Nina as just Nina: The life-creation of N.I. Petrovskaya in the light of A.P. Chekhov's “The Seagull”

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2024-34-243-254
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/OCFKQX
УДК / UDK: 821.161.1.0
Issue:

2024. no. 4 (34) 
Author: Pavel F. Uspenskij
About the author:

Pavel Fedorovich Uspenskij, PhD in Philology, Professor at the School of Philological Studies of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Staraya Basmannaya St., 21/4, bld. 1, 105066 Moscow, Russia.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2356-3036

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract:

This work is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University).

The article examines the life-creation of the writer and translator Nina Petrovskaya, whose tragic love relationship with Valeriy Bryusov became a vivid literary fact of Russian symbolism. It is generally believed that Petrovskaya created her own life based on Bryusov’s novel The Fiery Angel, in particular, Renata, the protagonist, became her biographical model. This interpretation of the text of Petrovskaya’s life was largely set by the writer herself, who identified with Renata in correspondence with Bryusov. The reasons for merging with a literary character and the motives for her own renaming seem to be a natural consequence of Bryusov’s life-creation experiment. Such an explanation deprives Petrovskaya of subjectivity and turns her into a passive victim of the symbolist master, without taking into account her life choice — the desire to be in a painful relationship and prolong it. As shown in the article, Petrovskaya’s life-creating model goes back not so much to Bryusov’s text as to Chekhov’s The Seagull. Focusing on Nina Zarechnaya and finding herself in a similar life conflict as the heroine of the play, Petrovskaya voluntarily created a tragic story from her life. This model text for Petrovskaya also explains her onomastic gesture: renaming herself Renata is associated with the self-renaming of Zarechnaya as a seagull. The article also addresses the topic “Chekhov and Russian Modernism” and demonstrates that Chekhov’s texts could be perceived by symbolists as life-creating models.
Keywords: Russian symbolism; life-creation; Nina Petrovskaya; Valeriy Bryusov; Anton Chekhov; Chekhov and Russian modernism; “The Seagull”.
For citation:

Uspenskij, P.F. “Nina as Just Nina: The Life-Creation of N.I. Petrovskaya in the Light of A.P. Chekhov’s The Seagull.” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 4 (34), 2024, pp. 243–254. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2024-34-243-254
References:
  1. Belyi, A. Nachalo veka [The Beginning of the Century]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1990. 688 p. (In Russ.)
  2. Briusov, V., and N. Petrovskaia. Perepiska: 1904‒1913 [Correspondence: 1904‒1913], introd. article, text prep. and comm. by N.A. Bogomolov and A.V. Lavrov. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2004. 776 p. (In Russ.)
  3. Gindin, S.I.  “Konstantin Treplev, Vladimir  Findes’eklev  i  Genrikh  Shul’tz  (Ob istoricheskoi pochve i literaturnom okruzhenii chekhkovskogo obraza pisatelia-dekadenta)” [“Konstantin Treplev, Vladimir Findeseklev and Heinrich Schulz (On the Historical Ground and Literary Environment of Chekhov’s Image of a Decadent Writer)”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebryanyy vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 116–127. (In Russ.)
  4. Grechishkin, S.S., and A.V. Lavrov. “Biograficheskie istochniki romana Briusova ʽOgnennyi Angel’.” [“Biographical Sources of Bryusov’s Novel ʽThe Fiery Angel’.”] Bogomolov, N., editor. Novo-basmannaia, 19 [Novo-basmannaya, 19]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaia literatura Publ., 1990, pp. 530‒589. (In Russ.)
  5. Zorin, A.L., and A.S. Nemzer. “Paradoksy chuvstvitel’nosti. N.M. Karamzin ʽBednaia Liza’.” [“Paradoxes of Sensitivity. N.M. Karamzin’s ʽPoor Lisa’.”] Il’in-Tomich, A.A., editor. “Stolet’ia ne sotrut...”: Russkie klassiki i ikh chitateli [“Centuries Will not Erase…”: Russian Classics and Their Readers]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1989, pp. 8–54. (In Russ.)
  6. Ivanova, E.V. “Chekhov i simvolisty: neproiasnennye aspekty problemy” [“Chekhov and Symbolists: Unclarified Aspects of the Issue”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebryanyi vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 30–34. (In Russ.)
  7. Lavrov, A.V. “Valerii Briusov i Nina Petrovskaia: biograficheskaia kanva k perepiske” [“Valeriy Bryusov and Nina Petrovskaya: Biographical Outline to the Correspondence”]. Briusov, V., and N. Petrovskaia. Perepiska: 1904‒1913 [Correspondence: 1904‒1913], introd. article, text prep. and comm. by N.A. Bogomolov and A.V. Lavrov. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2004, pp. 5–41. (In Russ.)
  8. Lekmanov, O.A. “Ob odnom epizode ʽKontsa Renaty’ Vladislava Khodasevicha” [“On One Episode of ʽThe End of Renata’ by Vladislav Khodasevich”]. Kuzovkina, T.D., editor. Mogut li teksty lgat’? K probleme raboty s nedostovernymi istochnikami. Materialy Chetvertykh Lotmanovskikh dnei v Tallinnskom universitete [Can Texts Lie? On the Problem of Working with Unreliable Sources. Materials of the 4th Lotman Days at the Tallinn University]. Tallinn, Tallinn University Publ., 2014, pp. 173–181. (In Russ.)
  9. Losev, L. “Neliubov’ Akhmatovoi k Chekhovu” [“Akhmatova’s Dislike of Chekhov”]. Losev, L. Solzhenitsyn i Brodskii kak sosedi [Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky as Neighbors]. St. Petersburg, Ivan Limbakh Publ., 2010, pp. 88–101. (In Russ.)
  10. Losievskii, I.Ia. “ʽChekhovskii’ mif Andreia Belogo” [“ʽChekhovian’ Myth of Andrei Bely”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebryanyy vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 106–115. (In Russ.)
  11. Mints, Z.G.  “Poniatie  teksta  i  simvolistskaia  estetika” [“The  Concept  of Text and Symbolist Aesthetics”]. Mints, Z.G. Poetika russkogo simvolizma [Poetics of Russian Symbolism]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo-SPB Publ., 2004, pp. 97–102. (In Russ.)
  12. Mikhailova, M., O. Velavichiute. “Menia sud’ba sdelala siuzhetom...” [“Fate Turned Me into a Plot…”]. Petrovskaia, N. Razbitoe zerkalo: Proza. Memuary. Kritika [Broken Mirror: Prose. Memoirs. Criticism]. Moscow, B.S.G.-Press, 2014, pp. 5–44. (In Russ.)
  13. Pen’kovskii, A.B. Nina: Kul’turnyi mif zolotogo veka russkoi literatury v lingvisticheskom osveshchenii [Nina: The Cultural Myth of the Golden Age of Russian Literature in Linguistic Aspect]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2003. 519 p. (In Russ.)
  14. Petrovskaia, N. Razbitoe zerkalo: Proza. Memuary. Kritika [Broken Mirror: Prose. Memoirs. Criticism]. Moscow, B.S.G.-Press, 2014, pp. 5–44. (In Russ.)
  15. Piter, G. “Chekhov i Andrei Belyi (Emblematika, simvoly, iazykovoe novatorstvo)” [“Chekhov and Andrei Bely (Emblems, Symbols, Linguistic Innovation)”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebryanyy vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 80–89. (In Russ.)
  16. Polotskaia, E.A. “ʽProlet v vechnost’’ (Andrei Belyi o Chekhove)” [“ʽFlight into Eternity’ (Andrei Bely on Chekhov)”]. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebryanyy vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 95–105. (In Russ.)
  17. Pushkin, A.S. Sobranie sochinenii: v 10 t. [Collected Works: in 10 vols.], vol. 4, ed. by D.D. Blagoi, S.M. Bondi, V.V. Vinogradov, and Iu.G. Oksman. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury Publ., 1960. 595 p. (In Russ.)
  18. Tolstaia, E. Poetika razdrazheniia: Chekhov v kontse 1880-kh ‒ nachale 1890-kh godov [Poetics of Irritation. Chekhov in the Late 1880s ‒ Early 1890s]. Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities Publ., 2002. 366 p. (In Russ.)
  19. Khodasevich, V.F. Sobranie sochinenii: v 4 t. [Collected Works: in 4 vols.]. Moscow, Soglasie Publ., 1996–1997. (In Russ.)
  20. Chekhov, A.P. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii i pisem: v 30 t. [Complete Works and Letters: in 30 vols.], vol. 13. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978. 530 p. (In Russ.)
  21. Shakhadat, Sh. Iskusstvo zhizni: Zhizn’ kak predmet esteticheskogo otnosheniia v russkoi kul’ture XVI‒XX vekov [The Art of Life. Life as a Subject of Aesthetic Attitude in Russian Culture of the 16th‒20th Centuries]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2017. 440 p. (In Russ.)
  22. Uspenskij, P. “What Interpretation Did V. Khodasevich Give to the Life of N. Petrovskaya in Emigration? On the Poetics of ʽRenata’s End,’ a Memoir Essay.” Novyi filologicheskii vestnik, no. 1 (44), 2018, pp. 161‒178. (In English)