Canadian Slavonic Papers

Towards a Feminist Reading of Evgenii Onegin

Author(s): J. DOUGLAS CLAYTON
Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 29, No. 2/3 (JuneSeptember 1987), pp. 255-265
Published by: Canadian Association of Slavists
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J. DOUGLAS CLAYTON

Towardsa FeministReading
of EvgeniiOnegin
In lifeand deathPushkinas a manand a poetwas definedto a considerable
extentby his relationshipsto women. Women were the most realized
charactersin muchof his writing,and his portraitsof thempossessed a
depthof insightand psychologicalrealismthatmost of his male figures
lacked. While the latterwere mysterious,frequentlydemonic figures,
and oftenparodistic,someofhiswomencharacters
derivedfromliterature
achieveda depthofexperiencedrealitythatwas laterto inspirethemasters
of Russian realism.
It is remarkablethattherehas been no systematic
attemptto examine
the role of womenand theeroticin Pushkin'swork(forPushkinwomen
were mostlyof interestas eroticcreatures),excepton the level of such
banal mattersas his "don Juan list" of supposed conquests.The frankness of the poet's expressionon sexual matters,and thecentralposition
that the femalepredicamentin Russia occupied in his work,make it a
primesubjectforthecriticalapproachthathas developedinrecentyearsin
the United States and elsewhere.Elaine Showalter calls it "feminist
critique,"1and AnnetteKolodnydefinesit as "an acuteand impassioned
to thewaysin whichprimarilymale structures
of powerare
attentiveness
inscribed(or encircled)withinour literaryinheritance."2
The strategyof
"readingas a woman" is one ofa numberofpossibleapproachesto theact
of readingas a consciousactivity.As JonathanCullerwrites:"The task
at thislevelis notto establisha woman'sreadingthatwouldparallela male
readingbut rather,throughargumentand an attemptto account for
textualevidence,to produce a comprehensive
perspective,a compelling
criticismof thissortare not
reading.The conclusionsreachedin feminist
1. Elaine Showalter,
"Towardsa FeministPoetics,"p. 128; in Elaine
Showalter
Criticism
(Ed.), TheNewFeminist
(NewYork,1985),pp. 125-43.
2. Annette
theMinefield:
SomeObservations
Kolodny,
"DancingThrough
on theTheory,
and Politicsofa Feminist
Practice,
Criticism,"
Literary
p. 162;in
Showalter
topower
Criticism,
(Ed.),NewFeminist
pp. 144-67.Itistherelationship
- notsexuality
structures
thatis central
to thefeminist
as such,although
critique
thesematters
arefrequently
related.

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256 I Canadian SlavonicPapers

1987
June-September

and
comprehend,
specificto womenin thesensethatone can sympathize,
agreeonlyifone has had certainexperienceswhicharewomen's."3Thatis
to say,whetheror notsomecriticsfeelthreatened
critique,
bythefeminist
theyshould attendto it as a challengeto the unconsciousassumptions
underwhichtheirown criticismoperates.
Thereare manyissuesthatcan be addressedin Pushkin'sworkwhen
viewedfromthe feministperspective.Two will be examinedhere. One
the
concernsthe functionof the traditionalfictionalmotifssurrounding
heroine,theproblemof hermarriage,and thenatureof hersexuality.In
Pushkin's treatmentof these matterstherewas a blend of inherited
paradigms derived from Westernliterature(principallyFrench) and
uniquely Pushkinianelements.The other concerns the psychological
thatmotivatedPushkin'sstanceas a writerinEvgeniiOnegin.
proclivities
That entailsrelatingPushkinto his workwhichwas, fromfirstto last,
a responseto thevicissitudesof lifeas a writerof geniusin theRussia of
the 1820sand 1830s.
In a poem of 1834("Net ia ne dorozhu") Pushkin,witha frankness
at leastuntilChekhov,
thatwas soon to disappearfromRussianliterature
in the act of makinglove. He did not, he tells
describedhis preferences
us, "value therebelliouspleasure,thesensualecstasy,themadness,frenzy,
in myembrace
groans,and criesof theyoungBacchantewhen,writhing
caressesand poisonofkisseshastens
likea serpent,she witha burstoffiery
the momentof thefinalconvulsions."His predilectionwas forthemeek
"oh how painfullyhappy(muchitel'no
schastliv)I am
type(smirennitsa):
to mewithyou when,yieldingto lengthy
supplicationsyougiveyourself
tenderwithoutrapture,bashfullycold; you hardlyrespondto myecstasy,
butthenbecomemoreand moreenlivened,
you are heedlessofeverything,
and finallyshare myfireagainstyourwill!"4
This fantasyof femalereluctanceovercomeskirtsdangerouslyclose
to imagine
oftheunwilling
to rapeorthedefloration
virgin.It is interesting
thereactionof thewoman(apparentlyGoncharova)to whomtheselines
3. JonathanCuller,OnDeconstruction:
afterStructuralTheoryand Criticism
ism(Ithaca, N.Y., 1982),p. 58. Culler'sbook providesa usefuland succinctintroductionto the topic ("Reading as a Woman," pp. 43-64).
4. QuotationsfromPushkinare fromthe "Jubilee" editionof his works,
A. S. Pushkin,Polnoesobraniesochinenii,16 vols. (Moscow-Leningrad,1937-49),
hereafter
designatedas PSS' quotationsfromEvgeniiOneginaregiveninNabokov's
style,i.e., the chapteris writtenout, the stanza is in roman numerals,and the
versesin arabic.

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Vol.XXIX,Nos.2&3

A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 257

are ostensiblyaddressed.The poem was, in one sense,an expressionofan

French
inpoetrythatgoesback,througheighteenth-century
erotictradition
classicism,to theLatin poetryof Catullus.However,thereaderis struck
bythecandourwithwhichthepoet embracedthefantasy,which,forhim,
was farfroman emptyexercise,but was apparentlyclose to thetap-roots
of his own sexual preferences.
Rejectingthe "rebellious"pleasureof the
Bacchante,he seemedto preferthenotionofmale dominanceand control
in theact of love,and a simulationof thetakingof a virgin.In thepoem
is an interplayof conventionand experience,of the inheritedsymbolic
does notquitefitthatis
structure
and therealityof lifewhichthestructure
for
Pushkin.
typical
His portraitsof womencan be tentatively
dividedintothetwotypes
and
Helen
The "Mary" type
the
the
Mary
suggestedby
poem:
archetypes.
was characterizedby herangelicnature,herchastity,herconstancy,and
her submissiveness.Vocabulary and emblemsassimilatedto the type
includedvernyi,
luna. By contrast,the"Helen" typewas associatedwith
the vocabularyitemsvolshebnitsa,
izmennitsa,tsirtseia,lukavaia,zmeia.
Helen's beautyand unfaithfulness
causeda thousandshipsto be launched.
The "circe" associationsuggestedher abilityto turnmen intobeastsby
In thepoem quoted above, theactivesearchfor
evokingtheirsensuality.5
satisfaction
ofthebacchantewas a "Helen" trait,whilethereluctanceand
was attributableto the "Mary" type.
passivityof thesmirennitsa
The "Mary/Helen"terminology
was derivedfromthefinalpassageof
Gavriliiada,wherethepoet told us jokinglythathe has givenup Maryfor
Helen. The patternis, however,morecomplexthanthesimpledivisionof
womenintotwo types,theone passive,theotheractive,forin Gavriiliada
therewas an interesting
suggestionthatwomenare reallyboth typesat
once- thus, Mariia the virginwas seduced by the devil, Gavriil, and
and enjoyedit. She was thefirstofa seriesofwomenwhobore
Vsevyshnii,
the name Mary but acted like the Helen type- forexample,Mariula in
Tsygany,Marina inBoris Godunov,and Ol'ga inEvgeniiOnegin(who was
comparedto theVan Dyck madonna). The abilityof womanto simulate
chastityon her weddingnight,describedin Gavriiliada,also suggested
that Pushkinsaw thetwo typesas two sides of the same coin- woman.
Whethera womanwas a Helen or a Marybecamea matterofperspective.
In EvgeniiOnegin,Tat'ianaappearedto be theMaryfigureand Ol'ga
theHelen. However,theproblemof perspectiveis hereclearlyoperative,
see mybookIce andFlame:
5. For moreon theHelen- Maryopposition,

AleksandrPushkin's"Eugene Onegin"(Toronto, 1985),pp. 134-35.

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258 I RevueCanadiennedes Slavistes

1987
Juin-Septembre

forthe Helen side of Olga was apparentonlyto thepoet and to Onegin.

For Lenskiishe was theconstantmuse,theVan Dyck madonna.The fact
thatTafiana appearsas theimageofconstancyin thenovel,thatis to say,
as a Marytype,demonstrates
notherone-sideness,
buttheoverwhelming
forceoftheauthor'spointofviewin thenovel;however,herHelen aspect
can be tracedinheractivesearchforan affairwithOnegin,expressedinher
letterto him,and in othermattersto be discussedlaterin thispaper.
Since the "Mary" mode predominatedin Tafiana she responded
passivelyto theprospectofan arrangedmarriageto PrinceN. She moved,
fromactiveto passivein thecourseof thenoveland endedup
therefore,
as anotherexampleof the woman as chattel.In the arrangedmarriage,
Tafiana Larina underwent
thesame social ritualsas hermotherand nurse
had done. The criticBelinskiiquicklyperceivedthe symbolismof her
oftheforcedmarriage;freedomforwoman
acquiescencein theinstitution
meantthroughmetaphoricalforcefreedomforRussia. Tafiana's chattel
stateis summedup in thepassivevoice of theverbotdaf- thewomanis
givenaway by the authorityfigure,in thiscase the widow Larina.
A readingof nineteenth-century
Englishnovels in the lightof the
"conventionof the two suitors" by Jean Kennard captures the way
Pushkin'snovel both satisfiesthe convention,and yetdiffersfromit in
crucialways:
The convention
[of thetwosuitors]createsproblemsonlywhenthe
heroine's
is centralto thenoveland when,at itsend,she
development
virtues
achieves
a form
ofmaturity
which
involves
themodern
supposedly
inthenovels
ofindependence
andindividuality.
Thisisvariously
defined
Sincein
in thenotionsoffreedom
butis centered
and self-fulfillment.
valuesandsince
orderto reachmaturity
theheroine
mustacceptcertain
theright
to theconvention,
therepository
ofthosevaluesis,according
have
end
of
novel
she
subordinated
at
the
the
to
suitor,
invariably
appears
herownpersonality
tothatofthehero.Theconvention
therefore,
tends,
- is
first
to implythatthegood man- who,afterall, heldthevirtues
be
to
emulate
who
some
to
the
woman
with
can,
effort, taught
superior
ofthenovelplaceshimas leader,heras follower.
him.Theverystructure
liesinlearning
thathappiForher,maturity
thatheridealsarefantasies,
muchofwhat
themalereality
andindenying
nessliesinapproximating
sexist.6
The structure
had seemedto be herself.
is,thus,inherently
We can clearlydiscerna versionof thetwo-suitor
homologyin Pushkin's
novel.Oneginis theundesirablesuitorwho attractedtheheroineand was
6. JeanE. Kennard,Victims
ofConvention
(Hamden,Conn.,1978),p. 14.

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Vol.xxix, Nos.2& 3

A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 259

ultimatelyrejectedin favourof another.Moreover,the novel ends with

Tafiana's marriageto a desirable suitor. Kennard's descriptionof the
typicalendingof the Englishnovel almost fitsEvgeniiOnegin,but not
but
quite: "It is not thefactthattheheroinemarrieswhichis significant,
thatthemarriageacts as a conclusionto thenoveland is to a largeextent
to society'svalues,
symbolic.It indicatestheadjustmentoftheprotagonist
a conditionwhichis equated withher maturity."7
Whileitis truethatTartanaadjustedto society'svalues,and thatthis
thereare crucialdifferences.
adjustmentwas equated withher maturity,
in thenovel.Far frombeing
was
a
husband
Tafiana's
First,
non-presence
the unequivocallydesirablesuitorwho espoused highideals, sharedby
the author himself,he was presentedwithmore than slightirony.His
advantageslay principallyin his acceptanceat courtand thefactthathe
was a generalwitha successfulcareer,the result,at least in part,of his
beingwoundedin battle.We do notsee anytraceofhisroleas a mentorfor
his spouse, an importantfunctionin the English novel as definedby
Kennard.Second,theTat'ianaat theend ofthestoryhad farfromwholeheartedlyembracedher stationin life;her positionwas one of resigned
acceptance,a recognitionof the gap betweenideals and reality.It is this
Tafiana's happiness
hernewlyacquiredmaturity.
attitudethatconstitutes
did not as did thatof herEnglishcousinslie in renouncingfemaleideals
male reality.Her husbandwas byno meanspresented
and approximating
as a moralsuperiorand hernaturalleader.Rather,Pushkinleftthemoral
withTartana,of whomhe claimed(apparentlywithoutirony)
superiority
to be in awe to the end.
It is thisperceptionof theeventsof thenovelthroughtheeyesofthe
questions.His sympathyforTania
poet that raises the most interesting
in
of
the
Helen
a
type favouroftheMary- an assumption
suggests rejection
ideal ofTartanaat theend
his
farewell
to thevernyi
confirmed
by
specific
ofChapterEight.The TartanaofChapterEightwas themodelofconstancy
- "budu vekemuverna"- whereasOFga,he pointedly
tellsus,didnotlong
of
the
female
intotwo typesThis
lover.
her
slain
figure
splitting
grieve
one desirable,the other not may seem disappointingin lightof the
fora moretotalvisionofwomaninthenovel.8Tafiana'sboldness
possibility
7. Ibid.,p. 18.
toseeOlgaas theHelenandTafianaas theMaryhadexisted
8. Thetendency
As
thewomeninthenovelareclosetothestereonovel.
the
described,
throughout
by MaryEllmann:Olga theWhore,LarinatheShrew,and
typesenumerated
isevena compliant
there
withpotential
tobecometheMother;
TafianatheStudent

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260 I Canadian SlavonicPapers

1987
June-September

in sendingOnegin a love-letter,
the precisepsychologicalinsightwith
whichPushkindepictedthedreamofa younggirlcontemplating
an arranged
and
of
her
the
that
will
marriage
sexuality
change
marriage bringaboutall thissuggeststhatTatana was potentiallyneitherthesaint(Mary) she
was seento be in ChapterEight,northeharlot(Helen) thatOlga was,but
a realizedvisionof womanhoodseen in totality,beyondstereotypes.
The rejectionof Onegin by Tafiana was morethan a statementon
Russian womanhood. It can be seen as a wishfulfillment
on Pushkin's
behalf.Having spenthis youthin thepursuitof sweetseductionof unenshrinedin Onegin,in thefigureof theheroin
happywives(a life-style
he
to believe in the possibilityof female
now
wanted
Chapter One),
in
The
shift
fromactive to passive paralleledthe
constancy marriage.
described
in
the
1834
poem. Pushkin'sprogrammeforhis
progression
middleage comprisedliteraryand para-literary
pursuits,and marriageto
thebeautiful(and virginal)Natal'iaGoncharova,theTafiana who turned
into an Olga. Tsvetaevamade Goncharova the subjectof a vituperative
thattracestheparallels
study,whichamountsalmostto aretsenziia-donos,
betweenGoncharova's view of Pushkinand thatof Nicholas: "I won't
marryhimso ... I'll haveto marryhim.It's betterto marryhim.Simpler
to marryhim.'It's all thesame.' That is how theconsentofNatal'iaGoncharova sounds. Goncharova marriedPushkinwithoutlove, with the
ofinanimateflesh- theact ofa doll!
equanimityofa beauty,theinertness
- and perhapswithinnertrembling."9
couldhave
Tsvetaeva'sindignation
been directed,at least in part,towardsPushkinhimself,who got, even
created,the doll he wanted.Instead,she ragesagainstGoncharovaand
Nicholas, yet ruefullyadmits Goncharova's happy second marriage.
Could it be thatGoncharovawas thepricePushkinexactedforhis submissionto Nicholas?Tsvetaeva's ire againstNicholas and Goncharova
againstsuch a
appears, on a deeper level,motivatedby her frustration
bound to unin
that
was
a
conceived
match
spite
Mephistophelianplan,
ravelwithtragicconsequences.The "passion" of Pushkin- to use Tsve- is a wilfulexactingofa priceforPushkin'sown servitude
taeva's term
fromGoncharova.
As Belinskiihimselfseemedto have realized,Tat'iana's rejectionof
About
Servant
whoservices
Thinking
Onegin'ssexualneeds.See MaryEllmann,
serve
Women
cannot,however,
(London,1979),pp. 119-40.Suchan observation
thatcantell
anypurposeotherthanto enragethereader.It is notthestereotype
fromit.
us things,
butthedivergences
MoiPushkin
9. MarinaTsvetaeva,
(Moscow,1967),p. 200.

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Vol.xxix, Nos.2& 3

A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 261

Onegin was, on a more fundamentallevel, a metaphorfor Pushkin's

acceptance of the Nicholaevan rgime.10That thoughtpoints to the
truththatin a wayTat'ianawas Pushkin.Her act ofwritingto
fascinating
withDecembrism,
Oneginmaybe seenintermsofPushkin'sownrelationship
and her acquiescenceto her marriageparalleledhis own. Pushkin,the
marginalized,the invalidated,the hereticwho challengedthe accepted
ideas ofothersin hispoetry,and theconventionsofcourtlifebyhiscareer
as a poet, was metamorphosedinto the heroine- not the hero- of his
poem. Her acceptanceat court,herbrilliance,hertenderness,
passion,and
- all thesewerethe qualitiesthatPushkinsoughtforhimself.
conviction
Her rejectionof Onegin- the embodimentof the spiritof negation,of
- symbolized,as has recentlybeen shown, Pushkin's own
destruction
Like him,too, she longedforthecountryhaunts,thecompany
struggle.11
of hernurse.We hear Pushkin'sown longingvoice in the lines
Cenac oT/jaTb a pa/ja
Beto 3Ty BeTOUibMacicapafla,
Becb 3T0T 6jiecK, h uiyM h na
3a nojiKy KHHr,3a ahkhh cafl,
3a Haiiie e^Hoe acmiHme,
3a Te MecTa, yrz b nepBbi pa3,
OHerHH, BHflejiah Bac,
fla 3a CMHpeHHoeKjiaflHme,
Tp HbiHHeKpecT h TeHb BeTBe
HaA 6eAH0H H$meK)Moe . . . (Eight: XLVI: 5-14)

The discussionof the two-suitorconventionhas demonstratedthat

thevoice of authorityin the novel can in no way be associatedwiththe
poet's. It belongs to the affablePrinceN and- beyondthe pale of the
novel- to Nicholas,metonymically
presentin the mentionof the court.
Onegin'sexclusionand discomfiture
paralleledthoseof Pushkinhimself.
Here is the crucial difference
betweenPushkinand Kennard's Austen:
Pushkin,Onegin's friend,the poet at the marginsof society,who has
or civilservice,thatcouldlead to honour
rejectedthetwocareers,military
10. SeeV. G. Belinskii,
i literaturnaia
Estetika
2vols.(Moscow,1959),
kritika,
Vol. II, pp. 498-99.
11. See J.T. Shaw,'The ProblemofUnityofAuthor-Narrator's
Stancein

Puskin's Evgenij Onegin" Russian Language Journal,XXXV (Winter, 1981),

No. 120,pp. 25-42,esp. 28ff.

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262 I RevueCanadiennedes Slavistes

1987
Juin-Septembre

- Pushkin,likehis hero,is thatalienatedfigure,thedandy

and authority
who can rebel againstauthorityor submitto it, but in no way assume
His marriageto Goncharovamaybe seenas a desperateattempt
authority.
overhiswife.The
and asserta (spurious)authority
to forcecircumstances
exclusionfromauthoritythatmarksPushkin'svoice makesit,almostby
criture
definition,
fminine.
Whileostensiblyincarnatinghis acceptanceof Nicholas's regimein
- Pushkinunderneathhis
Tafiana's rejectionof Onegin- themiatezhnyi
outwardcomplianceretaineda complicitywiththe revoltthat Onegin
ofTat'iana- I love
resembledtheresignation
symbolized.This complicity
- forTat'iana
of
and
I
am
to
but
another,
acceptance authority
you,
given
herhusband,forPushkinNicholas.Pushkin,accordingto sucha reading,
As Cullernotes,"in
withauthority.
thatis,unidentified
wasstillsubversive,
womanhas come to standforanyradicalforcethat
recentFrenchwriting
subvertsthe concepts,assumptions,and structuresof traditionaldiscourse."12
betweenTatana and Pushkinhas
At a deeperleveltheidentification
in
own
roots
Pushkin's
sexuality,and these roots are made
profound
instructive
in
and
the
harmless,
imageof Tafiana. Particularly
explored,
is Tatana's dream.Notingthehighsenseof sexualityadoptedbyfemale
personae of male authors,Ann RobinsonTaylor remarks:"Sexual awe
pervadesthenarratives;... in the imaginationof thesewomena man's
indeed.Such a pointofviewis indicativeofa weird
sexualityis frightening
man-womanwho displaysher author'sfearsand fantasiesand his overand overvaluationof male sexualityand themalebody."13
protectiveness
It is strikingthatTafiana's dreamshouldhave endedwitha scream
as therunningthroughof Lenskii
thathas been alternatively
interpreted
12. Culler,On Deconstruction,
p. 61.
13. Anne RobinsonTaylor,Male Novelistsand TheirFemale Voices:Literary
ofmaleauthorand
Masquerades(Troy,New York, 1981),p. 18. The identification
femalecharacteris a by no meansuncommonprocedurein fiction.Taylor'sbook
narrativefromthe perspectiveof
has to do withauthorswho use first-person
a femalecharacter.It isevident,however,that,thoughthistechniqueis uncommon
narrativefromtheperspectiveof a womanin Russianfiction,thethird-person
Tolstoi's Anna Karenina,Turgenev'sNatal'ia Alekseevna(in Rudin),and CherVera Pavlovna- is not.For thiswe can surelythankPushkin,withhis
nyshevskii's
sensitiveportrayalof his heroine'sdreams,moods, and musings.Tafiana's disina very
coveryofOneginparallelsPushkin'sdiscoveryofhishero,and ofhimself,
intimateway.

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Vol.xxix,Nos.2&3

A Feminist
ReadingofEvgenii
Onegin| 263

witha knifeor Tat'iana'spenetration

Theritualoftheduel
byOnegin.14
in thedream)thusassumeda parallelto thedefloration
of
(prefigured
withitpenetration
thatbrought
woman,eachan act ofmaledominance
toseeinTat'iana'sdream,
anddeathortheswoon.Itispossible,
therefore,
notonlyherfearsof
fear
of
her
as itis motivated
insofar
defloration,
by
Tat'iana'ssuperIn
this
of
death.
fear
but
her
creator's
sex,
interpretation
Pushkin's
in
dream
husband
the
her
future
see
to
stitious
paralleled
attempt
obsessionwithhis death,documented
own equallysuperstitious
by
biographers.
inanalyzing
thepoem"la pomniuchudnoemgnoDanielLaferrire,
identification.
a
the
Pushkin-Tat'iana
to
ven'e,"provides key
Discussing
forhisrivals[and]
and affection
"ratherbizarresolicitousness
Pushkin's
comLaferrire
aboutAnnaPetrovna"(inhisletters),
thecruderemarks
are
manifestations
thesetwobehavioural
ments:"For thepsychoanalyst
Pushkin's
a
and
element,
namely,
complementary suggestsingleunderlying
homosexual
Whetheror not he was latently
latenthomosexuality."15
Pushkin'sworkis repletewithexamplesoftheyoungmanwhorevolts
figureby seducingthe latter'syoungbride(for
againstthe authority
Gavriiliada,
etc.).The
Kamennyi
gost' ChapterOne ofOnegin,
example,
relabe
his
difficult
own
of
such
revolt
would
source
surely
biographical
to
other
with
his
later
transferred
L'vovich,
father,
(Vasilii
figures
tionship
Nicholashimself).
GeneralVorontsov,
Beckendorff,
inthedetail
withTat'ianais supported
ofPushkin
Theidentification
thatthebearthatpursuedher
beenthought
ofherdream.Ithasgenerally
andthatsheranfrom
inthefirst
husband,
partofthedreamwasherfuture
Whileit maybe truethata generalfearof
himin fearofdefloration.16
wasa
ofsexualmaturity
andmarriage,
oroftheimplications
defloration,
out
inthedream,
us
clues
to
work
element
Pushkin
subliminal
gave enough
triestogivea FreudianinterpretaLaferrire
whatis "really"happening.
to the
devotedto thedream.See thebibliography
14. Thereis a vastliterature
"Pushkin'sStillUnravishedBride:The Folkloricand
paper by Daniel Laferrire,
Homosexual Elementsof Tat'iana's Dream" (paper read at the 1984 meetingof
AATSEEL in Washington,DC).
15. Daniel Lafernere,Five RussianPoems: Exercisesin a TheoryofPoetry
(Englewood,N.J., 197?),p. 61.
and to mymindone thatis whollyjustified,
16. An alternative
identification,
in the
is of thebear withOnegin,an identification
suggestedby thereminiscence
dream of Tat'iana beingpursuedthroughthe gardenby Onegin(see Laferrire,
"Pushkin'sStill UnravishedBride," pp. 18-19).

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264 I Canadian SlavonicPapers

1987
June-September

tion to the "two thinpoles" ("dve zherdochki,skleenyl'dinoi") of the

withthephallusof herfuture
bridgeshe has to cross.These he identifies
husband,but admitshimselfat a loss to explainthepresenceof twoof
them.A non-Freudian
thepassageina verydifferent,
readingwouldinterpret
realisticratherthansymbolicway. The detailof stanza XII: "Kto ruku/
S toistoronypodai byei?" "I lapus ostrymi
kogtiami/Ei protianul.""Ona
"
Drozhashchei
ruchkoi
skrepias
operas providestheclues.The references
to hands(threedifferent
wordsin one stanza) makeitat leastas plausible
thatthedreamis not a deflorationfantasy,but Tat'iana'sfantasyabout
Onegin as she masturbates.One mighteven read the two poles stuck
togetherwithice not as a phallus,but her two fingers,hervaginabeing
metamorphosedinto thepotok (bis) and the shumiashch[aia'puchin'a''
inherthighs.The sequence
eventhesnowybanksmighthavetheirreferents
describedin thefirstpartofherdreamis roughlyas follows:Tat'ianastops
herannoyanceat the
withherfingers
poised overhervagina;shemurmurs
absenceof anyoneto masturbateher;thensuddenlya hairyhandappears
to Onegin'shand
withsharpclaws.This wouldseemto be a clearreference
withitslong nails (a traithe shareswithhiscreator).She pushesawaythe
[drozhashchii]
fantasyof Oneginmanipulatingher and "withtrembling
hand" (the adjectivehad been just used forthemostok)she crossesthe
riverboiazlivymi
shagami.These steps are repeatedseveraltimesin the
of her
two
theirincreasingtemposuggeststherhythm
stanzas;
following
with
she
the
as
self-stimulation
on
the
of
chase,
struggles
imagery
imposed
herfantasyof beingpursuedby Onegin.
To sometheidea of Pushkinencodinginthenovela description
ofhis
heroinemasturbating
willbe offensive;
ourviewofhim,however,has been
relentlesslybowdlerized,both by the high-Victorianpuritanismof a
generationlater,and by the hypocritical
censorshipof Sovieteditors.In
the
had
mentioned
the
erotic
dreamsofgirlsinthework
fact, poet
already
son
Trevozhat
Three:XII: 5-6).
("Britanskoimuzynebylitsy/
otrokovitsy"
Even moreimportant,
he had givenan astonishingdescriptionofhimself
masturbatinga girl in Gavriiliada. "la nauchil poslushlivuiuruku/
Obmanyvafpechal'nuiurazluku/1uslazhdafbezmolvnye
chasy,/Bessondevicheskuiu
muku"
The
IV,
nitsy
(PSS,
p. 131).
repetitionof therhyme
razluku/ruku
fromthispassage in the stanza of Onegindiscussedabove
would seem an unequivocalsignalthatit is preciselymasturbation,
not
defloration
eventin Tafiana's dream.
bythephallusthatis theunderlying
The phallocentric
is hereembarrassfreudianism
tendencyof Laferrire's
inglyapparent.17
In Gavriiliada,Pushkineschewedpenetrationof the girlpreffering

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Vol.XXIX,Nos.2&3

A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 265

to masturbateherinstead.In Onegin,it was Oneginhimselfwho avoided

penetrationof Tat'iana by spurningthe liaison proposed in her letter.
Tat'iana,whilefantasizingabout Onegin,was obligedby his "annoying
absence"(dosadnaiarazluka)to takemattersintoherownhands(or hand).
It was onlylater,whenshe had been defloweredby herfatgeneral,that
in her.Lackingtheauthority
(= phallus)neededto
Oneginwas interested
his
deflowerherwhentheyfirstmet,he rejectedher;later,understanding
lack of authority,she rejectedhim. The lack of phallus symbolizedthe
lack of authorityof Onegin(and, by extension,of Pushkin).Ratherthan
penetrationand defloration,Onegin, like his creator,could only offer
homoeroticor autoeroticactivity.The dreamofTafiana was thusthefirst
stepin herrejectionand re-evaluationof Onegin;shelearnedthatOnegin
cannot offerher a phallus- whichis to say that he does not have the
or indeedthe manhood,to make her happy.
authority,
If Tafiana could learnto dispensewitha phallus,hercreatorcould
but more appropriateterm
not. His phallus-less-ness
(a non-scientific,
than Laferrire's"latenthomosexuality")was symbolicof his exclusion
fromauthority
and hisessentially
neuroticpositionas a marginalindividual
on theperiphery
ofpowerandsociety.Unlikeintheotherinstances
discussed
here,Gavriiliadaand Onegin,thepoet in thepoem of 1834withwhichthis
later,after
paperbeganwas notvoyeurbutactant.However,itwas written
Pushkin'smarriage.In it Pushkinwas avenginghis lack of authorityby
a simulationofdefloration
ofthesmirennitsa.
celebrating
Rape symbolized
not thepowerand authorityof the individual,but his frustration
at his
lack of powerand authority.Here Pushkindeceivedhimselfabout female
sexualityas he triedto hide thetruthfromhimselfabout his own. In this
sense,his ultimatefemalecritic,and, indeed,his criticalnemesis,was to
provenone otherthanthe addresseeof thepoem, Natalia Goncharova.

thispassageareskeptical:
readers
withwhomI havediscussed
17. Somewomen
Tat'iana'semotional
by
painat herrejection
theysee thepassageas expressing
as theydream.Thismay
Onegin,and pointoutthatwomendo notmasturbate
eroticactivity
aboutwomen's
wellbetrue;Pushkin's
during
sleepmay
speculations
is thatthisseemstobewhathe
Whatisimportant
nothavebeenbasedon reality.
thought.

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