night in gambling and dissipation, but on waking, he -received the young novice with a cordial welcome, and with his -encouragement Gogol published his first work, called "Evenings at the -Farm." It met with amazing success; for the first time the public found -an author who could give them a true picture of Russian life. Puchkine -had hit the mark in advising him to study national scenes and popular -customs; and who knows whether perhaps his conscience did not reproach -him with shutting his own eyes to his country and the realities she -offered him, and stopping his ears against the voice of tradition and -the charms of Nature? - -Gogol's "Evenings at the Farm" is the echo of his own childhood; in -these pages the Russia of the people lives and breathes in landscapes, -peasants, rustic customs, dialogues, legends, and superstitions. It is a -bright and simple work, not yet marked with the pessimism which later on -darkened the author's soul; it has a strong smell of the soil; it is -full of dialect and colloquial diminutive and affectionate terms, with -now and then a truly poetical passage. Is it not strange that the -intellect of a nation sometimes wanders aimlessly through foreign lands -seeking from without what lies handier at home, and borrowing from -strangers that of which it has a super-abundance already? And how sweet -is the surprise one feels at finding so beautiful the things which were -hidden from our understanding by their very familiarity! - -"The Tales of Mirgorod," which followed the "Evenings at the Farm," -contain one of the gems of Gogol's writings, the story of "Taras -Boulba." Gogol has the quality of the epic poet, though he is generally -noted only for his merits as a novelist; but judging from his greatest -works, "Taras Boulba" and "Dead Souls," I consider his epic power to be -of the first class, and in truth I hold him to be, rather more than a -modern novelist, a master poet who has substituted for the lyric poetry -brought into favor by romanticism the epic form, which is much more -suited to the Russian spirit. He is the first who has caught the -inspiration of the _bilinas_, the hero-songs, the Sclavonic poetry -created by the people. The novel, it is true, is one manifestation of -epic poetry, and in a certain way every novelist is a rhapsodist who -recites his canto of the poem of modern times; but there are some -descriptive, narrative fictions, which, imbued with a greater amount of -the poetic element united to a certain large comprehensive character, -more nearly resemble the ancient idea of the epopee; and of this class I -may mention "Don Quixote," and perhaps "Faust," as examples. By this I -do not mean to place Gogol on the same plane as Goethe and Cervantes; -yet I associate them in my mind, and I see in Gogol's books the -transition from the lyric to the epic which is to result in the true -novel that begins with Turguenief. - -All the world is agreed that "Taras Boulba" is a true prose poem, -modelled in the Homeric style, the hero of which is a people that long -preserved a primitive character and customs. Gogol declared that he -merely allowed himself to reproduce the tales of his grandfather, who -thus becomes the witness and actor in this Cossack Iliad. - -One charming trait in Gogol is his love for the past and his fidelity -to tradition; they have as strong an attraction for him certainly as the -seductions of the future, and both are the outcome of the two sublime -sentiments which divide every heart,--retrospection and anticipation. -Gogol, who is so skilful in sketching idyllic scenes of the tranquil -life of country proprietors, clergy, and peasants, is no less skilful in -his descriptions of the adventurous existence of the Cossack; sometimes -he is so faithful to the simple grandeur of his grandfather's style, -that though the action in "Taras Boulba" takes place in recent times, it -seems a tale of primeval days. - -The story of this novel--I had almost said this poem--unfolds among the -Cossacks of the Don and the Dnieper, who were at that time a -well-preserved type of the ancient warlike Scythians that worshipped the -blood-stained sword. Old Taras Boulba is a wild animal, but a very -interesting wild animal; a rude and majestic warrior-like figure cast in -Homeric mould. There is, I confess, just a trace of the leaven of -romanticism in Taras. Not all in vain had Gogol hidden Puchkine's works -under his pillow in school-days; but the whole general tone recalls -inevitably the grand naturalism of Homer, to which is added an Oriental -coloring, vivid and tragical. Taras Boulba is an Ataman of the Cossacks, -who has two young sons, his pride and his hope, studying at the -University of Kief. On a declaration of war between the savage Cossack -republic and Poland, the old hawk calls his two nestlings and commands -them to exchange the book for the sword. One of the sons, bewitched by -the charms of a Polish maiden, deserts from the Cossack camp and fights -in the ranks of the enemy; he at length falls into the power of his -enraged father, who puts him to death in punishment for his treason. -After dreadful battles and sieges, starvation and suffering, Taras dies, -and with him the glory and the liberty of the Cossacks. Such is the -argument of this simple story, which begins in a manner not unlike the -Tale of the Cid. The two sons of Taras arrive at their father's house, -and the father begins to ridicule their student garb. - - "'Do not mock at us, father,' says the elder. - - "'Listen to the gentleman! And why should I not mock at - you, I should like to know?' - - "'Because, even though you are my father, I swear by the - living God, I will smite you.' - - "'Hi! hi! What? Your father?' cries Taras, receding a step - or two. - - "'Yes, my own father; for I will take offence from nobody - at all.' - - "'How shall we fight then,--with fists?' exclaims the - father in high glee. - - "'However you like.' - - "'With fists, then,' answers Taras, squaring off at him. - 'Let us see what sort of fellow you are, and what sort of - fists you have.'" - -And so father and son, instead of embracing after a long absence, begin -to pommel one another with naked fists, in the ribs, back, and chest, -each advancing and receding in turn. - - "'Why, he fights well,' exclaims Taras, stopping to take - breath. 'He is a hero,' he adds, readjusting his clothes. 'I - had better not have put him to the proof. But he will be a - great Cossack! Good! my son, embrace me now.'" - -This is like the delight of Diego Lainez in the Spanish Romanceros, when -he says, "Your anger appeases my own, and your indignation gives me -pleasure." - -Could Gogol have been acquainted with the Tale of the Cid and the other -Spanish Romanceros? I do not think it too audacious to believe it -possible, when we know that this author was a delighted reader of "Don -Quixote," and really drew inspiration from it for his greatest work. But -let us return to "Taras Boulba." Another admirable passage is on the -parting of the mother and sons. The poor wife of Taras is the typical -woman of the warlike tribes, a gentle and miserable creature amid a -fierce horde of men who are for the most part celibates,--a creature -once caressed roughly for a few moments by her harsh husband, and then -abandoned, and whose love instincts have concentrated themselves upon -the fruits of his early fugitive affection. She sees again her beloved -sons who are to spend but one night at home,--for at break of day the -father leads them forth to battle, where perhaps at the first shock some -Tartar may cut off their heads and hang them by the hair at his -saddle-girths. She watches them while they sleep, kept awake herself by -hope and fear. - - "'Perhaps,' she says to herself, 'when Boulba awakes he will - put off his departure one or two days; perhaps he was drunk, - and did not think how soon he was taking them away from - me.'" - -But at dawn her maternal hopes vanish; the old Cossack makes ready to -set off. - - "When the mother saw her sons leap to horse, she rushed - toward the younger, whose face showed some trace of - tenderness; she grasped the stirrup and the saddle-girth, - and would not let go, and her eyes were wide with agony and - despair. Two strong Cossacks seized her with firm but - respectful hands, and bore her away to the house. But - scarcely had they released her upon the threshold, when she - sprang out again quicker than a mountain-goat, which was the - more remarkable in a woman of her age; with superhuman - effort she held back the horse, gave her son a wild, - convulsive embrace, and again was carried away. The young - Cossacks rode off in silence, choking their tears for fear - of their father; and the father, too, had a queer feeling - about his heart, though he took care that it should not be - noticed." - -In another place I have translated his magnificent description of the -steppe, and I should like to quote the admirable paragraphs on -starvation, on the killing of Ostap Boulba, and the death of Taras. As -an example of the extreme simplicity with which Gogol manages his most -dramatic passages and yet obtains an intense and powerful effect, I will -give the scene in which Taras takes the life of his son by his own -hand,--a scene which Prosper Mérimée imitated in his celebrated sketch -of "Mateo Falcone." - -Andry comes out of the city, which was attacked by the Cossacks. - - "At the head of the squadron galloped a horseman, handsomer - and haughtier than the others. His black hair floated from - beneath his bronze helmet; around his arm was bound a - beautifully embroidered scarf. Taras was stupefied on - recognizing in him his son Andry. But the latter, inflamed - with the ardor of combat, eager to merit the prize which - adorned his arm, threw himself forward like a young hound, - the handsomest, the fleetest, the strongest of the pack.... - Old Taras stood a moment, watching Andry as he cut his way - by blows to the right and the left, laying the Cossacks - about him. At last his patience was exhausted. - - "'Do you strike at your own people, you devil's whelp?' he - cried. - - "Andry, galloping hard away, suddenly felt a strong hand - pulling at his bridle-rein. He turned his head and saw - Taras before him. He grew pale, like a child caught idling - by his master. His ardor cooled as though it had never - blazed; he saw only his terrible father, motionless and - calm before him. - - "'What are you doing?' exclaimed Taras, looking at the - young man sharply. Andry could not reply, and his eyes - remained fixed upon the ground. - - "'How now, my son? Have your Polish friends been of much - use to you?' Andry was dumb as before. - - "'You commit felony, you barter your religion, you sell - your own people.... But wait, wait.... Get down.' Like an - obedient child Andry alighted from his horse, and, more - dead than alive, stood before his father. - - "'Stand still. Do not move. I gave you life, I will take - your life away,' said Taras then; and going back a step he - took the musket from his shoulder. Andry was white as wax. - He seemed to move his lips and to murmur a name. But it - was not his country's name, nor his mother's, nor his - brother's; it was the name of the beautiful Polish maiden. - Taras fired. As the wheat-stalk bends after the stroke of - the sickle, Andry bent his head and fell upon the grass - without uttering a word. The man who had slain his son - stood a long time contemplating the body, beautiful even in - death. The young face, so lately glowing with strength and - winsome beauty, was still wonderfully comely, and his - eyebrows, black and velvety, shaded his pale features. - - "'What was lacking to make him a true Cossack?' said - Boulba. 'He was tall, his eyebrows were black, he had a - brave mien, and his fists were strong and ready to fight. - And he has perished, perished without glory, like a - cowardly dog.'" - -In the opinion of Guizot there is perhaps no true epic poem in the -modern age besides "Taras Boulba," in spite of some defects in it and -the temptation to compare it with Homer to its disadvantage. But Gogol's -glory is not derived solely from his epopee of the Cossacks. His -especial merit, or at least his greatest service to the literature of -his country, lies in his having been what neither Lermontof nor Puchkine -could be; namely, the centre at which romanticism and realism join -hands, the medium of a smooth and easy transition from lyric poetry, -more or less imported from abroad, and the national novel; the founder -of the _natural school_, which was the advance sentinel of modern art. - -This tendency is first exhibited in a little sketch inserted in the same -volume with Taras Boulba, and entitled "The Small Proprietors of Former -Times," also translated as "Old-fashioned Farmers," or "Old-time -Proprietors,"--a story of the commonplace, full of keen observations and -wrought out in the methods of the great contemporary novelists. About -the year 1835, at the height of the romantic period, Gogol gave up his -official employment forever, exclaiming, "I am going to be a free -Cossack again; I will belong to nobody but myself." He then published a -little volume of _Arabesques_,--a collection of disconnected articles, -criticisms, and sketches, chiefly interesting because by him. His short -stories of this period are the stirrings of his awakening realism; and -among them the one most worthy of notice is "The Cloak," which is filled -with a strain of sympathy and pity for the poor, the ignorant, the -plain, and the dull people,--social zeros, so different from the proud -and aristocratic ideal of romanticism, and who owe their title of -citizenship in Russian literature to Gogol. The hero of the story is an -awkward, half-imbecile little office-clerk, who knows nothing but how to -copy, copy, copy; a martyr to bitter cold and poverty, and whose dearest -dream is to possess a new cloak, for which he saves and hoards sordidly -and untiringly. The very day on which he at last fulfils his desire, -some thieves make off with his precious cloak. The police, to whom he -carries his complaint, laugh in his face, and the poor fellow falls a -victim to the deepest melancholy, and dies of a broken heart shortly -after. - - "And," says Gogol, "St. Petersburg went on its way without - Acacio, son of Acacio, just exactly as though it had never - dreamed of his existence. This creature that nobody cared - for, nobody loved, nobody took any interest in,--not even - the naturalist who sticks a pin through a common fly and - studies it attentively under a microscope,--this poor - creature disappeared, vanished, went to the other world - without anything in particular ever having happened to him - in this.... But at least once before he died he had welcomed - that bright guest, Fortune, whom we all hope to see; to his - eyes she appeared under the form of a cloak. And then - misfortune fell upon him as suddenly and as darkly as it - ever falls upon the great ones of the earth." - -"The Cloak" and his celebrated comedy, "The Inspector," also translated -as "The Revizor," are the result of his official experiences. Men who -have been a good deal tossed about, who have drunk of life's cup of -bitterness, who have been bruised by its sharp corners and torn by its -thorns, if they have an analytical mind and a magnanimous heart, human -kindness and a spark of genius, become the great satirists, great -humorists, and great moralists. "The Inspector" is a picture of Russian -public customs painted by a master hand; it is a laugh, a fling of -derision, at the baseness of a society and a political regimen under -which bureaucracy and official formalism can descend to incredible vice -and corruption. It seems at first a mere farce, such as is common enough -on the Russian or any stage; but the covert strength of the satire is so -far-reaching that the "Inspector" is a symbolical and cruel work. The -curtain rises at the moment when the officials of a small provincial -capital are anxiously awaiting the Inspector, who is about to make them -a visit incognito. A traveller comes to the only hotel or inn of the -town, and all believe him to be the dreaded governmental attorney. It -turns out that the traveller who has given them such a fright is neither -more nor less than an insignificant employee from St. Petersburg, a -madcap fellow, who, having run short of money, is obliged to cut his -vacation journey short. When he is apprised of a visit from the -governor, he thinks he is about to be arrested. What is his astonishment -when he finds that, instead of being put in prison, a purse of five -hundred rubles is slipped into his hand, and he is conducted with great -ceremony to visit hospitals and schools. As soon as he smells the _quid -pro quo_ he adapts himself to the part, dissimulates, and plays the -protector, puts on a majestic and severe demeanor, and after having -fooled the whole town and received all sorts of obsequious attentions, -he slips out with a full purse. A few minutes afterward the real -Inspector appears and the curtain falls. - -Gogol frankly confesses that in this comedy he has tried to put together -and crystallize all the evil that he saw in the administrative affairs -of Russia. The general impression it gave was that of a satire, as he -desired; the nation looked at itself in the glass, and was ashamed. "In -the midst of my own laughter, which was louder than ever," says Gogol, -"the spectator perceived a note of sorrow and anger, and I myself -noticed that my laugh was not the same as before, and that it was no -longer possible to be as I used to be in my works; the need to amuse -myself with innocent fictions was gone with my youth." This is the -sincere confession of the humorist whose laughter is full of tears and -bitterness. - -This rough satire on the government of the autocrat Nicholas, this -terrible flagellation of wickedness in high places raised to a venerated -national institution, was represented before the court and applauded by -it, and the satirical author of it was subjected to no censor but the -emperor himself, who read the play in manuscript, burst into roars of -laughter over it, and ordered his players to give it without delay; and -on the first night Nicholas appeared in his box, and his imperial hands -gave the signal for applause. The courtiers could not do otherwise than -swallow the pill, but it left a bad taste and a bitter sediment in their -hearts, which they treasured up against Gogol for the day of revenge. - -On this occasion the terrible autocrat acted with the same exquisite -delicacy and truly royal munificence which he had shown toward Puchkine. -On allowing Gogol a pension of five thousand rubles, he said to the -person who presented the petition, "Do not let your protégé know that -this gift is from me; he would feel obliged to write from a government -standpoint, and I do not wish him to do that." Several times afterward -the Emperor secretly sent him such gifts under cover of his friend -Joukowsky the poet, by which means he was able to defray his journeys to -Europe. - -Without apparent cause Gogol's character became soured about the year -1836; he became a prey to hypochondria, probably, as may be deduced -from a passage in one of his letters, on account of the atmosphere of -hostility which had hung over him since the publication of "The -Inspector." "Everybody is against me," he says, "officials, police, -merchants, literary men; they are all gnashing and snapping at my -comedy! Nowadays I hate it! Nobody knows what I suffer. I am worn out in -body and soul." He determined to leave the country, and he afterward -returned to it only occasionally, until he went back at last to languish -and die there. Like Turguenief, and not without some, truth, he declared -that he could see his country, the object of his study, better from a -distance; it is the law of the painter, who steps away from his picture -to a certain distance in order to study it better. He went from one -place to another in Europe, and in Rome he formed a close friendship -with the Russian painter Ivanof, who had retired to a Capuchin convent, -where he spent twenty years on one picture, "The Apparition of Christ," -and left it at last unfinished. Some profess to believe that Gogol was -converted to Catholicism, and with his friend devoted himself to a life -of asceticism and contemplation of the hereafter, toward which vexed and -melancholy souls often feel themselves irresistibly drawn. - -Gogol felt a strong desire to deal with the truth, with realities; he -longed to write a book that would tell _the whole truth_, which should -show Russia as she was, and which should not be hampered by influences -that forced him to temporize, attenuate, and weigh his words,--a book -in which he might give free vent to his satirical vein, and put his -faculties of observation to consummate use. This book, which was to be a -_résumé_ of life, a _chef d'oeuvre_, a lasting monument (the -aspiration of every ambitious soul that cannot bear to die and be -forgotten), at last became a fixed idea in Gogol's mind; it took -complete possession of him, gave him no repose, absorbed his whole life, -demanded every effort of his brain, and finally remained unfinished. And -yet what he accomplished constitutes the most profoundly human book that -has ever been written in Russia; it contains the whole programme of the -school initiated by Gogol, and compels us to count the author of it -among the descendants of Cervantes. "Don Quixote" was in fact the model -for "Dead Souls," which put an end to romanticism, as "Quixote" did to -books of chivalry. That none may say that this supposition is dictated -by my national pride, I am going to quote literally two paragraphs, one -by Gogol himself, the other by Melchior de Voguié, the intelligent -French critic whose work on the Russian novel has been so useful to me -in these studies. - - "Puchkine," says Gogol, "has been urging me for some time to - undertake a long and serious work. One day he talked to me - of my feeble health, of the frequent attacks which may cause - my premature death; he mentioned as an example Cervantes, - the author of some short stories of excellent quality, but - who would never have held the place he is awarded among the - writers of first rank, had he not undertaken his 'Don - Quixote.' And at last he suggested to me a subject of his - own invention on which he had thought of making a poem, and - said he would tell it to nobody but me. The subject was 'The - Dead Souls.' Puchkine also suggested to me the idea of 'The - Inspector.'" - - "In spite of this frank testimony," adds Voguié, "equally - honorable to both friends, I must continue to believe that - the true progenitor of 'Dead Souls' was Cervantes himself. - On leaving Russia Gogol turned toward Spain, and studied at - close quarters the literature of this country, especially - 'Don Quixote,' which was always his favorite book. The - Spanish humorist held up to him a subject marvellously - suited to his plans, the adventures of a hero with a mania - which leads him into all regions of society, and who serves - as the pretext to show to the spectator a series of - pictures, a sort of human magic-lantern. The near - relationship of these two works is indicated at all - points,--the cogitative, sardonic spirit, the sadness - underlying the laughter, and the impossibility of - classifying either under any definite literary head. Gogol - protested against the application of the word 'novel' to - his book, and himself called it a poem, dividing it, not - into chapters but into cantos. Poem it cannot be called in - any rigorous sense of the term; but classify 'Don Quixote,' - and Gogol's masterpiece will fall into the same category." - -I read "Dead Souls" before reading Voguié's criticism, and my impression -coincided exactly with his. I said to myself, "This book is the nearest -like 'Don Quixote' of any that I have ever read." There are important -differences--how could it be otherwise?--and even discounting the loss -to Gogol by means of translation, a marked inferiority of the Russian -to Cervantes; but they are writers of the same species, and even at the -distance of two centuries they bear a likeness to each other. And the -intention to take "Don Quixote" as a model is evident, even though Gogol -had never set foot in Spain, as some of his compatriots affirm. - -"Dead Souls" may be divided into three parts: the first, which was -completed and published in 1842; the second, which was incomplete and -rudimentary, and cast into the flames by the author in a fit of -desperation, but published after his death from notes that had escaped -this holocaust; and the third, which never took shape outside the -author's mind. - -Even the contrast between the heroes of Cervantes and Gogol--the -Ingenious Knight Avenger of Wrongs, and the clever rascal who goes from -place to place trying to carry out his extravagant schemes--illustrates -still more clearly the Cervantesque affiliation of the book. Undoubtedly -Gogol purposely chose a contrast, because he wished to embody in the -story the wrath he felt at the social state of Russia, more lamentable -and hateful even than that of Spain in Cervantes' time. No more profound -diatribe than "Dead Souls" has ever been written in Russia, though it is -a country where satire has flourished abundantly. Sometimes there is a -ray of sunshine, and the poet's tense brows relax with a hearty laugh. -In the first chapter is a description of the Russian inns, drawn with no -less graceful wit than that of the inns of La Mancha. It is not -difficult to go on with the parallel. - -In "Dead Souls," as in "Don Quixote," the hero's servants are important -personages, and so are their horses, which have become typical under the -names of Rocinante and Rucio; the dialogues between the coachman Selifan -and his horses remind one of some of the passages between Sancho and his -donkey. As in "Don Quixote," the infinite variety of persons and -episodes, the physiognomy of the places, the animated succession of -incidents, offer a panorama of life. As in "Don Quixote," woman occupies -a place in the background; no important love-affair appears in the whole -book. Gogol, like Cervantes, shows less dexterity in depicting feminine -than masculine types, except in the case of the grotesque, where he also -resembles the creator of Maritornes and Teresa Panza. As in "Don -Quixote," the best part of the book is the beginning; the inspiration -slackens toward the middle, for the reason, probably, that in both the -poetic instinct supersedes the prudent forecasting of the idea, and -there is in both something of the sublime inconsistency common to -geniuses and to the popular muse. And in "Don Quixote," as in "Dead -Souls," above the realism of the subject and the vulgarity of many -passages there is a sort of ebullient, fantastic life, something -supersensual, which carries us along under full sail into the bright -world of imagination; something which enlivens the fancy, takes hold -upon the mind, and charms the soul; something which makes us better, -more humane, more spiritual in effect. - -The subject of "Dead Souls"--so strange as never to be forgotten--gives -Gogol a wide range for his pungent satire. Tchitchikof--there's a name, -indeed!--an ex-official, having been caught in some nefarious affair, -and ruined and dishonored by the discovery, conceives a bright idea as -to regaining his fortune. He knows that the serfs, called in Russia by -the generic name of _souls_, can be pawned, mortgaged, and sold; and -that on the other hand the tax-collector obliges the owners to pay a -_per capita_ tax for each soul. He remembers also that the census is -taken on the Friday before Easter, and in the mean time the lists are -not revised, seeing that natural processes compensate for losses by -death. But in case of epidemic the owner loses more, yet continues to -pay for hands that no longer toil for him; so it occurs to Tchitchikof -to travel over the country buying at a discount a number of _dead souls_ -whose owners will gladly get rid of them, the buyer having only to -promise to pay the taxes thereon; then, having provided these dead souls -(though to all legal intents still living) with this extraordinary -nominal value, he will register them as purchased, take the deed of sale -to a bank in St. Petersburg, mortgage them for a good round sum, and -with the money thus obtained, buy real live serfs of flesh and blood, -and by this clever trick make a fortune. No sooner said than done. The -hero gives orders to harness his _britchka_, takes with him his coachman -and his lackey,--two delicious characters!--and goes all over Russia, -ingratiating himself everywhere, finding out all about the people and -the estates, meeting with all sorts of proprietors and functionaries, -and falling into many adventures which, if not quite as glorious as -those of the Knight of La Mancha, are scarcely less entertaining to read -about. And where is such another diatribe on serfdom as this lugubrious -burlesque furnishes, or any spectacle so painfully ironical as that of -these wretched corpses, who are neither free nor yet within the narrow -liberty of the tomb,--these poor bones ridiculed and trafficked for even -in the precincts of death? - -This remarkable book, which contains a most powerful argument against -the inveterate abuses of slavery, unites to its value as a social and -humanitarian benefactor that of being the corner-stone of Russian -realism,--the realism which, though already perceptible in the prose -writings of the romantic poets, appears in Gogol, not as a confused -precursory intuition, nor as an instinctive impulsion of a national -tendency, but as a rational literary plan, well based and firmly -established. A few quotations from "Dead Souls," and some passages also -from Gogol's Letters, will be enough to prove this. - - "Happy is the writer,"[1] he says sarcastically, "who - refrains from depicting insipid, disagreeable, unsympathetic - characters without any charms whatever, and makes a study of - those more distinguished, refined, and exquisite; the writer - who has a fine tact in selecting from the vast and muddy - stream of humanity, and devoting his attention to a few - honorable exceptions to the average human nature; who never - once lowers the clear, high tone of his lyre; who never puts - his melodies to the ignoble use of singing about folk of no - importance and low quality; and who, in fact, taking care - never to descend to the too commonplace realities of life, - soars upward bright and free toward the ethereal regions of - his poetic ideal!... He soothes and flatters the vanity of - men, casting a veil over whatever is base, sombre, and - humiliating in human nature. All the world applauds and - rejoices as he passes by in his triumphal chariot, and the - multitude proclaims him a great poet, a creative genius, a - transcendent soul. At the sound of his name young hearts - beat wildly, and sweet tears of admiration shine in gentle - eyes.... Oh, how different is the lot of the unfortunate - writer who dares to present in his works a faithful picture - of social realities, exactly as they appear to the naked - eye! Who bade him pay attention to the muddy whirlpool of - small miseries and humiliations, in which life is perforce - swallowed up, or take notice of the crowd of vulgar, - indifferent, bungling, corrupt characters, that swarm like - ants under our feet? If he commit a sin so reprehensible, - let him not hope for the applause of his country; let him - not expect to be greeted by maidens of sixteen, with heaving - bosom and bright, enthusiastic eyes.... Nor will he be able - to escape the judgment of his contemporaries, a tribunal - without delicacy or conscience, which pronounces the works - it devours in secret to be disgusting and low, and with - feigned repugnance enumerates them among the writings which - are hurtful to humanity; a tribunal which cynically imputes - to the author the qualities and conditions of the hero whom - he describes, allowing him neither heart nor soul, and - belittling the sacred flame of talent which is his whole - life. - - "Contemporary judgment is not yet able or willing to - acknowledge that the lens which discloses the habits and - movements of the smallest insect is worthy the same - estimation as that which reaches to the farthest limits of - the firmament. It seems to ignore the fact that it needs a - great soul indeed to portray sincerely and accurately the - life that is stigmatized by public opinion, to convert clay - into precious pearls through the medium of art. - Contemporary judgment finds it hard to realize that frank, - good-natured laughter may be as full of merit and dignity - as a fine outburst of lyric passion. Contemporary judgment - pretends ignorance, and bestows only censure and - depreciation upon the sincere author,--knows him not, - disdains him; and so he is left wretched, abandoned, - without sympathy, like the lonely traveller who has no - companion but his own indomitable heart. - - "I understand you, dear readers; I know very well what you - are thinking in your hearts; you curse the means that shows - you palpable, naked human misery, and you murmur within - yourselves, 'What is the use of such an exhibition? As - though we did not already know enough of the absurd and - base actions that the world is always full of! These things - are annoying, and one sees enough of them without having - them set before us in literature. No, no; show us the - beautiful, the charming; that which shall lift us above the - levels of reality, elevate us, fill us with enthusiasm.' - And this is not all. The author exposes himself to the - anger of a class of would-be patriots, who, at the least - indication of injury to the country's decorum, at the first - appearance of a book that dwells on some bitter truths, - raise a dreadful outcry. 'Is it well that such things - should be brought to light?' they say; 'this description - may apply to a good many people we know; it might be you, - or I, or our friend there. And what will foreigners say? It - is too bad to allow them to form so poor an opinion of us.' - Hypocrites! The motive of their accusations is not - patriotism, that noble and beautiful sentiment; it is mean, - low calculation, wearing the mask of patriotism. Let us - tear off the mask and tread it under foot. Let us call - things by their names; it is a sacred duty, and the author - is under obligation to tell the truth, the whole truth." - -These passages just quoted are sufficiently explicit; but the following, -taken from one of Gogol's letters concerning "Dead Souls," is still more -so. - - "Those who have analyzed my talents as a writer have not - been able to discover my chief quality. Only Puchkine - noticed it, and he used to say that no author had, so much - as I, the gift of showing the reality of the trivialities of - life, of describing the petty ways of an insignificant - creature, of bringing out and revealing to my readers - infinitesimal details which would otherwise pass unnoticed. - In fact, there is where my talent lies. The reader revolts - against the meanness and baseness of my heroes; when he - shuts the book he feels as though he had come up from a - stifling cellar into the light of day. They would have - forgiven me if I had described some picturesque theatrical - knave, but they cannot forgive my vulgarity. The Russians - are shocked to see their own insignificance." - - "My friend," he writes again, "if you wish to do me the - greatest favor that I can expect from a Christian, make a - note of every small daily act and fact that you may come - across anywhere. What trouble would it be to you to write - down every night in a sort of diary such notes as - these,--To-day I heard such an opinion expressed, I spoke - with such a person, of such a disposition, such a - character, of good education or not; he holds his hands - thus, or takes his snuff so,--in fact, everything that you - see and notice from the greatest to the least?" - -What more could the most modern novelist say,--the sort that carries a -memorandum-book under his arm and makes sketches, after the fashion of -the painters? - -Thus we see that a man gifted with epic genius became in 1843, before -Zola was dreamt of, and when Edmond de Goncourt was scarcely twenty, the -founder of realism, the first prophet of the doctrine not inexactly -called by some the doctrine of literary microbes, the poet of social -atoms whose evolution at length overturns empires, changes the face of -society, and weaves the subtle and elaborate woof of history. I will not -go so far as to affirm with some of the critics that this light -proceeded from the Orient, and that French realism is an outcome of -distant Russian influence; for certainly Balzac had a large influence in -his turn upon his Muscovite admirers. But it is undeniable that Gogol -did anticipate and feel the road which literature, and indeed all forms -of art, were bound to follow in the latter half of the nineteenth -century. - -Certain critics see, in this doctrine of literary microbes preached by -Gogol in word and deed, nothing less than an immense evolution, -characteristic of and appropriate to our age. It is the advent of -literary democracy, which was perhaps foreseen by the subtle genius of -those early novelists who described the beggar, the lame, halt, and -blind, thieves and robbers, and creatures of the lowest strata of -society; with the difference that to-day, united to this spirit of -æsthetic demagogy, there is a shade of Christian charity, compassion, -and sympathy for wretchedness and misery which sometimes degenerates, in -less virile minds than Gogol's, into an affected sentimentality. George -Eliot, that great author and great advocate of Gogol's own theories, and -the patroness of realism of humblest degree, speaks in words very like -those used by the author of "Taras," of the strength of soul which a -writer needs to interest himself in the vulgar commonplaces of life, in -daily realities, and in the people around us who seem to have nothing -picturesque or extraordinary about them. If there be any who could carry -out this rehabilitation of the miserable with charity and tenderness, it -would be the Saxon and the Sclav rather than the refined and haughty -Latin, and in both these the seed scattered by Gogol has brought forth -fruit abundantly. Modern Russian literature is filled with pity and -sincere love toward the poorer classes; one might almost term it -evangelical unction; at the voice of the poet (I cannot refuse this -title to the author of "Taras") Russia's heart softened, her tears fell, -and her compassion, like a caressing wave, swept over the toiling -_mujik_, the ill-clad government clerk, the ragged, ignorant beggar, the -political convict in the grasp of the police, and even the criminal, the -vulgar assassin with shaven head, mangled shoulders, blood-stained -hands, and manacled wrists. And more; their pity extends even to the -dumb beasts, and the death of a horse mentioned by one great Russian -novelist is more touching than that of any emperor. - -Gogol is the real ancestor of the Russian novel; he contained the germs -of all the tendencies developed in the generation that came after him; -in him even Turguenief the poet and artist, Tolstoï the philosopher, and -Dostoiëwsky the visionary, found inspiration. There are writers who seem -possessed of the exalted privilege of uniting and accumulating all the -characteristics of their race and country; their brain is like a cave -filled with wonderful stalactites formed by the deposits of ages and -events. Gogol is one of these. The peculiarities of the Russian soul, -the melancholy dreaminess, the satire, the suppressed and resigned -soul-forces, are all seen in him for the first time. - -To quote from "Dead Souls" would be little satisfaction. One must read -it to understand the deep impression it made in Russia. After looking it -through, Puchkine exclaimed, "How low is our country fallen!" and the -people, much against their will, finally acknowledged the same -conviction. After a hard fight with the censors, the work of art came -off at last victorious; it captured all classes of minds, and became, -like "Don Quixote," the talk of every drawing-room, the joke of every -meeting-place, and a proverb everywhere. The serfs were now virtually -set free by force of the opinion created, and the whole nation saw and -knew itself in this æsthetic revelation. - -But the man who dares to make such a revelation must pay for his -temerity with his life. Gogol returned from Rome intent upon the -completion of the fatal book; but his nerves, which were almost worn -out, failed him utterly at times, his soul overflowed with bitterness -and gall, and at last in a fit of rage and desperation he burned the -manuscript of the Second Part, together with his whole library. His -darkened mind was haunted by the question in Hamlet's monologue, the -problem concerning "that bourn from which no traveller returns;" his -meditations took a deeply religious hue, and his last work, "Letters to -my Friends," is a collection of edifying epistles, urging the necessity -of the consideration of the hereafter. To these exhortations he added -one on Sclavophile nationalism, exaggerated by a fanatical devotion; and -in the same breath he heralds the spirit of the Gospels and -anathematizes the theories imported from the Occident, and declares that -he has given up writing for the sake of dedicating his time to -self-introspection and the service of his neighbor, and that henceforth -he recognizes nothing but his country and his God. The public was -exasperated; it was Gogol's fate to rouse the tiger. Who ever heard of a -satirist turning Church father? It began to be whispered that Gogol had -become a devotee of mysticism; and it is quite true that on his return -from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he lived miserably, giving all he had to -the poor. He was hypochondriac and misanthropic, excepting when with -children, whose innocent ways brought back traces of his former -good-nature. His death is laid to two different causes. The general -story is that during the Revolution of 1848 he lost what little -intelligence remained to him, under the conviction that there was no -remedy for his country's woes; and at last, weighed down by an incurable -melancholy and despair, and terrified by visions of universal -destruction and other tremendous catastrophes, he fell on his knees and -fasted for a whole day before the holy pictures that hung at the head of -his bed, and was found there dead. Recent writers modify this statement, -and claim to know on good authority that Gogol died of a typhoid fever, -which, with his chronic infirmities, was a fatal complication. Whatever -may have been the illness which took him out of the world, it is certain -that the part of Gogol most diseased was his soul, and his sickness was -a too intense love of country, which could not see with indifferent -optimism the ills of the present or the menace of the future. Gogol had -no heart-burdens except the suffering he endured for the masses; he was -unmarried, and was never known to have any passion but a love of country -exaggerated to a dementia. - -It is a strange thing that Gogol--the sincere reactionist, the admirer -of absolutism and of autocracy, the Pan-Sclavophile, the habitual enemy -of Western paganism and liberal theories--should have been the one to -throw Russian letters into their present mad whirl, into the path of -nihilism and into the currents of revolution,--a course which he seems -to have described once in allegory, in one of the most admirable pages -of "Dead Souls," where he compares Russia to a _troïka_. I will quote -it, and so take my farewell of this Russian Cervantes:-- - - "Rapidity of motion [in travel] is like an unknown force, a - hidden power which seizes us and carries us on its wings; we - skim through the air, we fly, and everything else flies too; - the verst-stones fly; the tradesmen's carts fly past on one - side and the other; forests with dark patches of pines rush - by, and the noise of destroying axes and the cawing of - hungry crows; the road flies by and is lost in the distance - where we can distinguish neither object nor form nor color, - unless it be a bit of the sky or the moon continually - crossed by patches of flying cloud. O troïka, troïka, - bird-troïka! There is no need to ask who invented thee! Thou - couldst not have been conceived save in the breast of a - quick, active people, in the midst of a gigantic territory - that covers half the globe, and where nobody dares count the - verst-stones on the roads for fear of vertigo! Thou art not - graceful in thy form, O telega, rustic britchka, kibitka, - thou carriage for all roads in winter or summer! No, thou - art not an object of art made to please the eye; dry wood, a - hatchet, a chisel, a clever arm,--with these thou art set - up; there is not a peasant in Yaroslaf that knows not how to - construct thee. Now the troïka is harnessed. And where is - the man? What man? The driver? Aha! it is this same peasant! - Very well, let him put on his boots and get up on his seat. - Did you say his boots? This is no German postilion; he needs - no boots nor any foot-gear at all. All that he needs is - mittens for his hands and a beard on his chin! See him - balancing himself; hear him sing. Now he pulls away like a - whirlwind; the wheels seem a smooth circle from centre to - circumference, and the tires are invisible; the ground - rushes to meet the clattering hoofs; the foot-traveller - leaps to one side with a cry of fright, then stops and opens - his mouth in astonishment; but the vehicle has passed, and - on it flies, on it flies, and far away a little whirl of - dust rises, spreads out, divides, and disappears in gauzy - patches, falling gently upon the sides of the road. It is - all gone; nothing remains of it. - - "Thou art like the troïka, O Russia, my beloved country! - Dost thou not feel thyself carried onward toward the - unknown like this impetuous bird which nobody can overtake? - The road is invisible under thy feet, the bridges echo and - groan, and thou leavest everything behind thee in the - distance. Men stop and gaze surprised at this celestial - portent. Is it the lightning? Is it the thunderbolt from - heaven itself? What causes this movement of universal - terror? What mysterious and incomprehensible force spurs on - thy steeds? They are Russian steeds, good steeds. Doth the - whirlwind sometimes nestle in their manes? The signal is - given: three bronze breasts expand; twelve ready feet start - with simultaneous impetus, their light hoofs scarce - striking the ground; three horses are changed before, our - very eyes into three parallel lines which fly like a streak - through the tremulous air. The troïka flies, sails, bright - as a spirit of God. O Russia, Russia! whither goest thou? - Answer! But there is no response; the bell clangs with a - supernatural tone; the air, beaten and lashed, whistles and - whirls, and rushes off in wide currents; the troïka cuts - them all on the wing, and nations, monarchies, and empires - stand aside and let her pass." - - -[1] I could take this passage bodily from the translation of "Dead -Souls" made by Isabella Hapgood directly from the Russian, but there are -some discrepancies in which the Spanish writer seems to be in the right, -as in the use of the word _writer_ for _reader_.--Tr. - - - - -Book IV. - -MODERN RUSSIAN REALISM. - - - - -I. - -Turguenief, Poet and Artist. - - -In reviewing the development of the School of Realists founded by -Nicholas Gogol, I shall begin with the one among his followers and -descendants who is not merely the first in chronological order, but the -most intelligible and sympathetic of the Russian novelists, Ivan -Turguenief. - -The name of Turguenief has long been well known in Russia. In 1854, -before the novelist made his appearance, Humboldt said to a member of -this family, "The name you bear commands the highest respect and esteem -in this country." Alexander Turguenief was a savant, and the originator -of a new style of historiography, in which he revealed traces of the -communicative and cosmopolitan instincts that distinguish his nephew -beyond other novelists of his country, for he--the uncle--courted -acquaintance with many of the most eminent men of Europe, among them -Walter Scott. Another member of the family, Nicholaï Turguenief, was a -statesman who found himself obliged to reside in foreign lands on -account of political vicissitudes; he had the honor of preceding his -nephew Ivan in the advocacy of serf-emancipation. - -Ivan was the son of a country gentleman, and his real education began -among the heathery hills and in the company of indefatigable hunters, -whose stories, colored by the blaze of the camp-fire, were transcribed -afterward by Ivan's wonderful pen. His intellect was awakened and formed -in Berlin, where he ranged through the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, -and, as he expresses it, threw himself head-first into the ocean of -German thought and came out purified and regenerated for the rest of his -life. Is it not wonderful,--the power of this German philosophy, which, -though it seems but a chilly and lugubrious labyrinth, gives a new -temper to a mind of fine and artistic quality, like the Toledo blade -thrust into the cold bath, or Achilles after washing in the waters of -the Styx? As scholasticism gave a strange power to the poetry of Dante, -so German metaphysics seems to give wings to the imagination in our -times. Those artist writers (like Zola, for example) who have not -wandered through this dark forest seem to lack a certain tension in -their mental vigor, a certain tone in their artistic spectrum! - -Russian youth, about the year 1838, had their Mecca in the Faculty of -Philosophy at Berlin, of which Hegel held one chair; and there the -future celebrities of Russia were wont to meet. On leaving that radiant -atmosphere of ideas and returning to his country home in Russia, -Turguenief was overcome by the inevitable melancholy which attacks the -man who leaves civilization behind with its intellectual brightness and -activity, and enters a land where, according to the words of the hero of -"Virgin Soil," "everything sleeps but the wine-shop." This feeling of -nostalgia the novelist has analyzed with a master hand in the pages of -"The Nobles' Nest."[1] - -Hungry for wider horizons and for a literary life and atmosphere, -Turguenief went to St. Petersburg. All the intellect of the time was -grouped about Bielinsky, who was a rare critic, and its sentiments were -voiced by a periodical called the "Contemporary." Bielinsky, who had -adopted the pessimist theory that Russian art could never exist until -there was political emancipation, was obliged to acknowledge the -indisputable worth of Turguenief's first efforts, and encouraged him to -publish some excellent sketches in a collection entitled "Papers of a -Sportsman." Contrary to Bielinsky's prediction, Turguenief's success was -the greater because, with that exquisite artistic intuition which he -alone of all Russian writers possesses, he preached no moral and taught -no lesson in it, which was the fashion or rather the pest of the novel -in those days. - -Turguenief again went abroad soon after and spent some time in Paris, -where he finished the "Diary" and wrote "The Nobles' Nest." On his -return to Russia he wrote a clever criticism on the "Dead Souls," of -Gogol, whom he ventured to call a great man; and this called down upon -his head the ire of the police and banishment to his estates, which -punishment was not reprieved until the death of Nicholas and the war of -the Crimea changed the aspect of everything in Russia. - -Notwithstanding the unjustifiable severity with which he was treated on -this occasion, Turguenief cherished no grievance or thought of revenge -in his heart. It is one of the most beautiful and attractive traits in -the amiable character of this man, that he could always preserve his -serenity of soul in the midst of the distractions occasioned him by two -equally violent parties each equally determined to embitter his life if -he did not consent to embrace it. He stood in the gulf that separates -the two halves of Russia, yet he maintained that contemplative and -thoughtful attitude which Victor Hugo ascribes to all true thinkers and -poets. Urged by family traditions and by the natural equilibrium of his -mind to give the preference (in comparing Russia with the rest of -Europe) to Western civilization, he protested, with the courage born of -conviction, against the blind vanity of the so-called National Party of -Moscow, which, while it demanded the liberation of the serfs, was -determined to create a new national condition which should be wholly -Sclavonic, and would tread under foot every vestige of foreign culture. -With equal vigor, but with a fine tact and nothing of effeminacy or -æsthetic repugnance, he protested also against the vandalism of the -nihilists, whose propositions were set forth in a clever caricature in a -satirical paper shortly after the explosion in the Winter Palace at St. -Petersburg. It represented the meeting of two nihilists amid a heap of -ruins. One asks, "Is everything gone up?" "No," replies the other, "the -planet still exists." "Blow it to pieces, then!" exclaims the first. Yet -Turguenief, who was by no means what we should call a conservative, -seeing that he lent his aid to the emancipation of the serfs, was far -from approving the new revolutionary barbarism. - -Those of Turguenief's works which are best known and most discussed are -consequently those which attack the ignominy of serfdom or the threats -of revolutionary terror. In the first category may be mentioned "The -Diary of a Hunter" and most of his exquisite short stories; in the -second, "Fathers and Sons," a view of speculative nihilism, "Virgin -Soil," the active side of the same, and "Smoke," a harsh satire on the -exclusiveness and fanaticism of the Nationals, which cost him his -popularity and made him innumerable enemies. I will speak more at length -of each of these, and it is in no sense a digression from Turguenief's -biography to do so; for the life of this amiable dreamer and delicate -poet is to be found in his books, and in the trials which he endured on -their account. - -The first lengthy novel of Turguenief is "Demetrius Rudine," a type -which might have served as the model for Alphonse Daudet's "Numa -Roumestan," a study of one of those complex characters, endowed with -great aspirations and apparently rich faculties, but who lack force of -will, and have no definite aim or career in view. "The Nobles' Nest" is -to the rest of Turguenief's works what the hour of supreme and tenderest -emotion that even the hardest hearts must bow to some time is to human -life as a whole; in none of his works, save perhaps in "Living Relics," -has Turguenief shown more depth of sentiment. The latter is a tear of -compassion crystallized and set in gold; the former is a tragedy of -happiness held before the eyes and then lost sight of, like the blue sky -seen through a rent in the clouds and then covered over with a leaden -and interminable veil. The hero is a Russian gentleman or small -proprietary nobleman, named Lawretsky, who, deceived and betrayed by his -wife, returns to his patrimonial estates, there to hide his dejection -and loneliness. Amid these scenes of honest, simple provincial life he -meets with a cousin who is young, beautiful, and open-hearted, and who -captures his heart. There is a rumor that his wife has died, and a hope -of future happiness begins to revive in him; but the aforesaid deceased -lady resuscitates, and makes her appearance, demanding with hypocritical -humility her place beneath the conjugal roof, and the other poor girl -retires to a convent. It is almost a sacrilege to extract the bare plot -of the story in this way, for it is thus made to seem a mere vulgar -complication, feeble and colorless. But the charm lies in the manner of -presenting this simple drama; the novelist seems to hold a glass before -our eyes through which we see the palpitations of these bruised and -suffering hearts. The background is worthy of the figures on it. The -description of provincial customs, the country, and the last chapter -especially, are the perfection of art in the way of novel-writing. It is -said that "The Nobles' Nest" produced in Russia an effect comparable -only to that of "Paul and Virginia" in France. - -Then came the great change in Russia: serfdom was no more! and -Turguenief, leaving these touching love-stories, threw himself into the -new turmoil, and gave himself up to the study of the struggle between -the new state of society and the old, which resulted in the novel, -"Fathers and Sons." This book contains the pictures of two generations, -and each one, says Mérimée, shrewdly, found the portrait of the other -well drawn, but called Heaven to witness that that of himself was a -caricature; and the cry of the fathers was exceeded by that of the sons, -personified in the character of the positivist, Bazarof. - -Two old country gentlefolk, a physician and his wife, represent the -elder generation, the society of yesterday, and two students the society -and generation of to-day. Bazarof is the leader, the ruling spirit of -the two latter; the novelist has given him so much vivacity that we seem -to hear him, to see his long, withered face, his broad brows, his great -greenish eyes, and the prominent bulges on his heavy skull. I have seen -such types as this many a time in the streets and alleys of the Latin -Quarter, which is the lurking-place of Russian refugees in Paris, and I -have said to myself, "There goes a Bazarof, exiled and half dead with -hunger, and yet perhaps more eager to set off a few pounds of dynamite -under the Grand Opera-House than to breakfast!" - -Bazarof, however, is not yet the nihilist who wishes to make a political -system out of robbery and assassination, and to defend his theory in -learned treatises; he is a young fellow smarting and burning under the -contemplation of his country's sad state, and whom the knowledge got by -his studies in medicine, natural sciences, and German materialist dogmas -has made the bitterest and most intolerable of mortals, throwing away -his gifts of intellect and his heart's best and most generous impulses. -By reason of his energy of character and intellectual force, he takes -the lead over his companion Arcadio, an enthusiastic and unsophisticated -boy; and the novel begins with the return of the latter to his father's -country-house in company with his adored leader. The two generations -then find themselves face to face, two atheistical and demagogic young -students, and Arcadio's father and uncle, conservative and ceremonious -old men; the shock is immediate and terrible. Bazarof, with his mania -for dissecting frogs, his negligent dress, his harsh and dogmatic -replies, his coarse frankness, and his odor of drugs and cheap tobacco, -inspires antipathy from the first moment, and he is himself made more -captious than usual by the appearance of the uncle, Paul, an elegant and -distinguished-looking man, who preserves the traditions of French -culture, dresses with the utmost care, has a taste for all that is -refined and poetical, and wears such finger-nails as, says Bazarof, -"would be worth sending to the Exposition." The contrast is as lively as -it is curious; every motion, every breath, produces conflict and -augments the discord. Arcadio, under his friend's influence, finds a -thousand ways to annoy his elders; he sees his father reading a volume -of Puchkine, and snatches it out of his hands, giving him instead the -ninth edition of "Force and Matter." And after all the poor boy really -cannot follow the hard, harsh ideas of Bazarof; but he is so completely -under the latter's control, and looks upon him with so much respect and -awe, and stands in such fear of his ridicule, that he hides his most -innocent and natural sentiments as though they were sinful, and dares -not even confess the pleasure he feels at sight of the country and his -native village. - -"What sort of fellow is your friend Bazarof?" Arcadio's father and uncle -inquire of him. - -"He is a nihilist," is the response. - -"That word must come from the Latin _nihil_," says the father, "and must -mean a man that acknowledges and respects nothing." - -"It means a man who looks at everything from a critical point of view," -says Arcadio, proudly. - -Criticism, pitiless analysis, barren and overwhelming,--this is an -epitome of Bazarof, the spirit of absolute negation, the contemporary -Mephistopheles who begins by taking himself off to the Inferno. - -The punishment falls in the right place. Consistently with his -physiological theories, Bazarof denies the existence of love, calls it a -mere natural instinct, and women _females_; but scarcely does he find -himself in contact with a beautiful, interesting, clever woman--somewhat -of a coquette too, perhaps--than he falls into her net like a clumsy -idealogue that he is, and suffers and curses his fate like the most -ardent romanticist. Quite as curious as the antithesis of the two -generations in the house of Arcadio's aristocratic father, is the -contrast shown in that of the more humble village physician, the father -of Bazarof, who is an altogether pathetic personage. He, too, is -possessed of a certain pedantic and antiquated culture, and an -excellent, kind heart; he adores his son, thinks him a demi-god, and yet -cannot by any means understand him. Arcadio's father, on hearing an -exposition of the new theories, shrugs his shoulders and exclaims, "You -turn everything inside out nowadays. God give you health and a general's -position!" The physician, quite non-plussed, murmurs sadly, "I confess -that I idolize my son, but I dare not tell him so, for he would be -displeased;" and he adds with ridiculous pathos, "What comforts me most -is to think that some day men will read in the biography of my son these -lines: 'He was the son of an obscure regiment physician who nevertheless -had the wisdom to discern his talents from the first, and spared no -pains to give him an excellent education.' Here the voice of the old man -died away," says the writer. Such details bespeak the great poet. Again -when Bazarof is seized with typhus fever and dies, it is not his fate -which affects us, but the grief of his old father and mother, who -believe that one light of their country has been put out, and that they -have lost the best treasure of their uncontaminated and tender old -hearts. The death of this atheist makes an admirable page. When, as he -is losing consciousness, extreme unction is administered to him, the -shudder of horror that passes over his face at sight of the priest in -his robes, the smoking incense, the candles burning before the images, -is communicated to our own souls. - -From 1860 Turguenief remained in France, bound by ties that shaped his -course of life. He enjoyed there a reputation not inferior to that which -he possessed in his own country; his works were all translated, and his -soul was soothed by an almost fraternal intimacy with the greatest -French writers, notably Gustave Flaubert and George Sand; and yet his -thoughts were never absent from his far-away fatherland, and as a -reproof to his fruitless longings he wrote "Smoke," which put the -capital of Russia almost in revolt. But Turguenief was no bilious -satirist after the style of Gogol, much less a habitual vilifier of -existing classes and institutions like Tchedrine; on the contrary, he -had a keen observation like Alphonse Daudet, and the sweeping -artist-glance which takes in the moral weaknesses as well as physical -deformities. The scene of "Smoke" is laid in Baden-Baden, the resort of -rich people who go there to enjoy themselves, to gossip, to intrigue, -and to throw themselves aimlessly into the maelstrom of frivolous and -idle life. The Russian world passes rapidly before our eyes, and last of -all the hero, weary and blasé, who with bitter words compares his -country to the thin, feathery smoke that rises in the distance. -Everything in Russia is smoke,--smoke, and nothing more! - -Turguenief was one of those who loved his country well enough to tell -her the truth, and to warn her--in an indirect and artistic manner, of -course--persistently and incessantly. His was the jealous love of the -master for the favorite pupil, of the confessor for the soul under his -guidance, of the ardent patriot for his too backward and unambitious -nation. Turguenief compared himself, away from his country, to a dead -fish kept sound in the snow, but spoiling in time of thaw. He said that -in a strange land one lives isolated, without any real props or profound -relation to anything whatever, and that he felt his own creative -faculties decay for lack of inspiration from his native air; he -complained of feeling the chill of old age upon him, and an incurable -vacuity of soul. While he thus pined with homesickness, in Russia his -books wrought a wholesome change in criticism; the new generation turned -its back upon him, and after a general scandal followed an oblivious -silence, of the two perhaps the harder to bear. - -In 1876 the novel "Virgin Soil" appeared, first in French in the columns -of "Le Temps," and then in Russian. It dealt with the same ideas as -"Fathers and Sons," save that the nihilism described in it was of the -active rather than the speculative sort. It was said at the time that -as Turguenief had been fifteen years away from his own country, he was -not capable of seeing the nihilist world in its true aspect, a thing to -be felt rather than seen, difficult enough to describe near at hand, and -much more difficult at a distance; but one must not expect of the -novelist what would be impossible even to the political student. To us -who are not too learned in revolutionary mysteries, Turguenief's novel -is delightful. I believe that there is more or less of political warmth -in the judgments expressed upon this "Virgin Soil," and that if the book -errs in any particular, it is on the side of the truthfulness of its -representative and symbolic qualities. Otherwise, how explain the fact -that certain nihilists thought themselves personally portrayed in the -character of the hero, or that Turguenief was accused of having received -notices and information provided by the police? Yet it seems to me that -this book, which gave such offence to the nihilists, shows a lively -sympathy with them. All the revolutionary characters are grand, -interesting, sincere, and poetic; on the other hand, the official world -is made up of egoists, hypocrites, knaves, and fools. In reality, -"Virgin Soil," like all the other writings of Turguenief, is the product -of a gentle and serene mind, independent of political bias, although -both his artistic and his Sclavonic nature weigh the balance in favor of -the visionaries who represent the spirit rather than the letter. - -"Virgin Soil" was the last of Turguenief's long novels. Another Russian -novelist, Isaac Paulowsky, who knew him intimately, has given us some -curious information concerning one he had in project, and which he -believed would be found among his papers; but it has not yet come to -light, and there remains only to speak of his short stories. Perhaps his -best claim to reputation and glory rests upon these admirable sketches; -and it is Zola's opinion that Turguenief depreciated and wasted his -proper talent when he left off making these fine cameo-like studies. -Perhaps this is true, as it is certainly undeniable that Turguenief had -a master touch in delicate work of this sort, and it suited his -intensity of sentiment, his graceful style, and his skill in shading, -which distinguish him above his contemporaries. Of his short stories, -his episodes of Russian life, I know not which to select; they are -filigree and jewels, wrought by the Benvenuto of his trade; brass is -gold in his hands, and his chisel excels at every point. But I must -mention a few of the most important. - -"The Knight of the Steppes," in which the horse tells the story of the -love and disappointment which leads his master to despair and suicide, -is one of my favorites. The hero resembles Taras Boulba, perhaps, in his -savage grandeur; he is a remnant of Asiatic times, brave, proud, -generous, uncultured; ruined, thirsting for battle, and perhaps for -pillage, bloodshed, and violence. - -Beside this I would put the first one in the collection translated and -published under the title of "Strange Stories." It is a sketch of -mysticism and religious mania peculiar, though not too common, to the -Russian temperament. Sophia, a young girl at a ball, while dancing the -mazurka with a stranger, speaks to him seriously concerning miracles, -ghosts, the immortality of the soul, and the theory of Quietism, and -manifests a wish to mortify and subdue her nature and taste martyrdom; -next day she carries out her desires by running away,--not with her -partner in the dance, but with a demented fanatic, a man of the lowest -condition, with whom she lives in chastity, and to whose infirmities she -ministers like a mother, and serves him like a slave. Such a picture -could only have been conceived in a land that cradled the heroine of -"The Threshold," and many another enthusiastic nihilist girl who was -ready to lay down her life for her ideals. - -The whole volume of "Strange Stories" fascinates us with a superstitious -horror. Elias Teglevo, the hero of one of the best of these tales, -although a pronounced sceptic, yet believes in the influence of his -star, thinks he is predestined to a tragic death, and under this -persuasion works himself into a state of mind and body that becomes a -hallucination strong enough to lead to suicide, in obedience to what he -considers a supernatural mandate. In another tale, "King Lear of the -Steppes," the gigantic Karlof has a presentiment of his death on seeing -a black colt in his dreams. The great artist reproduced the souls of his -characters with laudable fidelity. If supernatural terror is a real and -genuine sentiment, the novel should not overlook it in its delineations -of the truth. - -But perhaps the jewel of Turguenief's narratives is that entitled -"Living Relics." In this simple story he excels himself. The novel has -no plot, and is nothing more than a silver lake which reflects a -beautiful soul, calm and clear as the moon; and the crippled form of -Lukeria is only the pretext for the detention of such a soul in this -world. Who has not sometimes entered a convent church on leaving a -ball-room,--in the early morning hours of Ash-Wednesday, for instance? -The ears still echo the voluptuous and stirring sounds of the military -band; one is ready to drop with fatigue, dizziness, glare of lights, and -the unseasonable hour. But the church is dark and empty; the nuns in the -choir are chanting the psalms; above the altar flickers a dim light, by -whose aid one discerns a picture or a statue, though at a distance one -cannot make out details of face or figure, only an expression of vague -sweetness and mysterious peace. After a moment's contemplation of it, -the body forgets its weariness and the soul is rocked in tranquillity. -Read some novel of the world's life, and then read "Living Relics": it -is like going from the ball-room to the chapel of a convent. - -This faculty of putting the reader in contact with the invisible world -is not the talent of Turguenief exclusively, for all the great Russian -novelists possess it in some degree; but Turguenief uses it with such -exquisite tact and poetic charm that he seems to look serenely upon the -strange psychical phenomenon he has produced in the soul of the reader, -who is roused to a state of excitement that reflects the vision evoked -by the artist's words. Other instances of his power in this direction -are "The Dog," "Apparitions," and "Clara Militch," a confession from -beyond the tomb. - -The last page written by Turguenief bore the title of "Despair,"--the -voice of the Russian soul whose depths he had searched for forty years, -says Voguié. He was then laboring under an incurable disease, cancer of -the brain, which, after causing him horrible sufferings, ended his life. -But though worn-out, dying, and stupefied by doses of opium and -injections of morphine, his artistic faculties died hard; and he related -his dreams and hallucinations with wonderful vividness, only regretting -his lack of strength to put them on paper. It is said that some of these -feverish visions are preserved in his "Prose Poems," which are examples -of the adaptability of Turguenief's talent to miniature, condensed, -bird's-eye pictures. Like Meissonier, Turguenief saw the light upon -small surfaces, enhanced rather than lessened in brilliancy. I will -translate one of these prose-poems, so that the reader may see how -Turguenief cuts his medallions. This one is entitled "Macha":-- - - "When I was living in St. Petersburg, some time ago, I was - in the habit of entering into conversation with the - sleigh-driver, whenever I hired one. - - "I particularly liked to chat with those who were engaged - at night,--poor peasants from the surrounding country, who - came to town with their old-fashioned rattling vehicles, - besmeared with yellow mud and drawn by one poor horse, to - earn enough for bread and taxes. - - "On a certain day I called one of these to me. He was a lad - of perhaps twenty years, strong and robust-looking, with - blue eyes and red cheeks. Ringlets of reddish hair escaped - from under his patched cap, which was pressed down over his - eyebrows, and a torn caftan, too small for him, barely - covered his broad shoulders. - - "It seemed to me that this handsome, beardless young - driver's face was sad and gloomy; we fell to chatting, and - I noticed that his voice had a sorrowful tone. - - "Why so sad, brother?' I asked. 'Are you in trouble?' - - "At first he did not reply. - - "'Yes, barino, I am in trouble,' he said at last,--'a - trouble so great that there is no other like it,--my wife - is dead.' - - "'By this I judge that you were very fond of her.' - - "The lad, without turning, nodded his head. - - "'Barino, I loved her. It is now eight months, and I cannot - get my thoughts away from her. There is something gnawing - here at my heart continually. I do not understand why she - died; she was young and healthy. In twenty-four hours she - was carried off by the cholera.' - - "'And was she good?' - - "'Ah, barino!' the poor fellow sighed deeply, 'we were such - good friends! And she died while I was away. As soon as I - heard up here that--that they had buried her--that very - moment I started on foot to my village, to my home. I - arrived; it was past midnight. I entered my _isba_; I stood - still in the middle of it, and called very low, "Macha, oh - Macha!" No answer,--nothing but the chirp of a cricket in a - corner. Then I burst into tears; I sat down on the ground - and beat it with my hand, saying, "O thou greedy earth, - thou hast swallowed her! thou must swallow me too! Macha, - oh Macha!" I repeated hoarsely.' - - "Without loosening his hold on the reins, he caught a - falling tear on his leather glove, shook it off at one - side, shrugged his shoulders, and said not another word. - - "On alighting from the sleigh I gave him a good fee; he - bowed himself to the ground before me, taking off his cap - with both hands, turned again to his sleigh, and started - off at a weary trot down the frozen and deserted street, - which was fast filling with a cold, gray, January fog." - -Is it a mistake to say that in this commonplace little episode there is -more of poetry than in many elegies and innumerable sonnets? I believe -there is no Spanish or French writer who would know how to gather up and -thread like a pearl the tear of a common coachman. There is something in -the Latin character that makes us hard toward the lower classes and the -vulgar professions. - -Like many another author, Turguenief was not a good judge of his own -merits, and gave great importance to his longer novels in preference to -his admirable shorter ones, in which he scarcely has a rival. He had -great expectations of "Smoke," and the dislike it met with in Russia -surprised him painfully. So keen was his disappointment that he -determined to write no more original novels, but devote himself to his -early cherished plan of translating "Don Quixote." He also suffered in -one way like most souls who hang upon the lips of public opinion,--the -slightest censure hurt him like a mortal wound. The cordial and -enthusiastic reception which, in spite of past indignation, he was -accorded in Russia in 1878, and the homage and attentions of the -students of Moscow, renewed his courage and reanimated his soul.... But -his strong constitution failed him at last, and his physical and mental -abilities weakened. "The saddest thing that has happened to me," he said -to Paulowsky, "is that I take no more pleasure in my work. I used to -love literary labor, as one loves to caress a woman; now I detest it. I -have many plans in my head, but I can do nothing at all with them." But -after all, what posthumous work of Turguenief would bear with a deeper -meaning on his literary life than the admirable words of his letter to -Count Léon Tolstoï:-- - - "It is time I wrote you; for, be it said without the least - exaggeration, I have been, I am, on my death-bed. I have no - false hopes. I know there is no cure. Let this serve to tell - you that I rejoice to have been your contemporary, and to - make of you one supreme last request to which you must not - turn a deaf ear. Go back, dear friend, to your literary - work. The gift you have is from above, whence comes every - good gift we possess. How happy I should be if I could - believe that my entreaty would have the effect I desire! - - "As for myself, I am a drowning man. The physicians have - not come to any conclusion about my disease. They say it - may be gouty neuralgia of the stomach. I cannot walk, nor - eat, nor sleep; but it would be tiresome to enter into - details. My friend, great and beloved writer in Russian - lands, hear my prayer. With these few lines receive a warm - embrace for yourself, your wife, and all your family. I - can write no more. I am tired." - -This pathetic document contains the essence of the writer's life, the -synthesis of a soul that loved art above all things else, and believed -that of the three divine attributes, truth, goodness, and beauty, the -last is the one especially revealed to the artist, and the one it is his -especial duty to show forth; and that he who allows his sacred flame to -go out, commits a sin which is great in proportion to his talents, and a -sin incalculable when commensurate with the genius of Tolstoï. - -Turguenief is the supreme type of the artist, for he had the -tranquillity and equipoise of soul, the bright serenity, and the -æsthetic sensibility which should distinguish it. According to able -critics, such as Taine, Turguenief was one of the most artistic natures -that has been born among men since classic times. Those who can read his -works in the Russian sing marvellous praises of his style, and even -through the haze of translation we are caught by its charms. Let me -quote some lines of Melchior de Voguié: - - "Turguenief's periods flow on with a voluptuous languor, - like the broad expanse of the Russian rivers beneath the - shadows of the trees athwart them, slipping melodiously - between the reeds and rushes, laden with floating blossoms - and fallen bird's-nests, perfumed by wandering odors, - reflecting sky and landscape, or suddenly darkened by a - lowering cloud. It catches all, and gives each a place; and - its melody is blended with the hum of bees, the cawing of - the crows, and the sighing of the breeze. The most fugitive - sounds of Nature's great organ he can echo in the infinite - variety of the tones of the Russian speech,--flexible and - comprehensive epithets, words strung together to please a - poet's fancy, and bold popular sallies." - -Such is the effect produced by a thorough reading of Turguenief's works; -it is a symphony, a sweet and solemn music like the sounds of the -forest. Turguenief is, without exaggeration, the best word-painter of -landscape that ever wrote. His descriptions are neither very long nor -very highly colored; there is a charming sobriety about them that -reminds one of the saving strokes with which the skilful painter puts -life into his trees and skies without stopping over the careful -delineation of leaf and cloud after the manner of the Japanese. The -details are not visible, but felt. He rarely lays stress on minor -points; but if he does so, it is with the same sense of congruity that a -great composer reiterates a motive in music. Turguenief's enemies make -ground of this very dexterity, which is displayed in all his works, for -denying him originality,--as though originality must need be independent -of the eternal laws of proportion and harmony which are the natural -measures of beauty. - -Ernest Renan pronounced quite another opinion, however, when, according -to the custom of the French, he delivered a discourse over the tomb that -was about to receive the mortal remains of Turguenief, on the 1st of -October, 1883. He said that Turguenief was not the conscience of one -individual, but in a certain sense that of a whole people,--the -incarnation of a race, the voice of past generations that slept the -sleep of ages until he evoked them. For the multitude is silent, and the -poet or the prophet must serve as its interpreter; and Turguenief holds -this attitude to the great Sclavonic race, whose entrance upon the -world's stage is the most astounding event of our century. Divided by -its own magnitude, the Sclav race is united in the great soul and the -conciliatory spirit of Turguenief, Genius having accomplished in a day -that which Time could not do in ages. He has created an atmosphere of -beautiful peace, wherein those who fought as mortal enemies may meet and -clasp each other by the hand. - -It was just this impartiality and universality, which Renan praises so -highly, that alienated from Turguenief many of his contemporaries and -compatriots. Where ideas are at war, whoever takes a neutral position -makes himself the enemy to both parties. Turguenief knew this, and he -used sometimes to say, on hearing the bitter judgments passed upon him, -"Let them do what they like: my soul is not in their hands." Not only -the revolutionaries took it ill that he did not explicitly cast his -adhesion with them, but the country at large, whose national pride -spurned foreign civilization, was offended at the candor and realism of -his observations. And Turguenief, though Russian every inch of him, -loved Latin culture, and had developed and perfected by association with -French writers, such as Prosper Mérimée and Gustave Flaubert, those -qualities of precision, clearness, and skill in composition, which -distinguish him above all his countrymen; yet this was a serious -offence to the most of these latter. - -Among modern French novelists, those who, to my mind, most resemble -Turguenief in the nature of their talents, are, first, Daudet, for -intensity of emotion and richness of design, and then the brothers -Goncourt in some, though not very many, pages. Yet there is a notable -difference in all. Daudet is less the epic poet than Turguenief, because -he devotes himself to the study of certain special aspects of Parisian -fife, while Turguenief takes in the whole physiognomy of his immense -country. From the laboring peasants and the nihilist students to the -generals and government clerks, he depicts every condition,--except the -highest society, which has been reserved for Léon Tolstoï. And -everything is vivid, interesting, fascinating,--the poor paralytic of -"Living Relics," as well as the courageous heroine of "Virgin -Soil,"--everything is real as well as poetical. Truth and poetry are -united in him as closely as soul and body. Though he is an indefatigable -observer, he never tires the reader; his heart overflowed with -sentiment, yet his good taste never permitted him to utter a false note -either of brutality or cant; he was a most eloquent advocate of -emancipation, moderation, and peace, yet no diatribe of either a social -or political character ever ruffled the celestial calm of his muse. -Puchkine and Turguenief are, to my mind, the two Russian spirits worthy -to be called _classic_. - -Those who knew him and associated with him speak of his goodness as one -speaks of a mountain's height when gazing upward from its foot. Voguié -calls him a heavenly soul, one of the poor in spirit burning with the -fire of inspiration, one who seemed, amid the hard and selfish world, -the vain and jealous world of French letters, a visionary with gaze -distraught and heart unsullied, a member of some shepherd tribe or -patriarchal family. Every Russian that arrived penniless in Paris went -straight to his house for protection and assistance. - - -[1] This work is better known to American readers in a translation -entitled "Lisa."--Tr. - - - - -II. - -Gontcharof and Oblomovism. - - -The rival and competitor of Turguenief--not in Europe, but in -Russia--was a novelist of whom I must say something at least, though I -do not consider that he holds a place among the great masters; I mean -Gontcharof. This author's talents were fostered under the influence of -the famous critic Bielinsky, who professed and taught the principles -promulgated by Gogol,--demanded that art should be a faithful -representation of life, and its principal object the study of the -people. - -Ivan Gontcharof was not of the nobility, like Turguenief, but came of a -family of traders, and was born in the critical year of 1812. His life -was humble and laborious; he was a tutor, and then a government -employee, and made a tour of the world aboard the frigate "Pallas." He -began his literary career in the middle of that most glorious decade for -Russian letters known as "the forties." His first novel, entitled "A -Vulgar History," attracted public attention, and it is said that a -secret notice from the imperial censor in consequence was the cause of -the long silence of twelve years which the author maintained until the -time when he wrote "Oblomof," which is, to my mind, one of the most -pleasing and characteristic Russian novels. I must admit that I am -acquainted with only the first volume of it, for the simple reason that -it is the only one translated; and I must add that this volume begins -with the moment when the hero awakes from sleep, and ends with his -resolve to get up and dress and go out into the street! Yet this odd -little volume has an indescribable charm, an intensity of feeling which -takes the place of action, and incidents as easily invented by the -idealist as observed by the realist. In these days the art of -story-telling has undergone a great change; the hero no longer keeps a -dagger, a cup of poison, rope-ladders, and rivals at hand, but he runs -to the other extreme, not less trivial and puerile perhaps, of -exaggerating small incidents that are uninteresting, and irrelevant to -the subject or the essential thought of the work from an artistic point -of view. But in "Oblomof," whose hero does nothing but lie still in bed, -there is not a detail or a line that is superfluous to the harmonious -effect of the whole. Of course I can only speak of the one volume I have -read. One may imagine that the author would like to portray the state -of enervation and disorganization to which the essence of autocratic -despotism had brought Russian society; or perhaps it is one aspect of -the Russian soul, the dreamy indolence and insuperable apathy of the -body, which weighs down the active work of the imagination. It is only a -study of a psychical condition, yet what intense life throbs in its -pages! - -Perhaps this admirable and original novel was not translated in its -entirety for fear of offending French taste, which demands more -excitement, and could not stand a long analytical narrative full of -detail, mere intellectual filigree. Turguenief was undeniably a greater -artist than his rival; but he never attained to the precision, lucidity, -and singular strength of "Oblomof" in any of his novels. - -As the character of the hero was drawn to the life, the nation -recognized it at once, and the word _oblomovism_ became incorporated -into the language, implying the typical indolence of the Sclav. On some -accounts I find Turguenief's "Living Relics" more comparable to this -novel than any others of his. Both present one single phase or state of -the soul; both are purely psychological studies; the chief character of -both does not change position, the position in which he has been fixed -by the will of the novelist,--I had almost said the dissecting surgeon. - -"Oblomof" is in reality a type of the Sclav who chases the butterfly of -his dreams through the still air. Study he regards, from his pessimist -point of view, as useless, because it will not lead him to earthly -happiness; and yet his soul is full of poetry and his heart of -tenderness; he reaches out toward illimitable horizons, and his -imagination is hard at work, but all his other faculties are asleep. - - - - -III. - -Dostoiëwsky, Psychologist and Visionary. - - -Now let us turn to that visionary novelist whom Voguié introduces to his -readers in these words: - - "Here comes the Scythian, the true Scythian, who puts off - the habiliments of our modern intellect, and leads us by the - hand to the centre of Moscow, to the monstrous Cathedral of - St. Basil, wrought and painted like a Chinese pagoda, built - by Tartar architects, and yet consecrated to the God whom - the Christians adore. Dostoiëwsky was educated at the same - school, led by the same current of thought, and made his - first appearance in the same year as Turguenief and Tolstoï; - but the latter are opposite poles, and have but one ground - in common, which is the sympathy for humanity, which was - incarnate and expanded in Dostoiëwsky to the highest degree - of piety, to pious despair, if such a phrase is possible." - -Dostoiëwsky is really the barbarian, the primitive type, whose -heart-strings still reverberate certain motive tones of the Russian soul -that were incompatible with the harmonious and tranquil spirit of -Turguenief. Dostoiëwsky has the feverish, unreasoning, abnormal -psychological intensity of the cultivated minds of his country. Let no -one of tender heart and weak nerves read his books; and those who cling -to classic serenity, harmony, and brightness should not so much as touch -them. He leads us into a new region of æsthetics, where the horrible is -beautiful, despair is consoling, and the ignoble has a halo of -sublimity: where guilty women teach gospel truths, and men are -regenerated by crimes; where the prison is the school of compassion, and -fetters are a poetic element. Much against our will we are forced to -admire a novelist whose pages almost excite to assassination and -nightmare horrors, this Russian Dante who will not allow us to omit a -single circle of the Inferno. - -Feodor, son of Michael Dostoiëwsky, was born in Moscow in 1821, in a -hospital at which his father was a medical attendant. There is -frequently a strange connection between the environment of great writers -and the development and direction of their genius, not always evident to -the general public, but apparent to the careful critic; in Dostoiëwsky's -case it seems plain enough to all, however. His family belonged to the -country gentlefolk from whom the class of government employees are -drawn; Feodor, with his brother Alexis, whom he dearly loved, entered -the school of military engineers, though his tastes were rather for -belles-lettres and the humanities than for dry and unartistic details. -His literary education was therefore reduced to fitful readings of -Balzac, Eugene Sue, George Sand, and especially of Gogol, whose works -first inspired him with tenderness toward the humble, the outcast, and -the miserable. Shortly after leaving college he abandoned his career -for a literary life, and began the usual struggle with the difficulties -of a young writer's precarious condition. The struggle lasted almost to -the end of his life; for forty years he was never sure of any other than -prison bread. Proud and suspicious by nature, the humiliations and -bitterness of poverty must have contributed largely to unsettle his -nerves, disconcert his mind, and undermine his health, which was so -precarious that he used sometimes to leave on his table before going to -sleep a paper with the words: "I may fall into a state of insensibility -to-night; do not bury me until some days have passed." He was sometimes -afflicted with epilepsy, cruelly aggravated later in Siberia under the -lashes laid upon his bleeding shoulders. - -Like one of his own heroes he dreamed of fame; and without having read -or shown his manuscripts to any one, alone with his chimeras and -vagaries, he passed whole nights in imaginary intercourse with the -characters he created, loving them as though they had been his relatives -or his friends, and weeping over their misfortunes as though they had -been real. These were hours of pure emotion, ideal love, which every -true artist experiences some time in his life. Dostoiëwsky was hen -twenty-three years old. One day he begged a friend to take a few -chapters of his first novel called "The Poor People" to the popular poet -Nekrasof; his friend did so, and in the early hours of the morning the -famous poet called at the door of the unknown writer and clasped him in -his arms under the excitement of the emotion caused by perusal of the -story. Nekrasof did not remit his attentions; he at once sought the -dreaded critic Bielinsky, the intellectual chief and lawgiver of the -glorious company of writers to which Turguenief, Tolstoï, and Gontcharof -belonged, the Russian Lessing, who died of consumption at the age of -thirty-eight years, just when others are beginning to acquire -discernment and tranquillity,--the great Bielinsky, who had formed two -generations of great artists and pushed forward the national literature -to a complete development. A man in his position, more prone to meet -with the sham than the genuine in art, would naturally be not -over-delighted to receive people armed with rolls of manuscript. When -Nekrasof entered his room exclaiming, "A new Gogol is born to us!" the -critic replied in a bad humor, "Gogols are born nowadays as easily as -mushrooms in a cellar." But when the author came in a tremor to learn -the dictum of the judge, the latter cried out impetuously, "Young man, -do you understand how much truth there is in what you have written? No, -for you are scarcely more than twenty years old, and it is impossible -that you should understand. It is a revelation of art, a gift of Heaven. -Respect this gift, and you will be a great writer!" The success achieved -by this novel on its publication in the columns of a review did not -belie Bielinsky's prophecy. - -It is easy to understand the surprise of the critic on reading this work -of a scarcely grown man, who yet seemed to have observed life with a -vivid and deep sense of realism, and an unequivocal minuteness that is -generally learned only through the bitter experience of prosaic -sufferings, and comes forth after the illusions and vague -sentimentalities of youth have been dispelled and practical life has -begun. I said once, and I repeat it, that a true artist under -twenty-five would be a marvel; Dostoiëwsky was indeed such a marvel. - -This first novel was the humble drama of two lonely souls, wounded and -ground down by poverty, but not spoiled by it; a case such as one might -meet with on turning the very next corner, and never think worthy of -attention or study, and which, even in the midst of modern currents of -thought, the novelist is quite likely to pass by. Yet the book is a work -of art,--of the new and the old art compounded, classic art infused with -the new warm blood of truth. This work of Dostoiëwsky, this touching, -tearful story, had a model in Gogol's "The Cloak," but it goes beyond -the latter in energy and depth of sadness. If Dostoiëwsky ever invoked a -muse, it must have been the muse of Hypochondria. - -It was not likely that Dostoiëwsky would escape the political fatality -which pursued the generality of Russian writers. During those memorable -_forties_ the students were wont to meet more or less secretly for the -purpose of reading and discussing Fourier, Louis Blanc, and Proudhon. -About 1847 these circles began to expand, and to admit public and -military men; they were moved by one desire, and what began as an -intellectual effervescence ended in a conspiracy. Dostoiëwsky was good -material for any revolutionary cabal, being easily disposed thereto by -his natural enmity to society, his continuous poverty, his nervous -excitement, his Utopian dreams, and his inordinate and fanatical -compassion for the outcast classes. The occasion was ill-timed, and the -hour a dangerous one, being just at the time of the French outbreak, -which seemed a menace to every throne in Europe. The police got wind of -it, and on the 23rd of April, 1849, thirty-four suspected persons were -arrested, the brothers Feodor and Alexis Dostoiëwsky among them. The -novelist was thrown into a dungeon of the citadel, and when at last he -came forth, it was to mount the scaffold in a public square with some of -his companions. They stood there in shirt-sleeves, in an intense cold, -expecting at first only to hear read the sentence of the Council of War. -While they waited, Dostoiëwsky began to relate to a friend the plan of a -new novel he had been thinking about in prison; but he suddenly -exclaimed, as he heard the officer's voice, "Is it possible we are to be -executed?" His friend pointed to a car-load of objects which, though -covered with a cloth, were shaped much like coffins. The suspicion was -soon confirmed; the prisoners were all tied to posts, and the soldiers -formed in line ready to fire. Suddenly, as the order was about to be -given, word arrived from the emperor commuting the death-sentence to -exile to Siberia. The prisoners were untied. One of them had lost his -reason. - -Dostoiëwsky and the others then set out upon their sad journey; on -arriving at Tobolsk they were each shaved, laden with chains, and sent -to a different station. During this painful experience a pathetic -incident occurred which engraved itself indelibly upon the mind of the -novelist, and is said to have largely influenced his works. The wives of -the "Decembrists" (conspirators of twenty-five years before), most of -them women of high rank who had voluntarily exiled themselves in order -to accompany their husbands, came to visit in prison the new generation -of exiles, and having nothing of material value to offer them, they gave -each one a copy of the Gospels. During his four years of imprisonment, -Dostoiëwsky never slept without this book under his pillow; he read it -incessantly, and taught his more ignorant fellow-prisoners to read it -also. - -He now found himself among outcasts and convicts, and his ears were -filled with the sounds of unknown languages and dialects, and speech -which, when understood, was profane and abhorrent, and mixed with yells -and curses more dreadful than all complaints. What horrible martyrdom -for a man of talent and literary vocation,--reckoned with evil-doers, -compelled to grind gypsum, and deprived of every means of satisfying the -hunger and activity of his mind! Why did he not go mad? Some may answer, -because he was that already,--and perhaps they would not be far wrong; -for no writer in Russia, not excepting even Gogol and Tolstoï, so -closely approaches the mysterious dividing line, thin as a hair, which -separates insanity and genius. The least that can be said is, that if -Dostoiëwsky was not subject to mental aberration from childhood, he had -a violent form of neurosis. He was a bundle of nerves, a harp with -strings too tense; he was a victim of epilepsy and hallucinations, and -the results are apparent in his life and in his books. But it is a -strange fact that he himself said that had it not been for the terrible -trials he endured, for the sufferings of the prison and the scaffold, he -certainly _would have gone mad_, and he believed that these experiences -fortified his mind; for, the year previous to his captivity, he declared -that he suffered a terrible temptation of the Devil, was a victim to -chimerical infirmities, and overwhelmed with an inexplicable terror -which he calls _mystic fear_, and thus describes in one of his novels: -"On the approach of twilight I was attacked by a state of soul which -frequently comes upon me in the night; I will call it _mystic fear_. It -is an overwhelming terror of _something_ which I can neither define nor -imagine, which has no existence in the natural order of things, but -which I feel may at any moment become real, and appear before me as an -inexorable and horrible _thing_." It seems then quite possible that the -writer was cured of his imaginary ills by real ones. - -I have remarked that Gogol's "Dead Souls" reminded me of "Don Quixote" -more than any book I know; let me add that the book inspired by the -prison-life of Dostoiëwsky--"The Dead House"--reminds me most strongly -of Dante's Inferno. There is no exact likeness or affinity of literary -style; for "The Dead House" is not a poem, but a plain tale of the -sufferings of a few prisoners in a miserable Siberian fort. And yet it -is certainly _Dantesque_. Instead of the laurel-crowned poet in -scholar's gown, led by the bright genius of antiquity, we see the -wistful-eyed, tearful Sclav, his compressed lips, his attitude of -resignation,--and in his hands a copy of the Gospels; but the Florentine -and the Russian manifest the same melancholy energy, use the same burin -to trace their burning words on plates of bronze, and unite a prophetic -vision with a brutal realism of miserable and sinful humanity. - -"The Dead House" also has the merit of being perhaps the most profound -study written in Europe upon the penitentiary system and criminal -physiology; it is a more powerful teacher of jurists and legislators -than all didactic treatises. Dostoiëwsky shows especially, and with -implacable clearness, the effect produced on the minds of the prisoners -by the cruel penalty of the lash. The complacency of narration, the -elaborateness of detail, the microscopic precision with which he notes -every phase of this torture, inflict positive pain upon the nervous -system of the reader. It is fascinating, it is the refinement of -barbarism, but it was also a work of charity, for it finally brought -about the abolition of that kind of punishment, and wiped out a foul -stain upon the Russian Code. It makes one turn cold and shudder to read -those pages which describe this torture,--so calmly and carefully -related without one exclamation of pity or comment, and even sometimes -painfully humorous. The trepidation of the condemned for days before it -is inflicted, his frenzy after it is over, his subterfuges to avoid it, -the blind fury with which sometimes he yields to it, throwing himself -under the painful blows as a despairing man throws himself into the -sea,--these are word-pictures never to be forgotten. - -Voguié makes a striking comparison of the different fates awarded to -certain books, and says that while "My Prisons," by Silvio Pellico, went -all over the world, this autobiographical fragment by Dostoiëwsky was -unknown to Europe until very recently; yet it is far superior in -sincerity and energy to that of the Italian prisoner. The most -interesting and moving stories of captivity that I know of are Russian, -and chief among them I would mention "Memories of a Nihilist," by -Paulowsky. The tone of resignation, of melancholy simplicity, in all -these tales, however, is sure to touch all hearts. I will not quote a -line from "The Dead House;" it must be read, attentively and patiently, -and, like most Russian books, it has not the merit of brevity. But the -style is so shorn of artifice and rhetorical pretension, and the story -runs along so unaffectedly, that I cannot select any one page as an -example of excellence; for the excellence of the book depends on the -whole,--on the accumulated force of observation, on the complete aspect -of a soul that feels deeply and sees clearly,--and we must not break the -icy ring of Siberian winter which encloses it. It is enhanced by the -apparent serenity of the writer, by his sweetness, his half-Christian, -half-Buddhist resignation. With the Gospels in his hand, Dostoiëwsky at -last leaves his house of pain, without rancor or hatred or choleric -protests; more than this, he leaves it declaring that the trial has been -beneficial to him, that it has regenerated body and soul; that in prison -he has learned to love the brethren, and to find the spark of goodness -and truth lighted by God's hand even in the souls of reprobates and -criminals; to know the charity that passes understanding and the pity -that is foolishness to the wise; he has learned, in fact, _to -love_,--the only learning that can redeem the condemned. - -Although he had been (at the time of writing this) four years released -from prison, he delayed still six years longer before returning to -Europe to publish his works. When he began his labors for the press, he -did not unite himself to the liberal party, but, erratic as usual, he -turned to the Sclavophiles,--the blind lovers of old usages and customs, -the bitter enemies of the civilization of the Occident. Fate was not yet -weary in persecuting him. After the death of his wife and brother he was -obliged to flee the country on account of his creditors. His sorrows -were not exactly of the sublime nature of Puchkine's and the melancholy -poet's; they were on the contrary very prosaic,--lack of money, combined -with terrible fits of epilepsy. To understand the mortifications of -poverty to a proud and sensitive man, one must read Dostoiëwsky's -correspondence,--so like Balzac's in its incessant complaints against -pecuniary affairs. He exclaims, "The details of my poverty are shameful. -I cannot relate them. Sometimes I spend the whole night walking my room -like a caged beast, tearing my hair in despair. I must have such or such -a sum to-morrow, without fail!" Gloomy and ill, he wandered through -Germany, France, and Italy, caring nothing for the wonders of -civilization, and impressed by no sights except the guillotine. He wrote -during this time his three principal novels, whose very names are -nightmares,--"Possessed with Devils," "The Idiot," and "Crime and -Punishment." - -I know by experience the diabolical power of Dostoiëwsky's psychological -analysis. His books make one ill, although one appear to be well. No -wonder that they exercise a perturbing influence on Russian -imaginations, which are only too prone to hallucination and mental -ecstasy. I will briefly mention his best and most widely known book, -"Crime and Punishment," of which the following is the argument: A -student commits a crime, and then voluntarily confesses it to the -magistrate. This seems neither more nor less than an ordinary notice in -the newspaper, but what an analysis is conveyed by means of it! It is -horrible to think that the sentiments so studiously wrought out can be -human, and that we all carry the germs of them hidden in some corner of -the soul; and not only human, but possessed even by a person of great -intellectual culture, like the hero, whose crime is the result of great -reading reduced to horrible sophisms. Those two Parisian students who, -after saturating their minds with Darwin and Haeckel, cut a woman to -pieces with their histories, must have been prototypes of Rodion -Romanovitch, the hero of this novel of Dostoiëwsky. This young man is -not only clever, but possesses really refined sentiments; one of the -motives that lead to his crime is that one of his sisters, the most -dearly loved, may have to marry an unworthy man in order to insure the -welfare of the family. Such a _sale_ as this poor girl's marriage would -be seems to the student a greater wrong than the assassination of the -old money-lender. The first seed of the crime falls upon his soul on -overhearing at a wine-shop a dialogue between another student and an -officer. "Here you have on the one hand," says the student, "an old -woman, sick, stupid, wicked, useful to nobody, and only doing harm to -all the world about her, who does not know what she lives for, and who, -when you least expect it, will die a natural death; you have on the -other hand a young creature whose strength is being wasted for lack of -sustenance, a hundred lives that might be guided into a right path, -dozens of families that might be saved from destitution, dissolution, -ruin, and vice if that old woman's money were only available. If -somebody were to kill her and use her fortune for the good of humanity, -do you not think that a thousand good deeds would compensate for the -crime? It is a mathematical question. What weight has a stupid, -evil-minded old shrew in the social scale? About as much as a bed-bug." - -"Without doubt," replies the officer, "the old woman does not deserve to -live. But--what can you do? Nature--" - -"My friend," the other replies, "Nature can be corrected and amended. -If it were not so we should all be buried to the neck in prejudices, and -there would not be a great man amongst us." - -This atrocious ratiocination takes hold upon Rodion's mind, and he -carries it out to terribly logical consequences. Napoleon sacrificed -thousands of men on the altar of his genius; why had he not the right to -sacrifice one ridiculous old woman to his own great needs? The ordinary -man must not infringe the law; but the extraordinary man may authorize -his conscience to do away with certain obstacles in his path. - -It has been said that Dostoiëwsky's talents were influenced in some -measure by the fascinating personality of Edgar Poe. The analogies are -apparent; but the author of "The Gold Beetle," with all his suggestive -intensity and his feverish imagination, never achieved any such -tremendous psychological analyses as those of "Crime and Punishment." It -is impossible to select an example from it; every page is full of it. -The temptation that precedes the assassination, the horrible moment of -committing it, the manner of disposing of the traces of it, the -agonizing terror of being discovered, the instinct which leads him back -to the scene of the crime with no motive but to yield to a desire as -irresistible as inexplicable, his fearful visit to the place where he -lives over again the moment when he plunged the knife into the old -woman's skull,--examining all the furniture, laying his hand upon the -bell again, with a fiendish enjoyment of the sound of it, and looking -again for the marks of blood on the floor,--it is too well done; it -makes one excited, nervous, and ill. - -"Is this beautiful?" some will ask. All that Dostoiëwsky has written -bears the same character; it wrings the soul, perverts the imagination, -overturns one's ideas of right and wrong to an incredible degree. -Sometimes one is lost in abysms of gloomy uncertainty, like Hamlet; -again one sees the struggle of the evil genius against Providence, like -Faust, or a soul lacerated by remorse like Macbeth; and all his heroes -are fools, madmen, maniacs, and philosophers of hypochondria and -desperation. And yet I say that this is beauty,--tortured, twisted, -Satanic, but intense, grand, and powerful. Dostoiëwsky's are bad books -to read during digestion, or on going to bed at night, when every dim -object takes an unusual shape, and every breath stirs the window -curtains; they are not good books to take to the country, where one sits -under the spreading trees with a fresh and fragrant breeze and a soul -expanded with contentment, and one thanks God only to be alive. But they -are splendid books for the thinker who devours them with reflective -attention,--his brow furrowed under the light of the student-lamp, and -feeling all around him the stir and excitement of a great city like -Paris or St. Petersburg. - -But there is a drop of balm in the cup of absinthe to which we may liken -Dostoiëwsky's books; it is the Christianity which appears in them when -and where its consoling presence is least expected. Face to face with -the student who becomes a criminal through pride and injudicious -reading, we see the figure of a pure, modest, pious girl, who redeems -him by her love. This unfortunate girl is a flower that fades before its -time; it is she who, being sacrificed to provide bread for her family, -comes in time to convince the criminal of his sin, enlightens his mind -with the lamp of the Gospels, and brings him to repentance, resignation, -and the joy of regeneration, in the expiation of his crime by -chastisement and the dungeon. - -There is one marked difference between "Crime and Punishment" and "The -Dead House." The novel is feverish, the autobiography is calm. -Dostoiëwsky is a madman who owes his lucid intervals to tribulations and -torture. Suffering clears his mind and alleviates his pain; tears -sweeten his bitterness, and sorrow is his supreme religion; like his -student hero, he prostrates himself before human suffering. - -The best way of taking the measure of Dostoiëwsky's personality is to -compare him with his competitor and rival, and perhaps his enemy, Ivan -Turguenief. There could be no greater contrast. Turguenief is above all -an artist, almost classic in his serenity, master of the arts of form, -delicate, refined, exquisite, a perfect scene-painter, an always -interesting narrator, reasonable and temperately liberal in his -opinions, optimist, or, if I may be allowed the word, Olympic, to the -extent that he could boast of being able to die tranquilly because he -had enjoyed all that was truly beautiful in life. Dostoiëwsky is a rabid -psychologist, almost an enemy to Nature and the sensuous world, a -furious and implacable painter of prisons, hospitals, public houses and -by-streets of great cities, awkward in his style, taking only a -one-sided view of character, a revolutionary and yet a reactionary in -politics, and not only adverse to every sort of paganism, but hazily -mystical,--the apostle of redemption through suffering, and of the -compassion which seeks wounds to cure with its healing lips. Their two -lives are correlative to their characters,--Turguenief in the Occident, -famous and fortunate; Dostoiëwsky in the Orient, a barbarian, the -plaything of destiny, fighting with poverty shoulder to shoulder. It was -only natural that sooner or later the two novelists should know each -other as enemies. It is sad to relate that Dostoiëwsky attacked -Turguenief in so furious a manner that it can only be attributed to envy -and malice. - -In his own country, however, and in respect to his popularity and -influence with young people, the author of "Crime and Punishment" ranked -higher than the author of "Virgin Soil." Just in proportion as -Turguenief was attractive to us in the West, Dostoiëwsky fascinated the -people of his country. "Crime and Punishment" was an event in Russia. -Dostoiëwsky had the honor--if honor it may be called--of dealing a blow -upon the soul of his compatriots, and on this account, as he himself -used sometimes to say, especially after his epileptic attacks, he felt -himself to be a great criminal, and the guilt of a villanous act weighed -upon his soul; and it happened that a certain student, after reading his -book, thought himself possessed by the same impulses as the hero, and -committed a murder with the same circumstances and details. - -After writing "Crime and Punishment," Dostoiëwsky's talent declined; his -defects became more marked, his psychology more and more involved and -painful, his heroes more insensate, lunatic, epileptic, and overwrought, -absorbed in inexplicable contemplations, or wandering, rapt in delirious -dreams, through the streets. His novels are, in fact, the antechamber to -the madhouse. But we may once more notice the influence of Cervantes on -Russian minds; for the most important character created by Dostoiëwsky, -after the hero of "Crime and Punishment," is a type, imitated after -Quixote, in "The Idiot,"--a righter of wrongs, a fool, or rather a -sublime innocent. - -As much as Dostoiëwsky excels in originality, he lacks in rhythm and -harmony. His way of looking at the world is the way of the -fever-stricken. No one has carried realism so far; but his may be called -a mystic realism. Neither he nor his heroes belong to our light-loving -race or our temperate civilization; they are the outcome of Russian -exuberance, to us almost incomprehensible. He is at one moment an -apostle, at another a maniac, now a philosopher, then a fanatic. Voguié, -in describing his physiognomy, says: "Never have I seen in any other -face such an expression of accumulated suffering; all the agonies of -flesh and spirit were stamped upon it; one read in it, better than in -any book, the recollection of the prison, the long habits of terror, -torture, and anguish. When he was angry, one seemed to see him in the -prisoner's dock. At other times his countenance had the sad meekness of -the aged saints in Russian sacred pictures." - -In his last years Dostoiëwsky was the idol of the youth of Russia, who -not only awaited his novels most eagerly, but ran to consult him as they -would a spiritual director, entreating his advice or consolation. The -prestige of Turguenief was for the moment eclipsed. Tolstoï found his -audience chiefly among _the intelligence_, and Dostoiëwsky of the -lacerated heart was the object of the love and devotion of the new -generation. When the monument to Puchkine was unveiled, in 1880, the -popularity of Dostoiëwsky was at its height; when he spoke, the people -sobbed in sympathy; they carried him in triumph; the students assaulted -the drawing-rooms that they might see him near by, and one even fainted -with ecstasy on touching him. - -He died, February 10, 1881, almost crazed with patriotic love and -enthusiasm, like Gogol. The multitudes fought for the flowers that were -strewn over his grave, as precious relics. His obsequies were an -imposing manifestation. In a land without liberty this novelist was the -Messiah of the new generations. - - - - -IV. - -Tolstoï, Nihilist and Mystic. - - -The youngest of the four great Russian novelists, the only one living -to-day, and in general opinion the most excellent, is Léon, son of -Nicholas Count Tolstoï. His biography may be put into a few lines; it -has no element of the dramatic or curious. He was born in 1828; he was -brought up, like most Russian noblemen of his class, in the country, on -his patrimonial estates; he pursued his studies at the University of -Kazan, receiving the cosmopolitan education--half French, half -German--which is the nursery of the Russian aristocracy; he entered the -military career, spent some years in the Caucasus attached to a regiment -of artillery, was transferred to Sevastopol at his own desire, and -witnessed there the memorable siege, the heroes of which he has -immortalized in three of his volumes; on the conclusion of the peace he -dedicated some time to travel; he resided by turns at both Russian -capitals, frequenting the best society, his congenial atmosphere, yet -without being captivated by it; he finally renounced the life of the -world, married in 1860, and retired to his possessions near Toula, where -he has lived in his own way for twenty-five years or more, and where -to-day the famous novelist, the gentleman, the scholar, the -sceptic,--after falling like Saul on the road to Damascus, blinded by a -heavenly vision, and being converted, as he himself says,--shows -himself, to all who go to visit him, dressed in peasant's garb, swinging -the scythe or drawing the sickle. - -The more important biography of Count Tolstoï is that which pertains to -his soul, always restless, always in pursuit of absolute truth and the -divine essence,--a noble aspiration which ameliorates even error. There -is no book of Tolstoï's but reveals himself, particularly so the -autobiography entitled "My Memories," and certain passages of his -novels, and lastly, his theologico-moral works. Tolstoï belongs to the -class of souls that without God lose their hold on life; and yet, by his -own confession, the novelist lived without any sort of faith or creed -from his youth to maturity. - -Ever since the time when Tolstoï saw the dreams of his childhood -vanish,--began to think for himself, and to experience the religious -crisis which usually arrives between the ages of fifteen and -twenty-five,--his soul, like a storm-tossed bark, has oscillated between -pantheism and the blackest pessimism. What depths of despair a soul like -that of Tolstoï can know, unable to rest upon the pillow of doubt, when -it abnegates the noblest of human faculties,--thought and -intelligence,--and makes choice of a merely vegetative life in -preference to that of the rational being! Lost in the gloom of this dark -wilderness, he falls into the region of absolute nihilism. He admits -this in his confessions ("My Religion") when he says: "For thirty-five -years of my life I have been a nihilist in the rigorous acceptation of -the term; that is to say, not merely a revolutionary socialist, but a -man who believes in nothing whatever." - -In fact, since the age of sixteen, as we read in his "Memoirs," his mind -summoned to judgment all accepted and consecrated doctrines and -philosophical opinions, and that which most suited the boy was -scepticism, or rather a sort of transcendental egoism; he allows himself -to think that nothing exists in the world but himself; that exterior -objects are vain apparitions, no longer real to his mind; impressed and -persuaded by this fixed idea, he believes he sees, materially, behind -and all around him, the abyss of nothingness, and under the effect of -this hallucination he falls into a state of mind that might be called -truly motor madness, though it was transitory and momentary,--a state -proper to the visionary peoples of the North, and to which they give an -involved appellation difficult to pronounce; to translate it exactly, -with all its shades of signification, I should have to mix and mingle -together many words of ours, such as despair, fatalism, asceticism, -intractability, brief delirium, lunacy, mania, hypochondria, and -frenzy,--a species of dementia, in fine, which, snapping the mainspring -of human will, induces inexplicable acts, such as throwing one's self -into an abyss, setting fire to a house for the pleasure of it, holding -the muzzle of a pistol to one's forehead and thinking, "Shall I pull the -trigger?" or, on seeing a person of distinction, to pull him by the nose -and shake him like a child. This momentary but real dementia--from which -nobody is perhaps entirely exempt, and which Shakespeare has so -admirably analyzed in some scenes of "Hamlet"--is to the individual what -panic is to the multitude, or like _epidemia chorea_, or a suicidal -monomania which sometimes seems to be in the air; its origin lies deep -in the mysterious recesses of our moral being, where other strange -psychical phenomena are hidden, such as, for example, the fascination of -seeing blood flow, and the innate love of destruction and death. - -But let us turn to the real literary work of Tolstoï before referring to -the actual cause of his perturbed conscience. After the beautiful story -called "The Cossacks," he prepared himself, by other short novels, for -works of larger importance. Among the former should be mentioned the -sweet story of "Katia," which already reveals the profound reader of the -human heart and the great realist writer. For Tolstoï, who knows how to -cover vast canvases with vivid colors, is no less successful in small -pictures; and his short novels, "The Death of Ivan Illitch" and the -first part of "The Horse's Romance," for example, are hardly to be -excelled. But his fame was chiefly assured by two great works,--"War and -Peace" and "Anna Karénina." The former is a sort of cosmorama of Russian -society before and during the French invasion, a series of pictures that -might be called Russian national episodes. Like our own Galdos, Tolstoï -studied the formative epoch of modern society, the heroic age in which -the Great Captain of the century awoke in the nations of Europe, while -endeavoring to subjugate them, a national conscience, just as he -transmitted to them, though unwittingly, the impetus of the French -Revolution. Russia heroically resisting the outsider is Tolstoï's hero. - -The action of the novel merely serves as a pretext to intertwine -chapters of history, politics, and philosophy; it is rather a general -panorama of Russian life than an artistic fiction. "War and Peace" is a -complement to the poetic satire of Gogol, delineating the new society -which was to rise upon the ruins of the past. If we apply the rules of -composition in novel-writing, "War and Peace" cannot be defended; there -is neither unity, nor hero, nor hardly plot; so loose and careless is -the thread that binds the story together, and so slowly does the -argument develop, that sometimes the reader has already forgotten the -name of a character when he meets with it again ten chapters farther on. -The vast incoherence of the Russian soul, its lack of mental discipline, -its vagueness and liking for digressions, could have no more complete -personification in literature. - -One therefore needs resolution to plunge into the perusal of works in -which art mimics Nature, copying the inimitable extension of the Russian -plains. I once asked a very clever friend how she was occupying herself. -She replied, "I have fallen to the bottom of a Russian novel, and I -cannot get out!" But scarcely has one finished the first two hundred -pages, as a first mouthful, when one's interest begins to awaken,--not a -mere vulgar curiosity as to events, but a noble interest of mind and -heart. It is the stream of life, grand and majestic, which passes before -our eyes like the expanse of a mighty flowing river. Tolstoï--more than -Turguenief, who is always and first of all the artist, and more than -Dostoiëwsky, who sees humanity from the point of view of his own -turbulent mind and confused soul--Tolstoï produces a supreme and -absolute impression of the truth, although, in the light of his -harmonious union of faculties, it is impossible to say whether he hits -the mark by means of external or internal realism,--whether he is more -perfect in his descriptions, his dialogues, or his studies of character. -In reading Tolstoï, we feel as though we were looking at the spectacle -of the universe where nothing seems to us unreal or invented. - -Tolstoï's fictitious characters are not more vivid than his historical -ones,--Napoleon or Alexander I., for example; he is as careful in the -expression of a sublime sentiment as in a minute and vulgar detail. -Every touch is wonderful. His description of a battle is amazing (and -who else can describe a battle like Tolstoï!), but he is charming when -he gives us the day-dreams and love-fancies of a child still playing -with her dolls. And what a clear intuition he has of the motives of -human actions! What a penetrating, unwavering, scrutinizing glance that -"trieth the hearts and the reins," as saith the Scripture! Tolstoï does -not exhaust his perspicacity in the study of instinct alone; with eagle -eye he pierces the most complex souls, refined and enveloped in the veil -of education,--courtiers, diplomats, princes, generals, ladies of high -rank, and famous statesmen. No one else has described the drawing-room -so exquisitely and so truly as Tolstoï; and it must be admitted that -the picture of official good society is terribly embarrassing. Some -chapters of "Anna Karénina" and "War and Peace" seem to exhale the warm -soft air that greets us as we enter the door of a luxurious, -aristocratic mansion. The master-painter controls the collectivity as -well as the individual; he dissects the soul of the multitude, the -spirit of the nation, with the same energy and dexterity as that of one -man. The wonderful pictures of the invasion and burning of Moscow are -continual examples of this. - -Is "War and Peace" a historical novel in the limited, archæological, -false, and conventional conception? Certainly not. Tolstoï's historical -novel has realized the conjunction of the novel and the epic, with the -good qualities of both. In this novel--so broad, so deep, so human, and -at times so patriotic, as Tolstoï understands patriotism--there is a -subtle breath of nihilism, an essence of euphorbia, a poison of -_ourare_, which colors the whole drift of Russian literature. This -tendency is personified in the hero (if the book may be said to have one -at all), Pierre Besukof, a true Sclavonic soul, expansive, full of -unrest and disquietude, passionate, unstable, the character of a child -united to the investigating intelligence of a philosopher,--a -pre-nihilist (to coin a word) who goes in search of certainty and -repose, and finds them not until he meets at last with one "poor in -spirit," a wretched common soldier, a type of meek resignation and -inconsequent fatalism, who shows him how to attain to his desires -through a mystic indifferentism, a voluntary abrogation of the body, -and a vegetative form of existence, in fact, a form of quietism, of -Indian Nirvana. - -This same philosophical concept inspires all of Tolstoï's writings. Once -a nihilist and now converted, culture and the exercise of reason are to -him lamentable gifts; his ideal is not progression, but retrogression; -the final word of human wisdom is to return to pure Nature, the eternal -type of goodness, beauty, and truth. The Catholic Church has also -honored the saintly lives of the poor in spirit, such as Pascual Bailon -and Fray Junipero, _the Idiot_; but assuredly it has never presented -them as models worthy of imitation in general, only as living examples -of grace; and on the contrary, it is the intelligence of great thinkers, -like Augustine, Thomas, and Buenaventura, that is revered and written -about. In the whole catalogue of sins there is perhaps none more -blasphemous than that of spurning the light given by the Creator to -every creature. But to return to Tolstoï. - -His literary testament is to be found in "Anna Karénina," a novel but -little less prolix than "War and Peace," published in 1877. While "War -and Peace" pictured society at the beginning of the century, "Anna -Karénina" pictures contemporary society,--a more difficult task, because -it lacks perspective, yet an easier one, because one can better -understand the mode of thought of one's contemporaries; therefore in -"Anna Karénina" the epic quality is inferior to the lyric. The principal -character is amply developed, and the study of passion is complete and -profound. - -The argument in "Anna Karénina" is upon an illicit love, young, sincere, -and overpowering. Tolstoï does not justify it; the whole tone of the -book is austere. It would seem as though he proposed to -demonstrate--indirectly, and according to the demands of art--that a -generous soul cannot live outside the moral law; and that even when -circumstances seem entirely favorable, and those obstacles which society -and custom oppose to his passion have disappeared, the discord within -him is enough to poison happiness and make life intolerable. - -In both of Tolstoï's novels there is much insistence on the necessity of -believing and contemplating religious matters, the thirst of faith. -Although Tolstoï observes the canon of literary impersonality with a -rigorous care that is equal to that of Flaubert himself, yet it is -plainly to be seen that Pierre Besukof in "War and Peace," and Levine in -"Anna Karénina" are one and the same with the author, with his doubts, -his painful anxiety to get away from indifferentism and to solve the -eternal problem whose explanation Heine demanded of the waves of the -North Sea. Tolstoï cannot consent to the idea of dying an atheist and a -nihilist, or to living without knowing why or for what. - -Referring to the autobiography called "Memoirs," we see that from -childhood he was troubled and tortured by the mystery of things about -him and the hereafter. He tells there how his mind reasoned with, -penetrated, and passed in review the diverse solutions offered to the -great enigma; once he thought, like the Stoics, that happiness depends -not upon circumstances, but upon our manner of accepting them, and that -a man inured to suffering could not be afflicted by misfortunes; -possessed with this idea he held a heavy dictionary upon his -outstretched hand for five minutes, enduring frightful pains; he -disciplined himself with a whip until his tears started. Then he turned -to Epicurus; he remembered that life is short; that to man belongs only -the disposition of the present; and under the influence of these ideas -he abandoned his lessons for three days, and spent the time lying on his -bed reading novels or eating sweets. He sees a horse, and at once -inquires, "When this animal dies, where will his spirit go? Into the -body of another horse? Into the body of a man?" And he wearies himself -with questionings, with struggling over knotty problems, with thoughts -upon thoughts, and all the while his ardent imagination conjures before -him dreams of love, happiness, and fame. - -Beneath the restless effervescence of fancy and youth the religious -sentiment was pulsating,--the strongest and most deeply rooted sentiment -in his soul. One episode from the "Memoirs" will prove to us the innate -religious nature of the novelist. He tells us that once, when he was -still a child in his father's country-house, a certain beggar came to -the door, a poor vagabond, one-eyed and pock-marked, half idiot and -foolish,--one of those coarse clay vessels in which, according to -contemporaneous Russian literature, the divine light is wont to be -enclosed. He was offered shelter and hospitality, though none knew -whence he came, nor why he followed a mysterious wandering life, always -going from place to place, barefooted and poor, visiting the convents, -distributing religious objects, murmuring incoherent words, and sleeping -wherever a handful of straw was thrown down for him. Within the house, -at supper-time, they fall to discussing him. Tolstoï's mother pities -him, his father abuses him; the latter thinks him little better than a -cheat and a sluggard, the former reveres him as one inspired of God, a -holy man, who earns glory and reward every minute by wearing around his -body a chain sixty pounds in weight. Nevertheless, the vagabond obtains -shelter and food, and the children, whose curiosity has been excited by -the discussion, go and hide in a dark room next to his, so as "to see -Gricha's chain." Tolstoï was filled with awe in his dark corner to hear -the beggar pray, to see him throw himself upon the floor and writhe in -mystic transports amid the clanking of his chain. "Many things have -happened since then," he exclaims, "many other memories have lost all -importance for me; Gricha, the wanderer, has long since reached the end -of his last journey, but the impression which he produced upon me will -never fade; I shall never forget the feelings that he awoke in my soul. -O Gricha! O great Christian! Thy faith was so ardent that thou couldst -feel God near; thy love was so great that the words flowed of themselves -from thy lips, and thou hadst not to ask thy reason for an examination -of them. And how magnificently didst thou praise the Almighty when, -words failing to express the feelings of thy heart, thou threwest -thyself weeping upon the floor!" This episode of childhood will indeed -never fade from the memory or the heart of Tolstoï. After seeking -conviction and repose in arrogant human science and in philosophy, -Tolstoï, like his two heroes, finds them at last in the meekness and -simplicity of the most abject classes. Like his own Pierre Besukof, who -receives the mystic illumination at the mouth of a common soldier who is -to be shot by the French, or like his own Levine, who gets the same from -a poor laboring peasant stacking hay, Tolstoï was converted by one -Sutayef, one of those innumerable _mujiks_ who go about the country -announcing the good tidings of the day of communist fraternity. "Five -years ago," says Tolstoï in "My Religion," "my faith was given to me; I -believed in the teachings of Jesus, and my whole life suddenly changed; -I abhorred what I had loved, and loved what I had abhorred; what before -seemed bad to me, now seemed good, and _vice versa_." - -It was a sad day for art when this change of spirit came upon Count -Tolstoï. Its immediate effect was to suspend the publication of a novel -he had begun, to make him despise his master-works, call them empty -vanities, and accuse himself of having speculated with the public in -arousing evil passions and fanning the fires of sensuality. A heretic -and a rationalist (Tolstoï is clearly both; for what he calls his -conversion is neither to Catholicism nor to the Greek Church), he now -abuses the novel, like some persons nearer home with better intentions -than intelligence, as being an incentive to loose actions, the Devil's -bait, and agrees with Saint Francis de Sales that "novels are like -mushrooms,--the best of them are good for nothing." Tolstoï has not cast -aside the pen; he continues to write, but no more such superb pages as -we find in "War and Peace" and "Anna Karénina," no more masterly -silhouettes of fine society or the high ranks of the military, not the -imperial profile of Alexander I. or the charming figure of the Princess -Marie; he writes edifying apologies, Biblical parables dedicated to the -enlightenment of village-folk; exegeses and religious controversies, -professions of faith and dramas for the people. Has the great writer -died? Nay, I believe that he still lives and breathes beneath the coarse -tunic and rope girdle of the peasant-dress he wears, and which I have -seen in his portraits; for in these same books, written with a moral and -religious purpose, such as, for instance, that called "What to do?" in -which he has endeavored to dispense with elegance and suppress beauty of -rhetoric and style, the grace of the artist flows from his pen in spite -of him; his descriptions are word-paintings, and the hand of the master -is revealed in the admirable conciseness of diction; he controls every -resource of art, and is inspired, will-he, nill-he. Tolstoï was right in -reminding himself that genius is a divine gift, and there is no law that -can annul it or cast it out. - -I cannot believe that Count Tolstoï will persevere in his present path. -In the first place, I have little confidence in conversion to a -rationalist faith; in the second place, from what I have heard of the -disposition of the incomparable novelist, I think it impossible that he -should long remain stationary and satisfied. In his vigorous, passionate -nature imagination has the strongest part; he is enthusiastic, and given -to extremes, like Prince Besukof in "War and Peace;" he is like a fiery -charger dashing on at full gallop, that leaps and plunges, and stays not -even upon the edge of the precipice. To-day, under the influence of an -unbridled sentiment of compassion, he is playing the part of redeemer -and apostle; he imitates in his proprietary mansion and in the -neighboring towns the primitive fraternal customs of the early -Christians; he follows the plough and swings the scythe, and waits on -himself, rejecting every offer of service and everything that refines -life. To-morrow, perhaps, his lofty understanding will tell him that he -was not born to make shoes but novels, and he will perhaps regret having -thrown away his best years, the prime of life and creative activity. - -At present, he has abandoned himself to the grace of God; and to those -of us who are interested in intellectual phenomena, his religious ideas, -which are closely interwoven with his imaginative creations, are -extremely attractive. "My Religion" contains the fullest exposition of -them. He states in it that the whole teaching of Jesus Christ is -revealed in one single principle,--that of non-resistance to evil; it is -to turn the other cheek, not to judge one's neighbor, not to be angry, -not to kill. Tolstoï's experience with the Gospels is like that of the -uninitiated who goes into a physical laboratory, and without having any -previous instruction wishes to understand at once the management of this -or that apparatus or machinery. The sublime and compendious message of -the Son of Man has been for nineteen hundred years explained and defined -by the loftiest minds in theology and philosophy, who have elucidated -every real and profound phase of it as far as is compatible with human -needs and laws; but Tolstoï, extracting at pleasure that passage from -the sacred Book which most strikes his poetic imagination, deduces -therefrom a social state impossible and superhuman; declares tribunals, -prisons, authorities, riches, art, war, and armies, iniquitous and -reprehensible. - -In his earliest years Tolstoï dwelt much on thoughts of the tragedy of -war, and in "War and Peace" he gives utterance to some very original and -extraordinary, and sometimes even most ingenious opinions concerning it. -No historian that I know of can be compared to Tolstoï on this point; -none has succeeded in putting in relief the mysterious moral force, the -blind and irresistible impulse which determines the great collisions -between two peoples independently of the external and trivial causes to -which history attributes them. Nor has any one else brought out as -clearly as Tolstoï the part played in war by the army, the anonymous -mass always sacrificed to the personality of two or three celebrated -chiefs,--not only in the campaign bulletins but in the narratives of -Clio herself. I believe it will be long before such another man as -Tolstoï will arise, not only in the realms of the art of depicting great -battle-scenes, but so rich in the gifts of military psychology and -physiology; one who can describe the trembling fear in the recruit as -well as the strategic calculations of the commander; one who can -transfer the impression made upon the soul by the whistling of the bombs -carrying death through the air, as well as the sudden impulse that at a -certain decisive moment seizes upon thousands of souls that were before -vacillating and unstable, lifts them up to a heroic temperature, and -decides, in spite of all strategic combinations, the fate of the battle. -Though the strenuous enemy of war, Tolstoï is perhaps the man who has -written about it better than any other in the world; in every other -respect I can compare him to some one else, but not in this. In French -writings I recall only one page that could be placed beside Tolstoï's; -it is the admirable description of the battle of Waterloo, by Stendhal. - -In the name of his own gospel Tolstoï condemns not only human -institutions in general, but the Church in particular (the Greek Church, -of course), accusing it of having substituted the letter for the spirit, -the word of the world for the word of God. - -It is not to our purpose to point out Tolstoï's theological errors, but -his artistic and social errors fall within the scope of our -investigations. We know that, applying the principle of non-resistance -in the most rigorous acceptation, he proscribes war, and, as a logical -consequence, he disapproves the sacred love of country, which he -qualifies as an absurd prejudice, and reproaches himself whenever his -own instincts lead him to wish for the triumph of Russia over other -nations. In the light of his theory of non-resistance he condemns the -revolution, and yet he is forwarding it all the while by his own radical -socialism. Tolstoï's social ideal is, not to lift up and instruct the -ignorant, nor even to suppress pauperism, but to create a state entirely -composed of the poor, to annihilate wealth, luxury, the arts, all -delicacy and refinement of custom, and lastly--the lips almost refuse to -utter it--even cleanliness and care of the body. Yes, cleanliness and -instruction, to wash and to learn, are, in Tolstoï's eyes, great sins, -the cause of separation and estrangement among mankind. - -Besides this book in which he has set forth his religious ideas, he has -written another called "My Confession" and "A Commentary on the -Gospels." In "My Confession" he says that having lost faith when very -young and given himself up for a time to the vanities of life, and to -making literature in which he taught others what he himself knew nothing -about, and then turning to science for light upon the enigma of life, he -became at last inclined to suicide, when it suddenly occurred to him to -look and see how the humbler classes lived, who suffer and toil and know -the object of life; and it was borne in upon him that he must follow -their example and embrace their simple faith. - -Thus Tolstoï formulated the principle enunciated by Gogol, and which is -dominant in Russian literature,--the principle of a return to Nature, -for which the way was prepared by Schopenhauer, and the sort of modern -Buddhism which leads to a subjection of the reason to the animal and the -idiot, and a feeling of unbounded tenderness and reverence for inferior -creatures. - -I have devoted thus much attention to Tolstoï's social and religious -ideas, not only because they are interlaced with his novels, and to a -certain extent complement and explain them, but because Tolstoï, though -he has allied himself with no political party, not even with the -Sclavophiles, like Dostoiëwsky, is yet a representative of an order of -ideas and sentiments common in his country and proper to it; he is the -supreme artist of nihilism and pessimism, and at the same time the -apostle of a Christian socialism newly derived from certain theories, -dear to the Middle Ages, concerning the eternal Gospels; he is the -interpreter, to the world of culture, society, letters, and arts, of -that feverish mysticism which manifests itself in more violent forms -among certain Russian sects, independent preachers, voluntary mortifiers -of the body, the direct inheritors of those who, in dark ages past, -declared themselves under the influence of spirits. The spectacle of the -socialist fanatic united to the great writer, of the Quietist almost -exceeding the limits of evangelical charity joined to the novelist of -realism almost _à la_ Zola, is so interesting from an intellectual point -of view, that it is hard to say which most attracts the attention, -Tolstoï or his books. - -He has made great mistakes, not the least of which is his renunciation -of novel-writing, if indeed that be his intention, though I have heard -some Russians affirm the contrary. By condemning the arts and luxuries -of urban life, and admitting only the good of the agricultural, for the -sake of its simplicity and laboriousness, instead of helping on the -Golden Age, he compels a retrogression to the age of the animal, as -described by the Roman poet,--"the troglodyte snores, being satisfied -with acorns." By anathematizing letters, poetry, theatres, balls, -banquets, and all the pleasures of intelligence and civilization, he -condemns the most delicate instincts that we possess, sanctions -barbarism, justifies a new irruption of Huns and Vandals, and endeavors -to arrest the faculty of the perception of the Beautiful, which is a -glorious attribute of God himself. And all this for what? To find at the -end of this harsh penance not the love of Jesus Christ, who bids us lean -on his breast and rest after our labors, but a pantheistic numen, a -blind and deaf deity hidden behind a gray mist of abstractions. With -sorrow we hear Tolstoï, the great artist, blaspheme when he would pray; -hear him spurn the gifts of Heaven, condemn that form of art in which -his name shone brightest and shed lustre on his country and all the -world,--calling the novel oil poured upon the flames of sensual love, a -licentious pastime, food for the senses, and a noxious diversion. We see -him, under the hallucination of his mysticism, making shoes and drawing -water with the hands that God gave him for weaving forms and designs of -artistic beauty into the texture of his marvellous narratives. - - - - -V. - -French Realism and Russian Realism. - - -The Russian naturalistic school seems to have reached its culmination in -Tolstoï. Concerning Russian naturalism I would say a few words more -before leaving the subject. The opinions expressed are impartial, though -long confirmed in my own mind. - -In recapitulating half a century of Russian literature, we see that this -_natural school_ followed close upon an imitation of foreign style and -an effervescence of romanticism; it was founded by Gogol, and defended -by Bielinsky, the estimable critic who did for Russia what Lessing did -for Germany. The _natural school_ professed the principle of adhering -with strict fidelity to the reality, and of copying life exactly in all -its humblest and most trivial details. And this new school, born before -romanticism was well worn-out, grew and prospered quickly, producing a -harvest of novelists even more fertile than the poets of the antecedent -school. The date of its appearance was the period denominated _the -forties_,--the decade between 1840 and 1850. - -The general European political agitation, not being able to manifest -itself in Russia by means of insurrections, tumults, and proclamations, -took an intellectual form; and young Russia, returning from German -universities intoxicated with metaphysics, saturated with liberalism and -philanthropy, was eager to pour out its soul, and give vent to its -plethora of ideas. A country without lecture-halls, free-press, or -political liberty of any sort, had to recur to art as the only refuge. -And making use of the sort of subterfuge that love employs when it hides -itself under the veil of friendship, the political radical called -himself in Russia a sort of left-handed Hegelian, to invent a phrase. - -Thus Russian letters, in assuming a national character, showed a strong -social and political bias, which contains the clew to its qualities and -defects, and especially to its originality. The academic idea of -literature as a gentle solace and noble recreation has been for the last -half-century less applicable in Russia than anywhere else in the world; -never has literature in Russia become a profession as in France, where -the writer is prone to become more or less the skilful artisan, quick to -observe the variations of public taste, what sort of condiment most -tickles its palate, and straightway takes advantage of it,--an artisan -satisfied, with honorable exceptions, to sell his wares, and to snap his -fingers at the world, at humanity, at France, and even at Paris, -exclusive of that strip of asphalt which runs from the Madeleine to the -Porte St. Martin. Russian literature stands for more than this; -persuaded of the importance of its task, and that it is charged with a -great social work and the conduct of the progress of its country,--Holy -Russia, which is itself called to regenerate the world,--neither glory -nor gold will satisfy it; its object is to enlighten and to teach the -generations. It is but a short step from this to an admonitory and -directive literature; and the noblest Russian geniuses have stumbled -over this propensity at the end of their literary career. Gogol finished -by publishing edificatory epistles, believing them more advantageous -than "Dead Souls;" an analogous condition has to-day befallen Tolstoï. - -In spite of the severity of Nicholas I., literature enjoyed a relative -ease and freedom under his sceptre, either because the Autocrat had a -fondness for it, or was not afraid of it. Under the shelter afforded by -literature, political Utopias, nihilistic germs, subversive -philosophies, and dreams of social regeneration were fostered. The -novel--more directly, actively, and efficaciously than the most careful -treatises or occasional articles--propagated the seeds of revolution, -and being filled with sociological ideas, was devoted to the study of -the poor and humble classes, and was marked by realism and sincerity of -design; while the flood of indignation consequent upon repressive and -violent measures broke forth into copious satire. - -In this development of a literature aspiring to transform society, the -love of beauty for beauty's sake plays a secondary part, though it is -the proper end and aim of all forms of art. Therefore that which -receives least attention in the Russian novel is perfection of -form,--plot and method best revealing the æsthetic conception. It -abounds in superb pages, admirable passages, prodigies of observation, -and truth; but, except in the case of Turguenief, the composition is -always defective, and there is a sort of incoherence, of palpable and -fearful obscurity, amid which we seem to discover gigantic shapes, -vaguer but grander than those we are accustomed to see about us. - -During a period of twenty or thirty years the novel and the critic were -everything to Russia; the national intelligence lived in them, and -within their precincts it elaborated a free world after its own heart. -Like a maiden perpetually shut away from the outside world, dreaming of -some romantic lover whom she has never known or seen, consoling herself -with novels, and fancying that all the fine adventures in them have -happened to herself, Russia has written into the national novel her own -visionary nature, her thirst for political adventures, and her eagerness -for transcendental reforms. One most important reform may be said to be -directly the work of the novel, namely, the emancipation of the serfs. - -When the more clement Alexander II. succeeded the austere Nicholas I., -and the restraints laid upon the political press were loosened so that -it could spread its wings, the novel suffered in consequence. The hope -of great events to come, the approaching liberation of the serfs, the -formation of a sort of liberal cabinet, the efflorescence of new -illusions that bud under every new régime, concurred to infuse the -literature with civic and social tendencies. Beautiful and bright and -poetical is art for art's sake, and as Puchkine understood it; but at -the hour of doubt and strife we ask even art for positive service and -practical solutions. Who stops to see whether the life-preservers thrown -to drowning men struggling with death are of elegant workmanship? - -In speaking of nihilism I have mentioned the most important one of the -directive Russian novels, called "What to Do?" by the martyr -Tchernichewsky,--a work of no great literary merit, but which was the -gospel of young Russia. In his wake followed a host of novelists of this -tendency, but inferior, obscure, and without even the inventive power of -their leader in dressing up their ideas as symbolic personages, like his -ascetic socialist Rakmetof, who laid himself down upon a board stuck -through with nail-points. In their turn came the reactionaries, or -rather the conservatives, and in novels as absurd as those of their -predecessors they clothed the nihilists in purple and gold; it finally -resulted that everybody was as ready to produce a novel as to write a -serious article, or to handle a gun at a barricade. If any one of the -neophytes of the school of directive novels possessed genius, it was -swallowed up in the froth of political passion. - -As an accomplice in guilt, criticism did not weigh these works of art in -the golden scales of Beauty, but in the leaden ones of Utility. There -were critics who went so far as to declare war upon art, undertaking to -ruin the fame of great authors, because they wrought not in the -interests of transcendentalism; their motive was like that which -impelled the early Christians to destroy the great works of paganism. -The popular novelists condemned the verses of Puchkine and the music of -Glinka, in the name of the down-trodden and suffering people, just as -Tolstoï, in remembrance of the hungry family he had just visited, -refused to partake of the appetizing meal offered him by servants in -livery. As art had not achieved the amelioration of the people's -condition, they considered it not merely a futile recreation, but -actually an obnoxious thing. Bielinsky, with a taint of this same mania, -at last entertained scruples against the pure pleasure enjoyed in -contemplation of the beautiful, and was almost inclined to stop his ears -and shut his eyes so as not to fall into æsthetic sins. - -Are the authors and critics the only ones responsible for this directive -character of most Russian novels? No. Two factors are requisite to the -work of art,--the artist and the public. The Russians exact more of the -novel than we; the Latins, at least, regard the novel as a means of -beguiling a few evening hours, or a summer siesta,--a way to kill time. -Not so the Russians. They demand that the novelist shall be a prophet, a -seer of a better future, a guide of new generations, a liberator of the -serf, able to face tyranny, to redeem the country, to reveal the ideal, -in fine, an evangelist and an apostle. Given this conception, it ought -not to astonish us that the students drag Turguenief's carriage through -the streets, that they faint with emotion at Dostoiëwsky's touch, nor -that the enthusiasm of the multitude--in itself contagious--should -sometimes fill the heads of the novelists themselves. The novelists are, -in reality and truth, a faithful echo of the aspirations and needs of -the souls that feed upon their works. The Occidentalism of Turguenief, -the mysticism of Dostoiëwsky, the pessimism of Tolstoï, the charity, the -revolutionary spirit,--each is a manifestation of the national -atmosphere condensed in the brains of two or three foremost geniuses. -Who can doubt the reflex action which the anonymous multitude exercises -on eminent persons, when he contemplates the great Russian novelists? - -There is a difference, however, between the novel which is purposely -directive, the novel with a moral, so to speak, and the novel which is -guided by a social drift, by "the spirit of the times." The former is -liable to mediocrity and flatness, the latter is the patrimony of the -loftiest minds. This spirit, this social sympathy, issued from every -pore of Ivan Turguenief, the most able and exquisite of them all, -indirectly and without detriment to his impersonality, and with the full -conviction that it ought to be so; and novel-writing is useful in this -way and no other. He says as much in a sort of autobiographical -fragment, in which he explains how and why he left his country: "I felt -that I must at all costs get away from my enemy in order the better to -deal him a telling blow. And my enemy bore a well-known name; it was -serfdom, slavery. Under the name of slavery I included everything that I -proposed to fight without truce and to the death. This was my oath, and -I was not alone in subscribing thereto. And in order to be faithful to -it I came to the Occident." - -If I am not mistaken, the great difference between French and Russian -naturalism lies in this predominant characteristic of social expression. -The defects and merits of French naturalism are bound up with its -condition as a purely literary insurrection and protest against the -rhetoric of romanticism. In vain Zola exerts his Titanic energies to -impress on his works this social significance, whose invigorating power -is not unheeded by his perspicacious mind. He fights against egoism -without and perhaps within; but only in the two which he conceives to be -his master works, "L'Assommoir" and "Germinal," has he approached the -desired mark. - -The condition of France is diametrically opposed to that of Russia. I am -only repeating the opinion of a large number of illustrious Frenchmen -who have judged themselves without any great amount of optimism. They -say, "We are an old people, depraved and worn-out, our illusions -vanished, our hopes faded. We have proved all things, and now we cannot -be moved either by military glory which has undone and ruined us, or by -revolutions which have discredited us and made Europe look upon us with -suspicion. We have no religious faith, nor even social faith. We desire -peace, and, if possible, that industry and commerce may flourish; we are -not yet bereft of patriotism, and we expect art to entertain us, which -is difficult,--for what new thing remains for the artist to discover? -Criticism, spread abroad among the multitudes, has killed inspiration; -the generative forces are exhausted. We demand so much of the novelists -that they are at a loss how to whet our appetites, and neither ugliness, -nor unnatural crime, nor monstrous aberrations are sufficient to -stimulate our cloyed palates. They are touched with our coldness, and, -like ourselves, spiritless and inert, sick and disgusted, they feel -beforehand the irremediable and fatal decadence that is coming upon us, -and they believe that art in the Latin races will die with the century." -Thus mourn some of the men of France, and to my mind they have a basis -of truth. - -The artist never goes beyond the line marked out by his epoch. And how -should he? Of course there is, in every work of art, something that is -the exclusive property of the individual, something of his own genius; -but as the nature of the fish is to swim, but swim it cannot out of the -water, and the nature of the bird is to fly, but lacking air it flies -not, so, given a social atmosphere, the artist modifies and adapts -himself to it. The novelist cannot have an ideal different from the -society which reads him; and if one but perceives the rigor and -inflexibility of this law, one may avoid many foolish sentiments -expressed with the intent to censure the immorality of the novel. Take -any one of them, Tolstoï's, Zola's, Goncourt's, Dostoiëwsky's, look at -it well, study it closely, and you will find in it the exact expression -and even the artistic interpretation of a tendency of his epoch, his -nation, and his race. This is as evident as that two and two make four. -Novelists are what they must be rather than what they would be, and it -is not in their power to make a world after their own hearts or -according to any ideal pattern. - -Melchior de Voguié, it seems to me, has not recognized this truth in -accusing French novelists of materialism, dryness, egoism, and paganism, -and has not taken into account the fact that the reflex action of the -public upon the novelist is greater than that of the latter upon the -former, or at least that the novelist is the first to be influenced, -although afterward his works have an influence in turn, and in lesser -proportion. - -"The French realists," says Voguié, "ignore the better part of humanity, -which is the spirit." This is true; and I have said and thought for a -long time that realism, to realize to the full its own program, must -embrace matter and spirit, earth and heaven, human and superhuman. I -entirely agree with Voguié in believing that naturalism--or to call it -by a more comprehensive name, the School of Truth or Realism--should not -close its eyes to the mystery that is beyond rational explanations, nor -deny the divine as a known quantity. And so entirely is this my opinion, -that I could never consent to the narrow and short-sighted idea of some -who imagine that a Catholic, by the act of admitting the supernatural, -the miraculous, and the verity of revelation, is incapacitated for -writing a profound, serious, and good novel, a realistic novel, a novel -that shall breathe a fragrant essence of truth. Aside from the fact that -literary as well as scientific methods do not presuppose a negation of -religion, when did it ever happen that Catholicism, in the days of -liveliest faith, impeded the production of the best of realist novels, -as for example "Don Quixote"? The truth is that the novel, given the -epic element, will be neither Catholic nor religious in those societies -which are neither one nor the other. The lyric element does not demand -this harmony with society: a great Catholic poet may be found in a most -agnostic country, but not a Catholic novelist. - -The novel is a clear mirror, a faithful expression of society, and the -actual conditions of the novel in Europe are a proof of it. I think I -have shown that the Russian novel reflects the dreams, sentiments, and -changes of that country; it appears revolutionary and subversive, -because the spirit of both Russian _intelligence_ and Russian educated -people is so. In France, where to-day, in spite of the efforts of the -spiritual and eclectic school, the traditions of the Encyclopædia have -prevailed together with a frivolous sensualist materialism, the novel -follows this road also, and without meaning to strike up Béranger's -famous refrain,-- - - "C'est la faute de Rousseau, - C'est la faute de Voltaire," - -I affirm that _animalism_, determined materialism, pessimism, and -_decadentism_ may be explained by the light of the great writers of the -eighteenth century, not only through their literary influence, but -because the society which pores over the novels of the present day is -the daughter of the French Revolution, and the latter is the daughter of -the Encyclopædia. Who does not know the relation which exists between -the novel and the fashion in England, and how the former is conditioned, -shaped, and limited exclusively by the latter? In Germany another -curious phenomenon is apparent. The novel in vogue is historical,--a -condition appropriate to a country where everybody is interested only in -epic life and the contingency of war. - -On account of this interdependence, or, in fact, unity, of the novel and -society, I cannot agree with Voguié when he says that the books that are -influencing and stimulating the multitudes, the general ideas that are -transforming Europe, are proceeding nowadays not from France but from -Russia. It may be true of the Northern races, but of Latin races it -cannot be more than partially and indirectly so. Does Voguié find in the -French novel as in the Russian the latent fermentation of the -evangelical spirit, or are the currents of mysticism that impregnate -Russia circulating through France? - -Russia is Christian, in spite of German materialist philosophers who for -a time set her brains in a whirl, but whom she has finally rejected, as -the sea gives up a dead body; and if I have succeeded in showing clearly -the forms adopted by the social revolution in Russia, and the strange -analogies these sometimes bear to the actions of the early Christians, -if I have shown the love of sacrifice, the ardent charity, the -sympathetic pity and tenderness not only toward the oppressed but toward -even the criminal, the despised, the idiot, and the outcast, which -characterize this society and this literature; if I have shown the -degrees of mystic fervor by which it is permeated and consumed,--no one -need be surprised at my statement and conclusion that although Buddha -and Schopenhauer have a goodly share in the present condition of Russian -thought, the larger part is nevertheless Christian. It is my opinion -that the world is more Christian now than in the Middle Ages, not as to -faith, but as to sentiments and customs; and if in hours of despondency -I were sometimes inclined to doubt the efficiency of the word of Christ, -the sight of its prodigious effects in Russia would certainly correct my -doubts. The heterodox nature of the Russian faith is not a nullification -of it. The most heretical heretic, if he be a sincere Christian, has -more of truth than error in his faith. But error is like sin: one drop -of poison is enough to permeate a glass of pure water; yet it is certain -that there is more water than poison in the glass. - -To return to the literary question, the Russian novel demonstrates, if -such demonstration be necessary, the futility of the censures directed -against naturalism, and which confound general principles with the -circumstances and social conditions which environ the novelist. The -Russian novel proves that all the precepts of the art of naturalism may -be realized and fulfilled without committing any of those sins of which -it is accused by those who know it through the medium of half a dozen -French novels. The charge that is oftenest made against the French -realist is the having painted pictures of passion and vice too nakedly -and with too much candor,--and the charge is certainly not without -foundation; and it may be added that some novelists overload the canvas -and go to the extreme of making humanity out to be more sinful than even -physical possibilities admit; but they must not be made to bear the -responsibility alone; the public that gloats and feeds on these comfits, -and grumbles when they are not provided,--the public, I say, must share -it. In Russia, where the readers do not ask the novelist for intricate -plot or high-colored sketches, the novel is chaste: I do not mean in the -English sense of being moral with an air of affectation, and frowns and -false modesty; I mean chaste without effort, like an ancient marble -statue. In "Anna Karénina" Tolstoï depicts an illicit passion, -extravagant, vehement, full of youthful ardor; yet there is not a page -of "Anna Karénina" which cannot be read aloud and without a blush. In -"War and Peace" the most candid pages are models of decorum, of true -decorum, such as education, reason, and the dignity of man approve. In -"Crime and Punishment" Dostoiëwsky introduces the character of a -prostitute; but this character is no such romantic creature as Marie -Gautier or Nana. She is not made poetical, nor is she embellished or -exaggerated; yet she produces an impression (let him read the novel who -doubts) of purity, of suffering, of austerity. In Turguenief, by far the -most sensual of the great Russian novelists, and in Pisemsky, of -secondary rank, there is so much art in the disposition and harmony of -detail and description, that the definitive impression, while less -severe than in the case of the two others mentioned, is equally noble -and lofty. - -Are they any the less Realists for this? They are rather more so, in my -opinion. In order to carry out the great precept of modern art, the -novelist must copy life,--the life that we live and that unfolds about -us every day. But life does not unfold as it is represented in many -novels that are the product of French naturalism. The Zola school makes -use of abstraction and accumulation in uniting in one scene and one -character all the aberrations, abominations, and vices that only a -collection of profligates could be capable of, with the result offered -us in pictures such as the house in "Pot-Bouille," that should be -handled with tongs for fear of soiling one's fingers. We turn to the -reality, and we find that all these colors exist, that all these vices -are actual,--yes, but one at a time, intermingled with a thousand good -or commonplace things; then we are in a rage with the novelist, and ever -after bear him a grudge for having a mania for ugliness. The impression -which life makes upon us is quite different; the alternative of good is -evil, of poetry is vulgarity; we demand a recognition of this from the -novelist, and this the Russian novelists have given us, yet without -leaving the firm ground of realist art. They present the material, the -bestial, the trivial, the vile, the obscene, the passionate, as they -appear in life, in due proportion and no more. - -We have also to thank them for having recognized the psychical life, and -the spiritual, moral, and religious needs of mankind. And I would make a -distinction between the moral spirit of the English novel and the -Russian. The English judge of human actions according to preconceived -notions derived from a general standard accepted by society and -officially imposed by custom and the Protestant religion. The Russian -moralist feels deeper and thinks higher; morality is not for him a -system of narrow and inalterable rules, but the aspiration of a creature -advancing toward a higher plane, and learning his lessons in the hard -school of truth and the great theatre of art. - -The spiritual element in the Russian novel is to me one of its most -singular merits. The novel should not teach the supernatural, nor be the -instrument of any religious propaganda. But from this premise to a -condition of mutilation and mere dry chronicle of physiological -functions is a long way. There are countless facts of our existence that -cannot be explained by the most determined materialist; it is not the -duty of art to explain them, but art cannot justly ignore them. Émile -Zola is both a thinker and an artist. As an artist he is admirable, and -is hardly behind Tolstoï either in poetic or descriptive faculties; but -with the artist he combines the philosopher--may I call it so?--the -philosopher of the lowest and coarsest fibre, whose influence upon -French naturalism has been most pernicious, and has greatly limited the -scope of the novel in his country. - - * * * * * - -In conclusion, it is my opinion that the only way to understand the -naturalistic movement is in connection with its social environment; the -impulse of our age toward a representation of truth in art everywhere -prevails, and everywhere the novel has become a result of observation, -an analytical study, as we notice in a general view of European -literature for the last forty years. The century which began with lyric -poetry is closing with a triumphant novel. - -But the great principle of reality is differently applied in different -countries. Why was romanticism so much the same in England, Germany, -Spain, and Russia? Because it was chiefly rhetoric,--a literary protest, -an artistic insurrection. And why the differences between French -naturalism, the Russian _natural school_, English and Spanish realism, -and Italian _verismo_? Because each one of these phases of the religion -of truth is adequate to the country that conceived it, and to the hour -and the occasion upon which it is focused. It is no objection that -between these various forms there is close communication and relation. -Edmund de Goncourt once remarked to me that the Russian novel is not so -original as people think, for besides the marked influence of Hoffmann -and Edgar Poe upon the genius of Dostoiëwsky, it would not be difficult -to trace in the other great writers the inspiration of Balzac, Flaubert, -Stendhal, and George Sand. Pie was right; and yet Russian literature is -not the less indigenous. - -I should always prefer the art that is disinterested, that carries -within itself its aim and object, to the art that is directive, with a -moral purpose; between the art that is pagan and the art that is -imbecile, I should choose the pagan. If we Spaniards, who are like the -Russians, at once an ancient and a young people, still ignorant of what -the future may lead us to, and never able to make our traditions -harmonize with our aspirations,--if we could succeed in incorporating in -our novel not merely bits of fragmentary reality, artistic -individualisms, but the spirit, the heart, the blood of our country, -what we are doing, what we are feeling as a whole,--it would indeed be -well. Yet I think this impossible, not for lack of talent but for lack -of preparation on the part of the public, upon whom at present the novel -exercises no influence at all. The novel is read neither quantitatively -nor qualitatively in Spain. As to quantity, let the authors who publish, -and the booksellers who sell, speak what they know; of the quality, let -the numerous lovers of Montepin and the eager readers of the -translations in the _feuilletines_ tell us. The serious and profound -novel dies here without an echo; criticism makes no comment upon it, and -the public ignores its appearance. Is there a single modern novel that -is popular, in the true meaning of the word, among us? Has any novel had -any influence at all in Spanish political, social, or moral life? - -On coming from France, I have often noticed a significant fact, which -is, that at the French station of Hendaye there is a stand for the sale -of all the popular and celebrated novels; while at Irun, just across the -frontier, only a few steps away, but Spanish, there is nothing to be had -but a few miserable, trashy books, and not a sign of even our own best -novelists' works. From the moment we set foot on Spanish soil the -novel, as a social element, disappears. It is sad to say, but it is so -true that it would be madness to build any illusions on this matter. And -yet the instinct, the desire, the inexplicable anxiety of the artist to -embody and transmit the great truths of life, the impulse that lifts men -to great deeds, and to desire to be the voice of the people, is secretly -stimulating the Spanish novelists to break the ice of general -indifference, to put themselves in communication with the sixty million -souls and intelligences that to-day speak our language. Is the goal -which we desire to attain inaccessible? Perhaps; but as the immense -difficulties in the way of penetrating to the Arctic regions and the -discovery of the open Polar Sea are but an incentive to the explorer, so -the impossible in this undertaking should incite and spur on the masters -of the Iberian novel. - -A few words of humble confession, and I have done. - -I feel that there is a certain indecision and ambiguity running through -these essays of mine. I could not quite condemn the revolution in -Russia, nor could I altogether approve its doctrines and discoveries. A -book must reflect an intellectual condition which, in my case, is one of -uncertainty, vacillation, anxiety, surprise, and interest. My vision has -not been perfectly clear, therefore I have offered no conclusive -judgments,--for conviction and affirmation can only proceed from the -mind they have mastered. Russia is an enigma; let those solve it who -can,--I could not. The Sphinx called to me; I looked into the depths of -her eyes, I felt the sweet and bewildering attraction of the unknown, I -questioned her, and like the German poet I wait, with but moderate hope, -for the answer to come to me, borne by voices of the ocean of Time. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIA: ITS PEOPLE AND ITS -LITERATURE*** - - -******* This file should be named 41495-8.txt or 41495-8.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/1/4/9/41495 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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