Abolishing Death: A Salvation Myth Of Russian Twentieth-century Literature

Irene Masing-Delic ABOLISHING DEATH A Salvation Myth of Russian Twentieth-Century Literature Stanford University Press Stanford, California 1992 Stanford University Press Stanford, California © 1992 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Printed in the United States of America CIP data are at the end of the book In Memory of Wolfgang Masing Yurii Semyonov J ohannes von Guenther Anders Sjöberg Bo Setterlind Preface the present study was conceived and begun in 1979 at the Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg, in the then Federal Republic of Germany. The idea to explore the theme of “abolishing death” in Russian twentieth-century literature was encour­ aged by Professor Dr. Joseph Schütz, head of the Slawisches Seminar, Erlangen. With his support and the financial assistance of the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, Hannover, a series of seminars devoted to the topic was conducted at the University of Erlangen. I appreciate the stimulating contributions to the theme of “abolishing death” by the seminar partici­ pants and the opportunity to develop my ideas in discussions and colloquia. No one protested against researching such a strange topic; all were prepared to investigate its potential. I also feel greatly indebted to Professor Wolfgang Kasack, head of the Slawisches Seminar, Cologne, for valuable discussions and encourage­ ment of the project. In particular, I owe the Stiftung, Professor Schütz, and Professor Kasack an acknowledgment for infinite patience. All con­ veyed the encouraging impression that they believed the project was a worthwhile venture. After Erlangen, I continued my research at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, where I took up an appoint­ ment as lecturer in 1980. It was finalized during a sabbatical leave granted in 1986. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the University and the Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa), which made travel to the United States possible. The sabbatical year was spent at the Preface viii Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Califor­ nia, Berkeley, and the Slavic and East European Center of the University of Illinois, Urbana. I am much indebted to my colleagues at the University of California for helpful discussions, particularly Professors Joan Grossman and Hugh McLean, who offered critical advice and suggestions. I thank all my col­ leagues there for their encouragement, and appreciate the opportunities I had to test out my ideas in public lectures and private discussions. I also would like to thank the participants in the graduate seminar at Berkeley, who, like those previously at Erlangen, were prepared to investigate a lugubrious topic in a spirit of humorous tolerance. The time spent at the University of Illinois was invaluable. I thank the Slavic Center for the Independent Scholars Grant I was awarded, which enabled me to do research at the University’s splendid library for several months in 1986. I appreciate the friendly interest that Professors Ralph Fisher, Marianne Tax Choldin, and Maurice Friedberg showed in my project. The work was finally completed after I joined the faculty of the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures at the Ohio State University in 1987. The congenial atmosphere facilitated the completion of my manuscript. Finally I would like to thank my husband, George Delic, for his in­ spiring interest in topics far removed from his own research sphere and his readiness to discuss them for over a decade. His loyal support was essential to the completion of the work. This work was thus begun twelve years ago, when the Soviet Union still lived by an ideology that has now largely collapsed. I do not think that an investigation of the USSR’s previous