Two Fates
| Two Fates | |
|---|---|
| Author | Apollon Maykov |
| Original title | Две судьбы [Dve Sudby] |
| Country | Russia |
| Language | Russian |
| Subject | A 'superfluous' man of the 1840's issue |
| Genre | Narrative poem |
Publication date | 1845 |
Two Fates (Dve Sudby) is a poem by Apollon Maykov, first published in 1845 in Saint Petersburg, as a separate edition, under the title "Two Fates. A Real Story by A.N.Maykov" and with considerable censorship cuts. It's never been re-issued in the poet's lifetime and first appeared in its original form in The Selected Works by A.N.Maykov.[1]
The poem, written in 1844, was dealing with the popular issue of a "superfluous man" of 1840s. Scholars usually see it as the author’s reaction to Vissarion Belinsky's ideas and in certain ways his own interpretation of them. Most obvious influence, though, was Pushkin, and the motivation of the protagonist Vladimir’s wanderings looked very much like that formulated in the poem "Caucasian Captive" ('High society reject, a friend of nature/ He’s left his native place...') Vladimir, finding no place in the society, engaged in a fight between Westernizers and Slavophiles (for whom "a local cucumber is sweeter than grapevine") subsides under blows of fate and turns a typical landowner, a "mindless 'sky-smoker'".[1]
For all that, according to biographer F.Pryima, "Two Fates is in many ways an original work, marked - if not with artistic maturity, then with daring political verve, containing ideas which were akin to those the Decemberists had regarding the Russian history."[2]
Reception
The poem received generally warm response, several prominent authors praised its relevance, its depth and realism of characters, all rather typical of the time. In his February 1845 review of the Two Fates Belinsky wrote: "This talent which has given us such hopes, develops and progresses. The proof of that is his new poem, richly poetic, fine in its intelligence and multifacetious in terms of motifs and colours."[3]
Alexander Herzen wrote in his diary on March 17, 1845: "Two Fates, by Maykov. Lots of fine moments. He seemed to touch so many strings that vibrate in our sould so achingly! Reflected here are our estrangement from Europe and its interests, our apathy at home, etc, etc.[4]
Nikolay Chernyshevsky wrote in a letter to A.N.Pypin: "What is remarkable in Two Fates is [its author's] passionate love to our homeland and to sciences. His views upon reasons of our mental apathy do not seem to me that important but there are wonderful fragments in the book concerning science.[5]
Maykov himself was aware that what he's given a portrait of was a character typical to the Russian aristocracy’s most enlightened circles. "Vladimir is so ambivalent: he's got both Moskvityanin-like pro-Russian views which I share myself, but also the Belinsky-inspired Westernizing," the poet wrote in a letter to P.A.Viskovatov. "This is a Pechorin-type hero, but of the University kind, and full of Belinsky's ideas," he continued.[6] Later, he radically changed both his political; views and his opinion of the Two Fates. "All of it is false except for two or three lyrical fragments and the play as a whole is exceptionally bed,", he wrote.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Commentary to Two Fates by A.N.Maykov". Works by A.N. Maykov in 2 volumes, Vol.2 Moscow, Pravda Publishers. 1984. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
- ↑ Pryima, Fyodor (1984). "A.N.Maykov’s Poetry". Pravda Publishers. Retrieved 2012-03-01.
- ↑ The Complete V.G. Belinsky, Vol. VIII, p. 635
- ↑ Herzen, A.I. The Works of... in 30 volumes. Moscow, 1954-1961, Vol. 2, p. 444
- ↑ The Complete N.G. Chernyshevsky in 15 volumes. Moscow, 1939-1953. Vol.14, p. 47.
- ↑ Zlatkovsky, A.M., Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov, Saint Petersburg, 1888, p.40
- ↑ Ezhegodnik, 1975, p. 85
External links
- (Russian) The text of Two Fates
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