Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Feministicko Citanje Onjegina
Feministicko Citanje Onjegina
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Canadian Association of Slavists and Canadian Slavonic Papers are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes.
http://www.jstor.org
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.
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.
Vol.XXIX,Nos.2&3
A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 257
1987
Juin-Septembre
Vol.xxix, Nos.2& 3
A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 259
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.
Vol.xxix, Nos.2& 3
A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 261
1987
Juin-Septembre
Vol.xxix,Nos.2&3
A Feminist
ReadingofEvgenii
Onegin| 263
1987
June-September
Vol.XXIX,Nos.2&3
A FeministReadingofEvgeniiOnegin| 265
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.