In Latin one might possibly be able to express as many thoughts in as few words, and as beautifully. The charm vanishes with the translator’s touch; besides, the principal object of this book is to show how the peculiar type of Russian character is manifested in the works of the Russian writers. Neither do I think that Pushkin could aid us much in this study; although he was no servile imitator, like so many of his predecessors, it is none the less true that he drew his material from the great sources of European literature. He was educated from a child in French literature. His father knew Molière by heart, and his uncle was a great admirer of Béranger. When he entered the Lyceum he could scarcely speak his mother-tongue, but he had been fed with Voltaire from early childhood. His very first verses were written in French, and his first Russian rhymes were madrigals on the same themes. In the “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” written in 1824, we can feel the influence of Byron, whom he calls the “master of his thoughts.” Gradually he acquired more originality, but it is quite certain that but for Byron some of the most important of his poems, such as “Onyegin,” “The Bohemians,” several of his oriental poems, and even his admirable “Poltava,” would never have existed.
During the latter years of his life, he had a passion for history, when he studied the historical dramas of Shakespeare. This he himself acknowledges in the preface to “Boris Godunof,” which is a Shakespearian drama on a Muscovite subject. In certain prose works he shows unmistakable proofs of the influence of Voltaire, as they are written in a style wholly dissimilar to anything in Russian prose.
The Slavophile party like to imagine that Pushkin, in his “Songs of the Western Slavs,” has evoked the ancient Russian spirit; while he has merely translated some French verses into Russian. We must acknowledge the truth that his works, with the exception of “Onyegin,” and a few others, do not exhibit any peculiar ethnical stamp. He is influenced at different times, as the case may be, by his contemporaries in Germany, England, and France. He expresses universal sentiments, and applies them to Russian themes; but he looks from outside upon the national life, like all his contemporaries in letters, artistically free from any influence of his own race. Compare his descriptions of the Caucasus with those of Tolstoï in “The Cossacks.” The poet of 1820 looks upon nature and the Orientals with the eye of a Byron or a Lamartine; while the observer of 1850 regards that spot of Asia as his ancestral mother-country, and feels that it partly belongs to him.
We shall find that Pushkin’s successors possess none of his literary qualities. He is as concise as they are diffuse; as clear as they are involved. His style is as perfect, elegant, and correct as a Greek bronze; in a word, he has style and good taste, which terms cannot be applied to any of his successors in Russian literature. Is it taking away anything from Pushkin to remove him from his race and give him to the world and humanity at large? Because he was born in Russia, there is nothing whatever to prove that his works were thereby modified. He would have sung in the self-same way for England, France, or Italy.
But, although he resembles his country so little, he served it well. He stirred its intellectual life more effectively than any other writer has done; and it is not too much to call him the Peter the Great of Russian literature. The nation gratefully recognizes this debt. To quote one of his own verses:—“The monument I have erected for myself is made by no mortal hand; and the grass will not have time to grow in the path that leads to it.”
II.
Among the group of poets contemporaries of Pushkin only two are really worthy of mention, viz.: Griboyedof and Lermontof; but these two, although they died young, gave promise of great genius. The first of these left only one comedy, but that is the masterpiece of the Russian drama (“le Mal de Trop d’Esprit”). The author, unlike Pushkin, disdained all foreign literature, took pride in all the ancient Muscovite customs, and was Russian to the backbone. He painted the people and the peculiarities of his own country only, and so wonderfully well that his sayings have become proverbs. The piece is similar to the “Revizor” of Gogol, but, in my opinion, superior to it, being broader in spirit and finer in sentiment. Moreover, its satire never will grow old, for it is as appropriate to the present day as to the time for which it was written.
Returning from Persia, where he had been sent as Russian minister to the Shah, he was murdered by a party of robbers, at the age of thirty four.
Lermontof was the poet of the Caucasus, which he made the scene of all his poems. His short life of twenty-six years was spent among those mountains; and he was, like Pushkin, killed in a duel, just as he was beginning to be recognized as a worthy successor to him. Byron was also his favorite model, whom he, unhappily, strongly resembled in character. His most celebrated poem was “The Demon”; but he wrote many most picturesque and fascinating stanzas and short pieces, which are full of tenderness and melancholy. Though less harmonious and perfect than Pushkin’s, his verses give out sometimes a sadder ring. His prose is equal to his poetry, and many of his short sketches, illustrative of Caucasian life, possess a subtle charm.