American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

In Memoriam: Vsevolod Mikhailovich Setchkarev

Author(s): Lynn Visson
Source: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 433-435
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
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 IN MEMORIAM

VSEVOLOD MIKHAILOVICH SETCHKAREV

The passingofProfessorSetchkarevon December 1, 1998,at theage of84,
afteran agonizingillness, marked the end of an era in Slavic studies at
Harvard. In his nearlythirtyyearsin the Departmentof Slavic Languages
and Literatures,Vsevolod Mikhailovichformedseveralgenerationsof stu-
dents and futureprofessorsof Russian literature,for whom his survey
course,Slavic 150, was a riteof passage intotheprofession.The coursewas
one of the pillarsof Harvard's humanitiesofferings, and I stronglysuspect
thatmanyof ProfessorSetchkarev'sformerstudentsare stillteachingtheir
Russian coursesfromrecopiedand recyclednotestakenduringthoseency-
clopedic and unforgettable lectures.
Born in Kharkovin 1914, Setchkarevsufferedfromchildhoodpolio, and
in a search for treatmenthis familytook him to Germany.There he re-
ceived his education,and did his graduateworkat the universitiesof Bonn
and Berlin. During World War II he worked as a translator,and later
taughthigh school fora year in Bavaria beforebeginninghis career as a
teacher in 1947 at the Universityof Bonn. As a result he was totally
bilingualin Russian and German,and spoke fluentand literaryEnglishas
well.
In 1953 he became professorof Slavic Languages at the Universityof
Hamburg, and in 1956 came to Harvard, where he was appointed to a
professorshipin 1959, and became the Curt Hugo ReisingerProfessorof
Slavic Languages and Literaturesin 1963. From thenuntilhis retirement in
1984 he devoted himselfto his studentsand to scholarship.Vsevolod
Mikhailovichadvised, exhorted,nurtured,admonished,cajoled and cre-
ated several generationsof postwar scholars of Russian literature.His
courses were livelyand animated, for Vsevolod Mikhailovichdid every-
thingwithpassion-he taught,wrote,read, ate, drank,listenedto music,
travelledand conversedwithpassion and enthusiasm.He was at home in
threecultures- those of Russia, Germanyand America- and moved eas-
ily between them; but thoughhe was a true cosmopolitan,he was not a
rootlessone, forhe was deeplygroundedin the cultureof Russia, and was
educated in thebest traditionof theclassics;thecivilizationsof Greece and
Rome were as real to him as those of twentieth-century Germany and
433

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434 SlavicandEastEuropeanJournal

America. His commentson Russian literaturewereaccompaniedbynumer-

ous referencesto contemporaryEnglishand Frenchworksas well as Ger-
man ones, forhe was as home in theseliteraturesas in those of Russia and
Germany.
From the Lay of theHost of Igor to the worksof Pushkin,Goncharov,
Turgenev,Tolstoy and Chekhov,and down to the worksof emigrewriters
such as Nabokov and Aldanov, he wove togetherstrandsof the author's
biographies,theliteraryinfluenceson them,and theculturaltrendsof their
times.In the60s and 70s whenmanyAmericanSlavistsfollowedtheSoviet
tendencyto ignore the work of emigre writers,Vsevolod Mikhailovich
insistedthat Russian writersin exile such as Aldanov, Khodasevich and
Nabokov were an intergralpartof theRussian literarytradition.One of his
last articles,in fact, was a piece on Aldanov in the emigrepublication
Novyj Zhurnal; he also regularlycontributedto Zeitschrift fur Slavische
Philologieand otherscholarlyjournals.
For Vsevolod Mikhailovich,Bazarov and Oblomov were real people
withreal loves, hates,and ideas, who deservedthesame respectand atten-
tionreservedforlivinghumanbeings.His legacyofworkson thehistoryof
Russian literature,include Geschichteder RussischenLiteratur(1949 and
1962), N. Leskov: Sein Leben und sein Werk(1959), AlexanderPuschkin:
Sein Leben undsein Werk(1959), Studiesin theLifeand WorkofInnokentij
Annenskij (1963), N.V. Gogol: His Life and Work (1965), and Ivan
Goncharov: His Life and Work(1974).They remainfundamentalwritings
forany seriousstudentof Russian literature.
Setchkarev'scarefullypreparedlecturesand books werefilledwithfacts,
literaryportraitsof writers,incisivesynthesesof theirtextsand the charac-
terstheycreated,discussionsof literaryinfluences,schools and trends,and
analyses of the writers'styleand language. For Vsevolod Mikhailovicha
work of literaturewas not a collectionof dead pages floatingin a neatly
sealed vacuum of semiotic formaldehyde,drained of the blood of any
historicalor literararycontext,to be gnawed bare by the buzzards of tex-
tual analysis; forhim a literarywork was a living,breathingorganism,a
panorama painted in vivid tones, peopled by flesh-and-bloodcharacters
whose tragediesand triviatook place in a specifichistoricaland literary
context.
He was not shy about expressinghis likes and dislikes.The bushyeye-
browsrose, the dark eyes flashed,a fistrose in emphasisto punctuatethe
evil doings of isms such as communism,or Marxistliterarycriticism.An
enemy of many "isms," he was rathera man of "itions"-tradition and
erudition.He was also a man of enormousintellectualintegrity.
No one who attended Vsevolod Mikhailovich'sDostoevsky course in
1968 willever forgetthe day some of theHarvardstudentrebels,who were
tryingto shut down the university, marched as would-be revolutionaries

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 InMemoriam 435

withshaggyhair,stubblybeardsand redarmbandsthreateningly intothe

backofthelecturehall.(Incidentally,
Professor
Setchkarev'sdevotedwife,
MargaritaAlexandrovna, ever concernedforhis wellbeing,was in that
room.)
VsevolodMikhailovich at theintruders,
stompedin,glaredmalevolently
threwdownhiscane,and openedup hisnoteson thelectern."In timesof
he bellowedout thelinesfromDostoevsky'sThePossessed,
turbulence,"
"the flotsamand jetsam of societyrises to the surface.. ." When he fin-
ishedreadingtheclassroseto itsfeetin a standing ovation.No question
whohadwonthatbattle.
At homein severalcultures, Professor Setchkarev had severalhomes:
Belmont, Lake Arrowhead inMaine, and the house in Magnolia.The door
was alwaysopen to an assortment of visitorsfromthe US and Europe,
elderlymaidenladies,eternalstudents fromGermany, andvisiting profes-
sorswhoenjoyedthegood cheer,stimulating converstion,vodka,cheese
andcrackers presidedoverbyVsevolodMikhailovich andhisdevotedwife.
His wife,Margarita Alexandrovna Dalton, a scholarofRussianliterature
inherownright, washisconstant companion throughout theyears,sharing
hislove forliterature, and
concerts, theatre; she was at hisside,
literally
day and the
nightduring exhausting last few months of his final,fatal
illness.
VsevolodMikhailovich wasmyprofessor whenI wasan undergraduate,
my adviseras a Harvard graduatestudent, foryearsafterward,
and he was
a friend.He was alwaysthereto encourage,to help,to providea literary
reference, to provideliterarycompanionship and genuinefriendship. For
nearly threedecades 72 ScottRoad was home away from home whenever I
was in Cambridge. It wasa housethatpreserved thevaluesand traditions
of Russianculture,a place whereVsevolodMikhailovich, his wifeand
friends talkedwiththepassionateintensity thatonlyRussianscan bringto
conversation aboutliterature and writers.Withsuchintensity, thoughhis
voicehasbeenstilled,I am sureitwillstillbe heard.

LynnVisson,UnitedNations

IRWIN ROBERT "TYE" TITUNIK, 1929-1998

Withthe deathof Tye Titunikon January 25, 1998,fromlymphatic
cancer,theSlavicfieldhas lostone ofitsmostbrilliant
minds.Tyewasnot
onlya superbscholarand a committed teacher,butalso an inspiring
men-
tortomanya student andmanya struggling emigrepoet,a demanding and

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