IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD

IN THE PReSH:;OF

FINLAND AND RUSSIA 1894-1914

Eva Buchwald

Submitted for the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies University of London

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ABSTRACT

This study is a literary critical examination of the portrayal of woman in prose and drama, with reference to the themes of political and artistic rebirth which preoccupied writers in Finland and Russia at the turn of the century. The study falls into three sections, each of which represents an aspect of woman's metaphysical condition and for which I have used the first Action, Voice, Visibility. The section assesses and writers' categories describes issues by the to the the question, and approach raised woman loyal ideal active, nationally womanhood of politically cultivation of an in the image of the Madonna. The second section demonstrates that feature her dominant of characterization, signifies womants silence, a both the danger of revolution and the prescription for her social integration. It also includes an analysis of the opportunities and The for female characters and writers. consequencesof self-expression third section deals with the view of woman as an embodiment of artistic impulse, especially her idealization as muse, and addressesthe issue of female form. in the the representation of pornography The comparison between the two literatures explores the 'new the the of concept respective national ambitions as well as by influenced is image The of contemporary theory of woman woman'. her nature and social function. The literatures contrast most notably in the relationship of the Madonna-like saviour to the political hero, and historic In Russia, the the to the mission of nation and muse artist. of it In Finland, is imbued artist with universal and eternal significance. relates to the immediate, localized ambitions of national selfdetermination. Woman is shown to have a central place in both However, in the the renewal. process of political and artistic countries ideal of womanhood plays upon preconceptions of femininity which independence the the root at and of woman's equality notion preclude feminist limitations The thought. on woman's existence are of her in the affect elements of silence and pornography which observable her her identity and promoting subjective characterization, erasing objectification.
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TABLE OF CONTENT'S

0 RMODUCTION 15 ............................................................................................... 0.1 Methodological Approaches to the Study of Female Imagery 15 ............................................ 0 ...... ........ .................. 0 a ................. ... 0 .................................... 0.2 Background Criteria 24 ......................................................................................... 0.2.1 Situation 24 .................... ...................................................................................... .... . 0.2.1.1On the Periphery of Europe 25 .......................................................................... 0.2.1.2Within the Empire 28 ........................................................................................ 0.2.1.3SeparateTraditions 31 ..................................................................................... 0.2.2 Periodization 34 ................................................................................................. 0.2.2.1 The Women's Movement 34 .......................................................................... 39 0.2.2.2Stagesof Russification and Generations of Writers ................................ 42 0.3 Note on Editions and Translations..................................................................
PART I: FEMALE EMANCIPATION 45 .....................................................................

CHAPTER ONE 47 ............................................................................................................ 1 ACTION (I) Writers' Interpretations of Women's Issues 47 ............................................. 1.1 Literary Attitudes to Women's Education 48 ........................................ ............... 1.1.1 Background 48 the Case for Women's Education .................................................. ............... 1.1.2 Child Development Nature or Environment? 51 ................................................................ ............... 57 1.1.3 Woman as a Role Model ................................................................... ............... 58 1.1.4 Woman as Man's Pupil ..................................................................... ............... 1.1.5 Formal Education 60 the Russian View .............................................................................. ............... 1.1.6 Formal Education 63 the Finnish View .............................................................................. ............... 1.2 Literary Reflections of Women's Role in the Economic Structure 67 ......................................................................................................... ............... 1.2.1 Background Women's Employment Status 67 ...................................................... ............... 1.2.2 Traditional Values Finland 70 ................................................................................................ ............... 1.2.3 Traditional Values Russia 73 .................................................................................................. ............... 76 1.2.4 From Distaff to Spear .......................................................................... ............... 1.2.5 The Modem Economy Working Girls 77 .................................................................................... ............... 1.2.6 Sexual Exploitation and the Patriarchal Order 80 ............... .............................. 86 1.2.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................ ............... CHAPTER TWO 87 .......................................................................................................... (111) 2 AMON Political Madonnas 87 .......................................................................................... 88 2.1 Past Queens .............................................................................................................

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93 2.2 Aspects of the Madonna ......................................................................................

98 2.3 Mothers, Brides and Politics .. ............................................................................. 107 2.4 The Madonna as Universal Mother and National Bride ........................... 108 2.4.1 Gor'kii's Pelageia Nilovna ............................................................................. 111 2.4.2 Kianto's Paula Winterberg ............................................................................. 116 2.4.3 Paradoxical Imagery ......................................................................................... 125 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................

127 CHAPTER n-IREE ..................................................................................................... 3 VOICE (I) 127 Identity in Silence .......................................................................................... 128 3.1 Political Voice ...................................................................................................... 128 3.1.1 The Vote ............................................................................................................. 131 3.1.2 The Campaign for Equality ............................................................................ 138 3.1.3 Woman's Voice of Leadership ...................................................................... 141 3.2 Soundless Voice, Unheard Voice .................................................................... 142 3.2.1 Silent Rebellion ................................................................................................ 151 3.2.2 Separate voice ................................................................................................... PART H: FEMNINE AESTHEnCS 165 ......................................................................

167 CHAPTER FOUR. ...................................................................................................... 4 VOICE (H) 167 Finding Expression ........................................................................................ 168 4.1 Women in Chekhov's Dialogue ..................................................................... 169 4.1.1 Interpretations of Woman's Role in Chekhov's Stories ........................ 175 4.1.2 Chekhov's Plays ............................................................................................... 180 4.1.3 Chekhov and Literary Criticism ................................................................... 184 2.1.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 4.2 Using a Masculine Voice 186 Aino Kallas and Zinaida Gippius .............................................................. 188 4.2.1 Aino Kallas ........................................................................................................ 195 4.2.2 Zinaida Gippius ................................................................................................ 203 4.3 Women Writers in Finland and Their Reception ...................................... 211 4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 213 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................... 5 VISIBILITY (I) 213 Reflections of Eternal Femininity ..............................................................

5.1.2 The Performer's 217 Exhibition Interpretation and ..................................................................... 2M 5.2 The Nature and Role of the Muse ................................................................... 223 5 2 1 Back ground to the Image of the Muse ......................................................... . . 225 5 2 2 Beauty and Rebirth in the Muse ................................................................... . . 227 5.2.3 Aleksandr Blok ................................................................................................. 233 5.2.4 Eino Leino .......................................................................................................... 240 5.2.5 The Artist-Androgyne .....................................................................................

214 5 1 1 The Vocational Artist .... ................................................................................. . . Roles

214 5.1 Biology of Creation ........................................................................ ...................**

253 5.2.6 Conclusion......................................................................................................

255 CHAPTER SIX ........................................................................................................ 6 VISIBUM (U)

255 Perceptions of Female Sexuality ................................................................. 6.1 Woman as a Force of Oblivion ......................................................................... 6.1.1 Threat of Death .....-256 o ......o ........ .......... o .....-oo o-o...o ............................................ 259 6.1.2 Danger of Madness ....o ......o- .... ......o ............... .....o ......-oo.......o .....o .......o 260 6.2 Fear of Woman's Sexuality o ........ o .......... o ................. o ......... ................. .......o 6.2.1 Beauty and the Bond of Possession 261 A Russian Phenomenon o ....... ................ ............... ...o-ooo-o-oo .....o 6.2.2 Self-Censorship of Women's Sensuality 269 The Finnish Example -. o .........o- ............ ................ o .........o o ............. .............. 6.3 The Secrecy of Sexuality Made Public 273 The Judgement of Pornography ........ .....-. o - .................................. 6.3.1 The Moral and Aesthetic Debate 274 Russia o ......0-o........ .......... -oo ......o o ................. o ................. oo ...- .......... ................ 6.3.2 The Moral and Aesthetic Debate 280 Finland. o .............. .......... ......o0o - ......... - .....oo. ........... - ....................... 287 6A Obscenity as the Given Quality of the Feminine Image ............................. 288 6.4.1 The Mask of Pornography ..... ....oo -oo......oo o .................................... ........ .......oo 6.4.2 Shattered Self-Image o ........-295 0 ................... o .......... o ......... ........... o ....... ............ 6.5 Woman's Desire to Submit 299 A Pornography of Female Sacrifice.................. -- .................. oo .................

305 7 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................

309 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 309 8.1 Russian Primary Sources................................................................................... 310 8.2 Finnish Primary Sources ................................................................................... 311 8.3 Translations .......................................................................................................... 315 8.4 Secondary Sources...............................................................................................

Motto: The following

is taken from Carl G. Laurin, Kvinnolynnen Natures'), Stockholm, 19161:

Uemale

Generalization often leads us astray, but there is neverthelessdue cause for saying that Eastern women are less emancipated than Western women.( ) ... Russia, the Balkan lands and Spain form a passageway to the Occident and to a certain extent they already represent Western ( ) countries. ...
What is woman in Russia like? Aside from the women of the

three great cultural nations, surely there is none so well known in the cultural circles of Europe as Russian woman. For, with the most penetrating psychology and the most artistic narrative skill, ( ) the great Russian writers have depicted her in all her nuances. ... The oriental feature of Russian women is their indolence, or to by it the passionate more politely, passivity, punctuated put drives is in dancing and or carriage unleashed activity which horseriding, and indeed the more furious the tempo the better.(...) The essence of Slavic woman is perhaps her inclination for hint sometimes a of the perversity which martyrdom, with characterizes every possible aspect of Russian culture and refinement. Cruelty and subjection are its two sides. The women is latter. incline A this to the of expression naYve may most often the Russian peasant woman's sorrowful: -'My husband does not love me any more. He never beats me these days.l... ) The old saying about the two identical yet dissimilar portraits can be applied to Russian woman. Impetuous and adroit, or also rather if you will, quick-tempered and deceitful, she is ruthless in love and genuinely feminine, or rather if you will, exceptionally wanton, the plaything of her own emotions and sensuality. In Russia, women also possess that Slavic tendency to take
The first paragraphappearson the facing page of the tide page, the rest on 1 pp. 17-23.

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is if Thus, to she a woman's rights everything extremes. fundamental adopts so campaignershe an attitude that only the full beard distinguishes from her the hated male. If absence of a she is a societylady, there existsno nail-file, no exclusivelipstick which she will fail to obtain for herself. Then again,if she is one of the natural types, of which there are so many in Russia,in life, in novels as well as she commandssuch irresistable charm, such spontaneous friendliness, such tact and such an agile intellect, that in order not to commit an injustice to the rest of the women in Europe, it must remembered that there is a high percentage of ugly, plump, pasty and unwholesome types in Russia,although no adequate statisticsare availableon the matter. Evidence of the high esteemin which the feminine, with all its radiant and secretattraction,is held in holy Russia,is the richness Finn of the languageon this subject. I heard a Swedish-speaking who had spentmany yearsin Russiaas an officer say: 'I still speak Swedish better than I speak Russian, but when my Swedishspeaking friends and I address the woman question, so much if we resort to more colour and spiceis added to the conversation
Russian. '

***

And what is woman like in Finland? That I do not know. The Swedes generally forget entirely that the majority of the population - 86% - is Mongol, or if you will, Uralic-Altaic. Most Finnish women, however, would appear in their facial features to resemble their racial kinswomen, the Lapps, rather than the Hungarians, who are perhaps more linguistically than biologically related, and who are themselves frequently exceptionally beautiful. It is not presumptuous to believe that the Swedish influence introduced by Saint Erik, lasting until Gustav IV Adolf, and perhaps even until Gustav V, left something of the Swedish stamp on the Finland-Swedish women of the upper classes. The contrast of a sort of sullen gaucherie among some individuals, and an aristocratic self-assuranceand grandeur among others, also

II

from in Gustavian Finland., latter The exists undoubtedly stems court tradition, and is consequently a relic of grandeur. A degree of the Russian tendency towards excessmay also have penetrated the mould, despite tenacious resistance, with the result that both the emancipationists and the femmes du monde in Finland, a country struggling valiantly to maintain its status of autonomy, have achieved somewhat greater equality than their sisters in Sweden,who are so moderate in all respects.

Finnish woman. Singer, Mrs Aino Acktd. Painting by Albert Edelfelt. When Finnish women are elegant, they have a more flair Swedish than a our cautious worldly, more continental counterparts. She combines - this beautiful, world-famous singer dream impeccable Suomi Parisian the of an absolutely with toilette. In her portrait she is quite simply extraordinarily well formed. Which does she prefer? The thundering applause or the murmur of the fir trees?

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Generaliserandet fr oss ofta galet, men nog har man vl rtt att sga, att sterlandskorna ro mindre emanciperade n ( ) vsterlandskorna. ... Ryssland, Balkanlnderna och Spanien bilda vergngen till Occidenten och ro redan till en viss grad vsterland.( ) ...
Hur r kvinnan i Ryssland? Helt skert finnes utom de tre stora kulturlndernas kvinnor ingen, som r s noga knd i den Ty med skarpaste europeiska kulturkretsen sorn ryskan. psykologi, med den mest konstnrliga berttarkonst har hon de frfattarna. ( ) i Det all sina nyanser av skildrats stora ryska ... orientallska hos ryskorna r lttja, hvligare uttryckt passivitet, avbruten av lidelsefull aktivitet, sorn utlser sig i dans eller kande och ridande i ju vldsammare tempo dess bttre. ( ) ... Roten i det slaviska r kanske martyrlynnet, ibland med ett stnk av den perversitet, som p alla mjliga omrden r fr rysk kultur och verkultur karakteristisk. Grymhet och underkastelse ro de tv sidorna. Kvinnorna f vl oftast drja vid den senare. Ett naivt uttryck fr detta r den ryska bondhustruns sorgsna: "Min man lskar mig inte lngre. Han slr mig aldrig nu fr

tiden. "( )
Det gamla ordet om de tv lika, sinsemellan olika portrtten kan ocks tillmpas p ryskan. Impulsiv och smidig, eller om man hellre vill hftig och lgnaktig, hnsynsls i sin krlek och kta kvinnlig, eller om man hellre vill kalla det ovanligt lttsinnig, en lekboll fr sin knsla och sin sinnlighet. I Ryssland har ocks kvinnan den slaviska lusten att dra ut konsekvenserna. r hon tar hon det s grundligt, att endast hakans helskgg fattas fr att hon skulle likna den hatade mannen. r hon modedam, s finnes det ej den nagelfil, ej det mest hon hon lppsmink, r ter som ej skaffar sig, och svrtkomliga det finnes s mnga av i Ryssland, den som av naturliga sorten, kvinnosakskvinna, bde i romanerna och i livet, s har hon en s oemotstndlig charm en sdan spontan vnlighet, takt och rrlig intelligens, att man fr att ej bli orttvis mot Europas andra damer mste komma ihg, att procenthalten av fula, rultiga, blekfeta och,

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betydande i Ryssland, ehuru nAgon dr typer osunda tillfredsstiillande statistik annu ej Avagabragts. Ett av bevisen pa hur hl5gt kvinnligheten i alla sina stralande och hemliga behagligheter uppskattas i det heliga Ryssland, ir sprAkets detta finne, h6rde Jag som rikedom pA omrAde. en svensktalande i Aratal vistats,i Ryssland som officer, s9ga:"Jag talar dnnu sAIdnge bAttre svenska gn ryska, men dl jag och mina svensktalande kamrater ber6ra kvinnosaken, sA blir det mera fdrg och must i samtalet, dA vi ta tHl med ryska."

***

Hurudan Ar kvinnan i Finland? Det vet jag inte. Att flertalet 86% av befolkningen - Zir mongolisk, eller om man hellre vill flesta finska bort. i De uralaltaisk, g6mma svenska allminhet kvinnor torde emellertid till ansiktsdragen mera likna sina rasfrankor lappskorna Rn de kanske mera sprikligt in biologiskt ir Det besUktade dem ungerskorna. med ofta sA utmdrkt vackra frAn det inflytandet dvermodigt tro, svenska. och med att att ej Erik den helig till och med Gustav IV Adolf, ja kanske 5nda till Gustav V, tryckt n1got av svensk stimpel. pA de svenskfindliindska Motsatsen mellan nAgon sorts trumpen tafatthet hos vissa individer och aristokratisk sdkerhet och f6rbindlighet hos andra. dr iiven finsk. Det senare hHrr6r nog sMedes. MA gustavianska, hovtraditioner, en relikf8rbindlighet nu inte ocksA en viss rysk 6verdrift ha silat in, trots allt segt i bAde motstAnd, sl att emancipationskvinnor och viirldsdamer det f6r sin relativa. oavhiingighet segt och beundransvdrt kdmpande Finland fil nAgot mer outrerat jimfort med de i alla 6verklasskvinorna.

avseendensA sansadesvenskoma.

Finska. SAngerskan, fru Aino, Acktd. MAIning av Albert Edelfelt. DA finska. iiro eleganta, ha, de ett mera monddnt, mera kontinentalt drag Nn vAra. f6rsiktiga svenskor. - Hon f6rbinder den vackra, vdrldsber6mda singerskan - dr6mmen frAn Suomi

14 helt bilden r felfri Hon toalett. enkelt p parisisk med en alldeles bst hon formad. Vad tycker orn, alldeles utomordenligt vl

eller gransus? applAdAskor,

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0 R-MODUCTION

0.1 Methodological Approaches to the Study of FemaleImagery Eve, Isis, Ishtar represent just a few of the iconic figures of woman that have been sustained by the human imagination. The symbolic female being is a subject which has attracted the the characterization of attention of scholars of cultural philosophy within a wide range of disciplines. These include history, theology, sociology and psychology among others. Among the recent works on this subject are Marina Warner's exhaustive studies of the myth of the Virgin Mary, Antonia Fraser's detailed look at the fact and fiction in the story of Boadicea, Helen King's article on the ancient cult surrounding the goddess Artemis, and Elaine Showalter's examination of Ophelia as a model of 2 Such images range from the subjects of ancient myth female madness. to figures in more modem culture. The purpose of these studies is to female into by icons in the the these an understanding played gain role communities which fostered their imagery, and to examine their for significance present-day society. Not all studies of female imagery focus on a specific figure from myth or history. Alternatively, they present the composite view of derived from the various aspects of a presumed, essential woman, feminine quality which may be evoked in the symbolism of specific figures, but which also appears as a principle behind the very understanding of the word 'woman'. Writers like Mary Daly have interpretation an of general models of female behaviour in offered Christian philosophy, while Andrea Dworkin, for example, has explored the image of. female sexuality cultivated in various forms of 'erotica. 3
Marina Warner, Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary, 2 London, 1976; Antonia Fraser, Boadicea'sChariot: The Warrior Queens,London, 1988; Helen King, 'Bound to Bleed: Artemis and Greek Women7in Averil Cameron and Am6lie Khurt, eds, Imagesof Womenin Antiquity, London, 1983, pp. 109-27, Elaine Showalter, 'Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of a Feminist Criticism' (Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, 1985, pp. 77-94). Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father, Boston, 1973; Andrea Dworkin, 3 Women,London, 1981. Pornography.Men Possessing

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Many collections of essaysand articles have been published under titles such as Perceiving Women, Visions of Women,Images of Women in Antiquity, which investigate precisely the subject indicated by the titles.4 They cover a vast range of subjects, from theories of the feminine in philosophical inquiry to the pictures of women on ancient Greek vases. The range and quantity of works of this kind demonstrate that the desire to develop an understanding of the origins and consequencesof cultural models of womanhood is a multi-disciplinary, fertile area of metaphysical investigation. With regard to literature in particular, the interpretation of female imagery in fictional writing has come to fall into the category of 'feminist literary criticism'. Alongside the 'rediscovery' and analysis of the work of women writers, the study of how women are portrayed, particularly by male writers. has been ' recognized as one of the two major methodological lines of applied feminist criticism. 5 Toril Moi describes this as 'the "Images of Women" approach to literature' in her book Sexual / Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory, a comprehensive account of the field in Western tradition. 6 As Moi points out, Mary Ellman's Thinking About Women, published in 1968, is one of the first key works in the modern wave of Anglo-American feminism to take up the approach of unmasking female stereotypes in literature. Moi dates the consolidation of this approach from 1972 with the publication of the collection of critical in Images Women Fiction: Feminist Perspectivesedited by of writings Susan Koppelman Cornillon. 7 The particular, feminist line followed in these articles is,, according to Moi, the emphasis on the discrepancies between the portrait of woman projected in fiction and the reality of woman's experience. However, the use of the 'Images of Women' approach to literature is not necessarily feminist in every instance, while any other
Shirley Ardener, ed., PerceivingWomen, 4 London, 1975;Linda A. Bell, Visionsof Women:Being a FascinatingAnthology With Analysis of Philosophers'Views of Women From Ancient to ModernTimes,Clifton, 1983;Cameronand Khurt, eds, op. cit. 5 Annette Kolodny, 'Dancing through the Minefield: SomeObservationson the Theory, Practice and Politics of a Feminist Literary Criticism! (FeministStudies,Vol.6, of no.1,1980, p.3); or Gabriela Mora and Karen S. van Hooft, eds, Theory and Practice Feminist Literary Criticism, Ypsilanti, 1982,p.viii. By 'applied' I mean the practice rather than the theory, another major line of feminist criticism involves defining its literary and political methods and aims. 6 Toril Moi, Sexual/ Textual Politics:Feminist Literary Theory,London, 1985, p.42. ibid., p.42. 7

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approach may of course also be feminist. Khalid Kishtainy's book The Prostitute in Progressive Literature makes no overt statement of its feminist viewpoint. 8 It presents a broad, literary study of the physical and psychological attributes of the prostitute as a type, as well as of this type's contextual function, in the works of writers from Dostoevskii to Brecht. Menachem M. Brayer's two volume work The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature will clearly not satisfy a feminist outlook in its aims (or language): 'to give the fair sex its due by all means; to deny the feminine mystique, certainly not. '9 This statement contains a recognizable anti-feminist strategy, whereby the subjection of woman to her existing condition (mystified) is achieved by insisting on the natural and equal value of that condition (fair due), regardless of woman's opinion. What is absent from the survey of the respective female types in these works is the revisionist approach so central to feminist criticism. The revisionist element, the deconstruction of former assumptions about language, text or characterization in a given work, is the basis of feminist readings of literature. In his work on contemporary literary Culler Jonathan methodology, underlines precisely the valuable 10 feminist for literary 'deconstructionist' theory. critique contribution of Susan Kappeler's critique of the historical theoretical basis of artistic literature, including The Pornography of that appreciation, of Representation,does not use an 'Images of Women' approach, but her interpretation Western of cultural-philosophical tradition is revisionist unmistakably rooted in her feminist political stance.11 The semiotic literature in the many works of Julia Kristeva contains an to approach ethic of subversion which is recognisably feminist in its consciousness of 'femininity' as 'marginality' in the patriarchal hierarchy. 12 Kristeva's refusal to align herself with the term 'feminism', or with any other political signifier, is itself part of her 'deconstructionist' approach to the language. As Moi puts it, it is: poetics of

Khalid Kishtainy, The Prostitute in ProgressiveLiterature, London, 1982. 8 Menachem M. Brayer, The Jewish Woman in Rabbinic Literature, Vol-1: A 9 Psychosocial perspective ; Vol.2: A Psychohistorical perspective, Hoeboken, 1986, Vol. 1, P.Xiv. Jonathan Culler, On Deconstructionism: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism, 10 London, 1983. Susanne Kappeler, The Pornography of Representation,Cambridge, 1986. 11 Moi, op.cit., p. 163. 12

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an attempt to locate the negativity and refusal pertaining to the marginal in "woman", in order to undermine the phallocentric defines that order woman as marginal in the first place.13 The term 'feminist literary criticism, is a label, a method of classification, and as such is not any more or less adequate than any other classifier. Clearly there exist difficulties concerning what does or does not fall into the category, but this is an inevitable characteristic of classification. The real problem of this label is one which affects the term 'woman' itself, the problem which Kristeva, Moi and others have repeatedly identified: its construed marginality. What becomesobscured (except to feminists) in the label 'feminist literary criticism' is the fact that the referent 'literary' is at least as important to the critic as the referent 'feminist.
The fact is that the term 'feminist', unreasonably, places this method on the periphery of the field of criticism. Jonathan Culler's recognition of the revisionist quality of feminist criticism is the exception, as he himself points oUt. 14 Neither jean Yves Tadid's La critique littiraire au XX si&le, published in Paris in 1987, nor Yiannis Stamiris' Main Currents in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, feminist in in New York 1986, include published any commentary on literary criticism in their broad survey of the field of criticism in this 15 day. Ironically it is precisely in French and to the century up present Anglo-American tradition that we can discern the two dominant lines of the modem movement of feminist critiCiSM.16

Tadi6 and Stamiris do not claim to have written histories of but have be theory, to as comprehensive as possible, critical aimed They Western terms their endeavour to reference. own of within examine alongside the 'artistic, also the 'scientific' conceptual
ibid., p.163. 13 Culler, op. 14 cit., p.42. He writes: 'Though one of the most significant and broadlybasedcritical movementsof recentyears,feminist criticism is often ignored by self-styled historians of criticism and critical theory.' One recent exceptionis RamanSelden,The A Reader, Theoryof Criticism: From Plato to the Present. New York, 1988,which includes a sectionentitled 'Morality, Class,and Gendeecontaining commentaryon Beauvoir,Woolf, Kristeva, Cixous and Showalter,though this is by no meansextensive. Curiously, the title of this sectionhas beenmodified to'Morality, Classand Ideology'on the back cover, while all other chapter headingsare identical on the contentspage and on the cover. 15 JeanYves Tadi6, La critique litt&aire au XXa stecle, Paris, 1987;Yiannis Stamiris, Main Currents in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: A Critical Study, New York, 1986. 16 Moi, op.cit., P.xiii.

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17 literature. In to other words they cover the political, approaches linguistic, sociological, and philosophical bases and orientations of twentieth-century literary theory. Stamiris' survey aims to outline: has literary the that criticism some of most promising paths marked for the study of literary creations and the problems of 18 literature in general. Tadid seeksto demonstrate that: le dialogue qui fait la culture a engendr6 de nouvelles m6thodes, de I'We fin parler qui ont mis a qu'il y avait une seule mani&e 19 des textes. The multiplicity of method and problem is the point emphasized by both authors, as well as the benefits of this actuality. Stamiris writes: The variety of approaches and theories enriches our capability to deal with literature and all factors related to it. 20 Neither author is limited to the traditions of the respective languages they write in. Tadid traces the development of literary theory from the Russian formalists to the 'most recent incarnations of the New Criticism' in Europe and America, while Stamiris begins with Taine, Marx and Engels and concludeswith Sartre. As Tadids puts it: des des les Russes, travaux ndgliger, en effet, comment Memands, des Italiens, des Americains, au temps ou les hornmes 21 (sic), les iddes, les sciencestraversent toutes les frontibres?.

TAM, op. 17 cit., p.13; Stan-dris, op. cit., p.xiv. TadiVs and Stamiris' approach are very similar but they define it in a slightly different way. In their introductions they b) individual the the systemof they that address a) criticism and of works, state both While in theoretical a given refer to construct criticism. approach principles which the latter as 'scientific' criticism, Stan-dris calls the former 'artistic', while Tadi6 seesit by 'scientific'. Tadi6 'artistic' the the written criticism calls aspect of real artistic as an individuals who are themselvesauthors of belleslettres,to which his book, like Stamiris', is only partly devoted. Stamiris, op-cit., p.xiv. 18 Tadi6, op. 19 cit., p.13;'the dialogue which has formed culture has engenderednew discussing have to the that a there of an end one way put only notion was methods,which given text.' Stamiris, op.cit., p.vxi. 20 Tadi6, op. the 21 cit., p.13:'how can one neglect,indeed, the works of the Russians, Germans,the Italians, the English, the Americans,at a time when men (sic), ideas, frontier? ' cross every science

20 En effet,how can one neglect the ideas of men? Tadid acknowledges that at the risk of 'ignorance' or 'insufficiency', a choice must nonethelessbe made. Stamiris too realizes his book contains only 'some of the most promising' approaches to criticism. In the case of both works the inevitable exercise of choice has meant the complete omission of feminist literary theory. At best a woman's voice is marginalized. Kristeva (who refuses the 'feminist' label) is mentioned in both works, though in Stamiris' case it is in a passing reference which makes no 22 her literary Tadi6 to theories. own system of serniotic attempt consider devotes a chapter sub-section to her under the heading 'Le groupe Tel Quel et Julia Kristeva'. This describes Kristeva's contribution to the fundamental concepts of the serniology formulated by the group, but takes no account of her particular challenge to the phallocentric 23 language elements of structure. Tadi6 appears to classify all literature and literary theory written by women with some relevance to their condition as women under the heading of autobiography. For this he 24 by Beatrice Didier V6criture-Femme. entitled relies on an article Neither Tadid nor Stamiris mentions Kate Millett in England or Mary Ellman in America, whose works published in the late sixties have come to be seen as classicswhich marked the beginning of contemporary feminist literary theory. The influential French theorists Hdlz! ne Cixous includes have been Irigaray Stamiris, Luce who also and excluded. Sartre, ignores Beauvoir and Woolf. Thus the frontiers of science and been but have crossed not that of gender. nation The use of the term 'feminist' in the title of Moi's book effectively 'masculinist' by is of volumes signifies a courtesy which not reciprocated 'literary' the 'feminist' The to word so seems overshadow word writing. in total obscurity where term that the remains compound completely Whatever their histories of 'general' criticism are concerned. demonstrate literary traditions that critical of scholars standpoint, New interpretation. interpretation is methods of of a question criticism offer fresh insight into a particular genre, author or work. Feminist critiques of culture have repeatedly proved themselves to be among the forms debate. dynamic As any thought-provoking of cultural and most feminist criticism will reveal, it encompasses collection of contemporary
22 23 24 Stamiris, op-cit., pp. 145-46. Tadi6, op.cit., pp. 221-24. ibid., pp. 259-60, refers to Beatrice Didier, PUF, 1981.

I
the political, philosophical, genetic, linguistic and other fields to which literary criticism has become linked in this century. Its ambition, as Kolodny's article describesit, is to address itself to the 'form' and 'canon' of masculinist literary traditions, enabling a new understanding of literature and its relevance to all people.25 It is a method which not only individual authors and works, but which also challenges the reassesses established criteria for literary appreciation. Nevertheless the term 'feminist' will ensure that this form of criticism remains on the its While deconstructionist approach places it in the periphery. its the of contemporary critical methodology, mainstream assumption of specificity to women alone, has meant its exclusion from the broad field of literary theory. As Toril Moi, commenting on Kristeva, puts it: Women seen as the limit of the symbolic order will in other in the disconcerting properties of all frontiers: they words share 26 be inside known neither will nor outside, neither nor unknown. Neither fully excluded nor fully included, feminist literary criticism will but boundary the simply on, not as, of the canon, while exist 'masculinist' works like Tadid's and Stamiris' will continue to represent the canon itself. A consciousnessof the patterns of sexual stereotyping and of the bias literary in tradition enables the reader to perceive masculine in literary definitions values and which are accepted as given anomalies norms. By seeking to challenge a cultural tradition which is dominated by men and which is focused on male interests feminist critics have discovered that the concept of the universal is often a male prerogative-27 The realization of woman's ambivalent relationship to the human condition and its assumed universality occurs largely through the re-examination of cultural terms of reference. Luce Irigaray has it is important that to say: noted

Kolodny, op. 25 cit., pp.6-7. Moi, op. 26 cit., p.167. Culler, op. 27 cit., p-51. As examplesof this Culler quotes Elaine Showalter's observationthat women readers'are expectedto identify with a masculineperspective and experience,which is presumed as the human one' (in Women and the Literary Curriculum, p-856),and Judith Fetterly's statementthat most American fiction 'insists on its universality at the same time that it defines that universality in specifically male terms' (in The ResistingReader, p.xii).

22 that although Freudian theory certainly gives us something that can shake the whole philosophical order of things, it paradoxically remains submissive to that order when it comes to the definition 28 difference. of sexual Considering the origins and nature of discourse awakens the reader to an awareness of the masculinist centrality in definition,. with which the reader is expected to identify regardless of gender. Revisionist readings of literature have sought to expose and rename this masculine self for it is - at the very least: specific and non-uhiversal. what Deconstructionist approaches to the centrality of the engendering self in discourse raise the issue of displacement, and conclusions lead logically to the displacement of woman's self by the sovereignty of the phallic self. Thus the dismantling of patriarchal attitudes has come to be a major theme in deconstructionist approachesto literature, such as in the 'critique of phallocentricism' practised by JacquesDerrida. Derrida has underlined the importance of reference and meaning in discourse and its interpretation. 29 Phallocentric discourse displaces woman while claiming universality. Questioning the prerogative of the masculine to declare itself as the source of universal reference results in the redefinition of cultural attitudes and values. The problem of reference and meaning with regard to woman's metaphysical condition was underlined at an early stage by Mary Daly, when she pointed out the importance of 'naming' in the creation of a 30 has This 'naming' theory of world-view. provided the groundwork for much feminist reinterpretation of cultural history. 'Images of woman' criticism, where it applies a feminist, revisionist interpretation to literature, seeks to redefine the terms of literary discourse on women, to 'rename' the meaning behind how women are portrayed or are seen to have been portrayed. Contemporary critics look back to the work of Mary Ellman as one of the first to analyze and 'deconstruct' the images of womanhood in fiction. For Moi, this approach as it is represented in the Cornillon collection, can suffer from its censoriously realist tendency. The demand that 'art should reflect life, ' as Moi puts it,

28 Moi, op. cit., p. 129. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, 'Displacementand the Discourseof Woman' in 29 Mark Krupnick, ed., Displawnent. Derridaand After, Bloon-dngton,1983,p. 169. Spivak's article exan-dnes the extent to which Derrida's critique can provide'a network of conceptmetaphorsthat does, not appropriate or displacethe figure of woman.' 30 Daly, op.cit, pp.xi-xx.

23 its which creates own stereotypes, and adoptsa systemof categorization, 31 Ellman herselfhad sought to rejectin her rereadings. Moi's comment refers to only one collection of 'Images of Woman' criticism, and while it is true that feminist critics do demand in the portrayal of women, this is too simple an reality greater literary The in the this of contribution of approach criticism. assessment for is itself issue. is It reality complex a not simply the needto see claim new stereotypesof women doing things they are known 'in reality' to do, but rather the need to have cultural media include the expression of for female for the the the experience, subject, need a need woman's (ordinary) reader to identify with (exceptional)heroines without being 'displaced' from the universal world-view. There are many layers of interpretation in the examinationof how women are portrayed, which from the exposure of cultural attitudes about women to the range for female literary discourse, in analysis of acceptedcriteria male and both writers and characters. Feminist / deconstructionist specifically to approaches addressed images of women can be a logical consequence of a cultural critique has Coquillat directed dominated is Michelle at a male genre. which literature French 'heroines' the of as projections of certain studied 32 facets Klaus Likewise, of patriarchalaesthetics. principles which reveal Theweleit usesthis method to researchthe nature and roots of fascism fascist German literature in it is the the and memoirs of revealed as 33 In his prefaceTheweleitexplains: FreikorpS.
decision to undertake an analysis of the soldier male's my did in It to women not not made advance. relationship was fact. have in it in I the theory theory, after nor grounded originate The decision grew from reading the source documents, especially the peculiarities of passages in which women were mentioned. 34 and Theweleit's works deconstruct cultural fantasies of because they examine cultural constructs which precisely womanhood imagery in female inevitably In this patriarchy. sense, are rooted (male) into insight (patriarchal) the collective and subjective provides an imagination which produces artistic and political ideology. It reflects not Coquillat's
Moi, op.cit., p.41. 31 Michelle Coquillat, La poltique du m4le,France,1982. 32 history., trans. Klaus TheweIeit, Mate Fantasies,Vol 1: Women, floods, bodies, 33 StephenConway, Minneapolis, 1987(1977). Theweleit, ibid., p.24. 34

24

only visions of womanhood, but also the necessary context from which such visions do issue.
0.2 Background Criteria

This study is a literary critical examination of the portrayal of women in the prose and drama of Finland and Russia from 1894 to 1914. The image the on of woman with specific reference to analysis concentrates the themes of political and artistic rebirth which preoccupied writers of this period. Behind this search for renewal lay a persistent concern over the spiritual direction of the nation, in which women's special role and fiction. become important in to motifs of nature were works The parameters of this study are defined by a number of criteria present in the historical background and thematic focus of the subject. Background criteria relate to the contexts of period and place. The defining thematic elements are located in the comparative analysis, the philosophy of the woman question, other contemporary ideological tendencies,and of course the literary work itself.
0.2.1 Situation

A comparison between the literature of Finland and Russia requires some elucidation of the respective conditions and traditions of the two for Russian Empire just over Finland's the part of as a status countries. life, left its inevitably the on mark country's political-cultural a century but Finland also possessed, and successfully retained, an altogether it Moreover, heritage. was precisely under Tsarist rule separate cultural that the Finns' consciousnessof their own national identity first began to take shape35. The ambiguity of this position of integration and differences between a number of similarities autonomy generates and Finland and Russia which have a bearing on the historical context of this study. These are located in the relationship of Finland and Russia to Western culture, in the progressive, ideological response to the autocracy, and within the separatetraditions of the two countries.

35 For a brief survey of the rejationship betweenFinland and Russiaand the beginningsof Finnish national awakening in the nineteenthcentury seeD.G. Kirby, Finland in the TwentiethCentury, London, 1979,pp.14-19.

25
0.2.1.1On the Periphery of Europe The geographic locations of Finland and Russia place them literally on the periphery of Central Europe. This topographic reality often appears almost more of a metaphor, however, for the relationship of the intellectual life of these countries to the West. At the turn of the century this relationship was peripheral not so much by virtue of geography, as by virtue of the intellectual response to Western cultural developments. The economic backwardness of the Empire, as well as the politically impression to the system of autocratic naturally archaic rule contributed of being on the fringes of European civilization, but it is rather the ambivalent attitude towards Europe that creates the impression of remoteness. 'Westernism' itself has an established past in Russia with those European customs adopted by Peter the Great lasting well into the been described influence has The Petrine the century. of era nineteenth as: almost a century of apprenticeship to French classical literature, German and Scandinavian governmental institutions, Italian 36 English architecture, and mathematics and science. Likewise in Finland, centuries of Swedish rule brought with it many of the major phases of West European historical developments. Since the arrival of Catholic missionaries in Finland in the Middle Ages: life intellectual a more sophisticated and literary culture burgeoned on the western side of Finland, and from the start were 37 decidedly Western given a stamp. Despite the impact of Europeanization on Finland Western values did not eradicate the indigenous cultural Historically, the degree of penetration into these areas is important factor. Many major developments common and Russia, inheritance. certainly an to the vital

Victor Terras, ed., Handbook 36 of RussianLiterature,New Haven, 1985,p-517. The entry provides a concisedefinition and survey of 'Westernism'in Russia,pp.517-18. Aaarno Maliniemi, 'Suomenkeskiaikainen kirjallisuus' in Martti Rapola, ed., 37 Kiriallisuus II. Ruotsinajan kirjailisuus, Helsinki, 1963,p.7, 'Korkeampi Suomen kulttuurieliimA ja kiriallinen sivistys p3asivAt versomaan valtarajan 13nsipuolellaja saivat alusta alkaen t5ysin lAntisenleiman.' The book provides a detailed survey of influences Swedish Sweden through Finland the arriving of cultural when was part kingdom.

26
centres of Europe, such as the Reformation, failed to make any great impression on Russia, and where they reached Finland, they often failed to penetrate the more remote, inner areasof the country. A consequence of this was that 'Westernism' was by no means a cohesive phenomenon. It was limited by social sector and by epoch. Before the nineteenth century, the philosophical and aesthetic habits of Europe were appropriated wholeheartedly by the small creative or intellectual 61ite, while the Russian and Finnish past continued to survive (if not thrive) in the way of life and creative traditions of the rest of the 38 It is in the nineteenth century that the geographical population. periphery becomes less of a literal reality and more of a cultural metaphor. With the rise of Romanticism, the ideology of national heritage inevitably directed attention towards a past, and a people, which had little in common with the European model of the modern, civilized world. The nineteenth century witnessed an interesting paradox as intellectuals endeavoured to reconcile Enlightenment ideology with the 'unenlightened' world-view of ancient, native cultures, which had previously been considered best ignored. For many, the new intellectual scrutiny of folk traditions and the national past meant the rejection of the former cultural dependency on Westernism. For those who continued to study Western trends, the practice of acquiring another by desire the to mould Western philosophical was replaced culture tendencies to a national context. In both Finland and Russia, the leading thinkers of the nineteenth century 'nationalized' Western philosophy. 39

38 In both countrieseducatedsocietysimply acquiredanotherculture. In Finland after the Reformation, those who followed the philosophical and aesthetic dqvelopmentsof the West adopted Swedishas their first languageand 'instead of foreign ideas to a Finnish context, they began to implant them in their alien adapting form' (Matti Kuusi, Michael Branch, Keith Bosley,eds, FinnishFolk Poetry: Epic.An Anthology in Finnish and English,Helsinki, 1977,p.61). In Russia,the Petrine 'apprenticeship'to Europeanculture meant that Frenchbecamethe languageof the 61ite (Terras, op-cit., p.517). SeeAnthony M. Mildotin, ed., WesternPhilosophical in Russian Systems 39 Literature.A Collectionof Critical Studies,Los Angeles, 1979,for various incisive examplesof 'russified' interpretations of Western thought from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. SeeGunnar Tidestr6m, Runeberg somestetiker: litterdra och filosofiskaidier i den unge Runebergs fdrfattarskap,Helsingfors, 1941, especiallyChap. 8, 'Runebergsfilosofiska milj66', pp283-99,for an overview of early nineteenth-centuryreactionsin Finland to the work of leading Westernphilosophers. For late nineteenth-century attitudes see Annamari Sarajas,Viimeisetromantikot, Porvoo,1%2.

27

By the end of the nineteenth century the West European value system and the special native character continuously interact. In both countries there is an ambivalent relationship to the values represented by the West, and to the potential energy of the native population. In Russia, Europe represents the possibility for higher development, the opposite of 'barbarism', but at the same time, the danger of decay and self-destruction, defined variously as positivism or materialism. In Finland, Central Europe also appears as the source of liberal and progressive political-cultural phenomena. On the other- hand, the highly developed urban centres;of Central Europe, lacking in Finland, are identified with the corruption of moral and social values and with 40 decline. The alienation of the individual in a social system spiritual based on economic or political self-interest is a recurrent theme in Russian and Finnish realist writing and is interwoven with speculation on the future of the nation. Within the symbolist movement especially, the double-edged aspect of the West produces certain tensions in the understanding of creativity. While realist writers pursue socio-economic and political in Western symbolist writers confront orientations, aesthetic problems history Western is the source of perfected aesthetic cultural philosophy. ideals, but that perfection has also become refined into cynical artifice, a form concentration on which is dangerously divorced from genuine human aspirations.41 Writers in Finland and Russia seek to apply their system of aestheticsto a revitalization of self-identity, in which spiritual life, the nation and the individual all have an essential function. 42 The reaction to Westemism which emerges in literature at the turn of the century maintains the impression of Russia and Finland as areas on the cultural periphery. European values alone cannot satisfy the future ambitions of these countries. In the picture of the socioSt Petersburg In this sense 40 represents an aspectof the West in Finland. It is not the 'eastern'featuresof Russia(Orthodoxy, serfdom, peasantry,autocracy),which St in images Petersburgin Finnish fiction, but preciselythe negative of emerge aristocraticindulgenceadopted from WesternEurope. Somewriters of coursepromoted'fora, perceivedas the pro-Western(non41 national) line. In Russia,Valerii Briusov and in Finland, Otto Manninen were the leadersof form in Symbolism. henki hengenvallankumouksessa: 42 , Pekka Pesonen, Vallankumouksen tutkielma Helsinki, 1987. Chap. 3 Andrei Belyn romaanista'Peterburg" ja sen aatetaustasta, containsan outline of the picture of the West,and interpretationsof Western duality for importance the of philosophy, in RussianSymbolism,pp.67-85. Pesonen notes Russianeschatological thought, in which the dichotomy of East / West frequently comes into play.

28
Western of qualities economically exploitative, aesthetically redundant values, there exists an underlying current of revolutionary unrest. In the adaptation of progressive Western ideals to the national context lie hopes of renewal. 0.2.1.2Within the Empire In the combination of Western progressive ideology with internal have important, Russia Finland two common and national concerns, characteristics. In both cases,literature / literary criticism become the fora for philosophical polemic, and the woman question is a principal topic within that polemic. Early connections between literature, the national ideal and feminism are evident in the first half of the nineteenth century. The literature the of autocratic structure gave a special role censorial nature in Finland and Russia as an organ of protest and resistance. In Russia, the link between political theory and literary theory can be traced In Finland, the language throughout the nineteenth century. development literature, first in Swedish the of and a native movement factors in in Finnish, the the political then were most salient and awakening of the nineteenth century. Continuous shifts between support for regional autonomy and 43 history imperial Russian the characterized rule. of strict centralization This process created waves of liberalism and repression throughout the Empire during the last century. As a Grand Duchy, Finland also form in these a considerably more subdued waves, albeit experienced than in many other regions. In the intellectual circles of the two fostered between tolerance the only and censorship oscillation countries, first determination for half During the change. a senseof resistnce and important Nicholas I, the the most among repressive reign of of influences was the Hegelian aesthetic ideal, which reached Helsinki through St Petersburg.44 At this time, the ideas and work of leading intellectuals., such as Johan Ludwig Runeberg and Elias Unrot in
SeeJ. N. Westwood, Endurance RussianHistory 1812-1986,3rd 43 and Endeavour. ed., Oxford, 1987. but Kirby notes that 'Hegelian ideasgained a footing in Finland during the 1820s, 44 ). Also, Taimo lisalo statesthat the in Sweden'(Kirby, op. cit., p. 17. not until the 1880s discussionover grammar schoolsin Finland in this period showsevidencethat Science The lisalo, from East. (Taimo the ideas of the country philosophical entered ) Helsinki, 1979,p.29. Educationin Finland 1828-1918,

29
Finland, and Aleksandr Herzen and Vissarion Belinskii in Russia, cultivated a theory of literature consciousof its historical significance for a separate cultural, national identity. 45 By the secondhalf of Nicholas I's reign, the woman question, chiefly inspired by readings of George Sand, had penetrated the literary intellectual milieu. In Russia, evidence of Sandian views of freedom in love become particularly evident from 1855 onwards in the publicist articles of Nikolai Chernyshevskii for the radical journal Sovremennik CThe Contemporary'). Chernyshevskii included female emancipation in his for In his programme change based on rationalist principles. examination of Chernyshevskii's readings of Rousseau, James P. Scanlan has noted that 'revolutionary republicanism, feminism, and the ideal of the natural man' are three areas in which the two thinkers come into contact.46 Scanlan suggests that of all the Western philosophers have influenced Chernyshevskii, only Rousseau and Sand may who could be said to have exercised true dominion over his own 47 The associations that Scanlan makes between philosophical outlook. these three subjects,as well as between the three thinkers, reflect the link in the background of this study: the 'nationalized' progressive ideal in has In the woman question which a strong dimension. Chernyshevskii's blueprint for an egalitarian utopian society, the novel Scanlanseesthe character Dikarev as: Chto delat' (1863)48,, an ideal fictional representative for Chernyshevsky -a dialectical synthesis of the French philosopher and his Russian 49 materialization. Concerning the figure of Vera, the novel's main protagonist, Scanlan adds: in russianizing Rousseau'sJulie, Chernyshevsky saw himself as 50 forwarding a courseof progress pointed out by Rousseau., In Finland the ideology of the woman question is simultaneously more muted and more pronounced. Its challenge did not go so far as
45 Victor 46 47 48 49 50 For Hegelianism. in Finland seefor exampleTidestr6m,op. cit., and in Russia, Terras, Belinskiiand RussianLiterary Criticism, Wisconsin, 1974. JamesP. Scanlan,'Chemyshevskyand Rousseau'in Miklotin, op-cit.,p-110. ibid., p. 105. What'sto beDone.A Romance, trans. B. Tucker, Boston,1886. Scanlan,op. cit., p.1 ibid., p. 113.

30
but Vera, its portrait of controversial challenge was greater in that it established a real woman's voice in intellectual life. The emergenceof the woman question is marked by the decision of Johan Vilhelm Snellman, the most outspoken campaigner for the promotion of a Finnish consciousness, to publish Fredrika Runeberg's 'drawings and dreams' in his journal Litteraturbladet Miterary Journal'), after 1856.51 Snellman had earlier taken up the controversial issue of girls' education in another publicationS2. Like Chemyshevskii's, Snellman's views about literature had unmistakeable political overtones, the tremors of which disquieted the imperial 53 According to David Kirby, a national culture based on government. conscious national spirit, in turn based on the Finnish language, 'was the basic and uncompromising message spelt out by Snellman in innumerable articles for forty years.'54 Fredrika Runeberg's presence in the cultural milieu dominated by the leading proponents of Finnishness, reflects the profile of woman's issues. These became an integrated aspect of national, progressive ideology; although attitudes remained ambivalent nonetheless. Snellman, for example, expressed certain reservations over signs of excessive feminism in Frederika Runeberg's work. 55 Fredrika Runeberg herself was the first real voice of feminism to be heard in Finland. Like women writers of her era such as Karolina Pavlova in Russia, Fredrika. Runeberg discussed in her works the limits long before Snellman or Chernyshevskii of women's accepted sphere chose to address the problem. However, unlike Pavlova, whose dedication to her career as a poet lost her her friends and position, Fredrika Runeberg never published under her own name.56 Pavlova's lack of apologetic stance over her art lost her the popularity that other 57 in Russia enjoyed. But it was Chernyshevskii's work, women writers rather than that of women writers, that marked the endorsement of the
51 Tyyni Tuulio, FredrikanSuomi,Porvoo, 1979,p.23. ibid., p.21. The publication was Saima. 52 . Snellmanhad beenforced to leaveFinland between1839-1842. For an analysisof 53 SnellmaWs understanding of literature as a force of national awakening seePertti Karkama, IN. Snellmanin kiriallisuuspolitiikka, Helsinki, 1989. Kirby, op. 54 cit., p.17. Karkama, op. 55 cit., p.228. 56 Tuulio, op. cit., p.20. Sheused the pseudonyma. g.' 57 For a survey of Pavlova'scareer seeBarabaraHeldt, 'Karolina Pavlova: The Woman Poet and the Double Ufe', introduction to Karolina Pavlova, A DoubleLife, trans. BarbaraHeldt, Ann Arbor, 1978(1848),pp.i-xxii.

Chernyshevskii's

fictional

31 woman question as a genuine issue within contemporary ideological theory. Likewise the real significanceof Fredrika Runeberg's work was in Litteraturbladet. It was a sign of developments its appearance which associatedthe woman question with the broader question of national destiny, as this gainedpolitical meaning. cultural
0.2.1.3SeparateTraditions Many features of intellectual life in Finland and Russia reflect parallel development. The conditions of autocracy turned the literary spheres of both countries into an arena for political-philosophical debate. In Western into the thought main currents of came vogue at the general, fifteen be tended to time, to twenty years after their which same fact due in Central Europe. This in that the to the was part appearance in Integration ideas Helsinki St Petersburg. to through passed channel of 58 basis for Empire the establisheda cultural contact. While the relationship to the West, and the ideological resistance to imperial reaction are factors which Finland and Russia have in factors by they are are respective cultural which modified common, background. Kirby has remarked that, on the eve of the twentieth

century:
if Finland did not fit into the same category as the industrial nations of the West, neither did it resemble the more backward 59 Russian Empire. the societiesof Divergences between the cultural traditions inevitably influenced the literary output, so it perhaps is worth mentioning the most relevant, disparate features of the two countries here. One important point which differentiates Finland from the rest of the Russian Empire is the nature of relationships between different Serfdom known in Finland, society. which meant of was not sectors that: the rigid caste mentality of the Baltic barons hardly existed in Finland. ( ) There was no brutal oppression of the peasantry.. ... have 60 did indeed political representation. which
See Annarnari Sarajas,Tunnuskuvia:Suomen ja Vendjdnkiriallisen realismin 58 Porvoo, 1968. kosketuskohtia, Kirby, op. 59 cit., p.21. ibid., p.21. 60

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The status and size of the majority population in Russia created a much larger gulf between the privileged intellectual minority and its fellow compatriots. Population mobility and consequently accessto education were considerably facilitated in Finland. Russia's long history of serfdom suggests not only a more physically arduous past, but also a different metaphysical understanding of human bonds. The intellectual class was able to identify with the mass of the population more easily in Finland. Moreover, this identification became a programmatic precondition of the national movement. In this factions the sense extreme of national consciousnessin the nineteenth century had very different manifestations. In Russia, Slavophilism was an extremely conservative movement, distinctly aristocratic in nature. It was rather the 'Westernists' (Herzen, Belinskii, Chemyshevskii), who conceived Russian national ideals according to progressive principles. In Finland, the committed Fennoman tendency was a liberal driving the movement, ambition of which was to identify with the rural Led by Swedish-speaking population and adopt its language. intellectuals, it represented a parallel to the phenomenon of the Russian 'Westemists'. At its most liberal, it also endorsed co-operation with the authorities, scholars and artists of St Petersburg, insofar as these offered opportunities to foster national ideals. An example of this is the case of 6gren, who undertook his pioneering research into Finno-Ugrian A. J. Sj, Sciences in Academy St Petersburg. For the more the of at peoples decade later, Snellman, conscious of the dangers of a radical russification, such a move constituted a betrayal of the Finnish cause, despite its contribution to cultural identity. 61 Snellman's censure of Sj8gren and other Finns who had gone to Russia to work reflects the fact that 'East', as well as 'West', bore for the nineteenth-century nationalist philosophy. The significance ambivalence in the concept of the European periphery continues to be evident in images of the East. By the turn of the century in Finland, Russia represents the West, with its urbanized, Europeanized high force the threatening as as well of the East, with its very real society, danger of uncompromising, autocratic power. Finland becomes identified with a new independent direction, a contrast to the degeneracy of the modem world (West), as well as to the 'uncivilized, archaic state
61 Michael Branch, A. I. Sidgren: Studies of the North, Helsinki, 1973, pp. 261-62.

33
system (East). In Russia, fears of the East are closely associatedwith the threat from Japan,but the East also signifies that which is not western, in These Russia's traditions. the source of own ancient, words native other traditions are perceived as expressing a deeper spirituality, proximity to land and nature, or universal mysticism. Russia's direction is identified as a mission of renewal. An obvious, but crucial reason for these national self-images is that the political ambitions of the two nations at the turn of the century different. Finnish intellectuals quite were promoting the right to were in from without, while, self-determination of a small nation oppressed Russia the mounting protest was internal, the intellectual class rebelling fact its is This own system of government. naturally reflected against throughout the political and cultural history of the two countries, and literatures. least their within not There are several other elements which affect the concept of historical direction, particularly with regard to the role of woman within it. As these emerge in the main text of this study, they are only bear in briefly here. it is in Russia First, that to wise mind mentioned the level of censorship had generally been much more severe than in Finland throughout the nineteenth century. Secondly, the degree of is in Russia This not study was also much greater. urbanization intended to assess the effects of these specific factors on nationalist themes or the portrayal of women. Nevertheless, they are facts which inevitable influence the given of censorship remembering worth are harsher history A on writers' output. of political and environment and in Russia undoubtedly contributes to the more radical social conditions literature decadent in its elements at the turn of the century. and more Another major cultural determinant of a nation's spiritual destiny lies in its religious traditions. Finland's experience of Christianity, with the arrival of Catholicism in the Middle Ages followed by the Reformation, contrasts strongly with Russia's Orthodoxy. In their themes of spirituality, as well as in their criticism of dogma, from think writers naturally within and address religious themselves to the respective Lutheran and Orthodox world-views of the two countries, however much they believe they have freed themselves from this influence. Moreover, with the symbolist interest in national folk Russian find to the traditions, culture writers appear values of oral faith. In Orthodox incompatible the with spiritual seekings of not

34
Finland, writers reject more categorically Lutheran morality in favour of a system of belief expressed in ancient non-Christian culture, perceived as spiritually more enriching. These cultural traditions, combined with the political and economic conditions in Russia and Finland form the locational background to the period under examination.
0.2.2 Periodization

The period covered by this study falls between two 'natural boundaries' death history: in 1894 of Tsar Alexander IH, and the outbreak of the of the First World War in 1914. Natural boundaries are only part of the landscape however, and a period in history cannot be isolated from what came before or was to come after. Dates often serve the purpose of delineating the otherwise elusive impression of a given era, generation however, dates, Such must also be flexible depending on or movement. the breadth and direction of the historical perspective. Relevant to this fact is that the two decades leading up to 1914 represent a the study period of culmination and transition in Finland and Russia. The ideological and economic forces of the nineteenth century culminate in political tensions by the 1890s,reaching a breaking point in the rebellions first in Russia and the General Strike in 1905, the revolution of with Finland. Both were quickly suppressed,but the unrest was nevertheless a sign of transition. The autocracy was undermined, pessimism reigned and the oppressive atmosphere of the post-1905 years created the for declaration Russian the the second of revolution and momentum Finnish independence in 1917. In each case, this final transition meant the creation of a new state on the ideological and political principles led had These these to nations and revolution. resistance which principles reflected a sort of collective individualism, in which equality and self-determination were key aspects. As members of society who had hitherto most literally been deprived of any claim to equality and had been women central to the struggle. self-determination,
0.2.2.1 The Women's Movement

Women's lives and the women's movement were substantially affected by the transformations that were taking place within them at the turn of

35
the century. A brief account of the evolution of organized feminism be for here in Finland and useful an understanding of conditions may Russia at the turn of the century. In his book, The Fe? ninists, Richard Evans identifies a particular intellectual tradition, social sector and process of economic change as factors feminism in the of all over the emergence organized common developed world. Evans traces the ideology back to the intellectual liberalism of the Enlightenment, which was open to feminist in the took and place explains political mobilization which arguments, the nineteenth century as the result of socio-economic factors affecting 62 had her The social class. utilitarianism which woman's role within hierarchy of and encouraged a pre-ordained social challenged notions the growth of capitalism wrought its most immediate changes on the role of women in the middle classes. The question of employment as demand for household the management created more suitable well as for Those women. opposed to this expansion of women's education family feared breakdown firm that the sign of social order, of sphere best defence, largely because it Feminists, their reasoned was stability. that it was precisely in order to serve the family better that women knowledge broaden their and skills. should The problem of employment naturally involved working-class became but disillusioned they often with the achievements of women, by founded feminism. Philanthropic organizations middle-class failed to appreciate the practical needs of often women wealthier latter labour the the turned to that the women, with result working movement. Working women sought improvements to their conditions but human the socialist the and rights as part struggle, of class of work invariably interests. Attempts to obscured women's particular cause labour the movement special women's organizations within establish divisiveness. fears internal suspicion, and of with aroused viewed were On both the left and the right, women's interests were supported fundamental insofar they as presented challenge to patriarchy. no only The relationship between men and women, and the social structure based on the family ideal, never suffered the dangers of collapse that driven feared. to In effect, women were opponents of women's rights ideals in demands. If justify the masculinist these to their order reiterate
in Europe, Richard Evans, The Feminists:Women'sEmancipation Movements 62 New York, 1977,p.23. Americaand Australasia,1884-1920,

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status quo was firmly upheld, there was also widespread awarenessthat the present position of women no longer benefited it. Within the ethic of collective individualism, it becameimpossible to justify women's lack of opportunities either in terms of their personal fulfilment or in terms of their contribution to society. The consequent need to redefine woman's role in such a way as to profit both herself and her environment, meant that the 'essential nature' of the female being becamea focal point in the debate. It is important to note here another influential factor in the shaping of views on women's role: the changing attitudes about children. These also had their roots in Enlightenment thought, and were encouragedby the developments in pedagogical and other scientific fields. 63 Children had been perceived as short, inefficient adults. By the turn of the century, with the surge of interest in human psychology, children attained an almost revered position as symbols of a state of 'innocence'. Moreover, a new emphasis on children as the following brought generation of adults more careful consideration of their formative education. 64 Inevitably, women's function as mothers, and consequently as wives, since this was the only desirable state in which they could be mothers, came to be seen as the clue to the enigma of the female character. The view of wife and mother was a view of carer and educator, and therefore essentially related to the moral idea. The superior morality of woman was often hailed as a civilizing force, and indeed women channelled their energies into exercising this influence for the social good. Alcohol and prostitution, which caused women hardship and humiliation, and fostered an unhealthy hypocrisy, were the main issues in their programme for improving the moral standard. However, women were soon to find that without political power they could affect little real change. In the gradual process which culminated in the

For a history of pedagogy,seefor examplePhilippe Aris, Centuries 63 of Childhood,London, 1962. This interest is reflected in the literature of the late nineteenth and early 64 twentieth centuriesin Finland and Russia,where the child becomes a frequent psychologicaltype. In particular, this functions as a techniquefor exploring themesof innocence,exploitation, freedom,and fantasy. There is also a surge of literary critical ' of children in earlier fiction. Ile consciousness interest in portraits of children as a new generation is especiallysignificant in Finland and Russiain view of the prevailing concernfor the respectivenation's future. nemes of generationand heritageare widespread in the literature of this period.

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demand for the vote, it was these moral issues which had a politicizing 65 effect on women.

Evansdescribesthis process,from the need for employment and

education, to the moral issue and ultimately to a political consciousness, development feminism in the the towards pattern of organized as nineteenth century. In Finland and Russia, lagging behind advanced from Question industrialized Europe, Woman to the transition the and the Women's Movement occurred at a relatively late stage, in the 66 Mobilization towards the demand for enfranchisement only 1880S. in occurred the early 1900s. Between 1880 and 1920 in the Empire, women's history offers its has landmarks. Russia, With Richard Stites to reference noted that own for her part in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, the became first Sofia Perovskaia 'the woman political to revolutionary, 67 October in it After 1917, the the was scaffold'. revolution mount decreed that women were to be granted 'complete civil, legal and 68 first in In Finland, the the women's new state'. electoral equality founded in in Finnish 1884, 1906, was and women made organization their mark on recorded history by becoming the first women in Europe to be granted full parliamentary franchise. Characteristic of such dates in Russian and Finnish women's history is that the events they record reflect unmistakeably the place that the women's cause held within the national issue. The activities of women within the radical movement, as well as the persistent efforts of feminists been in has life in Russia official well political moderate

Evans, op. 65 cit., p-36. For a comprehensive 66 accountof the situation in RussiaseeRichard Stites,The 1860Women'sLiberationMovementin Russia:Feminism,Nihilism and Bolshevism 1930,Princeton,1978. The author divides his period into three phases, entitled '1855The Women'sMovement',and'Women's 1880The Woman Question','1881-1917 Liberation'. Information on the situation in Finland is lesseasily located,but indicate this a similar periodization in the two phasesof on subject publications 'question' and 'movement. Sisko Wilkama, Naissivistyksenperiaafteidenkehitys Helsinki, 1938, ideology, background 1840-1880 to the provides a early -luvuilla, focused issue the of education.Thereis much more research on on the movement, strongly invariably dating it from around 1884,as indicated in Riitta Jallinoja, Suomalaisen Porvoo, 1983. taistelukaudet, naisasialiikkeen Stites, op-cit., p-148. 67 ibid., p.327. The author informs us that theserights 'were first decreedin 68 January1918and incorporateda few months later in the Constitution.'

38 documented.69 In 1898,Zinaida Vengerova writing on feminism, was to exaggeratethe point in her statement that: In Russia, the woman question in the literal sense of the term does not exist. Russian woman possessedan inner freedom even during that period of her history when she found herself in the terem.70 For Vengerova, feminism was a 'barbaric term' fit only for the emotionally passive French women in need of separate inner 71 She mentions the contrast between inner freedom and emancipation. external slavery as a central theme in ancient Russian literature which displays evidence of the equality between Russian men and women in the struggle for freedoM.72 In Finland, the emergence of women's organizations was part of a process of widespread social organization in which national interests were prominent. In her analysis of such organizations, Irma Sulkunen has observed that: their various activities certainly did not always directly promote the women's cause, the achievement of woman's social and political equality, but rather took the national interest of the 73 basic their country as whole argument.
Sulkunen notes that the Martha Organization, founded in 1900 and one of the most effective organizations to evolve out of the Finnish Women's Union, aimed to watch over the national tendencies of women on the Finnish-Karelian border and guard Finnish youth from harmful political influences. 74 Indeed in 1906, the vote itself was won

See for example Barbara Alpem Engel, Mothersand Daughters:Women 69 of the Intelligentsia in Nineteenth-Century Russia,Cambridge, 1981,for women radicals, and Linda Harriet Edmondson,Feminism in Russia 1900-17, London, 1984,for moderate feminists. Zinaida Vengerova,'Feminism i zhenskaiasvoboda' (Obrazovanie, 70 5-6,1898, POCCHH)KeHCxoro Bonpoca 13 'B, CO(5CMHHOM cmbicne cjiOBa He cyweCTBYeT. 73-74); pp. ' TepeMHOM rrCPHOJXC CBOeA HCTOPHH. cBo6oAHa XeHLUHHa BHy7peHHe Ame B PyccKaA (5Eina cnow. ' ibid., p.76-7; BapBaPCKoe 71 ibid., p.74. 72 Irma Sulkunen, 'Naisten yleinen j1rJest5ytyminen 73 ja naisasialiike vuosisadan vaihteessa' in Katarina Eskola, Elina Haavio-Mannila, Riitta Jallinoja, eds, Naisndkdkulmia,juva, 1979,p.119; 'toimintamuodot eivAt ldheskiiiin aina palvelleet suoranaisestinaisasiaa,naisen yhteiskunnallisen ja polfittisen tasa-arvon toteuttamista, vaan perusargumentfina pidettfin koko maan kansallista etua.' 74 ibid., p.119.

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together with a new constitution, in a tsarist reform which Finns hoped imperial the pressure on their autonomous status. would check
0.2.2.2 Stages of Russification, and Generations of Writers

The study of women in Russia identifies a phase which extends beyond 1894and 1914,, to encompassthe reign of Alexander III and the war years. Both Tsars to rule in this era were consistent in their reactionary attitude towards any increase in opportunities for women and any extension of their civil rights. Alexander III favoured the element of opposition to 75 his Nicholas Under in the successor, government. women's education H, the government failed to include Russian women in the electorate for the new parliament in 1905. In Finland the phase, which also begins under Alexander III, seems to reach an early conclusion with the female in 1906.76 suffrage of establishment This analysis addressesitself to the subject of women in cultural history rather than to the women's movement directly. Thus the literature Finnish Russian requires certain and comparison of III, in Alexander The as well as the reign of periodization. modifications impact of war and revolution, will remain outside the main focus of the imperial in the The the of conservatism nature and consequences study. far As this to the as study. comparative aspect of r6gime are relevant Finland in particular is concerned, it was only in the 1890s that the had imperial began that the to reaction experience effects of country Tsar 1880s, directed Empire. In been the the at of other parts already Alexander M's policies of russification were concentrated at the Baltic States.77 At this stage, Finland's status as a Grand Duchy within the Empire had indeed become a matter of fractious debate, but actual measuresof imperial control were first introduced only in 1890,with the incorporation of the postal service. These measures culminated in a decree issued in 1899 known as the February manifesto, outlining a
Stites,op. 75 cit., p-158.7be author describeshow the reactionary elementof the Pobedonostsev, 'menaced thosewho were government,notably the powerful statesman trying to undermine the sacredinstitutions of Holy Russia- the Church, the State, family, ' in foundations the the other and words of the patriarchal order. property, jallinoja, for example,statesthat the first period of the women's movement 76 between 1906 1908. Jallinoja, 115. and climax a op. cit., p. reaches Violet Conolly, The "nationalities question" in the last phaseof tsardom' in 77 Enters Erwin Oberl-inder,GeorgeKatkov, Nikolaus Poppe,Georgvon Rauch,eds,Russia New York, 1971,p.171. the TwentiethCentury 1894-1917,

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to curb Finnish autonoMy. 78 After this, two phases of oppression are recognized in Finnish history, generally dated from the February manifesto to 1905, and from 1908 to 1917. The phases of russification policy, as well as the interim period of relaxation, paralleled the imperial government's attempts to maintain control within Russia itself. In both countries, the insurgent events of 1905 led to liberal programme reforms which were to prove ineffectual. The post-1905 years witnessed increasing disillusion with the powers of the constitutional bodies to improve conditions through legal means. Writers active between 1894 and 1914 lived through a period of cynical turmoil, created out of the tensions generated by repression and resistance. The literature of the years 1894 to 1914 is characterized by the two main tendencies of Realism and SymboliSM. 79 In this particular period, the former is a newly adapted extension of the nineteenth-century trends, while the latter represents a conscious break from the realist approach. Exponents of both movements take up themes of renewal in which an ideal of womanhood plays a significant role. The position of women, and the philosophy of the feminine, were matters which came to the fore of the intellectual challenge to conservative values. Broadly speaking, the period contains two generations of writers who discuss themes of political and artistic transition and rebirth in their work. A new generation of writers emerged in the 1880s, usually identified in literary histories with the first publications of Anton Chekhov in Russia, and juhani Aho or Minna Canth in Finland. For the most part the early works of this generation of writers will not be considered here, as the 1880s and early 1890s largely represent a formative period in their work and in their ideas, which were to be more clearly formulated and expressed a decade later. not until the mid-1890s that these writers, provoked by of growing repression, began to raise issues related to national destiny. From this point on too, women begin frequently as protagonists, and their characterization It is, moreover, the atmosphere the question of to appear more becomes more

78 Kirby, op. cit., pp.24-5. Theseterms will be usedin their generallyaccepted 79 meaning,and not in order to enter the debateon their precisedefinition. Descriptionsin English of thesemovements in the relevant countriesand period can be found in for exampleTerras,ed.,Handbook of Russian Literature, and Kai Laitinen, Literatureof Finland: An Outline, Helsinki, 1985. A point to note here is that in Finland the manifestationof turn-of-the-century Symbolismis known as Neo-Romanticism.I will makeno distinction betweenthese terms,but will prefer Symbolismfor the sakeof convenience when drawing comparisons.

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detailed. Nevertheless, certain individual works published earlier will be mentioned where their relevance is central to the topic, such as works by the much older Lev Tolstoi, whose philosophy of sexuality had too great an impact to be ignored. The younger generation of writers considered in this study including, for instance, Aleksandr Blok and Aino Kallas begin largely late in 1900s. Their 1890s the and early pre-war work publishing factors, least of coherent a phase, after which of not a number constitutes independence, the new state, or as war, as revolution, well which literary in directions. Many works turn them new emigration, during Modernism to the the are early contributions war years published Union literatures A between Soviet 1920s. the the the comparison of of independent Finland would represent a completely new subject and since the social and political programmes of these separatestatesare very different. Also, post-war images of women and concepts of national identity belong to a new vision, more closely associatedwith the phase of 'liberation' than of that of 'movement'. For this reason the period between 1918 in Where 1914 1914. are and works published concludes ideologically it is because belong they as part of stylistically or considered, the pre-war era. For its primary sources this study concentrates on prose and drama (including lyrical drama) and excludes poetry and autobiography. This is partly dictated by practicalities, since it was necessaryto limit the by body the need to maintain some of material, and partly vast interpretation in interpretation. Thus the the method of consistency for is type the narrative on of characterization used which concentrates in Since dramatic image text. this the of women study examines and it the to the political period, main of and aesthetic movements relation focuses on those writers who can be said to have shaped contemporary ideology. In this senseit is a study of the established literary 'canon'. It does not, therefore, include popular writers. As a result of all the above criteria, only one Russian woman falls Gippius, Zinaida within the scope of this work, while on the writer, Finnish side the canon is represented by several women writers. favoured the genres of Russian women writers traditionally 80 for best known Although Gippius too or poetry. was autobiography
Barbara Heldt, Terrible Perfection: Womenand RussianLiterature, Bloomington, 80 1987,pp.8-9. Heldt's book examinesthe reasons why Russianwomen preferred these

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her poetry, she produced a substantial amount of prose writing from the 1890s onwards and was an influential figure in the Symbolist movement. Other important Russian women prose writers do not fit into the framework outlined in this introduction. Elena Guro, for example, belongs in style and subject to the coming generation of the Futurists, although her first short story appeared as early as 1905. Anastasiia Verbitskaia and Evdovkia Nagrodskaia, who acquired a for their studies of 'sexual problems', were certain amount of notoriety essentially considered to be writers of popular literature. Olga Shapir was praised by the critics for her style, but her subject was seen as 81 issues. Unlike Gippius, therefore, she to specifically related women's was not viewed as part of the main current of literary developments. On the basis of the same criteria, many 'secondary' Finnish women writers of the period, as well as many less important male writers in both been have included in this study. countries, not

from The the establi absence of women writers genres. shedcanonin Russiais also * basis Chap. in 4 the this study, on of a comparisonwith Finnish women of explored writers' work and its reception. Specific works by Verbitskaia, Nagrodskaia and Shapir, with short 81 introductions about eachauthor, are consideredin TatjanaAntalovsky, Der russische Munich, 1987. 1890-1917, Frauenroman

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0.3 Note on Editions and Translations

In the caseof primary sources,the most complete recent editions of collectedworks availablehave been preferred. Where a given author's have been first in not published an edition of collected works, works editionshavebeenusedasfar as possible. All titles of literary works referred to in the text appear in their form (Russian titles transliteratedusing the Library of Congress original system,without diaerisis). Where they are mentionedfor the first time, the titles are followed in bracketseither by my translation (in inverted by or a published English title if the work has been translated commas) (in italics). In the latter case, the Englishtitle is also followed by the date of publication and this refersto the translationlisted in the bibliography, after the list of primary sources.Where the title is a proper noun this is in brackets, different English the translation unless a uses not repeated transliterationof the name. The translationsare thosementionedin the following bibliographies: Kau Sulo Haltsonen Rauni Puranen, and nokiriallisuutemme luettelo kiffnn6ksbY: Bibliografinen suomenkielisen kaunokiriallisuudenk0nnAsistir Helsinki, 1979;for works of Finnish , literature. World in English E. Lewanski, The Literatures Richard the of Translation: A Bibliography,Volume II: The Slavic Literatures, New for works of Russianliterature. The more recenttranslations York, 1967; Congress in Index Library listed Marc the to the are of of referred Catalogue. For the most part, the published English translationsof Russian literature have not been used for quotation. The older translationsare freely difficult but in to they translated obtain, are so many cases not only for that they are not sufficiently accurate the nature of this and edited (mostly have been Those more modern) versionswhich used are study. footnote full in in in the first instanceonly. The main the mentioned translationsin this categoryare:
Silver by Bely, The Dove, George Andrei Reavy, trans. preface a with Harrison E. Salisbury, New York, 1974.
Blok, The Rose Green, Aleksandr Cross, in Michael the ed. and and trans., The Russian Symbolist Theatre: An Anthology of Plays and Critical Texts, Ann Arbor, 1986, pp-59-107.

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Flingley, Chekhov, The Oxford London 1964trans., and ed. - Runald 1978,Vols 7 (1978),8 (1965)and 9 (1975);for Chekhov's stories. Anton Chekhov, by Plays, introduced Michael Frayn, trans. and London, 1988;for Chekhov's plays. Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata and other stories, trans. with an introduction by David McDuff, London, 1985. In two casesthe cited versions have been based on previous translations but have been substantially modified for the purposes of this study. These are: Gorky, Maxim Mother, (reprinted 1975). trans. Margaret Wettlin, Moscow, 1954
by Rosemary

'0-

Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection, introduction trans. an with Edmonds, London, 1966 (reprinted 1988).

All translations of quotations from Finnish literature are my own. Where published translations of secondary texts in either Finnish or Russian are used these are specified in the footnote, and the work is listed in the bibliography.

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PART I FEMALE EMANCIPATION

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CHAPTER ONE

1 ACTION (1): Writers' Interpretations of Women's Issues The nineteenth-century debate on the woman question engendered feminist directly to the which works were relevant course of many (1869) Stuart On Subjection John Mill's Women the of philosophy. 82 for In to the argument exemplify women's came emancipation. European literature, Flaubert's controversial novel Madame Bovary, the feminist writings of George Sand and the literary career of George Eliot had encouraged the discussion on woman's sexuality, psychology and independence. In the 1870sand 1880s,the striking portraits of Tolstoi's Anna Karenina, Ibsen's Nora and Strindberg's Miss Julie were immediately established as major studies of women's emotional life. While they were specifically related to attitudes about women, from kind inseparable the general polemic on this were also works of development and metaphysical wellsocial enlightenment, economic being. The issues which had been raised by the question of woman's literature in merged with themes of political and, emancipation individual freedom. In Finland and Russia, the social tableau from broadened drew their towards the end of the subjects which writers fiction female in The types century. growing range of nineteenth issues a combination of writers' concern over and women's reflected their views on national, social progress. The literary approach to the socio-political aspects of the woman question is concentrated in two, interdependent areasof the debate. First, writers addressed the problem from formative formal institutions. influences to education, woman's of Secondly, writers discussed woman's role in the economic structure,, through marriage and employment, as well as within the power hierarchy.

Mill's work was extremely influential in both Finland and Russia,though at 82 different times. It appearedin Russiantranslation as early as 1870. A Swedish translation appearedin Finland in 1883. SeeStites,op. cit-, pp.73-75for the Russian Evans, for Finnish the op-cit., p-19, and view. response,

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1.1 Literary Attitudes to Women's Education 1.1.1 Background: the Casefor Women's Education Widespread social enlightenment had been recognized as an indispensable part of political reform in nineteenth-century Finland and Russia. Formal education as well as didactic theory had been recurring themes in the philosophical polemic of both countries. Morally didactic children's stories counted among the volumes of many a prose writer. In trying'to determine the proper nature of women's education, child development played the initial and most decisive role.83 Women were perceived as the principal educators of children, first becauseof their role as mothers and secondly becauseof the various other child-caring duties they performed in their function of nurses, governesses or servants. Teaching was one of the first professions to be considered suitable for middle-class, unmarried women who could no longer be supported within the extended family. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with growing research in the human sciences,the influence of women as child-carers on the psychological development of the future became generation one of the main points in the promotion of women's education. Pedagogical concerns reflected more than just the changing attitudes about children, whose formative mental development had been largely ignored before the advent of psychology. In 1903,Nikolai Trubitsyn, analysing Dostoevskii's psychological portraits of children, between the the spiritual aspect of human emphasized connection existence and the memories and experiences of childhood, which form the individual's 'spiritual stance-'84 This preoccupation with the individual's spiritual growth reflected a concern with the spiritual direction of the adult generation as representative of the nation.85 This
This attitude had a long history. SeeElizabeth Fox-Genovese, 83 'Women and the Enlightenment' in RenateBridenthal, Claudia Koonz, SusanStuard, eds, Becoming Visible- Women in European History, 2nd ed., Boston, 1987,especially p.260 where the author wTites:Throughout the ageof Enlightenmentand beyond,women'sroles as mothers remained the primary justification for their education! ' 1; 'AYXOBHb1A 06JIHK. P. N. Trubitsyn, Dostoevskii i deti, Kronstadt, 1903, 84
See for example Tolstoi's articles on education, which reflect the contemporary 85 debate, in Lev Tolstoi, Sobranie sochinenii v dvadtsati dvukh tomakh, Moscow, 1983, Vol. 16. Writing onHapomioe o6pawnHHe! ('popular education'), he stresses the connections between generation and nation, history and humanity (e.g. p.27). In praise of folk cultural models he states that the educational VporpeccKcThtwe He morJIH6EJ

49 86 in Finnish pedagogy. was often explicitly expressed nineteenth century Snellman's view had been that a child: ) ( history. living into immediate world contact with comes ... Education is a process whereby children are helped to participate in the knowledge and manners handed down to them by a 87 time. particular nation at a particular Women were quick to support this universal and national goal of in had become In Russia, they target as a category. which enlightenment Richard Stites points out,, arguments in favour of women's education 88 late 1860s. 1850s linked the to the and early reform atmosphereof were Feminists had agitated from this time on for entrance to medical and university-level courses. The repeated withdrawal and reinstatement of World by First the tsarist to the authorities right up courses women#s War were both cause and consequenceof women's participation in the forces behind driving In Finland, the one of radical movement. language Its the movement. main goal was to establish was nationalism for language Finnish the native majority equal status - alongside Swedish, an ambition which was largely achieved by the 1880sthrough twenty years of constructive expansion of Finnish-language schools. Women's important contribution as teachers, in the resistance to (as dominance linguistic to the of as russification well cultural and Swedish), was frequently underlined in post-1880 feminist and liberal politics. This is not to say that supporters of the women's rights direct dependence in issues to only acknowledged women's movement for improvement. Women's social emancipation was part of other aims but keenly broad aware of certainly, also women were utopian vision, a their own specific interests. There is a difference between seeking to facto ipso change women's circumstances as a priority which will improve all people's quality of life, and perceiving women's issues as an
for Mbe it 6e3 the not progressives exist were HaPOAX would not even cylixecrBoBarb nation') (p. 87). lisalo, op. cit. lisalo summarizes the views of the educational theorist Zachris 86 Joachim Cleve as follows: '[the school] makes a young person into a human being, who both Starting from ideals the customs of an and socially. personally will realize individual family it is to aim at "universal truth" or general human ideals. The school best for is in develop its the thinking way of a nationalist patriotism pupils, must defence against internal and external violence. ' pA8. ibid., p. 43. 87 Stites, op. cit., p. 34. 88

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inevitable but subordinate aspect of social progress. Women realized that education was the first hurdle in gaining the ability to function as independent, self-sufficient members of the community. Both left-wing and right-wing women addressed the issue of women's education as a prerequisite for redefining women's economic place in society. This was a time when a woman's financial alternatives often consisted of prostitution or manual labour on a wage which was lower than a man's for that matter, than a prostitute's. As Aleksandra Kollontai or, bourgeois observed, women in Russia struggled for university entrance because they were faced with the dilemma of poverty or winning the right to work: The desire of bourgeois women to gain accessto science and the higher benefits of culture was not the result of a sudden, maturing need but stemmed from that same question of "daily bread".89 Kollontai's first article, published in 1898, deals with the educational theories of Dobroliubov and the nature of environmental influence on 90 The article adheres to the views of Locke and Hume, children. rejecting the notion of inheritable tendencies, a notion which functioned as one of the most common arguments for preserving woman's narrow working existence as housewife. Over the following years, Kollontai wrote chiefly on workers' issues and the role of 91 She campaigned for equality on the basis of the proletarian woman. independent income which would allow freedom to and right work an in social and sexual interaction between men and women.92 In Finland, where the first Finnish-language girls' school leading to university founded in 1882,education was one of the issues most matriculation was by leading the actively promoted campaignersfor women's rights across the political spectrum. Female students in Finland were not satisfied had been granted to audit university courses,a the they permission with measure which answered the plea for general enlightenment but did not enable women to work within their chosen field of study. The very fact
Aleksandra Kollontai, Sotsial'nyeosnovyzhenskogo 89 voprosa,St Petersburg, K BBICUIHM RYXOBHbUd ABJIA31och BoBce He BHe3arrHO'CxpemneHHe 1909, (5iiaram, pA5; K HayKe, 6Emo >KeH=He rrOTPe6Hocrhio wo Bce Tm-)Ke "KycKa cmpewueftBi6yp. norrpoe NKya3HOA ' Translation from Alix Holt, trans. and ed., Selected Writings of Alexandra xneda". Kollontai: with an introduction and commentaries, London, 1977. Cathy Porter, Alexandra Kollontai, London, 1980,p.39. 90 Seebibliography of Kollontai's works in Holt, op. 91 cit., pp.321-37. 92 Porter, op. cit., p.39.

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that they were permitted to attend courses was often used to frustrate their demands for greater educational rights. 93 Women nevertheless 94 for the to persistently campaigned right sit university exams. Examinations, as well as teaching posts in colleges of higher education, required women to request 'special dispensation for their sex', a clause for enrolling in university courses after women increasingly employed 1885.95

The education of women was therefore a manifold issue at the end of the nineteenth century. Conservative objections to women's be in to continued raised reaction to every newly won access education to courses or establishments of learning, but the idea was widely endorsed in principle. It would improve the practical and moral standard a child would encounter in its early environment, leading to a more enlightened generation of adults. As such, the idea was firmly linked to the progressive political activity and ideology of the day. It for importantly first the the supporters of was, more woman's cause, for lot. improving woman's expedient 1.1.2 Child Development: Nature or Environment? Writers approached the matter of women's educational development from a number of perspectives. In fiction, as in theory, child psychology provided the starting point for an appraisal of the meaning of education. The emphasis was on environmental influence, with- the child most frequently cast as a victim of the brutal institutions of apparently 96 civilized society.
From the 1890s to the 1910s there are two authors in particular

who favoured child protagonists, FWor Sologub in Russia and Teuvo Pakkala in Finland. It is interesting to observe that while these authors' have little in in terms of thematic or stylistic else common works female the they attitudes reveal child about male and context,

Liisa Ketonen, Suomen tyttdoppikoulut autonomian aikana, Helsinki, 1977, p. 6093 ibid., p-6094 ibid., p. 113; 'erivapautus sukupuolestaan. ' 95 Examples are Chekhov's Spat' khochetsia(1888, 'Sleepy), Gippius' Mest' (1896, 96 'Revenge'), Kianto's Poikarukka (1909, 'Poor boy'), and Jotuni's Anita (1905), in which contact with the world of Adult responsibilities or morality is injurious to the child.

52 97 Historically, Pakkala's novels development are remarkably consistent. belong Sologub's Finnish to tradition, are stories realist while and short decadence. Pakkala concentrateson social Russian or symbolism part of description. He observes the conditions of life among the poorer classes, but his commentary on class conflict is implicit. Sologub by contrast human the of more sinister power games examines at close quarters frequently Pakkala's girls, child protagonists are more relationships. fantasy 98 be boys. Both to elaborate Sologub's to tend authors use while the child's perception of the world. The fantasy, no less than the reality, for distinct the important there expectations one point: are reiterates dangerous is female it to transgress. children which conduct of male and The two authors' different stance on the actuality of the danger danger is Sologub's In the these work only underlines expectations. (1896, Wall The the i Teni Svet his In and to story usually proved exist. Shadows,1977), the small boy Volodia's habit of playing with shadow images, an activity 'only fit for girls, ' results in a menacing, harmful fallacy. danger is 99 hand the Pakkala a suggests obsession. on the other His characterization of Liisa as a tomboy in the novels Vaaralla (1891,'At Vaara') and Elsa (1894)is a refutes the notion that boyish behaviour in a boys in 'feminine' destructive. is The qualities presence of girl invariably suggests perversity. They are indications of the feeble or the bizarre. The untypical behaviour of girls, perceived in terms of be it Even though is 'masculine' traits, may portrayed as positive. in the for a girl of masculinity essence social reasons, undesirable female. Thus is to the 'normality' than common represents a superior from a sociological standpoint, a child's natural, healthy instincts are Volodia's be in the to exemplified male. somehow understood like for him be is him it to a girl, tells playing wrong concerned mother for in both but boys' her by is games; mother enjoying and Liisa scolded
The presentcomparisonis founded on this relevant thematicbasis.The usual 97 (genre, inappropriate literary influence) for studies style, are often canons comparative are born of the male literary canon. to the female angle, since they themselves This fact itself is worthy of some speculation. On a realist level, girls may have 98 for least Pakkala, be the to subjects powerful as relevant exploitable, more most seemed Could it be, however, the that certain assumptions classes. also of working members here? Pakkala'sauthor-observer active/passive roles are at work male/female about his Sologub's protagonist, objectifies while authorial voice identifies narrative subjectively with his protagonist. Another possibility is that as readerswe only assume boys. it concerns Sologub'snarrative is more subjectivepreciselybecause St Petersburg,1913,VoI3, p.11; Rdor Sologub, Sveti teni, in Sobranie 99 sochinenii,
froxiaA mnbKo wm AeBoqey-'

53
female it is the aspect of the child which distresses the parent. cases, Volodia's mother notices that her son has inherited her asymmetric head and worries that his 'femininity' will lead to weakness, which (characteristically for Sologub) is indeed carried to the extreme of mental In Pakkala's novels no one fears that Liisa's boyish infirmity. inclinations will lead to an 'unfeminine' strength, but that the failure to her in physical vitality will result sexual misdemeanour. suppress This degeneracy of mind and body is perceived as the inevitable female is A 'bad' the unconstrained of character. character girl's result by heredity her inclination In to or natural amorality. explained (1899,Resurrection, 1966) the eighteen-yearTolstoi's novel Voskresenie her by Katiusha's is seduction and consequent pregnancy seen old depraved by 'she that guardians as evidence was nature, just spinster like her mother."00 In Pakkala's stories, the daughters of prostitutes are be fate to to the condemned same as their mothers. Adults understood be from in that taught the the conviction a girl must self-restraint act her from becoming bad in 'a to age order possible protect person', earliest 101 behaviour. frequently to repeated epithet which clearly relates sexual a In these novels, Pakkala and Tolstoi expose such assumptions as by They the make explicit role played circumstance and prejudice. but heroine fall instinct. does It than the rather seems not environrnent is individualistic in It is is Liisa the not seduced pushed-102 who she Pakkala's novel, but the angelic Elsa. She, like Tolstoi's Katiusha, is impelled by the romanticized expectations of love with which she has been inculcated as much as by the man who persuades her. They are both given the final push, Katiusha into prostitution, Elsa into madness, by society's belief in their guilt. The conditioning provided by the child's environment appears as the main culprit. While authors criticize the separate behavioural female, they maintain a view of separate and of male expectations behavioural response. The psychological portraits of girls show them as
100
maTb. '

in, op.cit., Vol. 13, p. 70; 'Ohmapa: 3BpaI4eHHaA. Tolstoi, Voskresenie,

TaKaA Xe,

KaK H

Teuvo Pakkala, Elsa, in Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1921-22, Vol. 2, e.g. p-63; 'huono 101 ihminen'. With regard to Tolstoi it must be said that the heroine is always ready to be 102 he in this sense maintains the view of natural inclination to amorality: and pushed, instinctively women simply know no better, but it would be possible, in his view, to train is of male them to know better, as we shall see. Tolstoi's criticism in Voskresenie behaviour and social attitudes which do not protect or rescue women from their tendency to be 'pushed'.

54

passive receptacles of the social forces that surround them. Unable to resist them, they soon fuse with them in adulthood. The female lacks an active quality, possessed by the male, which would give her dimension in relief to her environment. Young men, whether cynical or complacent, are viewed as wilful agents of their behaviour.103 Young women by contrast, are not so much corrupted by the negative influences around them as simply assimilated by them. This is the case with Tolstoi's Katiusha as well as Elsa's prostitute alter-ego, Mari, in Pakkala's novel. In Kuprin's story Reka zhizni (1906, River of Life, 1916),the thirteen year-old Alechka's precocity implies a carbon copy of her closest companion, a prostitute. 104 The naivety of Leino's Jaana R6nty in his novel of the same name (1907) similarly makes her into a tabula rasa for a description of social ills. Despite any apparent role of agent in the narrative, such types expressno essence of self. They equate with the objectified world depicted by the author. Alechka and Jaanaare neither without knowledge nor without innocence. Neither in conflict nor in harmony with their environment, they simply are their environment. 105 The absenceof an active dimension in the female personality does not exclude the notion of women's manipulative intent. Alechka's 'Strange, modest, tender and simultaneously sensual, somehow 106 instinct. In Kuprin's story Molokh is expectant smile' a practised (1896)Nina displays this quality more explicitly: Bobrov's loving gaze fixed upon her - all this electrified her into the state in which hysterical natures lie with such charm and inspiration, and so unwittingly. (...) Nina realized by her infallible feminine intuition that just then Kvashnin was looking at her 107 her. talking about and
kol'tso (1915,The Green 103 Examplesof this are Sergein Gippius' play ZelFnoe Ring, 1920),who is not corrupted by participating in the official systemof education,and the title character of Kallas' Ants Raudjalg(1907),who resists the implications of his heritage of serfdom. ' Moscow, 1957-58, Vol. 104 4. Aleksandr Kuprin, Rekazhizni, in Sobranie sochinenii, Seep.66 for description of Alechka. It is significant that, despite widespreadrecognition of the unwholesomenature 105 of girls' upbringing at the end of the nineteenthcentury, the most elaboratestudiesof depersonificationthrough educationand environmentare never studiesof women. For exampleboth Leino and Andreev, for whom this is a major theme,castwomen as a lifeforce in the external environment with which men alone interact. Kuprin, Rekazhizni, in opxit., VoIA, p.66; 'ynj-i(5a=A cTPaHHOA, CKPOMHOA, 106 ' YR1616KOrl. raKok-To To HeWHOrl HB oxnamnerl xe BpemA CnaAOCrPaCTHOri Bodpona mriu[A W1106JICHMIA 'Ha Kuprin, Motokh,in op. 107 cede cit., Vol.2, pp3940; Bce 3m COCTOAHKA, B KOTOPOM HCTCPH'qHEie Haryphi Toro jiryr TaK Ha3neKIPH3OBanO eeAo

55

For Tolstoi especially,it is women's peculiar perversity that they are husband hunter's Instinct is It the seekers of calculating. unconsciously like Nfissi in Resurrection, who:
be believe he had trained herself [ZrpHyqHjla to that ce6. would ql hers (not that she would belong to him, but that he would belong to her), and she pursued her ambitions with the unconscious but 108 the spiritually afflicted. persistent cunning of Tolstoi's bracketed comment underlines the aberration in Missi's in favour lies Herein the argument of women's remarital aims. Russian Finnish Both writers portray girls as spirited, and education. full but in promise, growing up a society and of alert, adventurous (1885, behaviour In Papin tyhyr as unsuitable. which condemns such 'The priest's daughter'), Aho, like Tolstoi, rejects the creation of wellbred ladies, of useless porcelain dolls, in favour of a more personally fulfilling upbringing. Authors see the natural vitality of childhood as a boys between However, just form this and girls. as equality of positive does not challenge a preconception of male-female activeequality does it in the challenge status quo adulthood. neither passive response, The meaning of personal fulfilment for Aho's Elli in Papin tytar will not 109 is for her in love. desire It beyond true the own submission extend in be in Liisa to tomboy Pakkala's continues exceptional adulthood, that but hypocritical her life morality, and ambitions remain a that she resists be devoted is, to than and wants she no more a model of convention: is boys Pakkala's that message playing games will not mother. wife and 110 house future. This is from in to the the case play wanting girls stop for women's enlightenment expressed by both Finnish and Russian become In to their aspirations a wife and mother, women writers. be love, by in learn to childhood governed sincere, realistic should

(... ) HHHa (Se3OIUH601IHhIM UK He3aMeTHO H CamHx ARR CC6A. rrxeHHMbHO TaK B)JOXHOBeHHO, KBaMHHH HaHee cmoTpHT MTO H0 HeR roBopHT B nOHAMv HmeHHO ; KeHCXHM RYTICM MHHM-' Ha=AIUYIO 108 in Tolstoi, Voskresenie, 'rrpHyqHjia Vol. 13, 98-99; cif., op. pp. X MbICJIH, qM ce(SA OH

15=03HMMHOR, C OH OHa XMPOCTWO, yrrOPHOR HO 6yAeT (He ero, a ee), H oHa tsyzer ee ' (Sbn3wT AOCTHrana CBMA AyiueBH060JTbHb]X, UenH. y Molo, maA Explored in the sequel to Papin tytdr, Papin rouva (1893, 'The priest's wife'). 109 Liisa also appears as the protagonist in Pakkala's story PoikatytW (1895, 110 -Tomboy), where she enjoys horse riding and scrapes with the boys, but her dream is to become a seamans wife (Pakkala, in op-cit., Vol. 2, p.343).

56
rather than by the dictates of finance and reputation among the rich, or of ignorance and illusion among the poor. The appeal in literature for more enlightened wives and mothers echoesthe most often used feminist defence of a more liberal education for girls. One author to add a more complex interpretation of how girls grow into women is Minna Canth in Finland. In her play Sylvi (1893), the title heroine also reflects an instinct of childish wilfulness combined with a yearning for wifely submissiveness. Canth's messagediffers from Pakkala's however, in that unlike Liisa, Sylvi is unable to reconcile these elements of her personality. Sylvi gradually displays a mental unbalance characterized by schizophrenic symptoms: withdrawal from reality, delusion, social apathy and emotional instability. Canth demonstrates that schizophrenia is woman's environmental training, imposed by the conflicting identity roles she is expected to adopt. Sylvi is eighteen, with a husband, Aksel, eighteen years her senior. She is visited by a childhood friend, Viktor, with whom she falls in love. She is constantly referred to as 'little Sylvi, ' 'little cousin,' or 'my little wife' by the men her. These men allow her no adult social participation, to who are close but demand that she conform to their adult social code. She must simply obey, like a child, without any recognition of her will. 111 Failing to assert her identity as a woman, she will subside into a permanent, insane childhood by the end of the play, repeating 'it's me, your little pussycat. '112 Canth often explores woman's identity as a struggle between the roles she is given as a 'child', devoid of legal and social determine her life, to the course of and as an adult, considered rights fully responsible for her fate.113

Ill In the dialogue betweenAksel and Sylvi, Sylvi repeatedlyuses the first person pronoun mind,the useof which is emphaticin Finnish. Axel's speechis a sequence of expressiontypical of a parent scolding a child. Minna Canth, Sylvi, in Kootut teokset, Helsinki, 1917-20, VoIA, pp.220-22.Later, in responseto commentson the play's ferriinist themes,Canth expressedher hope that the play might bear an influence on raising the legal marriageableage. SeeCanth, Kirieitd vuosilta 1860-1897, in op. cit., Vol.5, p.464. ibid., p.251; 'minA se olen, pikku kissimirri. ' 112 113 This themeis arguably the single most consistent current in Canth'swork, although there is no comprehensivestudy of it. Other explicit examplesof 'child' status in adulthood can be found in Salakari(1887,'Submergedreef) and Papinperhe(1891, 'The priest's fan-dly');implicit examplesare in Tydmiehen vaimo (1885,7he worker's wife') and Anna Liisa (1895). The implication is that disallowed any adult status except as the guilty party, women are effectively denied existence.Where women try to exist (through actsof despair),they are banishedfrom societyin death, madnessor prison.

57

1.1.3Woman as a Role Model The point Canth makes finds a parallel in literature. If the wrong found be in to the child's environment,, then it models are educational is mothers above all who are held to be the guilty party. While the be instinct idealized it is may as woman's vocational role, maternal invariably bad influence the mother who appears as a on precisely for Reasons differ in this specifically on and girls. emphasis children, between Finland and Russia. Canth in particular, as well as Pakkala, Talvio and Aho, argue that woman's negative influence stems from her fears, Aho Pakkala fostered by the and emphasize often powerlessness. force belief, daughters into that to their the same cause women religious The themselves. as subjection authors' argument is against of state ignorance and prejudice. Talvio presents another view of ignorance in Muuan Oti (1904, 'Any mother'). The mother of the story finds she is helpless in the face of her son's sexual impropriety. She has both but her judgement, knowledge is and moral powerless: awareness ignorance. demands This that she pretend sense of guilty society inadequacy also characterizes the mothers in Canth's plays Papin perhe (1895). Lffsa Anna and Russian writers, by contrast, mainly portray woman's destructive impulse within the family as her capacity to influence. The forceful wife for in Tolstoi, Gor'kii the appears, example, work of mother and and Kuprin. She is a type cast in the mould of the mother in Strindberg's (1887, Fadren 'The Father'), who combines the capacity for selftragedy interest and sacrifice. The mother figure is selfishly motivated on behalf The instinct is but has it her the maternal child. essentially positive, of become in to the many over-bearing perversely channelled, as potential Sologub's The instinct be this the stories. strength of of can mothers dominance functions matriarchal a ruthless of which against the source interests of the children in the long run. In Gorkii's play Vassa Zheleznova (1910), the mother's energy is directed at acquiring the family wealth, at the expense of the mental and physical health of her 114 For Tolstoi, lies in the the mother's real perniciousness offspring. best interest. In Voskresenie, the wife of of a child's misconception
The reference is to the first version of the play, which was revised in the 1930s. 114 The subtitle to the play is 'a mother, ' and Vassa Zheleznova is the antithesis of 'the mother', the sacrificial, universal, earth-mother type Gor'kii idealizes in his novel Mat' (1906-08, Mother, 19.54).

58

Senator Selenin brings up her daughter according to the vanities of high society. In such cases, the sexual morality of this type becomes questionable. Selenin's wife refuses to have more than one child, which in Tolstoi signifies both promiscuity and unnaturalness.115 Similarly, Kuprin hints at the promiscuity of Nina's mother in Molokh, a woman whose main concern is the marriage market for her daughters. As a role model, the authors maintain, this type teachesprostitution. 1.1.4Woman as Man's Pupil Woman's distorted and distorting view of the world is part of the argument for her moral enlightenment. Tolstoi writes:
women know perfectly well that the most elevated love - the most "poetic", as we call it - depends not on moral qualities but on physical proximity and also on things like hair-style, or the colour 116 dress. the and cut of a

If women set a bad example, men are guilty by neglect. Tolstoi's 'women who know' are those 'who've undergone the "education" provided by men.'117 The notion that it is men who have the ability and perception to improve women's moral character emerges in both Finnish and Russian literature. Elli of Aho's Papin rouva finds her mind expanded by her conversations with Olavi Kalm, the young student she falls in love with amid discussions about modern heroines such as Tolstoi's Anna Karenina or Ibsen's Nora. Elli is stifled by her loveless marriage. Her fulfilment would lie in her having the right male guardian. Likewise, the title heroine of Jirnefelt's novel Helena (1902) develops her social consciencein relation to the men she meets. Helena is more independent of thought than the average Russian heroine, but her attempts at action fail until, as a wife, she takes on a supportive rather than a determining role. Helena is the ideal of the'woman who stands
In other words, Tolstoi's view of contraception, rather than chastity, as 115 elaborated in Posleslovie k 'Kreitserovoi sonate' (Postface to The Kreutzer Sonata, 1985), in op.cit., Vol. 12, pp. 197-211. 116 Tolstoi, Kreitserova sonata (1889, The Kreutzer Sonata, 1985), in op-cit., Vol. 12, p. 138; 'XCHUXHHEJ. )Ke 3Haxyr oqeHh XOPOMO qM camaA Bo3Bi6iiueHHas, rrO3THqecKaq, KaK mLj ee MlqeCKOA (SJIH30CTH H AOCTOHHCTB, HpaBCTBeHHBIX saBHCHT He Ha3hiBaem, a cyr orr jim6oBb nPHTOM nPHt1eCKH, IjBeTa, rTOKPOA miamn. ' Translation of this and all subsequent qotations from the novel are from the version in The Kreutzer Sonataand other stories, trans. David McDuff, London, 1985.
117 ibid., ' 139; 'OCO(5eHHO, IUKOJIY. MY)KCKY1O TrPO1ffejj1UHe p.

59

behind every good man'. Women writers are more sceptical about the Idea of a solution in male guardianship. As already shown, Canth's play Sylvi demonstrates that even the most loving, sincere male protection falls far short of woman's need for her own freedom. Neither Sylvi's husband nor her admirer is capable of acting in her interest. Sylvi by because be her these the they men, socialized only offer choice cannot in adulthood is the denial of her self. She poisons her husband in a desperateattempt to break from paternal guardianship. In jail, she is left is left Mad, the periphery of society. she on on the periphery physically having determine her For life, in in humanity. tried to own course of both mind and body Sylvi's existencehas been eliminated. The romantic woman disciple of intellectual man has a noticeable literature, in Russian from Pushkin's nineteenth-century tradition Tatiana to Turgenev's Elena.118 No less than the morally corrupt in is forces. than too effect no more a receptacle she of external woman, the clichd of social guilt, is simply The added quality of her restlessness, forces. her lies The in these the adoption of the sum of action of one loves, in development the the convictions of man she not philosophical Of intellectual Tatiana Elena, Andrew Joe her conclusions. and own of 119 Beauties'. 'Sleeping This heroine is the type analogy uses of accurately (1898, Chekhov's in Dushechka Angel, 1975). The story's parodied Olenka, the speaks words and thinks the thoughts of with protagonist, her various husbands. Chekhov's irony is astute: Olenka's personality her blank for environment, and she remains with a page even equates 120 Olenka's portrait is absurd. Her adherence to each the reader. husband's opinions is as fatuous as the opinions themselves are inane. More'often, this pattern is a serious didactic model for woman's hero A knowledge the male contributes which the enlightenment. female adopts thanks to an instinct rooted in love. In Tolstoi's Voskresenie, it is the hero Nekhliudov who will bring moral Katiusha Maslova. Through his her to efforts she rejects enlightenment life of prostitution. Nekhliudov's own resurrection is provoked by his his (his the of consequences of actions carefree seduction of realization
in Russian Literature1780-1863, London, Seefor exampleJoeAndrew, Women 118 1988. As the author aptly points out in the caseof Elena:'she is the pupil, the man is the ' (p.154) teacher. ibid., p-154119 Of Olenka, BarbaraHeldt has remarked: 'Chekhov has given us an outline of a 120 fill like. Barbara in ' Heldt, Terrible 52. Perfection, that as we we p. character

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Katiusha). His is a moral and intellectual rebirth with definite sociopolitical implications. Maslova's resurrection is a purely emotional rehabilitation, the result of her rekindled love for Nekhliudov. Similarly, even the title heroine of Gor'kii's novel Mat' (1908,Mother, 1954), the period's most established literary model of female political enlightenment, undergoes an instinctive, rather than rational, education, with her son as the teacher. If love can make a woman see the light, then it is man's duty to Men are seen to fail in their educational awaken that love. responsibilities towards women when they neglect the teacher-pupil love relationship. In Chekhov's Volodia bolshoi i Volodia malenkii (1893, The Two Volodyas,1978)Sofia states: I'm an insignificant, worthless, immoral, half-witted woman. I've made masses and masses of mistakes, I'm a nervous wreck, I'm corrupt so I deserve contempt. But you're ten years older than me Volodya, aren't you? And my husband's thirty years older. You watched me grow up, and if you wanted you could have made anything of me you liked - an angel, even.121
1.1.5 Formal Education: the Russian View

In Chekhov's story, Sofia complains of the level of the younger Volodia's conversation with her: "You're a successfulscholar, you love academic work, but why oh do you never speak to me of that? Am I unworthy? " why "Whence this sudden yearning for scholarship?" Small Volodia frowned irritatedly. "Perhaps you yearn for constitutional Or perhaps you'd prefer sturgeon with government? horseradish?"122

moxeT,

121 Anton Chekhov, Volodia bolshoii Volodia malen'kii, in PoInoesobranie 'A HHIqT0)KHaA, i Moscow, Vol. tridtsati tomakh, 1974-1982, 8, 2Z; sochinenii pise? nv p. APAHHaA, (5e3npHHuHrrHaA, meHA TEma, OIUH(50K, rTCHXOrraTKa, A Y =eKaA He; xeHUIHHa... Thma H meHA 3a 3To Ho ACCATh Bonw, HaAo. Be; tb MeHA Ha Hcrrop, npe3HpaTh cTapine qeHHaA, Bw, 6EJ Ha TPH=Tb Ha Bbi 3axoTenH, H A a cTaptue neT, m)rxc meHA p=a rna=, neT. BaiuHx eCnH 6bi aenaTh To morim H3 meHA Bce, irro BamyroAHo. xoTh ' Translationof this and allrexa. all subsequent quotations from Chekhov'sstoriesare taken from Ronald Hingley, ed. and London, 1964-78, Vols 7: Stories1893-1895 (1978);8: Stories trans., The Oxford Chekhov, 1895-1897 (1965);9: Stories1898-1904 (1975). yqeHbIri, Bbi nWHTe KaK HaYKY, Ho 122 ibid., p.223;'Bbl HmeeTe mero Bbi ycnex HHKorAa He CO MHOPI 0 C"ero? A He; HayKe? roBopHTe xocTorlHa? H rI0M0PIIjHJICR BonoAx cKa=: maneHWHIR AocaARHBO IIJIH, MOACT, XOTHTe KOHCTHTYIXHH? TaK HaYKH 3To Dmero A, BApyr 3axo=och? Bam '
ceBpKMHHbl C xpeHOM?

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Chekhov's portrait of Volodia is sarcastic,but it accurately reflects the common attitude towards the level and usefulness of women's formal higher education in Russia. At their most positive, women's descriptive teaching posts are simply or presented as a motif of courses Otherwise, woman's intellectual the female revolutionary. improvement is usually portrayed as the rather misguided indulgence of the moneyed classes. Books offer scant comfort in the absence of from far being love, the tools of woman's and are romantic dismissal his Tolstoi's is based of women's education on emancipation. belief that, like all other forms of official equality, it is irrelevant so long 123 instrument 'an The pleasure'. remains of majority of woman as women are: hysterical ill, and unhappy, as are all those who are mentally denied the opportunity of spiritual development. Schools and universities can do nothing to change this.( ) The ... fact that this one is rather good at mathematics, and that one can 124 harp the that alters nothing. play Tolstoi is making no comment on women's inherent capacity to be in fact life, but to the participate aspects or other of public on educated lies in the the of of equality problem that crux woman's sexuality. The is in Tolstoi's her view chastity, and woman's recognition of solution highest For: the as state. own virginity As long as this is lacking, the ideal of every girl, no matter how be to attract as many men, as many males, as educated, will well 125 she can. The link Tolstoi repeatedly makes between women's marital ambitions indeed is their the point raises a germane erudition question: what and Tolstoi's is double Prophetic in its women? view edged. of educating legal lead that to of an extension rights will not automatically statement it also suggests that these rights themselves are attitudes, a change of Writers to women. are concerned with the education of superfluous
123 124
'OPY; XHe Kreitserova in Vol. 12, 154; Tolstoi, sonata, op. cit., p. HacxaxueHHA'. 155; '(SOJILHOrl AyMeBHO, HCTepHlqHOrf. HecucTHOR, p. KaKHC OHH H ecm, 6e3 ibid., ; XYXOBHoro pa3BHTHA.

Bo3mOXMOCTK

A m, MTOOAHa rroftihiue rHMHa3HH H KYPCbl He moryT H3MCHHn 3Toro. (. -) ' pyraA YM= ape, a HrpaTh Ha 3TO HHICrO HC H3MCHHT. maTeMaTHKH, -

3HaCT

125
mo"o

ibid.,p.155;'rloKa)Ke3TorO

HCT, HAMA

BCAKOA ; XeBY111KH,KaKOe 6bl HH 6bMO eC MOXHO 60JIbUle MYNNHH, KaK

06pa3OBaHHe,

OyAeTBCe-TaKH 7W, qTO(5b[ npHB]IeMb K CC(Se Kax 6omme camum. '

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wives, not independent women. The suggestion of woman's knowledge A Russian outside marriage even implies lack of respectability. euphemism for a brothel was a 'boarding school'. Kuprin uses the idiom in his novel Iama (1909-1916,The Pit, 1924),set in a brothel, when he refers to the prostitutes as 'boarding school misses'. 126 Education alone provides no solution, but a more enlightened approach to a woman's mental and emotional development can provide happiness. In Gor'kii's novel Foma Cordeev (1899, Foma Gordeyev, 1955),the main female protagonist Liuba, like the title hero, is alienated from the values of her merchant class. She seeks answers in books. These confirm her dissatisfaction with her role in life but do not help her to cultivate her own identity. Foma considers Liuba's words to be 'false and borrowed'. 127 Books fail to satisfy her longing for romantic love. The eventual match she makes will resolve her discontent becauseof her fiancd's appreciation of her erudite mind. Unlike Foma, who suffers from the irreconcilable angst of the socially conscious Russian hero, Liuba finds a happy compromise in marriage. Gor'kii's portrait of Liuba is sympathetic, despite her final acceptanceof the merchant class and despite Gor'kii's reserve over the her value of reading. Gor'kii shows us that Liuba is sincere, and that her discontent with the commercial nature of marriage is justified. We must assume that her enlightenment, as well as her destiny, is 'according to the measure' of her womanhood. On many occasions, such intellectual self-improvement is simply ridiculed. Some of the most satirical portraits of educated woman are to be found in Gippius' work. Gippius not only suggests the total inadequacy of the female intellect, but also implies that the application of knowledge is simply a feminine facet traditional modern of vanity. In her story Odinokii (1896, 'Lonely'), Gippius; paints the portrait of an earnest, ordinary young girl did who, although she not complete her schooling, reads Spencer,Hume

P. 101; 't[Y)KHMH

'KaK HHCTHTYTXH' 126 Kuprin, Iama,in op. Vol-5, cit., p.22; and p.24, where the atmosphereof the brothel is marked with the same 'hysterical sentimentality as in femaleboarding schools'(HCTepHqHaA ceHTHmeHTanhH0CTh, KaK HB >KeHCKHx rraHc HOHax'). Seealso Chap.6 (pp35-43), in which the dialogue betweena male teacherclient and the prostitutesreproducesthe impressionof a classroom. in Sobranie Moscow, 1960-63,Vol.3, 127 Maksim Gor'kii, FomaGordeev, sochinenii, eft H 6eCT011KOBbIMH'.

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128 in discussions 'the Her joins She Mill. abstract subjects'. on most and indulgence in 'serious' literature is shown to be an affectation which:

did not prevent her from arguing with her younger brother over from dancing from balls, at or enjoying novels very chocolates, 129 indeed. much Likewise the governess in the story Kaban (1897, 'Wild boar') is Gippius female irony her the to usual which applies with portrayed characters who consider themselves well-informed: Liudmila Fedorovna already informed me that she would be for higher in the the autumn, and that courses women attending her brother had her "opened her "shown the eyes" and generally 130 way". Subsequently, Liudmila confesses that she does not understand the her lends her. brother books A classic stereotype of the rationalist 'clever' woman of the petty bourgeoisie appears in Kuprin's Molokh.: Beta was considered intelligent, wore a pince-nez, and, they said, had even hoped to attend coursesat some time.131
In conversation Beta has all the skill of a belligerent elephant. 132

1.1.6 Formal Education: the Finnish View

association of Beta with women's courses mocks the like Beta the as as well of women nature of women's ambitions Beta's type of small-minded, spinster small-town, education. intellectual also makes her appearance in Finnish writing, as in the in Mellin Mili Talvio's Muuan For diti. the of most character minor Finnish less however, are much writers prepared to criticize the part, institution formal The itself is education. seen as progressive. of value Kuprin's
Gippius, Odinokii,in NovyeLiudi, St Petersburg,1896p375, 'o camwx mnelieHHBIX ripeAme-rax'. 6pamm c-bexxCHHbIX rHMHa3ttcTlom H3-3a ccopHTbcx '3TO erk memana c ibid., He 129 p-375; TaHIJOBaTh Ha l5aJlaX ' KojjCKT, moftm pomaHm. H OqCHb St Petersburg,1901p.273; 'Illoamma Gippius, Kaban,in Tretia kniga rasskazov, 130 OCeHb]O OHa elleT Ha BbICUlHe )KCHCKHe KYpCbl H WO MTO cooftmma mHc. yxce oe;jopoma ' H rTyTb". "yica= "orrypbm (5paT erl rma3a" B0061ge HocHna neHCHe H, YMHHIICrf, Voll, Molokh, in 15; 'BeTa cqmwacb Kuprin, 131 op. cit., p. ' rIOCTYnHTb Ha KYPCbl. xoTena KaK rowpmm, AaXeKorAa-To ibid., p. 16. 132 128

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Where women are concerned, its shortcomings lie in the opportunities for applying the knowledge they acquire. In her story LaulaJa(1895,'The Singer'), Canth contrasts the fates of-a daughter and an adopted son. The by demonstrates the that careers are pre-determined author women's domestic responsibilities they bear, regardless of their education. The daughter was an exceptional student at school, but is left to care for and her her her on earnings, support mother meagre while rich, adopted brother, a wastrel throughout his childhood, enjoys international fame, and travel, as a singer. It is not female education which is to blame, but the narrow destiny which has been reserved for women. In this sense Canth's view is a reversal of Tolstoi's. Tolstoi asks what is the point of educating women when there is a much more pressing, unresolved element of inequality (notably sexual exploitation). Canth asks how can so many aspects of inequality (notably economic exploitation) still exist when education proves that women are equally capable and intelligent. Knowledge represents liberation in Canth's work, while the home is both a literal and allegorical materialization of woman's imprisonment. In her story and play Kotoa pois (story 1893, play 1895, 'Away from home'), Canth's faith in education also outweighs the 6or'kii's Foma Gordeev, Fanny attraction of marriage. Like Liuba in finds that her potential groom is not antipathetic to her. Unlike Liuba however, the educated Fanny categorically rejects marriage as an intolerable, humiliating trade within the merchant class, in favour of a career as a school teacher in a remote village. Canth suggests that the geographical isolation will not be so great as the isolation of marriage. Fanny's choice is a necessity both personally (she herself will not be sold), and politically (she will not participate in the institution of marriage as a trade), in order to maintain her sense of self. Liuba (Gor'kii) believes in enlightened marriage. Fanny (Canth) is not convinced. The positive value of education is also underlined in Pakkala's portrayal of Elsa's mother in Elsa,a widow who is able to read and write, is it in her the to needed. and who puts use community when skill Among the poorer classesin general, it is frequently women, rather than men, who are able to read. This is particularly so in works which appear later in the period, such as Kianto's novel Punainen viiva (1909, 'The Red Mark') or Jotuni's story Aappo (1913). In both cases,reading ability Kianto's In the the novel, rural world. outside with contact signifies

65 from knowledge the a polling regulations of new community acquires In jotuni's the title the story, newspaper. wife who reads shoemaker's hero learns about foreign lands from Anna, a young woman who reads is him When Anna Aappo to to others. courted, and realizes regularly 133 'now they took the reader,the reader, and he marries her himself. This detail in theseworks reflects a social reality. They describe in Finnish the established reading groups the effects of women's is in 1890s. Although the a positive value placed on countryside its to must read and one not overestimate write, woman's ability independence. for Above this the skill all, of value women's meaning These in its the to the women, of rural and community. service appears function knowledge As to transmit their others. such working classes, they also benefit has class,rather than gendersignificance.Nevertheless, from In Jotuni's 'Anna the their story, was skill. given personally in Anna, Kianto's '134 duty the and shoemaker's wife of reader. official in by 'readers', identity both that the their way as roles given are novel, hope identify Books symbols social place. are of merVs careersgenerally books To is disillusion in Finnish to than resign writing. give up rather (1901, hiYvitys Pimedn In Talvio's identity. pirtin novel one's books farmhouse'), her dark burning the a woman 'Destroying her her denial ideals her the of and abandonment of symbolizes personality.
Formal education does have a negative side when it is associated learning. breeding This is idea to the as opposed of good expressed with it is the non-Finnish phenomenon: a mannerism of central as uniquely European culture. Aho criticizes the mannered schooling girls receive at Swedish speaking schools, and jiimefelt paints a. negative portrait of 135 French, It is the cultural European, education. particularly , Empire Russian the the of severest centres which receive cosmopolitan (1895), Agnes Canth's heroine In the the title novel most was criticism. her in Finland, but is into transformed a sort school at pupil promising St frivolous life-style i, the of of superfluous woman after participating n (1913, 'The In Leino's short novel Seikkaffliatar Petersburg.

Helsinki, 1930,Vol. 1, p.180; 'Lukijan, Maria jotuni, Aappo,in Kootut Teokset, 133 lukijan ne nyt Usti veiv3t'. ibid., p. 179; 'Anna sai toin-dttaalukijan virkaa.' 134 Aho's unschooled Elli in Papin tytdr contrasts favourably with the doll-like, 135 Hedwig. Tn jSmefelt's Helena's is Tyyra novel, attributed spirited personality obedient to her lack of education.

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life Russian and literature, the clue to the adventuress'), a satire of heroine ZaYda'sdecadent tendencies lies in the fact that her father sent her to the city to receive an education. The father, a farmer from the Caucasus,was adamant that 'first ZaYdamust acquire an education, an (sivistys) foreign is '136 It consists of an education which education. languages and liqueurs, French and Italian songs, and fashions from Vienna. Leino parodies the Europeanization of Russian culture. The begins lesson decadence St in to true she elopes when adventuress' Petersburg.
1.1.7 Conclusion

Above all, it is the attitude towards women's formal education which differs between Finland and Russia. This reflects writers' differing attitudes towards the nature of women's enlightenment as an element of universal and national progress. Themes which relate to women's educational potential are duplicated in the literatures of both countries. The equal vitality of girls, woman as a perpetuator of negative influences, and man's guiding role are all features of the general view of woman's educational progress. The subject of formal education highlights the extent to which women's issues became integrated into the general progressive ideology In Russia, formal education represented the of each nation. establishment, and therefore came under attack for its inadequacies. While writers recognized the need for enlightenment, institutionalized bureaucracy immovable education was seen as part of a massive, breeding mediocrity. Portraits of teachers tend to express the idea that hands direction, in the the of are social control, and nation's spiritual the incompetent. 137 In Finland, education was a literal and accessible economic necessity, and therefore' represented progress rather than stagnation. The linguistic element, itself at the root of national awakening, also gave education symbolic meaning. Institutions which

Helsinki, 1929-31,Vol. 12, p-6; 136 Eino Leino, Seikkailiiatar,in Kootut teokset, ' lennen tAytyy Zaldan saada sivistystd, sivistystA. (1894,The Russian SeeChekhov's portraits of teachers,e.g. Uchitel' slovesnosti 137 (1897,In the Cart, 1965),and Chelovek Master, 1978),Na podvode, v futtiare (1898,A dykhanie 1975),or Bunirfs and Sologub'sportrayals of schools,e.g. Legkoe Hard Case, (1916,Light breathing,1923)and Melkii bes(1907,The Petty Demon,1983) respectively.

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learning facet represented a of cultural resistance to encourage 138 russification. In Finland, the female school teacher symbolizes not only a for independence but also a source of social progress. The capacity Aho's Hovineuvoksetar (1899, 'The judge's wife') Is a of story narrator female schoolteachercollecting money for books. She states: it is precisely we, the teachers and educators of our people, who can achieve the most at this time-139 The gulf between intellectuals and the 'people' was much greater in Russia. This left many idealists with a senseof impotence, expressedby (1896,The Artist's Story, 1965). Chekhov in his story Dom s mezoninom The narrator feels Lidiia's teaching and social work is an empty He states: achievement. It's not reading our people need,, it's freedom to develop their 140 powers. spiritual

1.2 Literary Reflections of Women's Role in the Economic Structure 1.2.1 Background: Women's Employment Status Whatever its spiritual significance for the nation, teaching was a suitable job for a woman. As has been shown, woman's education was inseparable from her function in society. This function began to take on increasing economic importance as women entered the job market. While motherhood in marital dependence was still perceived as issue the natural ambition, of woman's employment was woman's both for to socialist and conservative campaigns women's rights. central Liberal right-wing politics recognized the problem of the unmarried
Kianto's story Kuntakokous Pimediarvelld Mistrict meeting in Pime5jarvi') in 138 (1909, 'Minor Sins) Pikku synf4d stresses the importance of maintaining a the collection but library a small as vital step towards greater autonomy. village Juhani Aho, Hovineuvoksetar, in Kootut teokset, Helsinki, 1952-54, Vol. 6, p. 150; 139 ,juuri me kansan opettajat ja kansan kasvattaiat, t3tS nykyd eniten voimme. ' The teacher is one of only three female portraits (the others are identified as a mother and a Kataidinen kansani (1899, in the 'My people of juniper') which collection widow) forty in prose pieces support of the national cause. over contains Chekhov, Dom s mezoninom,in op-cit., Vol-9, p. 186; 'He rpaMOTHocTh HyxHa, a 140
CB06OAa AM MHPOKoro UPOAnaeHHA AYXOBHbIX crrOC06HOCTCA. '

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for had become Paid women woman's means of support. work a necessary alternative to the unpaid work of wives and mothers. The move towards industrialization meant the gradual disappearance of an for dependence the unmarried women of the assured economic propertied classes. At the same time, women with an education could by destiny defined longer be the narrow marriage. no satisfied with August Bebel's Die Frau und der Sozialismus (1879) became one defence in influential the quoted works of woman's of and often most right to work. 141 Together with the writings of Clara Zetkin, it set the tone of the woman's movement on the left. In Russia, Bebel and Zetkin inspired Nadezhda Krupskaia's underground work Zhenshchinarabotnitsa (1901, 'The Woman Worker'), which emphasized the plight 142 factory In Finland, the of peasant women and women workers. Women's Workers Union, founded in 1900, gradually moulded its political outlook in line with Bebel and Zetkin as their works appeared in translation.143 The socialist debate centered on how to protect women from economic exploitation. Keeping women in the home was seen by some as a valid alternative, but the economic realities of early industrialized society meant that the only practical option was to offer better legal Their conditions women of employment. rights, opportunities through education, maternity considerations, and safety in dangerous industries became the major immediate pragmatic concerns. This was the broad, international socialist attitude during the period from 1889to 1914.144 Within socialist and liberal theory the question of employment for women was firmly founded on women's basic need to work in order to live. The link between work and poverty as a socio-economic issue liberation link in philosophical between the ran alongside work and For women, the issue appeared twofold: economic enquiry. independence could confer equality just as labour itself could confer human dignity. Feminists sought personal fulfilment in useful endeavour. Women socialists stressed the liberating possibilities of
in 141 Bebel Zetkin Russiasee influence For an outline of Bebel's the of and and work Stites,op. in the Finnish context seeSylvi cit., pp.23343. For a similar assessment historia, Pori, 1953,pp.65-70. Bebel's work Kyllikki Kilpi, Suomenty6ldisnaisIfikkeen was translatedinto Russianby at least 1895and into Finnish in 1903. Stites, op-cit., p.241. 142 Helena Laisi, 'Suomen vanhasta ty6l5isnaisliikkeestd' in Naiskuvisfa 143 todellisuuteen: tutkimusndkAulmia naishistoriaan,Helsinki, 1984, p.114. Evans, op. 144 cit., p.159.

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it But was also true that most conditions of work conferred very work. little human dignity on either men or women. The history of woman's just how independence reveals elusive economic employment despite the newly emerging social group of professional and remained, both In Finland and Russia, the majority of women in working women. paid employment at the end of the nineteenth century worked as domestic servants. Historians of both countries have pointed out the 145 in Neither was employment this of conditions work sector. slave-like for those with an education. In both Finland and an easy solution Russia, the pre-industrial period created a gap in the employment difficult Access to professions remained as prejudices over market. woments capabilities persisted. Nevertheless, women's labour, traditionally invisible, acquired a in A vision of the economic structure. profile obvious more independence from the dual yoke of poverty and man provoked for in home. In Russia, the a search place society outside women's had into factories. taken the The the peasant woman urbanization telegraph service came to be identified as a woman's occupation, initially for female Universityof work relatives male employees. providing level courses produced a number of physicians, teachers, lawyers and 146 In Finland, women also entered the textile and tobacco engineers. factories. They worked in various administrative posts in teaching, banks, and in the telephone, telegraph and railway services. Women large labour force in the the timber industry a percentage of constituted 147 labour. the abolition of child after

With referenceto RussiaseeStites,op. 145 cit., pp.161-62. The author concludesthat ' With las a group, femaleservantswere among the most rightless people in Russia. Johanna Mannila-Kaipainen, Finland 'Palvelijan ty6n merkitys naisten to see reference Siisti, kotiapulainen in Naiskuvista rehellinen saa paikan' vapauttamiselle: todellisuuteen, pp.124-29. Although servantsin Finland began organizing themselves legally the bound by the palkollissantU turn they the of century, were at politically ('servants'regulation'), a law which protected the interestsof employers,in force from 1865to 1922(Mannila-Kaipainen,p.127). For womens employmenttrendsin RussiaseeStites,op-cit.,pp-%-60,161-63.For 146 factory detailed Factory of peasants and account workers seeRoseL Glickman, Russian a Berkeley, 1984. Women:Workplace and Society1880-1914, For women's employment in Finland seeRiitta Jallinoja 'Naisten palkkatyan 147 Eskola in et al., eds, op. cit., pp.1741. yleistyn-dnen'

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Finally, it must not be forgotten that in Finland and Russia, as elsewhere at the turn of the century, prostitution was for, many women 148 the only source of income and of an illusory independence.
Despite the changing world of employment created by the growth of industry, agriculture was still the central component of the economic structure of Finland and Russia at the turn of the century. The values associated with male and female divisions of labour were founded on the male-female relationship in the traditional, agrarian way of life. Whatever theories of an ancient historical egalitarianism may exist, there is nothing to suggest that any trace of even a 'separate but equal' attitude towards women's and men's duties can have existed by the nineteenth century. The traditional status of rural woman is neatly encapsulated in the peasant proverbs which will be familiar to scholars of Russian and Finnish women's history: 'Kypjwa He nTmra, za mcH=HHa harakka lintu 'ei HO qCZOBCK, and ole eiU pffka ihminen'. 149 1.2.2 Traditional Values: Finland

Many Finnish writers portray the life of the countryside. Women may earn a respect commensurate with their station for performing Vomen's work', but they are clearly subordinate to men. Men are the heads of the household. They command the right to property and make the final decisions. In Lassila's novels, widows living alone take on male duties such as the market trading of livestock, but they bow to the position and judgement of any men who may be present. Widowers never take on traditional female duties of child-care or housework. They hire local women for these tasks while they look for another 150 wife. Riitta Jallinoja has pointed out that with the advent of the practice of male land ownership amongst the rural population, woman's status as she joined the household came to be understood as that of 'family
148 For an assessmentof contemporary statistical reports on prostitution in Russia and Finland respectively see Richard Stites, 'Prostitute and Society in Pre-Revolutionary Russia' (lahrbilcher Pr GeschichteOsteuropas-, 31,1983, pp-350-51); and Armas Nieminen, Taistelu sukupuolimoraalista, Turku, 1951, p. 95.

149 The Russianproverb, quoted with translation in Glickman, opxit., p.29 is 'a hen is not a bird, a woman is not a person. ' The Finnishproverb, quoted in MannilaKaipainen, opxit., p.122,from Nykysuomen sanakirjais 'a magpie is not a bird, a maid is ' not a person. (1910,'Borrowing matches')or As in Lassila'sTulitikkuja tainaamassa 150 Kilpakosijat (1912, 'Rival suitors').

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helper'. 151This is a status which offered women neither reward for their labour..nor any right over what they produced. It is this status which is in many of jotuni's short stories. jotuni frequently made explicit explores the value of woman's working contribution to the household. In Vasten mieltd (1913, 'Against the grain'), a wife's handicrafts are household. When her husband dies she the the property of considered decides to leave, but her position gives her no rights to the fruits of her labour: All my linen was left behind with my mother-in law, an household. Two shirts and a pair of shoes is to the endowment left, for I I three years' work. 152 all got when my wages In Finland, women were expected to bring handicraft skills into the marital home. These skills also constituted a substantial portion of labour among the urban working classes in the women's remunerated industrialization. Another author to emphasize the to transition period is this type and unseen nature of of woman's undervalued work Pakkala,,who examines the consequent relationship of the individual to her labour. In Elsa, the heroine's widowed mother is grateful for the is his In Pakkala's she work given. research on novel, Pertti sewing Karkama has pointed out that 'Viio's widow's labour, in her own view, is not purchased from her, but work is given to her.'153 She does not her to skill as a tradeable commodity, but rather attach economic value foil her destitution, brought by to commissions as sewing a about sees God's grace and human charity. jotuni describes the lack of remuneration for women's work as 'the way of the people since the times of Adam'.154 In Kansantapa(1913, 'The way of the people'), women resort to furtive sales of farm produce in order to obtain the goods they need to perform the household tasks that are expected of them. A woman who sells butter without her buy knowledge in husband's order to sugar, coffee and thread mutters:

Jallinoja, 'Naisten palkkaty6n yleistyminen, p.21; 'avustavia perheenjUenid'. 151 jotuni, Vastenmieltd,in op. 152 cif., Vol.2, p.91; 'siinS j5iv5t taloa rikastuttamaan, kaikki kutomani. Kaksi jSivIt kengit ja hiksin, kun Mind talosta paitaa sain anopilIe kolmen vuoden palkka.' Pertti Karkama, Teuvo Pakkalanromaanit,Oulu, 1975,p.143; 'Viion leskelts ei 153 hAnelle. ' (Italics in hAnen oman kdsityksen mukaan ostetaty6voimaa, ty6t! annetaan original. ) in op.cit., Vol.2, p.109; 'kansan tapa aina Aatamista.asti. jotuni, Kansantapa, 154

72 "They expect needlework, but cloth can be made without thread, I suppose? And clothes are needed to cover oneself, as is the common practice. But never a penny from the house. Gather pennies wherever your can. you "That's how it is, once you followed someoneto the altar."155 Although a woman's skills or labour are not acknowledged for their economic value, she is expected to contribute them for economic reasons. An extra pair of working hands is a consideration in marital unions in the countryside which is forced by economic necessity. In Jotuni's story Jussi Petterin naiminen (1913, 'Jussi Petteri marries'), the title character is attracted by Leenakaisa'sstrength, although she is his senior in years. Other men try to discourage him from becoming involved with her, but he is consciousof her ability to work: her hands could make light work of any task, she could turn her hand to whatever she put it to or whatever it fell upon. She was 156 for a all right woman. In Jotuni's story Rakkautta (1907, 'Of love'), the implication of woman, and her work, as an addition to household chattels is underlined. The woman in question mentions in advance that she suffers from her in legs, rheumatism precisely so that the man cannot later complain that he was deceived. The relationship is defined in the woman's words: for example when a woman ( ) does not ask for an annual ... allowance in return for her position, then the work she provides for the home is like good will, freely granted, and the fact that wages do not come into it, well, that is what you could even call love,157 and in her suitor's reply that:

155 ibid., p.107,'Kutoa saa,vaan langattako se kangassyntyy? Ja vaatteisiin talosta. Kieff! penni pitlisi verhoutua, niinkuin ihmisten tapa on. Vaan ei penniAkSAn vaikka mistS. - SitS se on kun keffan ketS alttarille asti seurasit., in op-cit.,Vol.2, p.186;'kSSntyivStne ty6t senkin 156 jotuni, JussiPetterin naiminen, k5sissA, ' teki n-dtAsattui ja joka kohtaan joutui. OR se reilu naiseksi. ) ei vaadi Jotuni, Rakkautta,in op. 157 cit., Voll, p.155; 'esimerkiksi kun nainen C.. vuotuista palkkaa oloistaan,Win se ty6, jonka nainen pesdin tekee,on niin kuin Win hyvyyttd, ja tule puhetta palkoista sit& voi sanoa vaikka ettei vapaaehtoista rakkaudeksi. '

73 he also offers his money freely. He won't be keeping too closean 158 be love. things, that that side of canalso called and eyeon
1.2.3 Traditional Values: Russia

Russian writers' portrayals of peasant existence reveal a very similar, though often more brutal, relationship between man, woman and the land. With regard to the value of human life and labour, serfdom important historical distinction between Finland an and represents Russia. However, while this often affects the descriptive motifs of in literature, distinction Russia it is portrayals which a peasant women's difference little to the values associatedwith women's economic makes land in both it Russia, Finland In meant as and power and work, role. hands. land had in In Russia, the same effect male male rights remained household. As land the the of on status women within ownership as Rose Glickman explains: the peasant woman had neither direct access to land, the most vital component of subsistence, nor a role in the conduct of domestic or communal life. 159
(1900, In V the Hollow, 1975) is one of the most ovrage story domestic intense The this story explorations of structure. and vivid the the of roles within nature economic patriarchal order as a expresses brutality The human Aksinia, the of relationships. protagonist, of crisis Chekhov's her between frustrated from her a conflict natural vitality and stems in life her the take to active an part economic of community. attempt Hahn has pointed Beverly out that Chekhov often succeeds in frustration 160 defiance lack 'feminine as with of opportunity'. portraying She cites as an example the title heroine of the story Agafia (1886), who fidelity. does herself Hahn the conventions of marital not rebels against Chekhov's in but Aksinia this types, of category agrees with other place Chekhov's fear ' Aksinia 'untamed, of as evidence of some views of 161 female in impulse' Aksinia's characterization the 'conquering psyche. ibid., p.155;Un antaa my6s vapaasti rahoia. Ei niihin hyvin tarkkoja rajoja 158 ' ja sanoa rakkaudeksi. sopii sitAkin pantaisi, Glickman, op. cit., p.29. 159 A Study of the Major Storiesand Plays, Cambridge, Beverly Hahn, Chekhow 160 1977,p.216. ibid., p.216. Other scholarsto expressthis view are Sophie Witte (1963), 161 (1987). Virginia Llewellyn Smith (1973),and most recently Carolina dc Maegd-SoEp

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nevertheless fits Hahn's point extremely accurately. Even more than Agafia, Aksinia is a complex interpretation of woman's dilemma with her-responsibilities, becauseshe succeedsin taking on masculine roles in looking described life. is into She the specifically as work and economic mouths of horses like a muzhik. She runs her husband's shop (she even keeps the keys), where she sells illicit vodka, and she establishesa brickworks on her father-in-law's land.162 However, she possessesno determining control over any of her enterprises. Her father-in-law makes a will in which he makes his baby grandson (who is not Aksinia's child) beneficiary of his land, and Aksinia, furious, impetuously murders the boy. Carolina de Maegd-Soiip has expressed the view that Aksinia:
fills us not only with horror because of her unpunished crime, but even more so because she has the power to take gradual 163 liveS. if their people's property and, necessary, of possession of

Aksinia's position may rather fill us with horror because she has no rights, no actual 'power' at all, of possessionor otherwise. Her eventual dominance only underlines the fact that violence is her only recourse for imposing her will. Like the wife in Jotuni's Vasten mieltd, she realizes her home is not her own. She rages: 'I am not a daughter-inlaw, just a hired hand.'164 She uses the words 'my land' to express what it is she feels robbed of. 16-5Her failure to win a place in the hierarchy, which would grant her identity and authority, turns her vital energy into a recklessforce. Woman's meek acceptance of her position brings no reward either. And the position of mother-in-law can be just as uncertain as that of daughter-in-law. In Bunin's. story Fedosevna (1891), the title has her is 'usefulness'. outlived character an old peasant woman who She is forced to leave the home of her married daughter:

162 It is important to note that these are all socio-econon-dcmale duties, not Imasculine' characteristics. 163 Carolina de Maegd-Sop, Chekhovand Women: Women in the Life and Work of Chekhov,Columbus, '1987, p.284.
164 165 Chekhov, V ovrage, in op.cit., Vol. 10, p. 170, OA He HeBecra a pa6oTHHua.' ibid., p. 172; 'M010 3emnio. '

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It would not have hurt Parasha's husband to shelter an almost frail, tearful old woman, but he was not the sort to feed a sightless, 166 mouth. superfluous Like the widow of Pakkala's novel, Fedosevna perceives her position as dependenceon charity, rather than as a right to a place in the household from her has Returning to create and worked maintain. she finishes beggar in her Fedosevna as a own home. wanderings, Women often contributed the greatest workload in a peasant household, particularly during the post-famine years in which Bunin's is set.167 Nevertheless they received no recognition for their Fedosevna labour, and enjoyed no authority in the domestic household. This from dynamics feudal hierarchy implicit in is the the of ever exclusion the peasant theme of Bunin's work. Woman appears as an entity interaction his to the of man and environment, of peasant and external landlord. Witch-like, demented or ghostly, woman remains on a suprabyt Russian is the tensions while of plane, rural a male natural his in Bunin's In declining the work. study of provincial prerogative (1911, Valley, Sukhodol Dry 1935), largely the protagonists are gentry, female, but they simply mirror the decaying environment. The cause decline the of of the old order, remains as male-oriented as the and effect The itself. 'The had this narrator remarks: masters and serfs order in is '168 it they common: could either rule male or cower. characteristic from disintegration the the express who conflict arising of the peasants feudal bond, the degeneration of the peasant work ethic and alienation from the Soil.169 Like the pines in Bunin's story of the same name, do but the the they vicissitudes of reflect patriarchal not order, women in it. For Bunin (male) Russian life the matrix of encloses participate land. At integration in the matrix and master most, women's peasant, family. Even here, however, she has the concept of takes place within dvor (1912, Veselyi happy farmhouse'), In 'The Anisia dynamic role. no
in Sobranie Ivan Bunin, Fedosevna, 166 sochineniiv shestifomakh,Moscow, 1987, 'rIVa1UKHHOMY 6bMO OE-1 MY)KY He nPHiorHTi6 noqTH p339; Vol2, rpex coscem cnerrylo 0 It is POT. KopmHTb J1HUJHHA &M CTaPYXY, OH HeTaKOA HO RenoBer, CJIC31IHBYIO wWbl Cna(5Y1O important to note the differencein the male and femaledismissalof Fedosovna. Parasha's own rejectionof her mother signifies the breakdown of traditional emotional bonds. Her husband'srole reflectsan economicreality. SeeGlickman, op. 167 cit., pp3l-36, for peasantwomeWswork in this period. in op. Bunin, Sukhodol, 168 cit., Vol3, p-139;T rocrroAOunoB xapM=pe To We, WO y '
xojlorToB: KnK BiiacTBoBaii, HJ1H (SOATWA.

The stories Kastriuk (1895),Meliton (1901),and Sosny(1901,7he pines') are 169 examplesof this.

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is no more than a sounding board for the conflicts of her husband and her son with the transition to the modem world. In Russia, land reforms and the abolition of serfdom contributed little change to the life of peasant women, who were deprived of any status by church, law and custom. Of the circumstances of prerevolutionary peasant woman, Xenia Gasiorowska has written: The poorest, most stupid man, despised and insulted by everyone in his native village, still could find a human being who would bow to his will, work for him, and show him the respect denied by 170 he had do to everybody else: all was marry. In Chekhov's candid account of village life Muzhiki (1897, Peasants, 1965),the author depicts the extent of a peasant woman's powerlessness in her community. Chekhov makes this all the more poignant by placing words expressing a faith in freedom in the mouth of the characterMaria, who is severely battered by her husband and is petrified of him. It is a brutal oppression she cannot hope to escapeby law or in spirit. Emancipation has added nothing here to womans quality of life, but thinking about serfdom, Maria asserts:Wo, better to be free.'171
1.2.4 From Distaff to Spear

The notion that woman's labour and production possess little or no in is value entrenched traditional culture. Any work for which woman is remunerated financially therefore comes to be understood as a form of begging rather than as purchased labour. A major contributory factor to this is the male right to land. The economic meaning of the power of paternity defines not simply the limitations on woman's income, but also her exclusion from the economic power structure. She can have no equality here, even when she works, because labour alone does not confer identity. The literature of this period abounds with themes of paternity, illegitimacy and inheritance. It is not poverty which is the real issue behind these themes. It is the right to one's identity within the economic system. The power of identity in the male line is underlined in Talvio's story Isd ja poika (1912, 'Father and son'). In the final reconciliation of the illegitimate son with his landowner father, the old
170 171 Xenia Gasiorowska, Womenin Soviet Fiction 1917-1964,Madison, 1968, pp. 30-31. Chekhov, Muzhiki, in op.cit., Vol. 9, p.302; 'JjCT,BORA nyqme.'

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from finger it his his When signet ring a places and on son's. pulls man Chekhov's Aksinia in V ovrageimpulsively murders her sister-in-law's baby boy, she is striking at the root of her lack of rights, power and identity in the economic structure: the authority of male heritage.172 125 The Modem Economy: Working Girls if woman is not perceived as a genuine work force, and is denied access to the control of resources,,she is given one significant role in the fully form She is acceptable as a of property. economic structure. The invidiousness of women's role as male property in marriage is expressedin many writers' portrayals of the moneyed classes. Many of the bourgeois women who seek an education do so precisely in order to free themselves from their identity as drawing room ornamentation. Both Liuba in Gor'kii's Foma Gordeevand Fanny in CantWs Kotoa pois, for different the solutions application of their erudition, choosing while limitations despise Both the their economic of of position. are aware desire into to them make attractive sales in the marriage their parents' is by disgusted her Liuba the that notion emeralds or the market. her is Fanny dress the appeal. ashamed of plush red silverware enhance is for benefit jewellery to the on she made put of male visitors. and gold Both long for a less materialistic romantic relationship. The argument in focused her the position propertied classes women's on against 173 idle Independence and purposeless existence. and equality apparently from in life the meaningful participation stem of the productive would community. As has been shown in the case of peasant women, equal division labour in in from liberation the of no way assured participation identity Literary as male property. portraits of the agrarian woman's domestic in a reflect and communal which structure community household factor The equated with possessions. were common women between the women of the bourgeois classes and peasant women is in As the the case of unemployed wives of the merchant marriage. directly dependent women's economic existence peasant was on classes,
The presence of this thematic element is confirmed by the baby's mother's own 172 death feels her Lipa After has house, in the the of son, she no and that place reaction. Chekhov, V ('JIHIUHAA'). in Vol. 177. 10, is ourage, op. cit., p. superfluous' she

it is not the purposehere to discusswhether womenof wealth were genuinely 173 idle. What is relevant is that they were perceived as such.

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the male head of the household. Peasant existence relied on labour 174 in By the turn of terms. which was not primarily measured monetary the century many women had left the countryside to take on paid work in the cities. This meant that, whatever her status in marriage, woman's income was at least technically outside the control of her husband. The single woman was not dependent on another male head of the household for her daily bread. Entry into industry or domestic service appeared to offer some escape from the marital subjection of the countryside, but to what extent did women's presence in the remunerated labour market alter their status? 11istorical accounts show that the same fundamental attitudes about the value of woman's working contribution existed in industry and domestic service as in the rural community. As a justification for limiting access to work and levels of pay it was argued that women's work, relative to men's, was worth less both in terms of its performance and in terms of its social significance. At the same time such arguments did not prevent women from being allocated the heaviest, most difficult or most skilled work in low-paid jobs. Women also frequently bore at least equal responsibility for supporting the family. Thus both in terms of performance and social significance, women were not rewarded according to the value of their labour, but according to the fact that they were women.175 The expanding range of female types in literary characterizations reflects the dimensions of women's economic profile at the turn of the but faceless. increasingly Servants, factory workers, century: obvious, seamstresses, governesses, schoolteachers, deaconnesses, peasant women, and prostitutes make regular appearances,but more often than not, as background figures. Certainly where such figures do appear as
174 This is not to say that peasant womendid not work for money. In Russiajust asin Finland, handicraftswere an important sourceof wornewsincome(seeGlickman, op. cit., pp-3&38).Interestingly, Russianwriting doesnot reflect this elementof peasantwomen's lives in the way that Finnish writing does. This can be seenas evidenceof the greater cultural gap betweenthe classes existing in Russia,which causedwTitersto ignore the details of thesewomen! s lives. As Casiorowskahas pointed out on the subjectof peasant women, 'like visitors at the bedsideof an incurable patient, the writers - and the readers in (Gasiorowska, ' tiptoed sighed cit., p32). and chastened, away. op. sympathy, Glickman, op. 175 cit., pp.105-55,provides a detailed analysis of the theories governing women'swork and wagepoliciesin Russiaduring this period. Similar suurimmissa attitudes are to be found in Finland, e.g. seeHeikki Renvall, Tuloniaosta kaupungeissamme 1875-1899, Helsinki, 1900,in which the author statesthat becausemen have families to support: 'the smallest wage a man can acceptis therefore larger than the smallestwage a woman can cope with! (p.79; 'pienin paikka, mihin mies voi tyytyd on sentShden suurempi kuin pienin, mil1Anainen voi tulla toimeen').

79 leading protagonists, they rarely serve to explore women's economic fact invisibility in Itself the this though suggests of woman's work. role, In Gorkii's 26 i1 (1899,Twenty Six and One, 190-), for example, the Tania the young and spirited who works as a gold of portrait basement bakery, issue takes above a no with the subjectof embroiderer lives. The story concentrates rather on the working women's dehumanizing existenceof men kneading dough in damp conditions. Tania'srole is symbolic,as an imageof purity and energy. Sheis a motif in the theme of the men's disillusionment, as she is seduced by an falls idol. Gor'kii's their as story unintentionally and outsider highlights a defining aspectof women's penetration of the industrial key is her Tania's the the sexuality element of of story, and economy. function in the community. It is this motif which emerges most strongly in literary themesof in The the structure. economic undervaluing of place women's directly labour integrity. The compromised woman's sexual woman's had indeed initially turned to women who prostitution of majority domestic 176 factories, in in Amongst as seamstresses or service. worked forces the many romanticizedportraits of prostitutesas saints,musesor led the also aware of rational writers were criteria which of revolution, bodies. In Leino's Jdana R6nty, their trade to the author novel women trapson the path towards prostitution for a the many economic describes from in has her Jaana the the countryside. city arriving girl purse young her bed for by A the the a woman who gives night. neighbouring stolen for from her brothel, is by the graceof a which she procures saved widow her innocence for her takes who pity on client and pays a wealthy leave. She job in industrial to obtains a an canteen,where permission by investigator duped is a plain clothes of underground political she for him While is waiting on corner, she a street organizations. is as street-walker, a and arrested raped at the police station. wrongfully In Jaana's encounters with the outside world, there is a constant interplay betweenher sexuality and money/power. Leino describesa his heroine the pressures structure, of which naYve push socio-economic her body. Jaana's to an assault on progresstowardsa socialist ever closer by her is in marked economic exploitation which political consciousness how disposes directly her is to she related of sexuality, rather poverty than of her labour.
176 Stites, Prostituteand Society, p-364,and A. Nierninen, op. cit., p.97.

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In Russia, the image of the prostitute captured the imagination of almost all writers at some time. The 'independent woman' of Kuprin's Rekazhizni, is maintained in a hotel by a timber merchant, and invites her free landlady's from days. She is the the gentlemen up street on favourite tenant because she can pay her rent. The fact that women's bodies have a higher market value than their labour is most bluntly (1912, in in Gippius' Uverennaia 'Convinced'), set expressed story a brothel. A recent recruit, Zoren'ka, brushes aside all other speculations over women's route to prostitution with crushing cynicism: 'A person looks for what's best.'177 In answer to the accusation that prostitution cannot be compared with honest labour such as shoemaking or metalwork, another prostitute, Viktiusa, states: 'You buy -- we sell. What's dishonest about that?'178 Gippius' view of prostitution here is that it is fundamentally dependent on supply and demand. Viktiusa asks her clients:
Do you really think that if this work was offered to you and not to us, if we gave you money, that there would be no takers amongst 179 yOU?

1.2.6Sexual Exploitation and the Patriarchal Order The successful marketing of women's flesh, in marriage or prostitution, is a motif which relates to the physical abuse women endure at the hands of men. This is a major theme in the portrayal of women in this period. It is one which reveals the measure of the obstacle of hierarchy, in In the equality. woman's patriarchal paternalism women but they becamea the their the of property class, men of were not simply significant commodity in inter-class relations. In Russian literature, the physical abuse of women became a for kind the of economic exploitation which was powerful analogy harmful to the development of the nation. The emergent merchant and industrial classes appear as an army of parasites which cultivates the felt human This to infect worst elements of element of greed was greed.
177 Gippius, Uverennaia,in Lunnye Murav% Moscow, 1912,p.97, 'qenoBeKHmeTr; ze ' ixy, qme. 'Bbl rrOKynaeTe rjZe ' Xe He-qecrHOe-TO? 178 ibid.,P.100, npo;xaem. - mbidbl

179

mm Om

KOJIH ibid.,p.100,7m;xymaemb, H (Sbuia a HeHaM, 3Ta pa(5on npe; Bam, xocTaBnCHa. ' pa6oTHHKOB? Ohl y Bac He lia=OCb Bam AeHexKHrrjiaTHnH, -

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is in from It to the levels used vivid aristocracy. peasants of society, all by deprivation In Bunin's the the poor. experienced contrast with Derevnia (1909-10, The Village, 1923), Kuz'ma is disgusted at the fact during Deniska's 'revolutionary' the that, amusement over grasping do for famine, 'the job' whole prostitutes would a pound of the years of bread, which they would eat during intercourse because they were so hungry. 180 This type of insensitivity reaches the level of sadism in Gor1kii's Troe (1901,The Three,1958),where the fragile Masha is bought by a merchant for six roubles. After marrying her, that is, confirming her position as his property, he systematically assaults her. Masha's fate is used to highlight the position of the novel's main protagonist, Ilia Lunev, on his participation in the capitalist economy. In the passages before Masha appears on his doorstep, Ilia's thoughts dwell on his social he has himself He to that persuade struggles standing as a shopkeeper. had hoped for: he live decent 'to the cleanly, quietly, existence achieved his him. '181 Masha, that in people would respect such a way and friend, the of a physical reminder of nature appears as childhood deceptive it behind the veil of respectability. exploitation.. as exists Masha's defencelessness is played upon in her child-like innocence,- and her victimization conveys the impression of child Masha's characterization reveals an attitude of molestation. in Gor'kii's benevolence to approach male-female relations. paternalistic brought is Gor'kii's in out protectiveness more strongly This patriarchal (1895, In Masha, 'The Vyvod the procession'). scene with account Gor'kii condemns the materialism of the merchant class. Vyvod has a from he his during incident It travels, relates an which peasant setting. for in savagely punished adultery some small witnessed a woman 182 Gor'kii's the the own notes story emphasize provinces. on of comer but basic its Gor'kii injustice. For the treatment, the brutality not of the is human 'greed': the again an unspecific once universal problem root of

in op. Bunin, Dereunia, cit., Vol.2, p3l. The actual words are: 'Aaini6erl rronxyHTa 180 V CGive her for bread the ero a of OHa copxcer rrojz To6o? pound a pa6M, 3aBcio x. ne6a devour it job under youl will she and whole IXHTb qHCTO, CnOKOVIHO H JTIOJH VoI3, Troe, in Gor'kii, op. cit., p396; 11ID6bl 181 ' Cro. yBaxmii The tale describes a woman beatenand draggedalong on foot, attachedto a horse 182 and cart

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And thus I saw that all this was Possibleamong people who were ignorant, unscrupulous, dehumanized through a life of dependenceand greed-183 The amelioration of peasant woman's existence lies in civilization. Clearly, the educated classesare consciousof the basic inhumanity in the physical abuse of defenceless women, even after their 'improper' conduct. Neither Gor'kii's notes, nor the 1904review of the story (nor, for that matter, Borras' 1967 biography of the author) comments on the incident from the point of view of woman's rights over her body. In view of the legal control husbands or fathers had over a woman's passport and, by extension, movements, this was nevertheless an important matter for women's liberation. 184 Gor'kii seems to suggest that the punishment was disproportionately harsh. As an element of Gor'kii's portraits, violence reflects a view of society in which women's quality of life will improve not when men accept them as equals, but when men evolve from brutes into gallants. His play Vragi (1906, Enemies, 1946) contains a scene in which two women of the propertied classesare approached by drunken workers. The messagebehind the incident is that these honest working men are far more likely to behave honourably towards them than the men of their own class. Violence is seen to be in-bred in a society permeated by greed. The protection of women becomes a symbol for social enlightenment which is deeply rooted in the paternalistic attitudes of the intellectual classes. The question of male harassment of women is not a feminist issue in Gor'kii's work. Gor'kii criticizes men for being blackguards when they should be princes, but does not extend the criticism to the structure which exposes women to the covetous attentions of blackguards and princes alike. Men's right to violence over women is questioned by women writers in Finland in relation both to their own socio-economicpowerlessness,and to the political context of the nation. Amongst the period's most powerful stories is Aino Kallas' MY0 (1905, 'The wedding'). The story is set in Estonia, where the relationship
183 Gorkii, Vyvod,in op. cit., Vol.1, p.186,'H Btyr O;ZHqaiamHx 6eccoBecTHhix, 6e3rpwamhix, cpeAc mo; zeR '
- BH; Xen, RTO crr

Bce

3To Bo3moXHO 133aBHcTH H

xcH3HH BOJIqLeA

xaAHocTH.

184 By contrast,in TroeGor'kii doesrefer to police intervention in returning runaway futility husbands. Here, the to their of Masha'sattempts at escapingher husband wives is further underlined by the fact that he is a magistrate. Gor'kii, Troe,in opxit., Vol.3, p.400.

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between peasant and landowner belonged to the same tradition of disposal Peasant the in Russia. the of often at women were as serfdom her bride is in The the to the story called up on estate peasant gentry. first in Her tradition. night willingness accordance with wedding night is expected not only by the landowners but also by her own community. Her own people assure her that resistance will lead to forced assault. The inevitability of her rape, be she docile or rebellious, is undisputed. But she will dispute it. She resolves to murder the man who demands her for his bed. The struggle for identity is political on the two levels of knife her decision her In to use a as weapon, a parallel class. gender and is made with the violence that is intended on her. Her struggle over the death life is body At her the to a and same struggle of as a woman. right institutionalized is than the of more a study male violence. story time, It belongs to the same socio-political context as Kallas' other stories set in (1904, kirkkoherra ja Lukkari 'The sexton and the Estonia, such as (1913). latter Rives The Bernhard the story narrator of parson') or realizes that: in this peasant, this Bernhard Rives, seven hundred years of back-185 its straightened serfdom bride be in HMM Like Rives, she takes a the The same can said of first the undermine step which will patriarchal structure. necessary Even though she will be sent to Siberia, she will be the psychological by justice, is because the purity, will she motivated above all and victor, In its political stance the story resembles the national actively. to resist in theme expressed so many allegorical poems of of resistance romantic body be though that the trapped, the suggesting may the same period, free. is spirit Woman's revenge as a catalyst in the degeneration of a sociobased is dominant in theme exploitation on also structure a economic Talvio's work. Her novel Pimednpirtin hdvitys portrays the enticement by dissolute from the innocent a girls gentry same standpoint country of Katiusha by Unlike Nekhliudov. the Tolstoi seduction of paints as Tolstoi however, Talvio seesno resurrection for the men of the gentry, but a gradual disintegration resulting from their own actions. Their
Aino Kallas, Bernhard Rives,in LAhtevientaivojen kaupunki, Helsinki, 1913, 185 Bernhard RiveksessS, tdssd 'tSssA talonpoikassa, 18; suoristui seitsensatavuotisen p. ' selM. ouuden

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victims will be the tools of their destruction. The novel's protagonist, Hanni, is socially a marginal figure. Symbolic of her marginalization is the fact that she does not fully belong to any class. She is the daughter in a family of tenant farmers, but her real father is the landowner on whose land they live. Hanni is also marginal becauseof her moral purity. The sexual whims of the upper classes are widely perceived as normal, or harmless enough In secret, so that Hanni's refusal to accept them sets her aside from all sectors of the community. Hanni's attempts to resist sexual exploitation are linked to her identity within the economic structure not merely in terms of relative wealth, but in terms of her Independent right to her body. Like Tolstoi's Katiusha, Hanni will finish as a prostitute. The interpretation of the economic forces contributing to the respective downfalls; of their heroines differs between the two authors however. In Katiusha's economic progress towards the brothel Tolstoi charts a tale of realistic, circumstantial misfortune. Katiusha merely fails to find other suitable work, because woman's working opportunities are narrow and she has no experience. Talvio suggests rather that woman's role as sexual property is an extremely damaging, institutionalized construct of the economic system. In the short term Hanni's downfall is brought about by rape, after which the reader encounters her, years later, as Jeanettein a brothel. In the long term, it is Hanni's inability to assert her own human value which leads her to adopt society's value of woman.

Talvio's tale presentsa view of economicdisintegration. In her role as a prostitute, Hanni 'steals'from the women and children of the from brothelsto family homesis moneyedclasses.The spreadof disease the usual Marxist moral of the prostitute'srevenge,but Talvio's view of 186 Hanni is the declining gentry includes a strongly national element. her seducer's own daughter, and when he realizes this he loses his mind. The devastationof his classis symbolizednot only in this, but in the fact that in his violation of Hanni he violated his own people. The nature and meaning of the violence which will later be Inflicted on Hann! is implied at an early stage when the farm's
186 The concluding passages of the earliesteditions of the novel emphasizedthe national context of Talvio's theme. She refers specifically to 'the Finnish nation, (Suomen maata')in her appeal to the educatedclasses to addressthe problem of Tyyni prostitution. SeeReetaNien-dnen,'HaapaniemenAinosta Hilja Haapaseen: Tuulion ja V.A. KoskenniemenriSkemyksetMaila Talvion varhaisistanaiskuvista' in Kerttu Saarenheimo,ed., Runoilijan monet kasvot:kijoituksia V.A. Koskenniemestd, Turku, 1985, p.91.

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favourite, 'bright, white lamb' is killed by the landowner's hunting dogs. 187 Later, working as a maid on the estate, Hanni mentions the incident and the landowner dismisses it with an offer of money. Hanni 188 buy like be 'money that', and cannot one she could as easily answers destroyed herself. Once is like lamb Hanni,, the she as talking about for is Only the pleasure, she not redeemable. as urban sacrificed casually be is It Jeanette, then that purchased. can she only she prostitute, in identity large Society the and acquires economy. at enters successfully downfall, but her law in the the active agents are and money, conspires by men. controlled The phenomenon of male assault as an element of the sociodifficult financial the theme of extends woman's economic structure her dominates Jotuni's In Anita, work. story she paints a position which 'agronomist G6ran', is the an older man, of portrait who sympathetic briefly tempted with 'possessing' his beautiful young niece. Jotuni demonstrates that his world of wealth and power has distorted his his 'rights', a word which recurs with marked of understanding frequency in the text. It is impossible to reconcile his view of society as a hierarchy with his desire not to exploit. Go*ranrefutes the illusion that: he be When his '189 to equal? contemplates 'All people are supposed himself do her he 'he that assures would no guiltily niece sexually, is does 190 Uran's Jotuni's that paternalism point not work. violence'. leads inevitably to unequal to as equals people inability perceive inevitable to concerned, are women and where sexual relationships, exploitation. It is important to note that all these works appeared before the in Finland for 1906 which secured of equal rights reform constitutional Kallas Talvio, Jotuni, In the the and of work concept of women. is interwoven independence closely with national woman#s human basic focus The the on rights, on right of control responsibilities. direct link body, In to civil a and creates constitutional rights. over one's hypocrisy later themes of moral work, and economic class these writers' of injustices. become studies composite social more conflicts

hdvitys, in Kootut rorvoo, Pimean Voll, teokset, 1953-56, Talvio, pirtin p.157; 187 karitsansa'. korean valkoisen 'heidlin 'ei 216; ibid., sellaista rahalla saa. p. 188 Voll, 'Yhdenarvoisia in 42; kaikki Anita, ihmiset?' jotuni, cit., p. op. muka 189 ibid., p.46; 'hAn ei tekisi vSkivaltaa h5nelle'. 190

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1.2.7 Conclusion The recognition of women's economic participation presupposes an economic value placed on their skills, services and very being. If woman was to find a place in the economic structure,, then what was it had to sell? Literary themes related to women's socio-economic she status reveal that cultural perceptions of the value of woman's labour and person were not conducive to her liberation through economic selfsufficiency. Woman is unable to join the social hierarchy becauseshe fails to acquire subjective,, independent identity either in marriage or in employment. She remains property, the defining quality of which is her sexuality. The right to woman's body is a basic principle in the power structure. In the modern economy,, money replaces custom as the determining element of a structure which allows men access to women's bodies according to rank and status. Like most property, women exist to be owned, bartered, stolen or destroyed. Woman's own economic choices become a question of how best to dispense with her sexual value. The force of patriarchal ideology is reflected in writers' approach to women's role within the socio-economic structure. In both Russia in Finland, prostitution and rape become an and women's exploitation allegory for national Ws. Violence is imposed from within in Russia, in brutality descriptions the of of male-female relationships countless within the peasantry, the merchant classes or the aristocracy. For Finland, the enemy is without. Female victims are cut off from their language both In by or culture. age, cases,an analogy is oppressors class, drawn between the relationship of woman to man and that of citizen to state.

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CHAPTER TWO

2 ACTION M: Political Madonnas By the end of the nineteenth century, a social and political structure Ignorance, the control male of enslavement and abuse which sanctioned of women represented an unacceptable contradiction to the values of issues In by feminist their the examination of raised society. civilized in it concentrated on woman's place society as existed thought, writers debate The to over women's educational and career man's. relative impact defining in the of society and over environment opportunities, how projected as a matter essentially was of men treated role, woman's behaviour Writers the consequences speculated about of male women. for women's personal development as well as for the future of humanity as a whole. They attempted to identify the areas of in hierarchy. This the change patriarchal necessary and shortcoming in human interaction, elements as passive women and, cast approach the of state subjects authority. passive as analogously, While fundamental changes in woman's position were called for human her being, basis the equal as a status of the character and on dimension of these changes became determined by the concept of her duality This legacy the the of womanhood. was quality of separate Enlightenment on the status and nature of women. 191 The concept of inherited Enlightenment in thought the combined rejection of equality the the the of existing acceptance separate spheres of sexes with authority The form the evidence. empirical refutation of of woman as some as by extension a concept of woman's superior inferior sex cultivated has put it, 'women were declared Fox-Genovese Elisabeth As qualities. '192 but be excellent. especially evil, not to It was this essentialexcellencewhich was to be fostered in order to into an active, useful member of the social order. turn woman
For an overview of the influenceof Enlightenmentthought on women'sposition 191 251-77. pp. Fox-Genovese, Op-Cit., see ibid., p.263. 192

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Alongside studies of women's lives under male dominance, a picture of woman as the agent of action, as a dynamic social force on her own account was widely explored in literature. Political conditions in Finland and Russia contributed to literary appraisals of woman's capacity to take action within a context of national and universal significance. The mystification of the feminine being was used to create images of women whose characters and actions had political implications. They were thus not simply portrayed as citizens to whom the state has a responsibility, but also as builders of the future nation.

2.1PastQueens
One of the most unambiguous ways in which writers examined woman's capacity for national action according to the dictates of her nature was by turning to past images of powerful women. Familiar biblical or classical figures inspired authors to rewrite particular stories in order to explore the causes and consequences of women's motivations in power struggles. These themes were often allegorical. Their female protagonists cannot therefore be considered as realist types, but they do offer an interpretation of a specifically feminine role within the context of national ambitions. They focused on elements of a supposedly female impulse, which also came to characterize portraits of politically conscious women in realist prose. Such imagery helped to define women's own loyalties, as well as their expectations of loyalty. For this reason it is worth assessingthis imagery before examining the more straightforward contemporary models of woman as a citizen directed towards national progress are whose actions and responsibilities freedom. and In Finland, the figure of Bathsheba,for whom King David has her husband Uriah killed by placing him in the front ranks of his army, inspired both Volter Kilpi and Aino Kallas to write their own versions (1900), Bathsheba is in its Kilpi's tale. the set version, of original time and place, although it manipulates the story to omit Bathsheba'spart as kills Kilpi's Bathsheba herself soon after Uriah's In tale mother. queen death in order to take responsibility for it. Her love for David does not his her She the of act of murder. perceives a greater seeing error prevent faith his in the moral right bestowed by David, than who places morality the superhuman act. Kilpi concentrateson the psychology of David and

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for is feelings Bathsheba. His David's story more a study of on individual will than national loyalties, but it does develop the idea of for In for instinct the right and struggle power. wrong woman's Bathsheba's personal sacrifice adjusts the balance of power, reking, by driven one man, order where a universal was establishing destructive- self-interest. Bathsheba is 'the glorified spirit of sacrifice', before whom David recognizesthat he is not a god.193 Kallas's tale, Bathsheba Saarenmaalla (1904,, Bath-Sheba of Saaremaa, 1934) is less immersed In the Nietzschean superman the to neo-romantic movement. so central was which philosophy family. is Estonian She confessesto her Bathsheba Kallas' peasant of an husband that she knows of the landlord's decision to send him to the battle front. The portrait is a study of divided loyalties. It highlights the in involvement a situation over which she and responsibility woman's has no control, but which her very existence has provoked. The heroine's tragedy is also a warning against the dangers of collusion with king-commoner in The individualistic theme, inevitable enemy. an Kilpi, has a class implication in Kallas's story. The Estonian setting, the focus Bathsheba's the on and relationship with context,, peasant-landlord her betrayed husband rather than with the landlord, David's in indicate the tale. the allegory political counterpart, Both interpretations of Bathsheba's role in the affairs of men imply the abuse of power in exploiting a loyal subject. This element of the theme to of woman's abduction as a manifestation of tales relates the loyal The in is Uriah, the previous chapter. subject not power, raised by having he loves that which most dearly taken Bathsheba, exploited from him. The analogy is not without significance as the imperial for its increased Finnish the measures russification of government 1904.194 In between Russia, 1899 and institutions similar allegorical internal directed impotence conditions at of party political was criticism Intellectuals inefficacy the were coercion. aware of of and government legal attempts to implement the government's promises of
193 henki'. February beginning limiting Finland's 1899 the This with manifesto of 194 period, legislative autonomy, is known as thefirst period of oppressiorV.The manifestowas for gradually introducing Russianas the languageof governmentand followed by decrees Finns in Empire. These to the conscripted ordering serve any part of and administration, Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor General the policy of appointed of represented measures by a Finn in 1904. SeeKirby, op. cit., pp.25-30. Finland in 1898,assassinated Helsinki, 1900,P-195;'uhrautumisen kirkastettu Volter Yjlpi, Bathsheba,

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constitutional reform In 1905-195 Andreev expressed precisely this awareness in his satirical play Prekrasnye Sabiniaki (1911, The Sabine Women,, 1915). He reproduces the theme of the rape of the Sabine women as a study of power in which only aggression inspires confidence. In Andreev's play, the Sabine women prefer their Roman abductors over their husbands because of the Sabine men's failure to exercisesufficient power. The women conspire with the Romans just as the constitutional promises of 1905 ultimately remained blocked by the administration. Both are inevitably treacherous becausethey have been inadequately protected by their rightful guardians. More significant in the understanding of woman as a wilful agent in power conflicts is Andreev's interpretation of the figure of Delilah. The theme lies behind his characterization of the protagonists in T'ma (1907, 'Darkness'), and inspired his version of the legend in the play Samson v okovakh (1915, Samson in Chains, 1923). The story also appealed to Johannes Linnankoski in Finland, who wrote a play of the legend, Simson ja Delita (1911, 'Samson and Delilah'). The theme offered the possibility of examining the extreme poles of woman's sense loyalty in the contrast between betrayal and sacrifice,between personal of interest and national justice. Andreev's and Linnankoski's plays both demonstrate that woman's actions, motivated by self-interest and jealousy, have potentially dangerous and far-reaching consequences. Woman, bound by her sexuality, has no place in affairs of state. In war, she breaks the rules of the game by tricking men into death with her body. Delilah's treacherous identity is that of a prostitute. This idea is woven into Linnankoski's characterization: what is it exactly that lies like a snake in the path of Israel's (... ) her is It thousand charms.196 a men? woman, with More explicitly, Samsonis told: 'you, the hero, lie between the knees of a whore. '197 Andreev makes the same association in T'ma, by comparing
195 The autocracywas forced to issuea manifestopromising extendedcivil rights and reforms in order to restorestability after the unrest of the 1905revolution. The Constitutional Democraticparty attempted to preservetheseguaranteesthrough strictly legal channels,although the period witnessedstrict governmentreaction,which resulted in the adn-dnistration's it constantattempt to suppressthe constitutional concessions made. SeeWestwood, op-cit.,pp.158-67. ja Deffla,in Kootut teAset, Porvoo, 1952,pp.486JohannesLinnankoski, Simson 196 Israelin miestenpolulla?( ) Seon nainen 87; 'mik! se oikein on, joka makaa kSSrmeenS ... ' ja hanen tuhannethoukutuksensa. Linnankoski, ibid., p.460; 'sing, sankari, makaat porton polvilla. ' 197

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its protagonists, a revolutionary terrorist and a prostitute, to Samsonand Delilah. Both authors rehabilitate their heroines through personal legend, Delilah's In the the this through of versions occurs sacrifice. decision to free Samson, in Andreev's Vma, through the hero's Liuba's prostitution as self-sacrifice rather than selfof recognition indulgence. Although Delilah's eventual martyrdom is an example of great interests thematic the element of woman's private conflicting sacrifice, impact her issues in the of reduces motivations correcting with national her action. Substantially more magnificent portraits of feminine found in Kuprin's Song Songs, Sulamif' the version of of are sacrifice (1908, Sulamith. A Romance of Antiquity, 1928) and Linnankoski's (1911, heroine in leftan Jephtah's Daughter'). In tyhYr title the of portrait Kuprin's story, the former queen, Artis, plans to have Solomon betrayal Like Delilah's jealousy. Samson, Artis' of out of murdered intention affects not only their personal drama but also threatens the love However, be the woman's nation. can also channelled stability of for the greater good. Solomon's beloved Shulamite defends the king knife by lover Artis' body the her wielded against and accomplice. with The Shulamite's death is shown to be an act of salvation for Israel. The interwoven is detailed descriptions theme purposefully with romantic fairness, The her death is Solomon's and power. wisdom purity of of Shulamite's by the Artis' virginity contrasting sensual with emphasized has been Shulamite for The days only queen seven and obsessiveness. 198 Solomon's 'dark Likewise, herself in Jeftan tytar, maiden'. to as refers his to expression vision of the most pure, absolute act Linnankoski gives daughter loyalty her life the as young willingly gives virginal of national for the sake of Israel. These recreated portraits of legendary figures reveal certain features of a rationalization of woman's role in the social structure, imagination. Romantic love is the writers' starting captured which female loyalty. Woman's influence for of national psychology a point bound is inextricably by history her loyalties, be it of sexual the course on in her possession,treachery or sacrifice. The same pattern is imposed on from do legend this women period of which use not as an other portraits in but thematic contemporary are set a national which context. allegory,
Kuprin, Sulamif, in op.cit., Vol. 4, p312; lcmyrnaA ;xeByiua. They also talk of 198 impression her before just dies. the first virginity, reinforcing of she meeting, their

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In many stories, as has been seen in the previous chapter, sexual Leino's In Idana is R6nty, the the class struggle. a motif of possession heroine's rape is used as propaganda by both the right and the left failure 199 After the of the 1905strike, she realizes that she is no wing. longer sexually desirable. Kuprin's story Morskaia bolezn' (1908, 'Sea Social Democrat by describes the the of of a wife multiple rape sickness') by Gor'kii for board The its criticized severely story was a ship. sailors on husband, the whose reaction to the woman's unsympathetic portrayal of incident is selfish and filled with reproach. Gor'kii objected to the 'coarse naturalism' of the scene,particularly since it only served to cast Social Democrats in such negative light. 200 Gor'kii's reaction, no less than Kuprin's story itself, indicates the potential of the theme of womants sexual possessionwithin political polemic. Woman's treachery also has its impact on the social order. In Kuprin's story Shtabs Kapitan Rybnikov (1906, Captain Rybnikov, 1916), Clotilde, downfall Japanese the spy. of a wanting to a prostitute causes impress her lover Leonka with her knowledge of Rybnikov's true identity, is shown to be petty and selfish in her motivations. The story between his Rybnikov the and relationship concentrates on arch mostly he has fought long-standing, Shchavinskii, a mental with whom rival, duel. Although Rybnikov is technically the enemy, his capture appears by brothel discovered in is He dishonourable a woman and a victory. a by Shchavinskii's been, have he military tactics. exposed should not, as The implication is that he was taken unarmed, and not on the field of battle. A woman's treacherous actions similarly disrupt the status quo in Juhani Aho's Juha. The plot focuses on a love triangle in which all less losers. The the characters are explicitly parties ultimately are forcefully identities but their ethnic contain a evoked, national enemies, husband, loyalties. Juha The is national of subliminal context honest in the Finnish, the of mould romantic cast and quintessentially faithful man of the soil. He is betrayed by his gypsy wife, who absconds from border into but 'bandit' the across the wanton attractive with Karelia.

Leino, IdanaRdnty, inop. 199 cit., Vol.9; she is told that Finland's 'gentlemen' (herrat)would surely have defended her just as they defended the people'srights because hailed is (p331), the Russian a publicly as martyr of she and oppression against (pAO8). socialist meeting rape at a Referredto in the commentaryon the story in Kuprin, op. cit., Vol.4, p.765. 200

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Above all, however, it is the heroism of virginal self-sacrifice An typifies politically active women. portraits of example many which (1908, in Andreev's Rasskaz is Musia semi type o poveshennykh of this The Seven Who Were Hanged, 1941), which deals with the execution of in (1908J. in Mertsi Linnankoski's Russia, Kirot or revolutionaries 'Curses'), which is an allegory of the generation conflict over passive in Finland. resistance and active The appearance of women in the struggle for power tends thus to focus on their sexuality against a background of implicit national or Often issues. they of symbolist, existentialist part studies, universal in design, individual to the action relation of a greater role examine feminine figures The national spirit. of a of concept appeal a creating like the Shulamite or jephtah's daughter lies partly in their personal identification (and fate) the total their with almost state of anonymity, however, kind do Portraits this not, represent a literal ideal of Israel. of female national responsibility, of which they inevitably fall short in betrayal fulfil didactic function, Themes or assault a of certain respects. defence, but for do they the and protection not suggest a need expressing is The for self-sacrifice a of young women action. correct programme loyalty, display but it of extreme emotive represents a more successfully future in its implication in is there of abortiveness: no temporary victory for be battle field but in death. It the necessity may a question, premature it lacks the potential for constructive progress. In Finland and Russia, facing as it seemed at the turn of the century a more momentous destiny, a commensurately more portentous imagery was required, one divine itself. Such the the character of of motherland worthy which was figure found in Madonna. be the the to of imagery was

Madonna the Aspects of 2.2 is denies It direct Madonna's sterility. a announcement of virginity The from her Mary The the future. appeal of myth of stems charismatic the holiest the of women, whilst simultaneously being and duality as purest her God. This God, but to only not places closer also of the mother by form her in ideal sexuality problematic presenting resolves woman's both Mother. In Virgin Lutheran Orthodox from to and transition dogma the the of Christianity, rejection of the Immaculate Conception (but not the Virgin Birth), establishes the Madonna's unique bond with

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humanity. 201 Inheriting original sin by virtue of her own birth, she belongs to the human race, but God singled her out from her sex and granted her sanctification. The key to earthly Mary's achievement of God's grace is her humility, and it is this feature which has been fostered as an ideal of womanhood. Indeed it is even this humble magnificence, a trace of the Madonna, which lurks beneath writers' recreations of legendary heroines. Both Kilpi's Bathshebaand Kuprin's Shulamite are Oqueenover all women', yet also the meekest servant of masculine (king's and God's) Will.202 The Madonna's humility expressesstrength in submissiveness. This quality is at the root of the loyalty and selfsacrifice which have come to exemplify woman's role as bride and mother. It is these facets of an idealization of womanhood which contributed the greatest inspiration to the literary interpretation of a feminine national identity at the turn of the century in Russia and Finland. While both the virginal and the maternal aspectsof the Madonna are relevant and interwoven, there is a difference in emphasis in Finland and Russia. In their evocation of national womanhood, Russian writers idolize the mother, while Finnish writers extol the bride. This is in part explained by the different impact of the myth of Mary in the respective cultures, particularly in the way that it inspired Orthodoxy Both the the turn century. and Lutheranism of authors at humanity, Mary's to relationship and both maintain that she underline bearer. differ, be They the as god only on the other hand, can venerated in their attitudes to the Assumption. Luther abolished the feast of the Assumption, while the Orthodox church accepts the miracle as evidence 203 In the cult of the Madonna as the of resurrection. of possibility intercessor, it was her motherhood which was the strongest element in 204 Christianity. The iconic imagery of the Madonna as Byzantine earliest the eternal Mother of God in Heaven is therefore more powerfully
201 Warner, op-cit., p.252.

V. Kilpi, op.cit., e.g. David states that 'Bathsheba is queen among women' (p. 29; 202 'Bathsheba on naisten kuningatar'). Bathsheba desires only to obey both David's and God's command, praying to the king for him send her away: 'I cannot leave if you forbid it' (p. 79; 'min& en voi lAhteA, jos sinii minua kiellAt'). Kuprin, SuIamif', inop. cit., Vol. 4, e.g. Solomon states that 'you (Shulamite) were born a genuine queen' (p.296, ITm her he has known. to (CyjiamHh)poAHnach the comparing all izapHizert), women HacToxiueA The Shulamite wants 'only to be your slave, Solomon' (p.290; '(Shrrb TOJIbKO TBoeiopafto, COnOMOH').

203 204

Warner, op. cit., pp.96,252. ibid., p.286.

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imagery her Finland, In in Russian tradition. concentrates on embedded during her life. Mary The earthly pregnancy cult of conception and dating from Catholic times was greatly influenced by Franciscan 205 focused life, her Franciscan Mary's worship on mortal on monks. 206 humility loveliness In Finnish and as a mother. recent oral youthful tradition, likewise, she is most often an ordinary peasant girl and the birth of Christ in the manger is the climax of Mary's tale. This is true Finnish, Karelian folk Ingrian in the regions of eastern more and even Birth 'The Creator' theme the the of of entered oral where poetry, 207 Orthodox through contact with culture, tradition Another important factor in the angle of emphasis is that in Russia, Mary's virginal identity came to be represented in Sophiology. beauty 'religious-maidenly the Sophia embodied of female characters in Madonnas', Symbolist is as a central medieval motif of that reflected function 208 to This the country's aesthetic, rather related symbolic art. direction. is in It this thematic context that the than political, spiritual image of the Virgin bride, epitomized in Sophia, surfaces in Russian literature-209 The Madonna of turn-of-the-century literature is undoubtedly imagery Her traditions. the to cultural and religious respective moulded dominated the that spiritual national and concerns also reflects decades leading in life the up to the First World War. While intellectual image its the of a concept nation creates and soil in terms of the mother force the of renewal and future is contained purpose, its ancient, eternal bride. familiar The 'Mother Russia' (Pycz., image as a of woman in the is is timeless, mother whose presence an earth and whose MaTyluKa) forth bring her is to to to the a new saviour restore people purpose 'Bride Finland' (Suomen The is of equivalent path. morsian) righteous

V. Tarkiainen, 'Neitsyt Maria-aihe Eino Leinon tuotannossa,(Katevalaseuran 205 131). 22,1942, p. vuosikiria, 182-83. Warner, pp. op. cit., 206 Kuusi in tale the See et al., eds,op. of cit., pp.283-308. 207 e.g. variants 0 io Merezhkovskii, S. D. prichinakh upadka novykh techeniiakh sovremennoi 208 pA2; CHMBOJI P"HrHO3HO-AeBCTBCHHOA KpacoTbi 1893, St Petersburg, literatury, russkoi NI=OHHax. Even KOMPaX BrrocneACTBHH
-jKejjCr,M Wa=POB, , 13CPCMiC-BeKOBbIX Oipa-3HJI3Cb Merezhkovskii refers to 'the matemal compassion that inspires the love of a man and (p. 42; 'MaTePHHCKOrI X=OCTH, KOrr()PaR oAyxcrrBopxeT n106013b Myx, 4HHbl H womar E. from Ronald Peterson, Symbolists: Translation The Russian trans., ed. and weHUjHHbIj. Writings, Critical Theoretical Arbor, Ann 1986. Anthology and of An Chapter be in Five. This explored will 209 aspect

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young, fresh, and awaiting the self-fulfilment which will result from the rightful union of the land with her people. This is not to say that mothers and marriageable women appear with mutually exclusive frequency in each nation's literature, and notably in portraits with a national message. There are many stories of specifically maternal sacrifice or intercession in the face of war in Finland, just as the many eligible woman revolutionaries of Russian literature clearly possesssexual promise. It is rather that the full charge of the political vision, with its spiritual and revolutionary dimension is feminine in ideal that is suggested by the most popular the carried invocations of Pycb alongside pozmHa (land of birth) and Suomen morsian alonside isdnmaa (fatherland). The mother-bride dichotomy penetrates much idealized, female imagery. The relative dominance of the different sides of the Madonna can be traced even in Sologub's and Pakkala's use of fantasy. In Sologub's work, the confused border between the real and the ideal world is expressedin terms of the changing face of a good and bad fairyin mother, response to the protagonist's search for consolation. Pakkala's Elsa by contrast dreams of herself as a bride princess alternating with the figure of an angel, who together symbolize her ideals of purity and sexual potential. Often used to question religious morality, this choice of imagery reveals a link to religious tradition. Realists and symbolists alike made associations of this kind within philosophical-political themes, exploring women's particular biological quality as a force to be harnessed for the future good. For Tolstoi, the reality of motherhood was the redemptive alternative to fulfilment ideal in God's itself design. It, the the ultimate of celibacy, human in sexual urges channelled order that the following correctly generation might struggle anew to achieve the necessaryrestraint which God. For Andrei Belyi, Russia itself was would mark perfect unity with 'our earth fenced in, our mother'.210 This earth mother is embodied in the figure of Matrdna in his Serebrianyi golub' (1909, The Silver Dove, 1974). Matr6na's characterization is rich in obvious Madonna motifs.She is the new church, she appears 'icon-like', and most importantly she, is to be the source of the new redeemer. MatrEna is no innocent maiden,
Andrei Belyi, Serebrianyi golub, in librannaia proza, Moscow, 1988, p.54; 210 ' Translation of this and all subsequent quotations 13eMnHUY-TO Hamy06=BHnH, maryUlKy. from the novel are from The Silver Dove, trans. George Reavy, New York, 1974.

97 but an earthy,, sensual,, fully-fledged woman. This quality also in Bunin's the of peasant women many work whose characterizes implies Gor'kii Russia. For to the the too, the soil soul of relationship babarepresents motherhood in harmony with the land and Its purpose. Another aspect of motherhood which appealed to writers was the idea of love. long-suffering, This is found in matemal a number of courageous, by touched the consequencesof the revolutionary women of portraits in Tania in Andreev's Rasskaz the as character of such o movement, in kotoryi Iz the or mother rasskaza, nikogda ne semi poveshennykh budet okonchen(1908, A Story Mich Will Never Be Finished, 1916). The concept of the eternal mother in Russia was a mystification of being. A in Finland took similar process of woman's place one aspect bride. Even jdmefelt's image Maria, the the of short story which with limited legend, is biblical The to the the myth of conception. retells by Birth Jlmefelt Virgin taken the up was and other writers as theme of doctrine Lutheran the the of against topic church, which was protest of a held to be hypocritical in its simultaneous advocacy of marriage and (1909, Punainen 'The Red focuses Kianto's Mark') viiva on virginity. in the remote countryside. ageing peasants of the political awakening Here, in the absenceof a bride-like protagonist, Kianto uses an explicit (Suomi bride' 'Finland birth. As to about morsian) of give yet metaphor labour interested doctors is the pains, while experiencing only she inevitable 211 the the manner of moment and outcome. eagerly await The bride can be found in the works of many nationally heroines The jdmefelt's (1902), Helena title of prosaists. tendentious (1902) (1897) Kirsti Kallas' AM and Talvio's all combine a socio-political develops that their a new spirituality with self-image as consciousness brides (and young mothers) to be.. Helena's reconciliation with her fianc6 after their respective wanderings and searches re-establishes harmony. Their young family suggestsan immediately realizable model for an ideal society. For Aili: to be betrothed to Pekka - means being betrothed to Kaarila, to the be betrothed isolation, to to to work, to worry, to the wilderness, 212 joyS. their their sorrows and people with

in Valitut Punainen Kianto, Helsinki, 1923,Vol. 1, p. Io8. teokset, lirnari viiva, 211 Talvio, Affi, in op. cit., Vol. 1, p.391; 'kihlautua Pekkaan- se on kihlautua 212 Kaarilaan, syd3nmaahan,yksinSisyyteen,kihlautua ty6h6n, huoleen, kansaan ' iloineen. ja suruineen

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Kirsti's character development transforms her from an imperfect bride., ideal herself, to wife and mother. This role removes her an as she sees both her life displacement with and provides private and social senseof meaning. 2.3 Mothers, Brides and Politics The most striking depictions of politically motivated women created a forcefully symbolic link between the concept of Land (Earth and Nation) (Virgin Alongside important Mother). Woman myth, and one and source of inspiration for the creation of this type was the new generation of women whose political involvement was more public and active than ever before. The growing presence of woman in public life her in from the change status. just as Finnish cultural gradual stemmed nationalism and Russian radical thought engendered the roots of feminism, so women's political awakening drew women into the feminist had ideology from Measures to emerged. which movements improve standards of education, employment and morality for the benefit of women clearly required women's participation. By the 1880s, found in ideology a outlet organized activity. Women new progressive played an active role, as members of temperance societies, women's Institutions organizations. which would societies and philanthropic have allowed feminism to voice its demands for equal rights, such as free legislatures did or newspapers active not exist political parties, however. In both Finland and Russia, women continued to feel that they shared with men their lack of rights. The reciprocal relationship between women's senseof their rights ideology development feminist duties the and of their within and defined by interests. The class political consciousness was quickly in 1890s 1900s the and encouraged organization growth of party political the awareness of national issues. In 1892,Finland's Union of Women's Societies was established as a more militant counterpart to the Finnish Women's Association. 213 This period also saw the emergence of a Swedish Women's Society in Finland, reflecting Swedish-speaking Finnish women's concern for their own linguistic and cultural group 214 debate. In 1897, Russian the the government nationalist within
213 214 Evans, op. cit., p-89ibid., p-89-

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in in Diet Finnish bill the allowing women eligibility passed rejected a feminism itself thus to causing align yet more communal elections, 215 Meanwhile, the cause. working class women, national closely with dissatisfied with the maternalistic attitude of the liberal middle classes, by female Social 1905 the the to and membership of socialism, turned Democratic Party had reached over 20 per cent.216 In Russia the into had been the radical movement a wellrecruitment of women became frustrated 1860s the as women since established phenomenon legal limitations of reforms, particularly since any government with the during By the the soon curbed waves of repression. were concessions in Russia the of educational courses women's was reopening mid-1890s, disloyalty imperial by the consternation over of possible provoked 217 Western influence. therefore to prone women studying abroad and disillusioned became Many women with the narrow scope of the founded Society, Mutual Benefit in 1895, which was Women's Russian by in its the to to order government activities restrict monitored closely 218 direct interest in The absence of government granting philanthropy. forced join to the revolutionary struggle. women rights civil women The uncompromisingly masculinist structure seemed otherwise unassailable. The presenceof women in the political forum was not ignored by Characterizations the women of active were modelled on real writers. in the participation of women's revolutionary movement circumstances in Finland. A in Russia resistance substantial gallery of political in or be found among the works of Tolstoi, to types are revolutionary Gor'kii. In Gippius Finland, Kuprin, and women's role in the Andreev, inspired Jotuni's in Vera characterization movement of Russian radical (1913,'Bloody Day') as well as L. Onerva's sketch of the title VeripaiviYnd (1909). Many of the active women in the Pavlovna Mania heroine of jarnefelt Talvio Kianto, Finnish Aho, and reflect women's works of involvement with matters of national concern. While the social types set in these contexts may represent it dimension the metaphorical was of their historical realities, its impact. Reality their characterization gave which was womanhood in feminine of woman, mystification an eternal, a which combined with
215 216 217 218 ibid., p-88Sulkunen, op-cit.,pp.124-25. Evans, op-cit.,p.118. ibid., p.123.

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quality was interwoven with an expression of future goals. The Madonna image was superimposed on realist portraits of contemporary, nationally conscious women. The most explicit examples of this phenomenon are to be found in the interpretations of woman's political awakening in the work of two authors in particular: Maxim Gor'kii in Russia, and Ilmari Kianto in Finland. Biographical literary studies of Gor'kii and Kianto indicate that both authors drew much of their subject matter directly from their own experience. Many of their female types were based on women they had known personally. For Gor'kii, the beloved grandmother he describes in his autobiographical account Detstvo (1913-14, Childhood, 1954) provided the model for many of his sketches of ideal motherhood throughout his work. The most important of these is the portrait of Pelageia.Nilovna in his novel of revolutionary action, Mat' (1906-08, Mother, 1954). While Nilovna's personality owes its development to Gor'kii's grandmother, as a social type the character is based on the reallife figure of Anna Zalomova, whose son bore the workers' banner at 219 The parade resulted in the 1902May Day demonstration in SormoVO. the arrest and trial of the marchers and inspired the central incident of the novel's plot. Gor'kii wrote of Zalomova: She is no exception.( )I could name a dozen more mothers who ... by tried side side with their children, many of whom I have were 220 in met person. Similarly, Kianto's novels contain many female protagonists described in his diaries dating from counterparts are non-fictional whose the period he lived in Moscow, Moskovan maisteri (1946, 'The Moscow 221 however, Gor'kii, Kianto was not inspired by an Unlike student'). , image of mature motherhood. For Kianto it is the image of a young, become to the potential wife and mother, which suggested woman, with to him a force of renewal. The picture of the ideal bride is mostcomprehensively developed in his portrayal of Paula Winterberg in the (1908, Pyhd 'Sacred Anger'). The novel is set around the viha novel time of the 1905 General Strike which gripped Finland as the.
219 220
221

Ha3BaTh c AeCAMK H3BecTHux. '

F.M. Borras,Maxim Corky the Writer: an Interpretation,Oxford, 1967,p.111. Referred to in Gorkii, op. ( )A dw cit., Vol.4, p.419;'OHa HC Hcrnio,, mor ieHHe. ...
CYAHBIUHXCABmecTc c HmeH MaTCpefk, JTH'4HO AenMH H mamio MHe

The original diaries date from 1901 to 1903.

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from Russia. The atmosphere spread characterization of revolutionary Paula is inspired by Kianto's own wife, whom he married in 1904.222 They had a civil wedding in Sweden as it was not yet possible in Finland,, is in Civil taken the up novel. theme marriage was a choice which a defiance by intellectuals a number of of act as part of their made as an Membership political resistance. of of the church was programme birth, formalities this and as well as other religious came to automatic at be viewed as a symbol of state control. The respective choice of ideal in Mat" and Pyhd viha is also in They do these types authors' work. explore elsewhere other reflected flaws but do these certain often suggest and not achieve a as well, Gor'kii desexed in type examines a synthesis. of a woman satisfactory his In his Romantik of revolutionary women. story portraits of number (1910, 'The romancer'), the heroine feels she needs to annihilate her in Virginity, form in in the to take the the part cause. order of sexuality dimension, female independence the sexual can suggest a of absence harks back It for images to action. such super-human of required Greek for Artemis. Artemis, the the goddess example, as, strength huntress, who does not bleed herself (she does not menstruate), spills is implied The in Lady Macbeth's blood condition same others. of the in be 'unsexed' to to the to the order gain to gods courage commit plea is inadequate, Gor'kii, For this simply solution and perhaps murder. In Romantik, it draw to pathetic. only serves closer even ultimately heroine's More is Gor'kii's the to sexuality. sympathetic attention Sasha, in the the the mould of young same woman, one of portrait Sasha is in Mat'. forced is to a revolutionary characters who secondary hero, love for Pavel, his demand, for the her the sake deny at romantic like herself Sasha but Pavel's to would marry, accepts the cause. of demand for total commitment to their work at the expense of personal deny her (although does Thus sexuality the not she she possesses needs. frequently to but her the applied serious revolutionary), so austerity humanity, In this retains way she a sense of happiness. and bound her in humility, Woman's up sacrifice. wilful consequently has been her identified force to sexuality often as a indifference of evil, as Woman's humble Macbeth. Lady sacrifice of her calling of in the caseof
Helsinki, 1946, Moskovan Kianto, maisteri, p.517. Although he does not 222 Paula's characterization, he states that the novel records his mention specifically including his attempts to obtain a civil wedding. during this period, experiences

102 hand, is tinged with the humility of the wife and mother, on other nuns. Like such brides of Christ, revolutionaries are brides of the cause, responding to a calling greater than individual will. 223 It is this element which makes Sasha'svirginity acceptable, but still not completely satisfactory. For Gor'kii the eternal Virgin is a concept which lacks both a link to the human life cycle and the fundamental vitality which he perceives in woman's sexual identity. Gor'kii far prefers to glorify woman's sensuality than to suPPressit. His many portraits of prostitutes confirm his liberal attitude: he expresses but, for the abused, unlike Tolstoi, he retains his faith in their sympathy fascination humanity. Gor'kii's ever-present with the nature of in is Mordovka (1911, The the revealed story sexuality woman's Mordvinian Girl, 1954). The hero finds the role identities of the women his him is puzzling: who also a mother, the tender around wife, prostitute whose child is dead, his innocent daughter. They are not explored as types or individuals, but as roles which exist only in relation to the hero. They reflect Gor'kii's attempts to understand the nature and function of woman's sexual, social identity. Gor'kii's portraits of beautiful, unrefined women, such as those of the title heroines of Varen'ka Olesova(1898, Varenka Olessova,190-) or Mal'va (1897,Malva, 190-), are eulogies to woman's natural eroticism. The sensual but saintly Mal'va, whose soul does not 'match' her body, for Although the character Iakov this fact signifies was once a mother. that she is somehow tainted, for the reader it draws her closer to an image of the Virgin Mary, and to a view of her more complete Varen'ka Mal'va exude a vital energy which and womanliness. dry the charm of cultivated cynical women such as contrasts with Elizaveta SeFgeevnain Varen'ka Olesova,whose childlessness is also herself feature. Varen'ka evokes all the desirability clearly a negative ingenuousness. by yet retains a girlish provocation., sexual aroused Gor'kii's attitude towards women frequently appears paternalistic. Simultaneously, he expresses the firm conviction that the answer to her lies in role as mother. The closest synthesis of woman's sexuality
The most powerful model of the warrior virgin must beJoanof Arc. Andrea 223 Dworkin's analysis of the fact and fantasy around her figure revealsprecisely this Joan because the towards vocational virgin. condemned attitude was partly ambivalent her'desexing' of herself was not felt to contain sufficient humility. Dressingas a man France, God's her in to not save part of commandof how to do it. See choice order own was London, 1987, Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse, pp-83-105.

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found identity be is his to the among sketchesof these views of woman's (1912-17, Russia Through Po Rusi Russia: A Book through wanderings (1912, in Rozhdenie The Birth 1932), the Stories, stories cheloveka of of Man (sic), 1932), and Zhenshchina (1913, A Woman, 1932). In Zhenshchinahe paints the portrait of an exceptional woman who is like like difficulties The the thousands. lone mother of yet she and child a faces arouses the narrator's desire to 'take her in his arms like a forsaken herself [the 'would take them all of muzhiks] and give child; while she '224 place. them a good There is a strong association with the land in the description, as full breast, for frequent to the woman's reference suckling. ripe well as These motifs conjure the image of the universal earth mother, though her destiny. here her In Rozhdenie rob of chelovekathe circumstances is The Madonna-like the achieved. motherhood aspect of of supremacy birth figure the the miraculous aspect of and are repeatedly main is but imbued The tainted shame with woman with a sacred evoked. birth image Mother The the that the of giving and woman of of quality. God become interchangeable as the former continuously invokes the latter in rhythmic prayer. Clearest evidence of Gor'kii's understanding of motherhood as female being, importance Madonna the the the and of of as the essence be found is his in Ispoved' to the image mother, eternal work of an book The is a fictional record of the author's 1910). Confession, A (1908, failure in first the the It the after years of revolution. seekings spiritual lay behind the the preoccupations of which many reveals in Nilovna Pelageia Mat'. In the of one scene narrator characterization kept in Khristina, her Her a convent a nun, against will. encounters become is desire to mother: a only
I

first little If dies have I the of my own. one a will another, want from let it let I them take them rob me of my me; not not and will
SOUI! 225

At this point the narrator reflects: We have forgotten that it was a woman who gave birth to Christ led him Golgo have forgotten humbly is to tha; that we she and
'Ha PYKH (5U B35M CC, KaK Vol. in 8, 1 16; Gor'kii, Zhenshchina, op. cit.; p. 224 'B3Ana 6bI BceX H TrOCTnHna Ha rjOKHHYTOrO pe&wS; and XOPOUIHe Me=., mHe mnaACHLja; CCJIH IICPBblrt Vol. 5, in 256; 'Hy)KHo Ispoved'.. Gor'kii, op. cit., p. 225 X04Y POJXHTb, H Y)K HC 1103BOJI10 OTHATh ero, orpo6HTbuywy moiol' nomep - Apyroro

104 the mother of all saints, of all great people in the past, and that, in have lost base all senseof woman's worth, covetousness, we our but have degraded her to the object of our enjoyment, to the level burdened labour. domestic That is why woman animal with of a but bears forth deformities, brings longer redeemers, only any no perpetuating our weakness-226 A small but significant detail in Gor'kii's fascination with motherhood is the fact that his own mother died when he was seven, as he records in his childhood memoirs, Detstvo. It was a lack which he felt deeply and for which he partly compensated in his relationship with his maternal 227 decisive Personal in plays an equally experience role grandmother. Kianto's fascination with woman's maidenhood. The diaries Kianto kept of his student days in Moscow between 1901 and 1903 reveal his for a wife, and the exacting requirements which passionate search defined his concept of ideal marital union. Published in 1946,the diaries include the added commentary of the mature Kianto. From these we learn that Kianto's liberalism did not include pre-marital sexual from himself He consummating the consciously restrained relations. before his he had he liaisons When marriage. was thirty many romantic his he The twenty-two. a of married woman record of period years old in Moscow outlines many of the views on women, marriage and his later fiction. life, in in emerge which political woman's role Kianto seeks an erotic chastity. In Moskovan maisteri he refers to interest has him he in an who showed the encountered as women all 'hetaera', despite the fact that one is entering a convent (apparently on his account), and one is close to starving in abject poverty. 228 This facile because impurity the not occurs only women were sexual of suggestion but interest, also: tainted with romantic because his heart overflowed with the memory of Finland's foot his his touched the as soil soon of native womanhood as land.M9

226
rWBo;

ibid,

TM Mbl, 257, '3a(5bmH p. 3adbm, VM OHa man

XeHIUHHa

XPHCTa POAHna H Ha

ronroty

rrOKOPHO

rrpexpacHux jumerk npoulnorO, H ]a MeHIIXHHe, IXeHy XaAHOCTH o6paulaem eeB yrexy =A ce6A=B Hawell rroMANH rro=otk t5ommue AOMaIIIHee WHBOTHOe Am pa6onz: crrroro OHa H He poAHT aracHnneR XH3HK, a ' TombKo ypo=eB ceeTn Herl,njio= cna6ocrhHaiuy. Boffas, op-cit., p. 23. 227 Kianto, Moskovan maisteri, p. 186; 'hetairat'. 228 1 tulvahti tAyteen Suomi-naisen muistoa heti ibid., p. 186; 'silld hAnen sydAmens. 229 kun hAn jalkansa oman maan kamaralle laski'.
xHaa ero;

BCeX CBATbIX H

105
The sexual promise that Kianto perceives as the essence of womants being becomes closely fused with notions of nationhood. At the same time, one of the most negative aspects of woman's active participation Russian in Kianto's found, the be among austere view, to was dedication best, he At their only with could sympathize revolutionaries. insofar as it signified devotion to husbands or lovers, such as in those Otherwise Siberia. followed their to the severity of men who women kursistki frequently intolerable to demonstrating arrested was and the him. He writes: The Russian kursistki (...) have become even more antipathetic to me. Today one of them was talking about a young student who had shot himself when the police had come to arrest him in the Such him She a martyr, wretched and mad. called night. heartlesswenchesI am forced to sit and eat with every day.230 less Kianto to than to so denial sexuality which, no women's The of in involved the typified revolutionary women activity, others, many female less for him been have than to viable alternative an even appears for Gor'kii. On several occasionsKianto writes of the 'unwomanliness' desire as sexual woman's rejection of of spinsterhood, choosing of desire 231 in ideally Nevertheless, such a woman surfaces lunnatural'. brought by in PyhiY the man, viha. as consciousness with only desire but of preserves the purity of virginity yet not absence, ignorance, love discovered in a sublime the of consummation. promise implies
Influenced by Tolstoi's asceticism in his early years, Kianto found basis for formulate the to a suitable emotional relationship it difficult 0s lead him to this to the attempts resolve women. and between men but his in his Madonna, the erotic, pure characterization of image of keviYt (1907, Sorgen Sieluja Milka in innocence The of y6s$& heroines. Nirvana the and night), spirituality spring of -Souls (1907), both kindle hero's desires. Nirvana In in the the Napoleonovna Virgin Mary the the of myth provides the unequivocal latter novel, in the ideal hero's the of womanhood. of symbol 230 In Moskovan maisteri, it

nuoresta ylioppilaasta, santarmin yksi antipaattisemmaksi. itsensi. Kursistka h5net hAntA tuomitsi ampui vangitsemaan tullessa y6iiA Niin hulluksi. joka ja istuu sydAmett6miS naikkosia pSivS siinS Taukaksi MaTtyyTiksi, tAytyy jossa aterioida: minun p6ydassii,

kursistkat(...) ovat kAyneet ibid., p.343;TenAlAiset minulle yh! heist! jutteli TSn! Sn joka

he Cluonnottomia ') 408; the'unnatural teit! ibid., paths' mentions of a woman p. 231 lettee (pA10; to the'unfeminine refers and unmarried, to remain wanting ) kirJeeseen! of a woman expressingthis view. @epinaiselliseen

106
becomes clear that for Kianto the heroine's real life counterpart, Nina 232 bride Neimann, 'the Christ'. He saw no future, in epitomized von of their relationship, however, because she was Russian: 'the fatherland, by force. heart's 1233 shatters my emotions

For Kianto the link between nationhood and a feminine idealbecomes a powerful symbol. He wore the traditional Finnish white student's cap at the May Day celebrationswhen he was in Moscow. As a, symbol of Finland: the student's cap was like a pure, untouched virgin, "beloved' maidenhead", which was a holy carress for the nerves, which be disgraced-234 must not Like the author himself, the hero of Nirvana also fails to approach his for Kianto's Madonna ideal idol. search a with whom to share virginal his political convictions and religious redirection was finally resolved in the figure of Paula Winterberg in Pyhd viha. Kianto's later work also demonstrates that the bride figure was to remain the idealized principle of his concept of womanhood. Kianto, like Solmu Karm in Nirvana 'wanted to kiss his woman a first and last time.1235 ...

The consummation and the auspicious act of impregnation Long-term motherhood and marriage, '. represented perfect fulfilment. his faith hand, in either womanhood or the sustain could not other on destroyed ideal harmony. Marriage the of the Madonna as spiritual bride, as is evident in the sequel to PyhIt Wha, PyhiY rakkaus (1910 , 'Sacred love'). In this novel, marital union and motherhood bring domestic Kianto's tension. novel of the promises andand sorrow disappointments of the first Finnish elections also casts motherhood in a Wiva, is light. in In Punainen motherhood portrayed all the' negative backwoods, harsh the the of conditions of with too many' cruel realities

for before their time. The novel no to old and women care children longer evokes hope in the future, but rather records disillusionment Social Democratic Party. Its the the of elected achievements with heroine, Riika, penetrates the outside world and participates in politicallife alongside her husband, but she is by no means an ideal element in_'
ibid., p.34; 'issrunaa sIrkee vSkistenkin sydAmeni tunteet. ' 233 ibid., p.479, 'ylioppilaslakki o1i kuin puhdas, koskematon neitsyt, "immyt 234 armas", joka hiveli hermoja pyhIsti ja jota ei saanut hdviiistl' Kianto, Nirvana, in Valibit MAW, Voll, p. 231; 'tahtoi naistaan 235 kerran. ' Orneisen ja suudella... ensimniliisen

232

ibid., p.38; 'Kristuksen morsian%

_1

107
the political struggle. For Kianto the word 'nainen' (woman) holds from (girl). in its distinction 'tyttd' his In stories notably charm special from Karelia, which express his deepest emotions about the true virtues land, he dwells in 'nainen' Finns their the the on the and use of word of Karelian dialect. For the Karelians;the word denotes: (naitu nainen) and never a maiden as in our married woman 236 falsely Finland. respectable own
Universal Mother and National Bride Madonna The 2.4 as

In Gor1kii's Mat' and Kianto's Pyhtl viha, the respective significance of Pelageia's motherhood and Paula's eligibility extends far beyond their her lives. Pelageia's Paula's to relationship son and personal becomes her husband the to man who are starting points relationship for their political consciousness. This in turn carries their roles as fuller drama into bride human destiny. the of national and and mother developed dimension is alongside a spiritual angle. The socio-political female image within contemporary to the The characters serve examine debate over Christianity and the role of the church. The religious preoccupations of the period were a focal point in direction The in the the discussion of nation. on established church the both countries seemed overwhelmed by an intransigence of form and do had faith. The to true nothing with which church was regulations linked In Russia, the to the state. closely church was moreover 237 in defence Orthodoxy. to police civil and powers enlist of empowered became identified the closely Finland church with oppression as the In disseminate imperial decrees the to stipulations required of were clergy 238 After disturbances the 1905, the church their congregations. of to became an even more vociferously conservative element. It argued that incompatible, socialism were since there was a basic Christianity and between the the the teaching enmity of class struggle and contradiction both Finland and Russia the intellectual For the love. milieu of of institution, to a repressive sought which only represented church the aspects unhealthy most of social and moral codes of preserve
Suomessamme On Suloisessa Kianto, our sweet Finland'), Helsinki, 1925,p.10; 236 . kuten ikin! U5113 Suomessa. ' tekosiveSssa neiti-ihn-dstS meillA eikZi sta ,naitua nai State Society' Simon, 'Church, in Oberlinder Gerhard and et al., eds, op. cit., 237 links the 199-205. to the For of church's assessment autocracy see 199. pp. an p. Kirby, op. cit., p.28. 238

108 conduct. The search for a new Christianity was a drive towards the'' spiritual rebirth of the nation as well as of the individual. Writers'., criticism of the Orthodox and the Lutheran churches, often in keeping" basic Tolstoi's teachings, centred on the, the principle of most with between church doctrine distinction faith. 4' and religious
2.4.1 Gor'kii's Pelageia Nilovna

The religious aspirations which Gor'kii had acquired as a child from his, forcefully in the atmosphere of dejection, more grandparents surfaced failure the after of the 1905 revolution. In the novel which prevailed Mat',, the author attempts to reconcile the cause of the Russian, fundamentally freedom Christian view of revolution with a and justice,. blind faith in God. The novel's, the aspects of a negative while rejecting , from Nilovna, her fear Pelageia emerges character, central and,, resignation, fostered by her slavish adherenceto Orthodox teachings, in for behalf Christ's the to action on of need accept word. Pelageia's order fear is symbolic of the old world. It acts as an obstacle to her political fear fully By becomes that overcoming she emancipation. committed to the revolution. She does not abandon her basic faith, but she rejects the ignorant of passive, worship, which she replaces with active practice God's kingdom for Part II the on of earth. establishment of the, work begins after the arrest of Pelageia's son at the end of the, novel, which dream in sequence a which she sees a, chapter, opens with previous This league in the police. symbolic recognition of the official with priest for her league faith. in turning the marks a point oppressors with church She has adopted a deeper spirituality. Later the messageof her dream, b her is real experience when she witnesses the: sequence compounded .y denounced by Rybin, the as a revolutionary a priest in, peasant arrest of Chapter 15. The dream scenealso contains explicit imagery of Pelageia as the. Gor'kii dream her Christ. The to enables portray suckling her mother of function, biological Ie than to the th other attributed weeping, only child, Madonna. The imagery marks Pelageia'stransition from the local to the detail lactation her development The in the of of character. universal Madonna both Orthodox the the as the mother of, on emphasis exploits the redeemer and its notion of Mary's common bond with humanity, ' The significance of Pelageia's role as the mother of the redeemer is

109
half II. Part After death the towards the second of of a reinforced Sasha the revolutionary young woman expressesher belief in comrade, the immortality of honest people. Pavel, Pelageia's son and martyr to the cause, must be counted among the individuals who convey immortality. The mother becomeseasily equated with the 'mother of all Gor'kii describes in Ispoved. great people' whom all of saints, The nature of Pelageia's motherhood proceeds through several from individual She for her narrow evolves a concerned only stages. Christian her through safety, son's self-knowledge, into an and own integrated element of a wide-reaching movement. At the beginning of part ig, after the arrest of her son and his friend: her eyes were fixed on all that was now past, on all that had left 239 her along with Andrei and Pavel. Her sense of loss is contrasted with her recollections of her early, imperfect motherhood in an incident from the past, when she used her from herself blows to the protect son of her husband. Her two-year-old body is the with of a self-protection child a sign of a graver reaction of fabric dictated in by hierarchy the of an whole existence a of weakness lonely, is is is her It that, she although now clear she united with abuse. for deeper level, it is that and universal much a protection she on son blows him dealt by to the Her has the expose state. now experience must her In first the self-perception transformed own a as mother. part of also is her inextricably linked participation with her emotional the novel, dependence on her son. At the time of her first involvement with his is It from her: her primarily selfish. stems motivation work, bitterness and hatred for people who deprive mothers of their 240 because justice. the sons seek sons simply her son's tenderness by letting him know she has been Later she wins distributing leaflets, which provokes Andrei's comment: 'People seek all but love. 1241 things, mother a always seeks sorts of By the latter part of this section of the book, Pelageia's character her a strong element of self-sacrifice, evokes merging private already
239
240
pawmamwnx Gorkii, Mat', in op. cit., VoIA, p.270;'rna3aeC HenOABHXUiO -m, Rm

ibid., p-199; H uo6a Ha moileft, KompEje oniHmaw nPaBAY-' HUXeT CWH qJM To, ibid., p224; 'KTo qerO HlUeT,2 maTh- BcerAa aacm. ' 241

AHIXPWM rIaanom. ' yiujxo ar c Hee Bmem H npoambim, cTajjo yxe 'OXCCT014CHHO

y maTcPHcwHa 3a

110

relationship with her son with a more distant image of the weeping Madonna. Pavel demands her total selflessness: t. When will there be mothers who send their children to death, 242 with a smile? To this she replies tearfully that her compassion 'is only natural for a 243 The enriching self-sacrifice which is cultivated by Pelageia's mother'. her with son also expressesrevolutionary purpose. She is: ' relationship filled with the desire to unite her heart with her son's heart to form one great flame.244 Alongside her unity with Pavel, Gor'kii develops her role as mother of the children of God. The earliest sign of this is her suggestion lodger, first in Andrei the taking a as step in the extension of her of 'family'. Later, in a discussion over the nature of a woman's and: especially a mother's love, she concludes that her love is impure because,as she says: 'I love my own, what's close to me!'245 Andrei tells her: 'You can do great things, becauseyou have a great mother love in, yoU. 1246 Andrei asks her to show some affection to Nikolai' Vesovshchikov, a development which is another sign of her growing family. The request underlines the need and potential for Pelageia's become love to all-embracing within the cause, since this maternal particular member of their group is personally antipathetic to her: Indeed her relationship with both Nikolai and Andrei ultimately her broader her figure. of significance as awareness a mother symbolize By the penultimate chapter of Part I, she takes hold of Nikolai's hand during the demonstration. The section ends with her all-encompassing 247 blood', 'our behalf 'our children'. of plea on The climax of Part I also indicates the change in her religious draws in her the together thus strands and various perception, role as' dream, her Her in the role of; symbolic subsequent which casts mother. the mother of Christ, extends the Madonna imagery to that of mother of: her in humanity, pregnant with a child arms. Pavel is in as she walks all
242 ibid., p.236; WorAa (5Y; XYT maTcpH, xoTophieH Ha cmepTb rrommm CBOHX ;xeTert c
B OAHH orOHh. '

paAOMIOT ibid., p-236, '3TO yX MaTCPHHCKOe'. 243 trlOJIHaA CBOe cep=e c ccpxLuem CJIHTh CblHa XellaHHX ibid., 245; 244 p. ' 6JIH3KOC! CBOC, ibid., p.213; 'A njodfflo 245 BUHKO mo)KcTe. MHoro ' ibid., p-213; Sht 246 y BacmaTePHHCKoe. '; keTH Ham'. 'KPOBh ibid., 247 Haiua', pp. 267-68;

III

dream, her in during in Part H, she turns from distance trial the and the her son towards Andrei, feeling he needs her affection more than Pavel does. 248 In the second half of the novel, Pelageia understands more love her danger that to the private, motherly represents a clearly because her 'the in thinks she cause, when of son mother revolutionary her would crowd out the greater humanity. 1249 It is Pelageia's constant struggle against the negative impulse of her selfish maternal instincts which gives her character its dramatic her her figure From Christ acceptance of son's martyrdom as a quality. her love I, Part to the to the children of the of the extension of end at dimension her the the religious embellishes notion of revolution, finally She 'all that asserts people motherhood. are children universal 250 Although Gor'kii's between the text reworkings of mother'. of one 1907 and 1923removed much of the unequivocal religious details in her 251 her the mythology role, of motherhood remains speech and Gor'kii's the glorification of evoked. mother as an active powerfully force in the revolution, as a disciple of progressive ideology fused with a Christ to the teachings adhering religion spiritual of rather renewed formidable is image dogma devotion the a the church, of of and than ideal Nilovna loyalty, Pelageia humility emerges as an of self-sacrifice. Bogamateri (Mother in the love the mould unmistakeable of of and God).
2.4.2.Kianto's Paula Winterberg

Wha, Paula Winterberg represents a parallel Pyhif Kianto's novel In loyalty symbolizing womanhood national glorified and active vision of function bride is It Paula's lends her dramatic as a which a participation. development Paula's is linked to the quality. questions of symbolic and destiny by Kianto himself the raised national novel. and was a religion like hero Reino Frommerus, like the the male of novel. son, pastor's institutionalized the many of principles of rejects religion in the author,
imply Pavel is is to that This not the focusof the trial scene(and of 248 not Pelageia's love that maternal only now extendsbeyond a private to a Pelageia's concern), collective emotion. ' menowmeMoro. VoIA, 326; Mat, in 'maTcpHHcicoe Gor'kii, op. cit., p. menrano pocTy 249 O;jHOA maTepti'. 'AeTH 399; ibid., P. 250 The Revolutionary Russian Novel,Cambridge, 1982. The Freeborn, Richard 251 footnote6, pp265-66,and commentson the reduced in lists the reworkings, author the 51. the a as result mother's role of of revisions on p. aspect religious

112 favour of a simpler faith based on compassion and sincerity. Kianto'sideas were heavily influenced by Tolstoi. In the novel, Reino gives his father a copy of Tolstoi's Gospelto read. Reino frequently challenges the doctrine for its lack he terms religious of of validity what 'imagination'. 252 By this he means a spiritual dimension. Early in the novel he questions the use of such terms as heaven, hell, sin, angel, as Christ, Buddha Mohammed in the of and place a universal faith. as well The portrayal of Reino is more elaborate and central to the novel than that of Pavel in Mat". Reino's relationship to the religious theme as well force has Christ-like Paula the to none of of martyrdom and as redemption which characterize Pavel. On the other hand, Reino is strongly characterized as a prophet, a wanderer spreading the new teachings of a more genuine faith. His surname, 'Fromm', is the Swedish word for 'Pious'. In the first stages of the novel Reino's intellectual life is marked by tension and frustration. He is an ascetic, and it is Paula's presence love, humanity, into his world-view., introduces and a greater which Paula does not appear until the eighth chapter of the novel, once Reino's thoughts and experiences have provided the reader with an understanding of his philosophical outlook. Henceforth the theoretical debate over marriage, and the actual marriage which unites Paula and Reino towards the end of the novel, take on religious-political is for Paula tied to the church by her the two characters. significance deaconness, and consequently adheres to certain moral as profession is her Nevertheless, to she relatively quick adopt suitor's conventions. liberal views of a natural bond between man and woman. During the friendship, Paula her their expresses gratitude towards of stages early Reino for never having made improper sexual advances towards her. She also wishes to have their wedding sanctified by a priest. It is not long, however, before Paula agrees to a civil marriage and, moreover; herself Reino before formalities have freely 'gives' to the sexually she taken place. Both of these actions demonstrate her enlightened ability to being dependent their without on the official union as sacred perceive law. Their fundamental is or church marriage a of either approval Reino legally the sees civil order. marriage, old not of rejection issue in Finland topical this as a point, at which symbolizes a. recognized

252

Kianto, Pyhd viha, in Valitut teokset,Vol.2, p.174; 'mielikuvituksen'.

113
have in Stating the they to take that the will state. refuge stand against legal system of another country in order to marry, Reino adds: Finland and Russia are the only states in Europe where men in black coats force people to dance to their tune. And everyone humbly complies, even those who rebel in their thoughts.(...) if laws for legal be holy in reforms, would not changed waited all we for No! All idealistic the time. till this country end of struggle freedom is revolutionary. 253 Both the church and the autocracy are targets of revolutionary struggle: Civil marriage in Finland is rebellion against the "Christian social 254 is the enemy. order", and all rebellion struggle against In the following chapters, Paula and Reino try to obtain home for they and abroad, return civil marriage after a permission finally succeed in England. Paula has adopted the 'truth' which in hypocrisy ideology husband's her to the the contrast of underlies by in is Mat, Pelageia Like she politically emancipated official church. her rejection of the formal church. The link between church and state between in Paula further is the a conversation and reinforced authority her her in The Rynttinen. to priest visits order question local priest, her He on challenges moral, political and religious attitude. and status liberal ideology is by herself. defence Paula Here the of made grounds. is be bride Reino's Paula's to feature key position accepted as of The despite the absence of a church ceremony. Rynttinen and other her by inferring that the of community slander disapproving members 255 his 'wife'. is This 'companion' than Reino's is rather motif part she between freedom made within marriage and of the recurrent association freedom within the state. After the birth of the couple's first child, the matter of the baby's issue joins the of a church of wedding as matters with christening
Europassa, Ven5jS jossa Suon-d ja 225; ibid., ovat ainoat valtiot mustatakkiset p. 253 Ja kaikki n6yr5sti ihmiset tanssirnaan oman paimensoittonsa mukaan. pakottavat kapinoivat. ( ) Jos jokainen lain kolausta jSisi jotka pyhSS mielessSSn taipuvat, nekin ... kullan kuuna lakia muutettaisi. Ei! Kaikki tAssI valkeana maassa ei niin C>dottamaan, ' on vallankumouksellista.. ihanteellinen vapaustaistelu

Suornessa kapinaa 'Siviliavioliitto "kristillists 241; ibid., on p. 254 ja kaikki kapinallisuus on taistelua.vihollista vastaan, yhteiskuntajSrjestystd" ' vastaan. They have been in

by ibid., registered as man and church records wife p296-97. 255 RynttAnen, to father, according who will refer only to Reino, unjustifiably Reino's h5nen ('ja his toverinsa'). companion! Frommerus'and

114 constitutional importance for RynttAnen. The couple's marital situation becomes a public issue of debate, with an open letter-in the press. The its climax as a reflection of political crisis in the pages reaches marriage description General 1905 Strike. Klanto repeatedly the the of preceding uses the theme of Reino's and Paula's relationship to reflect the political developments of the day. Reino distinguishes between existing law ideals. latter The constitutional and constitutional represents national loyalty, since.: Civil marriage and the rejection of christening are not the inventions of BobrikoV.256
After the Strike he experiences a strong faith in the Finnish people:

The real spirit of constitutionalism could not place itself in for internal reforms. If it did so, to the country's needs opposition then it had its roots in Russian patriotism, in the most intolerant form of national chauvinism, with its stagnant imperialism and 257 tyranny. worship of religious In the aftermath of the strike, Reino sets off around the country to campaign in the coming elections. Paula's contribution to the causewill be that of the ideal wife and mother: it is she who proposes that he undertake this important activity, while she will suffer the separation look home The included their to child. symbolism after at stay and in Paula's characterization reflects the nature of Reino's political action. For Reino,as for Kianto: havoc among the organized socialism wrought unrestrained Finnish nation, but it also executed incredibly important building he, Reino Frommerus, individual just had as an what work, dreamed of.258 Paula will remain in Karelia, a location which bears strong nationalistic implications for Kianto and other Finnish writers of the day. By the end,
ibid., p348; 'Siviliaviolfitto ja kasteen hylkays eivAt ole mitSAn 256 bobrikoffilaisuuksia.. '
ibid., p.386; 'Todellinen perustuslaillinen henki ei saanut asettua 257 Jos Win teki, se sen se oli sukua uudistusvaatimuksille. sisillisille maan vihan-jeliseksi kirkkotyranniuttansa keisariuttansa mirehtivAlle, venSlAiselle patriotismille, jumaloivalle, suvaitsemattomimmalle kansallisitserakkaudelle. ' ibid., p. 393; 'jSrjestyva sosialismi teki hAikSiIemAt6nt,! hAvitysty6tAnsA 258 Suomen kansassa,mutta - se teki my6s uskomattoman tkkekii rakennusty6ta, juuri sitA, josta hAn, yksil6 Reino Frommerus, oli unelmoinut. '

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has Paula's from the transition the character made novel, of ordinary icon Finnish She is ideal the to Madonna the of symbolic cause. woman image behind Reino's now vociferous challenge of the church's teachings: born Mary, the virgin of a thousand times no: but born of the not 259 (vaimo)Mary. woman In Pyh11Wha, Kianto's vehement refutation of the virgin birth does not preclude an idealization of woman in the form of a Madonna Virgin,, who becomes the Madonna Mother without tainting her image her As Paula's literal innocence the of sexuality. well existence as with her is by the absence of any sexual selfvirginity marked of men, is by As Reino. The Virgin is ideal the she worshipped such awareness. for turn to men should to which religious comfort in moments of himself Reino 'dead troubling. considers with regard to sensual he Paula, inspires him meets whose purity until with a sublime women' love. 260 Paula embodies Kianto's understanding of Mary's religious bride, he interprets which as a on a national and universal significance level in the novel. The identity of bride dominates Reino's vision of his Before Paula, he Christ to meeting with refers not womanhood. born of the 'virgin' or 'wife' Mary, but of the 'bride Mary'. 261 He 267describes his newly kindled love as a Phoenix rising from the asheS, a not uncommon symbol of revolution at the turn of the century. Paula herself is constantly referred to as a bride. She is also Reino's 'reindeerher 263 his which associates epithet an with most poetic symbol of girl,, freedom, national identity and unspoilt nature. one of the implications in the myth of Mary as the bride of Christ is partnership. Kianto uses this idea, at least superficially, in the notion the for the of as one cornerstones suffrage of political ambitions equal of the future Any novel concludes. which with the notions of equality implied by the concept of male-female unity did not, however, idealization humility bride. the In Paula's of woman's as a overshadow
Maariasta 'ei ibid., neitseestJ syntynyt, tuhat kertaa ei: vaan vaimosta p399; 259 ) (italics in ' original. Maariasta syntynyt. kuolleena'. 'naismaailmalle ibid., p-185; 260 Maariastav. 'morsiamesta ibid., p-176; 261 kohota Tenix-lintu harmaasta tuhasta'. 185; ibid., p. 262 'porotytt6nsX. 214; ibid., p. 263 e.g.

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feminine spirit, it is her loyal submissivenesswhich evokes the quality of allegiance. Consummation parallels the national unity achieved immediately after the Strike. Paula's marriageable potential is carried through several changes in the construction of a feminine ideal within the struggle for national self-determination. She begins, unenlightened but open, as an ordinary woman bound by the conventions of the church. She accepts progressive principles which bring to her status of dimension political as well as a revitalized spirituality. By the a wife close of the novel, her character transcendsan immediate presence. She is a remote,, eternal ideal of womanly potential in the harmony of union, a symbol of future ambitions. 2.4.3ParadoxicalImagery Pelageia Nilovna and Paula Winterberg represent models of active, politically conscious women whose ambitions look forward to a time of justice, integrity. Their concern is for the as as well spiritual and equality rights of the people, the native land, the new era of enlightenment. They participate in resistance to the old order according to the requirements of their time. Pelageia emerges from her blind and oppressive faith, Paula from the restrictions of church doctrine, to free, compassionate understanding of truth and humanity. embrace a They both make a specific break from formal religion in a manner, belief: her Pelageia in dream their to the nature of appropriate sequence league in the with the police, and Paula in her. priest which casts him Rynttinen associates which with the oppressive with conversation by Bobrikov. Their instituted charactersexist as an example of measures resistance to church and state. This resistance includes a specifically feminine, symbolic dimension as a positive, progressive force of, incompetent to the authorities. present opposition Both contexts convey another important break from the old order. Pelageia's and Paula's awarenessleads them out of the private domain, , indicated into traditional the public, --. as woman's place, and clearly For Pelageia, her this means activities in the men. alongside in final the culminating pages of the book' movement, revolutionary bearing leaflets her is distributing the text the speech of she son" where her becomes his Paula's In the subject', trial. case, status as a wife at made issue debate the to of constitutional rights. Both related of public

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accepttheir new responsibilitieswillingly and overcomeany characters that their position awakensin them. fearsand apprehensions thus forces them to Pelageia'sand Paula's new consciousness form both in them a of resistance which affects as participate individuals,, in their political opposition to church and state, and as Nevertheless, in this their active and public roles. new-found women, does their characterization not provide a substantial respective aspectof is It their social and psychological roles as of women. not reassessment their their conduct or to mental processes extent really suggest what clear is difficult far It how to the also estimate of womanhood. model a new bride furnish imagery the can and of mother a picture of powerful female psychology of emancipation. Neither woman cultivates an her her This nor of political exploitation role as a woman. of awareness fact shows a neglect of one of the most common facets of women's familiar facet both This in certainly was a universal political experience. Finland and Russia within the movementsleading to revolution and independence. In both Finland and Russia,the incorporation of women in the feminist lost them a certain amount of autonomy, a political struggle by Aleksandra themselves. activists women expected not consequence for bourgeois have women criticized a self-interestwhich Kollontai may but the of the majority women, of great she was equally ignored needs by to the refusal acknowledge socialists' separatewomen's aggravated 264 For Kollontai the movement. workers' and within organizations in the their movement, of women's participation other members did left-wing the their signify capitulation not of socialism organized They experienced a similar senseof disillusion feminist consciousness. been had into the absorbed who revolutionary those women as Many became 1860S. in these the of women soon unhappily movement dictated by their as activities position, were subordinate men aware of for tasks to themselves menial were used obtain money or they and 265 lovers. by When October taking the rich or from their relatives discussion 1905 prepared without of was women's rights, of manifesto from like Chekhova Maria the moderates, split and who women many

264

Engel 86-105. Engel, outlines this and other aspects of the exploitation pp. op.cif., 265 in the radical movement. of women

Porter, op-Cit.,p.130.

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Zinaida Mirovich, were militant in their declaration that women's from inseparable the fight for political freedom in Russia. rights were
In Finland, Ida Ahlstedt, a member of the Social Democratic Party first Finnish parliament in 1906, is just one example of left-. to the elected wing women in Finland who were also active in the women workers', Of the members on the right, the distinguished names movement. included those of veterans of the women's rights movement, such as Alexandra Gripenberg and Lucina Hagman. Women who did not participate in politics, but who were no less active in the pressure forreforms affecting general education and employment, did not lose sight' Canth, Minna for example, took an interest incase. of women's specific the matter of training women doctors and opening women's cliniCS.266 She even broke off her friendship with her close male ally, Juhani Aho, his direct complacency with regard to the woman, result of as a 267 question.

This is an aspect of women's political consciousness which. is by ignored literary descriptions of active or public many completely least in Mat' and Pyhd viha. While challenging the and not women, very constructs of the existing hierarchy, neither Gor'kii nor Kianto makes any attempt to undermine the established male-female hierarchy.,, However, it is not a lack of feminist consciousness which maintains these heroines in their traditional place. This is an omission which tells, did that than the authors not wish to treat this subject. It is us no more is included is than that that which which rather excluded that confirms. ideal the traditional as role within otherwise progressive, woments ideologies and movements. In one sense, this realistically reflects, in ideology. Although the. ' to contemporary relation position women's whole-hearted adoption of masculine priorities is not necessarily, representative of women's own experience, it is representative of the held While about emancipation. women's widely right-wing views feminism never questioned the 'natural' hierarchy of men over. insisted liberation the that socialism of women was only women, logical liberation the consequence of as a of the people (=men).: possible In both cases, the value of expanding women's sphere remained a, ideology to the subordinate of marriage and motherhood. consideration

266 267

in op. Canth, Kirjeitd vuosilta 1860-1897, cit., Vol.5, pp.409-10. ibid., pp.200-01.

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Pelageia'sand Paula's acceptance of the politics of men is only part fact The failure that to a new model of suggest womanhood. their of husband is the philosophy of son and respectively they adopt less implausible than through awakening any a political no conceivably duty is though the male of re-educating a women other channel,,even More theme among overplayed male possibly writers. persistent and limiting aspectsof their character development are the manner in which they achieve their consciousness, and the role they play within the feminine In to their a create specifically attempt motivation movement. Kianto Gor'kii the on popular rely mystification of and symbolism, and being. duty female The is the acceptance of public after all, essenceof because it in the consists suppression of courage exceptional of evidence The inclination towards privacy. qualifications of their natural defined. Paula her husband 'nature' to the relates are carefully womants forced Rynttiinen's her to in withstand she was attack on incident which her her loyalty the to nation, and on spiritual sanity. on morality, sexual She concludes:
I would sooner climb with you onto a pyre than allow them to take you from Me268

how is 'yes things that to Reino are according woman's rejoins: to which likewise by her ideals 'nature' Pelageia's 1269 motivated are as a nature. mother: leave my heart alone! Can a mother help caring? She can't...I care for you all.270 her it is the text for that of son's speech,rather than any nothing It is not is distributing in the final chapter. Her dramatic that leaflets, she other is be to she reduced were undertake political considerably would role her directly to throughout the related son, since not was work which her her the is it not political activism, carries which motherhood, novel impact of her role. Neither woman, moreover, reaches her level of awareness but intellectual intuitive through reasoning, of an through a process
Voll, Valitut in teokset, 'Ennen kanssasi Pyhd Kianto, p326; sinun viha, n-anli 268 kuin ' sinut raastaa minusta annan erilleen. kiipein polttoroviolle kannalta. ' 'niin 326, ibid., naisluonteen se onkin p. 269 moxcTmaTh lie VoIA, 238; 'He in Pa3Bc Mat, p. cit., cep=a! Gorlkii, op. 3aizeBag 270 ' He MHC! imm Bcex -V =Tb? MOXeT... . .

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understanding which is a dominant feature of her personality. Pavel, with his frosty deliberation and articulate speeches, is the intellect behind the movement, while Pelageia is the heart. Throughout the novel, Gor'kii stresses the passion in her response to the cause. She' fails to grasp the meaning of words, but is always inspired by repeatedly the force of emotions. She cannot understand the level of discussion,' but understands the faith and courage behind the arguments. When her' son and his friends join to sing a socialist song during an early meeting in her home: The mother did not like its harsh words and stem tune, but sensed that it lived within them, and submitting to a force that' boundaries the overran of words and music, she listened with greater attention and deeper agitation to this song than any* 271 other. This remains her approach even once she is fully involved in the', movement. When she is present at meetings in Nikolai's home, she' cannot follow the conversation but seeks 'the meaning behind the 272 Even in the penultimate chapter she herself states: 'I don't words'. 1273 understand the words, but I understand everything else. Pelageia never finds her own logic or articulation of the ideology she adopts, even when she manages to communicate its purpose to the* hesitant peasants she finds herself among in the countryside. When she tries to explain the unity of the people she 'could not find the right When '274 the words come they come of themselves,in a manner words. her 'seer', likens to the women of religious revivals speaking to a which in a stateof ecstasy: In unconscious obedience to this demand of her wholesome spirit, she gathered all that was pure and bright into one great, flame, which blinded her with the intensity of its burning. 275

271

cyponirk qyBCTBOIRRHa B Hx rpyzqx H, rroxummcb CHiterreCHH,

OCO(SeHHBEW BHHmaHHem, cayuma c ee Bcer;xa

ibid., p.

? e3KHe cjioBa 176,

Hann

eC HC HpaBHJIHCb maTCPH, HO ( He

) OHa ...

rrecHH. '

B CnOaax H 3BYKn, ymeumBmerICA rnyOOKOrl, IfemBCe pyrHe c TpeBororl(5once

272
273 274
275 coftpana

ibid., p. 302; 3a cnoBaMH 'IYBCTBO'.

ibid., P. 398; 'CnOB He rrOHHmaio, a Bce Apyroe - rlOHHM21O. ' ' ibid., p344; 'HyxcHoe cjioBo He HaXOAHnOCh.
ibid, p-345, T>eCC03HaTCJIbHo rrowmHAACh H I[HcToro, 3TX)MY Tpe6oBaHHIO 3; XOPOBOAAYIUH, OHaB OAHH orOHb, OC3IerrjxABulHA ce CBoHM IIHCThIM '-I. -

Bce, RTO BH;ZeJla cBeTnorO ropeHHem. '

121
Pelageia's instinctive response to the 'truth' of her son's Ideals could in by her life, faith be to religious approach explained which relies on part logic. Nevertheless, it is her than gender rather than a religious rather determines her intuitive The which qualities. world-view includes Rybin the of peasant also a strong religious characterization dimension as he too seeks a new Christianity, but he intellectualizes his his differing is to Pavel. able argue point and of view with situation, Rybin, as a man,, gives an intellectual dimension to the 'philosophy of is it incompatible heart', the mother cannot, as which the with feminine

nature.
Paula's intellect is similarly bound by the myth of feminine She is equally incapable of forming her own intuitiveness. ideology She the she approves. of senses the truth rationalization behind her husband's speech on marriage. When she defends herself is to she of amorality careful remember and repeat accusations against her husband's words. Another reason for her acceptanceof Reino's new former her is intellectual the that views were not result of an morality by desires She in the sanctified a marriage church chiefly order process. because has than she considered the religious or to avoid gossip, rather Woman's tradition. a of such ostensible moral significance is feminine intellect the conventions petty with myth of preoccupation dwell in his Paula. Kianto to upon chooses characterization of which Women are not expected to grasp the fundamental 'idea'. just as Pavel he 'our his become that thought thoughts to mother would never says Paula he Reino '276 is to that that: explains thoughtS,, aware your I myself have reached this level of development, but if it is 277 let be it then So. superhuman into level 'woman's to take account Reino is willing of maturity', which 278 her A Paula consider reputation. must civil marriage will at means least provide her with 'that "honour" which women need'.279 The hero demand to concession makes a women's unreasonable magnanimously for the preservation of their respectability. Paula's initial concern over Kianto is form it Reino's that and practical, makes clear marital
ibid., p.232;'iie 276 VoI. 2, 222; Pyhd 'Mind Kianto, op. cit., p. viha, olen sillS kehityskannalla. Jos se 277 in ) (Italics ' Win original. olkoon. on yli-ihmistS, kypsyysaste. 'naisen 224; ibid., p. 278 ibid., p.224; '"kunnian", n-dtAnaiset tarvitsevat'. 279
' MUCAH, KaK CBOH. upimenIhHaum

122 ' condescensionto a civil ceremony is purely a consideration of her needs. That this is a chiefly female prejudice is underlined in Reino's conversation with his sisters early in the novel, when they refuse to 'woman's honour'; 'unconsecrated the union' on grounds of accept 280 law defence forward is It he this of common marriage. a puts while preoccupation with the mundane cares of society which prevents ideas in Paula's from the abstract. vision merely confronting women for bridal another, without questioning of ritual concept exchangesone the meaning of either. Both Reino and Pavel accept that, while their own ideological level, intellectual on a visionary, women are at least commitment exists They to commitment. courageous emotional a expose to able make dangers their motherly love, as in Pelageia's case, or their wifely devotion, as in Paula's case. The sacrifice they make is embodied intheir identity as mother and bride, not as woman or individual. It would be difficult to say which of the portraits more completely' identity., equality of or separate any notion women's compromises Paula's proud self-image as a wife, rather than companion, is central to At the point where she makes her most her political outlook. independent stand against law and the church, Kianto is particular in' (Mrs Frommerus). Frommerus' her Her identity 'Rouva to as referring becomesassimilated by her husband's. He calls them 'two voices crying in the wilderness', he campaigns for universal and equal suffrage, but' his importance individuality: 'I the of underlines will simultaneously freer. has be herself '281 Paula to no need of, travel my own road, so as this individualistic identity. Similarly, Pelageia'sstatus by the end of the first half of the novel derives from her own description of herself as 'Pavel Vlasov's mother'.282 This remains her view of her identity to the., from beginning Part II, the the a moment at apart of novel, of end very 283 Vlasova, herself 'Pelageia of a widow working man'. where she signs From the moment she enters fully into revolutionary activity, Gor'kii' by her her Nilovna, instead by her to patronymic referring of. promotes

ibid., p. 74; 'vihkimAt6ntA Ifittoa, 'naisen kunnia'. 280 -` huutavan-SAntS latuani, korvessa', 'kuljen kaksi 'me ibid., 397, 281 ornaa olernme p. siten on vapaampi. ' BnacoBX. Gor'kii, Mat, in op.cit., VoIA, p. 264; 'maThITABna 282 BnacoEd. rlenareA ibid., pl7l; 'i3; 283 lienowica, pa6oqero xoBa

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her indicates 'masculine' 284 This the action, quality of Pelageia. not only but also the submergence of her feminine identity within the cause. For the most part, Pelageia is a more successful active participant her Her Paula. developments to than public role also enables in political domesticity. her After trappings the son's of woman's abandon some of live Nikolai to to town another with activist, arrest she moves be her desire When to useful, she is dismayed Ivanovich. she expresses housework. that the Nikolai's undertake she might suggestion at domestic duties instinctively does the perform neglected Although she for the period she is staying with Nikolai, she also travels to the Rybin distribution the to a over of contact with make countryside becomes involved directly Subsequently, for she the peasants. journal is Paula dissemination propaganda. more the of revolutionary with in Kianto's She is from the action novel. excluded removed physically from the chapter dealing with the disturbances of 1905, nor does she her, For in the the preceding elections. political campaigning participate favourable it to alternative although a work, marriage also presents for be that the the she gives up was church, work remembered should her Nevertheless, ideology the rejects. novel the of which homeliness. She is irresistibly is charming a as portrayed ,womanliness' furniture Reino in that clothes the or choosing a way to of drawn cares her domesticity, Paula Content is own with appreciates not. clearly 285 the 'for cause' as coming elections. such a worthy Reino's work On the other hand, it is Paula who has a slightly greater awareness her iniquities against exercised as a woman, and not traditional the of in When in terms unsanctified she sexual morality wedlock. of merely licence, to they travel Reino a marriage obtain abroad experience and faith, because they the Denmark in are of same which means difficulty for Paula is a civil seeking marriage. recognizes no easy reason there her, her fianc6, demand than to rather upon made the that faith, is the result of her status as a woman. to a new accommodate Rynttdnen, the her in pastor she wonders aloud argument with Later, '286 Paula's SOUIS. possess even experiences women 'whether we her ideological beliefs increase her awareness of her from resulting does benefits if Kianto it make clear what even not woman, a as rights
ibid, e.g. p.286or p.288. Kianto, Pyhd viha, in op. cit., Vol.2, p397, Win jalon asian vuoksi'. ' ibid., p322; 'tokko mcilld naisilla edes on sieluja.

284 285 286

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for husband, from her but not she; the suffrage which equal she expects by Pelageia's political, awakening, contrast, reduces her will campaign. despite from the fact that it is male oppression, sense of victimization of victimization against which precisely the doctrine of meek acceptance she is rebelling. Her earliest statement: Your father drank enough for both of you. Didn't I suffer enough 287 hands..? his at is later over-ridden by the realization that: He used to beat me as though it wasn't his wife he was beating, but everyone he had a grudge against288
She identifies completely with we 'people from the dark lifel. 289 Pelageia's and Paula's views of their own liberation through the do they seek not undermine the established political and social changes hierarchy or traditional attitudes towards women. The male-female by dictated They these men. are subordinated by are women actions of their roles as mother and wife, identities which in themselves suggest the absence of independence. They also fail to redefine women's role, because the symbolic message of their characterization is rooted in a founded is feminine the which solidly of on premystification is Kianto's idealization of marriage analogical to a conceptions. ideal he in the state, which creates a' structure and unit representing in She has ideal affairs. national active an open of woman paradoxical futuristic her to adopt a concept of and spirited mind which enables inclinations keep instincts herbut the and which possesses equality, Here, bound to her 'natural' submissiveness to a male protector. Gor'kii, who often tends towards a similar gallantry, manipulates the This and self-sacrifice. also creates a protectiveness maternal concept of looks forwards development, her in too to'a" as she character paradox new age of equality while at the same time she embodies the most function and inner beingJ traditional concept of woman's essential Neither author suggests that his heroine's reactions are the product of
287 288
Teft '3a Vol-4, Goekii, Mat, in op. p-158; cit., CKOJIhKO HaAo, oTeLx BbirrHiz. Bcex, Ha Koro

H meliLR

X ; xoBonbHo. OH HamymHn SHn

ibid., p.282; 'ymo; ieA qePHOA 289 XH3HH. As Richard Stites points out, the concept of, 'the Russian family - merchant, gentry, peasant - as "dark kingdom" would be a major Liberation Movement in The Women's Russia, Stites, 35. ' for p. generations. clichd social

ibid., p.212;

OH meHA, TOxIHO He )KeHY

66eT, a-

320 HMeeT. '

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but influence, fundamental from that they spring environmental feminine qualities which dictate their social and psychological role.
2.5 Conclusion

By a stretch of the imagination he could visualize himself as an 2-90 hero, but a prophet, a conqueror, not as a woman. emperor, a
So reflects the hero of Pasternak's novel of the Russian revolution, Doktor Zhivago. Indeed the business of being a woman was a concept of identity which captured the imagination of the revolutionary and preAs 1950s, Iurii Zhivago's the a creation of generations. revolutionary himself be failure to visualize as a woman may understood as particular intellectuals hindsight. Male of the revolutionary era the wisdom of inclined believe to that the they contrary more possessed a on seemed into insight Nonetheless, deal the essence of womanhood. of great Zhivago's reflection is representative of the early twentieth century in female being the the nature of was a serious subject of certain respects: deliberation, and the mystification of woman within the revolutionary implication Zhivago's be idea The is of extreme. after all context could 'supra-real', is more remarkable than the adjacent epithets that woman be the to which reader must presume stature masculine of epic Likewise, as growing social unrest led to even deeper identities. direction the the and spiritual political with of nation, preoccupations loyalties in a national potential action of woman's and the portrayal by imagery inspired legendary an often of mythical or was context in influencing The human of role women national and proportions. destinies ranged from figures of treachery to figures of sacrifice. Writers images in larger-than-life which culminated a powerfully called upon image in Madonna. the the of eternal view of woman As the literary scholar, Maria-Liisa Nevala, has pointed out:

70; 'npH Moscow, DOW Zhivago, 1989, (1956) P. HCKOTIDPOM Pasternak, Boris 290 aHTWHH 10pa CedA B30uie; jUIHM Ha ApapaTrcpocm, nl)OPOKOM, B006Pa3HTh mor yCHNHH TOJIhKO He yrOAHO, HO from ' Translation Boris BCCM, xeHIIIHHOA. xicm rro(5eAHTCJICM, Hayward Max Manya Harari, New York, 1958. Zhivago, trans. Dr and Pasternak,

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The attitude towards woman is the real testing ground of many, a, It provides an uncompromising picture of the reformist. radical 291 limits of their rebelliousness. Kianto and Gor'kii were perhaps the most politically radical, established, fall far day, but their their portraits of women short of their authors of revolutionary vision. The characterization of Paula and Pelageia suffers from the same difficulties as feminist ideology did in the debate over the In discover to the emancipation. attempting of women's channel correct inner nature of the female being, theories became entangled with, a, be inherent, to considered which were wealth of pre-conceptions rather' than acquired or even fallacious, qualities of womanhood. In literature. the search for a familiar symbolism compromised the portrayal of the. demonstrate Paula Pelageia that traditional values. and new woman. could impose themselves on ideas about women under almost any, is Pelageia working-class, middle-aged, widowed, a, circumstances. home, loyal for the the and a propagandist active outside mother, happy is Paula newly-wed, educated, young, with home life, revolution. loyal in the national resistance. Neither woman; companion and a in liberating from herself the inevitable constraints of a succeeds femininity. of mystification

Maria-Liisa Nevala, Ilmari Kianto: anarkisti ja ihmisyydenpuolustaja, 291 Helsinki, 1986,p.258;'Suhtautun-dnen naiseenon monen radikaalin uudistaian kumouksellisuus lahjomattomasti joissa Se koetinkivi. ne raiat, paljastaa varsinainen Iiikkuu. '

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CHAPTER THREE

3 VOICE (D: Identity in Silence fastened transition, In a period of conscious writers on the theme of life in and political social as a positive and woman's active participation in The force the portrayal of politically active nation. of renewal vital literature the in the of pre-revolutionary generations reflected women future. her in With the the shaping of the perimeters of woman's role identity inexorably determined by her function as wife and mother, dependent help-mate in the man's revolutionary remained woman Anarchistic the the preserved programmes sanctity of partnership. family unit, which proved an uncontestable model for the ideal state. Views on social and moral issues remained rooted in the paternalistic Literary gender and class. and models of ruling priveleged a attitudes of intellectual life to or political reinforced, rather woman's contribution the most simplistic prejudices about woman's nature than challenged, drawn imagery By emotively using of mythical and capabilities. hand the the to on one virginity glorify and motherhood on proportions helped the to make cult only of woman's self-effacing writers other, ideal. irrefutable a more sacrifice modesty and An ideal founded on personal disinterest could hardly begin to From interests. the writers' commentary on woman woman's serve loyal womanhood, the key to the their to of nationally portraits question feminism is Writers ignored and obscured. of women politicization her destiny to take the of need control over own on woman's realization inevitable This behalf. an consequence of adhering to was her own feminine intrinsically While of an motivation. concepts established lengths to traditional to reject substantial assumptions of went writers inferiority, they inherent the placed emphasis on woman's woman's for intuitive capacity goodness and self-sacrifice. apparently superior They challenged notions of woman's weakness or passivity with But to the and readiness resilience act. portrayal of woman's of pictures not necessarily a picture of was emancipated woman. woman active

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Absent from the image of the 'new woman' is the expression of an independent consciousness which would allow the development of separate identity. It is not simply that the feminist viewpoint was not articulated by writers, but that the mystification of the feminine being was a process which effectively silenced woman's voice.
3.1 Political Voice 3.1.1 The Vote As Richard Evans indicates in his study of international feminism, the final politicization of women's movements stemmed from women's recognition that the social, economic and moral reforms they sought be The vote' achieved without adequate representation. could not became an issue as the limited effectiveness of woman's organizations, made women aware of the need to wield political power. In Finland and Russia, the focus on woman's suffrage took place at a relatively late stage, in the development of feminism. The nature of autocratic rule excluded' the question of extended civil rights from the arena of debate. Women's initial reaction to the failure to introduce social improvements through legal channels was to draw closer to the movements of government dung doing In they abandoned, suppressed or so patiently to resistance. their feminist priorities. It was not until the stability of the imperial by the general unrest arising frojn government was undermined Russia's war with Japan and the events of the 1905 revolution that the itself as a crucial aspect of the woman question. established vote In Finland, female suffrage had been included in the manifesto of the Social Democratic Party from its inception in 1899, but it was only in 1904 that it acquired significance. 292 Universal and equal suffrage was liberal incorporated in the constitution granted in 1906. The, successfully feminism Russian this time, of the also emerged at wing as radical disruption caused by uprisings and strikes forced freer political activity., However, unlike their Finnish counterparts, Russian women won'no freedom, no extension of even limited suffrage. shared constitutional This only served to aggravate their sense of being deprived of their civil. for Union Equal Rights Russian Women The All of rights. was' founded,
292

demanding

national

representation

based on universall

Evans, op. cit., p-88.

129 between 1905 1917, 293 Moreover, the was and although vote suffrage. 294 in feminist four the political arena. parties struggled never won, Femalesuffrage was an important issue at a critical time in the Finland Russia. The development of and of specific question political impact A European female almost no on writers. unique made the vote historical achievementfor Finland, a serious political controversy in for forgotten. Whether female quickly vote was nevertheless Russia,the female lack appeal, a of creative suffrage was or censorship of reasons developments for feminist journals, in Europe where subject reserved feminists After 1906, Russian America were eagerly recorded. and Finland could achieve, of what women to as a model example referred in little the suffrage of provoked granting comment but otherwise intellectual circlesin either Finland or Russia. In Russia,it continued to in distracting the goal of generalsocialprogress, much motif be seenas a in Kreitserova had Tolstoi sonata: expressed as
Women's lack of rights has nothing to do with them not being don't be judges those to matters constitute any or vote allowed sort of right-295

burdensome did to those who were so appear not Such rights naturally denied them. In Finland, women's newly acquired status is briefly recorded in his in Leino Eino the on remarks event satirical novel literature. deride (1906), it. The Witikka though to only novel paints an TUOMas factions. Leino's political criticism mainly addresses ironic picture of all the various parties' uncompromising, antagonistic stance which for divisiveness time at a which called national unity. threatened Woman's suffrage is one of the causes advanced by the eager, young his disciple Emmi, later Aavasaksa becomes Democrat, and who Social By the end of the novel the couple are campaigning Aavasaksa's wife. 296 The is intentional. for Women parallel clearly children. for the vote (the hero's their immature to to title far right exercise too vote are does hers). This innocent, that they not mean are as uses never mother
ibid., p.121. 293 Revolutionary Process 'Women in Russia' in Bridenthal Stites, the Richard and 294 454. p. OP-cit-, et al, eds, OTCyTcTBHe npaia B T%)M Vol in 12, 142; 'He Kreitserova Tolstoi, op-cit., sonata, p. 295 6bm quert Him wrHponaTh 3THMH ACnamH He OHa He VrO =HIUHHEJ, 3aHHma-ncJq moxeT ' COC=3nACT HHKaKHX npaB. Vol. 9, in 269. Witikka, Tuomas op. cit., Leino, p. 296

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children are. In Emmi's view women are also too corrupt to hold 297 power. Woman exercising her newly obtained right alongside man is also 298 in Ilmari Kianto's Punainen In this novel, portrayed novel viiva. cynical about the new government's ability to serve the interests of Finland's rural population, the vote for men as for women in the' countryside was an empty victory. An interesting aspect of the vote in' Punainen Ova is its reflection of the contradictions faced by women as they confront social progress. Riika, a peasantwoman, is catapulted into the twentieth century by the constitutional reform of which she, like her husband, is wholly ignorant. The novel illustrates the difficulties of a certain nostalgia for tradition adapting to change. The author expresses and the simple ways of the people. Tradition, in the romantic sense of an unspoilt land and people, characterizedmuch of the radical writing of the turn of the century. This often presents a peculiar dichotomy in the status of women. Unlike the emancipation of slaves or the working does emancipation women's not presuppose independence frpm classes, the inbuilt hierarchy of custom. In Punainen viiva: The man skiied ahead, the old girl behind, as custom would have iL Actually on even terrain Riika managed to ski alongside hiTn, '_ but Topi did not really approve of his wife's efforts.299 1 1. For practical reasons the heaviest party skis ahead in order to create thebut it is the charm of rural custom that captures the" tracks, most even 300 Kianto imagination. romanticizes traditional roles. He' author's in women participating as equal; evidently sees no contradiction enfranchised members of the community, and skiing a respectful distance behind their husbands to the polling stations.

The matter of who skis aheadis likely to havebeen determined by status rather 300 remarksthat in Finnish peasantculture women than practical purposes. A. Nien-dnen husbands behind distance did their and not addressthem by a certain usually walked their Christian name. A. Nieminen, op. cit., p.68.

ibid., p. 271. 297 Kianto, Punainen viiva, in Valitut teokset,Vol. 3, p. 134. 298 ibid., p. 126; 'Mies hiihteli edelld, eukko takana, kuten kansan tapa sen vaati. 299 Tosin tuppautui Riika tasaisilla maisen-dlla ihan rinnallie liukumaan, mutta ei Topi sitA vaimoihmisen ponnistusta oikein suvainnut. '

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3.1.2The Campaign for Equality is the As a self-interested element of woman's emancipation, vote dismissed. Separatepolitical voice is apparently superfluous to women. bears bold hint too to a Any aspiration equality which of separate action is subject to the same derision. The chief target for writers' criticism is feminism ideology Itself As feminist. and movement, an the ostensible from While little they writers. promoted universal comment attracted feminism hand, to they perceive seemed as a misguided one on equality deviation from the central thrust of progressive ideology. In Russia, the feminist contrasted unfavourably with the dedicated revolutionary. In his disgust hero Zhizni Reka the mentions at: Kuprin's bits but hastily doctors lady repeat out of manifestos, who radical 301 flat, like marble slabs. whose souls are cold, cruel and by Russian the occupation chosen main was The medical profession feminist those consciousness, while many who of a with women former medical who were students activity revolutionary embraced their studies. completed never There was an uncomfortable ambivalence in women's in that the recognition they their to position, political relationship from in Equality an absence of recognition. sat effect, stemmed, received knew it Women that through unity. was only with uneasily interests that they could create the their particular of representation for equality. Yet they felt it wrong to isolate the foundations necessary from human liberty. the question general of woman question by denied theory virtue of universally of unity political Establishing a form It in to this unity with equality. resolve was attempt an was power image identity. of woman's political that writers offered a positive Representation was discussed as an issue which united men and because than political voicelessness, shared rather of as a women limited The the to of woman question. rights related matter separate impressive to not seen as an advantage so men were franchise granted long as the majority of men remained as unrepresented as all women, hindered legal In to the reforms system. and the state mechanism
301
weHIUHH-Bpaqefi, VoIA, 72; 'PaAHKanl6HbIX in Kuprin, Reka p. op. cit., zhizni, BrrorMMaX KYCKH H3 rWKJIaMaUH;

7WpAXUWX

k, HO C AyUlOrl XOJIOAHOrl H TIJIOCXOrf, K: IK

0 Aocxa. upamopHaA

132

Finland,, women's participation was encouraged in journals on the grounds that a nation so small was obliged to exploit every one of its 302 Similar exhortations were expressedin literature on manyresources. occasions where 'women too' (naisetkin) are urged to act, particularly in connection with the theme of elections. In Aho's collection, Katajainen, kansani the piece entitled Juhlamateet (1901, 'Sunday best') deals with the signing of petitions. Aho emphasizesthat:
the matter is such that it concerns every Finnish 303 as as well every man. woman citizen, every_

Kansa kapinassa (1899, 'A nation in revolt'), in the same collection, also specifically appeals to 'young and old, men and women' to defend their', 304 from land ignorance. the threat of native Aho's view of national duty asserts that every individual effort is essential. Yet despite his assertion, women are only represented in these to 'unite'. The three stories in Katajainen kansani which portray women play down the theme of national debate, and highlight personal, philanthropic or social themes. There remains an unspoken divide between the existence of the female vote and its relevance to, changes in the social structure. While repeated appeals are made for women's recognition of their rights and responsibilities, the world itselfremains a masculine domain. Political debate and social theory abound, in male terms. Aho's short novel MaMman murjoma (1893, 'Life's casualty') demonstrates how the structures of class and finance, as well-function to the transition the modem world, as a male conflict for the as backward, farm The a protagonist, solitary worker considers: author. invocations

his his tormentors: the oppressors and enemies, all all engineers, the local police chief, the landlord, Tahvo, the workmen, the , locomotive and its drivers, and everyone else who was in league: 305 him. against
Seee.g. B.F. Godenhjelm, 'Naissivistys ja nais-oppinot NValvoid, 3,1883, 302 -1 '' , the idea that Finland needsto cultivate every possibleintellect in p.104),who expresses fruits large be the to of where genius nations can allowed to rise from the dust on contrast theirown. In such a small nation 'even woman' Cnaisenkin') must participate in the national cause. Aho, juhlavaatteet,in op. 303 cit., Vol.6, p.50; 'asia on semmoinen,ettA se koskee ' jokaista Suomenkansalaista,miestSniin kuin naistakin. in op. Aho, Kansakapinassa, 304 cit., Vol.6, p.71; 'vanhat ja nuoret, miehet ja naiset'Aho, Maaffman murioma,in op. 305 cit., Vol.3, p.337, 'kaikki vihamiehensS,kaikki, -: Tahvon, ty6miehet, ja kiusanhenkensii:insin66rit, vallesmannin,isAnnAn, vainoojansa, kaikki jotka ja kuljettajat, ' ja muut, ovat liitossa hAntAvastaan. veturin sen

133

farmer, Junnu, belong to a the Both the capitalist exploiter and naive 306 uniquely male environment. Aho's social description reflects a common pattern. It combines female female with an participation absence of the endorsement of This state of affairs restricts woman's political representation. ideology. In 'correct' the she apparently adopts when expression, even Kianto's PyhiYviha, Paula Winterberg was able to defend her position because she expressed herself in terms of her devoted loyalty to her husband's will. She contrasts favourably with another female champion in His Kianto's the church opponent of and work. of civil marriage (1909, includes Pikku 'Minor a synteid stories, sins'), short collection of freeVapaamielinen CThe nainen portrait of a progressive woman, follow does husband, but Unlike her Paula, she not thinking woman'). She being first in judgements. takes her the pride moral own makes into Finland in to unsanctified enter voluntarily wedlock. woman for her her independent specifically suggestion of Kianto ridicules freedom imbued intellect, is She with an exceptional not of conviction. his level development, Wha 'super-human' Pyhd in is Reino of with as free love. She is by him to and characterized vanity accept enables which basic low level intelligence her both her indicating of and affectation, his free-thinking further disparages Kianto woman by immodesty. does her to that the she not object ceremony state of church making beautiful despite her considers she rejection of church weddings, which dogina. This is a political incongruity which, according to the author, defeats her whole argument. By contrast Reino's, and indeed Kianto's imagery for be is the fondness traditions to of ancient ritualistic own Kianto's is aesthetic of sensitivity. expression portrait serious a taken as describes It limitations the campaigners. rights a parody of women's 307 It by the on personal and woman's political expression. author placed in to though that not surprising, perhaps note one is revealing, description of an encounter with politically active Russian students Kianto recalls with one of the his the in conversation memoirs, recorded
in female dramatic Aho is for in themes conflict The reserved of women of 306 role become (1911), instruments in then they Juha in and even objectified male sexuality, as tensions. CShe koskaan juorunnut in Hdn the same never gossipped'), The ei 307 story The Kiantds the of substance view of woman's conversation. collection, also reveals does in than the title to nothing else gossip. referred character

134
women present concerns his Christmas holidays, while his ensuing discussion with the men concerns the issue of Finnish independence. 308' Aho and Kianto exemplify a dichotomy in attitude common among many male writers of their day in Finland. They maintain their didactic in the attitude of naisetkin more passages of their call for national unity, while retaining a traditional view of woman's role in feature defining A to of this construct is woman's lack of man. relation independent expression, whether specifically feminist or generally Woman's traditional progressive. silence is not considered incompatible with woman's emancipation. The feminine ideal described by Olavi Kalm in Aho's Papin rouva is: quiet, modest, discreet, nonetheless at the same time firm 309 independent. character and Woman's role in political life is equally ambivalent in Russian literature. The general endorsement of improvements in woman'IS' sphere did not encompassany overt, feminist struggle for equality. The demand for equality was interpreted as an ill-advised desire on the part of fanatic women to become identical with men. For the most part it was discredited by a deft processof asserting woman's existing equality, her Indeed, woman's public and political superiority. and even feature be is this of equality a must which preserved at all anonimity basis This the of Tolstoi's position on the woman questionwas costs. ` Voskresenie, Kreitserova in lucidl sonata, and, perhaps most expressed Y, in his famous commentary of 1906 on Chekhov's story Dushechka. He writes: We could get on without women doctors, women telegraph clerks, women lawyers, women scientists, women writers, but life be helpers, friends, affair without a sorry mothers, would in best love in them, and imperceptibly the men comforters, who instil, evoke and support it. 310
Kianto, Moskovan maisteri, p.71. 308 Aho, Papin rouva,in op. 309 cit., Vol-2, p.222; 'hiijainen, vaatimaton, hieno, samalla kuitenkin lujaluontoinen ja itsenAinen'. Kalm further statesthat she neednot be wellhair have insists that short not or be too brisk, all details frequently she must read, and included in the stereotypeof the feminist. k rasskazuChekhova"Dushechka", in op.cit., Vol. 15, p,317, Tolstoi, Posteslovie 310 SC3 axxBoKaMB, yqeHI)TX, COqHHHTeNhHHLX MhI O(SORAeMCA, TenarpatHCTOK, XCHUjHH-Bpaqefi, YnUIHTenhHHIX, JIMAIrIHX B MYX'qHHe BCe TO iio 6e3 maTeperk, rro; rromoUjHHix, xpyr, JIYT4iuee, BHyiueHHem Bbl3blBaIOIUHX H rIOAAeP)KHRaIOIIjHX B Hem Bce 3To tfM OM B Hem H He3aMeTHbIM 6bi
)KeHIUHH

nymnee,- 6e3TaKHX

rrnoxo (Shuio

xmn

Ha

cwre. ' Translation of 'this and the --

135

For Tolstoi,, women's legitimate wish to improve themselves in no way for key The their the subjective voice. of word recognition presupposes him is 'imperceptibly'. Without the female type he describes: ) been (... have in Dekabrists Siberia, the there would no wives of there would not have been those thousands and thousands of best the of all, as the unknown always are unknown women the comforters of the drunken, the weak, and the dissolute, who, 311 love. the than comfort of any, need more for capacity Tolstoils glorification of woman's special selfless love, which 312 from her distinguishes man,, idealizes the very suppression of her selfis is 'unknown' in It the woman who rewarded with a place expression. history. The masculinist environment creates its own definitions of Kuprin's Iama novel portrays certain expression. woman's political less The in their to actions relate women woman. types of active feminist The their to the contribution positive society. more particular, dedicated the revolutionary exist at opposite poles. and philanthropist In between lies the liberal woman of the world. Philanthropists are from Kuprin be they the to claim women to represent. off cut shown by those the this one using precisely of women as underlines his The Zhenia, for the criticism. prostitute also most mouthpiece figure in female the novel, scorns the philanthropist's visit to important the brothel: So this old spinster came and mumbled something in a foreign language, all the time pointing up at the heavens, and then handed out five-copeck editions of the Gospel and left.313

Criticism from Tolstoy's Darling' Chekhov, in Pie Darling the on subsequentquotation Garnett, New York, 1994(1916). Constance Stories, trans. Other and

&j (-. 'He dbmo ) 317; iNd., xeH AeKaI5PHCTIDB. Ha xaTopre He (5bM0 661 TIJCAq H p. 311 ftBeCTHOe. )KCH=H, YMWH=16HHIX rMHUX, KaK BCe CaMbIX JIYMUIHX, (5e3EJ3BeCrHbIX. ThjCgq ' K0MPhIX HYA(HeC, AJIA Tex, qCM KOMY-H)i6pb, jumil, yTCIUeHHA A1068H. CjWbix, pwBpaTHhix inability to to perform 317; the the ibid, specific makes reference men's author p. 312 love' totally C;zena JIIo6BH. to the task love, the oneself up object of giving of ones , task of WSA which KOM xmditmb), women so TOMY, perform and so well Orr=HX 110311-101`0 ; Xe= naturally. Kuprin, 313 larna, in op. cit., Vol-5, pp. 101-02; 'Ify H rpiexana eTa rpum3a. JlarainHJMHam

PYKOA Ha He6o rroKa3hiBua, Bce HHHOCrpaHHOMY T`10 Irro-To ; IoTaUlHna YeXaAa: H eBaHreNHIO rl=qKoBomy rro Bmm

a TTOT'Om pa3=a

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The fact that she was an Englishwoman, who spoke no Russian, further illustrates her inability to offer adequate representation. In contrast, a 'decadent' Russian singer, who has an open mind about male habits.. ' 314 brothel She is shown to the of an evening's as part adventure. visits be far more capable of understanding the meaning of a life of her Hints are made at own not so unsullied past. prostitution. Significantly, it is she who wins the affection of the proud and indifferent Zhenia. Although she is 'one of the boys', the singer is herself a career woman and expresses solidarity with the prostitutes. Kuprin's truly positive example of woman's political participation denies any element of a female bias to her expression however. This is to be found in the romantic figure of the mysterious Magda, who comes to work in the brothel for a brief period. 315 As she stands out from the usual class of prostitute, she explains at first that she is an author seeking 'veritdl. Only after her disappearanceis it revealed that she was a revolutionary, her to the word clients. The underground nature of her work spreading implies its inevitable secrecy, but it cannot escape the reader that the propaganda she disseminates reaches the male clients, but not the female inmates, of the brothel. Her revolutionary work is evidently irrelevant to these women. Magda's role is unequivocally that of a tool in the affairs of men. Her function of prostitute places the political battlefield. It is nt just that the uniquely masculine a struggle on brothel is male territory (prostitutes, with no legal rights, have no further legal identity), Kuprin by equating goes even subjective be Magda's subversive war. activities can with equated with prostitution heroism. military The prostitute is often one of the disadvantaged 'masses',whose by the progressively minded. Gor'kii includes needs are championed the image of the prostitute alongside those of the beggar and the cab driver in his piece Tovarishch (1909, 'Comrade'). These three'types are by the nature of their, class of people alienated representativesof a whole professions. In the move towards the coming era of equality, they are to'
Kuprin, ibid., p-152. 314 The scene with Magda appears in Chap.5 of lama, on-dtted from the 1958 edition, -, 315 from Kuprin's It is included, the as most other as editions of novel. well collected works of in the English translation entitled Yama:The Pit by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, London,, -, 1924. This edition also includes a foreword by Kuprin, in which he states that this is the, 'as it the of work version was originally conceived.' (p.xxiv) -,, and accurate most complete

137
be united by the word 'comrade. This senseof unity is also the message behind the range of social types in Mat'. All sections of society are it form At is in the this the time, same of allnovel. represented inclusive equality which denies Pelageia any independent political expression,either as a woman or as an activist. Gor'kii's play Vragi demonstrates how women's political in the male struggle, exists merely as an echo. assimilated expression, The author contrasts several women's ideological viewpoint, without debate. female The the to them political enter protagonists are allowing factions, definite As their as are male counterparts. so with associated female by Gorkii's they characters, are chiefly motivated many of becomes Their an emotional parallel to male instinct. political voice for Nadia, idealistic is The example, candid, an emotional reason. frank forthright Grekov, leader. the a and worker strike reflection of Nadia relates an incident in which Grekov intervenes to rescue her and her sister-in-law, Cleopatra, from the attentions of a group of drunken for her if it is telling She chastised story as repeatedly were an men. to which she replies: adventure, exciting

If it were all the way you tell it - everybody would die of 316 boredoM.
Nadia's determination to record her version of the incident is a sign of does but it not indicate an assertion of herself. her spirited youthfulness, Grekov's herald that the shock words will have on the other Her words family. bourgeois is his It dialogue Nadia's bears the of which members his Even his independence. than their more refusal of money, sound of him from himself liberates family's the traditional to explain refusal in It is leads the this working man. servility of which expectation he is that the to a socialist. Nadia, by contrast, is Cleopatra conclusion irresponsible young girl. and wild a simply
liberal have and politics male spokesmen in the these through In the values are represented women, of concepts play. discussion definitions 'decency' their centering on of with morality, Cleopatra's Tatiana's sensuality and unfaithfulness (Z1p, ffjJHqHOCTb). 'bad' is intended 'good' to sexual presence and which parallel a project find If it women expression sympathies. at all, can only their political Conservative
316 Gorkii,
... TCJIH 6bl BCe (SbIRO, K2K abi Vol. 6, 399; Vragi, in op. p. cit., We yMepnH 6bl CO CKYKHI'

PaCCY23EJBam

138
have a negative influence. Among working-class women, the incomprehending self-interest of workers' wives emasculatesthe strike:,-. ' Once the factory is closed, the women will swing into action. -They'll cry, and on those intoxicated with dreams like 317 tears they them act smelling salts sober women's Up! The dangers of women meddling in political debate are most forcefully, evoked in the character of the grasping, unintelligent Polina. Narrow-is Polina ignorant the a parody of and selfish, minded woman with. pretensions to intellectualism. Moreover, Nadia's reproach of Polina's impolite reception of Grekov underlines the domestic limits oflwomants political expression: And you, auntie, you who have lived abroad and talk about' politics! Not to have asked a man to sit down! Not to have 318 him tea! a cup of offered

3.1.3 Woman's Voice of Leadership While women are accepted in the political struggle by virtue of their intuitive loyalties, or in vague exhortations for unity, they find little individual. expression. Feminist expression is discredited, other, itself expression as. an echo of male, political manifests progressive politics or as a spiritual outburst over which women have no subjective ` for ideological is Woman's a medium expression. In this, voice control. form, it allows her the potential for limited leadership, in the manner of Pelageia in Gor'kii's Matand Paula in Kianto's Pyhd viha. The mediating aspect of woman's voice is used to describe independent female conviction. This is the feature which characterizes female-, laiva (1913, her Lasnamden The White Ship, In valkea story prophets. 1924), Kallas casts Maie, a young mother, in the role of religious follow Her her in, to encourage speeches others ecstatic many revivalist. her search for the white ship which will carry them to a better world. Likewise in Gippius' story Legenda (1896, 'Legend') the heroine,,
317
rrnaKm-b,

ibid., p.392;'Kor;za
a cnc*bi meHiixHH

mEj 3aKpoem

3aBoA, B AenO BCTyrrAT >KeHIUHHbl... OHH 6Y; XYT KaK onbAHeHHbix meirramH, WHnH, o rronHTHKe HamaTbipHbirl

; xerICTBYIOT Ha moAeri,

CITPHT, - OHH OTPC3BJIAIOTI' ibid., 'A Bbl, TeTA, Bbl!.. 318

Ha rpaHHixerf Eme pAO1; tlaAt Henm emyTfaMKY CeCTb, qenoBeKa rIpHrnaCH71

roBopHTe!..

He

139 Manichka, inspired by a speechgiven by a young, male progressive for the the to travel intellectual, sets off country and preach need freedom. Beyond the intuitive nature of their convictions, both Maie and Manichka achieve some degree of independent motivation. Maie her husband her in and children of role as seeker, abandonsall memory her Manichka chooses path: and
Not for the sake of God, but for myself. And also for the sake of freedoM.319 from independence towards men or male values in these The step fulfil fails The the to an assertion of self. characters stories nevertheless basis denial the the their their on of expression of personal establish her former life. does She is, moreover, only Maie beings. not remember her involves in trance, the of ecstatic moments which given recognition displacement of the self. Manichka's philosophy is equally self-negating. because do fear I do 'I not want anything. 1320 anything She states: not freedom illogical of extreme which cannot Both seekers present an faith her former loses her life. Maie to itself to and returns real reconcile fate death. is Manichka's existence,while Woman's ideological expression is characterized by a selffacet her the of portrayal every of permeates political which effacement doctors, Those teachers, of philanthropists, portraits rare activity. feminist the a consciousness with women at of root other or students divorced from be from to them their show reality and their motivation be One the should portrait which mentioned as womanhood. own is lawyer in Onerva's L. that to this of a rule woman notable exception The story conveys the emotional life (1915, 'Temptation'). Kiusaus story behind life her the motivation its reasoned of celibacy, protagonist, of led her beliefs Liina SyvSrin to which choice of career. the political and her both level. importance of on the work a social and a personal talks of She was first prompted to acquire an education which would provide because of: precisely her with employment

St Liudi, Petersbur& Novye in Me 1896, 278; Bora. A Legenda, ippius, (; p. =A wLq 319 * H CB060AW. cc&. eme AnA 601OC16, 'A 276, ' ibid., Gippius, He HHqerO naMMY p. A lrlrO HHqero He A xoliy. 320

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helplessness woman's customary and dependence, her position of 321 in society. enslavement

She describes the social and economic injustices that women face. Sh6' forms issue the the of even raises of address of neiti (Miss) and rouva__ (Mrs) as a genuine affront to women's civil dignity. As the tale unfolds, the reader learns of her unfulfilled, but reciprocated love for a married, The author uses this motif to enhance the character'S' man. completenessas a person. Liina Syvdrin's politics do not presuppose her emotional and sexual sterility, as is so often the case in portraits of feminists. The warmth in her account of her romantic attachment, devoid of any bitterness of disappointment,.prevents her statement that: An intelligent person has better things to do than to mourn over, the fact that she never married,322 from sounding like the consolation of an ageing spinster. L. Onerva's story gives expression to a different model of the #new woman',, to the true pioneer of equality. In Liina SyvArin, private and public spheres find a balance. Her politics are articulate and include'a keen consciousness of woman's position. The characterization is also an feminism to the reject preconceptions attempt of and womanhood as" mutually exclusive. This picture of woman at the turn of the century is herself is the character extraordinary among her" as rare as Indeed, the author emphasizesthat Liina Syvann is an contemporaries. exceptional woman. L. Onerva hints that the protagonist of Kiusaus is drawn from life. It can be contrasted with another portrait known to have been taken' from life, which demonstrates the extent to which stereotypes are easily_ Gippius' 'heroines'. on real superimposed novel Roman Tsarevich.. ' includes a portrait of an Estonian revolutionary Meta Vein'. The novel life description Russian 6migr6s in France, and the of of much contains Meta Vein' is known to have been modelled on the populist Vera 323 Figner was originally Figner, whom Gippius had met in PariS.
L. Onerva, Kiusaus,in Vangittujasieluid,Helsinki, 1915,p.130; 'naisen 321 tavaranukainenavuttomuus ja riippuvaisuus ja h5nenyhteiskunnallisestiouutettu asemansa'. ihmisellA muutakin tekernistakuin surra sitS, ibid., p.141, 'on siis jSrkevAlIS 322 ' ole rouvaksi. pSAssyt ettA ei kukla / Roman Ternira Pachinuss,'Introduction' in Z-N. Gippius, Chortova 323 Munich, 1972,p.xiii. Reprint of the Moscow editions of 1911and 1913, Tsarevich,

141 feminist her by in to consciousness pursue medical studies spurred Urich when university courseswere not open to women in Russia. After much careful deliberation, she eventually abandonedher studies 324 fully in Like Figner, In the the revolutionary movement. to engage is imprisonment Vein' in by Meta Siberia to the sentenced novel Russiancourt. Other than this however, it is difficult to perceivehow Gippius intended this 'simple young girl, an Estonian from the Vera Figner, a as reflection of or even as an countryside'325 individualistic image of revolutionary woman. When Gipplus met Figner she was alreadya figure of legendaryproportions. Gippius' own terrorists the of generation revolutionary of emphasizethe recollections immortalized statein which they were held by both the younger6migrds 326 in PariS. Meta Vein' local is by by the population characterized and featureswhich apply to almostall Gippius' portraits of socially conscious be found her in kol'tso, Zelenoe Similar types can play women. Tsarevich, in Roman it is the and novel of which a sequel, elsewhere ChortovaKukla. Meta's 'serious'political involvement does not detract 327Her from her mannerof childish enthusiasmand childish innocence. halted by her is hesitation confusion, experiences and articulation of silence.
3.2 Soundless Voice, Unheard Voice. it is absenceof voice which distinguishes active women from their male literature. in Finnish Russian Politically and conscious counterparts by driven instinct for justice. passionate conviction and an are women They do not formulate or articulate their political views in the way men do, in countless passagesof, argumentative dialogue, general debate or If women's experience is represented in the internal monologue. done is it forum, through the mouths of men and manipulated political for the sake of the cause. There is a thematic neglect of woman's own. literature. body Woman's in the of vast own political experience feminist be it is or of any other political persuasion expression factors dominant Both these to are the related one of most missing.
324 325 326 327 in Russia,p.84. Stites, The Women'sLiberationMovement St Petersburg,1913,p.184,'npocraxAeBYUIK: Tiarcuich, Gippius, Roman

I, CCTK3. H3

' AepeBHHH.

Paris, 1951,p.169. Z. Cippius-Merezhkovskaia, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii, Gippius, RomanTsarevich, pp.183-85.

142 features of female portraits in literature: woman's intrinsic gift for, silence.
It is important to remember that the turn of the century was a'. time when women, struggling for political representation, were fighting, to be heard. As a central motif in this period's literary characterization-, becomes At its metaphor. a striking silence most' of women, straightforward, woman's silence reflects traditional concepts of.,,. heroines have Countless their their, stifle own voice or woman#splace. intolerance, directly of as a result parental suppressed social. voice ignorance their of own needs and rights., or oppression male norms, Examples of this can be found in the work of all writers who portray: women in social or political situations. The significance of silence in women's lives is more far-reaching fact in lies however. It the that it is a widespread this than not only havein but to the relationship women seem ambivalent also motif, towards silence. Although on a superficial level it may indeed mark an. `internal frustration, grief or dissatisfaction, at a deeper level it als0, for is This particularly the case', condition women. as a normal appears in male interpretations. In the work of women writers, silence is more heightens women's consciousnessof often an external oppression which least independence, for and, at as a temporary the need self-expression, measure, separatism.
3.2.1 Silent Rebellion One of the authors most sensitive to the existence of woman's silence as, is Russian dialogue Leonid Andreev. human 'I" the writer of aspect an Andreev explored themes of subjectivism and solitude in his work, ' It is isolatory important ' part. an an plays silence and, which within introspective phenomenon which influences human behaviour. In his Andreev relies extensively on silence as -a" plays, short stories and defining motif of his female characters. It is a silence which has, Andreev, is dialogue. For for the silence woman's unique consequences form of expression. It differs dramatically from male experience. In many instances the absence of woman's voice in Andreev's As in is than condition of situations. certain predictable a more no work the work of many other authors, women are unable to penetrate th;e,-', from is Tatiana's Such debate. the the', intellectual case with exclusion

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between in Act 3 the two male protagonists of conversation conducted Andreev's play Mysl' (1915, 'Thought'). 328 The exchange concerns the idea, 'thought' the or central of a super-human also existence possible between The takes the scientist the conversation place play. theme of Kherzhentsev, who expressesthe theory, and Aleksei Savelov, Tatiana's husband, while Tatiana herself is gradually relegated to the children's in Andreev's Ivanovna Ekaterina A occurs play pattern similar nursery. (1912, Katerina, 1923);when theory of art is discussed in the final act by the two women present are silent onlookers. protagonists, the male In both plays, Andreev displays acute sensitivity to the being by denied at experience expression psychological stress women husband force. her Tatiana tries to that persuade male of virtue (which dangerous is she senses, of course, intuitively). Kherzhentsev Her attempts are limited to repeated cries of her husband's name, which be ' 'AWsha... Tatiana's interrupted. can compared with pleas of are frequent ). This cry Ivanovna's pleas of 'let me go...I (ZTYCTg Ekaterina .. defeated efforts to interrupt her Ivanovna's Ekaterina represents forcibly in his her In both heroine's holds he the grasp. cases husband as fact from herself the that the man controls both stems failure to express in her in actions particular. general and the situation As women are denied the ability to control events, the collusion is Male in Andreev's in the conflict apparent. work process of men is duel bonding that the the popularly quality associated with possesses fair battle It is the of enemies. a partnership of wits or equal as a sport: love, in which the object of the conflict unites the contestants,invariably Tatiana is Before by the completely silenced of women. the exclusion to between fencing two the men, she tries to separate them theoretical for her husband's from Far it is fears safety. succeeding, she becauseshe husband. her by Immediately before from he does the is room who sent he to the times Savelov several references when and makes this, before he had met Tatiana, together, students Kherzhentsev were between In the two the relationship stronger men. emphasizing Ekaterina Ivanovna, various pairs of men, and eventually all the men, bonds form firm by to the title social which a contrast are united fails She isolation. her to increasing assert version of the heroine's
for first by 1902, the the used The a short play was story Sam of of name 328 subject diary. The dramatized version is consideredhere bemuseof this form in a the of written dialogue. with concern investigation's

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drama of infidelity, which provides the thread of the action in the play., It is a conspiracy of masculine interests, and masculine definitions of events, which lead her to self-destruction. Andreev is sensitive to the sheer force of a male conspiracy which by annihilates woman's presence refusing to acknowledge her version of: life's experience. This is not however a tendentious line in his work. If it is an accurate reflection of reality, it is also coincidental. He does not . suggest that male bonding itself, which requires a female victim to seal'. it, is an element which destroys human relationships and individual, both MysV Ekaterina Ivanovna In the target of his and personalities. criticism is man's divorce from truth in favour of false reality. Kherzhentsev is cut of from life by his faith in pure theory. Savelov and his colleagues are cut off from humanity by their immersion in. Women because they as victims not so society. appear much cultivated 1, are manipulated by men, but becausethey represent objectified facets ofthe 'living life' with which the men around them fail to interact. Woman's own subjective identity is not represented. The choice between natural life and artificial reality is not a female conflict in', Andreev's work. Man's and woman's different relationship to the universe in, Andreev's work stems once again from a mystification of feminine her Andreev's on a supra-real plane. vision of woman places qualities. just as Gor'kii and Tolstoi bestow on woman an absolute identity in. Andreev intuitive total as a embodiment sees woman of motherhood, forces. Woman's intuitive superiority places her in effortless contact" Andreev's male protagonists can only which greater universality with a for instinct Andreev, For the universal means this to achieve. struggle that women do not possess or require expression in ordinary terms.Andreev's female protagonists are often given oral identity through figures is true This of more closely associatedwith particularly music. the force of political revolution or of rebellion in general. It is in his Stars, fused is (1905-06, To 1921) the K that music most zvezdam play in The a political context. revolutionary', role completely with woman's Marusia, whose dialogue is dominated by song, is given voice as the, her Act In 2, is because: in the turmoil arrival announced play. sound of 'She awakened the whole house with her singing. '329 When she enters
St Petersburg& Moscow, in Sobranie Leonid Andreev, K zvezdam, 329 sochinenii, ' Vol.6, p.46; 'Bea.;zom 1911-3, pa36y; xHiia. rrejibem

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break into does to throughout the and she continues play so singing she

song. for both Andreev, In K zvezdam, unusually man and woman are in touch with true life, which allows for comparison. Together with Marusia, Ternovskii is guided by universal forces. Ternovskii Is an father flancd Marusia's has been the of who arrested astronomer and during the revolution. Ternovskii does not participate in revolutionary himself from day his in distancing the the the tower events of of activity, level, by is devoted Marusia to the contrast at ground cause, observatory. fianc6 Nikolai. Ternovskii's her different Marusia's to and as as well drama has been interpreted the to contemporary as a approaches 330 Gorkii differencenot in the nature of their vision, but in its breadth. describedTernovskiias:
life living impoverished, the the of universe whole amid man a 331 life. grey, everyday This is symbolized by his scientific preoccupation with the stars. hand Ternovskii's the rejects Marusia, on other solitary concentration human is involved is, because There with suffering. she on science distinction between the separate motifs of however, a more significant define Ternovskii's It Marusia's that music and and vision. astronomy key is to aspect of Andreev's portrayal of another related is one which his forces life, is Temovskii, the wisdom of with cosmic of women. in being 'music' Marusia's the the to stars, while very sensitive form Music, intuitive a as of woman's music. expression, embodies in Andreev's work with the potentially bears close relationship destructive force that is part of revolution. In view of this it follows that Marusia is the spirit of necessaryrevolt, while Temovskii represents the for future the restoration to the eternal course of the for hope rationality, Andreev's These two of ontological expressions reality reflect stars. feelings divided His the to stirrings of revolution. were uneasy reaction for force the enthusiasm radical between an essential of change, and a 332 bring inevitable it. that the change would violence with horror of discernible frequently is in Andreev's dual attitude to the This reaction

330 331 332

A Study,oxford, 1969,p.138. JamesB. Woodward, LeonidAndreev. ibid., P.132. ibid., pp-131-2.

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in female Woman's is tune with the force expression. voice potential of of life, yet simultaneously presents a threat to the status quo. The special power of woman's voice emerges in many of Andreev's stories which evoke a fusion between the thunder of destruction and the silent aftermath. Woman's fundamental affinity for silence bears the threat of an apocalyptic shriek which results in the disruption of organized society, the world of men. In several stories and heroines Andreev's his possess a singular. and plays, almost all from It is'a their to stems relationship silence. which power mysterious form of silence which, with its unavoidable sound, jeopardizes the male definition of the world. In Lozh' (1900, The Lie, 1916), the woma n his belief her infidelity. is in hero's Her refusal to 'lie', the which refutes define their relationship according to his lie drives him to murder her. He discovers that her death is merely a continuation of her denial of the lie. It is a deafening silence which denies him knowledge of the truth The scream beneath the forever, and leads him to despair. (1901, in Smekh Laughter, 1916), in is also evoked which, soundlessness the woman's final ringing peal of laughter is the climax of her love. declaration her She is so to admirer's of unresponsiveness laughter The hysteria that she cannot speak. overcome with -'Such a forth bursts directly his laugh I had never yet heard!1333 after romantic had 'I he in pointedly: never spoken so well. 1334 states speech, which The clamour of woman's speechlessness overwhelms the ordinary words of men. Women's own natural condition of silence offers them security. In Lozh the reader is not concerned with the woman's death. The facet drama. the lies in the A the as a of male grave power of tragedy death in be found in the silence can of woman's power similar view of Molchanie (1900, Silence, 1916). Vera, depressed and silent, will not her for her father, Her 'anguish to the parents. reason communicate Ignatil, knows 'that nothing will come of their conversation with Vera. 1335Indeed, she does not respond to her parents' questions. That her death their conversation marks evening as she commits suicide after her in dialogue. the that the constituted part silence a continuation of Vera's mother, grief-stricken, is paralysed and struck dumb. The singing
333 334
335

Andreev, Smekh,in op.cit., Vol. 3, p.9; "raxoro cmexaA euxeHe muxan I ' 'HHKor; 9; MK XOPOMO. He roBOPH31 xa 31 ibid., P.

Andreev, Motchanie, in op.cit., Vol. 2, p. 290; IWO HHqero He 13 EJAAeT H3 HX ' Beporl. c pa3roDopa

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free, been has Vera's identifies Ignatii set soul, with canary, which feminine the the effect of presence which voiceless completing Ignatii. surrounds Silence is a natural characteristic of women's personality. The feminine in impression to the convey of silence author even manages his plays in which women, as the main protagonists, are at the centre of few (1909) is be Anfisa lEs the to dialogue. considered one of play the 'the deals the of male-female or nature with antagonism, works which 336 for love It the the three between the sisters examines of sexes'. conflict Aleksandra, Kostomarov Married the to seduces eldest, man. same Ninochka, during the the course of to youngest, seduce Anfisa and plans lack in All three associated a of voice some way with sisters are the play. her husband knows Aleksandra, Kostomarov. to direct who in relation him her, been to never communicates with unfaithful has already Anflisa, Kostomarov Soon directly. remarks: after seducing
What is she playing? Without words, without words, she is ) (Gloomily. know Do has you she not said words. always without 337 day? a single word all first for her, his desire in Ninochka., the stages of To the younger sister forest. in '338 like have the the those 'You of silence he'says: eyes

The dialogue of the three sisters abo=ds with unspoken longings is, It deaf the the above all, of presence and secret experiences. hush imposes Despite the a pervading over action. which grandmother hear, is difficult her in fact conversation that cannot presence. she the her draws to attention constant peculiar, soundless I(ostomarov fears he He her the comprehend. cannot of riddle existence which feared he her knitting, Even child symbol of the thread of as a identity. believe he does be innocent that He she not can creating a so life. states thing as a simple sock. Kostomarov's awareness of the sisters' silence, and his constant deaf the in grandmother, the of are coincidental. not presence unease difference in Andreev's view of male the which exists sharp They mark The is the female environment. absence with of voice an contact and defining her but in in position only society, not woman, inherent quality
336 337
338

Woodward, op. cit., pp.230-33. OHa Voll 1, 31 1; "qm in Anfisa, Ee3cno6.6e3cnon,we op. cit., p. Andreev, HrpaeT?
ixenbill AeHU MOnmHT. '

) Tbt ceroAHA OHa 3Haeiub. (MpamHo. Oe3 cilo]3. oHa

' ibid., p. 253; 'Y Tc(Sx 8 mecy. rama, KaKy monmaHHA

148 also in the natural order. For the two woman revolutionaries in 0 semi poveshennykh,the isolation of the prison cell presents no conflict. The description of their mental processesplaces their own expression at, a Musia, Tatiana in The the thinks the of only others. maternal remove. intuitive impassioned the evokes an affinity with martyr, of mould death through her thoughts of music, symbol of imminent destruction introspective Their consolations contrast with peaceful, and oblivion. the stress caused in the male charactersby the inability to communicate with the outside world. This robs them of their virility, of their is identity. It this absenceof masculine subjectivity which masculine Kostomarov fears. Silence is woman's special but unfathomable identity. In Anfisa,, the grandmother's silence leads Kostomarov to question: ( ) She is a woman - what does that mean? She is an Who is she? ... images does What that mean? are preserved old woman - what in that worn out, decrepit memory?339 To men the absence of expression is an unnatural condition. Andreev's work displays a fascination with woman's silence as a possible antagonistic force in men's lives. On the one hand it represents the' link to a plane existing beyond the sphere of the rational world. This intuitive force can become the medium for man's own unity with the danger. Male Such also presents attribute conflict a valuable universe. in Andreev's work arises out of the abuse or misunderstanding of this lives in is disturbing the The the of men of silence quality real attribute. form As acute most woman's silence. of significance of woman's failure because introduces it to threat, control a silence expression, from life, from divorce true the elemental world of. represents man's destruction heroines in MysV, Despite is the the of a part. which woman by it is is Ivanovna, their Ekaterina men silencing not which and but failure final to recognize woman's tragedy, the men's perceived as In Anfisa form, is in its silence. which and, most natural voice Molchanie, the mute world which is created by the feminine presence' is It the tragedy. which an oppressive condition, men, man's constitutes both identity. In to their their to threat assert cases' ability experienceas a this is a reflection of the hero's capitulation to the everyday mediocrity339
3HaqHT?

ibid., p218; KUHC xpaHHT o6pani

(... ) OHa )KeHIUHHa OHa? KT0 ee; jhTPABaR

rramn. o6aemanu

trro eTo sHaqHT?

'

OHa

3rro cTapyxa irro -

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he been has is hero's it T'ma, Andreev's that the In life. realization of Ignorant of the untold misery of prostitution, which provokes his by has been living lie he that pursuing revolutionary a awareness lifeless idea. behalf of a activity on Man cannot share woman's special connection to silence. As he form it by its becomesstifled of Judgement upon him. presence, acts as a life-course betrayed. In Molchanie, the judgement is natural It the of his death. for daughter's He makes speeches to answers ignatii searches is his father. He by justifying the himself as a role answered only to his from he daughter's his and of wifes paralysis, grave which silence of In Anfisa, Kostomarov the of pity. to senses one word wrest yearns from beginning his In Act the the to well-being of play. threat of silence 1, he says of the grandmother: I am afraid of her deafness, in which there is so much discernment. I am afraid of this silence in which there is so much 340 falsehood! but resounding unreckoned, His fear of the cry behind the silence predicts the events of Act 3 when declaration between driven the is to of relationship Anfisa make a public forces him into decision Kostomarov, to leave with a which herself and felt. is full Anfisa's impact It is 4 Act the By of outburst at this point her. its disturbs Kostomarov Silence Anfisa's with wordlessness. music that identities: to begins erase
K: You are always in black. Who are you Anfisa? A: (smiling) Who are you Fedor Ivanovich? (Both start laughing strangely and stop at once) K: A strange game. But I want to talk seriously. Today you Maybe you haven't haven't said one word all day, Anfisa. 341 haven't day, but Anfisa. said one you word all noticed,

built is her dialogue the around subject of silence, which The ensuing 342 finds he 'unbearable'. Anfisa explains: I(ostomarov states

(SojocI6 CMPI riTyXO7161, B KOTOPOPI TaK 3mro 'A doioci6 218; ibid., MHoro x iymom. p. 340 MHOrO Hepwral=HO? k,Ho rpomKo KpHmauxeA xw. Hl' TaK KOTOPOM B )AoIrqaHHA KTo AHHC: I? B MCPHOM Tht, Km TU (ynhr6um) 327, ibid., p. nmrrbe, BcerAa --Y341 -A: CrpaHHaA H]3aHOBH'q? cmeKYMA H cpa3yc(SpbiBaxyr cmex)-K.mrpa. Bb, jDeAop -(OdacTpaHHo CerOAHA Tbl B=b ACHb Tbl, OUM Cepbe3HO. mo)KM AHHca. MOJIIIHiub, Ho A xoqy roBopHn AHHca. ' 3Toro He 3ameqaeilIb, HO TbI 13eCbjXeHh mojiqHtuE..

342

ibid., p. 328; 'HeBbIH0CHMbIM'.

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Didn't I scream yesterday? Well I can still hear that scream, it still rings in my ears. But it was someoneelse who screamed,whereas I- fell silent.343 Anfisa poisons Kostomarov. The grandmother, symbol of the inevitable final life, dialogue. Repeating her words the the places seal on course of from Act 1, to indicate that the drama has come full circle, she speaks the final line of the play:
There is nothing to be done. Everything is done.344

and she adds: 'Be quiet.1345 just as silence is woman's unique form of expression in Andreev,so womants scream is her most penetrating silence. To force the expression of her despair is to invite irrevocable disaster. The power of the scream/silence engulfs the protagonists of the drama which provoked it. In the final act of Mysl', Kherzhentsev, losing his mind, tries to understand why his superior rational idea failed to resolve the problem of life. He struggles to reason with the servant girl, Masha, who repeatedly replies that she knows nothing, that she simply lives. Kherzhentsev cannot accept this. He feels that her ignorance of culture (the theatre, the Bible, science)concealsa deeper knowledge: You know something Masha, you know something valuable Masha, unique, which offers salvation, but what? But what?(...) No, Masha, it is not true that you know nothing, that is a lie, and,I ( ) to cling you on purpose. ... No, you know something, Masha, you know something that you don't want to tell. Why did God give his devils, his to while angels are without words.346 voice only Woman's silence is a condition which is natural to them because of their greater affinity with the unspoken mysteries of the universe. But in the lives of men it plays a paradoxical role, one which often feelings Andreev's own ambivalent about the nature of reflects have Women,, to the attuned universal, revolution. no need for voice'
ibid., p.329; Mqq)a BeAh A KpHmana, 343 =? 3qw Ho em KpHqanKTo-To ;xpym, aA- monxiana:
cAcnaHo. '

KPHK A CnblUly,

OH CTOIrr B MOHX

yiuax.

ibid., p.348;'Hcqero;xe=m, Bco 344 ' 'MORqH. ibid., p.348; 345 Maina, Bm ao TO Andreev, Mysl', Berlin, no date, pp.57-58;'BbiIM TO 3H3=, 346 ( eAHHCTBeHHoe, qM? ) HeT, Mama, HO Mama, CrraCHTeJIBHOe, HO qTO? ixparoixeHHoe3Hacre, ... 3TO JIOXM, HA HarTpaCHOuerrJIAIOCb 3a BhI t= TO 3HaeTe,,, HHqero BbI He 3Ha=, ) (... HeT, Bac. xaTHTe TM BbI TO : )HaeTe, AWK TOJIhKO AHaBonam He o tICM 3aqem Mama, EorAM cKa3aT&
CDOHM, aaHrenbi

' 6e3CnOBeCHbI.

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in worldly affairs. At the same time, men need to protect that silence, in If they to their order preserve earthly world. rebellion, of that spirit fail to do so, they lose touch with 'living life', by favouring theory which is devoid of inspiration, by cultivating social reality which Is without like its betrayed, takes At this silence, nature woman's point spirit. but It, force Man to the to control only manages struggles revenge. destruction. is Woman's the ultimate silence of voice scream which in death, but in the onset of oblivion, often always released marks between discord and ontological reality. man absolute
3.2.2 Separate voice

In Andreev's work, the ambivalent nature Of woman's voice is interests is It the through and experience of men. men who conveyed dramatic The is the in conflict of subject. the action centered of role are fortune Women's or misfortune is a symptom of in the male role. When the environment. problem of woman's objectified man's female is through the a subject, still ambivalence explored expression different kind in For is it but altogether an of paradox. present exists, disturbing first is it the silence which controlled as acts a of stage women, final by force. The destructive frequently release contrast, often also and hopeless finality, heralds but deliverance. It dual not scream/silence, a identity. brings the relief of separate The path towards an albeit temporary separatism through the is distinguishes theme the writing a which discovery of one's own voice lack The Finland. in of adequate representation of women's women of frequently is in in the work of subject a affairs raised interests public Canth and Talvio. L. Onerva and Jotuni study the assertion of woman's in independent through expression personal relationships. identity Talvio was particularly interested in the experience of women in Kansan awakening, which she the records seassa national within fictional the 'Among account based on her own people') a (19oo, It is heroine's that the campaigning. significant public experiences of lida banished from her is focuses she speech makes. public a on drama her dissolute life for the the observations aloud of stating of community is her Specifically the'Swedishoffensive comment on upper classes. learn language. Finnish to The the unwillingness gentrys speaking like Language, is important factor in is speech, an issue pertinent.

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competent representation. The gentry retaliate by denying her the right to speak, first by questioning her competence. They decide that: it Is degrading to let a young hussy like that come and give them advice.347 Secondly, they make it clear that it must not happen again. Canth is equally sceptical about definitions of national loyalty. In her story Laulaja, she contrasts the respect shown to the famous, but selfindulgent male singer, with the hidden sacrifices of his half-sister who stays at home to support her mother. Canth examines the discrepancy between real, human responsibility, left in the hands of unnamed women, and the widespread recognition given to men in public life duty whose sense of amounts to no more than the pursuit of their personal career and fame. The story asks which of these two individuals is really working to promote the interests of the people of Finland.
Canth returns to the theme of the conspiracy to suppress woman's voice in almost every one of her plays, handled most dramatically in her last, Anna Lffsa. Two years before the action of the play has begun, the heroine has killed her baby bom from an unwanted pregnancy. This first is the consequence of the public conspiracy to conceal action womants experience. The author shows that the incident has its root ignorance in the cause about their own sexuality with which girls are led Canth further uses maternal infanticide as an into womanhood. image the of Anna Liisa crime which contrasts with virtuous emotive demonstrates friends family. Canth her the extent to which and among Anna Liisa's identity is defined by those around her, most of all by her father and fiancd. Both refuse to listen when she tries to tell the truth her her interrupt herself assertions of matchless virtue. and with about Anna Liisa is silenced by the responsibility of maintaining the illusion about herself, in order to maintain the illusory sense of propriety which for her is When discovered, the community. crime serves as protection just as she was forced to take sole responsibility for the fate of the child, 348 burden Canth forced bear is to the not only blames sole of gUilt. she the absent man who escapes any legal redress, but impugns the whole
in op.cit, Vol. 2, p. 52; 'on alentavaa antaa tuollaisen 347 Talvio, Kansan seassa, tyt6nletukan tulla neuvomaan itselilin. ' Note that in discrediting lida, her public speaking is equated with sexual impropriety. 348 The father's mother helps Anna Liisa dispose of the baby's corpse but accepts no moral responsibility.

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falls justice Inform to custom and official which social structure of hear fails them. to and women

The public denial of woman's experience encouragestheir sexual is Talvio issue. In This takes a point with which also exploitation. female havitys Muuan eliti, the central and charactersare pimeanpirtin because loss their they have not been to situation initially at a explain double Later they come to realize that they the standard. moral taught have no legal or social channelsfor protesting against male aggression. heard, believed. Their silence Is they they are not are Even where In Muuan Ititi, the the to status of quo. preservation ensure endorsed discovers her has that title the son novel's seducedtheir the mother of is her immediately duty: The aware of own social mother servantgirl.
She must keep her mouth shut, her heart shut, her whole being her face frozen, that even should not reveal the slightest trace so 349 disturbance. of lack her the of representation as source of problem. She also perceives She realizes she is considerably well-informed about the medical irrepressible, This is theories sexual male needs. of public, profession's fact. knowledge has But her she no of own scientifically recognized position: doctors that even several were of the now she remembered health life. It that that a suffers man's without was opinion loathsome to think of it! If only there was someone she could talk to, someone she could 350 her information. some ask, who could give These women writers demonstrate that the absence of female is to a related mechanism closely powerful social of representation in the experience name of woman's unassailable silencing repression, forces of justice, such as morality or religion, and with the help of law. The is the such as science or of authority, result sources irrefutable behaviour towards any male condones a woman, no which society a its it by transgresses how own code of conduct, precisely much matter
Vol. 2, 505; "rytyi in kiinni, Muuan iti, p. cit., Taivio, op. painaa suu sydn 349 kasvoissaakaan lukkoon, nkyisi mitn merkkej kaikki ettei niin kiinni, ' levottomuudesta. lkritkin hn 'nyt 512, useat ibid, ett muisti ovat sit mielt, ett michen p. 350 Iljettv sit oli ajatella! ilman krsii sit elm. terveys kysy jolta ja ' jolle voisi saadaselvityst... joku, puhua, voisi Kun olisi

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disavowing woman's right to speak. Women are unable to take control lives because deprived they their are own of the authority to over describe their environment in their own terms. Forced into isolation, they suppress their own voice, which, through lack of common be deviant. believe to they example, There are two clear consequences of this state of affairs. Repressing her voice allows woman to enjoy social integration. Refusal to do so results in banishment either in death or in some other form of silence, like imprisonment. However, there is also a third solution. This is to retain one's own voice but to accept its separatenature and to function on the periphery of society, as an outsider. This does not offer the security of integration, but it provides a programme for survival. This feature of women's lives is portrayed in L. Onerva's work as a central problem of human interaction in many stories which deal with the breakdown of communication. The difference between this form of leads destruction is it is imposed from to that that which exclusion and becomes heroine It the to a subjective choice enables which within. define her existence. Canth's Anna Liisa and Talvio's Hanni are doomed becausethey try to live according to the rules defined by society even when they discover this is a deception. L. Onerva's heroines decide to live according to their own rules, even if they are forced to live as outcasts. L. Onerva concentrateson the problem of transition in the process of woman's self-discovery. She seesthis not simply as a matter for each individual but also as a mark of her generation. In Musaus, the liberated Liina Syviirin describes herself as the 'immature child of immature times'.351 In the story Itsendinen nainen (1909, 'Independent friends destinies. two school old contrasting with she portrays woman'), By comparing these two characters, the author explores the dilemma between choosing peace of mind, through the integration which is by submitting to the traditional role of wife and mother, and granted brings loneliness. in Ilmi emancipation which choosing self-knowledge is disillusioned with the quality of her freedom becauseof her isolation:

351 L. Onerva, Musaus,in Vangittuja sieluia,p. 135; 'epdvalmiin ajan epdvalmis lapsi'.

155 the whole businessof independentwoman is just a concept, an 352 empty play on words. by fascinated Ilmi's independence, inclined Aino,, domestically But the freedom knowledge is It Is that that a of obtained, once realizes impossibleto surrenderit:
Admit it, you wouldn't exchange your unhappiness for my 3153 happiness. Woman's experience as an outsider is expressed in all its first full-length koti Vanha (1910, in jotuni's 'The play old complexity home'). jotuni studies the problem from several angles, both as a drama life, the and a condition as of personal social and political woman's of The heroine the its to the play presents relationship of organization. her developments to the as well as community of political members of In Finland. in this dialogue the the play very structure of change explores woman's voice. jotuni's style in her earlier short stories provides the basis for an interpretation of the theme of female outsider in a dramatic context, so it is worth examining this first. jotuni was exceptionally sensitive to the dialogue human definition between the the and public of social parallel how dialogue helped She the to nature of observed maintain order. in lies. A a of concealed world events experience and placatory womaWs foremost, Jotuni makes extensive use of the first and playwright her dialogue in short stories, many of which consist of technique of The is construction conversation. of of woman's silence a snatches mere in Jotuni's first two collections of particularly surfaces theme which (1905, 'Relationships') Suhteita (1907, Rakkautta 'Of and short stories, love'). 354 A number of stories in these collections raise the point that the lives are given women's of exposure only when conditions real in fashion. the then In only most euphemistic even and unavoidable, limited is to the the participation only one reader's side of cases several

Murtoviivoid, in Helsinki, 1909, 76, 'koko Itsendinen Onerva, L. nainen, p. 352 ' kisite, tuTha sanaleikki. vain itsenSinen nainen on ' 'My6nnS, 77; onnettomuuttasi ibid., ettet vaihtaisi minun onneeni. p. 353 issues develop the to later tend economic of womans position. Her stories 354

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dialogue, as in the telephone conversation of Hilda Husso (1905).3,55The reader is witness to the title character's part of the dialogue, as she tries to obtain financial support for her illegitimate child from the father. Her use of language reveals her inferior status and her lack of influence. it is above all her ridiculously conciliatory manner which serves to emphasize her exploitation. She describes her situation in terms which avoid placing any responsibility with the man:

This isn't anything serious, not serious and not anything at all, just an ordinary matter, quite understandable, these things happen all the time.356 Similarly, by a sequenceof correspondencein which only the woman's letters are available in Kirjeiff (1907, 'Letters'), Jotuni examines the emotional life of a married woman in love with another man whose child she is carrying. The story, like so much of Jotuni's work, expresses the drama of life as a processof coping, instead of relying on a romantic hyperbole of love. jotuni seesthis hyperbole as a negative, false model of life presented particularly to women. The fusion of the scream/silence is also conveyed by this semidialogue technique. An example of this is Berta's tirade against her paralysed, vegetable husband in the story Untal (1905, 'Sleep!'). In monologues of this kind jotuni creates the impression of a soundless presence, which underlines the silence of woman's expression. As in Andreev's Molchanie, the expressionless eyes of the paralysed spouse fixed remain upon the main protagonist. For Andreev's Ignatii, the oppressive feminine silence signifies his loss of contact with true life. For Berta, her husband's silence is her first chance at self-expression. it first her her opportunity to voice her version of their provides with

common existence:

355 There are two stories with this title. This reference is to the first, which appears in the 1905 collection. Its sequel appears in the collection Kun on funteet (1913, 'Since we feel'). 356 jotuni, Hilda Husso, in op.cit., Vol. 1, p. 68; 'EikAhAn t5mA nyt Win suuri tapaus, ei tapaus eikA mikiiin, tavallistahan se on, ynunArtAShAn sitA, ainahan sitA sellaista sattuu. '

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How I have suffered wrong-doing - my whole life. - No one, no how imagine have I much suffered - when I think of it can one 357 body my aches whole screams. my soul The emptiness of the revenge she now exacts reflects the social wall of her has Life surrounds nonetheless. meant: silence which
To struggle - to struggle to the point of exhaustion - and having 358 is to tell there no one won, -.

jotuni's concept of freedom depends on mutual interaction. Much of her work shows that an absolute freedom is illogical in her 359 The releaseof woman's voice represents only the surface world-vieW. layer of the story. At a deeper level the monologue is a reflection of Berta's married life. jotuni's technique is a device to convey to the hidden By jotuni the this nature of woman's viewpoint. method reader her in work a whole sub-culture of woman's experience. exposes While jotuni believes that individual freedom is depends on female interaction, human separatism is nevertheless portrayed as an for inevitable course emancipated woman. This contradiction, which is by no means unique to Jotuni, suggests a redefinition of what it means 360 jotuni be of society. shows that the silencing of woman, to a member for her integration, is is apparent social necessary precisely what which does It because into it removes her own her outsider. an so turns identity, which must exist in limbo between her inner consciousness image. Asserting identity her leads one's own to public external and form being but more obvious, another, of an outsider, one alienation, individual. The for self-expression as woman an allows problem which
in Vol-1, 134; Untal, 'EttA jotuni, op. cit., p. minA olen kSrsinyt vSSryyttS,- koko 357 kukaan, voi aavistaa, mit! mird olen k3rsinyt, kun minS aiattelen, kukaan, Ej elam5ni. huutaa. ' koko ruumiini kirvelee sieluani Taistella itsensA 134; taistella ibid., vAsyksiin - ja kun on voittanut, ei ole p. 358 kenelle sanoa -.' (1905, Vapaus Treedom! ), which suggests that total freedom is for See example 359 individual strives for but cannot live with, or Herran feitd (1905, 'Me the something deals freedom Lord'), The is the idea with responsibility which and of action. of wayS Miehen kylkiluu (1914, 'Man's rib'), in which her in implicit of plays, such as many O als, is a concept related to class morality. freedom personal dilemma between integrated self-destruction and the is to It of choosing similar 360 in Canth L Onerva. the This sense of peripheral work of and isolated self-preservation feminist See for example Joanna theme today. of central writing a remains existence Exclusion Women Body from Philosophy'in Morwenna the Subject, and of Hodge,, Feminist Whitford, Perspectivesin Philosophy, London, Margaret eds, Griffiths and difficulties discusses Hodge the 152-68. of applying Descartes' 'universal' sense 1988, pp. identity. their experience of to identity women's of

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interaction, be becomes to to the establish attempt accepted, but women this time on their terms, instead of by virtue of the total capitulation of their identity. jotuni's work focuses on this process of struggle. It exposes the her to of role. In the story redefinition woman's social resistance Nainen (1905, 'Woman'), which raises the theme of motherhood, jotuni family in ideology, hypocrisy the of conventions and also criticizes social presents an ironic view of abstract glorifications of motherhood. A but like has bear declares to to the marry would no wish she woman disgusted is her The at the woman's suggestion: man child of suitor. It would be an affront to religion, morality, to society and
361 CUStOM.

He himself fails:

to recall that he was already the father of many a child, but not yet 362 husband the of a single wife. The story presents a familiar and straight-forward criticism of the double for dictates body 'recognized' wives of mind and chastity standard which for other women. In addition to this, jotuni and sexual availability fulfils ideal day the the who matemal of a portrait of a woman creates as it, was expressedin the work of Strindberg or Tolstoi. She offers her love She is the self-interest of marriage. predatory also generously, without drawn to the exalted function of motherhood beyond its parochial meaning:
I would like to create life, etemity through my child. 363

The man's reaction reveals how inopportune such a sentiment is, life. in In Jotuni's by be it to study of romantic real women adopted were freedom for better 'eternal it is the seeking or worse, not, relationships but devoted ideal in Nainen the truly expect, men which erotic mother' (1907). in Herman Here male-female, Alina the story comfort of

361 jotuni, Nainen, in op. cit., Voll, p.81; 'Sehin olisi vasten uskontoa ja siveyttS, ' vasten yhteiskuntaa ja tapoja. ibid., p.81; 'eikA muistanut, ettA hin oli jo monen lapsen isS,vaikkei vielS 362 ' yhdenkSSnvaimon mies. ibid., p.81; 'Luoda el5mil minA tahtoisin, iankaikkisuutta lapseni kautta 363 tahtoisin. '

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listening', 'I defined in Alina's am words; and succinctly are relations Herman's reply: 'Listen. You are good, as you listen.1364 Jotuni demonstrates that definitions of woman's experience are distortions. in Untal, Ignored as to unacknowledged subject self-serving In Nainen, Husso Hilda in unacceptable as or women's experience as level. This in best theme which underground an emerges on exists at becomes first two stories of short collections more explicit and Jotuni's following her Vanha koti. in is The work, play politically significant from departure her does It to mark a earlier stories. generally considered however pursue the line of Jotuni's observation of human dialogue as a development In the the particular, of organization. social parallel of Teresia, the theme of extends woman's expression as a character, main for integration One identity, the and rebellion. reason of problem the the this and consequent of play, aspect assumption of a of neglect is has interpretation in Jotuni's direction that critical work, change of later her in forward look to to the writing order to examine tended has dramatic Attention been drawn her to the works. development of dne, both Gor'kii's Meshchanstvo Na with and play's thematic parallels 365 degeneraCy. Class interests the capitalist treat and of subject which of feature much more strongly as topics of Jotuni's influences economic koti Vanha Rakkautta, Suhteita, and show evidence of this later work. but her in concentraterather on concepts of identity and work, direction individual responsibility. This preoccupation with identity reflects in for self-determination, in which women's right to Finland's search part important issue. The an as emerged collections of short eventually vote 1907 belong in 1905 to respectively, and a period when published stories, its of reorganization system of government. radical Finland witnessed by Diet legislature. four-estate former replaced was a unicameral The in Finnish first 1907, the for time the parliament included Meeting The Russian subsequent members. wave of women nineteen elected failings the the of government encouraged social unrest and oppression in koti, just Vanha the divisions. there social as structure of and class beneath the The the order of new political system. existed a chaos background Vanha koti from is the of political evident importance of forced Jotuni in to the was censors. make several changes the reaction of
Vol. 1, Wind kuuntelen. Kuuntele, in hyva, Herman, p-148; op-cit., jotuni, olet 364 kun kuuntelet.' Helsinki, 1964, lotunin Maria to Nierni, ndytelmdt, Irmeli referred on p2l 365

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order to have it performed at the National Theatre in Helsinki. The original manuscript placed greater emphasis on social issues and further, developed the theme of the strike, and the ideological debate in the play. 366

The result of the changes was that Jotuni's treatment of her but less is The melancholy subtle, no significant. subject more impression created by the estrangement of the characters has been 367 Chekhov's The estrangement is conveyed style. compared with through the structure of the dialogue which is richly punctuated by pauses. Almost all these silent breaks occur in the sections of dialogue which include Teresia and signify her isolation. Her words provoke silence. Throughout the play, Jotuni manipulates the very technique of dialogue to conjure the silence and solitude which envelop Teresia. The play centres on a family scene which mirrors the conditions first hierarchy. in The the act opens with an impression of unrest social of growing disturbance undermining the patriarchal order. The tranquility of the JynkkA estate, where the action takes place, already appears vulnerable as news arrives about the threat of a strike. In addition to there are allusions to the unsuitable affair between Artturi, heir to the estate, and Elfina, the housekeeper'sdaughter. The entrance of Artturi's sister Teresia, returning to the family home after a long for disintegration the the of the established catalyst absence, provides home-coming, Teresia's coinciding with the existing unrest, order. provokes differences of political opinion. It also provokes revelations of illegitimacy and incest which indicate the corrupt nature of the lifestyle leads breakdown, All this to total the eventually older generation. of death, Elfina's Jynkkii's the suicide and Artturi's grandfather with descent into madness. Teresia's impact on the action stems from her voice of outsider. The voices of the other female characters also suggest alienation, but in their case it has taken the form of an isolation through an imposed be deception is based on integration Their to revealed a apparent silence. the misrepresentation of their experience and identity. Although -it is Teresia's actual expression which is the greatest propelling force behind the drama, this expression remains in fact remarkably detached and disinterested throughout the three acts of the play. Teresia has no
366 367 ibid., pp.30-32. ibid, p.32.

161 hidden in family the the exposing secrets malice of relations. personal When she does raise the matter of Eliina's identity as Jynkkaii's illegitimate daughter, it is in a private conflict over morality with her Later behalf tries to she even obtain official recognition on grandfather. incites Elfina. All disaster disinherited It becomes this the as clear that of Artturi and Elfina have beenunwitting, incestuouslovers. Speakingthe but brings the the root of disharmony is shown to on chaos, truth aloud lie in the very way of life of the estate,symbol of the old order. It is impulse integrity, the of with which characterizesnot only contrasted Teresia, but also the representativeof the working classes,the strike leader Kalle Hallinen. The women who belong to the old order are encompassed by a denies Even their public recognition the minor of reality. which silence healer brings Miina, light for the to the who of audiencemuch character intrigue, functions level details the is the It on the of of secrecy. she of blunter inducement the the the realities of situation, such as voices who the Elfina's incestuous to only practical as alternative miscarriage a of in Her takes conversation place whispers and euphemisms, pregnancy. the unspokennature of women'saffairs. emphasizing More central to the drama are mother and daughter. Mrs Ekbom, double bound by is the standard which confinesher to Elfina's mother, in domestic home the servant of the man who fathered the status of a her daughter. When the worker, Hallinen, proposes to Eliina, Mrs his socialism and strike leadership, though she Ekbom can overlook disapproves,but she cannot acceptthe suggestionof an non-religious daughter because he her it Clearly, 'publicly'. proposes with marriage Hallinen's candid rejectionof church weddings is favourably contrasted Ekbom's illicit Mrs hypocrisy Jynkka, but of the relationship with with is it that precisely Mrs Ekbom's own lack of Jotuni also shows leads her faith in formal to put which codes of recognition representation. Eliina is the most tragic victim of the silence which surrounds does the Throughout play, never once she have the opportunity to her. herself. She being forced truth the the about suffers anguish of express her Artturi, truth the relationship about with whose child to suppress ignorance her Her identity is dimension is own of carrying. another she It her the Increasingly, her accentuates pathos of situation. silence. of her conversationwith thosearound her follows a pattern in which she

162 is unable to articulate a definite reply. On learning the truth, realizing that Jynkka died from the shock of discovering her relationship with Artturi, she perceivesher identity as that of her father's murderer. To protect the innocentchild sheis carrying,shecommitssuicide. Her final her her of experience,takes place with no only articulation outburst, listenerson stage and constitutesthe announcement of her death. Her by her is silence. scream swallowed up Thesefemalefigures are all marginalizedby the socialstructure to healer belong. Miina, is the to they a witch type, endeavour which functioning on an underground level with her mysterious powders. Mrs Ekbornlives accordingto a lie which deniesher status. Eliina is the in is this she resembles completely annihilated, and most one who many of the heroines in Canth's work, who are casualtiesin a society death. but them no place which allows beneaththe Teresia,whose arrival unleashes the chaosconcealed order, is an outsider of anotherkind. Like many of L. Onerva'sthinking form through of separatism a which is dictated by women, she survives her own values. Jotuni seemsto suggestthat this is the best women can hope for in present circumstances. Teresia has broken free of the but liberty the the old she enjoysalso isolatesher. order, of constraints For Jotuni this is a problem which is specificto women'slives. Even the hierarchy is by leader it, Hallinen, the is and rejected rejects who strike leaves for He belong town, where he has to to order. a new shown friends from whom he will obtain help. Teresia has no such course her. to open Teresia'sreturn to her former home is itself provoked by a sense her life did learn We town that marriage and not offer of estrangement. her the freedom she had sought in leaving the estate. She hopes to by her belonging rediscovering earlier romantic recreate a sense of feelings for a doctor in the neighbourhood. At the same time, she ideology. As early asAct 1, it is of progressive asa representative appears Teresia who dares to challenge her grandfather's world-view, in a her 'for the working people sympathy she expresses conversationwhere 368 doctor is The alsopresentand the exchange pi edictsthe and progress'. in between Teresia Jynkkd Act 2, and also in confrontation more serious the doctor's presence. Jotuni constantlyintertwines the private and the demonstrating difficult in Teresia's the relationship voice, public
368 Jotuni, Vanha koti, in op.cit., Vol.2, p.28; 'tyvki ja kehitys'.

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between the two for women. jynkki witnesses a romantic scenebetween Teresia and the doctor, and accusesher whole generation of Immorality. He interrupts her initial words of protest, but she refuses to submit to his definition of her behaviour. It is this rebellion which enables her to She her his the voice. own raises point of own sexual establish hypocrisy, and takes issue with his abuse of power over his family and his exploitation of working people. It is his demand for her silence as a in her defined the immorality, accusation of personal which woman, leads to her political rebellion against the whole social structure he her He to try through a personal continues and undermine upholds. fights him '369 But his 'Be she whore. quiet, with own argument. attack: She questions his own sexual behaviour, which has disinherited his demonstrates like Eliina. jotuni that woman's sexual rightful children by is denial the encouraged of woman's right to exploitation For Teresia's beyond this reason challenge goes a representation. defence of her reputation. It announces the revolt against the political power structure. Teresia is the only character to address the issue of JynkkX's abuse in defence does She her his so openly. of position self-expression. of Even the doctor considers her outburst cruel and unnecessary, stating demands frankness from this 'No one yoU.1370 This causes an that between doctor, Teresia the and irreversible rift as she is unable to accept She in social methods adopts of conspiracy. this a who senses partner a her identity. She her to of expression own answers him: threat My senseof justice demands it of me, my heart and peace of mind demand it of me.371 follow her to that conscienceis to be inextricably bound to a She realizes life of solitude, but this is ultimately the most hopeful solution for her. Yet even if the words are wrong, and they are always wrong, at least there is the liberation from an oppressive weight, a stifling have burning be I to a need alone sometimes. To think closeness. love, forget hate lift to to or people my thoughts to an without inaccessiblesolitude. And for that you need wrong words.372
Taikene, ' 51; ibid., portto. p. 369 kukaan 'Ei 52; ibid., vaadi sinulta sit! suoruutta.' p. 370 'Oikeudentuntoni 52; ibid., vaatii, orna sydSmenija rauhani vaativat.' p. 371 'Vaan 52-53; ibid., olkoot sanat 05riSkin, ja vSSriSne aina ovat, on sitten pp. 372 IShcisyydestS. taakasta, tukahduttavasta On polttava tarvc jostakin painavasta irti

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Teresia'swords are 'wrong' becausethey are the words of revolution. Her voice of rebellion expresses the needfor separatism.

ilman Ajatella joskus vihaa ja rakkautta, unohtaa ihmiset - kohota olla saada yksin. Ja ' yksinisyyteen. siihen tarvitaan vri sanoja. saavuttaniattomaan ajatuksen

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PART 11 FEMININE AESTHETICS

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CHAPTER FOUR

Expression (H): Finding VOICE 4

If the release of woman's voice was an announcement of revolution, in her Women's silence. maintained was experience then the status quo from men's by a silence which was enforced explicitly distinguished was in public life, implicitly in social custom. This bore implications not for but her for voice, also artistic expression. woman's political only relevant under a government where creative This is particularly for In Finland became airing political a channel views. and expression by fluctuating lives of writers affected the were and works Russia, 373 The purpose of censorship was to degrees of state censorship. immoderate to as as well control sentiments, eradicate anti-government 374 in matters of religion or sexual morality. temerity, In addition to the formal restrictions imposed by state censors, the demands of critics and public act as a type of censorship. Feminist literary have identified a variety of and social structures, literary scholars 375 literary to the the periphery writers of canon. which confine women decide to to write and in an obstacle women who turn constitutes This literary 376 lack of precedentS. apparent an of become aware
for Writers on allegory airing political views and there is much relied often 373 The 1890S to the data the satisfy of censor. extent rewriting saw on biographical Kreitserova Tolstors in late Russia: in 1880s, leniency the sonata, written was increased initial, In following 1891. the the short-lived relaxation of censorship until suppressed Vapaalle kynAlleni ("ro Aho free I Juhani the 1905, wrote my pen an essay on of unrest freedom the constraints on publication. and previous press of sense new Finland Pirkko Sensuuri in Lein6-Kaukiainen, For see e. censorship g. of conditions 374 Helsinki, 1891-1905, 1984; in Russia V. Suomessa Rozenberg see e. g. ia sanomalehdist6 i tsenzurav proshlomi nastoiashchem, Russkaia Moscow, lakushkin, pechat' V. and 1905. Suppress Russ, How Women's Joanna Writing, London, to 1983; for See or example 375 Novelist, Oxford, Woman 1986. Rise the The of Spencer, Jane Theorists: Three Centuries Feminist Women's Spender, Dale See ed., of 376 1983, London, by this Traditions, records which observation a number of Intellectual Simone de beginning Beauvoir Virginia Woolf their the careers. of and at women writers this in 1980s by Alice the this earlier century, experience reiterated on to were remark Walker.

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At the turn of the century, with the concentration on woman's role as wife and mother, the portrayal of women in literature was associated with themes of love and sexuality. To study female life. Women writing to emotional study woman's psychology meant The themselves about sexuality. as writing very act were viewed about be could equated with immorality. of publishing was an exposure which Women's opportunities as a writer were limited by the persistent notion of the propriety of their silence in public. In these respects Finnish and Russian literature at the turn of the Of interesting the most of comparison. point century offers an influential authors of the period in Finland, at least one third were women. By contrast in Russia, only one woman author, Zinaida Gippius, was to secure a firm place in the contemporary literary canon. Other Russian women writers, although often widely read and even by favourably the critics, were excluded from the viewed sometimes focus because their thematic on 'female' issues such as canon of 377 Their work was seenas addressing specifically marriage and children. feminine subjects which could not be classified as universal. As writers, therefore, they were not considered to belong to the cultural nucleus helped ideological the and aesthetic trends of the period. shape which The same assessmentapplied to many 'secondary' women <writers in Finland. It proved to be informal rather than formal censorship which conditioned the acceptance of women writers within their cultural Attitudes about women's competence as authors environment. in the those portrayal of the woman concerning with combined formulation of acceptable norms of style, topic and characterization. This process also served to mould woman's literary identity. 4.1 Women in Chekhov's Dialogue If the absence of voice is central to the portrayal of women, then it is Chekhov It has'' to the as of a particular case. work consider necessary
377 Examplesof this attitude can be found for examplein connectionwith Anastasia Verbitskaia, whose books were in great demand in libraries, or NadezhdaTeffi and Olga Shapir, who were reviewed favourably by critics like Mikhailovskii and Korolenko. That the themesof love or marriagebelongedany more to women'swriting than men! s These belief. subjectsare, after all, central to the masculinerealist erroneous an was prose tradition and the novel genre.

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been suggested that Chekhov provides women with dialogue in an 378 his in At the time, the single most same plays. way unprecedented debated issue in Chekhov's work is the nature of his artistic expression. Chekhov's writing has been perceived as a riddle of form and meaning. Chekhov's contemporary, the critic M. P. Nevedomskii, wrote: It is hardly possible to find in our entire fiction a more complex topic for critical analysis than the work of this melancholy artist. He is positively an enigma.379 has been defining Chekhov's difficulty art The of noted from the turn of 380 day. The in the to present unique role of women the century Chekhov's discourse offers insight not simply into Chekhov's portrayal Chekhov's into drama, but the the nature of also and nature Women, of literary criticism. of 4.1.1 Interpretations of Woman's Role in Chekhov's Stories in Chekhov's is limited to his drama. work women not The presence of Chekhov's interpretations of portrayal of women in his prose The many for in Chekhov's the analysis an of women groundwork use can provide interpretations important These issues the dialogue. reveal some of of in in female his the hazards author's understanding aims creating and characters. Chekhov's work has stimulated more discussion on his attitude is Russian the is than This case with any other women writer. towards literary feminist both Like Tolstoi, in and non-feminist criticism. true Certainly been has there is little evidence called a misogynist. Chekhov
Chekhov's in 'Women Plays' Moracevich, in jean-rierre Baricelli, ed., Nicholas 378 Critical Anthology, New A York, 1981,p.202. Plays: Great Chekhov's Chekhov 13ez A. P. Kryl'ev-. i Nevedomskii, P. M. ego tvorchestvo' Inlubileinyi 379 Harmcnx 80 Bceft 'iro 1910, 51; Moscow, 6ennep. Dpim nH Hametj sbornik, chekhovskii XapaK7tpHCTHKH, donee cnoxHaA AnX KPHTH9=KOR TwVqecr8o 3mro wuqa ,rpHcrHKe liem
3, This nojioxcH=wo 3ara= ro jcaxax-ro: and all subsequent XyAOAMHKa. rpyCrHoro from Nevedomskii's from in Stanley the article are quotations version of translations Change: The Noise Russian Literature Critics trans., the of and and ed. Rabinowitz, 1986. Arbor, Ann (1891.1917),

Chudakov, Chekhovs P. A. Poetics, Edwina Jannie to Cruise her trans. In preface 380 Cruise Arbor, 1983, Ann 'The history of Chekhov scholarship Dragt, writes: Donald and incomplete (p. Likewise Savely Senderovich's history an vision! of vii). the been has Chekhov's Deeper Reaches' 'many fallacies the Towards that expresses view article Savely ' in Senderovich Chekhov's Munir Sendich, criticism, and of eds, mark a century Collection A New Studies Rediscovered: With a Comprehensive Chekhov of Anton 1987, Lansing, East p-2. Bibliography,

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to suggest that Chekhov was a tendentious feminist. But it is equally difficult to demonstrate that he was a tendentious misogynist. The earliest significant assertion of Chekhov's alleged misogyny was made by Sophie Witte in her biographical study of the author.381 Witte bases her conclusion on evidence, recorded in his letters and notebooks, of his reluctance to marry, although he maintained several romantic friendships with women.
But how accurate or, more pointedly, how useful is such an assertion with regard to interpretations of Chekhov's fiction? Many female Chekhov's studies of portraits have revealed that one cannot speak of an unequivocal misogyny in his work. Chekhov contrasts for example with Tolstoi or Strindberg, in whose work misogynistic tendencies have been widely attested. 382 This recognition has also contributed to an understanding of their work. Marie S6mon's detailed analysis of Tolstoi's portrayal of women has exposed the author's pathological repugnance of the female being and his fierce desire to 383 This has provided greater insight into sexuality. control woman's Tolstoi's views of human relationships, education, morality, paternalism and motherhood.

In Tolstoi's work, as in Strindberg's, women exist almost uniquely love themes the as projections of of and marriage. Female sexuality is a facet of the external world with which man is in conflict and must come to terms.384This cannot be said of Chekhov's work. Chekhov's female form integral to the and content of his work: protagonists are Chekhov's female characters function as often as his male characters as part of the structure of the action, not as foils to it, and they express the by subjective world-view presented the text.

381 Paris, 1963,p.198. Sophie Lafitte, Tchikhov 1860-1904, In her study of Kreitserov4 382 sonata,Barbara Heldt has made a rare attempt to show Tolstoi's'path towards fen-inisrW. Shebasesher argument on the author's criticism of marriage as a trade and other social injusticestowards women (Heldt, Terrible Perfection, pp.3848). Andrea Dworkin's analysisof the samenovel has demonstrated, however, that Tolstoi's rational awarenessof the inequalities fostered by social institutions doesnot necessarily precludehis basicdislike and fear of women (Dworkin, Intercourse,pp3-23). dansloeuvre de Lion Tolstd, Paris, 1984. 383 Marie S, 6mon, Lesfemmes Cf. Strindberg'sFadrenor Tolstoi's Diavol. Even where the central protagonist 384 Julieor Anna Karenina, is a woman, as in Frdken the problem with which the reader is presentedis how (universal) societycan come to terms with woman's (specific)sexuality.

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Unlike Tolstoil Chekhov did not dwell on the subject of female in Chekhov's Simon taboo On topic the work, of sexual sexuality. iKarlinsky has written that: fallen 'adultery, 'adultress',, 'the of woman'.. so the very concepts literature in Victorian Russian important the of age, simply very 385 far is Chekhov do not exist as as concerned. individual in to important considering is when portraits remember This female One that the cannot assume presence of a Chekhov's work. love, link to is thematic commentary on a or marriage a character for limited is Chekhov's Such too a study of women. context a sexuality. have been based Chekhov's misogyny on the author's Conclusions of in to that women, sexuality predatory comparable a of view apparent Virginia Llewellyn-Smith: In Strindberg. by the of words portrayed
If Chekhov is to be described as a misogynist it is on the basis of depicted he in her woman sexual the vehemence with which 386 role.

Hingley has remarked that a 'Comparatively feminist' attitude to Ronald lives Chekhov's in 1894, in emerges stories of women's the constraints in his 1897 1895 the between most of women stories appear and but that 387 Beverly Hahn, who has commented on many of predatory. female has keen of psychology, also remarked on perceptions Chekhov's 388 in feature various recurs portraits which of women. the predatory The stories which have provoked this observation depict women (1895, inSupruga impressive His over men, power as an who wield (1895, The Order St Anne, Anna 1965), and most 1965), of shee na Wife, (1895, Ariadne, 1965). In all these stories the Ariadna notoriously, by the whose personalities characters are conveyed secondary are women in Supruga is, foil The this to on wife occasion, a a protagonists. male Anna In is the husband. the shee na grasping the wife product of study her Living to the up role model of society her mother environment. of
Gentle Subversive' The in Ren6 Nonna 'Chekhov: D. Karlinsky, Simon and 385 Cliffs, Englewood 1984, Perspectives, The here New Chekhov: p-50. point Wellek, eds, but Chekhov's do have in that they the same types work, occur not never these is not that Chekhov'swork, in contrast to Tolstoi's, sexitself is not degrading, In function. thematic it. to only the reactions Chekhov Lady Dog, Oxford, Llewellyn-Smith, the the 1973, and Virginia with 386 p-35. Chekhov, London, Oxford Vol. The 1964-1978, 7, 6. Hingley, p. Ronald 387 216. Hahn, p. cit., op. 388

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(herself merely a social type), she gradually comes to reflect her husband's values of ambition. Being the 'Anna around the neck' of her husband is not what her husband fears (as he pretends), but exactly what he expects of her. His early reference to this is not a warning but a prediction. It belongs to the scenario of receiving the Tsar's favour, indicated by the fact that this scenariois a word for word reproduction of the husband's account of how it takes place. As far as Ariadna is concerned, it should be remembered that the story is not in any way a but the portrait of a woman-hater. At no point is portrait of a woman the reader invited to participate in the psychology of Ariadna herself, 389 lover's description her. disagreeable her Moreover, the in of only latter does not hate Ariadna alone, but the whole of the female sex, for he holds his own weaknesses. responsible whom In his examination of the love theme in Chekhov, Donald Rayfield states that, for the most part, Chekhov's women become less he by However, time the writes the stories of 1898and 1899.390 predatory love theme once again concentrate on stories in the examinations of d6nouement in dramatic takes the male character, such the place which as in the trilogy which comprises Chelovekv futliare, Kryzhovnik and 0 lyubvi, (all 1898, A Hard Case, Gooseberries,Concerning Love, all 1975), as well in Dom 9 mezoninom,U znakomykh (1902, All Friends Together, 1975), and Chekhov's best known love story Dama s sobachkoi (1902, The Lady with a Dog, 1975). In these stories male impotence female Men come to recognize their vitality. a certain with contrasts failure to take action, while women accept life's course. The love theme female in the the transition character, while male remains a reflects a the protagonists' adulterous affair causes constant. In Dama s sobachkoi, Gurev's is in but it both to process of personal growth partners, anguish that the development of the plot lies. The object of the hero's love in Dom s mezoninom, the delicate, passive Zhenia, has been cited as an example of Chekhov's unsatisfactory and sentimental portrayal of

389 Virginia Llewellyn-Sn-dthhas pointed out that Ariadna's lover Shamokhin, the 'fanatical misogynist', is the object of the satire, but nevertheless seesAriadna herself as 'damned' and 'openly criticized' by the author. SeeLlewellyn-Smith, op-cit.,p.24. It is, however, difficult to seeShamokhin,who elicits no sympathy whatsoever,as even a hate The do for that the shows story men author. women who so veiled mouthpiece because behaviour in response in their because to that they of and own see women of what perception. The Evolutionof His Art, London, 1975,p.186. 390 Donald Rayfield, Chekhov:

173 Chekhov's is 391 Zhenia However, representative of neither women. Ideal is type the of a consistent model of she women charactersnor figure itself his The in the contains contrasting story work. womanhood is It that true the the worker. Lidiia, opinionated social and active of in but Lidiia! the too are underlined story, s work so are of shortcomings hero, her As ideal inaction the the moral antagonist. of of an those of hero's into insight Zhenia the offers psychology rather womanhood, than Chekhov'sThe static aspect of women in these love stories, and the (as the through eyes of men an element which appearanceof women dimension the a narrow the represent of range portrait) male elucidates Moreover Chekhov's the in one-dimensional work. nature women of in to the of many applies male character portraits works secondary a of Bab'e in the tsarstvo, protagonist, such main as as women which cast heroine's Interest has the romantic of a changing the object male which longings. Several by her thoughts and own of the image projected later works such as Sluchaiiz praktiki 1880s, from the as as well stories Girl, 1975) (1903, A Marriageable Nevesta portray a woman's and for self-determination. struggle The study of love and the debateover misogyny in Chekhov do for his the starting point analysis of most of not provide a suitable be limit It the scopeof even misleading, and can may femalecharacters. female One is not type, whose characterization powerful interpretation. is Aksinia in V orrage. Carolina de protagonist, male dependent on a Chekhov's described Aksinia has 'most accomplished as Maegd-Soiip 392 female'. As in Chapter One the argued predatory above, of portrayal dictated by and revenge are not an inherently Aksinia's actsof violence They her the sexuality. are consequence of feminine, animalistic her her social economic and position, which robs of any frustration with her be that To actions can only explained as the result assume identity. is do instinct to that assume women not want or need predatory a of have to men access and which are normally things which those human for the to aspirations: right reward one's describedas universal in identity. The to to self-determination, society, to role a labour, is related only to themes of the that of woman portrayal assumption
Chekhov 'preferred Gasiorowska if that Xenia writes sweet and charmin& 391 Zhenia Lidiia to to activists' with cold efficient reference and girls socially useless, Literature, Russian Handbook p-520). of (Terras, 283. Maegd-Sokp, de Carolina op-cit., p. 392

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love or sexuality obscures the layers of meaning in the text. V ourage deals hierarchies the and tensions of the peasant clearly with forgotten be community, which should not when considering Aksinia's heroine has Dushechka been seen Likewise the the of story motivations. for love. feminine instinct Yet Olenka has the sacrificial as a parody of fact, feminine in devotion. little in stereotype of with a common, very She makes no sacrifice, is not constant in love and there is little her life. in Her defining the about emotional story comment her is to mould effortlessly to her characteristic passivity, which enables has described Barbara Heldt Remarking Olenka this, on environment. 393 harmonization dominating her This surroundings. as paradoxically with her environment is not necessarilya paradox, however, but a motif in another kind of parody: that of female passivity as it occurs in literature. Chekhov's portrait can be seen, therefore, not as a parody of female devotion, but of the conventional characterization of literary heroines. Olenka's passivity reflects precisely the typical aspectsof the heroines: Russian the romantic theme is merely an of vacuousness She ideas Cweak' the this. uses words and of others element of male heroes themselves, in keeping with Russian realist tradition), she becomes suitably opinionated, and she 'carries on' after the hero's death to find a new ideology. Heldt points out that the narrative 'trivializes Olenka while seemingly making her heroic.'394 This comment could be heroine to the in the treatment the generally of applied easily Chekhov's Russian Russian heroine novel. own nineteenth-century Nadia in Nevesta, afflicted by doubt, disillusion and uncertainty, is far her (despite 'teacher'). from the type this motif of male removed The question of misogyny must be left aside in a study of Chekhov's female protagonists, particularly when one considers his traditionally most acclaimed work, his four major plays. The women he portrays belong to the broader landscape of the depiction of life. It is significant that with the full maturity of Chekhov's art, women dialogue. human become An' to the more central more and characters examination of Chekhov's artistic technique and the culmination of its Chekhov his final in the that that plays reveal voice gives to his mastery in in them their world. It subjects making women protagonists succeeds is also closely related to the very nature of his artistic method.
393 394 Heldt, Terrible Perfection,p.52. ibid., p.54.

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4.1.2 Chekhov's Plays In his stories, Chekhov's narrative technique gradually subdued Chudakov has A. P. analyzed the evolution of authorial voice. Chekhov's narrative system from the early emphasis on an impartial 395 increase in dialogue. This to developed an process narrator Chekhov's own objectivity as an author, while the protagonists became more subjective. Also, as Chudakov observes, themselves hero's in diminishes: the the voice narrative thereafter We encounter the voices and spheres of consciousness of many heroes -a stylistic "skim" of the depicted environment 396 generally. Similarly, one of the most significant aspects of the evolution of Chekhov's dramatic art, is the fact that his plays gradually reduce the focus on a dramatic hero.397 It is the absenceof dominant protagonists, human interaction in favour eclipsing of powerful evocation eventually has landscape, Chekhov his earned which and reputation as the of mood history in innovator the theatre. of profound most The development of Chekhov's full-length plays has been described as the evolution of one play, which is the unnamed early work 398 Rayfield PlatonoV. known that the notes as plays of the 1880s,in now (Uncle Diadia Vania Vanya, he 1988) (as 1897 it is a groups also of which 1889 Leshii the dialogue), the retaining of much of original reworking 399 by Chekhov's dominated a magnetic male anti-hero. three other are (1896, Seagull, Chaika The 1988), Tri (1901, Three plays, sestry major Sisters, 1988),,and Vishnevyi sad (1904, The Cherry Orchard, 1988), female four three characters at the centre of the action. The or include is in thus among shared a variety characters of which women action figure at least as prominently as men. At the same time the plays develop towards a reduction of the human proffle. The projection of the itself in Chekhov's last is as a protagonist orchard play a wellcherry known example of this technique. Chudakov has written on the
Chekhov's Poetics, Chudakov, trans. Edwina jannie Cruise and Donald P. A. 395 Dragt, Ann Arbor, 1983,pA9. ibid., p-100. 396 94. Rayfield, cit., p. op. 397 94 ibid., p. 398 ibid., p. 94 399

176 integral function of apparently superfluous objects and stage-props 400 discourse. has termed Chekhov'slast David Magarshack the within 401 His analysis confirms that the plays as dramas of 'indirect action'. dialogue form is one of the chief qualifications for this of muted definition. Magarshackpoints out that unlike Chekhov's early plays, 402 Thus, not the dialogue no longer appeals directly to the audience. hero's later but do Chekhov's the they convey remove voice, plays only diminished human through universally expression. Donald actionRayfieldhasdescribed the effectof this dual process:
the plays of the 1880's are "mono-heroic", while those of the 1890'sand 1900'shave no heroes..and a polyphonic structure that 403 is independent of the characters. The increasing presence of female characters in Chekhov's plays coincides with this process of diminishing heroic voice. It reveals an understanding of the silence which is part of women's lives as an human the condition. This contrasts with Andreev's use of element of feature an at variance with the antagonistic, external women's silence as male subjective world. It resembles rather the impression of unheard voice which characterizes women's dialogue in the plays of Canth or Jotuni. Chekhov perceives the role of the marginal figure. His tragic future favour in of a vision of a better protagonists reject existing society by failure but their to the tied to offer -a present world, remain satisfactory solution. Chekhov's characterization, however, differs from the usual depiction of the outsider. The traditional visionary outsider, frequently a prophet figure crushed by present conditions of life, has a heroic, tragic profile. Chekhov's charactersare enlightened but ordinary. They exist on the periphery of the social order, unable to integrate yet from it. excluded not completely Chekhov's work does not express the tendentious feminist Canth's in be traced separatism which can or Jotuni's work. It does, however, express woman's experience of lack of voice as a dilemma both It is relates the condition of outsider and universal. personal which to the nature of human existence and to the present condition of lives. Chaika, Nina her both In wrestles with self-image women's as a
400 401 402 403 Chudakov, op. cit., p-118. the Dramatist,London, 1952,p.160. David Magarshack, Chekhov ibid., p.160. Rayfield, op. cit., p. 94-

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first is This the the three of artist. an plays which as woman and Rayfield describes as 'emasculated' of their heroic type, although as he in it this type the of a character of retains vestige still out, points In love 404 The theme which Nina is cast may not, on the Trigorin. heroine. in She is an ordinary unconventional simply a surface, appear loves. by But does her limit this the man she motif not woman rejected love for interest, is indispensable to she an subordinate a character individuality themes through the the of art and which run of element does her to Not she attempt regain control over emotional only play. life, but faces the responsibilities of her identity as an actress. She her her first Treplev, the young writer who gives contrasts with fails Treplev his to to terms to come act. with personal opportunity disappointment in his relationship to his mother, in his love for Nina, failure his to in as a writer. achieve recognition and Nina's struggle over her identity concerns her vision of herself as Trigorin's independent 'seagull' discarded of story or as the an either is 'the 0405 This to of acquiring a process ability struggle endure. actress. This based Treplev cannot achieve is on self-knowledge. Her survival heroic identity he to type. He envies as a seek because continues him both Nina's Trigorin fame, of robs and, as he seesit, and Trigorin's development from Chekhov's love. the heroic own away his mother's in both the the is problem of self-image which characters of type reflected Treplev and Nina elaborate. Trigorin and Arkadina are part of this because lesser face no dilemma as artists, but they to extent a too, process in lives. Nina, In Chekhov their personal complacent also they are and for he to a woman, which voice uses express a subjective creates beginnings in both in this the of self-discovery, case problem: universal life and art. Chekhov conveys the senseof paradox which women experience life in On level, their role and art. a objectified realistic as a result of Nina must contend with the reputation of a provincial actress: in Yeletz I shall have the more educated local businessmen It's 406 life! trade, their a on me. attentions rough pressing
94.8; ibid., p. 404 Vol-13, 5 'ymeHbC Chaika, in The translation of p. Chekhov, op. cit, TCPnCTV. 405 from Chekhov's from Chekhov, in the plays are quotations versions this and all other Frayn, by Michael London, 1988. introduced plays,trans. and KYrTUbI o6pa3oBaHHbie C nX)6e3HOCT31MII. Enbue 'B (SyayT 56; ibid., npHCTanaTb p. 406
rpy6a)KH3Hbl'

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This single reference to Nina's The comment is well-observed. in actress succinctly exposes a major obstacle an woman's reception as development as an artist. It highlights the difficulty women have in is devalued by identity the way they are not which acquiring an artistic treated as women. On a deeper, psychological level, Nina's attempts to her Trigorin's herself identification the seagull with of story is an of rid in the to reject role object of a story, not expression of women's struggle hero but in foil identity. their the to the the very nature of social as only
Nina's survival reflects the inadequacy of the heroic type. By the time Chekhov wrote Tri sestry, his rejection of the heroic voice was Chaika While concentrates on the problem of artistic and complete. individual identity, Tri sestry focuses on human communication. Since Stanislavskii's famous observation on 'subtext' in Chekhov's work, discourse have his in the nature of characterized plays many scholars 'evocative', 'impressionistic', such as 'symbolic, or These terms attempt to define the absence of direct (as between between the as characters well author and communication from is dialogue. his Epic-like In the absent soliloquy audience). study Golum has interaction in Harai Tri tried to develop a the sestry, of with terms 'Absurdist'. 407 in dialogue. techniques the of communication characterization Golurn has remarked on the explicit references in the text to processes of 408 indicating the centrality of this theme throughout communication.. the play. The article presents a detailed account of the various devices in by their conversation: unspoken responses, evasive the sisters used deliberate misunderstandings, and sensitive communication comments, Most significant is Golum's disguised as refusal to understand. in dialogue, importance the the of silence with specific observation of between Act III Andrei the towards the to end of exchange and reference his sisters, in which he makes a confessional speech while they remain dialogue 409 in be here. Woman's can role observed clearly silent. Andrei speaks uninterruptedly, yet his speech is not a monologue, and the sisters' presence forms an essential part of the discourse. As Golum

points out

Harai Golum, 'Communicating Relationshipsin Chekhov's71ree Sisters'in 407 Senderovichand Sendich,eds, op. cit., pp.9-31. ibid., p-11. 408 ibid., pp.25-26. 409

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If we compare it [Andrei's speech] to a typical Shakespearean by Hamlet, Brutus, lago, (soliloquy) Macbeth - we can monologue Shakespearean difference. The the characters reason with see ( ) is Andrey's the monologue an audience. ... themselves and with ( ) back The talk stage. sisters on need not act of communication ... in his in him to that resonate make voice ears; moreover, to order back talking throughout the play they are not very good at 410 anyway. back', 'not the talking that very sisters are good at yet The observation dialogue is the the to to pertinent of nature contribute substantially female discourse. Although it makes no special assessmentof gender dialogue in Tri identifies detailed the Golum's sestry of analysis roles, to which the structures relate woman's communicational many of Golurn the role underlines of euphemism, expression. (particularly discourse in the the silence sisters' and misrepresentation features which have been noted in the discourse), in the all part previous chapter. Golum comments perceptively on the significance of the sisters' finger', languages 'sixth foreign as a a communication knowledge of 411 its As Masha by harmful is superflUity. of remarks virtue skill which by in life. Her is their is it L required not position a skill which in Act be in its know than to' 'we taken need more we must much statement: in 412 knows is Irina's Irina This so particularly case. broadest sense. languages by Olga. Masha to the in spoken other and addition Italian has forgotten her fact Italian that bemoans the she at the moment Irina her falling in that not achieve ambition she will either of she recognizes both Moscow, her longing for to metaphors of going love or of 413 (public) Irina's degenerating Italian, contaCt. and (personal)'intimacy both her for human is lack of need symbolic and capacity of use, from communication. As with the problem of identity in Chaika, the problem of is equated with the ability to come to terms in Tri sestry Communication developing Chekhov's inner In the process plays, of an with one's self. form isolation dependent of similar to the outsider is a on life
410 411 ibid., p.26ibid., p.24.

Vol. 12, 131; 'mm3HaemMHorO Sestry, in ' Tri Chekhov, op. cit., p. AHWHero. 412 for intimacy the to search The on thematic and applies emphasis contact all 413 in particular the sisters' persistent efforts to be alone has Golum noted three sisters. intimacy (Golum, tial to a poten which realize others spoil op.cit., their urge together, . 22). p.

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experience expressed in women's writing. Chekhov's characters are nither absolute outcasts.. nor tragic anti-heroes, but peripheral and interactive outsiders. This identity characterizesalmost every one of the protagonists in Vishnevyi sad. They do not belong to their both temporally and remain peripherally connected, environment yet is It them. the to around significant that all Chekhov's world spatially, three major plays are set at a distance from Moscow and St Petersburg, link locations. This is most to these the some retain characters while apparent in Tri sestry, set in an unnamed, remote corner of Russia has been described by identity one English translator of whose spiritual Chekhov's work as 'Exile'.414 4.1.3 Chekhov and Literary Criticism
The expression given to women in Chekhov's major plays owes a great deal to the nature of his craft. It was Chekhov's own view that art be life, and that this in itself represented a should representative of 415 in By endeavouring to convey life as he art. genuine purpose living it, Chekhov to create observed was able characters, male and female, in his work. Most importantly, his success in reproducing the for is largely due his the to the absence of stage prose writing art of in his the of soliloquy abandonment plays. He uses authorial voice and a structural form which is able to take into account the restrictions on form keeping in This not with the contemporary was womants voice. Chekhov's it is in however, to the response and art that we can canon, begin to perceive cultural prejudices, which have implications for woman's own creative role.

Despite Chekhov's present-day reputation as a major figure in the, history of prose and drama, the understanding and acceptance of his The been have straight-forward. effacement of narrative voice not work heroic interpretation. It was presented critics with problems of and voice difficult to guess which of the charactersmay have been the mouthpiece, for Chekhov's own world-view. The author was reproached for his lack identity Problems 'tendency'. of artistic and the communication of. of ideas were reflected in the author as much as in his work. In 1910,414 Michael Frayn, 'Introduction! in Chekhov, Plays,p.lvi. See,for example,references to Chekhov'sremarkson this point in letters in 415 Chudakov, op. cit., pp.194-95.

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Nevedomskil observed that despite the existing wealth of criticism and intimate his 'neither Chekhov, the essence of work, nor commentary on his personality emergeswith sufficient darity. '416 the Chekhov criticism of a number Nevedomskii's article assesses including Mikhailovskii, Lvov, Bulgakov, critics of contemporary he In Merezhkovskii. states: conclusion Shestov, and
Only one firm and indubitable fact emerges from all these Chekhov's that critics tend to contradictory analyzes, namely discuss the object of their criticism very much in terms of their 417 likeneSS. image and own

locate is Chekhov to these try that critics Nevedomskii's point within discussed has his Karlinsky in Simon this phenomenon their tradition. difficulties Chekhov's the with critical establishment of of assessment his day.418 Karlinsky describes the reception of Chekhov's work as 419 he By this means the critical establishment's method of #reductionist'. did befit him. into In tradition to the a which not order writer co-opting do this critics defined his work according to their values, rather than his art. Karlinsky specifies this process, the to of nature according from Chekhov's the canon on the grounds exclusion beginning with by followed his inclusion in the his melancholy, merely was work that Russian this type that the of melancholy was part of grounds a on canon 420 longer Once it tendenCy. was no possible to ignore or humanitarian discredit Chekhov's talent, he was generally described as a mournful Karlinsky 'reduced' This, impact fading the the argues, era. of a poet of Chekhov's of elements work, elements which profoundly subversive ideological both to and artistic challenge an established presented 421 tradition. Evidence of this can be traced in Nevedomskii's article, which Chekhov's 'unique' the the character of to work within resolve tries literary heritage. Nevedomskii international contrasts Russian and images' 'semi-clear, muted with Tolstoi's 'threeChekhov's
416
P41; Cif., OP. Nevedomskii, 'HH HHTHMHax TBOPI4eCTBa. HH cyrb crO JIHIiHocrb castax ' OrrpeAcaeHHhIMH AOCTaMqHO qCpTaMH. 06PHCOBhIBaKntA XyAo)KHHKa He xapaKTCPHCTHK 3THx-pa3HOPCIIHBhIX OC7A=X Or 54, ibid., npoqHOe KpHTHKH

417

Bcex H HeCOMHCHHoc residuum: rr. p.

TOMWO OAHO o6MKT CDOCR

KPHTHKH OMCHh CXJIOHHbl 7paMBan * CBCCMY. ITOIL06HIO H rro C)(5pa3y

418 419 420 421

Karlinsky, 'Chekhov: The Gentle Subversive', pp3l-68. ibid., p.33. ibid., pp.33-34. ibid., pp. 44.

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dimensional and full-blooded' people, Turgenev's 'transparent, images, Gor'kii 'strikingly the strokes' of and the 'delicate with colourful 422 from Citing brush' AndreeV. the reminiscences of Bunin symbolic of and Kuprin,, Nevedomskii remarks: 'It is clear that "restraint" was as his his it feature as was of of personality work. '423 Building on much a this element of the writer's personality, he offers the first definition of Chekhov as 'the artist of the soul's impotence, the painter of life 424 further He states that Chekhov's work is typified by without pathos. ideological and programmatic vagueness, by a general disbelief in 'theories' at a time when social forces would have warranted such formulations. 425 In conclusion, Nevedomskii asserts that Chekhov 'stands utterly alone in the entire pleiad of our major writers. 1426
the reiteration of Chekhov's 'exceptional' style, the final demonstrate Chekhov's Nevedomskii's takes to article pains section of by likening him it. He endeavours to show to the canon position within that: Despite

this innovator still falls within the organic, time-honored literature, the work of the of our continuing mainstream Turgenevs and TolstoyS.427

Chekhov's critics were evidently compelled to pull the writer firmly inherent threat the thereby in the erase of subversion and canon within his work. But what did this subversion represent to the established literary tradition? Currie has observed:
Chekhov's contemporaries sought an activist ideological program him in his immediate the tradition place of which would Tolstoy. Dostoevsky They especially and predecessors, were troubled by what they perceived to be the. absence of moral zeal, the lack of a clear or consistent message and his melancholy 428 pesSiMiSM.
Nevedornskii, op. 422 cit., p.59. "c; xepXaHHOCTh" 6Ema TaKOA VM MoOeMocmo' ibid., p.67; ACHO, 423 we amH1q1rrenbHOA ero; xHqHocTH, KaKoBoA OHa ABJIAMA AnA ero Tnopmecrm' ;InA ibid., p.74; xyaomHifK6exmimaymm, XHBOITHceil XH3HH 663m0oa. (Italics in 424 original. ) ibid., p.91. 425 XY; OH CTOHT HaU1HX KPyrTHb1X XO)KHHKOB coBeplUeHHO rrjimte Bceft ibid., 92; 'Bo 426 p.
O; XHHOKO.'

427

cTaHoBHTCA ibid., pp.105-6;3TarHoi3amp ace-we

B PAAEj

HCKOHHOA C7pyrl Hatueri nHTcpaTypE-t, AMAMA OpraHHqeCKOA, TypreHCBb]X H Tonmix. ' (Italics in original. ) Currie, preface to Chudakov, op-cit., p-vii. 428

npe;xcTaBHTeneA npo;jojixmj1em Ixena

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Chekhov's departure from the realist standard made his work difficult to accept. When one considers that woman's writing was from (by it as the to women's absence existing canon inevitably alien different it is by to their of experience), expression easy as well be to the a writer which woman could prejudices exposed. understand be included. But this required the Chekhov, a man, might still belong did his the to that nevertheless masculine writing reassurance had This tradition which cultivated narrative was a prose tradition. form heroic It by the contrasted with created voice. and omnipresence discourse The in the women gave equal voice. muted Chekhov, which been has Chekhov between the tradition and preceding contrast by Vladimir Laksin: in terms described revealing
the stronghold of patriarchal ideals serves as the epic soil for Tolstoy's view of the world, which is all-encompassing and ( ) breadth Rather its in than and versatility. epic an objective ... lyricism has irony, Cexov delicate the and world, a sober of view 429 flows through everything. scepticism which Laksin's use of the terms 'lyric' and 'epic' can serve to elucidate 430 literature. The Laksin in comparison makes women of the position Chekhov's lyricism infers a certain Tolstoi's and soil epic between form. By 'epic the turn the the hierarchy of century, of vision' artistic 431 Literary in tradition. basis the their canonized critics, of the was have Chekhov's tried to as a writer, stature cultivate a of assessment form lyricism When Chekhov's that a of as epic. one considers of theory the tradition tradition the well as as realist prose of oral throughout heroic force has been the the and creative of epic nineteenth century,
Artist' in Leo Hulanicki Incomparable Svignac, David 'An Laksin, V. trans. and 429 Story Writing. Essays Master in Soviet Modern Literary Cexov Anton of a as and eds, Criticism, The Hague, 1976,p-99. lyric discussion terms the following epic and are used not accordingto their in the 430 but in broadest definition, their those to sense historical qualities mean genre literal forms. These in the the qualities with originate naturally associated usually which are limited, informed, by The though them. definitions are not and epic vision historical The lyric light, totality. Is heroicism, universality and vision monumentalism, implies humanist. Thus, for example,the lyric poetry of the Romantic age implicit, expressive, be 'epic-like' in its for it to Symbolist still can vision, seeks movement express the of or fate hero. tragic through the of a often universal absolutes, Structuralist Chekhov., A Study, London, Tulloch Tulloch, 1980. John See applies 431 He Chekhovs features to 'epic world-view. assesses which visioTV the term 'spirit of the epic, in the relationship between 'man, the world and the characterize 101). (p. value'

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reserved as a masculine prerogative while the expressive form of the lyric has been seen as the limits of feminine performance,432it becomes clear that there are not only restrictions on women's creative expression, but that the notion of feminine has a secondary value in art. Moreover the epic/masculine association is understood to express universality, localized. 433 lyric/feminine is temporally the as spatially and seen while In view of all this, it seems, the critics feel compelled to establish the describes Chekhov's Laksin this very art. masculine credentials of has been He there that a necessity to 'shield, points out process. Chekhov from the criticism that large works of art were not easy for him by asserting that his short stories constitute 'one great novel of Russian life'. 434 Laksin's own view that Chekhov's stories are 'mini-novels', 435 lives', human 'histories of repeats the pattern of trying to condensed attach to Chekhov's work the monumental qualities of the epos. The same is true of Nevedomskii's article. Nevedomskii sees Chekhov as the creator of 'the drama of increasing lyricism which does not translate into action.'436 Although Chekhov's art may appear to lack internal epic development is its to the of art contribution of epic stature. vision, Nevedomskii emphasizes the author's own heroic profile, as an artist compelled to create 'from the void', 'true to the serious, sacred, lifeliterature', 'keeping both traditions pace and with all of our art giving Russian and European.437
2.1.4 Conclusion

Many attempts have been made to define the unique, subdued quality of Chekhov's expression. It has been observed that Tri sestry has an in (rather the chorus-like than structural resonance opera) operetta-like

In respectof oral tradition this circumstance 432 may reflect the values of collectors rather than performers. Note that in Laksin's view (above),Tolstoi's epic.form is, despite its patriarchal 433 bias, 'all-encompassingand objective. 434 Laksin, op. cit., p-105. ibid., p.105. 435 jmp3ma, He pa3pemaiouxerocx Nevedomskii, op. 436 HapacTaio=ro cit, p.106,'jzpamy a
AeHCTBHH. ' cBATbim, XH3Hh TBOPAILIHM ibid., p.103; H3Hwiero',p.105;'oepeiicepbe3iibim, B Hory co Bcem HaUlHm H TPaAHLXHAM Hamerk 'uien 107, xy;1ox=BOm, ximparypu', p. from The the void relatesto the aesthetic ' the creating artist eBporieAcxHm. notion of theory of art representingglimpsesof the Divine formulated by Belinskii and others (see Criticism). Literary Russian Belinskij Terras, and e.g.

437

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438 has dialogue. Lynn Visson the the also written on of qualities in Chekhov's prose work: music of expressive role For Chekhov, whose literary credo was restraint and language a which could transcend and music was understatement, his impel from heart, to the characters act and words, replace 439 incapable feelings they of uttering. were express in Chekhov's lyricism to so often referred The choral work, with its its to and expressive nature, was amenable soliloquy of avoidance female discourse. Critical approaches to woman in Chekhov's work either assess her thematic role as the object to the male subject in love and conflict, or level. Women a structural characters become ignore gender on his develops towards as work closer prominent more a world. gradually The experience. with women's coincides underlying view which difficult late his the plays relationship to work, the problem themes of for isolation longing life, the sense of peripheral and of endurance of identity take to the struggle control over one's - all communication, belong to a vision which gradually reduces the structural value of favour in inner heroic of an self-knowledge. philosophy masculine Tolstoi, the great epic writer and thinker, pronounced Chekhov's late plays to be incomprehensible. The reception of the first performance disastrous, and it took three years for the St Petersburg in Chaika was of Vishnevyi first in its in to terms to with sad come run audience MOSCOW. Numerous critical works on Chekhov catalogue the his and modifications which producers of plays misunderstandings interpret Chekhov's to them. in their attempts characterization made despite form life-like his less become of dialogue, with its did not images. The and sounds reduction symbolic of soliloquy on reliance than the rather creation of one-dimensional naturalism, conveys In 1914, Andreev noted that through stylization. symbolic characters by German a received audience which did Vishngvyi sad was ecstatically because its Russian language 'international of of a word not understand

Plays, Chekhov, in Frayn p366. 438 Stories Music The Unspoken 'Chekhov's Language Julian W. Visson, in and Lynn 439 Studies in Uterafure Ketchian, Russian 1. in Honour Vsevolod Sonia eds, of Connolly and Columbus, 1986,p274. Setchkarev,

186 440 Andreev, who portrayed women's silence/voice as of pauses'. Chekhov's dialogue to the antagonistic masculine status quo, called 'Improbable':
full life; it is in halfdo things that of real speak way not people begin ( ) Chekhov's and end their characters never spoken, ... '441 them. they continue only speeches, The controversy surrounding the interpretation of Chekhov's difficulties the of gaining an understanding of an artistic plays reveals form which does not rely on heroic voice. The ineffectual and his characters' attempts to take action may of nature melancholic frustrate the reader, but this cannot be seen as an inherent feminine Chekhov for What female his achieves women in characters. quality of his plays and stories is to give them equal voice in the overall expression does issue Chekhov's 'humanism' Angst. take not with the position of did it than with other prevailing movements. of women any more Rather, he shows that life itself, human freedom, self-identity, art, find human of gender, regardless which problems relationships are all because in of their social role alternative expressions men and women Chekhov's like insistence The epic on vision, and experience. fails for do to the question of misogyny, women preoccupations with from direct the Chekhov's to away attention male achieves: work what hero and to take seriously the presenceof woman's voice in the human condition. 4.2 Using a Masculine Voice: Aino Kallas and Zinaida Gippius If Chekhov's sensitivity to woman's own voice did elude him, it was in His notebooks make several his assessment of women writers. 'lady His deplorable the to of writers'. phenomenon work references includes -the portrait of an unremarkable, bourgeois lady writer in Ionych (1898), who inflicts her novellas on the guest-narrator during Chekhov's family This reflects own scom of attitude soirdes. stultifying dominated 'popular time women writers when at a mediocrity
440 Andreev, 'Pis'ma o teatre', (Shipovnik, 22,1914, p. 252); 'HHTepHaLxHoHanhHbIM from Michael Green, Translation the this subsequent quotation and of A3hixom rrap'. trans. and ed., The Russian Symbolist Theatre, Ann Arbor, 1986.

441

ibid., p. 252; 'HenpaBAOrrOA06eH', 'Tar. B XH3HH He roBopAr, OH rrOnOH ( ) repOH t1exoBa HHKor; za He HaqHHaxyr H He KOHqaxyr CBOeApeqH, OHH HezoroDOPeHHOCTH, ... ' ee. npononxcajoT Tojmico BcerAa

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literature'. The 'lady writer' depicted in Ionych is in keeping with 442 literary the woman with pretensionS. contemporary stereotypes of Apparently prevailing prejudices about women's role in Russian broadChekhov's to enough overcome even literature were powerful mindedness. The nature of criticism and censorship are naturally rooted in the In ideology to this, a adopts. addition writer elements and style, subject background lives, the such as social or scandal, affect personal of writers' Is Women the their and work assessed. way who way they are perceived frequently to the find their assessed according requirements work write in Despite femininity. to a persistent resistance woman's voice of their denial the of women's right or natural inclination literary portraits, and favourable life, criticism of women's writing paradoxically to a public lies in Its special 'feminine' the the that quality of work suggests femininity is hitherto This to said give a unknown expression. dimension to literature. The implication that real writing remains a is domain the that most obvious obstacle women who write masculine (peripheral) Women are granted a writers place in have to overcome. limit form themselves to they literary a given or subject canon when the The deemed to their this gender. work which wins appropriate matter limitations, but individuality its 'feminine' not only accepts accolade of femininity bear this the that of must essence nothing of also accepts feminist voice. features a of separatist Far superior to the recognition of sensitive femininity in the is hard-won the women writers of accolade of creative output in The their work. effacement of any separate ,masculine' qualities It of creative a achievement. peak suggests allows equal voice woman's identity. literary In Finland Russia, in two and women woman's status described 'masculine' in in the approvingly were as particular writers Gippius Zinaida Kallas Aino their and work. achieved of endorsement literary because it the significant status, not reflects this significant but because the the their epithet reveals work, paradoxical of quality fact The is that quality writers. equated with women of position
Gippius! include Manlieva, 'poetess' this type Other of young whose examples 442 her her that long-winded congratulates out everyone Of is relief when reading story so Goluboe (1896, Sky), Hudi, Gippius, 'Bluc Novye See in 153-55. nebo pp. to end. Comes an how Savelov he hates Mysl', like mentions cypresses which stand Andreevs play in like have but the to which invites the content, writing no of women, marks exclamation 'namm'lady-wri dots' (pZ; ters that prefer much continuous further comment (5031BUIC mHoramqHx). J1106AT rjHCX=BHHUW

188 $masculinity' is revealing enough in itself. More importantly, it implies that a woman writer who achievesthis standardis an anomaly. In the caseof both writers emphasisis given to the 'exceptional'stature of the writer in view of her sex.
4.2.1 Aino Kallas The attitude towards Kallas' work in her day was most succinctly defined in an article of 1909 by Gustav Suits, which appeared in one of the leading Helsinki cultural journals Valvoia ('Guardian'). Kallas had been publishing her short stories since the 1890s and also had two novels to her name by the time of Suits' article, an overview of her literary output as a short story writer. Suits was of Estonian origin and the leading figure of the Noor-Eesti ('Young Estonia') literary movement. 443 His critical acclaim of Kallas was the first important recognition in her career. The theme of Estonia was to dominate Kallas' work. She was inspired particularly by the landscapes of Saaremaa and the stories of Estonian life she heard from her husband's uncle. 444 Estonia not only became the setting for most of her novels and stories, but was undoubtedly the single most decisive factor behind her initial literary recognition.

Like Suits, Friedebert Tuglas was another Estonian writer who highly. between Kallas' Both torn men are work praising the valued writer on behalf of the national significance of her work, and disn-dssing her as a woman. Tuglas stated that: if Aino Kallas had remained in Finland, she would have become in the manner of Helmi Krohn or at best typical a woman writer, Maila Talvio. 445 Suits points out that Kallas is 'not a great, or brilliant or even productive talent', but insists that she is 'an interesting and exceptional phenomenon, at least among Finnish women writers', precisely because

443 The Noor-Eesfimovement, like Finland's Nuori Suomigroup, was active at the , turn of the century and stroveto promotea nationally conscious culture in harmony with Europeantrends. tutkimus hdnen tuotantonsapadlinjoistaja Kai Laitinen, Aino Kailas1897-1921: 444 Keuruu, 1973,pp.47-49. taustasta, Quoted in Maria Niiniluoto, 'Minun osqakkimaisteri', (Hetki siltalla: juhlakiria 445 60 vuotta 27-9.1984,1984,p.98.) Kai Laitiselle hdnen tdyttdessddn

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446 her knowledge Estonla. from The themes her of originating use of of by his further least' is 'at Suits' compounded back-handedness of

Kallas' productivity: comment on five small, modest volumes...Can one think of anything finer: to know the limits of ones strength and produce little. 447 Suits' praise of Kallas rests on the contrast between women's 'masculine' the literary occasional, and valuable contribution general woman artist: In Aino Kallas we meet for the first time a woman writing in Finnish who from the start has wanted to be only a writer, who has understood her literary task as precisely that and not as for for issue, the temperance the question, woman example an outlet furthermore, has longer Need I that add, she no or socialism. literary ladies, been has do those to whose output with anything in have dressing-table they to which mirror wanted a great akin both bagatelles, their to own erotic as well as experience above all 448 their sentimental sorrows. to see and show

Suits argues that her economy of style and output is a motif of an does indulge He the that she not public remarks vision. epic/masculine to the tales clearly an allusion and excitement, passion large of with at her his by In stories are characterized view, an writer. female popular born firm of simplicity proud self-denial, spartan stolicism and ascetidsm Suits, (the According this to the suppression of self and self-discipline. 449 her (masculine Kallas 'individuality' identity). is woman) what gives

Kallas (Valvoia, 790); 9,1909, 'ci 'Aino Suits, Gustav novellinkirjoittajana' p. ole 446 kyky', 'mieltSkiinnittlivSnS ja hAikilisevii tahi tuottelias tahi edes mikA! n suuri ilmi6ni, ainakin suornalaistennaiskiailijoitten joukossa. poikeUksellisena Voiko 'viisi 804; ibid., volyymiA vaatimatonta pientS, ajatella mit33n p. 447 ... does ja 'Suits tuottaa rajoituksessaan v1h5n. tuntea not mention voirnansa kaunjimpaa: her novels at this point. kerran Kallaksessa 'Aino tapaamme 805; ensirnSisen suornenkielisen ibid., p. 448 joka on alusta alkaen tahtonut olla yksinomaan vain taiteilija, joka on naiskirjailijan, kirialliseksi tehtlvdksi tehtAvAnsA kirjallisen eikS esim. k,isittAnyt tahi sosialisn-dksi. Tarvinneeko,minun vielS lisStli, raittiusasiaksi naiskysymykseksi, kirjallisten kanssa, joitten teken-dstS niittenkSBn mitUn rouvien MnellA en5A ole ettei kaikkea jossa he itse ikddnkuin toalettipeilinS, suurena ovat ennen tuotanto on ollut bagatellinsa ja kohdata sekii n5hdS n3ytt33 sentimentaaliset eroottiset tahtoneet ' surunsa. 805. ibid., p. 449

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The loyal, one could almost say manly search for truth - that characteristic so rarely met in women writers - is one of AinO' 450 Kallas' main characteristiCS. The emphasis on gender demonstrates how it can be used to dismiss literature After too all, men used creativity. as a platform for women's beliefs or exploring sexual psychology. Moreover political expressing Suits' criticism of ideological tendency in women's writing seems at Kallas'Estonian his themes, which take up of commendation odds with issues local level. Suits, it as at specifically moral a socio-political as well feminist be is 'tendency'. to referring actually concluded, may In 1909 Kallas had not in fact consciously addressed the woman her in work. Unlike the other major women writers of question at all the period, Kallas did not centre her work around female protagonists. Her most striking images of womanhood are rooted in an idealization of for devotion. Examplesof this type are to be maternal woman's capacity found in her stories Ingel (1904),Sofflaanifiti (1905, 'A soldier's mother') kiinalainen (1905, Chinese 'The Pieni donkey'). aasi small and However, motherhood itself is not the defining feature of these charactersbut a certain capacity for extreme action or faith. The context is individual'sto the their used explore motherhood relationship to of the collective. In Ingel, this relates to class conflict, in Sotilaan &W, to kiinalainen in duty, Pieni importance to the aasi, and national of humanity. devotion The of the stories' heroines of a sense retaining dedication the of purpose which characterizes the religious resembles laiva, by Lasnamden in Maie valkea who contrast abandons revivalist her family in order to await the illusory white ship. Kallas' use of motherhood as a theme does nevertheless mystify her female type in a way which can overshadow more fundamental individual. This is especially' the the concept of author's elements of true of Kallas' first novel Kirsti, published in 1902. At the beginning of the novel, the title heroine,is a spirited but restless young woman livingin the countryside. Searching for her self, she identifies with nature, yet longs for something more stimulating than her quiet, rural existence., She falls in love with and marries an intelligent young student, Pentti, in In his is the this relationship she. neighbourhood. uncle who visiting ibid., p.805; 'Lojaali, voisi melkein sanoamiehekds 450 pyTkimys totuuteen - tAma ' naiskirjoilijoilla harvoin tavattava ominaisuus - on Aino Kallaksen pSaominaisuuksia. (Italics in original. )

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fulfilment. find However, bliss is the to couple's wedded marred seems by Kirsti's strong sense of wrong-doing after she succumbs to a preher fianc6, from union with which she soon realizes she marital sexual has conceived. She feels the child will be a reminder and a judgement She her. miscarries after an accident, which only serves to upon does knowledge the longer that the situation, as she can no aggravate have children. Reconciliation takes place at the end of the novel when illegitimate baby local the new-born of a peasant woman. The she adopts had her baby (a boy), to by tried murder woman motivated peasant knowledge her it is be illegitimate. to At this own of what and poverty her 'illicit' Kirsti confesses also own pre-marital sexual moment The for the to locally peasant admission woman,, ostracized relations. her day finally that she not was a virgin on misconduct, wedding sexual feels Kirsti 'a liberation'. 451 The sense peace atonement. of and provides her however,, lies her in force rehabilitation, of new-found role as a real is broader She that there a realizes meaning to the concept of mother. direct biological birth: the 'to than act of giving consider as motherhood in love. those '452 After are all who need of children years of one#s feeling fragmented, she is restored as a complete person: I She walked down the shoreside path towards Pentti,, just as she had once done as a young girl, - and she carried with her new life just as she had done then.453 Kallas' first novel, Kirsti, was not considered an entirely his In Aino Kallas, Kai Laitinen study of takes up the work. successful it the This work when of was published. criticism concentrated on main between discrepancy Kirsti's intellectual the apparent rejection of her her and condemnation morality of own pre-marital conventional Laitinen that the dilemma explains union. religious-moral sexual discuss led Kallas to the attempted author to ponder principles which her beyond 'capabilities' 454 that But Kirsti's time. at were which dilemma is not essentially rooted in religious or social morality, but in does She her powers of self-determination. not see her conduct as a sin, but specifically as a 'crime', and moreover as a crime against her own
Helsinki, 1902, 178; 'rauha Kirsti, ja vapautuksen tunne'. Kailas, p. 451 lapsinaan kaikkia, 'pitSmUn 178; jotka rakkautta tarvitsevat.' ibid., p. 452 lahti 'Hdn 182; ibid., Tantapolkuapitkin Pentille vastaan, kuten kerran p. 453 kuten ja tuoden ' elSmM uutta mukanaan tytt6n5, silloinkin. nuorena
454 Laitinen, Aino Kailas, p37.

192 conscience. She explains to Pentti that 'it is a crime becauseI senseit as a crime. '455 The contradiction in Mrsti's psychological portrait stems not from but from the sense values, an unconvincing of moral so much female handling symbolism. of male and author's On a superficial level, the theme of motherhood in the novel idealization the to contemporary of the maternal reproduce appears feminine the the psyche and as a universal essence of vocation as finds identity lGrsti and social place at the same time personal mission. image Alongside this the takes positive mother. of on role as she of is 'masculinity' portrayed as the source of positive identity. motherhood, Kirsti's exceptional will and philosophical intellectualization are traits inherited from her father, whom she even resembles physically. 456 When she first meets Pentti, she recognizes her father's expression in his eyes.457 These details convey Kirsti's ability to identify with the 'masculine' active impulse, which contrasts with the submissive and dependent passivity of her own mother. The symbol of paternity, which also relates to the theme of illegitimacy, is of key significance. Kallas' work shows a preoccupation individual as an a concept of generation essential element of with identity. Generation acts as a motif of the epic-like vision in her work. Related to concepts of tradition and national identity, it is at the basis of the world-view which emerges strongly in her Estonian themes. Individual psychology cultivates personal freedom and self-will, yet is legacy heritage. identifying indebted The to the of a person's also family, identity 'tribe', the subjectivity and mould of motifs combined of heroes Kallas' the such as protagonists, most powerful many of of Bernhard Rives, Lukkari ja kirkkoherra, and Ants RaudJaIg. Many death theme the of examine the perpetual stories which concentrate on living. dying The between the and notion of continuing relationship final in is the chapter of the collection explicitly evoked generations Meren takaa11(1905, 'Beyond the seasIII:
A crash sounds in the forest, and the young trees shudder, as the 458 falls old generation ...

455 456

Kallas, Kirsti, p. 134; 'se on rikos, koska ininA sen rikokseksi tunnen. ' ibid., p. 12.

ibid., p.40. 457 My ryske, ja nuoret puut 11,Helsinki, 1905,p.153;'MetsAssa Kallas, Meren takaa 458 kaatuu... ' kun polvi vavahtavat, vanha

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The problem for Kallas' characterization of Kirsti is that the firmly is heritage tradition through the established a male as of concept line. In focusing on a female protagonist, Kallas endeavours to transfer (nation, heritage family) dimensions tribe, of masculine on the epic-like becomes Motherhood In 'epic' this feminine part of context. vision to a for The continuity. generation a channel concept of as the novel, in is Pentti the to that early on novel when referred states eras passing but future is 'only '459 Kirsti the present ours. cannot neither past nor belong to that present until she resolves her role in life's course. Her her becomes indiscretion a crime against subjective control over sexual her instinct 'I Her than to was stronger will. am going natural that role. by if ' she says to Pentti, who as my chance, will be a mother against 460 despair In her to the submission as a petty convention. understands her her identity is fused with the as a role mother, final reconciliation of know be is link life 'to In to that a mother,, one course: one a of concept links future. 1461 development the the past and which chain of Kallas subtitles her novel 'psychological sketch' (sielunktivaus), by the to is it author address attempt problems of self-will early an and life in A identity the of a woman. principal weakness of subjective and difficulties Kallas in in lies the obvious experienced the work in to a according philosophy which she perceived characterizing women heroine's psychological profile relies on popular The terms. niale (motherhood, sexual morality) whose familiarity female symbols It is Kirsti theme that the subjectivity. of active significant obscures through her the adoptive motherhood within purpose notion of senses her self-position as a subject of influence. Her indicates This generation. by inevitability is biological marked vocational not as or role maternal implies. Y%irsti the contrasts strongly with other motherhood eternal in the novel. She does not possessthe 'endless depicted types maternal her for of own mother, nor the selfless, protective desire sacrifice' 462 Both Pentti's these aunt. women are self-effacing, the of tenderness latter Kirsti image, the without voice: cannot even former without father, her Pentti's aunt is described as her while without mother picture

76, 'ainoastaan Kirsti, ' nykyisyys Kailas, on p. meid3n. 459 didiksi kuin 'minA 134; tahtoani 1 tulen ibid., vasten satturnalta. p. 460 Siti, 'olla kehitysketjussa, tiet5i 176; joka olevansa ibid., yksi rengas sfinS p. 461 ' ja tuievaisuuden. yhdistSA menneisyyden

462

halu'. Seealso p.54. ibid., p.9; 'Ioppumaton uhTautun-dsen

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463 board'. 'silent From the beginning, Kirsti feels: 'I could be a sounding by being. '464 At the end of the novel she takes something my own baby charge of a who was almost murdered. Kirsti's motherhood is deliberate. It represents a wilful element of life's course, in the same heritage, which can give or deny rights of identity. manner as paternal This element of Kirsti's characterization is not sufficiently lucid. Kirsti's intellectual dilemma over her identity is overshadowed by associations with traditional, symbolic imagery of motherhood and the religiousmoral plot context. The novel provides valuable insight into the problems of applying epic/masculine themes to studies of female subjectivity. Kallas subsequently turned away from the portrayal of female psychology, although in 1904 she was planning a novel which was to be a description 465 finally 'the This of new woman'. work emerged in 1907 as the novel Ants Raudia1g, entirely transformed, retaining a subordinate male It was not until 1912, with the character as the main protagonist. publication of a story entitled Nainen, jolla o1i aivot CThe woman who had a brain') that Kallas attempted to rediscover female psychology. Interestingly, she abandoned the epic narrative form for this piece. Laitinen describes it as one of her most abstract works, with the protagonist having neither name nor companion, the story containing 466 descriptions dialogue. With neither plot nor of the woman's brain 'It had two to three hundred grammes more brain material than usual finely constructed curls' - and various other brains, and slightly more the story explores woman's intellectual struggle for opportunities (including femininity outside conventional motherhood). 467 Finding, nothing available, the woman's only resort is to starve the brain and thus become resigned to her 'natural' role. The brain protests, but she forces it to occupy itself with degrading, unbefitting activities, after ignorance it into the peace of and illusion. Written soon subsides which after her reading of Darwin and Lombroso, the story helped Kallas to in her identity the she sensed examine paradox as woman and as a-.

ibid., p.8-9, and p.40, 'hiijainen kaikupohia'. 463 ibid., p.15; 'ornalla olennollani voisin olla jotain.' 464 Laitinen, Aino Kollas, p.58465 ibid., p.287. 466 Kallas, Nainen,jolla oli aivot (Otavan loulu, 1912,p.15); 'NiissS oli pari. 467 kolmesataagranunaa enernmAnaivo-ainetta kuin tavallisesti ja hiukan hienorakenteisempia koukeroita.'

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468 in With of society, awareness woman's role growing creative artist. female her introduce into to more protagonists Kallas was gradually work. 4.2.2 Zinaida ipplus

for 'masculine' Gippius Zinaida the Russia, was praised qualities of In her Gippius conscious of much more masculine artistic her art. was Unlike Russian, Kallas. than a characteristic of the Finnish identity language is that gender is not grammatically marked. Many of Kallas' but technically therefore, neutral she gender first-person narratives are female in She from her indicates other ways. uses gender motifs often descriptive lyrical, her in passages custom I covered my face with a Saaremaachecked scarf, as if it were an kerchief, lament for lost I Estonian and grieved ancient 469 Saarenmaa. her Gippius Kallas, stressed masculine narrative identity in contrast to first-person form her in verb a male poetry and by exclusively using her in fiction,, under own as published name, as she well which prose her literary criticism, which appeared under various male pseudonyms. Gippius' emphatic use of a masculine first person has received it is for to although extremely unusual a writer scrutiny, no almost Even in the tense, consistently. so gender the present opposite adopt her in is T is the verb, sometimes marked not explicated gender where (self). does This not mean that she is portraying by the masculine'sam' 470 Male have in Russia, particularly writers, a male protagonist. birth, but described they do not abandon their women giving frequently 471 in to the evoke order woman's voice experience. male narrative inclusion demonstrates that the of woman's voice does Chekhov's work
letters her that Yallas' of collection reveals published one of major recently 468 from identity See the stemming the roles of of artist and woman. conflict concernswas kolme kohlaloa: Aino Kallaksen kirjeenvaihioa Kolme Ilona Kallas, naista, ed., Riitta Helsinki, 1884-1913, kanssa 1988. Krohnin Helmi ja vuosina falavan
laivojen Uhtevien kaupunki, in (Tision'), 65; 'MinS Ndky Kallas, p. peitin 469 kuten itkuliinaan, ja muinaisen virolaiseen raitahuiviin, kasvoni saarenmaalaiseen Laments belonged ' Saarenmaata. female to tradition. primarily oral mennytt! murehdin for Bunin's female first in be the it with example, use a contrasted person can 470 (1911, A Goodly Life, 1923), in which there is a clear distinction laoroshaia zhizn* story between author and narrator. Rozhdenie Gor'kii's Tolstoi's descriptions for cheloveka see or of example 471 in Kreitserova in childbirth, as and sonata. pregnancy reactions womelfs

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not require the author to be posited as specifically female. Gippius' use of a male first person is not an attempt to explore male psychology or to Introduce a male perspective to a given situation. It expressesGippius' human identity the as an artist and as subject sense of of action. Even narrative which takes place in the third person tends to cultivate a by centering the main psychological study on masculine authorial voice, her in as novels Roman Tsarevich and Chertova male protagonists kukla or in stories on love or sex, such as Uverennaia or Sumerki dukha (1899,'The dusk of the spirit). Gippius' male first person is given the closest attention in Olga Matich's study of Gippius' religious poetry. 472 In her preface Matich indicates that she takes the poetic persona to be Gippius herself despite the masculine form. 473 Matich's biographical introduction to the author her Gippius' over examines ambivalence own sexuality as it is revealed in her views on marriage and her friendships with men. Matich shows that Gippius' reputation as a 'decadent' stemmed more from her social behaviour than from evaluations of her literary work. 474 Gippius, enjoyed her own provocative sensuality, but her philosophy of human relationships stressedsacred unity between man and woman rather than 475 Spiritual oneness as the essenceof male-female sexuality. physical love is frequently expressedin her work, most explicitly in the story Miss Mai (1896,'Miss May'). The title protagonist evokes an important aspect in ideal Gippius' world-view. She embodies the eternal, but feminine of Gippius liked to suggest about her role virginity which vital existentially in her marriage to Merezhkovskii. 476 The name of the English heroine, May Ever,, conveys everlasting spring. She represents the moment of by impulse, avoiding transformation in this life. eternally alive creative With her existentialist outlook she believes that 'people live far too long. '477 While she has faith in love's passionate impulse, she
I

477

SimonKarlinsky alsocomments 472 on her useof masculinegrammaticalgenderand her sexual identity in his introduction to Vladin-dr Zlobin, A Difficult Soul. Zinaida Gippius, ed., Simon Karlinsky, Berkeley, 1980,pp.7-10. Olga Matich, Paradoxin the ReligiousPoetryof Zinaida Gippius, Munich, 1972, 473 p. 7. ibid., pp-9-10. 474 ibid., p.17. 475 ibid., p.12. Matich refers to S. Makovskii's memory of Gippius wearing her hair 476 in a plait (sign of virginity) in order to demonstratepublicly that her marriage was never. consummated.
Gippius, Miss Mai, in Novye liudi, p:440; '. ' HIOAH ropa3AOAonhiueXHBYT.

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for bringing 'autumn, the on marriage of life with its condemns contentment and compromise:

And life should not be drawn out in any way, as May should not 478 be drawn oUt.
Matich's examination of Gippius' confusion over sexual Identity her life, but it her that private points to on out also relates concentrates Concepts feminine identity. of masculine and play a significant artistic Gippius' in the art and philosophy. author's metaphysical worldrole her is to the Art, like understanding of true creative central role. view love and life itself, should express the search for God, which will bring the individual closer to unity with the universe. Gippius' philosophy 479 idea 'three'. In the the mystical of on studies of identity and pivoted in Gippius' individualism her work as well as of artistic subjective the author's preoccupation with the mystical world-view, and persona has discussion her numerals provoked than of much wider significance her in her This is because own gender of work. rejection partly absolute Gippius herself offered an explanation, which Temira Pachmuss relates in the introduction to her profile of Gippius. The author claimed that in her be human taken being, to seriously work'as a wanted and not she 480 As keen to dissociate herself from a she writer, was just as a woman'. She to in writers. refused participate women a gathering of other because based she rejected writers unions on 'sexual women denominators', yet in her artistic career she rigorously pursued union male-defined theory environment exclusively and an of aesthetics. with For Gippius the feminine was a marked form, the deviation from the definition by in is masculine gender. 'norm' which Gippius explained her collaboration with Merezhkovskii and living Filosofov a embodiment of the 'trinity' which was so as Dmitri her Pachmuss to religious-philosophical outlook. concludes that central Gippius' Makov of own publication play svet in 1908 under the curious her faith in a their private trinity was manifestation three of names their drawing 481 Filosofov However, time was away. when although at a
X(H3Hb HH%iem Henb3A rrpoAnwih KaK He; jb3x rrpozxnlrm, 'H 440; ibid., p. maA 478 Gippius' For of philosophy and the significanceof the number three outline an 479 Temira Pachmuss, Intellect ideas introduction trans., in Action: of ed. and the and see Zinaida Hippius, Munich, 1972. Correspondence of Selected Hippius: Zinaida An Pachmuss, Intellectual Profile, Carbondale, 1971, Temira 480 p. 17. ibid., pp-174-75481

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there was clearly a consciousdesire to understand phenomena according to the number three, Gippius only developed her 'trichotomous' theory, had Filosofov, in 1905,482 she already made a and, soon after meeting from dating her Slishkom 1899, literary story association with similar in her CToo third collection of short appeared which early'), rannye her first is The in 1902. explicitly to address among story, which stories the role and nature of art, is declared to be written in conjunction with Filosofov, and is prefaced with a quotation from Merezhkovskii. Gippius' adoption of masculine artistic principles is also evident in her critical writings. She not only used male pseudonyms but inhabited a uniquely male world, commenting on authors like Andreev, Bunin, Sologub, Gor'kii and Chekhov and entering into polemic with Belyi, Blok and Briusov. Her immersion in the Symbolist movement, despite certain realist tendencies in her prose, reinforced this position. Powerfully male dominated, Symbolist aestheticsdeveloped an epic-like theory of femininity, in which the feminine was subordinated to the femininity by ideas inspired Symbolism The impulse. of creative male her fiction in Gippius are perhaps the most transparent explores which indication of her ability to compromise her identity as a woman, and to negate the existence of a genuine woman's voice. Her most intensive female individuality from contain protagonists of psychological portraits krov' Sviataia is (190o, fantasy symbolic. uniquely role whose a world of 'Sacredblood') is a tale about a mermaid's search for a soul, and Vremia (1896.,'Time') describes a fairy princess seeking a life force which is depictions Her Time/Death. than realistic of essential more stronger femininity, in the story, as symbolic womanhood are charged with Vechnaya zhenskost' (1908,The Eternal Woman,1972). This is also true her intimate the of exposd religious-philosophical author's most of thought, Nebesnye slova (1906, Heavenly Words, 1972). The piece 'sky, living Gippius' the trinity: earth, and all of concept elaborates things - are alive only in each other, and all three form one.'483 Withinthis, women function only as muses, symbolizing dimensions of the, first All these narrative stories use a male narrator's mental processes. Gippius' in Most the totality of male ego, revealing explicit of all person.

Gippius, Nebesnye slova, in Nebesnyeslova i drugie rasskazy, Paris, 1921, p.70; 483 ' fBce7poe.Hedo.3emnAH TpaBb. apyr ApyroM H BCC JIHIUb TPM - OAHO. WHBhl

482

Matich, op.cit., p-26.

199 however,especiallyin relation to her Identity as a writer and her view of (1912, Zhenskoe Feminine'). 'The is the story art, Dismissing any importance In Gippius' masculine form, it Russian for human to that the out also applies Pachmuss word points the word Gippius used when she said she wanted to being, chelovek, Evidence just the 'not of a woman'. masculine,and not neutral, as write Identity of Gippius' 'human being' is overwhelming In her work, but Zhenskoemakes it irrefutable. The story Is an abstract definition of describes himself The first femininity. narrator as chelovek essential identity that throughout the explicit then with masculinity equates and from literature The women as subjects- as writers story excludes story. dialogue by between the establishing emphatically artist and or readersThe bond one. narrator creates an male exclusively male audienceas a love they that the two the stating same women, provided reader,, with human being, like Also human 'a is being, me. also a the reader - and [all hero, '484 The sick and not a monk not masculinel. a not therefore life, in is that nationality, station or states even gender narrator irrelevant but immediately adds: 'I am conversingwith a male reader, defines '485 The female the story reader. eternal cycle of a and not from Woman to sacrificial shifts motherhood mysterious womanhood. becomes through mother again accessibility,provoking unattainability, for All is the elsewhere. unattainable of search womanhood renewed images 'eternal femininity', in two these of the while objectified being human suggests a subjective/universal voice: narrator/male/
The feminine; indeed there exists but two women on this earth humanity, Olia. My my thoughts, my actions, my mother and is I to them this and mine, offer - to mother affection all work, 486 desire. Olia to male without words, It would be tempting to see Gippius' eulogy to the feminine as a but is Russian there to poetic posturing, no evidence of suggest parody itself in her 487 Pachmuss' the in or elsewhere story writing. either this
in Lunnye 45; X2X H x. Toxe qenoBCx, Zhenskoe, appius, murav'i, p. qenoBeK, 484 (50JIMOR H He MOHax. ' He He A "pM? repok C %IH`ra=em, c qHra=hHHueft: pa3rOBaPHBaIO He A 45; ibid., a p. 485 OnA. xceHCKOe; A2, TOM6XO H e4M Ha CBM ABC XCHIUHH161 - Mama 'Jla 64; H ibid., p. 486 )Ia. Moe qenoBeqeCKOe, MOH MbICJIH, Aena, rAoxpaft-a, - BCc = moe,a HM R OTAW - mame features 'feminine in her the characterize The wife and mother elsewhere same 487 in Vechnaia in to zhenskost, which the women are creatures given world as such work, for-others to understand. is it given not but whom
6e3C,noBHy)o 031e HeAKHOCTh, - MY)KCKOe BOOKAtneMe. '

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on Zhenskoe only refers to a change in Gippius' artistic 1912,in which the direct narrative technique is replaced by a 488 It is only the topic, the stylization of mode of narration'. figurative, is has this and which occurred in previous thirdperson narrator stories. Thus what Pachmussseemsto feel is figurative is the author's narrative identity: Gippius' male T cannot in this case be her because creative persona of the obvious fact that Gippius one with was a woman. The authorial voice is in no way inconsistent with her earlier work, only more unambiguous about the gender of Gippius, 'chelovek'. Pachmuss disregards the similarly opposed male/female identities in the story Veshnaia zhenskost' by stating that it concerns 'human understanding in general'.489 There is an advantage in dismissing the masculine poetic identity as an irrelevance in Gippius' work. Recognizing the place that gender her in Gippius' of occupies expression world complicates the commonly held view that her philosophy encompassedan androgynous God-figure in which masculine and feminine impulse are fused equally. The human-subject emerges unmistakably as a male image. It is duplicated in God the Father and Son, in Heaven and Earth, in other words duplicated in the definition of the world, while the 'eternal describes Pachmuss which as Gippius' 'Holy womanhood-motherhood', Ghost', is not central to the God-man human identity, but is a projection of his psyche, with a uniquely mystical dimension. Ignoring the importance of masculine narrative voice in Gippius'. inequality in the same gender cultivates philosophical discourse work defines is in Gippius' It world-view. masculine artistic apparent which Gippius denied female identity her as universal. and spiritual self and higher than that of any other woman writer in prea status achieved Gippius' Even Russia. that given stature was secured by revolutionary her central position as a poet and a critic within the Symbolist movement,,490the critics were not indifferent to her gender. Although " Gippius' fiercely masculine ego is treated as incidental to her expression, comment method in 'figurative femininity,
488 Pachmuss,Zin4ida Hippius, p-55Worksof Zinaida Hippius, Urbana, 1972,p.27. Temira Pachmuss,Selected 489 Gippius' recognition can be contrastedwith the relative obscurity of the male 490 has Kuzn-dWs Kuzn-dn. Bristol Evelyn that suggested work, though original, has writer receivedlittle attention becausethere was no real schoolof symbolist prose. In addition his masculinity by publishing an open brief on behalfof to this, Kuzmin compron-dsed homosexuality (seeBristol's essayon Kuzmin in Terras,Handbook of RussianLiterature, pp.23940).

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feminine in her terms constantly and arise assessments masculine of the literary in by frequent Gippius' the the canon place was confirmed work. description of her talent as 'masculine'. According to her colleague Zlobin, she played the 'male role' in a 'philosophically creative' sense in her collaboration with Merezhkovskii, becauseshe provided the seed of bring he fruition. 491 then Women, to idea nurture and would which an been have Inspiration recognized as a source of and relatives, often Andreev's to male writers on other occasions, advice such as practical but described Kuprin's they 'male mother, rarely are as playing a or wife distinguish is Gipplus' to influence the The used nature epithet of role'. her Makovskii be 'masculine' tendency to considers creative. as actively her 492 Pushkin's his of poetic style in with classiCiSM. comparison Mirsky who, like many of her contemporaries, saw her creative output her husband's, that far to of uses contrast rather than superior as comparison: The most salient feature in all her writing is intellectual power fact in In there is very little that Is things a rare woman. and wit, feminine in Mme MppiUS.493
By attributing an inherent 'masculinity' to Gippius' work, critics desire be judged human 'as being', to the have author's satisfied a may denies in her. her However, the chelovek woman own even since Gippius was not entirely able to escape the common censure of women in for the For Mirsky their their evaluation the gender of work. artists did in her is 'a tendency to be over feminine' remain little which work , the brilliant wilfulness capriciousness certain a and of a and subtle Adamovich her 'subtle intellect' also recalls coquette-1494 as spoiled feminine, with a peculiar, nonetheless unfeminine, tendency #confused, 495 Adamovich Gippius that notes scholastiCiSM'. encouraged towards 496 'witch' as a her scandalous social reputation although she was never , became 'decadent' judgementher that the to of attached work to accept it. of as a result
Zlobin, op-cit., ppA2-43. 491 Gippius' 'Zinaida inNa Makovskii, S. serebrianogo parnase veka,Munich, 1962, 492 pp.99-100. Literature A History Russian Il. After Mirsky, 1881, London, S. 1949,2nd. D. of 493 440 p. ed., ibid., p-440494 MHXIIA. Odinochestvo i New TO Adamovich, York, 1955, 161; Georgii svoboda, p. 495
jryraHHhjjj, >KCHCKHrit CO CTPWHOrl,

oAHaKO, HC weHCKOrl C"oHtioCT1610 K CXOJIWnIKC!.

496

ibid., p.161.

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One of the most subtle examples of criticism which sifts the (masculine) positive and negative (feminine) sexuality in Gippius, art and intellect is an article on her work by Belyi which appeared in the Symbolist journal Vesy CScales') in 1908. It is a review of her. Literaturnyi dnevnik ('Literary Diary'), a collection of Gippius' literary essayswritten between 1899 and 1907. The writer addresseshimself to Gippius' identity as the critic Anton Krainii. Belyi compares the critical light Krainii to a rapier. 'He' overwhelms 'his' opponents, genius of who have not learnt the art of fencing, through skilful handling of the 497 Krainii's true gender is mentioned at the moment Belyi weapon. shifts his position on the writer's talent:
Heavy is the backsword. of methodological investigation for the elegant hand of our talented poetess, who hides under the What would happen if the pseudonym of Anton Krayny! opponent threatened with the backsword, (...) the heavy backsword. (too elegant for the hand that holds whistling rapier) would 498 fall from her hand. soon

Belyi continues the duel with the backsword in his own hands, but is careful to mention repeatedly that he will not forget he is dealing with a lady, with a 'beautiful but - alas - weak rapier'.499 He finally agrees to take up the rapier and 'fence on an equal basis',but the duel is concluded without a battle:
t

Oh! Mr Krayny, the mask has flown from your face: the respected poetess stands before us. What can a gallant cavalier do other than lower his rapier, or offer his breast to the blows of an elegant hand!5()O

498

ibid., p. 442; TAXeJI 3crralq)OH meToAOJIOrHqecKoro Hccne; xoRaHHA ARA MAIIIHOR PYRKH Haiuerl TanaHTNHBOrl rrOM=Cbl, yKPbIBaioweACA rro;j rrceB; XOHHmomAt=Ha KparlHero! (... ) TAXMIA IlTo, e=H 6bi rrPOTHBHHK 3amaXHYXCA3crraAPOHOM, 3Crral]POH (CJIHIUKOM

497 Andrei Belyi, Arabeski, Moscow, 1911, p.441. The first paragraph of the review only refers to Anton Krainii in the masculine.
'

UDKenhirl AM HUMHOR PyxIKH, rrocBHcTbiBajoEuefi panHPOR) Bbman 6bi H3 ee PYK.'

Translation of this and all subsequent quotations from Bely's article are from the version in Peterson, trans. and ed., op.cit. ibid., p-443; rrpeKpaCHOrI, 499 HO-yBbil- cna6orl panHpbl'. Ha paBHbIX OCHOBaHHAX, p.444; 'Ax, r-H KpaAHHA: MacKa ibid., p.443; 'exToWMA 500 rro3T=a. rrepej HaMH yBaxaemaA IqTo moxer c;xenaTh ranairmbtA ciie, =a c B=ero jiH= KaDUCP, KaK He OITYCTHTh PaITHPY: KaK He rToAcTaBHTh rpy; xbno;j Y; Xapbl MAMMA PYIIKH! '

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4.3 Women Writers in Finland and Their Reception The masculine' exceptionality of particular women writers maintains female Image literary The the the canon. of rare the male exclusivity of literary impression fostered that the other women's efforts talent also limited is This phenomenon. artistically uniform, represented a determined Gippius to was so avoid why reason one probably in despite Russia. In Finland, the writers women identification with literary dlite, is the there among of women evidence of greater presence Kallas is Suits' of assessment clearly of an example prejudices. similar Laitinen that a number of young women who also notes this attitude. began publishing at the turn of the century were regarded as a sort of in their work501This arbitrary differences individual despite the group is be distinguished from to the writers of process women of classification in tendency the non-existence of a recognizable or existence exploring has be This to process proven part of women's writing. woments belongs identify It to to their women writers' need tradition. literary like Women heritage. the turn the literary at writers of century, own them, before them often wrote about other women after and those 502 forgotten They to in sought the arts. rediscover creative working feminist in their thematic to an examine content, and writers women 503 identity. historical to gain attempt In Finland at the turn of the century, women writers established fore-front They history in the ease. relative were with at of their place life. This like equal acceptance of women writers, the country's cultural be by to the of right women's vote, cannot explained the early acceptance it freedom factor. Rather, the reflects of voice allowed single one any Finland to the conditions, which were peculiar certain at under women Many into focus these conditions of come the sharper century. turn of literary life the direct and traditions of Russia. contrast with by their

Kallas, Aino p36. Laitinen, 501 for Kallas, Polish Estonian the example, reviewed work Talvio of and and 502 female poets. 'rediscovered' by feminists is in this way. Women7s periodically writing 503 des dames, La Soiuz in 71405 Pizan's de ciM was reviewed zhenshchin, novel Christine dealing literature issues. The history with of women! s a novel recently of 8,1909 as part (Christine de Pizan, The Book City English in translation the of of again surfaced both In be the 1983). to the novel's significance cases London, was said Ladies, heritage. lost rediscovery Of a

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The willingness to take women's cultural contribution seriously Cwornen due least too) policy in Finland's the to naisetkin partly was at 504 identity. The Finns for cultural were above all eager a national search to develop their Finnish-language culture, and in this women were not hampered by the kind of overpowering male literary tradition which figures leading life Finnish The in Russia. of cultural were until existed towards the end of the nineteenth century Swedish-speaking, and the language in Finnish in the the midactivity cultural of striking surge 1880s coincided with the decline of Swedish-language literature's dominance. A parallel can be drawn between the position of women literature in Finland-Swedish and that of women writers in writers Russia in the nineteenth century. After Karl August Tawaststjerna's funeral in 1898,as the younger Mikael Lybeck was returning in a carriage latter his feeling Yrj6 Hirn, he the that expressed critic with cultural was Finland-Swedish in the the the of of whole company now sitting literature of the day.505 The statement ignores the existence of Helena Westermarck, the one woman who received serious critical acclaim, but 506 feminist themes. whose work concentrated on The similarity exists not only with regard to author status, but also to the thematic treatment of women's role and their characterization. A liberal of the older generation, Westermarck had a strong sympathy for the woman question, and she produced many realistic and sensitive female Lybeck's Tawaststjerna's and portraits are portraits of women. largely one-dimensional, and resemble in many respects the Russian type. In particular Tawaststjerna portrayed many Russian women described has Hellman 'one-sided Ben as and characters, whom (1896) Tawaststjerna 507 Trevano female In the creates a story clichd'. 'disciple' type in the mould of the nineteenth-century Russian heroine is her love for through raised the consciousness whose socio-political hero. Lybeck examines the sensual and familial levels of love, as in Bror, (1915, 'Brother in sister'), as as sexual and well relations och syster Sven Wilner has Slavic analyzed as which a codes, social conflict with 508 from Aside 'decadent' themes, Lybeck revolt. theme of obedience and
Seee.g. Chapter Three, in which this attitude is discussed. 504 kiriallisuudenhistoria,2nd. ed., Keuruu, 1981,p-258. Kai Laitinen, Suomen 505 For an assessment 506 work and literary position seeMerete of HelenaWestermarck's till Mdrta Tikkanen,Helsinki, 1985,pp.49-73. Mazarella, Frdn Fredrika Runeberg Abo frdn Ryssland' (Meddelanden fdr 'Tavaststjerna Hellman, Ben och stiftelsens 507 AkademisForskningsinstitut,44,1979, p.86) 'ensidig och klichdartad. Sven Wilner, Mellan hammaren 508 och stddet,BorgA,1974,pp.73-94.

205 between for destiny In Russia's two the alternatives conflict examines (1913, 'The Petersburg Dynasty'). The Impasse of Peterburg Dynastien bureaucracy is the self-serving and contrasted with surveillance police factory-owning by family. honest The work represented a progressive, drama is set around August, whose uncle, valet to the Tsar, tries to win his loyalty to this 'dynasty' of imperial servants, but August remains faithful to the 'true' dynasty of his family's traditional work. There is an imperial In August's rule with concluding comment analogy obvious Is ( ) 'Andrd is He his not an ordinary valet. an uncle: evil on ... Within 'dynasties' is '509 this struggle over women's role principle. female is Etel's dimension 'cheekiness' the the maternal. of and silent 510 learn August in which we admires #rebelliousness' people. Somewhere between the occasionalwomen's talk about love and beauty, talk men's about politics and philosophy, the prominent more and for love has lines his Etel. Etel in the final act, but declares no August impact is to the of August's choice. The play's her presence essential kiss (Widsamt) between her them emphasizes closing passionate family, future, the through the continuation of the and function within dynasty. the correct In her examination of the Russian heroine's type, Barbara Heldt has identified a structural constraint on woman's voice peculiar to Russian literature, which contrasts vividly with the experience of The Finland. in superhuman resilience and sacrificial women dedication of the traditional Russian heroine countered the image of the is hero. Heldt's 'strong thesis that this ,superfluous' woman' ideal in image for too the century was nineteenth powerful of an any the novels depiction 511 the to challenge with of an alternative reality. woman writer forced therefore to turn to genres other than the Women writers were for In their tradition. their search own expression and realist prose lyric they chose poetry and autobiography: primarily identity, The poetic and the autobiographical writings of Russian women bypass the need for perfection within a fictive world; they proceed directly to the world of reality or to a world composed of words the preciseperfection of crafOlz with arranged
peterberg, in Samlade Dynastien Lybeck, Helsingfors, 1922, Mikael arbeten, 50 kammartjgnare. inte ( ) Han Ir Andr6 Sr ' 144; en vanfig ond en princip. V01.7,p. ... (attributed Etel) 'nZisvisheten! 'upprorsinnet' 13; to (attributed ibid., and to p. 510 August). 12-24. Perfection, Terrible Heldt, pp. 511 ibid., p-9512

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In Finland, the main structures which supported the foundations of Russia's male literary canon were absent for historical reasons. Finnish women writers at the turn of the century were not faced with either an established male Finnish-language realist tradition or an unassailable ideal of female perfection. The ideals of womanhood which dominated in the Swedish-languagetradition, such as Runeberg's, Hanna of the romantic period, were by the late 1880sripe for rejection, since they contributed to the idealization of the underprivileged Finnish, population. The first generation of Finnish-language realist writers sought to eliminate the idealized image of the Finnish peasant. They, concentrated on the harsh realities of an existence in poverty and.. ignorance. The willingness to endorse all contributions to the promotion of Finnish culture and independence liberalized the reception of women's writing. Kallas was not the only woman writer whose work was enlisted, for a national cause. Canth's depiction of the financial exploitation of women and their lack of civil rights, just as Talvio's portrayal of moral and sexual assault on women, were praised as social studies with a, distinctly national message. Jotuni's exposure of women's unspoken likewise had firm basis in classissuescentral to the question a experience of Finnish independence. L. Onerva who declared her rejection of her in themes work, suffered more difficult acceptancefrom nationalist the literary circles of the day.513 It was only later that she was given full first female important the credit as poet and as a major influence in the Symbolist movement. Although these women were leading literary figures, they did not for judgement their gender. The various controversies over their escape familiar the work reveal many of constructs used to categorize women's. writing as an appendix to the canon. L. Onerva makes a bitterly iron ic , comment on attitudes towards women writers in her story Jumalien hdm&rd(1915, 'The dusk of the gods'): It would be better to be one of those bourgeois married women do it. One's husband would pay the rent and that writers, would the food-bill, one could work when one wanted, sell a book when one felt like it. No pressure at all. And one's reputation would'
513 For an assessment of L. Onerva'sreceptionin her day seeEino Krohn, 'L OnervaensimmSinen merkittIvA naislyyrikko'(SuomalainenSuomi,1,1967,pp.35-43)in which, he suggestsher work was underestimatedin her time and analyzesthe reasonsfor this. :

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by husband's course of embellished one's grow, reputation, of her always owns share. Women who write and which a woman 514 the time at same are who writers enjoy a pension. are married
Apart from the random classification of their work as uniform, and the 'feminine' the terms of appearance and 'masculine' as regular definers, a number of other gender-based attempts to qualitative discredit women writers can be traced in the literary criticism of the period. L. Onerva in particular found her respectability questioned, in a in for Gippius her Russia, to personal relationships with similar way by her This Helsinki's compounded was association with men. 'bohemian' circles and the Nuori Suomi literary group, whose work (albeit influence decadent in greatly subdued a comparison with reflected Russian decadence). Eino Krohn observes that L. Onerva was often from to its the attacks severe than more opposers of group subjected including 51S the Eino, Leino. The controversial members, other her first Mirdia (1908), novel, major of caused scandal with publication its portrayal of active sexual desire in a woman. The earlier image of Aho's Elli in Papin rouva, selfless and submissive, with no hint of the female remained acceptable self-awareness, study of sexual psychologyS% Apart from the immorality attributed to the woman who in lack belief the a of genuine originality was a tenacious published, Krohn to has how L. women's writing. traced related prejudice

hd? Jumalien Onerva, L n&rd, in Vangittuia Sieluia, p. 46, 'Pitaisl olla 514 Mies oleva naiskirjailija, se naimisissa vetelisi. maksaist asunnon, porvarillisissa haluttaisi, kilan, ty6tA, huvittaisi. tehdA milloin Ei myyd& milloin saisi ruuan, ja maine kasvaisi, tietysti IisSttynS n-dehen maineella, josta nainen koskaan. pakkoa Kirjailevat jotka naiset, ovat samalla nain-isissa, ovat elaketts osansa. aina omastaa ' L. Onerva's own financial and domestic situation was far kirjailijoita. nauttivia (see Reeta Nien-drien, Elaman punainen pdird, Helsinki, 1982, for from this rernoved biographical details). The story goes on to discuss the commercial pressure on art. Krohn, opxit., p.36515 Tudeer, 'Juhani Aho ja Mnen 0. E. See uusin teoksensa' (Valvoia, 14,1894, e.g. 516 Elli's characterization in Papin rouva subtly that states which 28-37), a review pp. life (p3l). In fact Elli's of the woman's psyche and emotional secrets penetrates but is insights into it are rather few and far only not simplistic portrait psychological between, as the novel concentrates much more on the character of Olavi, with whom Elli falls in love. Tudeer's opinion, incidentally, has never been reassessed. Laitincn describes marriagc'seen from a that the tum-of-the-century the view novel reiterates ('naisen kannalta Kai Suomen Laitinen, nZihtyn&'). of view' womarfs point 238. historia, p. kiriallisuuden

208 Onerva's friendship with Leino encouraged the early view expressed by the critic ViIjo Tarkiainen that she represented: simply Eino Leino's feminine echo, some kind of epigony of her 517 friend. and contemporary great Krohn adds that comparative criticism, which noted the influence of Nietzsche and Baudelaire in L. Onerva's work, tended to give the impression that her work is imitative. 518 The idea that influence means lack of originality in a woman's writing contrasts with the frequent definition of innovative use of similar influence in men's work, such as in Leino's. Canth in particular in the assessments of unoriginality accused was of literary collaboration and literary influence in the evolution of her work. Her collaboration founded director Finnish Theatre, K. Bergbom, the the of newly with provoked the view that her plays could not have been constructed 519 his Her ideas were said to be taken from Kivi, Ibsen advice. without biographer, Tolstoi. Her Greta von Frenckell Thesleff, was able to and 520 however her ideas her that Her earliest short establish were own. stories reflect the same social themes that were to gain prominence in the work of Ibsen and Tolstoi. Thesleff points out that many of her psychological themes also pre-empted Freud's theories. Thematic largely from the nature of social other stem similarities with writers conditions.
structure which can be observed in the, reception of women's writing relates to the interpretation of their work. be drawn between the relative A revealing can comparison interpretations of Talvio's AM and jdmefelt's Isdnmaa. Both novels deal with the problem of national awakening and duty. They both examine the place of the ego within the unifying concept of the nation' (kansa), and contrast town and countryside, theory and action, in the individual's search for identity. jiimefelt's novel appeared a few years' before Talvio's, which can account for its greater impact as the earliest' But that is not psychological portrait of conscious nationalism. Eino, Leinonnaisellisena dt., p-35,'pelkAstgAn 517 Krohn,op. kaikuna,jonkinlaisena ja yst5vAnsA epigoonina'. suurenaikalaisensa The most significant

ibid., p.37. 518 Toini Havu has noted by contrast that Bergbomultimately had an inhibitive, 519 Toini Havu, her 'Minna Canth' in Canth, Valitut Teokset, influence art. on obstructive Porvoo, 1965,pxix. Greta von Frenckell Thesleff,Minna Canth,Helsingfors, 1942. 520

209
for fact heroine Talvio's Aill the that reason was seen as a sufficient inclination feminine JAirnefelt's hero to philanthropy, while of study Heikki rapidly became a classic embodiment of nationalist strivings. 521 Philanthropy had its negative connotations, and Talvio herself even ineffectual ladies in the the novel, thus good will of wealthy caricatures drawing a sharp distinction between her heroine's motivations and 522 the Talvio's misguided and self-gratifying those of philanthropist. her the time of reveals preoccupations with national correspondence influenced It these the topics In her precisely which was concerns. 523 work.
AM demonstrates the limited of Talvio's example based on preconceptions about female psychology, which interpretation, in the This denies criticism of women's work. occur process could female expression by ignoring the world-view of the author where it The Women's writing can be with accepted conventions. by ignoring in or themes misrepresenting their certain acceptable made folklore Onerva's L. themes, the mark of nationalist of rejection work. her described 524 that This work was meant as apolitical. view sentiment, line in her world-view. L. Onerva ignores the strong feminist-political does not comply her in to to in women the appeal unite and participate emphatic was future. A L. Onerva's their number own of of stories also reflect shaping her consciousness of contemporary national political themes, even if she did not use the typical symbolist motifs from Finnish oral tradition to Pavlovana she combines her cult of individualism In Mania it. express in theme the eschatology of and rebirth revolutionary philosophy. with hfimdrd identity is studied with direct reference to Jumalien artistic in language in Finnish literature and of national ambitions. the role dimension of women's work becomes The political-philosophical Jotuni's play Vanha koti, as seen in Chapter defined as sociological.

Talvion Maila 1:1871-1911, Tuulio, Porvoo, 1963,p.218. Tyyni vuosikymmenet 521 Talvio did Unlike male writers, not condemn the philanthropist outright. most 522 She appears in the sympathetic portrait of Aino in Pimeanpirtin havitys. The negative AM Talvio's in for the reflects consciousness of need philanthropy more view of bring to measures about socialchange. fundamental,governmental E. J. EMU, Naila Talvion erSsesitelm5matkaja kertomus Kansan seassa' 523 Seuran 9,1947, vuosikiria, pp2340). Talvio also wrote her (jariallisuudentutkijain Kansan campaigning, national seassa, of soon after, in 1900. fictional account fact in that the modernist rejectionof conventional Recent accepts criticism 524 in itself. Onerva L be as a political protest seen was a precursorof the politics must Ctorch-bearers') in many ways, group of modernistsof the 1920s tulenkantaiat Finnish by thern. such as recognized was and

210 Three above, is rich in both revolutionary and feminist politics, but interpretations concentrated on the love theme. Above all, the separatist themes of women's writing, such as the study of isolation'in in Chapter Three Jotuni, Onerva, L. the of work also explored and Canth - received no attention from the critics. In general, criticism failed Canth's itself to to take any account of the work which addressed fundamental currents which run through her work. 525 Many aspects of Canth's work have been disregarded. Her defining have been to according analyzed principles male and characters female roles of which there is no evidence in her work. One example of this is the first review of Murtovarkaus (1883, 'Theft'). The reviewer identifies the main weaknessof the play as the fact that the wrong 'boy 526 irresistible habit of seeing women as a This the reveals gets girl'. drama, life's ignores in It the the are where men protagonists. reward fact that in Canth's work woman is the subject of the action and not the Canth also object, an identity she often struggles to maintain. (or idea 'heroic' the anti-heroic) identity. of male rejects unequivocally Canth's characterization has been criticized as one-sided, particularly in that her male characters are devoid of any redeeming features, which female figures' 527involvement implausible. them the with makes Again this refusal to accept non-heroic male figures in literature demonstrates Canth because Canth's that, viewpoint. of the" obscures bias in law, religion and custom, women almost inevitably become victims since they are at the mercy of any man, regardless of his, it is is Don Canth's Juan type .that the precisely not point personality. the villain of heroic stature - but all men who are, for no creditable lives. reason, given power over women's Finally, the separatist element which characterizes one female type in her plays has been dismissed as a Tolstoyan sexual asceticism from her Her marriage. adamant polemic unhappy own resulted which demonstrate that socio-political concerns and aon women's rights future, but inviable, between, based at present on equality a world-view the sexes were. far more central to the theme of independence in her
For example,the tensionbetweenpowerlessness 525 and responsibility in womerfs lives, or the author's rejectionof enlightenedpaternalismas a solution for protecting Chapter One. in mentioned position, points women's V., 'Suomalainen teaatteri' (Valvoia, 2,1882, pp.13740). 526 T., 'Suomalainenteaatteri: M. Canth, Ty6miehen vaimo' (Valvoid,5,1885, 527 p. 166).

211 her last Anna disappointment. In play, work than personal,romantic Misa, the theme of self-protection through isolation is no longer but fuses Identity the type, the through of with a separate expressed for her Liisa's Anna to punishment crime was reconciliation heroine. for interpreted the and as an of need confession expression simplistically 528 falls This God's to that conclusion guidance. recognize with penance for is It Anna Lilsa's who responsible crime. questions the whole play Anna is Llisa disregards the experiences oppression she when also false In her freedom in terms, to contrast on sense as of integrated society an outsider.
4.4 Conclusion
I

firm turn the the century of at a reflects as Literary criticism female being in the to the of art, as essence relation with preoccupation does day in the theory relation to woman's social role. of the political Writing was regarded as a male occupation not only because it was intellectual dealt it ideas, because the but with realm of while also public both The isolated instinct feminine private and emotional. was the is device individual to to women writers a common praise addressed field domain. literary Appraisals as a the masculine of maintain in Kallas' their art did not forget its surrogate masculinity Gippius' and broader The 'imperfections'. opportunities afforded women feminine did judgements basis Finland in the not preclude made on by conditions Onerva's Mirdia declared be L. formidable to novel was of their gender. but by by been it author, scandalous a woman. The relative a male had female literary to allocated male and expression, expectations values and female literary determined by the to and portraits, male are as as well Where women's writing acquires 'masculine' status, literary canon. its Leino to is portray attempt epic-like stature. concomitant a there firmest, 'the Canth strongest, most tangible and most as described in the whole of Finnish-language literature', adding: intellect relevant like Masculine/epic the '-529 to say: most masculine. almost 'One would This had be to to universal. standard is as also used understood art like Chekhov, writer work a male the of whose portrayal of justify
528 ,

in Kootut kirjailijoita, Vol. lujin, Suomalaisia leokset, 14, 234; kovin, Leino, p. 529 kenties koko jrki kiallisuudessa. ja suomenkielisess asiallisin kouraantuntuvin ' miehekkin. sanoa: Tekisi nltei n-deli

0. Relander, 'Suomalainen teaatteri' (Valvoja, 16,1896, p57).

212
4

women, rejection of heroic voice and impressionistic style confused the establishment. Gippius, herself an adherent of the epic vision, was disturbed by Chekhov's artistic method. She disliked the lack of a. his ideal in her life-affirming for characters, evidence of search positive, 530 She rationalized his importance to Russian literary history the heroiC. by describing his stories as 'miniatures' which were 'a real epoch, a real 531 fiterature'. in Russian revolution Women writers were not measured alongside male writers as fellow artists, but against a scaleof establishedmasculinist values in art. ,

530 531

Pachmuss,Zinaida Hippius, p.359. ibid., p-359.

213

CHAMR

FIVE

5 VISIBILITY (1): Reflections of Eternal Femininity

The social and literary assumptions which defined the limitations of in important the an a writer were rooted as aspect of role woman's The understanding of woman's artistic creativity. of philosophy by in influenced concepts of gender impulse was relation to the process between drawn biology A Woman's was parallel and art. of creation. fecundator function in and man's as role are reflected reproductive in literature Finland the turn-of-the-century of and creativity theories of Russia. In its most literal sense,writers cultivated the concept of mutually in that generative roles women were more often reproductive/ exclusive It is true artists while men were creative artists. performing as portrayed but contemporary reflected social this also realities, portrayal that be it inversely of course, can said that social realities reflected widespread for Strindberg, is known have to attitudes. example, contemporary her took that who a woman up creative work abandoned considered 532 sexual nature. On a more significant symbolic level, the relative biological form to the abstract concept of the 'feminine'. The functions also gave be 'feminine' to in the the one grew of most powerful of motifs concept As historic the renewal. writers considered artistic mission of themes of for 'feminine! the instrument the of rebirth nation, represented art as an inspiration. of source a Major, and complex,

Suomalainen ja ja muufturat roolit, Haavio-Mannila, Elina nainen mies:asema 532 P.81. porvoo, 1968,

214

5.1 Biology of Creation 5.1.1 The Vocational Artist In both Finnish and Russian literature distinctions are drawn between the performing and the creative arts. Whether as a professional artist or is temperament, predominantly associated type woman of artistic as a her In role as performer, woman often appears as a with performance. literature be Russian In type. such characters can contrasted sympathetic in 'lady last the mentioned the of writers' caricatures satirical with female dancer Finland, In the portrayed actor, many writers or chapter. despite but the reality of women's strong the woman writer, not model, both field. Russian literary In Finnish in this the sense and presence writing shows evidence that these types reflect an attitude of woman's identity. artistic II socially acceptable There are a number of portraits which are psychological studies of the female performing artist. The artistic vocation of the woman who chooses to pursue an acting career receives serious attention in Chekhov's Chaika and in Canth's Papin perhe. L. Onerva explores the loneliness of the artist in the figure of the female singer in Raina (1911). Kuprin's singer 'artiste' in Iama is independent in her career and in her her With her judgements. to experience of the 'realown make ability have influence is to than', more a positive social also world', she shown been has in Chapter housewives, One. already seen as philanthropic The male artist by contrast, is frequently encountered in both Finnish fiction Russian as writer, poet,,painter, or composer. and Woman's creative productivity in crafts is not recognized as art in, this period. Where handicrafts do characterize female portraits, the, financial theme to the and remuneration rather of work motif relates than artistic individuality. Crafts traditionally associated with men on the other hand, such as building work, or even military or hunting by The identify the as artist nature. protagonist male male skills, force in is many portraits which are symbolic given also creative act directly the process of art as original with much with associatednot so , invention, such as in Andreev's Mysl' or Linnankoski's Ikuinen taistelu (1903, 'The eternal struggle'). The main protagonists in both plays seek to create an exceptional 'idea'. The thematic focus is on superior intellect and individual will,, and reflects the defiant spirit of the artist.

215 Artistic identity is clearly more meaningful than simply the depiction of a socialtype. It exposes a patternof assumptions about male female impulses. Is The female the performing artist most creative and indication Is that woman's creative role perceived as a straightforward interpretation,, Idea. for than the the rather origination, of an channel Conversely, negative portraits of male performers also support this literature is Russian the In to the actor male a parallel stereotype view. failures in termsof their sex as well as their art. In Both lady writer. are Kuprin's Iama, a male actor who visits the brothel has 'the vulgar, face libertine typical of a alcoholic, a and pettily cruel severeand cheap bearing Russian, has 533 he Not true an unlikely a name, a mant. 534 drunken, into both false launch He is to patriotic speeches. tendency in his for Russian Ridiculed individual and role within culture. as an his affectationand vanity, he appearsself-indulgent and perverse. The indulgence the characterizes negative sexual appeal of unhealthy same in Tolstoi's Kreitserova The sonata. musician musical the male feminine implying is indecency: with sexuality charged performance the presto:canone really allow it to be played in a drawing-room 535 full of women in low-cut dresses?
In Finnish literature the character of the male singer seems to from deviation the view of performance as an significant a represent have Male female the their sphere. singers approval of essentially in Isdnmaa, jAmefelt's between Heikki torn a career as a cultural milieu. is farmer, Finland's talented. turn-of-the-century sincere and a or singer from different heritage has the type a ordinary stage performer singer in is This the heroes of symbolist works. most evident however. Leino Linnankoski portray the singer as a wanderer. He and Lehtonen, by characterized qualities which identify him as a poet, is a travelling Finnish He is amongst motif symbolist writers. popular cast shaman, a leader the artist, exceptional as and healer. As such the in the mould of 536 has implicationS. The is role national whose male artist an singer
533 534 535
roCTHIjofi CYWBbIM Vol-5, )aynhr3PHbIM* in Iama, p-85; Kuprin, op-cit., ajjKorojjHKa, Pa3BPMHKa H MCJIKO)KCCMKoro qenoBexa. ' ? a3BC MOWLHO HrpM B H HH3MCHHbIM JIHIIOM

=UH, qHoro

ibid., P-84. 180; P. Vol. in 12, cit., Tolstoi, Kreitserova sonata, op.
CI)e)IH AeKOIThTHPOBaHHbU AAM 370 rrPC=r

literature Russian in be found in BloVs symbolist play type A can singer 536 similar Cross, 1986). Set Rose The the in (1912, th-century Krest and i early eighteen Roza in The the artist-prophet. of it Tole play was conceivedaround minstrel a France, casts

216
in hero is intrinsically Finnish, creative whose role art is singer an thematically linked to questions of national identity and national struggle. The dilemma of Jirnefelt's hero is how best to serve his in Canth's Laulaia, Even of whom the author male singer country. loyalties. is disapproves, to the question of national used raise clearly The professional performer also highlights changing cultural became In Finland, the tradition male of oral poetry a positive values. but identity, be modern urban culture could national of symbol a is is fault It but influence. the the that the nature of art at not corrupting Similarly, the conditions of the modern performer. of narcissism like the musical programme at the society soir6e in performance, Tolstoi's novel, can devalue true art.537 Performance becomes mere in in Gippius, the the sentimental of male poet case as posturing, Goluboe nebo,who has no talent, only a taste for the melodramatiC.538 In these casesart is not genuine creativity, but simply an exhibition of it is not conscious the artist's emotions. Art of this kind is false because, historical its the perspective of cultural and political purpose within of developments.

Gippius, Goluboe nebo,in Novye liudi, p. 153. The poet reads 'in a funereal voice' 538 death Cy(Sbrrbim the the of poet' ronocom qro-To o paMeri about untimely something cmepTH rro3rra).

French troubadour culture, emphasizingthe elementof poetic creation,rather than as well as the performance,in song. The artist is the bearerof a mystical message both tradition, of which are significant to the issueof national embodiment of cultural loyalty raised in the play. Tolstoi's views of the banality, purposeless 537 and destructiveness of most typesof length Kreitserova in his wellin sonata, are outlined at performance,as expressed iskusstw?(1898,Whatis art?, 1930). known critique of contemporary culture Chto takoe See,for example,the first chapter in which he commentson the degenerate nature of is ballet, which offensive to the educatedand spectacle a performing women incomprehensibleto the uneducated(in op-cit.,Vol-15,p.45).

217
5.1.2 The Performer's Roles: Interpretation and Exhibition types in Finnish and Russian literature demonstrate that is seen as woman's vocational creative expression. performance Woman's artistic characterization is not limited to the portrayal of a key Woman in type. too the shaping of social or plays a role professional destiny. Within this phenomenon, there political-aesthetic the nation's feminine Identity. first the The aspects of two artistic relevant relates are interpretive role, and the second to woman's physical to woman's in inherent the very nature of performance. exhibition, The interpretive identity has its roots in the application of biological to theories role as a mother of aesthetic response. womants Woman is not able to initiate the 'word', but she does reproduce it function Woman's special within this process through performance. her becomes Woman the a role at source of creation. allows also identified with nature. She represents the primordial background to Her instinct dynamic her in existence. procreative tune places manes her This intuition continuity. suggests of past or other with universal function himself, in man, whose creative originates which with worlds, has no direct contact. Woman symbolizes the dawn of creation. In her her to the relationship and man she power evokes paradoxical creative image of Eve. She marks the 'fall' into knowledge and offers eventual hope of unity with divine purpose. She is instrumental in assisting imagination. the into the sphere of perilous man As with Eve and Adam, the difficult acceptance of knowledge both involves the In Andreev's concretization of sexuality. often (1910, Black The Maskers, 1915) and Linnankoski's Chernye maski ikuinen taistelu, the passions of the ego are projected as seductive and female human, form. Eve, with her nocturnal in deceptive creatures figure in Lilith, image the typifies of many of the mystical mirror lead in Sologub. a supra-real the men onto plane who work of women Sologub's frequently ambivalent 'white mother' is created by the his She is protagonists. child represented by the sun as imagination of both image life-force the danger in serpent, signifying the of and as well knowledge. The female in the artist's white/black of role the acquisition figure in Queen Ortruda, is the inhabits of the explored who creativity fantasy world of the protagonist, a school-teacher endowed with magic Artist

218
(1907-13, Created Legenda The Tvorimaia Sologub's trilogy powers, in Legend,1979). Transition to the world of magic or dream in Sologub requires the is She the at the source of the creation of witch-like mother. presenceof in is dimension the This idea. cosmic structure of woman original Ruinen his In Linnankoski. in the play works of powerfully present is Cain Abel, the the creative and act part taistelu, which retells myth of In between the of an early version play; and evil. the good struggle of Cain believes he has 'seen a strange glint in mother's eye: doubt; 539 hint knowledge is Eve This the a of suspicion - suppressed anguish'. brought, and which marks Cain. Ada now takes on Eve's creative urge. She craves a more fulfilling destiny than the monotony of their harmonious existence, and experiences Cain's restlessness. Their however. different In Act Cain 2, to very creation remains relationship invents fire, an act which for him means 'to be a true hero' by which, 'the individual does not die either', as his act will live on after him. 540, He insists that he is the initiator of his action, although Abel claims that he simply executed a God-given idea. Ada, later in Act 4, discovers her Ada bear. The in the child, which suggests child she will creative urge 541 beginning. Cain, his fire. hope brings boy, be the with new a of a will for his his capacity self-generated., asserts subsequent act of murder, and God, the He to act of original invention. while in: recreate attempts Cain. Ada will recreate motherhood just as in her interpretive role of performer, so in her Eve-like is in creative woman's role the existence, not cosmic cycle of presence idea. Rather, the though reflects original she she-, that of originator, life by Likewise for invention the to artist. giving the potential recreates in the exposure inherent in performance, woman's physical being,, becomes imbued with creative significance which differs from the male, is that is in to It physical role woman's most. music relation role. 542 Music Symbolist Music to relates not -aesthetiCS. was central apparent.
0

This section of the play, later ornitted, is quoted in Aarne Anttila, Johannes 539 lieskan: 1922, 87, Porvoo, Sidin Ikuinen taistelu, oudon p. silmSssS Linnankoski: -'nShnyt tuskaa'. tukehutettua epivarmuutta epAilystS, ibid., p.176. 541 Although Symbolist writers Stroveto producea synthesisof the arts, music came 542 Russian Literature: See Gerald janecek, Look The Russia. in of dominate, to particularly Princeton, 1984,pp.4-5. The author explains 1900-1930, Avant-GardeVisual Experiments Symbolist influenced the of structure verse while visual effect that musical rhythms
Linnankoski, Ikuinen taistelu, in Kootut teokset, Vol. 1, p. 115, 'olla moinen 540 ' kuolekkaan. ihminen 'ja ei sankari',

219
but to also cultural national artistic expression, to individual only literature. Russian Woman's both Finnish in and awareness in that to poets man's while men are contrasts with music relationship literally both dance, the spirit of with a musical quality, women evoke is is It The the effect visual which emphasized. and metaphorically. in is dancing Leino the used and extensively work of motif of women In Lehtonen's Mataleena, the the of senses. stimulation to Blok suggest dance, her her dancing incites through heroine vitality and expresses the Andreev's her. Ekaterina Ivanovna the play combines around the men dance the the as art with earthly of manifestation of concept abstract dancer. Ekaterina's role as a symbol of artistic expression is clearly Koromyslov, her in the with relationship society painter. revealed has been fundamental her Mentikov, seen as Ekaterina's seducer, 543 interpretation This the the concentrates play meaning of antagonist. hypocrisy, as a criticism of moral conventions theme social of in the libertinism feminine Mentikov's the at expense of which condone in Ekaterina's downfall should not Koromyslov's love. in role integrity lies discussion however, in this the play's as of art. In be underestimated Act 1, Aleksei suspects Koromyslov, rather than Mentikov, of is Ekaterina. This Aleksei, the not accidental. with relations adulterous husband, is deeply love in Ekaterina's with her. Although his brother of is his instinct be It incorrect, Koromyslov accurate. will are suspicions decisive in destruction. Ekaterina's whose actions are The actual affair between Ekaterina and Mentikov, as well as her husband, Georgii, with repeatedly evoke the Ekaterina's relationship by She is 'raped' her. force. the a creature men around impression of her is death than to more once used express spiritual Eye-symbolism her Act 1.544 Later there is a the to Georgii tries at shoot end of after Georgii between Koromyslov her and about eyes: exchange significant Georgii Dmitrievich: Yes. Have you seenher eyes? I<Oromyslov: Are they painted?

later Futurists. As janecek Belyi, the hallmark the an example cites of the became look Belyi hoped did to the the to createaural alter visual of page. most Symbolist who (pp. 63-65). effects rather than visual 233-34. Woodward, cit., pp. op. 543 Sobranie in Ivannna, Vol. 15, Ekaterina 225 (she sochinenii, Andreev, e. g. p. 544 her he her (Georgii 234, to talks refers eyes when her of adultery). p. or eyes), covers

220 Georgii Dmitrievich: Oh no, not that. It is as if she were blind. 54Georgii misses, and the shooting is a clear sexual metaphor illustrating Aleksei tells him that he is no the inadequacy of his virility. 'sportsman', does not know how to shoot and therefore should not try. 546 Georgii comments on Aleksei's contrasting athleticism. several times. 547 Aleksei's athletic friend Fomin poses the question: 'perhaps there is no need to shoot?' to which the disturbed Georgii answers 'Then for? 1548 what are revolvers The ensuing bonds which develop between Mentikov, Aleksei and Koromyslov represent a conspiracy of violence towards Ekaterina, but it is above all the society which tolerates a Koromyslov which is at fault. This is a society which belittles and exploits the artistic spirit of dance in Ekaterina. There is a contrast between Ekaterina's and the' When Ekaterina activities. seeks to impress them with ments cultural music, men turn away and indulge in the prosaic activity of smoking 549 cigarettes. Koromyslov is a false artist. In Act 1, Aleksei describes him as a 550 hates dreams'. 'who Koromyslov's art work is discussed in: man terms of monetary transactions, and later he feels he cannot do artistic ' justice to Liza's portrait, she being the as yet 'unspoilt' muse in the play.. Ekaterina appeals to Koromyslov as her only possible saviour. Not only does he reject her, but he furthers her exploitation, stating that she ', and 'You are exudes 'the temptation of the devil, and in your eyes... For Koromysloy, it is her excess beginning to degenerate- in dream.'s-51 her femininity in another, incomprehensible world. 552, places which of Ekaterina faints when he and Mentikov together (a union between art and trade) suggest painting and photographing her, an indication of the burden of this plysical exploitation. She perceives that Koromyslov's but are spiritual priorities not commercial, and says to him: 'for artistic
545
OHa zeii ibid., p.300;'T. A.: JU. Tw 13H; ee rna3a? -K: noAKpaiueHHwe?

Tjj.:

Ax,

He TOI

' cnerrax. rcaic ibid., p.226. 546 ibid., e.g. pp226,230,238. 547
548

ibid., e.g. p. 272 (while Ekaterina plays the piano off-stage), and p324 (smoking 549 concludes the play after Ekaterina's dance). ibid., p.237, 'KOTOPUR HeHaJ3HAHT COH'. 550
551 ibid., p. 290, .HaMHHaeTe co(Sjim, HB TBOHxrna3ax -'KaxoA-m; jbABOJICKHA ..... ' CHe. qm - BO pa3BpaTHH,

ibid., p. 239, 'A moxceT-6hrrb, H coBcem He HaAo c7penATh? ', 'A 3aqem Xe 7, orza AenaW ' peBcwbBephi?

552

ibid., p.299.

221
decides her half-naked Koromyslov to '553 is as paint sacred. nothing you is Koromyslov's the the suggestion, she play, at Salome, and at end of 554 dance. Koromyslov, expressesthe cynical Salome's forced to perform 555 is This loves the 'art no remark sacrifice of on sacrifices'. that view (victim). He but the the sees subject of exploitation on the artist, 556 body, in The Ekaterina's Its 'corpse'. worst assault on at Ekaterina as a her indifferent use of sexually and artistically, is a Koromyslov's in her degeneracy for the of artistic vision environment. metaphor The projected visibility of woman's artistic expression in dance is female beauty. As ideal by the of an concept of physical reinforced becomes focused her in image. art role on perfection, woman's 7 for 55 her beauty.. As is if the she suffers crime which Ekaterina wonders
558 by her in bewildered is the nakedness presence of men. Salome, she form dance invokes female the of sexuality. The physical exhibition female dimension to is many musical mystics whose There also a sexual by dance, in Andreev's as of characterized muse not are portraits in 0 semi poveshennykh. The condemned Musia, Musia, revolution, bride-like is form in her death. At her music, at thoughts seek whose her kisses the the virile gypsy, who of company chooses she execution both hand hanged. by be In L. her leads the they to as go fervently and heroine's is the the Mirdia, at source of music psychological Onerva's is intertwined identity. the theme with of sexual portrait, which Mataleena, hero hears Lehtonen's the the song of the as of end Towards forest the spirit appears as a naked woman mystical story's the mad, 559 'breast VolUptuouSly'. pounded whose

The consciousnessof the female form reflects an awareness of feminine sexuality within the artistic soul. Alongside dance, the female Grecian the the statue, as well as of exotic sensuality of perfection 'geisha', 'hetara' feminine termed or are symbols of the prostitute, In Kuprin's Psikhea themes to of art. story related are beauty which he Psyche to 'Psyche'), seeks reproduce sculptor a a statue of as (1892, dream. Sologub for beauty in her the expresses a search as imagined
553 554 ibid., P-286; ANA Bac lieT HHmero cBxmro: ibid., p. 312.
p. 305; 'HcxyccrBo

mo6HT wepTBul. ibid, 55,5 'Tpyn'. 290, ibid., p. 556 'pa3Be A BHHOBara, IUO A KpaCHM: ibid., P251; ... 557 321. ibid., p. 5m 559 Joel Lehtonen, Mataleena, in Kootut teokset, hekumanvakevina 'povi 373; paisui'. 2, Vol. p.

Helsinki,

1931-35.

222 inspiration with his earthly, vital figure of Eve or his ethereal, otherbeauty driving force Feminine is behind figure Lilith. the of worldly Linnankoski's unequivocal artists, as in Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta (1905, The Song of the Blood-RedFlower, 1920), in the exotic images of the hero's many lovers in this world, and in the delicate memory of his dead sister on an alternative plane. The symbolic motif of the feminine form in relation to art is widespread in both Finnish and Russian' beauty, identity ideal is An essential aesthetic woman's of writing. defined as that of the artist's muse. The muse relates not simply to the abstraction of inspiration but force the of religious and philosophical spirituality, which has combines both national and universal significance. The muse exemplifies -the' feminine force in the nation's aesthetic development. Her role is' his imbues Her the artist and work with cosmic existence revelatory. importance. Eternally beautiful, she embodies ideals of femininity in image in Her earthly classical sculpture or myth. which are created legendary heroines are mere reflections of her true form however. Her beyond image that of earthly reality and takes exists on a plane essential its model in both Finland and Russia in spiritual belief. She combines the religious and pagan iconography of ideal femininity in the cult of the Virgin Mary, with an unspecified, eternal spirit of femininity intrinsic to" the universal order.
5.2 The Nature and Role of the Muse The role of the muse in the literature of the turn of the century is most foremost figures 'in two the the of symbolist of of work writing,, explicit The muse'sAleksandr Blok in Russia, and Eino Leino in Finland. both her For lies in the to artist. relationship writers she', significance level, but individualistic in both thematic therefore a on very exists Leino's and Blok's work, she is also representative of the muse type of' the day. Her image shows the influence of the respective countries", by their contemporary symbolist traditions as as well religious-cultural aesthetics.

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5.2.1 Background to the Image of the Muse Unlike Catholicism or Orthodoxy, the Protestant tradition displays a 560 female figure. Catholicism to unequivocal cult of a a create reluctance figure biblical Holy Virgin in In the the of mariology. worships faith female Orthodox the created a personification of sophiology, Divine Wisdom as a manifestation of God. Protestant theology's feminine being in the the the nature and role of with preoccupation but draws concentration on a avoids model as such, system on religious female ideas based about male and attributes on more generalized 561 This relative difference is reflected In Russian biblical teachingS. Orthodoxy and Finnish Lutheranism. It is also observable in the of woman's nature which emerged at reinterpretations philosophical the turn of *thecentury. Although knowledge of the cult of the Virgin Mary did reach Ages, by Middle Catholic monks, the in the conveyed Finland Lutheran practice eliminated or at least suppressed the Reformation and devotion of Mary. Luther's own views drew on a variety of biblical and The his place. about woman's substance of medieval notions female before God, that and are equal male yet woman conclusions was 562 her In Finnish to by role subordinate procreative is man. virtue of Virgin localizes Mary her figure. She tale the the of tradition, oral is by in of earthly circumstances to variety and a referred a appears 563 in Likewise, Leino's the theme the adaptation names. of of of variety Marjatta Aino. Finnish is is tradition well or equally not so tale, she identification her but image, the precise, mythical with of concerned feminine the type which of womanhood recalls a perfection cultivates Virgin Mary. Through her by the the to manifestation exemplified divine is to transformation unity the achieved. artist, The Russian heritage, by contrast, identifies a fixed feminine itself. Stemming from divinity in Greek Orthodox the principle Sophia divine Holy in the as of wisdom manifested understanding
in For a comparisonof the various imagesseeGeorgeH. Tavard, Woman -W Christian Tradition, Notre Dame, 1973. 185-86. ibid., pp. 561 , ibid., p.172. 562 As 133. the author points out she is referred to by the Tarkiainen, p. opcif., W by Mary, 'Marjatta', as well as of various other identifiers which Finnish equivalent 'Luonnotar' (Maid of nature), 'Lemmetar' (Maid Finnish as such the context, emphasize local girl or shepherdess. servant a as love) simply or of

224
Christ, Russian belief developed a metaphor of male-female polarity in divinity which was absent from Greek tradition. While Greek theology was not concerned with investigating the combination of 'energy' and* 'essence' as distinct feminine and masculine aspects of God, Russian theology directly raised the question of the female dimension of the divinity. 564 In churches dedicated to the Holy Sophia the iconography of the Virgin Mary was used to evoke the femininity of Sophia.565 Similarly the feminine principle developed by Solovdv, Blok, and others in Russia, identify her unequivocally as the personality of Sophia. The influence of folklore imagery in Blok's work does not alter this identity. Certain descriptive and contextual motifs may alter her aspect, but she remains recognizable as Sophia. The eternal feminine in the Russian tradition is an icon of ideal womanhood which evokes the image of perfection of the Virgin Mary. Her role within creation lies in the union expressedby the concept of Divine Wisdom existing in God.
An important writing fundamentally is that facet of the muse in both Finnish expressing related to the national spirit. This is also a facet of the feminine in theology in that the bride of Christ, always characterized by the beauty of the Virgin, can be Jerusalem or Israel personified. 566 Leino from oral tradition to express the on visions of womanhood national historic role of the artist. In general, the spirit of a Finnish in literature takes its model from noncreativity revolutionary Christian, folk images which identify the artist as shaman. The shaman is a communicant with all creation and divinities, intrinsically Finnish in his personality. His magic powers, state of ecstasy and exceptional relies talent parallel otherworld the role of the symbolist artist, in touch with the Platonic, Russian Symbolism of pure and beautiful reality. also her manifestation, and Russian male-female, unity, is

combines these universal, national and artistic aspirations of rebirth. -The concept of Russia itself is identified as the third of Blok's beloved 567 Blok himself described the image of Russia, 'mystical mistresses'. in his later work as a reflection of the original, correct emerges which 564 Tavard, op-cit., pp.158. 565 ibid., p.158. Faceof the Church,London, 566 RosemaryRadford Ruether, Mary. TheFeminine 1979,pp.17-18. JamesForsyth, Listeningto the Wind,Oxford, 1977,p.73. Forsyth identifies the 567 first mistressas the initial bringer of light, Sophia,modelled on Blok's wife Liubov Mendeleeva, and the secondas the contrastingdark maiden/prostitute, modelled on the actress Volokhova.

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568 for Symbolists, For Blok, Sophia Sophia. as other as the of muse identifies the artist as and national consciousness essence of artistic Christ, who is the manifestation of the divine wisdom. The opposition Christ in Finland in Russia Shaman and reflects not only the cultural of heritage of the two countries but the different perspective in the historic figure In Christ, the the the artist. of universal mission of of role Russian literature is emphasized, while in the character of the shaman, in literature is advanced. importance cultural nationalism of the 52.2 Beauty and Rebirth in the Muse The muse is identified by her beauty. Beauty and the feminine are fundamental concepts of symbolist aesthetics, central to religiousS69 ideals. Bloles image femininity artistic and of eternal philosophical by Vladimir Solovdv's influenced Sophia initially the vision of was 570 Solovdv's conceptualization had a significant Wisdom. Divine impact on Blok partly because he himself had had similar visions.571 Solovav saw Sophia as the World Soul, ideal humanity, in captivity. Blok also gave his muse this mystical dimension. In this guise her most her is her feature for sadness, evocative of concern earthly essential humanity. The muse he extols in his earliest writing and in his famous further Lady' 'Beautiful the the to evokes possibility of positive, verses love. In her beauty, through erotic unity she captures the cosmic Virgin perfection which are the everlasting characteristic of of elements Mary. Her image is also enhanced by the typical symbolist motifs of light, She is and creation, of purest sign sign of a new age. music, by the musical sounds of surrounding natural accompanied her impression is dawn. that She is visual the and of a phenomena, divine beauty. through symbol of rebirth Leino's muse underwent similar development in his early work. by first inspired is image nature, linked to pantheistic religiosity, and Her lov072 idea She evokes the fulfilment fused the of earthly with is then
ibid., p.73. 568 Moscow, Russkie Ellis, 1910, See simvolisty, g. especially pp319-36. e. 569 For a brief interpretationof the sourceand meaningof SolovEvsteachingsabout 570 Nikolai Berdiaev, Russkaiaideiv Osnovanye the turn century the see of Sophia at i XX XTX Paris, 1946, 176-81. veka nachala veka, mysli FUSskOi pp. problemy Ateksandr Blok, Mochulsky, Doris V. Johnson,Detroit, 1983 trans. Konstantin 571 (1948),pp.4446. V. Tarkianen, op-cit.,p.147. 572

226 beauty of and creation, symbolized in the atmosphere and colours of the dawn. Leino's treatment of the theme of the Virgin Mary was initially inspired by her image as it appears in the Kalevala and the Kanteletar; based on oral poetry collected by Elias L6nnrot in the spirit compilations of romanticism in the first half of the nineteenth century. Leino's Marjatta is at first identified by her quality of mater dolorosa in his poetry. She then appears as a vision of his beloved, whom he worships and whose proximity affords him joy. The focus of his adoration becomesher beauty, with Leino, himself as a 'troubadour'. Her function both her is to related as muse explicitly perfect feminine beauty and to her role within creation. In both Leino's and Blok's work, the muse also eventually develops characteristics of her dark side. This suggests the authors, increasing consciousnessof the psychological strain of the role of artist. The sinister features of the muse's characterization are sharpest in the aftermath of the 1905revolution. They express the chaotic forces of the imagination, and the inevitability of destruction in the process of rebirth. After the unrest of 1905, Blok and Leino begin to place an drama emphasis on as the period's ideal genre for achieving cultural letters Their and articles reveal that their interpretation of art renewal. 573 ideals. Both formulated combined personal goals with national theories about the theatre of the future. 574 As artists, they sought to individualist the vision of their own poetic genre in drama. Inretain 1906, Blok opposed contemporary theatre 'in the name of the tonal lYricism of my own play'. 575 At the same time, their theory of drama! historic their tied to their of respective view roles as artists in the was development of Russian and Finnish culture. 576 Neither author,
kiriallisuutemme SeeLeino, Realisminloppu ja uus-romanttinen 573 ("Ibe end of Realismand our Neo-Romanticliterature') in op. cit., Vol.14, pp.308-30written in 1909, COn the present sostoianiirusskogo and Aleksandr Blok, 0 sovremennom simvolizma Sobranie Symbolism'), in Moscow-Leningrad,1963,Vol.5, Russian sochinenii, condition of ppA25-37,written in 1910. Seee.g. Bloles article 0 teatreCOn the theatrel of 1908,and Leino's four-part 574 Crbe making of a play') of 1910-11. Leino's conceptof article Ndytelmdntekotapa 'sacreddrama' has been explored in TuomasTarkiainen, Eino Leinonpyhddraa? na, 1975 (unpublished dissertation submitted to the University of Helsinki).

575 Blok, Pisma 1898-1921,in op.cit., Vol. 8, p-169; 'BOHmm 3BoHKofi impiffif cBoert abecu'. (Italics in original. ) Later, he was to become disillusioned with the overpowering lyrical quality of his own drama (Mochulsky, op.cit., p.216).

Both artists are consciousof their role as controversial,yet chosen. For Blok, it is", 576 ' 'we - the few cognoscenti, the Symbolists'who form the new schoolof Russianart (Blok,

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level direction faith in the theatre the of of or established great expressed his country. 577 They believed in the revitalising potential of the 'new by for Ibsen Bj6rnson. Leino Both and or example, theatre' represented, form, 'stylization' this the to of art a term which referred to Blok refer 578 Their lyric drama became features theatre. the symbolist of the new individualistic for the expression, national spirit renewing the channel itself. and art
Blok Aleksandr 5.2.3

in his dramas Balaganchik identified the three muse Blok explicitly (1906, Show, Korol" 1986), 'The king on Puppet The na ploshchadi (1906, (1906, Neznakomka 'The He unknown woman'). the square') and life is incarnation 'beautiful in image the the that play each of explained definition is typical of the Sophia of The '579 Femininity. Eternal of beauty life followers. Representing his the towards of Soloviiv and female freedom hero the protagonists strives, embody and which the in description from imagery drawn is their Much the physical light. of Lady. figure Beautiful The Columbine the of of Blok's conceptualization familiar Blok's ideal displays signs of Balaganchik early visions of in 580 light',, bride 'a face beauty; her is is 'a She girl of of rare fernininity. She is dressed in '581 of a matt and whiteness. white. calm simple and The muse's beauty also reflects a mystical quality which relates it in human This is the the existing plane mind. realm of the supra-real to dream, the transformation imagination, mental where sleep, of the fantasy, memory or madness enables the perception of a beauty more be in this world. In Korol' that encountered might than which absolute dark-haired Daughter, face like Builder's bright the with a na ploshchadi

in Vol-5, 426, 'Mbl: simvolizma, russkogo op. cit., sostoianii p. HCMHoritc 0 sovremennom in defiance Leino, the 'they is of critics, stated will see who CHMBOJ1HcTbt). 3HaJOUjHe, I. Schoultzille, Kirjeef Freya m. reltonen, (Leino, Aarre Finland' ed. stronger, me or kumpi 'saavat Suomi'). 176; 1961, on nAhdd voimakkaampi, vai minik6 p. Helsinki, Vol. Leino, 8, 169-71. Kirjeet in IV. Aino Kallakselle, Pis'ma, cit., pp. Blok, op. 577 M. Peltonen, Helsinki, Aarre 1962, 95. ia p. ed. yhteis6lte, ystdville 5, 261, he Vol. 'CTwnH3auHx' in 0 talks teatre, p. where cit., Blok, of op. of the 578 95, where he calls new drama 'tyylittely'. ibid., Leino, p. theatre. (50MIOUICH11C VoIA, 434; WH3Hb 'rrpeKpaCHaA eM in Predislovie, p. op.cit., Blok, 579 . BeqHOR XeHCTBeHHOCTH. '
o6pa3a
'CBeTnaA ibid., HCBeCTa'. pA34; 58() in op-cit., VoIA, p. 12; 'HeO(5b1KHOBeHHO Balaganchik, Blok, Kpacimu 581 OHa ' 6e]IMMI. 6enom. 13 MaTOBOA J1HUOM THXHM H rrpoCTUM AeBY1UKa c

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'insane the dayP2 is 'a beautiful woman conjuring biblical dreaM11583 fantasy, senselessness', 'beauty forgotten',584 and finally in the words of the play's poet a 'celestial rose'.585 In Neznakomka,'dazzling'586 beauty, fallen Unknown Woman, the a star who appears only to characterizes 587 vanish again. Despite her revelatory nature, the artist's relationship to the muse is ambivalent. The muse has a sinister side which expressesthe struggle in the poet's soul. The symbol of virginity/death conveyed by the pun (kosa) back Columbine's braid/scythe the on reflects the tragic on Blok's Russia's the own artist. role of within politicalexperience began increasingly him development to preoccupy after 1905. aesthetic As Nils Ake Nilsson has put it:
Blok lived through Russia's crisis as a personal crisis, as individual, as poet, and as representative of a privileged class.588

In an article of February 1909 entitled Dusha pisatelia ('The soul of the' writer') Blok stated: The writer's task is a difficult, terrible, insidious fate. Especially in the Russia of our time.(...) the only real justification for the writer ) not even the voice, but as if the' is as the voice of the public, C.. breath of the nation's soul-589
This theme emerges strongly in his plays. The artist is identified beauty determines His to special ability perceive saviour. as prophet or his role within the historic universal and national mission. The muse's Korol' Both indispensable. is in this na ploshchadi and part Neznakomka reveal the muse's significance as the spirit of Russia, in is the chaos present. element of revolutionary which 11.
582
583

in op.cit., Vol.4, p.53. Blok, Korol' na ploshchadi,

Blok, Predislovie, in op.cit., Vol. 4, p.434; 'KpacaBHlxa neawoulaq dH(5AeAcKpo

'rrpeKpaCHOe,

584
585

mexrry'.

aHTmHH, Vol. in 4, Korol' 30; '6e3yMHOR Blok, cit., p. na ploshchadi, op. RTO (SbLY10 3a(Sb='.

HenenocrH',

ibid., P.59; He6ecHu po3a'.

Blok, Nanakomb, in op.cit., Vol.4, p.87, ocnerlHTCnhHa'. 586 Blok, Predislovie,in op.cit., Vol.4, p.434. 587 Nils Ake Nilsson, Rysk litteratur. frdn Tjechovtill Solsienitsyn,Stockholm, 588 1973,p.49. in op. Blok, Dushapisatelia, cy; zb6a - TPYAHaR, 589 cit., Vol-5, p.367,'rIHcaTejiLCKax POCCHH OC06eHHO. ( B B BpeMA ) eAHHcTBeHHOe BePHOe CYAL15a. Hatue XyTKaR, KOBapHaX ... AYHOBeHHe Ame He ronoc,a KaK (5w Am rrHuaTenA- ronoc ny6JIHKH, OrrpaBAeHHe nerKoe
AYIUY HaPOAHOA. '

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Closest to the theme of revolution is the Korol' na ploshchadi.. Its muse, the Builder's Daughter, calls herself 'the daughter of the mad is 590 insists In that the she not a queen, as poet claims. effect and crowd', dualities both, the is embodying of chaos and renewed order, of she individual has She and artistic spirit. culture a separate communal She to image to the the the crowd and poet. remains of the relationship dawn. At the end of the play, her 'face illumined' amid celestial rose 591 his freedom. beckons In final the to the poet she act, set at petals, beside 'figure blacle, the in appears rebellious suddenly she clad night, her both 592 'saint' 'destruction'. her final In as the see and crowd and the King the addresses giant effigy of she on the square: monologue, 1your people gave me your power over themselves.'593 She offers her her into infuse body to the King own youth ancient wisdom of virgin her joins The towards Father. the poet and rises sky, towards the and Father. At the same time, the 'darle element of the crowd once again incite to the to restless mob rebel, claiming: appears Sound Mind has abandoned you! See,you are without food and in 594 blood, Rumours. the are power you of without feelings the ambivalent The play reflects of the author towards the 1905 hope in dawn-like It force the in contains still of renewal revolution. is She the spirit oi true culture and faith. But the play muse. the artist's disillusion idea the 'liberating destruction'595 with of a expresses also in dark from to the the crowd response spirit, rather than to the emitting celestial queen. The later of the two dramas, Neznakomka, is less directly It direction the Russian concentrates rebellion. on with of art. concerned The spirit of Russian oral tradition is evoked in the play. Blok had been 596 incantations. Motifs from Russian influence spells and these studying
TOJInbl'. 590 591 592 593 H 6e3 594 KPOBa. Uht ' CnOB. WI=H Do is in Act The I when an unnamedmemberof the 28. ibid., presented problem p. 595 lil)erating? JIH ThIg 'IMrOpa3pylLICHHC believe destruction is 'CBCPHU]b 'do you crowd asks: ). ocBo6o)jMVIhHO? 6C3YMHOfi in Vol. 4, Korol' ljzoqb Blok, cit., p-54; na ploshchadi, op. #JIHUO 03apeH&. P-59; ibid., ibid., p.56; cBA=A', '3aiixHTa'. ibid., P.57, rrepe= MHC HaPOA TWO DnaCTh *TBOA HaA CO(5010.0 CMbICJI rIOKHHYJI 6e3 BbI nHum Cmc)rrpHm, '3pnEjA 58; ibid, p. Bacl

Mochulsky Mochulsky, op-cit., pp-146-47. notes that theseaspectsof Russian 596 Blok's image dark, demonic influenced Russia his in a of tradition poemsof the same oral period.

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the gloomy atmosphere of the play and the dark, magical qualities of the Unknown Woman. It also elaboratesthe ideas expressedin Blok's short 'dialogue', 0 Hubvi, poezii i gosudarstvennoisluzhbe (1906, 'On love, dialogue is discussion The service'). a national poetry and on between Clown. literature Poet believes: The Poet a and a contemporary 'Literature must be our daily breadi'597 He himself writes 'civic poetry',, 'revealing poetry', and feels literature must be 'social', although, as he Symbolistl And I 'you Clown: to the a even are am no admirer of says Gor'kii. '598 In Blok!s 'dialogue', the Clown points out that, preoccupied with, has forgotten his Caama). 'lady' In Neznakomka, a Poet the words, danger The occurs. presenceof the astral muse infuses mystical similar banality. The into however, Poet, the of absurd ordinary world reality fails to acknowledge her. He allows the moment of inspiration to pass. -, By the end of the play, the discussion is dominated by impressions of false, consumer art, conveying Blok's dissatisfaction with the decadent in Symbolism. Russian elements prevailing The Poet knows that, in the moment of ecstasy,the image of the beautiful Unknown Woman will appear from among a crowd of other 599However, when she appears,the Poet is drunk and asleep. Only faces. his dream double is present, all blue from having stared at the sky too long. The Blue Figure claims he is the poet who writes only of her, yet he has not the courage to say her name or touch her. He knows only the 600 He 'secrets her the speeches'. cannot ceremonial give and of words 601 The conversation with the double presents 'earthly' words she seeks. the problem of Symbolism's danger of divorcing itself from spirituality in favour of artifice in technical virtuosity. Instead. the Unknown Woman is led away by a Gentleman, who is love her be to to and not afraid a poet or whisper her name also claims 602 has When Poet the she awakens, gone. The Astrologer can at night. disappearance his from lament Maria, the star, the, of named only heavens. The poet writes a couplet about the star-woman:
in op. Blok, 0 liubvi, poezii i gosudarstvennoi sluzhbe, cit., Vol.4, p.65; HwyaxHEam xiie6oml' dhm 'JIHTeparjpa; zo=Ha 597
#06IIjecrBeHHaA',

'O(SJIH'qHTCABHhIC CrHXH', CTHXH', 'rpaX=HCKHO ibid., p. 65; 598 ' rOpbKoro. rlOKJIOHHHK CHMBOJIHCrl AH caMHC Blok, Neznakomka, in op.cit., Vol. 4, p. 77. 599

'Bbi

6W 601

ibid., p. 86, TojxbKo 0 TarlHax 3Haio cnoBaJTORbKO TOPXeCTWHHE-1 peq MOH.' ibid., p. 86; 'rl=yqaA; 3eMHbIX peqen. ' ZeBa-3Be3A3/XO'4eT

602

ibid., pp-89-90.

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Maria? you are where 603 I cannotseethe dawn.

In the final act, the Poet is about to recite his verse about 'the beautiful lady' (jTpcKpacHaq irama) when Maria enters, but he does not recognize into an image of worldly She has gradually been transformed her. female sexuality, The conveying the absence of spiritual dimension in decadence. Serpentina indecently dancing barefoot is a of picture beauty. By the end of the play it is this image absolute of view recurrent in the Serpentina that mistaken conclusion captivates, which represents interpretation, but 'the incarnation the of MUSiC1.604 The not simply blasphemy of the misunderstanding of true artistic spirit is signalled in dialogue The is first act. punctuated by jokes in which images of the between exchanged men. A man brings out a cameo of 'a women are (zTpHATHquama) in woman a tunic perched on the globe', which pleasant he says he is always happy to sell cheaply to the Russian intelligentsia, in 605 by poet. At the end of the play, Maria enters the this case represented is drawing room, which also described as a lbrothelo, 606on the the society She is Gentleman. Mary 607 (M3pH) by the HostesS, renamed the a arm of detail which 'cheapens' her by associating her with prostitutes in their habit Of taking another name. The wrong, foreign name also conveys false her misrepresentation and a exoticism. At this point the Unknown Woman disappears and the Poet and Astrologer, who failed to cherish her, are left baffled. In many ways Neznakomka recalls Andreev's Ekaterina in the conspiratorial particularly Ivanovna, effect of the male drinking, defilement image beauty. the Blok's following of of joking and play, (1908, 'The Sud'by song of Fate') unites the various strands of his pesnia the the the Divine towards role of artist, struggle preoccupations In his letters, he expressed the Wisdom and the national spirit. for himself, for art and for Russia. the To play of significance with who was concerned Stanislavskii, Russia, he wrote:
60 W4

about why

the play

took place in

MaPA? / He BHAY ' Tbi R. TAe 93; ibid, p. 3apH My3hlKH'. ibid., p.96, 'BorrjiomeHHe TIOHHxe ibid., p.78;'rrpHaTHaA xama 11 ; 96; 'rly6AHqHblrl ; XOM'. p. ibid., ibid., p.100. Ha 3eMHOM U12pe CHAHe.

605 606 607

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It [this theme] is not only greater than myself, it is greater than all ( it is ) In this way my theme theme. universal of us; and a ... appeared before me, my theme about Russia. (...) It becomes ever is this that to me a prime question, the most alive, the clearer been developing have I towards this for a long time, most real. beginning ( life. ) All these words of the my of conscious since ... mine are in answer to 1) your concern over that which in my play I most cling to: Russia; 2) as a sign of my complete agreement with your conviction that all "isms" in art are linked to "refined, ennobled and pure realiSM. 11608

Pesnia Sud'by reveals the development of Blok's artistic strivings. The play contains elements of his past vision of Sophia as well as of his more complex, essentially Russian muse inspired by oral tradition. Mochulsky's study of Blok's work identifies the influence of oral poetry on the author, particularly in the characterization of the mysterious Faina.609 Faina's relationship to the hero, Herman, reflects the strain of the artist's search for a genuine, nationally conscious art. The light and dark aspects of the muse are distinguished in two separate characters. Elena, without whom Herman would fall, is a creature in white, a strange woman who loves fairy tales. In the First Tableau she is associatedwith the winged symbols of the swan or the angel.610Faina is the beautiful, dark-eyed, gypsy singer who sings the 'song of fate' at the' 611 Third Tableau. the end of Having left Elena in order to discover Faina'g feast of culture, Herman finds only the drunken banality of the modern world of the Nevertheless Herman music hall and the automobile exhibition. 612 like Faina 'eternal as a starl, perceives and Faina reveals her ambivalent spirit. Herman will become the fiancd in the image of Christ for whom she is waiting in the Fourth Tableau. Dressed in traditional-,' Russian costume she is transformed into the bride of Russian songs,',
Blok, Pis'ma, in op.cit., Vol. 8, pp. 265-66, 'oHaHe Tonwo 660wuc MeHq, oHa 6ojibuie )BTaKoM HoHa ( Bcex HaC; BHjxe cToHT rrepew MHOA MOA Tema, HaiuaTema. Bceo6uiaA .. Tema o qm 3To XH3HeHHblrl. CaMbIrl ( ) C03Ha1O, POCC, Bce rreperhuHrl Bonpoc, cambirl Apqe "jf. ... (... ) AaBHO, C A rrO; XXOXY HeMY-TO cwHaTenhHOA XCH3HH. cBoeA Bce 3TH Haziaxa. peaffhHwA.K cnoBa moH Tom, RTo a nuxe moert A Ha 1) B=y arwT 13 2) ]a qxBory o BceTBepxy: PoccHA; "H3Mbl" qM B HCKYCCTBe BCC 3HaK jzojiHoro moero cornacHA c BaiuHmYTBePXQeHHem, "YTOHqeHHh1Pk, ' O'qHlUeHHEJA (Italics peanHw". in o(maropoxceHH04, MHoliaHMA B original. ) 609 Mochulsky, op.cit., p-214. 610 Blok, Pesnia Sud'by, pp. 104-06. ibid., p. 127. 611 ibid., p. 141; 'Bel-MaA. KaK 38e3a. 612 608

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betrothed. her Herman's for knowledge Faina pre-destined of waiting him. destructive face His bears experience the which marks a proves her lash his But from inevitable. Her of whip. a role was also welt imagery combines a vision of Russia with a vision of Fate. At the end of the play Herman's 'soul is like the steppe, 'free from extremity to extremity'. 613 It is 'burning like the dark gaze of Faina'.614 He feels 'as if I were christened with a second christening. 615 Faina leaves, as all muses after the ecstasyof inspiration has passed, but Herman, led by a pedlar, will be reconciled to his native soil. As Mochulsky has demonstrated in his comparative analysis of the play and Blok's poems on the same theme, the pedlar in the closing scene Is a leading Russia, hero the peasant out of the snowstorm and of symbol 616 homeland. into the
5.2.4 Eino Leino

Leino's muse appears in many guises. Once again she is distinguished by her beauty and her special contact with the realm of the imagination. She is linked to a state of dream, illusion, madness or other mental has She but many physical aspects, transformation. represents a The in his this author all womanhood. of makes explicit short synthesis (1910, 'Young in Nuori four nainen woman'), which men meet: novel They talked about women and meant woman, that sole, that great, indeterminate and only one.617 The men have gathered to reminisce. Their memories focus on a period in their past when each man's relationship with a particular woman his life. inspired Woman's beauty, and transformed characterized in the by from romanticism motifs national of nature or myth, captivates spirit lips like Xenia's two cherry-blossoms pressed imagination. are the the possesses and she vital sexual magnetism of a wild together618 619 She instincts the narrator's stimulates to their extreme. erotic animal.
613 614
615 616

ibid., p. 159; ')Iywa, xax cnrW, 'Cw6oiuiaA crr xpam; xoxpald. 'CWHralOUXHA, KaK TCMHbIA B30P OaHHY'. P-159; ibid.,
ibid, p. 159; 'Kar. 6y=o x xpe=H Mochulsky, op.cit., p. 216. WMPEJM XpelUCHHem'.

Kootut in Vol-10, p.201; 'Puhuttiin naisista ja Nuori teokset, Leino, nainen, 617 ja aincmta. ' tarkoitettiin naista, sitS yhtd, siti suurta, sit! epSmSSrSistS ibid., p-230618 ibid., p.245. 619

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620is described as Eve (before Saimi, symbolized as 'the fires of Kaleval,, 621 her identity; Fantasizing Fall), the about and as a goddesS. and after the narrator tells her she was created like: the beautiful one of the Nile, cold as a snake, to kill men by bring lips life together then them to and again pressing your red ( ) lives Your in folk bat on ego eternally of your eye-lids. with a ... 622 legends. songsand Both beyond the reality of this world and deeply expressive of life's essence, woman is the key to individualistic, existentialist from is In transported the tale narrator each ordinary experience. fulfilment. four All tales deal to meaningful existence a world of more first is in its discussion The the most specific aesthetic experience. with focusing on the contrasting artistic temperamentsof a painter and of art, his wife (muse), Leena. Leena's dreams are senselessand unrealizable, yet she is more attuned to the power of universal creation than her late husband, who misguidedly sought to give art social purpose in the real beauty life believes She 'a the that true artist ought of and senses world. 1623 to be able to rejoice in the world just as it iS. The contrast between the planes of mundane reality and authentic experience of life's essenceis not only related to Leino's study of artistic individualism. It is also central to his discussion of national aesthetic development. In it lies his rejection of Christian doctrine and modern, 'civilized' culture in favour of a pantheistic, non-Christian worldin 624 Leino's is This plays, which often contain a apparent most view. dimension. historical Finnish oral poetry and strongly allegorical for Leino's the tales studies of the muse and her setting provide classical his historic in the to mission of cultural renewal. artist relationship This theme is developed in the first volume of Leino's collection (1905, 'Masks I% in which most of the plays, 1 Naamioita of plays
ibid., p.291; Walevan tulet'. 620 ibid., p.296. 621 ibid., p.297; Milin kaunis kiSrmehyinen, surmata miehiA kahden punaisen 622 ( ) Tuo sinun jSlleeneloon lumoavalla silnriAluomillasi. huulesi puremalla ja herAttSA ... ' itsesi ell! iankaikkisesti kansanlauluissaja legendoissa. ibid., p.208; 'olisi oikean taiteilijan pitSnyt voida iloita maailmasta juuri 623 sellaisenakuin se oli. ' This theme is explored, for example,in the historical trilogy LaIli (1907),Maunu' 624 Tawast(1908),and TuomasPiispa(1909). The plays contrast the value of natural, human' instinct with a socialorder basedon dogmaticprinciple. For an outline of Leino's Mielikuvien Kunnas, Maria-Liisa taistelu: psykologinen pantheistic vision see Helsinki, 1972;pp.252-71. Metausta Eino Leinon tuotannossa,

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theatre illustrate to symbolic this powerfully which will serve represent discussion. 625 The early, short lyric drama, Vifiniftn6isen kosinta (Minim6inen's courtship), retells the tale of Va"inXmi3inen's in Aino Kalevala. As hero the of a of oral tradition, courtship Viiniim6inen is associated with myths of creation, as well as with in he transformation his of myths which uses special powers shamanist 626 Leino uses the tale as an allegory of the the to otherworld. to travel in the which muse symbolizes the Finnish aesthetic process, artistic ideal Finnish femininity fastened the Aino, by of was on writers of spirit. both the Romantic and neo-Romantic eras. In Leino's drama, she is 'the beauty of life', 'spring and flower'. 627' Viiniim6inen is the seeker and 628 'truth', the of epithet of essence of genuine art. In embodiment he has the truth, journey 'to undertaken the of strenuous pursuit firestones of Hiisi', metaphor of the artist's mental exertion. 629 Viiiniim6inen wants to 'rape' his muse, but she escapes. Disappearing into the air, she becomes'a dream' (haave),'a beautiful rainbow', while 630 to he returns earth. In Vaindm6isen kosinta the thematic context provides the but tragedy the the of artist/shaman's struggle to message, national is individualistic. his In lyric drama essentially muse a similar possess legend, Lydian kuningas CThe King of Lydia'), the based on classical hero's begin the to The of is 'a actions repercussions emerge. play wider 631 HerodotUS'. from tale the to Wishing according to prove the scene his king, beauty Kandaules, the his of queen, orders superior general to hide and spy on his queen'snaked body in secret. She discovers the plot her kill the her dishonour to husband. The king's and orders general to

Pentti PAUkkUnen be omitted from this survey of The more realist play will one OZ-7 Although it the thematic contains same context, heroic type and malecollection. the fernale relationship, the character of the hero's muse is more incidental to the dram. 4849. Kuusi cit-, pp. op. al., et 626 Leino, Vdinfim6isen kosinta, in Kootut teokset,Vol. 6, p-18; 'kauneus ellimAn', 627 'kevAt ja kukka.
ol

ibid., p.18;he saysboth'I cameto know truth' and 'I am truth myself ('tulin 62S totuus totuudere olen and'min! minW). tunternaan kiukahalla', Le. 'Hiiden 18; ibid., to the otherworld. p. 629 'haave', 'kaunis kaari'. 18-19; ibid., pp. 630 kuningas, in Kootut Lydian Vol. leoksd, 6, Leino, p. 125; 'tarina Herodotoksen 631 ConcemingLeino'ssourcesseeTeivasOksala,EinoLeinonfie kuvaelma'. rnukaan, paltamosta Roomaan:tutkielma runoilijan suhteestaantiikkiin ja klassiseen perint6dn, Helsinki, 1986,p.181.

236 beauty is the crime of his muse: 'the beauty of queens against secret 632 be cannot seen unavenged'. The king's act is an attempt to defy the power of the Gods and the order of the land. It creates chaos which results in his own destruction. This theme recurs frequently in Leino's drama and prose. It reflects his attitude towards the task of the artist, particularly within the national dies, his As Kandaules is the fate of one the that queen states context. who 'does not know how to rejoice in his own fortune but reveals it in the sight of all the nation.'633 Leino experienced the process of creative his health. He also felt on own mental as an assault and physical work the strain of the artist's responsibility of challenging the established order and leading the way towards progress. But he retained his faith in the defiance of the artist.634 In Leino's work, the act of defiance is a necessarycreative element of progress. It is fundamentally self-destructive,but it carries the force of 635 The general becomes the king's double, enchanted into renewal. action by the queen'skiss. His obedienceto his muse has the approval of the Gods, his rule will command the loyalty of the nation. The tale describes the muse's revenge for her defilement by the artist, as well as the significance of the creative process for the people. The queen is an femininity of eternal with no motivation except the embodiment preservation of her essence,her untouched beauty. In her identification death', hints Leino 'flower the of at the sinister side of her with power-6m Two other plays in the collection to use powerful symbolic motifs for this theme are HUden miekkaCThe sword of Hiisi), and Meiram. In HUden miekka, the confusion over the various aspects of the muse presents a similar dilemma to that encountered by Blok's wandering Herman. Kultahelkka gives Aidin kuopus her golden heart, as his is broken in pieces.637 Aidin kuopus is seduced from his warm, safe
ibid., p.136; 'kostamatta / kuningatarten kauneutt'ei nahdii'. 632 ibid., p.140;Joka ei / iloita itse osaaonnestaand vaan paljastaasen kaiken 633 kansan i-jhden. ' Seefor example his essayErds tilinteko (1915,'Settling an account'),in Kootut 634 Vol. 14, pp.409-38,in which he defiantly defends his position as a leading writer teokset, of both national and international significance. 635 This is a major theme in his poetry, the most well-known examplesof which are Kouta and Ylermi, in the 1903collection HelkavirsidI (Whitsongs, 1978). Vol.6, p.138; Uolon kukkaa'. 636 Leino, Lydian kuningas,in Kootut teokset, Vol.6, pp.25-26. The character'snames in Kootut teokset, Leino, Hiiden miekka, 637 Aidin 'mothees kuopus, meaning youngest', implies specialqualities. are symbolic.

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discover 'culture'. He follows Sukkamieli, desire by to the environment forest the the light-footed and the queen of of sprites, empress 'the lust 638 intoxicates She the soul which mundane represents moonlight'. 639 him lead Hiisi, Otherworld, His to the its wanderings sweetneSS. with heart, life, for Kultahelkka's he symbol of a sword, exchanges where fame. None leads him immortality through this to the of of symbol he home discover has Kultahelkka to that however, returns and truth his heart. The has true own muse preserved safe-guarded restored and his identity. Kultahelkka true encompasses which his own culture, homeland hero returns idea to the the the genuine which of embodies to find 'truth'. 640the muse is part of In Meiram, 'an eastern fantasy in three aCtS',, by institutionalized figures the to such order represented the challenge dark forces leading the a soldier, and all ex-governor, an as a priest, herself conveys both the innocence and inevitability of Meiram. people. by 641 drinking bewitched is deW,, She the morning and her course. 642 like herself Blok's Builder's Daughter. In the sacrifices she ultimately becomes dawn image the she an submissive of with association powers. magical with perfection The king had defied the commands of the Gods in taking Meiram 643 faded his had former flowers before the bride on queen's grave. for a king's the is the provokes criminal act of defiance. It who muse Meiram inevitable, but for both the and courageous potential a new age is an act banal by In the this play Leino of civic machinations order. is suppressed force both the suppression of officialdom's describes of rebirth which by king's its betrayal the been act, and of Meiram, engendered had inspiration and national integrity at the source of that the embodying loyal by the established Both subject are sacrificed and artist act. hierarchy to preserve the status quo.

Their identities beauty. implies gender are markedon p.28, wherc golden Kultahelkka kallis'), as 'my dearadoptedsistee('Kasvinsiskoni Aidin kuopusrefersto Kultahelkka brother' ('Kasvinveljcni brave 'My adopted verevd'). to which shereplies kevedjalkainen kuutamon ja 'Keijukaisten 29; ibid., valtiatar, mcts5n p. 638 kuningatar'. him honey Sukkamieli berry liqueur, 32-34; he offers also ibid., and while pp. 639 bread sour milk. and rough craves 141; ItSmainen Kootut faantasia, in teokset, kolme Meiram, p. Leino, 640 kuvaelmaa'. 149. ibid., p. 641 169 ibid., p. 642 643 ibid., p-167.

238 The most concise exploration of the theme of the artist's role in found be in Leino's is third volume of plays to cultural renewal (1908, 'Masks IIII. This includes the very short play Ritari Naamiota111 Klaus ('Sir Nicholas'), which consists of a dialogue between hero and is introduced by The theme the stage spiritual-aesthetic muse. directions: the portait of the Virgin Mary hangs in the knight's quarters. The scenedeals with a conflict of cultures. The knight has replaced his brings him Inkeri, his sword but he His muse, sword with a cross. betrayal him: is 'I it. His a and she abandons could love a refusal refuses he When he but '644 loves her, not one who repents. says crime, of man know does he leaves is in silence. that not she who and she answers Among Leino's collection of plays, it is Alkibiades (which fourth Naamiota 'Masks in IV, 1909, IV') which the volume, appeared creates the most perfect synthesis of the author's thoughts on art and destiny. Greek based The is tragedy the on play which national offered Leino the full potential for expressing his political and aesthetic form. dramatic Commenting in on the exceptional qualities philosophy has hero, Oksala Greek Teivas the concluded that: of [Leinol could not have found a more suitable all-encompassing personality as the main protagonist for his "sacred drama".(...) the hero "whom no one could surpass neither in good nor evil", appeared to the young Leino, as a model of the Nietzschean hero, the superman.645 Leino's Alkibiades is identified as 'wanderer', 'poet' and national, 646 by has lived hero the sword. who military The play, which represented 'almost ten years of efforts' marked 647 development. in According Leino's important to artistic step an Oksala, the author himself singled it out as his only tragedy.648 Insisting Alkibiades, Leino it that the added was his significance of on Finnish Finland him culture spurred and which on to relationship with
Voll, p.9; 'rikollista miestA saatoin Leino, Ritari Klaus,in Kootut teokset, 644 rakastaa. En miestS,joka katuu.' Oksala, op. 645 cit., p.189; 'sopivampaakokonaispersonallisuuttaei olisi voinut ) sankari, "jolla ei ollut y1ittSjAA 16yUM"pyh3n draamansa" pAAhenki16ksi-( pahassa ... Leinolle hyvSssS", nietzscheldisensankarin perikuvana, y1i.; nuorelle nSyttSytyi eikA ihmisenS.' Vol.7, p.18; 'maankiertSjS',p.35; Leino, Alkibiades,in Kootut teokset, 646 'runoniekka'. Leino, KirjeetIV, p.91; 'tulos pian kymmenyu0tisista ponnistuksistani'. 647 Oksala, op.cit., p.200. 648

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649 In a letter to the actressIida Aalberg requesting become a playwright. her to consider the part of Timandra in the play he writes: I know that the opposition to me in Finland is very great.(...) But for once I feel compelled to utter a few words of truth to my hope I that you too will wish to support and and compatriots, 6-50 in this good purpose. assistme Leino also felt that the character of Timandra, Alkibiades' 651 Timandra appears as to the theme the of play. beloved, was central identified beauty but passions, with sensual earthly also the muse of Her her movements performance. are the of plastiC652 and artifice with 653 She contrasts with the 'maiden as is dance that of a paid prostitute. Alkibiades Athene' Pallas imagination, is the of of statue who as white described in his poem 'Alkibiades' vision' in Act 1.654 This vision is Athene, Pallas Theano, in the priestess of who represents pure embodied is 'virgin' is Theano her devotion. 'love to a whose will equal celestial 65-5 how her Alkibiades 'the tells beauty fatherland'. sun of your the of dynamic '656 The in tensions manhood. young my shone over Timandra and Theano present his Alkibiades' relationship with his identity loyalty. his and sense senseof of dilemma over In Act L the hero perceives his conflict as one between the love' 6S7 by love'. 'the 'woman's In both, people's and demands made belonging is important of an sense his personal element. Timandra both in the as ruler and slave, play queen and prostitute. appears his her has for love exhausted powers to the point of effacing AWbiades' his identity:
You want to drain me of my glorious self-confidence. ( ) And to ... in my own eyes that I no longer know or make me so wretched 658 I remember who aM.
92. ibid., p. 649 kotirnaassa. 'Tied3n 92; ibid., minua vastaan oppositio ettl on sangen suuri. (... p. 650 keffankin haluttaa sanoa pari totuuden sanaa ornalle kansalle ja toivon, Mutta n-dnun tassa hyvassi tarkoituksessa tukea ja auttaa. ' tahtoisitte Tekin minua ettI

ibid., p-91, 651 Vol. in Kootut 7, teokset, Alkibiades, Leino, pA5. 652 ibid., p-64653 kuin Pallas Win Athenen/ 'immen/ 36; ibid., valkean/ patsahan'. p. 654 'is3nmaanTakkaus. 'neitsyt, 91; ibid., p. 655 ihanuutesi 'sinun 110; ibid., ' aurinko s-Iteili yli minun nuoren n-dehuutcni. p. 6,56 'naisen 'kansan 26, rakkaus. ibid., rakkaus', p. 657 imed ihanan itseluottamukseni. 'SinS tahdot ( 29; ) ja ibid., minusta pois p. 658 ... kuka tiedd silmissAni, etten end! ornissa enkA muista, raukaksi olen: niin tehda n-dnut

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He is incapable of action while Timandra's image is in his heart. 659 Theano arrives to try and restore Alkibiades' loyalty to Athens, and faith

in himself. Theano was his youthful inspiration to battle: that embodiment of beauty which I wanted to present before 660 Hellas' dazzling face.
The final conversation between Alkibiades and Theano resembles a 661 battle The scene presents the allegory of shamanistic of wordS. contemporary political-aesthetic debate, which includes the theme of the artist as a leader of the people. To Theano, the true spirit of national culture, Alkibiades states:

There was nothing greater than you. Only the priests, popular superstition and bad artists could limit the people's vision so that they could not see that right away. That is why war had to be declared on them first. 662 Ultimately, it is he who feels betrayed by his people. The identity he has of himself in Act I appears by the end of the play as a prediction of the fate of the artist: I am a man condemned to death, whose every blink of the eye must be won only by superhuman struggle,(...) whose very name is a battle-cry."3 5.2.5 The Artist-Androgyne The thematic unity between artist, muse and nation in Leino's and Blok's work embodies a philosophy of individualistic and universal purpose. Creative power is in the hands of the Nietzschean superman,
ibid., p.99. 659 ibid., p.lll; 'se olennoitu kauneus,jonka tahdoin esittH Hellaan huikaistuvien 660 kasvojeneteen. ' 661, ibid, pp.110-14. In oral tradition two shamansdo battle withwords,, that is to say spells and incantations. The stagedirections indicate that Alkibiades' speech should be ironic in tone while Theano'sshould carry pathos. The rhythn-dcdialogue tells of their past deeds. Thesefeaturesenhancethe effect of a verbal duel in which the participants perform with their voice and knowledge. ibid., p.112; 'Ei ollut mitSin sinua ylev5mpAS.Ainoastaan papit, kansan taika662 usko ja huonot taiteilijat voivat rajoittaa ihmisten n5k6piirin Win, ettA he eivAt kaikki sitS heti oivaltaneet. Siksi oli ensin Wit! vastaan sota julistettava.' ibid, p.55; 'ffdnAolen kuolemaantuomittumies,jonka jokainen silmAnrApAys 663 on (...) jonka peikkA nimi on sotahuuto.' vain ylivoimallisella taistelolla ostettavissa,

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in But Korol' Blok's the dares transcend to order. as na existing who kuningas Lydian Leino's Pesnia sud'by, or and ploshchadi and Alkibiades the course of destiny is simultaneously inevitable. Cultural independence in Finland was seen as the sole and pre-destined course for the nation. Russian writers believed in the universal mission of duty The individual Russian the culture. of exceptional was of renewal to realize these ambitions. Myths of transformation lie at the root of the muse's significance for the artist-creator. In his role as superman, the hero undergoes a Christ-like or shamanistic transfiguration. In both Leino's and Blok's identifies hero In the and wanderer prophet the of as artist. role work, is by the manifestation of provoked moment which the ecstatic, creative Dionysian hero As transformation. the the also experiences the muse, bestower Dionysus drama of ecstasy, was and a central element of of god inspired by in Nietzsche's writings. Both Blok Symbolist aesthetics, part in in interested its for interpretation the Leino myth and were and At Blok his time the theory. aesthetic was working on contemporary drama, he became involved with Viasheslav Ivanov's Dionysian his 664 developed interpretation Leino the own of myth philosophy. from his knowledge of Nietzschean concepts of Dionysian irrationality 665 in and spontaneity art. In symbolist interpretations, the Dionysian transformation feminine duality This the and of masculine principles. embodies discovers the agony metamorphosis of separation as well androgynous is This in the erotic union. of expressed the ecstasy relationship as hero Bloles experiencesthe pain of loss, in the between artist and muse. his muse and the passing of the moment of perfect failure to recognize hero Leino's lies in the cruel mental and The tragedy of harmony. for individual dares the be to who consequences a shaman. physical impression the of the artist divided, which is Both experiences contain (the ego as two) or solitude (the ego as half). The duality in lanifested n, frequently in Blok's 'double' the appears work. This is the role figure of Figure in Blue in Neznakomka, or in Balaganchik, the Harlequin of Elena Herman leaves Friend in Pesnia stays with when who the even
For 153-54. Viasheslav Ivanov's Dionysian an outline Mochulsky, pp. of op-cit., 664 Symbolism: A Study West, Russian James Vyasheslav Ivanov and the of see Symbolism 1970, 77-82. London, West Aesthetic, Ivanov pp. that symbolist points out also Russian , Christ (p. 79). to Dionysus link tried to 134. Oksala, p. cit., op. 665

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Sud'by. Leino's hero is alienated, seeking companionship yet finding fate himself. Solitude is heroes he the of all peace ultimately only with in Leino's plays discussedin this chapter. The function of the muse remains very similar nonetheless in the image beauty, both As of perfect she reveals an an authors. work of inkling of the supra-real plane. Yet acquiring knowledge of her being demands personal sacrifice. Her relationship to the artist is the key to the action. The feminine images in the works of Blok and Leino -are never feminine is by her The the characterized of concept autonomous. beauty is individuality. Divine, natural equated with extension of male feminine sexuality. This establishes the muse's dependence on feminine impulse offers is but The true. the not reverse masculinity, the opportunity for man's transcendenceto the exceptional role of artist, to universal communion, but man exists per se. He may be the tragic hero, the alienated human being, the captive of earthly order, but, as is he dualistic he 'is, thinks therefore of philosophy, characteristic first is is He the principle, of which woman an extension. nevertheless. Isolated, the feminine principle remains meaningless. Explicitly or implicitly, this is the universal order described by the interaction between hero and heroine. In her memoirs, Zhivye litsa (1925, 'Living faces'), Gippius was insistent that Blok did not think of any real woman when he 666 his his Lady, Beautiful Her even after marriage. contemplated by Liubov', in Blok's Symbolist the wife, played of role refutation but Gippius, Sophia entirely not objective, perhaps was of visions instinct was correct. It was not so much that Liubov' inspired the image Sophia ideal but Sophia, the that of was superimposed on Liubov'. of The real woman did not exist as far as Solovdv, Belyi and Blok were her Sophia, By they created a a manifestation of as seeing concerned. living embodiment out of their ideal.667 Much emphasis has been placed on the influence of Blok's his from in Aside characterizations. relationships with real women Liubov's connection with Sophia, the actress Natalia Volokhova has been identified with the figure of his 'dark' muse.668 The charactersand
Gippius, Zhipye litsa, Prague, 1925,p.19, 666 SeeForsyth, op-cit.,ppA8-50,for a brief accountof the role of Liubov' in the lives 667 of Solovdv, Blok and Belyi. 668 Mochulsky, op. cit., pp.171-72.

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linked have been intrigues Sud'by to in Pesnia the romantic interaction 669 In Blok's life. way may Blok's whatever relationships personal of his his in the plays, portrayals conceptualization character have coloured Women ideals. The as symbolic exist transcended reality. extent clearly is in fulfilled Blok the this role reflected obituary wrote to which women Komissarzhevskaia Vera in is 1911, death the actress a which of the on living muse: to a once tribute We, the Symbolists, (...) were not only in love with her,, but with from her restless shoulders, with that, to which that which shone her sleeplesseyes and always moving voice beckoned us.(...) She did not die, she is alive in all of us. And I pray to her bright her it to to shadow allow me winged adorn with the shadow 670 full devotion, laurels of grief and of respect. roses and In an article of 1908Gippius was particularly astute about Blok's his muse: portrayal of
Tender Blok, from the newer ranks., only sings to himself about a "Queen", a "Maiden" that he alone sees, who comes only to him( ); the Queen will understand because after all she is Blok. 671 ...

is from femininity image the sphere of ideal removed explicitly of The The idealized attributes muse's existence. are not woman's actual her in dance, although womanhood, visualization aspects of objectified is be. The androgyne, and the muse the feminine artist for example, can dimension within the male artistic psyche. The female type exists relative to the 'thought' or 'idea' of the identifies 'idea' hero the the of presence an very as artist. hero, while in Blok's drama, the that Bonneau the view expressed Sophie femininity from level the are reduced eternal of of incarnations 'a Bonneau that '672 to of game symbols of shadows. mystical mediating,
69 Forsyth, p. cit., op. 669 Kommissarzhevskaia, in Vol. 5, Fedorovna 415-16; Vera 'Mm op. cit., Blok, pp. 670 ) (... (SbinH BnmdjieHbl He TORWO B Hee, HO B TOt RM CBCTHJIOCb 3a HCTN ec cHm, 30j, rmeqaMH, B TO, K l4emy 6eCCOHHwe &, =OKORHbIMH eC 38anH rna3aH BcerAa BOJIHYIOIUHri xHBa i3o wex Hac. Hx momo ec cncTjiyjo TicHb ( ) OHa He - ee KphmaTylo oHa rojioc. ymepna, ... K impm UBCTOK moert B eepow TpaYPHOrl H rIOtrrllr=wiOrl mHe BrmecTH IT03BojHTh ,MHI, . Dekadenstvo Gippius), i (i. in Literaturn Krainii i obshchesivennost, Anton e. Yt 671 BnOK H3 HODeRIUM 341; 1908, 'HexHwA St Petersburg, p. BccnocTce6e dnevnik(1899-1907), OAHOMY UPHXOAAIUYlOt HM OAHHM BHAeHHYIO "jL'jpHlxy". MeBy"(... )-, K Hemy rrpo camomy qM, BeAb H OHa - IGJIOK-)Ke. ' IjapHua, rroromy H rjorme'r d'Alexandre L'univers Blok, Paris, 1946, 465. Bonneau, poltique Sophie p. 672
Bn, o6neHHOCTH:

244 sees this as a consequence of Blok's creative process. Blok's verse 673 fruits inner The dramatic the the artist's compulsion. represented of form placed a barrier between poet and muse. It demanded conscious, formulated 'secondary' art, at a distance from the 'self he was able to 674 in Blok's plays is The 'shadow' in the effect of muse express poetry. incompatibility between dramatic the the of evidence not necessarily form and the author's artistic vision. It simply reveals the extent to dimension his Blok mistress as a mystical of the artist. conceived which The muses of Blok's dramas are no longer the absolute symbols conjured by his poetic 'P. They react to the artist type. Despite her role as inspiration, Blok's muse is not at the source of creativity. She remains a reflection, albeit in ideal form, of the hero's original idea. The hero is destined to struggle towards this reflection. The feminine incarnations of free and beautiful life in his lyrical dramas is exist as mystical entities, whose reality on another plane only partially hero. by She his double. The the makes contact only with perceived dimension of that plane is the hero's mind, his imagination or his by her is the qualities as a reflection. characterized muse memory, while It could be argued that Blok's plays, which convey the impression of mystical illusions, are no more than reflections in their entirety, and that all the characters embody this quality. Even so, the muse is a hero. The very context of Balaganchik,with its fantasy the reflection of characters of Pierrot, Harlequin, clowns and maskers, is distinguished from the ordinary world of the character of the Author, who intrudes sporadically in an attempt to re-establishorder. He tries to draw the plot back to his 'perfectly realistic play'. 675 The puppet show itself is a Within imagination. the mystical plane of the drama, the projection of the woman is at a remove from the world of the mystical artist-hero and her presence has a special significance for him. Columbine herself is 676 her identity is Pierrot's bride There over as confusion mute. )677 On her (Pierrot's view) or as death (the view of the other characters.

ibid., p.471. 673 ibid., p.472. 674 in op. 675 Blok, Balaganchik, cit., VoIA, p.14; 'PeaJIhHeAuiyio nbecy'. ibid. The effect of her silenceis mentionedp.11,and shespeaksone line 676 throughout the play, as she walks past Pierrot: 'I will not leave you' (p.13; 'A He ). TOA. OCTaBMIO ibid., pp. 12-13. 677

245 her in 'indifferent has tranquil expression eyeS1,678 an she entrance 679 by 'mirror-like their emptinessi. which are characterized When she is led away by Harlequin she becomes 'a cardboard 680 It is Pierrot's diseased and foolish Pierrot's in view. bride' her into lack-lustre The transforms cardboard. imagination which of Columbine's eyes..like her silence, is an early clue to the inadequacy of her idea. He utters name as if seeking a destined Pierrot's creative incompatible 681 his Her symbol of sexuality, eyes, are empty with union. bride. The her in three turn to couples a as who appear of notion love emphasize the failure of Pierrot's and kisses of and words exchange dialogue final In the the of couple 'she' echoes the Columbine's union. line 'he' speaks. Like the mirror motif in final word of every dialogue inherent the the suggests Columbine's eyes, shadow quality of the to feminine masculine. the The Builder's Daughter in Korol' na ploshchadi and the Neznakomka Woman are also characterized as projections of Unknown dimension implies Their imagination. their sexual relationship the of Builder's Daughter, In the the view of crowd's masculine to the artist. feminine is chaos: with harmony contrasted Second speaker: Funny! You fear woman! Your voice trembledl First speaker: Do not laugh. I fear neither health, nor will, nor labour, nor masculinebrute force. I fear insane fantasy, absurdity 682 dreaM. is the called sometimes great that which is dream elaborated as the out-dated concerns of 'religion, This is the 'great dream', she is not the 'idea. It is 683 While woman poetry'. idea, the of beauty, which attracts the soul of the Poet. reflection a her by is his Poet the marked instinct admiration of women's 'fine of The impossible'. 684 dreams the of hair, melodic voice and

678 679 times. 'KaPTOHHO; k HewcTe. ibid., p-16, 680 ibid., P-10. 681 in

crroKollHbix ram. B3op 12; ibid., p. paBHouyuieH ibid., p.13;'3epr-, uwyw rrycroTy'.The emptinessof her eyesis referred to three

Vol. 4, p3O; Korol' op. cit, Blok, ploshchadi, na 682 TBork ronoc; xporHynI 60HUIbCX Thi CMeUlHOI xceHUIHHLI! 0_13, Mporl:

A He 601OChHH 3jjpaBocTH, HH BOAH, HH TPYAa, HH rPY160A MYMCKOA He cmerfrecb. rlepl3wH: . aHTMHH, 6C3yMHOrl HenenOCTH - TWO, MTO3BanH Korixa-m Bwcowtk 601OCb A cHnu. ' Aeqwrf. ?

683
684

ibid., p. 30; 'PCJIHrHH, rroe3HH'.

CrPYHHuie ronoca ibid., p. 37, 'TOHKHe DOnOCBI,

H MCIITY 0 HCB03MOW. HoM.

246
Throughout the play, the Daughter does not enter into dialogue but the Poet. Their conversation is in verse, in contrast to with anyone the rest of the dialogue in the play. Although she is the first to address 686 him, asking: 'Do you hear me?'685to which he answers 'I hear MUSiC', her lines soon develop a responsive quality. The Daughter tells the Poet that he will be free as the dawn rises: 'You will sing when I am with her for first final Poet 'recognizes' In '687 the the time when the act yoU. it is the last time for him to see her. 688 Their dialogue defines their union:

Builder's Daughter: I looked for a hero in you I look into the eyes of the future. Poet: You came to me out of the great calm You looked then, as you do now, towards the dawn.689 The recognition is the ecstasyof inspiration. The repeated eye symbolism, and the Poet's consciousnessof the Daughter's visual aspect imply the consummation of the creative act. In Neznakomka, the sexual element of the muse plays an even more significant role, as the Poet loses control over her more unambiguously than in the other two plays. Unable to recognize his muse, he allows her to be cheapenedthrough prostitution. The eye-symbolism in the play is extensive, and though she is more unreal, having descended from the for display. her image is She is not only a star up sky, more emphatically in earthly form, gazed at by the astrologer, but she is paralleled with the image of a prostitute who danced 'like a heavenly creation'.690 The Poet describes women by their facial expression, and more explicitly, by the look in their eyes: Hundreds of eyes, large and deep, blue, dark, light. Narrow like the eyes of the lynx. Open wide, like those of a young woman. To love them. To desire them.( ) And amidst these flames of gazes, ... this whirlwind of gazes, emerges, as if from beneath the snow,
685 ibid., p.40, 'CnEjiuy My3blKy'. 686 _ ' AC T060rf. Kor= ibid., pAl; vrbldy;ZeUlb 687 rIeTb, ibid., p.54. 688 '-IIO'Rb OqH CMOTPIO. rpAxxy=My B P-54; A A ibid., 689 BTe& repo3tj 3OA-iero: iicKana / Tbi cmaWa, rrOKOeB. BbICOKHX KaK CMOrrpHWb TCrrCpb, Ha H3 CXOAHJM KO MHe noer. Tu 3apiol' in op. 690 Blok, Neznakomka, cit., Vol.4, p.70; 'KaKHel5CCHOe C03=Htte'. ibid., p. 40, -CNWMHMh
Thl meHq? *

247
beautiful icon Unknown face: the true the of one beneath a thick, dark veil.691 Woman,

hidden. display, Neznakomka icon, both is and veiled, on Thus she female physical form and the between division the the clarifies feminine. Only latter is ideal the the the part of artist's ego. of projection female divorced from the artist the sexuality of As an embodiment fallen becomes the woman, whose name is Mary, who Is fallen star identity Her Mary is Magdalene the the as prostitute. with equated her identity Virgin, the while as the Unknown Woman is dimension of Sophia. of the mystical vision
The same ambiguities in the feminine impulse are evident in Faina Elena Both Herman's Sud'by. and are reflections of Pesnia 692 Elena She Herman. age quickly will without creative seekings. him her for is to and only recourse without wait understands nothing his return. Faina is the 'secret' temptation which arouses his aesthetic leads him into She Russian landscape, but the craving. she and spiritual images his discoveries Her is reflect various of various herself mutable. bond between is The by them the sealed mark culture. of aspects him face, figure his the bears equates with which of Christ. on Herman if Jesus Christ 'as himself' had seemed Faina speaks of a man who 693 In the same moment she recognizes the black mark on appeared. 694 'the face It is the mark she the power of cross'. as a sign of Herman's her he has come because: 'I want to look at yoU,1695 He tells to made. her, because: contemplate

I understood a lot. That is how it all began. From the moment 6% you struck me with your whip. fusion between final her Fate and Russia as a appearance Soon after is Herman's his experience over and wanderings are at Faina vanishes. final is destiny individual the Herman's the solitude of artist end. an
H rJly(SOKHXI CHHHX, TCMHbM, CB=bl[X. 691 OTKpbrMX J1106HTL HX. )Kena-ruHX. ( )II UIHPOKO, MJIaAeHqeCKH. PhICH. y3KHX KaK rjja3a ... CpeAH BHXPA B30POB B03HHXaeT BHe3armo, KaK 6m pacuBe-mT ROA B30POB, orHA cpe; XH3wro He3HaKOMKH, rTeKPWHblfi CAHHcTBeHHo JIHK RHIXO: OAHO mierom rroA rycirolo, rony6hDA ' TeMHOrl Byanbio. ram, 'CoTjiH 76-77, ibid., pp. (Som6um

692 693

Blok, Pesnia Sud'by, in op.cit., VoIA, p. 112. XPHCTM'. ibid., p. 139; '(Syxro cam HCCYC

694 695 696

yXpPHJla

ibid., p. 140; 'KpccrHaqCHiia. ' ibid., p. 140; 'xoqy CMMTM Ha 7r(SA. ibid., p. 141; 31MHoro nomi. TyT WC MJIbKO
' (5H'IOM. MeHA

H HaMHHacTcq.

C -mx n0p,

K3K Tbl

248 has his He has taken the place. encountered muse, once creative process his inspiration, and is left to return to himself. Herman's experience is but dramas, in the the than that of earlier even poets of more complete his final reconciliation his identity still contains the anguish of schism double. by figure in Blok's the the of plays so often concretized Solitude is also the ultimate condition for the artist in Leino's This is The the of artist's own psyche. a projection equally muse work. identifies him as the androgynous entity which promises Dyonisian transformation to shaman. The feminine and masculine aspects of the in Woman's both the contained artist. and reflected universe are dimension as muse means that she is both created out of and for the by ideal imagination, beauty is image Her the the created which of artist. transforms the hero into artist in the mould of the seer and leader. With the loss of Aino in Virindm&sen kosinta, the powerful stature of the shaman is effaced: here I stand with arms open in my confusion and in my shame, like a child 697 by tempted a rainbow. who was Aino exists only in Vaindm6inen's mind:
What a fool I was to seek of life this vision of mine I begged this holy dream to touch, wretch that I was! The vision vanished into the air. 698

Likewise the mystical Kultahelkka in Miden miekkahas no identity of Aidin kuopus precisely becauseshe has her own. She gives her heart to her: he 'do long herself. When for it therefore asks not you no need of best I I 'No. '699 remember myself when remember she replies: your self? have had I hardly is It that ever possible any other self.'700 you.

kosinta,in Kootut teokset, Vol.6, p.18-19;'tassa seison syli 697 Leino, Vdindm6isen lapsid / ' h3peillAni, / hAn-dllAni, vesikaaren viettelems. niinkuin avoinna, / pyytelin pyhSisti ibid., p.18; 'Houkkapa olin, kun etsin/ ellimSItShaavettani, 698 hajosi., / Haave ilmahan kurja, kosketella! k5sin, unta/ Vol.6, p.72; 'Sin! et siis kaipaa in Kootut teokset, Leino, Hiiden miekka, 699 itseSsi?' ibid., p.72; 'En. Muistan itseni parhaiten,kun muistan sinut. - Tuskinpa minulla 700 on muuta itsed koskaanollut. '

249 The dream and memory which accompany the muse's image in her in As the artist-hero's subconscious. a origin these two works reveal figment is than Aino a dream, of Vaiiina"mo"Inen's no more kuningas 701 feminine in Lydian The element and Meiram imagination. is also the inspirational aspect of the creative act originating In the former In the play, the queen remains a precious and hero's mind. long he keeps king her himself. image jewel the to to as as treasured her is desire image display the desire to of the artist to win The his talent, his ideal of beauty, by He his for talent. exploits recognition balance between The dishonestly her to the eyes of another. exposing identity is the the sexual of positive, androgyne, the negative and kill him king's The at the behest of his muse. general will destroyed. he has is the king's committed a realization wrong of The realization himself: 'I WinAm6inen's, committed a only of wrong against like king's In 1702 to the contrast act, the queen's shift in betrayed myself. her do She divine has to the will. with obeys natural, nothing allegiance defy. The 'like to too the general attempted artist will obey order which 703 been kissed by having image The the queen. of a sleepwalker' after finds hero. but inspirational, His a new act of murder beauty, concealed feminine ideal by the masculine will. fecundation the the of represents Similarly, Meiram is not actively responsible for the tragedy her is merely a revelatory vision of a better future, to She incurs. presence but king the She people which cannot the responds understand. which is, know does who she and the enchantment of the morning not herself king. In becoming his queen, the her to the goal: see unique a dew gives becomes inextricably fused his, Meiram's the role with while of meaning by his is Meiram feminine, chaotic force is the will. created situation king's male androgynous act of challenging the social order, the behind 'illegal' wedding. in their symbolized

by Elias Unnrot from is Aino character created oral poetry materials composite a 701 horror life in her Her death by takes own at a sexual approach. who about a young!'ZiTI L6nnrot's is Romantic In Kalevala Lcino's of part in variant the adaptation. drowning into the air and the rainbow motif are typical of the disappearance Aino's own version, dawn the in the the sky and colours the of with evoking preoccupation Syrnbolist from the In her the springing of muse, artist's consciousness. revelatory manifestation has Korte Irma Aino, Aino's drowning that In concluded the the'myth'of of study hero's into her See, the Irma Korte, subconscious. retreat symbolizes y.alevalaalso 1988, 95-97. Helsinki, pp. ja nainen, Nainen myyttinen Kootut Vol. in 6, kuningas, teokset, 139: 'Ma itSeni., Lydian p. Leino, petin 702 k5vijini'. 'unissa 137; ibid., p. 703

250 This pattern of male-female relationship is a recurrent feature of Leino's drama, whether symbolic or historical. In Ritari Klaus the fusion of identities in the male is explicit in the dialogue between the knight and his muse: Inkeri: Why do you always speak only of yourself? Why do you not speak of me at all? Klaus: I speak of you when I speakof myself.704 The fracture of this bond is the hero's tragedy, but also his destiny. Theano embodied Alkibiades' ideal of self-identity. He says to her: 'In his '705 Despite I that glory, 'I lacked a half of my work of art. you saw honour, when I lacked you.'706 Indeed throughout Leino's prose as well as his drama, women feminine the of aspect of the androgynous reflections represent mere creator, whose visible identity is that of the male prophet. Leinds most independent, psychological portrait of a woman is that of the title heroine of the novel laana R6nty. She too moves through the novel like a spirit of natural impulse, adulterated by the power of institutions By the end of the novel she is a and self-interested individuals. metaphor for the inevitable chaos of the time. She dressesalternately in red and black, colours symbolic of her vacillation between fury and lament. Apocalypse and rebirth are enacted in her identity. She reads a passage from the Bible about the unity of male and female roles in day-dream lapses into from which she is aroused by She a procreation. the dawn, to find herself staring at her beautiful reflection in the 707 into Then the streets which are alive with out she goes mirror. image death into She in turns the the eyes of of an angel of rebellion. the kind Baron Manfelt, whose paternalistic era is over. He dies long her, 'a woman with a plait skipping along the young watching

Leino, Ritari Klaus,in Kootut UAW, Vol.7, p.6; 704 '-Inkeri: Miksi puhut aina koko ajan vain itsestdsi? Miksi et sind puhu minusta ' ollenkaan?-Klaus: MinA puhun sinusta,silloin kun mim puhun itsestAni. Vol.7, p-113;'SinussanAin mins sellaisen 705 Leino, Alkibiades,in Kootut teokset, taideteoksen.' ' ibid., p.113;'puuttui puoli minun kunniaani, kun sina puutuit n-dnulta. 706 Leino, laana R6nty,in Kootut MAW, Vol.9, pp.417-19. The emphasison her 707 beauty at this stagecontrastswith the description of her ageing, tired physical longer being (and her of no sexuallydesirable)in Chapter39, consciousness appearance after the failure of the 1905General Strike.

251 708 her from dead'. He 'young, kicking the the recognizes past: street and 709 He like frightened reflects: an elk'. shy, Was it not the spirit of the tribe herself dancing there, raw, red, frenzied, rejoicing in her escape, trampling under her heels the 710 forms, ways and moral laws of a collapsin& civilized SoCiety? is identity in Finland, the fundamental as muse of revolution Her her. by life the society which controls brought to Leino's most extensive, both introspective and socially critical four-part his Oria ('Serf') is the period series, published prose work of hero Johannes, The is 1913. 1911 novel's a seeker, whose between and him In 'enslavement' through take a process of perpetual wanderings freedom. for The four titles the personal of parts of his constant quest false his idols life: (1911, Ty6n the of consecutive orja the novel reveal (1912, 'Money (1913, Naisen Rahan serf'), orja orja 'Work serf'), (1913, Onnen last 'Fortune's this orja serf'), -Woman's serf') and fate. In each novel Johannes tries to happiness both and suggesting live for different by to and which a which woman principle a create Aura his The him asexual was work muse as on each occasion. inspires her Irene, beauty for perfect, with cultivated socialism; he campaigned is in is the corruption the whose of wealth, reflected muse and youth, (in lust Johannes' her Signe. In view) of cousin perverse predatory and is in his love, Liisa, embodied sexuality natural muse of third novel, the devotion eventually suffocates him. Finally, even the boundless whose becomes Rabbing, his Mrs intellectual who companion independent, his is be his final than the to no more equal, muse of and appears his Her to 'masculine' of reconciliation solitude. prediction a happiness, final unity of his male androgymous personality. implies the character Johannes longer has for isolated life, no and content, any later need In feminine his female in side of sexuality. the earthly embodiments Throughout the novel the character of the painter Muttila Muttila Johannes. Johannes' the of makes use ego of alter functions as for his lovers Muttila and models as paintings. discarded muses, false lies fame in the side of art exploitation, which or artistic represents hyppelevAn kadulla ja lpitkSpaimikkoisen 421 naisen ibid., potkivan p. 708 kuolleita% Win hirvi'. 'nuorena, sSikkyvSnA arkana, ibid., pA21, 709 itse heimon hengetdr,joka tanssi tuolla, 'Eikd

se ollut raakana, ibid., pA21; 710 irtipUsystd3n, kantapUnsd floiten kukistuvan polkien alle punaisena, riihattomana, ja siveyslait? ' tavat muodot, ku1ttuuriyhteiskunnan

252 his by Johannes contrast exhausts relationships commercial ambition. through the ecstasy of inspiration which sets him on a new path. An important scene in the first novel is an early indication of Johannes' feminine dimension his the as of a perception and of creative seekings The scene involves a lengthy conversation his own subjectivity. between Johannes and another Finn living in self-imposed exile, whom Johannesencounters on the streets of Paris.711 Their discussion centres includes It an attempt to resolve the problem of art. and on nationalism individual identity within a broader utopian philosophy. To Johannes' horror, the man's ideal, expressed in terms of his admiration for the Greece Ancient as well as an unashamed scorn of artistic values of 712 homosexuality. The is of man's philosophical an admission women, feminine destruction the the element and of violent outlook promotes Apolline 'masculine', the cultivation principles. of uniquely Homosexual homogeneity presents no solution for Johannes, who believes in an ideal feminine force within creation, and consequently he does Nevertheless his identity. agree with many of the own within beauty. threat the of women's manipulative man's views, such as Johannes' own experience tells him that women are morally corrupt faith feminine but he brute force, in ideal. retains a a and respect only Leino creates a distinction between the real woman and the earthly hero's is idea ideal heavenly the of that woman. which embodiment of a The Oria novels chart the hero's struggle to retain control over his inspiration. His continued disillusionment with his achievements are disillusionment his in the with women who signalled the manifested birth of each endeavour. At the end of the last novel Johannesbecomes harmony Apolline is final isolation 713 is in that It hermit. this restored a for Johannes as well as for Leino. The feminine principle has become identity, into incorporated though not without the artist's successfully faces in his death. Johannes threshold that threat the and of madness himself before he into kill Liisa total to retires shortly and attempt feminine form, 714 but destructive The takes of rebirth element solitude. is rooted uniquely in the male imagination. Alone, he becomes one himself and the universe: with

711 712 713 714

Vol.10. SeeChapters7 and 8. Leino, Tydn oria, in Kootut teokset, ibid., p.410. Vol.11, p.466. Leino, Onnenoria, in Koofut teokset, ibid., p.466.

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Is he christened? Is he pagan? He does not know himself. He highest knows is that truth the religion of all and that the only for is its light falls on the the though same everyone, even sun 715 different in rays. earth 5.2.6 Condusion Scholars of Blok's and Leino's work have noted the dualistic interplay between the Apolline and Dyonisian aspectsof the authors' world-view. Mochulsky has concluded that Blok: dreamed of epic grandeur, of classical architecture, of life's fullness, of harmony and measure, of all the wonderful gifts of Apollo. But he was doomed to another God - to Dionysus - to his 716 holy his his frenZy. madness, erotic music, Oksala has perceived a similar opposition in Leino's aesthetics, in his intellectual for Apolline Dionysian 717 order and sensuality. search oksala remarks that: Despite his theoretical caution he developed poems of genius on the problems stemming from Apolline and Dionysian polarity. 718 These polarities expose an understanding of masculine and feminine dualism the redefine concept which of universal and the principles the androgyne. of ambivalence In effect the system allows no equality between feminine and The takes in synthesis principles. which place artistic creation masculine female but fusion fusion and male, of a is not a of male with androgyne. Dionysus stability, order, while Apollo embodies represents the suffering In their the duality. union, Apollo masculine positivity of of imbalance the chaotic of masculinity and femininity in harmonizes feminine itself, in isolation, The Dionysusrepresents absolute hopeless chaos, void. negativity,

Onko h5n kristiq? hiln 'Onko 469; ibid., pakana? Ei h3n tiedd sita itsekSSn. p. 715 korkein kaikista ja totuus 15 uskonto on ettA tiet, ettA aurinko on kaikillc sanaa, vain, Bin lankeaa. ' sAteing maahan eri valkeus vaikka sen 292. Mochulsky, cit., p. op. 716 12840. Oksala, pp. Op-cit., 717

'reoreettisesta Oksala, p-134; varauksellisuudestaanhuolimatta h5n op-cit., 718 dionyysisen ja apollonisen runoja polaritectin virittSmAsta kehitti nerokkaita ' ongelmasta.

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In the aftermath of inspirational transformation, the artist is in Christian Dionysian, The myths of transformation shamanist, solitude. which underlie the allegory of the creative experience are all The Alone, by the this stability. artist regains resolution. characterized Apolline identity asserts itself over Dionysian disorder. Where the feminine principle is allowed to dominate, degeneration follows, as will be seenin the following chapter.

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CHAPTER SDC

Female Sexuality (ID: Perceptions of VISIBILITY

informs identity the artistic process. The view that Woman's sexual functions in art are respectively male and pro-creative and creative biological from Androgynous dualism inferred is experience. female between union artist the of sexual and muse. metaphor contains These determinants are not without their tensions. The process femininity of masculinity as positive and as describes a philosophy dominance of the muse signifies Blok, 719 Leino For the and negative. for Man's identity. is the quest loss power of art a struggle of positive the for life. Woman represents the threat of madness and death. The in feminine leads the the male principle psyche man to dominance of Woman, the living insanity into self-effacement. or subside feminine the the embodiment principle, of negative of embodiment biological embodiment of cyclical creation, reminds the impulse, sexual his Linked by her to the mortality. natural of order man the artist and has identity, a special relationship with the mysteries woman intuitive by Oblivion, the to suggested provocation madness and the universe. of brings Man to that is threat man. woman the struggles to elude death, idea, his life. the which offers fate creative through chance of eternal this fusing by his by energy, positive to with negativity, maintain He tries it. But destroying force by it woman, eternal of negativity, or escaping itself. embodies oblivion Oblivion Force of Woman as a 6.1 Russian Finnish themes and writing, of artistic In turn-of-the-century the to the establishment, universal order as well as challenge a as power The death power widespread. were over of art was a system, political the It throughout Leino in the runs writing. work of symbolist inajor motif
in For is tradition. philosophical attitudes The concept well-established 719 for Bell, history in the see of philosophy example op. cit. women towards

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and Blok. Michael Green points out that the myth of Laodamia, which deals with the supremacy of the creative imagination over death, was taken up by three symbolist dramatists in Russia, one of whom was Sologub with his play Dar mudrykh pchel' (1907, 'The Gift of the wise bees').720 In Finland the notion of this supremacy is central to neoindividual. the the of resistance and cult of allegories political romantic It characterizes for example, almost all of Lehtonen's narrative works from this period.
6.1.1 Threat of Death

Woman consistently embodies the cosmic pull towards death. Jarnefelt's play Kuolema (1902, 'Death') and Lehtonen's story Paholaisen (1904, Devil's just 'The two examples of works in are violin') viulu which woman represents the inevitability of death while man's idea or action makes a bid for life. In Finnish literature, death appears as the dimension identity in sexual of woman's relation to man. ontological In Kuolema, the hero Paavali is almost engulfed by the women who him. begins He as a prophet whose divine revelation is that surround death does not exist. He is gradually tom from his timeless idea until he is drawn into life's course. This development is marked by different women whose presenceis a constant reminder of mortality. Ms coming to manhood is marked by his mother's death. It is the realization of this death's him deny Iiis to existence. urges mother, by passage which dream death's in is image a which acted out on stage contrast, recognizes in Act 1. Most threatening to Paavali's refutation of death is marriage by is beautiful This the priest who perceived woman. and, specifically, 721 The Paavali his false him to to contrives priest marry prophet. a calls is With love, Elsa. the their union, priest sure that: childhood the false prophet will die. Seehow the bridesmaids quietly rock him to etemal rest.722 Eventually Paavali will die in their marital home in a fire caused by Elsa's vengeful stepmother. 723 All three women are forces of death
720 Green, op-cit.,p-144I-VPorvoo, 1925-27, Vol.4, p-78. Arvid jSmefelt, Kuolema,in Teoksia 721 ibid. p.90; 'kuolee vdArd profeetta. Katsokaa,kuinka morsiusneidot hiljaa 722 1 tuudittavat h5ntli ikuiseen lepoon.' ibid., p.129. 723

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life functions Paavall to of persuade experience of the whose own literally, does death. His her mother so with of visions of existence death's approach and with her own death. Elsa does so by analogy, as the die,. indicating disappearance his his the who all children of of mother line. The stepmother seeshim as the reincarnation of her son (who also died by fire), turning Paavali into a spectre of death himself. She also finally death his. Elsa's causes and to tries cause In Paholaisenviulu, the wanderer and bard Viuluniekka (literally his as as son, who inherits his father's violin well -Violin virtuoso'), for life. his The the embark on a search source of wanderlust, and female character, Seelia, embodies a resignation to death In life. is freedom longing to wander a Viuluniekka's and individuality for has Her the Seelia spiritual not capacity. whole existence which losses has In her the the of mourning she experienced own represents death begins in this world. By contrast even is It which life. a pact with infused Viuluniekka's death, and grave violin are in with a life energy. his 'He life bridal local called remembers: The a cleric march, '724 first-coming Ali, drawn his to to eternal manhood. an symbolizing his flee mother's closed, oppressive existence father's ways must drawn by life is death. 'He '725The only other and not because,explicitly, 726 is in 'bright Sylvia', the to the novel apear who presents woman 727 his bid for life. is Ali to his to wise enough eroticism of value obstacle seductiveness: woman's over violin him bright Sylvia, to than even precious will come to be the more devil's violin. 728 father, is frozen his like Ali, sexual union at the point of erotic For living death that is love, marriage the to succumbing never awakening, for Seelia. and motherhood In Russian literature, woman's proximity to death is also an but it becomes here more eroticized, her facet sexuality, of ontological
Kootut in Vol. Paholaisen teokset, 1, 'Morsiusmarssiksi Lehtonen, viulu, p334; 724 ' sanoi. elimUnsd kuolema. ' 'HAntii 440; ibid., elSmA eik! vet53 p. 725 Sylvia'. 'kirkas ibid., p314; 726 in first Ali tale 420. ibid., a moral which recalls a monstrous ghost, then a p. 727 to to He appear the of a priest wife persuade a then young man commit murder. madman, by but is kills the her husbandand is first seduced two spirits woman, evil the resists is impulse his for fulfilling Ali's life, but he is part of erotic quest to wary prison. taken of woman. kirkas Sylviaakin h5nelle 'kalliimpi 444, ibid., on oleva paholaisen viulu., p. 728

258
irresistible. The aura of the female and as such more wilful and vampire, epitome of dead sensuality, colours the image of the witch-like, title heroine in Kuprin's story Olesia (1898,Olessia,1908),as well as the in Andreev's Lorenzo's play Chernye maski. wife mask/double of Lorenzo fears his wife and begs her not to drink his blood. He despairs at 'how this vampire fastened herself upon my heart. '729 Most in Sologub's work, appears woman unambiguously, vampirical (1909, Krasnogubaia The in Red-Lipped Guest, the gost7a story especially 1977): Slender, tall, elegantly dressed all in black, she stood so still and living. ( ) if Only her the not as she were excessive scarlet quiet of ... face-730 in her pale mouth seemedalive
Later she describes herself 'as a vampire risen from the grave'. 731 The story's protagonist, Vargolskii, is captivated by the icy, lunar Lilith who drains his blood. After their kiss, 'A dark and languid self-oblivion by Vargolskii. 'the cold rapture' of her 1732 Intoxicated overshadowed kisses he becomes debilitated by a sense of dull tranquility and an indifference to life. 733 He is suddenly revitalised by the appearance of a new-born child. He is saved by the spectre of wondrous Youth who banishes 'the evil enchantress with the excessive scarlet of her madly thirsting lipS1.734 In Sologub's work the cold, nocturnal sensuality of the Lilith type tempts man towards oblivion. In another story Smert' po (1907, by 'Death advertisement'), a man seeks death out oViavlenffu finds that it, or rather she, is there. The word death is prematurely and in Russian, but in this case there is more involved than grammatical marking. Rezanov advertises for a woman to appear as the image of his personal death.735 He wonders what she will look like. He contemplates various types of woman, culminating in the image of a 736 This is not only speculation over what kind of woman prostitute.
Andreev, Chernye maski, in Sobranie sochinenii, Vol. 10, p.98; 'KaK K moemy ' cepAuyrrpmocancABamrrHp. 729

feminine

AnHHHaA, in Vol. 12, 167, Sologub, Krasnaiagubaia cit., gostia, op. p. -'CTpOAHaA, Ha 13CAB H3hrCXaHHO RePHOM, OHa CTIDAAa TaK THXO H crroKorlHO, KaK HeXHBaA. ( ) Tojil6KO .. ' XHBOIO. ftmom 6wxa anocTj6 ry6 atmemMmepHaA ibid., p.172;'KaKBcrawimfl H3 morHnbl BamnHp'. 731 H Tomme camo3a6WHHe OCCHHno Bapronmoro. ' ibid.,p.175;TeMHoe 732 6eiueHCTBY'. 'XOAO)ZHOMY ibid., p.176; 733 6e3yMHO ibid., p.182; 3naA 734 c tqx3mepHOjo anocTmo waxAyluHx ry6'. mapoBHHLxa 735 Sologub, Smert' po obiavleniiu, in op. cit., Voll, p.138. ibid., pp.13940. 736

730

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but for the advertisement, the Intended also metaphor answer a might Rezanov in that his the Death. to will pay woman play meeting, Encountering death is an act of sexual consummation. Death is present in the image of all women, and symbolized by the most disreputable, diseased female as a aspect of sensuality. For Rezanov and widely seen her face individualized, human becomes face the earthly of his own she death. 'Slim, white, very quiet and serene', she has a 'clarity and 737 her in As kiss they his expression. she pierces neck submissiveness lies dead herself then his 738 body. stiletto, over a poisoned with
6.1.2 Danger of Madness

While Sologub's Lilith type represents the threat of death to man, his Eve figure represents the insanity which is woman's own experience of her sexuality. In both Finnish and Russian literature, woman's sexuality is not simply a dangerous force to man, but can be a self-awareness her That is leads to own oblivion. oblivion a madness which is which in by and epitomized excess whoredom, the perverse excessof marked is This in indulgence. motif present many portraits of women sexual freedom. or who enjoy sexual experience In Finland, the most studied example is found in Lehtonen's Mataleena (1905). Mataleena and her son are linked to one another by hero, For is the this of rebellion. expressedas the freedom of their spirit For Mataleena it is indicated in a sexual artist. and the wanderer is Her ultimately self-destructive. which sexual awakening promiscuity is revealed in her relationship to water. Her fear of the nearby deep her fear her is own sexuality. That fear keeps her in check, of lakes ignorance her desire. When of erotic she becomes maintaining her 'phantom reflection, sees own in a she the creature', provocative, 739 The the fantastic reference parallels earlier to the reference water. lilies, in disguised which as a young girl Mataleena serpent-monster from lake drag its depths those who dared to the to to rise believed could 740 Mataleena's confrontation with her too the closely. water approach intimacy image is suggesting symbolism mirror sexual a own 737 738 739 740
THXaA, oqeHb TOHKaR, 143; (Sne; ibid., p. xHaA, H CrIOKOIIHaA'*'BbtpaweHHe XCHOCTH H

rrOKOPHOCTH'-

ibid., p.153. ' in op. cit., Voll, p.334; 'utuotento'. Lehtonen, Mataleena, ibid., pp.328-29.

260
her her identity. It realization sexual coincides with own recognition of 741 her loss inclination innocence to promisCUity. and a consequent of of Eventually she goes mad, becomes a whore, and loses one eye.742 Her beauty has disappeared along with her mind. 743 She is warped by the inevitable negative impulse of her femininity, dragged to the depths of her own sexuality. Her son by contrast, though he fears 'the power of 744 fears God. broken Christian is like the wretch weak, not my nature destroyed by his impulse. His sanity is protected by masculine positivity. In Russia, the negative identity of woman's sexuality in its inevitable, promiscuous insanity is at its most prevalent again in Sologub's work, where it surfacesin a number of stories. It is manifested for example in the sexual craving of the title heroine of Tsaritsa in 1977), (1907, Queen Kisses, The the animalistic eroticism of potseluev (1908, dog'), Sobaka in 'The heroine Belaia title the the white of of sensual self-indulgence of the narcissistic heroine of Krosota (1899, Beauty, 1977), the bondage-loving heroine of Dama v uzakh (1912, The Lady in Bonds, 1977), and the hedonistic Liudmila in his novel Melkii bes (1907,745 The Petty Demon, 1983). The sexually aware woman in Sologub is submerged in her own negativity. Excessive and mentally her is devoid Intercourse of masculine presence. sensuality unbalanced, itself usually does not take place, and where man is present his individuality is removed, as in the crowd of male lovers in Tsaritsa flagellator in Dama the the of possession or supernatural v potseluev, 746 uzakh. 6.2 Fear of Woman's Sexuality The aspectsof death and madnessat the root of woman's sexual identity for for the threat the of oblivion symbolism of a are not reserved
ibid., pp334-35. 741 ibid. Sheis referred to as a whore, for example,on p.299,as mad and half-blind, 742 for example,on p.323. ibid., p.324. 743 heikko, sarjetty kristitty ibid., p31O; 'pe1k5dnluontoni voimaa kuin jumalaansa, 744 raukka. ' The date is the first year of publication in full. The novel was written between 745 1892and 1902and first published,but without the final chapters,in 1905. Sologub, Melkii bes,Predislovie avtora ko vtoromu izdaniiu CAuthor's foreword to the second cit., Vol.6, p.vii. edition'), in op. two women also achieveecstaticfrenzy through In Sologub'sTvorimaialegenda, 746 the fulfilment of their longing to be whipped.

261
individual. The essential quality of whore that surfaces In woman's The to the threat incipience presents a social order. also sexual broad-scale be Woman implies the chaos. may a whore appearance of (prostitute by literal type social a profession) or as a whore either as femininity (prostitute intrinsic, by negative of nature). manifestation The theme of woman's sexuality Is used to denounce the describes It In the the exploitation community. of women of corruption both sociological and artistic contexts. There exists a defence of the feminine through a policy of exposing, with righteous indignation or hopeless cynicism, the violation of women in prostitution or the Although in feminine both the art. writers of countries violation of the and specifically the sexuality, of nature of woman's subject took up dangers, its difference in there was concomitant a certain with sexuality Russian Finnish to the theme and writers of of sexuality. the responses The topic was much more widespread and elaborately explored in in both it in literature, than and symbolist realist works, was Russian dekadentstvo, Russian initially The of phenomenon Finland. literature, French flourished In by never contemporary influenced Finland. While in Russia the different classifications of decadent, bodies debated or symbolist of writing were at naturalistic, pessimistic, length, in Finland certain writers were sometimes accused of subsiding Finnish decadence seen as the was uncharacteristic which of into a difference between The Finnish temperament. and Russian literary decadence involving the portrayal of erotic 'decadence', particularly but impulses, impression the a real one, the was sexual of or women in literatures is between this the two respect greater than the difference difference itself.
Possession: A Russian Bond Phenomenon the of Beauty and 6.2.1

image is distinctly Russian typical which of woman's of one aspect in that is tension the exists portrayals of woman's exotic literature beauty is both irresistible. terrible Woman's sensual and sensuality. In Russia, the gulf between the wealthy, educated classesand the but by the vast, simply complicated not was ambivalent people common In the towards the work of turn-ofpeasantry. the nobility feelings of is interplay between there Russian an writers, sympathy and the-century

262 antipathy for the peasantry and working classes. Recognition of injustice in these classes' conditions of life was combined with an inability to barbaric, the they the seen of people: were as sanction ways and customs ignorant, and insensitive to the human condition. This ambivalence is in the compulsive preoccupation with the nature of evident particularly the muzhik, and pervaded the relationship between the sociallyThis is the phenomenon underprivileged. at and conscious privileged its most acute in the work of Bunin, who concentrated on the dynamic tension in the relationship between master and slave.747 Bunin's story Nochnaia beseda(1911,A Night Conversation,1923) provides the most lucid example of the author's ambivalent view of the common people. The story's idealistic young intellectual experiencesconflicting reactions to the nature of the Russian peasant. After listening to a callous account infatuation life initial the the and wisdom of with student's of a murder, the common people, even with its vulgarity, hardship and indifference, is replaced by a horror of its ugliness, mercilessness, and animalistic instincts by the end of the story. However, the muzhik had acquired some human status by the turn of the century. More underprivileged than any other social group her Subordinate to man within own class and were women. by divine or natural order to all men collectively, woman's subordinate Bunin's in love In lowest the the particularly of all. work, status was 1905, after woman's sexuality provokes tension. stories which appeared In this period of Bunin's work, nature becomes increasingly an 'incomprehensible amalgam of beauty and horror',,748and woman is for Bunin an elemental force of that nature. She is wild and magnificent, but sexual encounters are steeped in an instinctive violence, as in Pri doroge (1913, 'By the roadside'), and can lead to murder or suicide as in Legkoe dykhanie (1916, Light Breathing, 1923) or Poslednee svidanie (1912, 'The last rendez-vous'). The bestial nature of woman's sexuality contains a specific definition of male-female bonds. An analogy is drawn between woman horses least descriptions horse. Bunin's as much erotic contain at of and Poslednee descriptions his svidanie opens with a of women. as quality being in horse the the saddled moonlight, with a protagonist's of scene

747 748

Also referred to in ChapterOne above. JamesB. Woodward, Ivan Bunin: A Studyof His Fiction, Chapel Hill, 1980,p.21.

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749 The horses eyes shine with the gleam of high, heavy, cossacksaddle. 750 in Soon the Vera's the mooonlight. after, stone rider sees a precious 751 doroge, fierce her In Pri breed tears. the KhIrgiz the with of shine eyes horse, with its bad blood,752hints at the sexual nature of the heroine Parashka. When Parashka screams the horse bolts. At the end of the her 7S3 into fieldS. She seducer, she the murders she runs wild after story, is caught after five days of chase,and: breaking free, she displayed terrifying strength, bit three muzhiks, her hands bound 754 the horSe. they with new reins of a as The association between horse and woman contains more than the implication of woman's proximity to untamed nature. There is a his horse in to (his) the to of man relationship and man woman. parallel focus on the sexual encounter of a horserider and the Both above stories description horse in the a of which acts as a prelude to the a woman 755 horse The two motif satisfies elements of man's erotic meeting. desire: the fascination for the magnificence of nature and the need to horse it. The because it is commands control respect and man's possess ideal of an equal companion. A partner in life's most (subliminally (the hunt, horse the is the activities chase, war), stimulating yet sexual) its It free the to of master. will embodies nature's spirit and obedient devoted loyalty to nature's ordained beauty combined with intrinsic horse The is man. everything a man could want in ruler, and guardian
749 M 751 752 753 Bunin, Postednee cit., Vol.3, p329. svidanie,in op. ibid., p-329. ibid., p-332. in op. Bunin, Pri doroge, cit., VoI3, p.428. ibid., p-446.

ibid., p.446; OT(SHMACh, OHa C1Pa1L1HY1O TrPOABHna CH31y. HcKycana 7% Tpex MY)KHKOD, In ' his BunirVs work, Serge Kryzytski sees study BOW-WOBKOR. of HOBOR PYKH CA ,CpyTHBWHX Parashka her tie to (Serge Kzyzytski, The evidence as simply of strength reins of the use Hague, The 1971, This does Bunin, Ivan p-124). not take into account the specific Works of female sexuality of the constant interplay between the Khirgiz horse and to relevance between The horse in identity tbc story. parallel and woman has been noted parashka's it her insofar but Marks Woodward as rebellious, wild nature (Woodward, Ivan only by does He 144-45). not note the significance of the reins to tic her hands. The Bunin, pp. between Parashka her describes tension father. Even here horse sexual and also story is At into she excited at riding beside her father in a new one point play. imagery comes his 'expensive, well-fed' (Bunin, Pri doroge,in op.cif., VoU, p.434; *Aopo. by drawn cart impression The horse. the bridal only not evokes scene but of a j, procession, cumril) ro; horse in indication the of woman as and property notion an of malc status. also equates is the Postednee In eroticism svidanie, which promised by the power and beauty 755 is beginning the by the horse story eventually image of the replaced at mundane the of of banality its the to following the a parallel master, of dog protagonists' actual a relationship.

264 756 doroge, Early in Pri the farm worker Volodia teasesthe a woman. young Parashka:
It's time to fix the bit firmer, to bridle you and lead you to the 757 stallion. When Nikanor drops the reins of his Khirgiz horse to take hold of her hands and lead her into the thicket, he takes control of her. The violence present in these stories is a sign of perversity in sexual relationships and specifically in the sexual instincts of the woman. It is part of a pattern of depravity in the depiction of female is sexuality which widespread in Russian literature. Themes of violence and depravity warn of the need to tame the wild force of nature that is female sexuality. This depiction of woman conveys a duality of attraction and fear which is even more prominent than in the portraits of the alienated common man, be he worker, tramp or peasant. In the degenerate eroticism of Tolstoi's aristocratic whore Mariette in Voskresenie, embodiment of sophisticated womanhood, in the disgusting appeal of Belyi's promiscuous peasant-woman Matrdna in Serebrianyi golub, feminine symbol of Russian soil and spirit, the hero and the author alike are attracted and repelled. In the dichotomy of sympathy/antipathy towards a social type is the consciousnessof different and invariably superior status. Evidence between fusion the attraction and repulsion can be found in the of female to sexuality in the work of Andreev, Bunin and approach Kuprin. The theme is also often explicitly related to an idea of an ethnically separate group with which identification is impossible. In Andreev's story Original'nyi chelovek(1902,'An Original') the hero is a himself interesting by unexpectedly stating to tries make nonentity who at a party: And I like negro women! ( ) In these black women there is ... how 758 I it to smouldering something or, can explain you, exotic.

756 In his study of German literature of the fascistperiod, Klaus Theweleit has also remarked on the erotic descriptions of soldiers' relationships with their (invariably cit., pp.52-53. male) horses.SeeTheweleit, op. TyT o6poTh TedA o6paTaTb, K 757 Bunin, Pri doroge, pA33; TAe-fi-To rroKperrne, rropa
(SbMKYBCCT&'

Mj 3To Bam rroACHHTb, 3MOTHIMCKOe. '

in Sobranie 758 Andreev, Original'nyi chelovek, sochinenii,Vol.3, pp.259-61;'A HJ1HKaX nxAnjo jierPHTAHOK1( ...)B 3THxqepHb[X xeHLUHHax, eCTh HeqMTaKoe rrnameHHOe,

265
for him impressed, just such a woman procure His acquaintances, 759 He because his forced is to he status acquires marry. of whom by feels he but trapped the woman, who Is physically @originality', he is him to to unable and with whom communicate, as shc repulsive 760 The difference Russian. combination of marriage and racial speaks no fused inevitability the of unity with alienation, a parallel of highlight feeling for in life intellectual's the Russian serf nineteenth-century the More inferiority Is to literature. the social relevant women's and dinner In fascination for their this the guests. self-indulgent of reaction horror of the potentially deviant 'originality' certain resides a sexual it to the only natural represent, assumed untamed may eroticism Similarly, frequent the the portraits woman. of more negro sexuality of Jewess', 'beautiful the the gypsy-woman, sensuous or types as of ethnic Gor'kii, Kuprin and even and evoke this tension of a in the works of image. polarized Andrea Dworkin has remarked that the image of the Jewessacts

as: for the sexualization of all racially and ethnically paradigm a ( ) The beautiful Jewess dragged degradedwomen. ravaged and ... her hair is by the still enticing, still vibrantly alive streets through 761 in the pool of sexualimagesthat mystify the Jewishwoman.
in Son'ka Rul', Kuprin's Iama is: docile prostitute, The dark face large Jewess, an unattractive and with an extremely a her but from beautiful got she nickname, which with such nose, large eyes, at once submissive and sad, fiery and limpid, which this the on earth, are characteristic only of the women all among 762 jewess.

ibid., p165. 759 266. ibid., p. 760 Dworkin elaboratesher point with a 143-44. Pornography, pp. Dworkin, 761 Sartre'sAnti-Semiteand Jewalso appropriate here: There is in the from quotation Jewess" This phrase carrid an beautiful sexual a special signification very "a ... words Jewess" is The "beautiful Cossacks the she whom the undcr massacre. and rape of aura her burning hair Jewess has a her the through by of streets village-the dragged czars function in even the most seriousnovels. Frequentlyviolated or beaten,she Well-defined by dishonor death, but form in is justice. ' that means of escaping a of succeeds sometimes TCMHbIM JIHuOm H 'eBperkKa. Vol-5, in Iama, p-35; c cit., iiexpaCHBbIM Kuprin, op. 762 (solibmim iiocom, 3a KOTI)PUR OHa Hnon"Hna CBOIO KJIHMKY HO C IUXHMH qpe3BbrqaRHo 6oiIhIUHMH rJla3aMH, oAHoBpemeHHO K'P=HMH neqanhHbIMH, rOpAtUHMIt It a rrpeKpXHbIMH eBPCCX: Tomwo CPeAH )KeHUIHH Bcero K3KHC (Shmaw 3eMHoro tuap y WIaXCHbIMIf,

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Son'ka's nickname Rul' does not simply refer to the size of her nose, but (or lead drag) her by. In 'rudder' 'helm', to something steer or means or Kuprin's story Zhidovka (1904, The Jewess,1917), the title heroinels beauty, reflecting both pride and suffering, is almost worshipped by the her in He the eternal qualities of 'dark Judith' or 'humble sees narrator. Ruth'. 763 But she is subtly degraded in her husband's indifference to 764in the vulgar police commissioner's suggestion that she may be her,, for sale,765and finally in the narrator's own desire to possess her.766 Both vitally beautiful and whore (technically or intrinsically), the ethnic type in Russian literature conveys not only deviation from the norm, but also an animalistic sensuality which provokes man's compulsive desire to take control of it.
Racial identity, and the suspicion attached to it, are central to Kuprin's story; hence the title ;KHJIOBKa, a disparaging term for Jewess rather than the neutral word cBpcftKa. More than any other Russian writer, Tolstoi was an author whose conscious endeavour to adopt a life forgiveness human to and and equality, regardless promote of simplicity of religion, race and social group, was an inspiration of legendary proportions in his own lifetime. In his desire to relinquish all power, to his the that rights creatures over other position of leisure and relinquish he included him, the rejection of sexual conferred upon wealth dominance over women, a theme expressed together with his demand for chastity in all his late novels. In her study of Tolstoi's Kreitserova sonata and its biographical context, Andrea Dworkin concludes, however, that the sexual possession of woman was one area of power did in he relinquishing: not succeed which

More than any other privilege intercourse kept Tolstoy rooted in earthly, arrogant obsession- not poor and simple at all; having the for to pleasure and exercising that right use another person right He experienced the obsessionas non-violent. at will; certainly not internal violence, violating him, not her.767 In Tolstoi's work it is the female race itself which violates man by fear. her fascination Irresistible in and animal sensuality, provoking base, bestial instincts into threatens the of reintroduction man's woman
763 764 765 766 767 Kuprin, Zhidovka, in op.cit., Vol3, p. 226; 'mpa, 4HaA10;me, 'icparvu Pyh% ibid., pp. 220-21. ibid., p. 231. ibid., p. 223. Dworkin, Intercourse, p.23.

267 This is of peace and equality. projected as civilized programme her Tolstoi's disease. In Marie of study extensive work, and corruption described increasing incisively has the Sdmon presenceof the threat of 768 death in later in his the portraits of women novels. putrefaction and Is Tolstoi's sexual urgency encompassedby violence. In novels male Striving to give up wealth and power, Tolstoi found woman's very him In forced to this Is threat that use power. sense woman's existence forcing by him his her. to sexuality and possess man she controls Dworkin points out that Tolstoi's condemnation of woman's for created enjoyment, no matter what civil rights object an as position in 'the the is that serfdom, with an analogy makes sense she given, institution can be legally invalidated but people are kept and used as has drawn Alison Assiter between 1769 the also analogy slaves anyway. dialectic the in life and way women are perceived and the master-slave Hegelian Assiter's the 770 concentrates on analysis concept of art. in The the master-slave tension relationship was individual autonomy. historical in development Hegel by the towards as a phase observed 771 bond disadvantageous The to both parties. was freedom of spirit. While the slave must relinquish autonomy of will, the master'stragedy from the relationship. he of self is that cannotgain a proper sense The expression of attraction and repulsion in the portraits of his is inability Tolstoi's in to to work related the relinquish women The sexual possession. possession of of woman makes right masculine This robs the man of the identity he seeks, a whore. her a sexualslave, holds in his work she is soiled Toistoi woman accountable: for which and provocative. Whether she is whore in the same social group becauseof the by her instinct through marriage, or conferred as an ethnic right of access hired in brothel her full by as whore position a of poor or whore, be repulsion when provokes she should attractive, woman women, human because, is function She the human. the not of whore, equal, devoid is human function the slave, of of emotion, servicing a like the love, or remorse. compassion without need,

latter half her See the especially of S6mon, work. op-cit. 7M 20. Intercourse, Dworkin, p. 769 Pornography' Griffiths 'Autonomy in Whitford, Assiter, and Alison and eds, 770 58-71. pp. Cit., OP. ibid., pp-64-65. 771

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In Russia, serfdom was officially abolished in 1861. The had had to those the privileged classes of who no rights was relationship in discovery It the sympathy combined one. of the an ambivalent for loathing humanity, the culture and customs of alongside a peasant's the peasant community, a loathing rooted in too long an alienation from the recognition of that humanity. In Russian literature, the full force of this attraction/repulsion fell on a group of people still in almost total enslavement in Russia, women. A woman's passport showed by belonged to, or replaced a ticket showing she was which man she belonged to all men. Since this enslavementwas at its most basic in the by body, to the of power,, a of a man, virtue woman's of access right expression of the relationship's ambivalence centered on female sexuality. Woman's body, alluring, also threatens degeneracy. In Russian literature, men are driven to madness and death by the failure to if Women, their sexuality is mad anyway achieve sexual possession. hand form killed by their or another's as own a of sexual are unleashed, consummation which sublimates sexual possession. These literary themes reflect a community in turmoil as a result of its struggle to human Russian it the of society picture as relationships, was redefine . propelled towards chaos.

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6.2.2 Self-Censorship of Women's Sensuality: The Finnish Example institution of serfdom, there was an absenceof In Finland, with no social between Intellectual the class and the common this extreme relationship in through There the of superiority no self-i4entity was power people. intellectual class,but rather the opposite, a senseof national unity in the face of a greater power. The tension of repulsion and attraction In social is indiscernible. In Naisen Leino almost oria relationships or sexual Liisa, female sexuality which becomes his in this portrait of expresses hero. Leino by the to this time threatens engulf was jaded and direction the of Finnish politics and culture, and disillusioned with influence. For lack however, the his the most of part own sensed disillusionment with the romantic view of the people and spirit of in Russia, in the post-1905 period. as even so great Finland was never for Finland in the national unity at all cost requirement Moreover, different phenomenon. quite a produced The Russian confrontation with social inequalities and with a body in Finland contrasted ownership was with a heritage of sanctioned divisiveness. The the thematic absence of social of self-censorship was a manifestation repulsion of a repulsion attraction/ of, paradigm fear internal the The there in of that existed confrontation. itself, be by to deeply undermined too to not was analyzing unity exhortation between The the social separate groups. portrayal of the relationship longer in though no purely romantic approach, people, with common hardship and ignorance, did not challenge the view depictions of serious humanity The itself the rural classes. of picture of nature of the essential identified the 'Finnish its the purity, with purity romantic of retained but it was never alienating or Nature severe, appear could spirit'. depiction of woman by Finnish writers is not the Likewise terrifying. degeneracy in the of putrefaction, symbolism and violence steeped into a metaphysical whore in the works of Andreev, her turns which Social Sologub. Kuprin Bunin, and ethnic motifs as criteria of or Tolstoi, from Finnish literature. On absent entirely almost are status superior be it that the hand remembered should presence of ethnic the other in Finland has always been minimal, reduceing their rninorities Moreover, matter. the subject as social unity against potential relevant the chief the purpose was of writers, not selfrussification of threat for injustices it in responsibility social of as was exorcizing conscious

270 Russia. Even novels created in the disillusioned atmosphere of the post1905 years, such as Kianto's Punainen viiva, do not question the basic humanity of the Finnish peasant. Leino's Tuomas Witikka, for internal its takes target the conflicts, political as satirizes example, which ideological intellectuals rather than the peasant community. Where themes of social superiority in sexual encounter do occur, usually in the works of women writers, it is precisely to condemn the but to they contain none of sexual access rights women, attitude of male female degeneracy, inherent the sexual of nor the suggestion of implication of attraction and repulsion in the sexual use of women by Canth, Kallas it is Talvio, In the and of a clear condemnation work men. of male sexual violence, in the work of Jotuni and Onerva, it is a rebuttal for desire sexual power. of man's Self-censorship in the drive for national unity reinforced existing female depiction in the of sexuality, moral strictness, attitudes characterized by an apparent determination not to look too closely, at least openly, at the accepted negativity of female sexuality. While the traditional, given assumptions of woman's sexual being as a force of in literature, death Finnish the portrayal of and present were madness this aspect with regard to degeneracy in sexual relationships was never so graphic. One other, conscious reason for the rejection of 'decadent' literature its identification Russian in Finnish was with art. It elements is here that the element of ethnic suspicion that is so often part of the fascination with foreign exoticism is most clear. A distinct attitude of be identified 'eastern in the towards neighbour' can racial superiority Finnish history. 772 At the turn of the century, the fetishism and itself 'decadence' were seen as a specifically Russian perversions of identified the always extremism with the Russian phenomenon, part of Russian the temperament. Finnish and revolutionary movement, decadence did Russian as part of a wider European not see critics by in influenced France, art, movements of pessimistic movement Germany or Italy. It was seen as a Russian tendency which Finland was
772 The attitude of superiority is evident in the first half of the nineteenth century based It is to consciousness on culture. those a national promote among who sought Eigskyttarne (1832, 'Me The J. L. Runeberg's for in elk-hunters'). example reflected laukkuryssd,or pedlar from RussianKarelia who marketed his wares illegally in many foolish disdain Finland and often appears as a or unpleasant was viewed with parts of type in Finnish literature.

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both because it Russian because It itself was and against, was to guard degenerate. Leino for example, describes masochism as 'that genuinely 773 degeneracy Where Seikkailijatar. themes in of are present Slav vice' definite is literature, there association with Russia. This Is Finnish a in Canth's Seikkaffilfatar Agnes, both Leino's as well as of which true of behaviour 774 Russian life-styles. blame sexual on the corrupt of place The work most reminiscent of the Russian portrayal of female (1911). This thematic dimension of the novel Is juha Aho's is sexuality in It distinctly Karelian the surfaces story's non-Finnish. essentially image Karelia its Aho's of and people negative contrasts with context. In Finnish to this area's culture eulogies and community. the common but, Russia,, in It 1911, traditional the it suspicion of written part contains disillusion Aho's the with neo-romantic movement of reflect also may both internal it As expresses and external tensions In such Karelianism. bond of corrununity relations. the The novel contains many of the motifs of the Russian in by the study of sexual possession woman of provoked characterization love is The beautiful juha the triangle. of a story young,, tension. erotic from Karelia, by Russian Sherneikka, leaves her is and Marja seduced husband juha. lame but and old gentle, The characterization of Marja contains the animalistic first In typical the type. the of ethnic wildness and chapter magnificence irrational burning her introduced an with anger is as which reflects she A her her gypsy and an position. orphan, with ethnicity casts frustration is like 'slender, 775 birch'. tall, These to she supple a nature: her closer heightened impulse. indicate the When potential of sexual details all by in, the for her the shunned rest she was of community juha took Later juha '776 help 'homeless when to rescue russky. seeks being a from fact the he the reluctance community's that stems realizes N4arja, 777 blood'. Sherneikka black is tribe, to of also stranger is a another of she
773 pahes. directed is life St Petersburg the emphatically more at Canth's urban of criticism 774 but Leino's novel concentrates Russian the a as whole, culture on than at rather Russian the nobility. temperament of and psychology 'solakkana, 12; Vol. 9, joustavana kuin in Juha, p. pitkina, Aho, op-cit., 77.5 Note 'solkikoivu' is an unusual looking birch. solkikoivu'. Note 'homeless', that 'mieron implies loose 28; miero, ibid., venakko. also p. 776 'of in the streets'. as rnorals, This derives from 'toisheimoisesta, 65; mustaverisestW. ibid., ethnic prejudice p. 777 Karelians.. Orthodox the of suspicion religious Leino, Seikkaffliatar,in Koofut teokset,Vol. 12, p.79; 'tuo aito-slaavilaincn

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the community, though his name is well known. He is from a family of rich merchants, feared and hated and with a reputation for being thieves 778 kidnappers. In Shemeikka, Marja recognizes her own passion and 779 is it. towards and propelled When Shekmeikka kisses Marja and awakens her sense of longing he also points out that she does not belong in the local community: 'What are you doing here, in this wretched land, one such 1780He claims that in Karelia 'a woman is a joy not a serp.781 as yOU? Later she is to discover the full deception of these words; when she is forced to remain in his household like a prisoner. Shemeikka persuades Marja that she belongs to him : becauseyour thoughts bum in me and not in him. Becauseyou come from where I come from. And because I do not ask but take without asking, and if you won't come permission, 782 by I force. take willingly, wiU you The theme of belonging and human bonds is central to the tragedy of the love triangle. Juha, true Finnish peasant, has rightful sexual possessionof Marja not becausehe is her husband, but becausehe is human, sensitive. Shemeikka's attraction to Marja is followed by his desire to be alone after intercourse.783 This loss of interest is Aho's approximation to callous repulsion. Marja, pregnant, is forced to stay with Shemeikka against her will, discovering that he maintains a retinue of past lovers. The Karelian way of life, so recently idolized by Finnish writers, is here portrayed as an uncivilized tyranny. Marja finds that all the women are indeed still treated as serfs.784 Aho takes the portrayal of barbaric Russian sexual bonds to its conclusion in his characterization of Anja, another of Shemeikka's former lovers, whose delight how Shemeikka has hit her, and then tells shine eyes with as she 785 Marja's own reaction, her kissed her, cried and asked her forgiveness. rejection of Shemeikka, appears more reasonable but is no less defined
778 ibid., p. 21. ibid., pp. 30-31. 779 ibid, pA2; MitS sini 0511A- tAssAsurkeassa maassa - sernmoinen kuin sins?' 780 ibid., p.42; 'naista ilonaan pitlv5t, ei orJanaan.' 781 ibid., p. 48; sen tdhden, ettA mielesi palaa minussa eiU h3nessA. SentAhden, 782 ettli olet sieltA mistA n-dnA.ja sentAhden, etten ming kysy lupaa, vaan otan kysymAttZi, Jaettl Jos et tule hyvil]S, niin minA vien sinut vAkisin. '

783 784 785

ibid., p.73. ibid., p.123. ibid., p. 124.

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her be her beloved's Her to want pride makes by the rules of possession. has done She In loyalty 786 Her this she what shifts. regrets and only one. 787 have been her Juhas. that child could wishes she moment, Marja escapesfinally and returns to Juha, provoking him to an act hacks he brutally Sherneikka's hand foot. in off and which of revenge from learns Sherneikka. Marja forcibly Juha that was not At this point left him. Juha's Is instantly but act of willingly violence she abducted, look Unable knowledge. he drowns Marja, by to this at invalidated his is MarJa. lies his In final death this rejection of suicide himself, and humble Juha, his failed in sexual possession. compassion the tragedy of humanity, MarJa's forgive for her her him to can perceive which allows but he forgive her the through and pregnancy, cannot rape ,whoredom' is It finally drives him this her to sexuality. which raw own, of exposure is her infidelity. in Marja's not simply nature revealed sexual suicide. is held in Aho's for her TOIst0i's novel accountable in woman work, As by Marja's his own is Juha to ability awaken repelled provocation. for desire his in own power sexual possession. sexuality, animalistic in for Juha's desire the Marja rejoices masculinity and of notices Earlier, blow to Shemeikka is the climax of his new-found 788 Juha's revenge. brings with it emptiness in the knowledge that he it but masculinity, because Marja to she all, went after willingly another possess cannot he is remorseful, but also repelled by the woman Impotent, man. impulse. base his sexual provocateur of Made Public: The judgement Sexuality Pornography Secrecy The of of 6.3 beauty desire to provokes man's woman's possess and of The power desire is partly, at least, inspired by the fear of nature This control. Woman's sexuality unleashed becomes a metaphor for uncontrolled. Though the in craves man civilized vitality embodied social chaos. loss of civilization. These same fears the it threatens woman, literary towards pornography. attitudes characterize In her negative sexuality, woman represented both disease and image of a whore. The understanding of woman's the promiscuity: inherent sexuality as whoredom was a pornography of essential
ibid., p.126. ibid., p.124. ibid., p.162.

786 787 788

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womanhood in a literal sense: it described woman as whore. The for such a depiction gave it an argument artistic or moral criteria however. If it was defensible in its didacticism or aestheticism, it was her be In to study of contemporary pornography obscene. not considered Dworkin defines the distinction: Obscenity is an idea; it requires a judgement of value. Pornography is concrete,"the graphic depiction of whores."789 For literary critics at the turn of the century, the word 'pornographic' for indicated It the judgement that a work was obscene. was a synonym (artistic being shown criterion), and corrupt or corrupting not worthy of (moral criterion). 790 Decadent elements in literature were often judged to be obscene, or in contemporary terminology, pornographic. Many denied decadent, that their work was or refuted the view artists either that decadence was synonymous with pornography. Their moral and based for defence the liberalization from sexual on a claim aesthetic was taboos, mostly concerning women, and the artistic credibility of erotica, mostly in the depiction of women. Those who rejected these arguments (mostly dealf involving themes of sexuality charged writers who with women) with creating pornography.
6.3.1 The Moral and Aesthetic Debate: Russia

In Russia, the accusation of creating pornography was levelled most vociferously at Artsybashev's widely-read and influential novel Sanin (1907, Sanine. A Russian Love Novel, 1915). The novel exposes the discusses It the educated classes. of sexual social relationships sexual and perversity such as sadism and incest with an unprecedented frankness. Generally considered a vulgarization of Dostoevskii's psychological explorations of the baser human instincts, the style and content of the for became a yard-stick measuring the pornographic element in novel Russian literature. One of the novel's many damning critics was Gippius. She attacked the author for his total lack of communion with

789 Dworkin, Pornography, p.9. Dworkin points out that theseare the two meaningsin the etymology of the word 790 'obscene'. Seeibid., p.9-

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for Gippius ideals, was an aesthetic, which as well as a moral, spiritual 791 in art. criterion The characterization of Sanin himself, who sees nothing wrong in indulgence, details fantasy the hedonistic and sexual of erotic were a book The that the the to was obscene. view novel was charged central justification for theme that lacking this could moral act as any sort with fact In the novel contains a very strong condemnation of erotica. of is in relations which not far removed from the male-female hypocrisy Voskresenie. Tolstoi's Where Sanin in differs is In that condemnation it includes none of Tolstoi's struggle towards chastity. Quite the instincts demands it the acceptance of sexual as a natural contrary, behaviour. This human by view was upheld of many element lies free love It basis Gorkii's the the movement. at of of supporters female taboo the sexuality. of of refutations While Gor'kii's portrayals of sensual vitality celebrate the Artsybashev forces the nature, confronts uncorrupted of innocence of Sanin does desire recognition. cynical with not lack a moral and human but its it in sexual content, was viewed as obscene argument aesthetic its literary in It blatant it too argument. was a parallel to the because was by the growing eye-sore represented of prostitution, pornography social Russian towns. the streets of on too visible all As for eroticism, the novel's explicit sexual fantasy is actually in the third chapter, where a Sadeian image of to scene one limited 792 in is JUStl, The contained one sentence. paragraph in -cruelty and the image explains occurs this this meaning sentence of which desire to possess the expectedly the male as uneuphernistically 793 The image is a mental fantasy of body woman. a of submissive despicable libertine is little intellectual a as portrayed with who Sarudin, The here is selfish personality. malicious, a argument and capacity dominance kind the by requires which sexuality of the of woman against in The fact in sexual gratification. that the violent particularly Inan, is but mentioned specifically the as not only woman pure fantasy
Artsybashev in 'Mikhail Pachmuss, the Zinaida Temira See criticism of 791 Review, Vol. European 44,1966, East 76-87). (Slavonic and pp. Gippius' WC=KOCTH-. 19W; 25; Berlin, 'cnaAocrpacTHoA Sanin, p. Artsybashev, M. 792 Sarudin, The how 'this 24-25. intelligent, character, predicts ibid., proud, pp. 793 lie beneath him, like he the do girl will all others, young and will well-read pure and mHcTu I, did he her, C3*m to the all he wanted to others' as ropux, ymmaA, anything HHM, KaK H BCAKaA 6Y; H OH T2K
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intelligent and well-read, recalls Tolstoi's point that women's education will not change male attitudes about women as sexual property. Artsybashev's novel takes this point even further. The author demonstrates that men, no matter what their level of morality or intelligence, are in a position to exploit women by virtue of the social 794 structure.

Occurring early in the novel, the details of Sarudin's fantasy descriptiveness is, however, which not repeated. promise pornographic The nature of sexual imagery in its pornographic, erotic, or even is a question of personal judgement and taste. It naturalist quality cannot be denied that Sarudin's sadistic fantasy contains familiar pornographic motifs. But so does the association of violence, murder and putrefaction with woman's sexuality, also a Sadeian feature, which late in Tolstoi's work. proliferates With both authors, the imagery is central to the moral messagein In uniquely their work, and therefore arguably not gratuitous. descriptive terms, the sexual imagery of woman in Sanin is far less graphic or eroticized than Tolstoi's. Men, experiencing lustful feelings, see real or imagined women as 'beautiful', 'shapely and strong', with a 'full bosom', 'round, sleek shoulders, 'nimble hands, slim legs', and ,full, luscious lipS'.795 In Tolstoi's work, woman's body is a picture of 796 It lust provoking morbidity and violence by virtue of its existence. diseased. both sensuous and appears In Sanin the view of the female form is prosaic even by the day. is its in It the attitude of the the at most shocking of standards lecherous Voloshin: 'the most important thing in woman is the bosom.'797 Violence against women in Tolstoi is directed in a specifically has linked Dworkin depictions to in an element which sexual way, 798 less is Tolstoi no graphic than Artsybashev. commercial pornography.

See particularly Kreitserova sonata, Otets Sergii (1911, Father Sergius, 1959), 796 Diavol' (1911, The Devil, 1985), Fransuaza (1891, FranCoise, 1906) and Voskresenie. ibid., p. 204; camoernaBHOe 797 B WeHIUHHe - 3m rpyA&'

794 It can be noted that this is CantWs radical argument too, although she favours Tolstoyan chastity rather than liberal morals as a solution. Like many women writers, shewas consciousof the conflict betweenthe ideal of free love and the sexualdoublestandard, expressedfor example in her story Salakari. Artsybashev,op. 795 AeBKS, p. 164;'nO. UHaA H CRnhHaq', cit., e.g. p.107;'KpaCHBM p.47; PYKH, CTPOrIHHBIR 116, 'rHdKHC 6eApa, fBucoKyio rpyxW.'xpyrjiE-ie p.166; iH',p. rroKmie rrjie,, 'nyxn7ue cotmiue ry6bi.

798

Dworkin, Intercourse, p-23-

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The Sarudin fantasy is the single explicit image In the novel. imagines SanirVssister, Lida, He

lying on the ground; he heard the slash of a whip; he observed a blood red stripe on the soft, nude submissive body. 7" In Voskresenie a female prisoner remembers her husband: Molod,6nkov was drunk and for a joke had dabbed vitriol on the her body spot of and then roared with laughtLr most sensitive her his 8W in they as watched mates writhe agony. with female mutilated of genitalia combined with male The suggestion bonding is at least as powerful a pornographic image as flagellation, and imaginative. The is because It is scenario more more vivid a probably fiction of real experience,not a fantasy. Moreover, veiled details, rather biological fact, in description sexual than unembellished are a common 801 The use of euphemism, 'the most for titillation. device achieving heightens her body', tension. sexual of spot sensitive Thus aesthetically, as well as morally, Sanin fails to live up to its What in Sanin is was considered obscenity. obscene of a reputation reversal of contemporary values about normal and abnormal sexual Sanin's includes incestuous This for his admiration sister, motivation. her (which to this over response confusion Lida's own she fears and yet finds interesting), the suggestion of woman's sexual self-awareness In SaniiVs female indifference and most of all, characters, cynical to several The becomes erotic motherhood. element and pornography pregnancy dimension because the is unacceptable. social and moral here does lack Sanin not a moral code. Sanin does not harm Artsybashev's his Sarudin, defends sister, condemns is and reciprocity anyone, fulfilment. His his lies to in he of sexual view amorality that essential
7"
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WymH, 6011H. ' oHa KOPqHnaC]6 To KaK, Orr Ha rnxAx TonapH=mH, functions, Roland the Barthes, his in striptease of way analysis points out the 801 (decor, body disguise, the naked exotic it mystifying scanty to turn clothing) of necessity This 'voyeurs' element makes of sex. of the spectators, who watch'in a into a spectacle fear, or rather on the pretence of fear, a If eroticism here based on went sense a spectacle delicious terror, whose ritual signs have only to be announced to than of further a sort no its ' Roland idea Mythologies, Barthes, the conjuration. of sex and trans. once at evoke (1957), 1973 London, Lavers, p-91Annette

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does not respect the social standard which governs relationships. When his sister finds she is pregnant as a result of Sarudin's seduction, he for is her but he himself does not that this realizes unfortunate sake, 802 her actions shameful. consider The novel draws a clear distinction betwen the hedonistic liberalism of Sanin, and the liberal exploitation of Sarudin. Sarudin's fantasy and actions are portrayed as wilful perversion. He is not excused by even that almost subliminal suggestion of diminished responsibility implicit in the drunkenness of Tolstoi's MolodL:; nkov as he mutilates his wife (only 'for a joke'). Unlike the sadism of Sarudin's fantasy, Sanin's feelings for his incestuous sister include no actual sexual vague, imagery. 803 The charge of obscenity lies in the idea of sexual indecency implicit, not explicit, in these sexual patterns. Incest, widely accepted as because in is the the author appears to be obscene novel unnatural, indifferent to it. Tolstoi's aversion for the female form and the sexual act, by contrast, is accepted as natural and even moral because in his he condemns sexual promiscuity. repulsion Tolstoi's revulsion for woman maintains the social convention of in and of private personalized male possession woman, marriage and motherhood, as the correct one. Artsybashev uses the theme of incest as double-standards. is It to an extreme motif which moral a challenge female between the and male natural sexual attraction regardless asserts issue Artsybashev takes conventions. not with that attraction, social of as Tolstoi does, but with what action men and women take, sanctioned by society, given that the attraction exists. The novel shows that Sarudin's immorality is abusive and exploitative of women, but by in allows which pornography social convention, secret. In protected fantasy his has Sarudin about Lida. In secret, he can sadist's secret, Voloshin Sarudin Lida. In and exchangeerotic tales about secret, seduce

women:
They did not like woman, were not grateful to her for the pleasure humiliate but insult to them, the sex, strove merely and she gave to inflict upon it indescribable pain.804
802 Artsybashev, op. cit., p.153. ibid., e.g. p.56- He exclaimsto her that she is 'a beauty' (KpacaBHua), 803 and she is confusedby his gaze. WeHIIIHHY, He (SjiaroAapHIIH3a He J110(SHJJH 804 - ibid.,p.205;'OHH HaCJIa)KAeee AaHHhIC rHYCHYIO H HerrepeAaBaemyjo HHA, a CTaPaJIHCh YHH3HTh H ocKopdHTh ee,ITPHTIHHHTh camym 6on&' This observationis extremelyradical. Eventoday,men who produceand consume because do they'love' women. they so pornography claim

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both the scenario of pornography, of social This is an accurateparallel in the prostitution and rape), and of women (watching possession fantasy (male Both the of sexual possession of women). metaphorical forms hidden from take place public view: metaphorical and social Sanin from shocks the critics and the collectively. hidden women he because his his in the to openly admits novel, attraction characters his This is to other women. attraction as not only public sister, as well blatantly he believes He is felt by all depersonalized. what expresses but far in Sanin too the for revealing goes male sexual women. all men in by At Russia time a society. when prostitution cultivated arrogance Artsybashev's increasingly uncontainable, novel and the became Prostitution longer it attitudes. contemporary to no mirrored reaction by in Sanin It to in and women was exposed particular. operated secret. because its of erotica, not which obscene was mundane, considered was lacked It it the argument, which because was a moral not case. was nor its because themes too and erotic moral exposed, obscene considered impersonally, the realitiesof male sexualpossession. blatantly and In the major work of the period on the pornographic aspect of S. Novopolin, draws by G. the decadence author a revealing Russian Sanin and Turgenev's Bazarov. For Artsybashev's between parallel in heroes' these two there a relative morality exists Novopolin Like Bazarov,Sanin views to 'biological' woman. approach respective 'a 'some kind physiological process', as of chemical attraction romantic however exercisesa certain discretion in his 805 Bazarov reaction'. Moreover he has host's his the taste maidservant. to good of seduction he trifles between the woman with and the woman he distinguish 'He life-long fall in love companion: could a only as with would want Novopolin's In is justification in 1806 there view a woman. intelligent an he 'moral'. In Bazarov's calls to which response attitude 13azarov's Turgenev the traditional actually maintains sexuality, role and women his sexual urges, personal in his in discreet Bazarov, of women. for one woman, a woman who representsthe old world desire ultimate threat to the still he against, poses no stands system nihilist of a as which Bazarov'shuman tragedy at the end of the book Indeed possession. failure to possess that woman. Sanin lacks thesequalities, his in resides
8()5 literature, St Petersburg, Pornograficheskii element Novopolin, v russkoi GS. 806 'OH mor (SbI rTOJI106HTh TOJI16KOYMHYIO. )KCHUIHHY: 190, p.130,
153; 'H3HojiorHqeCKHVI p. ibid., rrpOU=', 'MYM-TO XHMH%IeCKylo peaxUlild.

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and admits too bluntly the nature of the male sexual prerogative. Novopolin does not decry the principle of the male attitude common to Bazarovand Sanin,but the franknessof Sanin'sindifference. 807
6.3.2The Moral and Aesthetic Debate:Finland Finland lacked a body of 'hard-core' decadent writers of the type identified by Novopolin's study. In view of this, the debate over largely directed towards the Russian literary scene. pornography was Novopolin's work is based on lectures he gave in 1907-08when he felt that the pornographic genre had reached 'the zenith of its development'. 808 In 1908, in the Helsinki journal Argus, Russian literature was described as suffering from a 'pornographic epidemic'.809 In a two-part article Georg Erastoff discussesthe work of a number of authors who also appear in Novopolin's book, such as Artsybashev, Kuzmin and Kamenskii. He also argues that Andreev's work lies dangerously on the fringes between pessimism and decadence. Erastoff denounces the term 'decadent' as a euphemism for 'calculated eroticism and at times simply artistic pornography'. 810 The question of pornography penetrating the realm of belles lettres provokes similar fears of blatancy. It is the confrontation with woman as a sexual being which seems to repel the writer. The article classifies anonymous tales for titillation and Sade's republished memoirs alongside theoretical behaviour, sexual all seen as part of a common phenomenon works on depravity: tendency to a which reveals licentiousness is draped these days in the transparent mantle of "popular science". A limitless amount of publications such as the following have begun to appear: "The history of prostitution in Europe", "Sexual psychopathy", "The physiology of sexuality", "Woman's physical world". 811

807 ibid., seehis argument pp.127-130. ibid., p.6, 'B 3eHHW cBocro Pa3BHTHA'. 808 809 Georg Erastoff, 'Erotism i dekadensi Rysslandslitteratur' (Argus,no.15,1908, p.1); 'porriograffika epiden-d'. ibid, p.l; 'pl f6muftet grundad erotism och stundom helt enkelt kontsnirlig 810 pomografi'. ibid., p.1; 'sA draperar sig Aven vAr tids tygell6shet i "vetenskapens 811 I ha b6rjat ofantlig mantel. n-dngd utkonuna genomskinliga populariserings" historia f6ljande: "Prostitutionenes i Europa", Wnslig psykopati", publikationer sorn Wnsklirlekens fysiologi", "Kvinnans fysiska vSrld".'

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history 'the happy is to least, note, of a courtisan's the author At 'sort be 'in to a of official closed packet', curtsey sent a would underwear' 812 The the indicating the with of work. problem nature morality' is by that the: literature' contrast, ,artistic is In the concealed of eroticism spectre most careful monstrous fashion: thanks to the names of the authors, to the elevated and beautiful style and sometimes even thanks to an exalted tendentiousness.1813
Whether or not the author is correct in this last assessment is not issue his 'absolutism' is. For the but over of sexuality important, information includes about the conditions of Erastoff pornography female knowledge Although he Is of sexuality. medical and prostitution fortunate 'closed a solution,, allowing some packet' appears ironict the it is By that the contrast, worth recalling respectability. of semblance is their from gender's sexual exploitation of a reccurrent women secrecy Canth, is denial Talvio the in and as the of of woman's work theme L Onerva. In Finland, the preservation of in the identity of work sexual have demanded to seems purity aesthetic rigorous and moral society's self-censorship. The dangers of creating a divisive portrayal of female sexuality from in Jdrnefelt's the the to period response early short evident were The Maria. Pekka 1897, novel provoked great public outrage, as novel of demons 814 The tra tes. contemporary reviews of I-Viklils assessment Maria, Jesus. the the character of on mother of novel concentrates is but Maria serious-minded meek, virgin, no an attractive, pirnefelt's likes have the company of men and may who even a woman, spirited She is pregnant but does not want towards promiscuity. tendency from her Eventually, Joseph's public saves arrival shame. children and by inspired Joseph, she awakening adopts celibacy. spiritual a through The novel tries to deal with the ever-present problem of human Jdrnefelt had the of abstinence. morality instinct previously and sexual Puhtauden ihanne the same subject, on theoretical work a published
kUTtisans 'i 'ett 'historien pantalonger', 1; slutet paket', om en 5 ags ibid., p. 812 f6r den officiella moralen!. Inigning litteraturen', 'Erotisms konstnirligen Wir 'den 1; Sr vidunderliga ibid., spOke p. 813 f6rfattames fortnens det medels sitt: namn, genom ornsorgsfulla mest nuskerat pA Sven ' tendens. genom en upph6id stundom och Sdelhetoch sk6nhet hfinen ldhimaailmansa, ja Idmefelt Helsinki, Arvid 1955, 303. HSkli, pp. Pekka 814 09.

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(1897,'Ideal of purity'), which discussedissues such as masturbation and prostitution. However this work, didactic in style, provoked very little reaction. The ideology expressed in both works is consciously reminiscent of Tolstoi's asceticism, though with a more sympathetic view of the human weakness of sexual instinct. The main objection to the novel Maria was its portrayal of the mother of Christ as a woman with sexual desires. Critics described her as 815 least having This criticism the as makings of a whore. a whore or at blasphemy. Jdrnefelt's Maria uniquely an accusation of religious was not is too reminiscent of ordinary woman. The characterization of Maria is not sufficiently distant from Finnish identity. She is not larger than life, distanced by an exotic setting of remote time or place, despite the nor obvious context of the biblical tale. In the novel Pirnefelt tries to convey the impression of a historical reality, not a miracle or myth. In this way he seeks to convey the human dimension of sexuality as well as the accessibility, on a realistic level, of sexual restraint. The depiction of inclination to sexual enjoyment in such a realistic context, womants despite the obvious symbolic function of that context, was not acceptable. Objectors to the novel saw not a parallel, but a contradiction between the morality expressed in Maria and that in Puhtauden ihanne. Reeni Roine's review of the novel reveals the mentality of selfcensorship. He complains specifically about the passageswhich describe Maria's passionate nature. In Roine's view the only explanation for such description is that the author: has committed a sin in his imagination and presented the monstrosity of his imaginings for the public to admire. But he done have this. It would have been appropriate for should not Mr j1rnefelt to have covered himself with a sack and placed ashes his head 816 it in than told this others about on rather way. jdrnefelt and his publishing company received so many letters of complaint that the author was obliged to publish a defence of his novel's 817 focus issue The the of was Maria's conscioussexuality, moral outlook.
ibid., p.306. 815 ibid., pp3O4-05;'on n-delikuvituksessaan tehnyt lankeemuksenja esittSnyt 816 kuvittelujensa epAsiki6n julkisuuteen ihailtavaksi. Mutta t5mS olisi saanut olla tekemlitti. Hra jSmefeltin olisi ollut johdonmukaista pukeutua sAkkiin ja panna tuhkaa kertomaan. ' Note the use of the tissS muodossa muille siitA pSSnsS p551leeikS ruveta ('monstrosity) which literally means 'non-foetus'. word epdsikiU ibid., p3O8. 817

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intrinsic her jalirnefelt's definition by of prostitute. nature meant which brother pointed out that the author could have satisfied the public and by birth Christ In the his of portraying about greater modesty point made have 818 This preserved the public desire for decency and Maria. would good taste.

The same moral and aesthetic attitude about woman's secret in to is the to the another response novel shock evident public sexuality despite decade later, liberal the more a over atmosphere of and the critics Onerva's Mirdia L. novel was one of the most the post-1905period. because its its day of ostensibly of pornographic works controversial The the that against charge author was main she revealed content-819 life hidden. discussing By should remain which aspect of woman's life, in themselves and protagonist author alike put a sexual woman's is have Woman to not supposed any knowledge of dubious context. identity of woman is revealed only In the because that identity sexual but in decent To never prostitutes, of society. reveal observation secret is the to therefore reveal prostitute. the sexualself The expressionof sexualidentity is thus an admission of sexual To is the the the to author. exhibit of prostitute part on immorality is But if it is pornography permissible produce pornography. by Written L. Onerva's have in a man, novel would maintained secret. knowledge female from of sexuality, special gleaned portrayed man's have been. This is it is women not respectable where where thoseplaces life in the or emotional psychological not of woman, which to exist, seen love. Only it is does it to when romantic corrupt go stretches only beyond this. Women writers directly confront the notion of their own image fundamentally In Mirdia, L. Onerva obscene. as explores sexuality and The length. in fact has theme the less main of novel at criteria aesthetic freedom than The to with woman's relationship do art. sexual with to layer has this because to the tended obscure of the work of content sexual life 11irdja's is critics. and essentiallya processof interestsof reviewers L. Onerva's to certain extent a reflects and own self-discovery artistic her 820 how to More talents. channel creative over confusion identity in relation it the of woman's problem artistic raises significantly
306. ibid., p. 818 223Viimeiset p. romantikot, Sarajas, 819 29-33. The author describesL Eldmdn pdivd, pp. Nieminen, punainen R. 820 her for herself to and gift music, poetry, acting and painting. Onerva's attempts analyze

284 to social expectations. Mirdja first struggles with her role as performer, then-her role as muse, and finally her role as an objectified image.

Mirdja is of the artist-wanderer type in her approach to her her home though an absence of a sense of stems more environment, from an inability to integrateherself in societythan a longing to travel. However she has also inherited the soul of her mother, 'a stranger..a 821 Mirdja travelling rebelsagainstestablished singer'. social wanderer,a is Her institutions custom. and rebellion a process of and religious finding her 'self' beneath the layers of 'civilization', which centres on is The theme used in the manner of symbolist moral moral attitudes. division focused between in Finland the on church and writing which personalmorality in an attempt to analyzethe individuall creative Will. In L. Onerva'snovel, woman's searchfor her creativeidentity provides the deeper significance of the series of romantic affairs which trace Mirdja's psychologicaldevelopment. Love was a central theme in the expressionof artistic unity, particularly in the French symbolism from her Onerva L. took major influence. As well as Mirdja's which from her instincts inherited importance the mother, rebellious of the theme of art in the novel is evinced by her environment, which frequented by L. Onerva and the and salons world of caf6s reproduces In the turn the at century. addition to this, aspectsof artists of other Mirdja's artistic experienceare signalled by the musical motifs which head eachchapterand recur through the versesections of the novel. Mirdja struggles with her identity as a woman exploited and forms first in The ideal in art. part of the novel projected various introduces her struggle with her role as a myth figure through in Nfirdja's is This in the relationships explored with men performance. first In the chapter, she is rehearsing the role of second part. Shakespeare's Juliet, while Rolf, her only loyal friend throughout the bayadere, be her declares to an Indian temple dancer, by a novel, instinct.822 At the age of fifteen, Mirdja believesin Shakespeare's Juliet In following the the art's purity. of section, she manifestation as 'performs' various roles in her relationships with men, which always impose an ideal on her behaviour. The ideal finally submergesher identity as a woman, until she is a shadow image within the male
821 L. Onerva,Mirdia, Keuruu, 1982,p.124;'muukalainen kiertSjA, maantielaulajatar'. ibid., p.31; 'bajadeeri'. 822

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is 'MadrigaV, love. The the novel second of part entitled a concept of function female in Its The the to creative etymology. points word which liaison, described In terms. are a romantic musical each short chapters, develops first Mirdja tries the a new out role which In each story, her lover image Mauri her impose tries to when as muse, of projection her For loses Its their the relationship. on affair eternity conditions of herself in hands for 'She this because ten years as a an man! s saw beauty following Over '823 discovers the stories she guinea-pig. a experiment-as how her lover based herself her. for She is on sees a sister various roles in being immoral to a whore order woman, escape a prude. an mercy, of ideals into Morpheus, through sleep and turns offering Gradually she final love her, in her the the and to story, men who relationship dream dilemma. her He her. 'they to that says explicit say makes painter with a 'they do to that do which she answers: say souls' you not spare not you is but Mirdja bodies, '824 that the exactly why you are artist even spare ... in his is 'the an of artist' rare nature words, at which point by contrast demand it is Nothin& 825 What of a woman? you or at most she rebels. yourself-'826 of rellection a

Mirdja's experience eventually leads her to isolation abroad, image Madonna the the the and significance of as considers she when She identification ideal. Madonna the seeks with an on embodiment of intervention but the of a man as she admires the statue terms, her own 827 image. that The the Madonna corruption of Crivelli marks by her to turns Medusa stone as she struggles with man's and becomes both By Madonna the saint and as whore. the the end of novel of vision from her dependent image in finds escape no creation. At first Mirdja her in found has Runar, equality relationship with she who she thinks demanded her having beauty for her. But not of at the is an exception fulfilled her function. has has She life her reproductive not she end of feels her she art the simultaneously was ultimately and no child, walker. street a of performance

kisiss3 kymmenen itsensd koetuon 'HSn 53; miehen ibid., naki vuotta p. 823 ' esineenl-koe-eldimend. kerrotaan, 'ja kerrotaan, 'teisti teist! 99; slist! sieluia', ettette ibid., ettette p. 824 te taiteilija... olettekin siksi mutta ruumiitakaan, gstji edes S, harvinainen taiteilijaluonne'. 'te 100; ibid., olette p. 825 Ette korkeintaan 'MitA te tai naiselta? mitHn, vaaditte ibid., p-100; 826 ' itsestinne. heijastuksen 147. ibid., p. 827

286 L. Onerva.was acutely aware of the sexual aspectof symbolist conceptsof beauty. She raises the point of the division between the beauty her the the of muse and real life image mental abstraction of identified with sin. The man who interrupts Mirdja as which becomes beauty image Madonna-like Crivelli's comments: 'God of she admires Crivelli in ' is decadent that to say Mirdja than creating you, was a greater 828 The pornography implicitly herself, the female form in the flesh. imposed on the physical image of woman is also present in her own body her in in 829 Part 1 the the naked mirror of of novel. contemplation (both her She finds her image beautiful, but her sexual self-awareness beauty her desire have her her yearningsfor pleasure in to and pleasure her images death. in She ponders the mind provokes of satisfied) 830 her lover. Her subsequent dream expresses recent potential suicide of a social and moral rebuke to her desire to share actively in what is usually a masculine domain, with the consumption of alcohol as a 831 in moreoverthat the symbol of sexualpatterns society. Shesuggests healthier for be the man. Woman's duty is to element of sharing will deny herselfboth sex and alcohol,and to refrain from 'tempting' man to does by her she participation. Thus Mirdja's nakedness either, which despair over its inevitable obscenity,both as provokes a subconscious in the relationshipof her beautywith death,and as aestheticdegeneracy in the accusation of sinfulnessin her dream. moral degeneracy In the year beforethe novel'spublication,Leino'sMaan parhaat(1907, 'The land's best') appeared,describing the masculineproblem of being able to enjoy a sexualencounterwith a woman who was not respectable, but being unable to do so with a respectable woman. Leino may have been accusedof an immoral and bohemian life-style, but despite his treatment of sexuality and even sexual perversity in his work, he was by Written to a man, L. Onervats not considered producepornography. novel would have been a 'closed packet', hidden from women not because they would not be allowed to read it, but because they would have no right to commenton it without compromisingthemselves.For female issue her to the sexuality of meant a woman address own experienceof it, and this knowledge was unacceptable. Men had the
828 ibid., p.148;'Jurnalaon ollut suurempi dekadentti kuin Crivelli luodessaan teidAt. ' ibid., p-41829 ibid., p.41. 830 ibid., p.42 831

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because here, their not sexual urge considered only was prerogative have brothels image in to but could access woman's men only normal, For Identified to sexual self-knowledge reveal woman and pornography. her with her image as men saw her when they were able to make use of inner 'sexual' Identity by male The treatment of woman's her sexually. by applauded critics as perceptive, sensitivc generally was authors L. Onerva's Mirdia female Is psychology. neither erotic nor accounts of but like Artsybashev's Sanin it code, goes too far for lacks a moral Subjective in blatant sexuality a views. woman, and contemporary feared be ipso, facto to male, was specific pornography. independent of a Quality Feminine Given Image the the of Obscenity as 6.4 in between line the representation of fine pornography art and The Serebrianyi in Belyi's is the conveyed golub" where succinctly woman book bearing fig-leaf has a of verse a published on the cover hero, a poet, flancdeas a naked goddess: his describing and it was the fruit of the poet's inspiration, he argued, and the just but in not naked women, were goddesses... question women A goddessor a woman, it is all one. Who were those goddessesof They if doubt were women not women? without a and antiquity 832 besides. dubious quality of a in the in her the once again question nature of puts muse This remark femaleness. Her goddess-like role threatens madness and death if It furthermore the artist's psyche, there within too and powerful becomes in her is identified nature she when 'dubious quality' specifically as is a The deterioration than mental and goddess. physical woman rather feminine dominance is, logically, at its by a principle the of caused divorced from masculinity: that in principle of the embodiment extreme herself. woman The essenceof corruption which is perceived in the living image by in It is all works male many authors. consists of a evident woman of dangerous, is by female the which or evil conveyed eroticism, sinister is into living transformed the muse In woman at symbolist works form.
Golub', in lzbrannaia proza, P22; 'OrTaBA16man: njiOAOM Serebrianyi Belyi, 832 6orHHH... Ww, a Ho, CnPOIUY A, KaKaA T2KaA pa3HRUa ronbie nHHn ile He 13AOXHOBeHHA BorHHA (Wofi? JIH. (WaaH - DCC OAHO: KCM We, KaK He 6aamil. 6omeri a H AexM ? Ba6WH, 6101H. 6orHHH H rrpHTom naKOCTHOrO CBOAC7Ma: caMH npeElHOCTH
,

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the moment when her erotic beauty is earthly rather than divine. The heavenly muse falls to earth, comes alive, takes shape, to find herself a female form 833 is impure This the of quality a constant. erotic whore. The image of woman can be used symbolically to convey moral and becomes image The degeneracy. of woman pornographic per aesthetic image be in This the of woman can physical used to association se. degeneracy herself impression is even of when woman convey an be does be to there to In need not visible as other words, woman absent. a whore. There are several contexts in which corruption is suggested by a female form, is divorced the apparently of which pornography symbolic from real, living woman. This is a common attitude in the toleration of images in belief In the that the pornography are not real pornography. in but if they that they are not real situations, acting, the are women, or believed is have female form little to to the to eroticism convey use of do with real women's experience. The pornography of the female form is a mask, and is recognizable as a mask, unreal, and therefore cannot (masculinist) society's perception of real woman. The use possibly affect of such masks in Finnish and Russian writing at the turn of the century demonstrates rather the reverse. In order to convey eroticism, female form is degenerate the essential precisely eroticism, particularly because the figure of woman, not heavenly abstract beauty but the real blood, is flesh inherently form perceived as and of physical degenerate The the the the more woman, more visible pornographic. by The of male writers will a number of works examination eroticism. female is image how the used as a mask of pornography. As a reveal (1907) how Eriika Jotuni's this process show will story counterbalance, directly affects woman's experienceof her projected image. 6.4.1The Mask of Pomography In Linnankoski's play Ruinen taistelu, the author uses a number of 'masked' men and women to represent the spirits of Lucifer tempting Cain to commit an act of evil. In his study of the work, Werner S8derhjelm describes the scene as the temptation of Cain by Lucifer's 'mostly female servants representing different types of vices, recalling

833

As seenin the previous chapter.

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834 Inferno'. S6derhjelm draws Dante's thus attention to the perhaps female rather than the male spirits in his desire to convey both evil and implicit female in form the since our knowledge of temptation, qualities Eve. S6derhjelm is actually mistaken however. Linnankoskils spirits by both dominated in fact in in lines men number and number of of are dialogue-M
to say whether S6derhjelm has been revealingly inobservant or observant in his remark. It is true that Linnankoski has bias for image a woman shown as an of evil. What he not numerically has done, however, is to create a visually more charismatic and in female image the The of sensuality spirits. spirits are emphatic described, with their gender specified, in the stage direction footnotes of Act 1. Some of the men as well as the women have visually dramatic fiery figure the as red and such yellow of the male costumes, Tulipunainen, whose name means crimson and who represents 'Hate' 836 Nevertheless, imagery is the 'Anger'. women's visually arresting or female In the sensual manner. in a specifically spirit who has the most lines (and therefore stage presence) of all the spirits, Linnankoski deliberately plays on a familiar image of sexually related, female evil and Titi Liero, The Eve. character who represents 'Treachery', temptation: 837 body. head Her name also includes a and a serpent's has a woman's Uiero). The other female spirit with a central stage to a worm reference function represent smouldering, Hekumatar., is whose name and role is described as 'a young, magnificent woman almost She Lust. sexual her knees like down hair 838 to In Act a 2 holds goWn'. with she naked dance These and song. a are the two most dominant the stage with female spirits. The third, without physical description, is Repokorva 839 'Curiosity'. (-Fox-ear') representing it is difficult

LinnankosAiJohannes finsk S6derhjelm, diklarprofil, Werner Helsingfors, en &34 kvinnliga tiansteandar, 'mest 62; representerande olika slagsodygder, n-UhSnda 1918,p. Inferno'. frAn Dantes med pan-dnnelse have fifty-seven lines between them, and There spirits male who seventeen are 835 lines. forty-five Two female female, characters, with one spirits male and one eight indicates but the that they are the same. They are have two context names to seem Punakeltainen, Hekun-tatar is to as and referred who who is called Tulipunainen, her dance. during a performance of song and Apilankukka in Vol. Ikuinen taistelu, 1, 46; Viha,. Linnankoski, op. cit., p. 836 'Kavaluus'. 45; ibid., p. 837 'nuori, ihana 'Sukuhimo', hiuket ibid., nainen, miltei pA6; alaston, ulottuvat 838 tavoin'. vaipan aina polviin 'Uteliaisuus'. 45; ibid., p. 839

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While the female figures signify Treachery, Lust and Curiosity, the male spirits who dominate the Act represent Pride, Conceit, Doubt, Hate, and Blasphemy. The pointedly sensual female presence therefore her Eve in the of characteristics role as the temptation to the embodies Fall. The male spirits reflect the elements of Cain's defiance of God's his his determination to perform own act of creation by will and inventing fire. More than simply muse to Cain's idea in this case, the feminine element is used to suggest the appeal of evil. The male spirits female dialogue, impression the the the visual command on stage. It is through the implication of an inherent pornography of the female form that evil becomes fused with desire (eroticism). It is this which S6derhjelm notices, whether intentionally or not. Thus he concludes that Lucifer's evil spirits are 'mostly female', a statement which is misleading, technically and literally, but then again not, metaphorically. The female form in Ruinen taistelu is a metaphor for evil. It both provokes and symbolizes Cain's moral and creative degeneracy. In Linnankoski's play, the feminine form exists as a supernatural image, which is distinguishable from the image of 'real' woman. The characters of Eve and Ada in the play are common stereotypes of ordinary, invisible woman: mother and wife respectively. In Sologub's bes, Melkii and Blok's drama Roza i Krest (1912,The Roseand the novel Cross, 1986) the authors use the idea of the feminine image to eroticize, in degenerateform, a masculine subject. Sologub does so literally with a does by image The be found Blok in male and so analogy. can mask, but image aggressor, also not simply as woman's as an pornography of however in itself. invariably Almost the sensualization of sensuality the masculine form where it is portrayed as the object of lust requires effeminization. Only this evokes the negative entity of lust unleashed. The positive, subjective role in the sex act, signifying control, agression, healthy sexual need is marked by male virility. In Russian literature, several male protagonists who suffer from spiritual weakness (inability to take subjective control) also display feminine features in their becomes Where that a parasitical sensuality, there is weakness physique. an emphasis on stereotypical characteristicsassociatedwith women. One example of this can be found in Blok's play Roza i Krest, in Aliscan, is Izora's the the page of young who characterization which lover, develops the impression of pornographic sensuality. The union between Aliscan and Izora represents artistic and spiritual emptiness.

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Aliscant image of constant sensuality, reflects Izora's final descent Into but is Rose, beauty Izora the symbol of also ancient Christian carnality. for In Cross, the searching carnality. symbol of true art and of symbol dangers love, the against struggles she of carnal excess inherent In true her womanhood. By the end of the play she has failed. She rejects the dreams and phantoms of song (her muse-like relationship to poetry), hands Aliscan's lips, him telling earthly and that: and craves Never before did your face Bum with such radiant beauty.840 Throughout the play Aliscan contrasts with the masculine figures Gaetan is Bertrand. the Gaetan and genuine artist, whose advanced of detract from does his it danger not the virility, removes although age, of 'base manly beauty'841 Bertrand embodies faithful love, his physical his by knightly his 842 exploits The enhanced with sword. presence is Aliscan. in his indulgence of in his conveyed sensuality unhealthy for form, Blok feminine delicacy which uses stereotypes physical of own imagery. In in Act 4 Scene 1, phallic a monologue with combined Aliscan reflects: Should fingers as slender as these Encircle a lance's rough shaft? No, I was bom for other things! In fortunate Arras, they say, Men are more gracious and manners more eleganti( Their ladies are skilled in courtly love!843 his in looks the pool, and continues: reflection at Aliscan These lips' tender curve Is like Cupid's bow Or the scarlet lips of Isaure... Must I hide them under a mask of iron? Shall the rude iron of a sword's hilt Be permitted to mar this rosy nail?
840 ' roPHT. version of plays
841

Blok, Roza i Krest, in op-cit., p. 241; 'B r1epBEaft pa3 MOR Kpacorroft / ITHK TDOR Translation of this and all subsequent quotations from the play are from the in Michael Green, ed. and trans., The Russian Symbolist Theatre: An Anthology 1986, Ann Arbor, Texts, Critical pp-59-107. and
ibid., p. 205; 'HH3KOR MYXCCKOIO KPWOR'.

842 843
]JeT, He

) /, UAMbI 3HaI0`T HaYKY YVrHBOA 3110(SBHI' ( KPaCHBeA1 ... TOH16UIe H MoAbj

ibid., e.g. pp. 179-80where he is shown to be brave and loyal. '3THM JIH ry6oe xpaCHBbIM CXHMM ZpeBXO KOHbX? ibid., ppI24-25; nanuxam Ha To x POXIXCHI -/ KyAa, rOBOPAT, 13C'qWrNHBom Appace Be*ixmtBejjnjoajt. C)156maH

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Nol For me, other men, other mannersThen many a nightingale-haunted night Would I pass with Isaure amid rosesj..844

The use of the mirror motif, an element of sexual eye-symbolism, is literature in the of this period to mark a woman's sexual widespread discovery. Aliscan is explicitly identified not only with the feminine, but with Izora herself. At the end of Scene3 he says to her: A love sick Narcissus In your eyes I am mirrored...m and:
What are the beauties of Arras Before the light in your eyes?!846

The comparison hints at her eventual pornography: these same beauties love'. in The 'courtly those provocation to exhibit herself practised are implicit in the eye and mirror motifs distressesIzora, as she attempts to resist this physical exposure: ( ) hide me ... From
the gaze of vassal and guest.847

But her fate is predicted in an earlier comment by the First juggler: And that's how Narcissus gazed into the water and drowned. 848 Water indicates Izora's sexual indulgence, drowning the false or wrong but Izora Aliscan, in this to that submits experience. sexual nature of by by is a man, not masculine virility, which she seduced not submission healthy She is by her of seduced polarities. a union own would suggest by Aliscan, is desire, who no more than the mirror sexual represented image in her eyes,and who in urging the exposure of her beauty suggests her own desire to display herself.
/ npHXGTJIHBomy rydbi rrO; 106Hbl / HAH844 jiyxy Amypa, / alW P03OBbIA HOrM xenmOrl! maCKOrl MHe / 14x rrpAran noA ycTam... anhim 6bl nPOBOAHJI 6hl JIIO; XH H MOAbl, HeTI jlpyrHC AB / PyKoATbio -/ xcenmOrl melia! nomaTh -/ ' COJIOBbHHYIO HOqbl.. OAHY / He P03ax CH30POA / GTa=ioct. ' HapiXHCC B31063ICHHblrf ia BaIUHX oqax... 7. ibid., 845

ibid., PIZ; H30pbl

w3TH HexHue

846 847 848

p235; aK cBeTom BaMHX oqeril' / nepelE Appaca ibid., p.235;'qTo KpacaBHum / Or meHA B30POB rocTerk H Baccanoi3... ' ibid., p.235; 3aKporrre HapljHCC ' CMOrIWJI B BO; ly H Y7X)HYII... KaK ibid, p.235;'A Bar

293 Blok's development of Aliscan's character plays doubly on the female image. By Aliscan Blok the efferninizing of implicit pornography indiscriminate By in sensuality. accentuating conveying succeeds he in Izora, Izora succeeds subtly as pornographing Aliscan's self-image herself.
In Sologub's Melkii bes, femininity is manipulated to create a deviant imbalance. The sexuality and mental symbolizing pornography is Peredonov, boys' the a schoolteacher novel, of at a main protagonist is towards pushed mental gradually and physical who school, death. ideological His is the main and antagonist paranoia annihilation: for whom there is 'happiness and wisdom Liudmila, hedonistic young, 849 in madnesS'. only

The perverse psychology of both characters contains a fundamental current of sensuality within which a young schoolboy, Sasha's developed is is objectification objectified. Sasha, sexually feminine increasingly his of more physical gradual adoption through femininity him Sasha's Into turns not observable only characteristics. fantasy Liudmila's but Peredonov's worlds, and encourages of the object him. depend Both the characters with on obsession their sexual heighten his image their to the erotic perception of of efferninization boy. perversesexuality is signalled in that his Early on, Peredonov's 850 by fear. Chapter In he 11 begins fantasies replaced to quickly are erotic his he had Sasha, in interest of pupils whom one never noticed take an interest beginswhen he becomesfixated with the idea His previously. disguise, in idea be 'incited lecherous an which girl Sasha a a might that 8-51His conviction that Sashais a girl propels him him'. in curiosity fact. determination to He this frenzied expose makesvarious towards a discovery his in positions of to others, mostly to men reveal attempts does not only require Sasha'sefferninization to 852 Peredonov power. but impulse, the impulse that satisfaction of erotic stimulate an female Sasha. demonstration In Chapter the 13, of the public demands headmaster. disclose to The the is the to matter tries scene Peredonov the reality of explicitness, and paralleling both euphemism in sexual rich hidden from but polite society sexually representation, pornographic
849 850 Sologub, MeWi ibid., p. 56. bes, in op. cit., Vol. 6, p. 349; 'Toniao
B Hem 6JIYAnHBM JIX)6OTrbrrCTBd.

s &3ymiut

viaCTIC H MYUPOCTI:.

8,51 852

ibid.,

'3=er 148; p.

ibid., e.g. Chap. 13.

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issue being Sasha Unable the to of a girl Peredonov confront graphic. first makes a suggestion of a 'scandal at the gymnasium'. 853 He then have been boarding 'this to to that sent ought a school explains wretch double languages, ' a a euphemism with meaning, since without ancient for 854 brothel. itself boarding The a euphemism a school was a girl's until statement causes embarrassment and misunderstanding Peredonov finally assertsbluntly that Sashais a girl, adding, in the face disbelief, begin 'Depravity in the headmaster's that the will of gymnasium. '85-5 Peredonov fails to convince the officials that Sasha is a girl. He Sasha is fails that to a whore. Liudmila, by show men effectively in Sasha. Like Peredonov, Liudn-dla pornographing contrast, succeeds femininity Sasha's in both to to and show see order to achieve needs directly following In the and satisfaction. chapter erotic stimulus Peredonov's failure, Liudmila, intrigued by rumours, visits Sasha. Unlike Peredonov, she is not deluded. She objectifies Sasha into an image of femininity through another form of fantasy. On their first meeting, Sashais characterized in Liudmila's mind by familiar motifs of women in sensual imagery. They talk of modesty, 856 She notices his thick hair and eye-lashes. 857 The he is embarrassed. frequent mention of his dark eyes culminates in her 'sultry, African dreams' of his 'blue-black eyelashes,jealously covering his enchanting 858 dream fear-filled The the combines sequence motif of sensuous gaze'. female Sasha is the of attraction and modesty. metaphor with exoticism the object of flagellation in her erotic dream. After this, Liudmila, who considers that 'The best age for boys is fourteen or fifteen (...) they don't have a disgusting beard,' actively 859 femininity. Chapter In Sasha's 16, Sasha in she covers erotic promotes dresses him her Chapter in in 26, she clothes. The up perfume and his Chapter in in 28 when he pornography complete culminates process
853
854

ibid., p. 170; 'B rHmHa3HH cKaH=*.

' Note the ibid., p. 170; '3Ty TBapb Haw oTrrpaBHTb B rraHcHOH (Se3; xpeBHHX 313bMOB. feminine in insult is 'Tupb, the and gender as an also carries the which word use of meaning of 'foetus' or 'abortion!. ' ibid. p. 172; 'B rHMHa3HH pa3BpaTb HaIqHeTCA. 855 jI ibid., pp. 181-82. 856

857
858

ibid., p. 183.
ibid., p. 189,3HOAHbie, a#HKaHCKHe CHbI', CHHeBaTo-qepHbte PeCHHIxhI, PeBHHBO qMIpHajuxm -

3axpLiDan Hx liappouxHA B30p'. 859 ibid., p. 230, 'Camuft nyquitifi Bo3pacT IVIA majibqHKOB ' ( ) (SOPOAEJ np=BHOR. aeT ... HCT rrATHa=Tb

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ball disguised The successfully masked as a a geisha. erotic enter will (to Incidentally Peredonov is hostile) is the scent which of significance Liudmila's Chapter 17, bees, in flowers talk the where of and explained "O in its In Chapter dressed describes 26, mating season. nature as a sun by feels 'sweet, languid Sasha the Japanese seduced odour of woman, 861 is This to the a clue subsequent geisha costume. perfume'. Effeminized, eroticized, Sasha finishes as the image of an exotic 862 Japanese The in part. motif, of wider anti-oriental motifs prostitute. Russian literature of this period, serves to vilify the image. Finally In Chapter 29 the transition is complete: Sasha, intoxicated by his new position, flirted wildly. The more they thrust their tickets into the little geisha's hand, the more gaily and provocatively sparkled the eyes of the coquettish in 863 through the the Japanese narrow slits girl mask. The tickets are votes for the costume, but the scenario clearly Sasha While institutionalized the the geisha, payment. suggests female is low-cut another contestant rewarded, whose prostitute, is imagination little leaves herself to the to asked cover or costume leave.864 Grushina's nudity, without the necessary,frightening mystique in is has identified Barthes In striptease, considered scandalous. which by into Sasha Liudmila has exotic an prostitute contrast, moulding formalized in feminine the of sensuality the requirements exploited form to create the perfect pornography. Self-Image Shattered 6.4.2 feminine form the is the idea that it is the of to pornography Central by from true virtue of the mask. The images are womanhood divorced from reality by the element of the supernatural in distanced apparently
ibid., p.224. OVV YHKHCR'. UPAH010, RnaHcKoio TOMHO10, 'CnaAKOIO, ibid, p339; 861 Japanese is the technically a prostitute or not is The geisha of whether matter 862 is least here, and perceived as she was such clearly at as outside Japan. In any irrelevant function has sufficient parallel to symbolize prostitution: she is trained and her event, her 'feminine in is with skills private men and charms, and to often entertain a paid status of wife. Ikepf lover without the respectable 'Cama, bes, in MeDdi Sologub, cit., p378; op. OrnbAHeliHblft HOBhjM nOnO)KCH11CM, 863 maneHbKyio reAU1HHY PYKY BCOBb1BanH (51tnCTHXO% 'qeM 6031bUIC B HaTWnanYIO4a3l KorXrHH, 61[HCTWH H3 Y3KHX TrPOPe3OB 8 macKe rn23a *
3aAOPHee H A BeCenee =? , H KOKeTmHBOA XrrOHKII.

864

ibid., p.377.

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Linnankoskils work, the symbolic reflection in Blok's and the literal despite At in Sologub's. the turn the of century, costume enlightenend theories about women's sexuality, the existence and depiction of the beyond the established order of essenceof whore was not considered things. In the moral and aesthetic debate on sexuality the psychological issue. As with objectification were not at affects of pornographic prositution, to obvious pornography offended against society's sense of decency,but not against individual rights. One exceptional work, which does suggest the soul-destroying in life, is Jotuni's story Effika. objectification, art and affects of woman's The story's focus on the subject of art is unusual in Jotuni's work. Far from a metaphysical study about the essential nature or role of art, the deals story with more tangible realities of art. It considers the affects of visual representation on the individual's self-image and relationship to heroine's Through the title society. experience as an artist's model, Jotuni makes the link between the social, economic and psychological body in representative art. This is the of exploitation of woman's aspects not a study of a muse as in L. Onerva's work, in which man's ideal of woman as a goddess of inspiration usurps woman's own creative identity. This is a more straightforward examination of the male artist's rights over woman's body and the psychological deterioration which from her physical objectification. results The story opens with an insight into Eriika's feelings of reluctance to marry, despite family pressureson her to do so for economic reasons. Eriika feels unable and unwilling to do so. As the story unfolds it is has been her identity by the modelling that sense of shattered revealed At in in the the time when the recent past. point work she undertook her is is to regain mental stability and senseof she struggling story set, self. Jotuni describes (alm ost prophetically) the consequences of love is introduced, Although theme the story the of also pornography. is not concerned with the problem of idealistic views of love versus the Jotuni's The in of other monetary works. many as of marriage reality interwoven here themes closely with the theme of are and marital Eriika's modelling experience. The sexual and pecuniary inevitability of Eriika's situation is revealed in the very structure of the story. A parallel is drawn between woman's image as a saleablecommodity in art and in between in has The the artist and model story relationship marriage.

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love. do Like Eriika's development, to with own psychological nothing it is rich in motifs which identify the scenario as the form and function of pornographic representation. The modelling has taken its toll on Erilka's physical health. This is conveyed in terms reminiscent of the prostitute. Eriika 'had begun to look old and used. It was already more difficult to rind a taker for her.'865 The story is set at a dance where the atmosphere is pungent with the 866 flesh'. Eriika is reminded that 'Smell of perfume, powder and naked face her her 867 on powder, particularly put around eyeS. The she should knowledge, familiar the symbol of sexual with powder as the eyes are fainting Suffocating, from the sensation almost camouflage. prostitute's her body, herself hand look together for she pulls on to the unseen of an begins her 868 She to the recall period of modelling, when the rnirror. artist's gaze: heart, body, her soul, everywhere. Before it she was penetrated forced before it lay herself bare. She to to she was submit, nothing, hidden, keep to deeper inside, anything allowed not anything was did have the the right to enter. other one where not any sanctuary How could she have been so wretched and helpless, and how have herself to throw simply craved, craved she could under that 869 by it? be to raped gaze The inevitable and absolute submission to the artist's gaze fosters an be to possessed. Eriika's desire to submit is not inescapable need feminine inherent It Freudian attribute. an as expresses a portrayed find in the to be psychology: need woman's an to active role, a conflict her Jotuni as casts a passive Eriika society object. when makes subject, 'illness' from her this 870 an as resulting condition experience. recognize is longer Eriika for there no an alternative, Jotuni did not Although the the of relationship the as one and only established pattern regard The the things. concludes paragraph with question: of order
Vol. 'alkoi 1, 183; in Eriika, p. lotuni, cit., op. nytt kuluncelta ja vanhalta. g5 ' kaupaksi jo saada. Hnt oli vaikeampi ja ihon 'Hajuvesien, 185; ibid., tuoksu'. puuterin paliaan p. 866 185. ibid., p. 867 186. ibid-, p. 868 hinen 186-87; tunki ibid., sydmeens, sieluunsa,ruumiiseensa,kaikkialle. pp. 869 hnen Erfika tytyi sen mitn, edess ollut alistua, ja paljastua. Hneill Sen edessei jonne ei rnitn sisirnp, peitettv, ei n-dtn pyhkk, olla sill toisella ei saanut Kuinka hn kua ja ja kuinka hn oli ollut astua. oikeutta voimaton ollut vain ei olisi katseen heittyty ' himoitsi sen raiskattavaksi? hirnoitsi, 'sairautta. 188; ibid-, p. 870

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Perhaps the other one only used her for his work. 871 he Was that right? power, as could.

Used his

After the artist's departure Eriika feels she has regained her life, her self. Unable to bear the thought of once again becoming a 872 her breaks off engagement. Eriika has discovered the possession,she it is as encouragedby the pornography personal cost of sexual possession of woman's representation, and realizes the parallel with accepted social her Despite custom. recognition of this process, Eriika is unable completely to escapethe consequences of her experience: Her nerves were so worn that she had not yet been fully able to free herself from it. Lately, she had been fighting against it with the strength of all her soul. She must become heathly and whole 873 in again, although all was shattered and pieces. The fragmentation implicit in this imagery reflects the sensation of body of mutilation, and soul, which is a recognizable female response to the reality and the depiction of sexual possession. Jotuni shows not only that Eriika is a casualty becauseshe is the individual, the real woman, used, but that all women are subliminally subjectedto the idealization of themselves as whores raped by the gaze of men. Eriika becomes conscious of the reality of this scenario in the social situation. Eriika is brothel. her in She is dance. it seemslike the false maleYet to a at a not female interaction of the brothel, in which all women are objects for discovery Eriika's is a cruel knowledge, sexual possession. available as all self-discovery for women in Jotuni's work. Eriika possesses valuable insight. She perceives what others do not: 'that life is not 874 be,; but it to that to close seems she must either anything which life, don the to the powdered mask, or remain to semblanceof conform an outsider.

ibid., p. 187, 'Kenties tarvitsi toinen hSntS vain ty6tSnsS varten. Kdytti 871 valtaansa, kun voi. Oliko se oikein? ' ibid., p. 188. 872 ibid., P.188; 'HAnen hermonsa olivat niin Srsyytyneet, ettei h-In vield kokonaan 873 Kin koko AM taistellut oli aikoina. sielunsa voirnalla. viime ollut voinut vapautua HAnen tAytyi tulla terveeksi ja kokonaistua, vaikka kaikki oli sArkynyttd ja repaleista. '

874

ibid., p.189;'ettei ellimii ole ldhesk55n sitd, milt5 se n5ytt5l'.

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6.5 Woman's Desire to Submit: A Pornography of Female Sacrifice In Jotuni's story, the heroine's senseof fragmentation is the destructive her The draining force representation. of of that consequence its her is herself throw to cultivation of own craving representation While Jotuni the attributes this to the nature of gaze'. under is the sexual submission more often seen as an representation, instinctive attribute of the female psyche. While prostitution was deplored, while free choice in love was advocated, writers persistently longing be forced the to into sexual nature as woman's sexual portrayed It that herself simply not woman should was and could make relations. to loves the her sexual self-knowledge, no with man who available, Gor'kii's Kianto's in Moreover, and work. as woman's own correctly, identity, by her force, be sexual were awakened own masculine passions, beating, insistence, rape or murder. that The theory is that woman's nature is to be a willing participant In her rape or murder becauseit credits her desirability. The male force her body her her Identity. Prior and provides will with on an exercised This is invisible, is for another negative. a paradigm male. to this she female relations used in both Finnish and Russian writing of the period, implicit either explicit contain or studies of woman's in works which In Russian literature, indignant energy. the sexual metaphysical brutality terror and against women exists alongside the male of portrayal forced. desire be In to Finnish literature, women's of the conviction her to take fate does need control woman's of of own not suggestion detract from the conviction that women chooseto be forced. Even today, female is and aggression male submission of seen as the the pattern human interaction. At the turn the of it of condition century normal 87s feature key about of attitudes womajVs sexuality. was a The pattern includes the presumption that woman's submission her the duress no matter choice, active what extent of represents Despite the widespread condemnation of the exploitation of involved. there in that remained a conviction prostitution, most women women In Russia, documentation destiny. in their of prostitutes' had a choice how began in they imply the why and of profession own explanations

The History Westermarck, Human Marriage, Edvard London, 1891, See of g. e. 875 in its this times respect. is of representative which

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free will at least as often as economic need.876 Studies of prostitutes in 877 journals the suggest quite opposite. medical reports and women's Likewise in Finland, serious efforts were made to apportion blame to the for for becoming her herself through taste example a prostitute, woman for alcohol, even when the social inequalities which maintained the institution of prostitution were recognized and criticized. 878 In literature erotic overtones are present in woman's complicity in putting her body at the disposal of men. The erotic depiction of the 'voluntarily' forced woman is the aspect of erotica which cannot excuse itself by either aesthetics or morality. Significantly, it is a key feature of 879 fetishistic This prejudice over women's modern pornography. feminine impulse. in is the of representations sexuality exploited The numerous misogynistic killings of Tolstoi's late work, the brutal in Gor'kii's the and rapes of Bunin's work sexual molestations (perhaps) from descriptions, the sensation of preserved are peasant Tolstoi's by they the contain. remorse, message moral voyeurism Gor'kii's didacticism, and Bunin's naturalism suspend the reader's horror at the physical abuse of women. Male physical assault on women is, after all, no fantasy. Women writers like Talvio, 'Kallas and Canth in Finland are also intent on exposing this element of women's experience, though their work contains neither the paternalism nor the difference is There in descriptions. the a noticeable male complacency of Canth Kallas Talvio, and recognize violence against angle of perception. by individual for is: it an man with physical and act an women what by individual sanctioned and woman, cultivated an social power over the institutionalized over women control of men collectively is impression By there an of universal contrast, collectively.
Stites, Prostituteand Society, 876 p352. In his analysis of this documentation Stites himself concludesthat many women 'chose'this way of life, but also asks'how great was the range and quality of their "choices"T He statesthat somewomen 'chosesuicide rather than the streets'and describesthe nature of their alternatives: 'Death in the icy waters of Mojka Canal (...), sweatedlabor in a sewing shop, menial domesticservice, ) In view of this ' (p.353. hard labor in a textile mill, the uncertainty of unemployment. the word 'choiciemaybe seenas a misrepresentation. assessment Seee.g. E.S. Drentern, 0 prostituttsii s tochkizreniia dinamiki zhizni, Moscow, 877 1908. The author points out that the view that prostitutes have an inclination for the inclination (p-23) belief from to the and about woman's passivity attitudes stems work that respectable women would be driven to suicideby shame(p.24). Examplesof articles (Soiuzzhenshchin, April in women's journals include the anonymousTiS'MOPTOStitutki' 1909,pp.9-11). Seee.g. Th. Rhein, 'Prostitutsioonikysymys' (Valvoia,8,1888, p.531),or Mikael 878 johnsson, 'Alkoholikysymys'(Valvoia, 9,1889, p.209). Dworkin, Pornography, 879 pp.129-98. -

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Gor'kii Tolstoi, in the and Bunin. Women may of inevitability works but blame by in they their to directly be assault, are equally compliant not life by (by 'accept' they the of condition not their provocation or choosing suicide). Even with the moral dimension, male writers cultivate therefore female in In trace their dimly complicity of own assault, perceivable a linked becomes This morbid with sexuality. was not which violence because however, female the motif of self-sacrifice considered obscene both moral and aesthetic purity. This itself was a powerful model of feminine transferred to was self-sacrifice on a picture of of energy done in her. the to violence collaboration woman's willing The eroticization of woman craving her own assault is the in because be that to craving she wants used ultimate pornography, demonstrate It (depiction). the erotic motifs (vocational whore) and is female sexuality more extreme than the views of This understanding helps the to that elucidate origins of obscenity. and obscenity, of form, female represents the threat of subversion, expressed Woman, the be images The degenerate must controlled. which of sexuality as a Sologub Blok by Linnankoski, that and act as a warning created women force by be it is undermined a as perverse can as order the masculine jotuni Eriika's In consciousness, presents the true acquired female. for rebellion. potential Two of the most lucid examples of a pornography of female Prekrasnye Andreev's Linnankoski's sabiniaki satire and sacrifice are Both plays use their legendary theme to channel tytfir. leftan play issue into impulse loyalties. the of national feminine submissive Linnankoski's jephtah's Sabine raped are and women Andreev's The (murdered). has less is the significance of plays sacrificed daughter individual Both than politics national and with do will. women with to the tale emphasis on their an with eroticism of women's retell authors by becomes the because This the topic, context veiled of bodily assault. here. discussed just feminine is form the as not can sexuality women's desire be forced is to womarVs obscenity, se with a given per be associated is fact It it be her that universally accepted so as sexuality. can quality of level. used on a symbolic it is Prekrasnye the women who appear to Andreev's sabiniaki, In demands issue in first is last It they the who and scene. have the power. be their The through to willingness this abducted. power They acquire

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illusion that they possess a degree of influence stems from their acceptance of the idea of their womanhood as it is recognized by the men who rape them. The Sabine men fail to win their women back because they will not employ force, not even once the Romans are ready to insofar Sabine The to women are recognized exist only capitulate. as they are useful to men sexually and physically. The rape of woman is the ultimate sign that she exists sexually because she is desired. In reality, the rape equals male dominance of woman. In the male power itself is this control not of an achievement, since women system, even (negative) in themselves. Essential to the significance of are of no value belong fact is to another group of men. Only that these the women rape in this is the dominance meaningful, as it establishesa power hierarchy between men, who are of value (positive). In this power system which barters women's bodies, the women are duped into believing that man's desire to rape is a sign of female dominance. This pattern of normalized sexual relations is contrasted with the failure of two characters, Veronika and Pavel, to perform the ritual of fallen female. has Veronika in love with Pavel, the male possession of him. does belong She belong to to to not want with and wants actively Pavel through rape. By the end of Act 1, this makes her the wrong former her husband for Veronika Pavel, that reveals also woman for him. 880 for the that thirty wrong she was one years complained Veronika's role is significant because she appears to be the one who is is least the she willing to go to Pavel. Her power: most submissive, with powerlessnessis only real if the reader accepts the precepts of the male system as it is expressedin the rape ritual. Recognition of the power of the other Sabine women as a deception exposesthe fact that Veronika is the only one who actually makes a choice of her own. She acquires the her her definition define her In to to to attempt add own needs. power her relationship, she loses the reward of being loved (raped) by Pavel. Andreev's play manipulates an erotic fantasy of woman's desire to be forced as a code of social behaviour. In Linnankoski's play, a model for social behaviour is manipulated into an erotic fantasy. The play's theme, the model of virginal sacrifice, has captured the male imagination since Euripides' Iphigenia. Jephtah's daughter is sacrificed to the Gods of Israel becauseof a vow made by herfather. She herself had her though to as she a choice, although it is made sacrifice, agrees
880 Andreev, Prekrasnyesabiniaki,in Sobraniesochinenii,Vol. 15, p.69.

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(male) Gods be to the the that male pledge cannot countersaid. She clear has no identity of her own, but is promised immortality In the fame She death. her by will acquire
Throughout the play, Hagar's virginal sexuality Is played upon to link between her death idea her the erotic and an of evoke sexual her The blossoming Into image the mention of recent consummation. her her newly acquired womanhood as well as her mother underlines of identity as her father's sexual property. 881 She herself is waiting to be beloved her Elieser. He her from tries to her fate, with save reunited him. her The the between choice of elopement with scenes offering Hagar and Elieser develop her image as a virgin on the threshold of becoming a bride. Erotic in her sexual purity, at no time does jephtah's daughter control her body. Her father's promise makes her his property. Elieser tries to save her because he feels she belongs only to him, and she herself feels 'as though something inside of me-already belongs to the ... Lord ...l882

The erotic imagery is made complete by 'poetic' modifications of 883 is between There her feelings biblical for Elieser a confusion story. the 884 father Indeed, her father. is it Elleser her as she awaits who and 885 deliberate is There first. the Jephtah's that emphasis on power arrives 886 daughter His his her to understands that sword. gave sacrifice vow is bearing a wedding planned, as all the significance of a was planned, 887 She faints from than a chance promise. of even rather ecstasyas ritual have bride been she would also accepts her sentence of the man whose death-M The men of the play, in their attempts to resolve their problems divine her body human exploit power, and Like completely. the with daughter is jephtah's a symbol within a power struggle Sabine women, herself it is the act of bartering her nothing represents in which she Like Sabine the bears is deceived into significance. women, she which dispose her body to this men of that power of believing confers a power for her willingness, is actually only Her touching her. sacrifice, on
981 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 Linnankoski, leffan tyfdr, in op.cit., Vol. 2, pSW. ibid., p-605; 'niinkuin jotain minussa ...kuuluisi ...jo Herralle... ' The story of Jephtah's vow is recounted in Judges 11: 2940. Linnankoski, leftan tytdr, in op.cit., Vol. 2, p. 554-55. ibid., p.582. ibid., p.585. ibid., p.593. ibid., p. 618.

304 her because their to the up sexuality. Her give right meaningful men her betrothed, her her Elieser's to role as resemblance mother, retreat her before her death, the youth of all serve to with girl-friends her transition from virginty into womanhoodthrough death. accentuate In Linnankoski's play, as in Andreev's, the moral and artistic frame bears no relevance to the erotic rape/murder with regard to frame issue. is The identity, codifies woman's which not at woman's her destruction. in Moreover, it eroticizes to own participate willingness that willingness. It is not simply that women are raped and a virgin is sacrificed. It is not even simply that women are raped and like it and that a virgin is sacrificedwith her consent. It is that, in addition to this, the plays establishthe socialand erotic desirability of thesephenomena. In the Sabinewomen's loyalty to their Roman rapists lies a moral of killing daughter is Jephtah's The of an emotive model universal order. of national and divine purpose. Women's sexual assault is a rite of of the statusquo. which ensuresthe preservation passage

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7 CONCLUSION

The prose and drama of the turn of the century in Finland and Russia invites investigation into the Ideals of of material which a wealth offer The they reflect. conditions of the day in these two womanhood investigation the such an make all more pertinent becausetile countries liberation linked women's of was closely to the philosophy philosophy Women change. played an important role In the of revolutionary Russian radical movement and in the emergence of a Finnish national literature, In 'new the the concepts of woman' and the consciousness. 'eternal feminine' emerged alongside themes of political and artistic rebirth. Writers examined the contemporary feminist issues of education life Women's emotional came under scrutiny In the and employment. debate over what social role was best suited to them. Literary models in the shaping of their active women participating of were created future. heroine, Thus type 'the new woman, a of enlightened country's At her 'eternal feminine' the time, the became same appearance. made defining influencing the principle of universe, each country's an abstract direction. In 1910, Belyi's Serebrianyi writing about spiritual golub" , Nikolai Berdiaev described the feminine 'elemental force' of Russian 889 Aho, Finnish Kianto Leino felt such writers as and they were culture. 890 Finnish 'goddess' of culture. serving a As themes in the searchfor a new society and a new form of art, feminine both the spirit and were strongly associatedwith woman's role For in ideology. Chapter this One, reason, as shown writers' national issues by In coloured were national women's of concerns. views Finland, women's education was portrayed as a positive element in the Finnish the in of population, the enlightenment a necessity general development towards independence. In Russia, women's education was ineffectual begin measure which to satisfy another could yet not seen as
889 SeeNikolai Berdiaev, 'Russkiisoblazn- Po povc4u "Screbrianogo golubia* A. 9-20). 11,1910, MysG (Russkaia pp. Belogo, 890 See Kuinka meistd tuli kiriailijoita: suomalaistenkilailijoiden Helsinki, 1916. nuoruudenmuistelmia,

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the demand for personal freedom under the existing form of autocratic both in Similarly, countries, the theme of women's role in government. the economic structure drew parallels with the relationship of the individual to the state. In themes of Russian radicalism and Finnish national resistance, the female was an element of the revolutionary process. But to what extent did the portrayal of woman and her essentialnature suggest the future for universal unity? Women's a new social equality or possibility specific needs in education and employment were often obscured by the in female issue Indeed, the theme of radical many cases reform. wider As offered writers a way out of their revolutionary vision. demonstrated in Chapter Two, Gor'kii's and Kianto's challenge to the establishment preserved the one social construct which protected conservative values: the subordinate role of woman to man. The ideology of woman as wife and mother not only failed to reform the institution of marriage, but reinforced the concepts of marriage and family as a nuclear model for the ideal state. Whatever other political have been imagined, the patriarchal order withstood the rebirth may challenge of thenew woman'. It can be inferred that, despite the bid for individual freedom, it was necessary to continue to exercise male control over woman. This by in Chapter further is Three of the the supported analysis conclusion theme of woman's silence, particularly in the work of Andreev and jotuni. The expression of women characters in Andreev's plays and of woman as a potential threat stories reveals the author's consciousness to universal and social order. Woman's nature is her silence, and the for his her is on man nature's revenge complacent voice release of 'civilization'. jotuni's use of dialogue, on the other hand, suggests that it is precisely patriarchal control which silences and isolates woman. By insisting on her own definition of the world around her, woman can freedom the of self-knowledge. Even undermine patriarchy and acquire if this brings with it a new kind of isolation - the isolation of independence - it also contains the true potential for radical social

reorganiza ion.
just as the traditional, patriarchal hierarchy determined the extent in aestheticsgoverned the process values of political change, patriarchal difference liberal The of sexual reassessment upheld of artistic rebirth. the one system of principles which conditioned attitudes about gender

307 identities in creativity: masculine positivity and feminine negativity. This system encouragedthe established belief in woman's intrinsic for bore implications woman's own creative Identity. passivity, which As seenin ChapterFour, womenwriters were criticized for their gender. Gippius and Kallas were given favourable reception by having 'masculine' credentials bestowed on their art. Moreover, 'masculine' (=true) art was identified with a universality which could only be heroic the Thus through tradition. and epic-like critics expressed Chekhov's to universal vision according to these perceive endeavoured lyrical his Chekhov was and work non-heroic. although values, in to be characters, voice women giving which must seenas a succeeded factor interpretation in his the uneasy of work. Chekhov's contributory did More to the tradition. than any other conform not subject and style Russianwriter of the period, it was Chekhovwho presenteda challenge in both politics and art. His work questionsboth to the establishment literary the the tradition. in the and nature of socialsystem the accepted in Finland break from the the represent writers women real way, same by description literary their tradition of women'sexperience. established This elementof their work was largely ignored, a strategyby which they By in in included their the uniform no means canon. choice of were displayed women matter, writers subject or one common genre, style definition They Talvio, society's rejected of woman. characteristic. Canth and Jotuni all questionedwoman's role in the structure of the discussed in Onerva, L. also particular, woman's role as an artist state. feminine beauty in of accepted notions criticized symbolistart. and Although symbolistwriters proclaimeda universal spiritual unity based on masculine and feminine principles, their cult of the 'eternal feminine' in effect worked against such a vision. As explained in ChapterFive,, the museextolledby the artist was no more than a facetof be In to continued art, women objects'created'by a psyche. the male In dualism, feminine the androgynous the of philosophy subject. male but the to masculine, total subordinate represented only not void. was Blok's and Leino's theories of aesthetics assured the dominance of feminine for the the of the release marked order, onset of masculine femaleness influenced The with the of negativity equation also chaos. dangerous inherently as potentially sexuality woman's of and portrayal by illustrated in Chapter the Six. In examples as eroticart, pornographic, desire but being desired. to to This sex, shown enjoy not were women

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was a pattern which ensured that woman's own sexual impulse, perceived as intrinsically destructive, could be contained. The turn of the century marked an unprecedented prominence of female characters in Finnish and Russian literature. In Finland, women leading figures in literary the themselves as also established canon. Yet the liberal, anti-establishment ideology which cleared the way for in fundamental did traditional beliefs in not succeed changing women deviant in feminine. the the and character subordinate role of woman's The portrayal of woman in the context of political and artistic rebirth is feature desire by the to restrain woman. of man's recurrent characterized The female was a subversive element. The control of woman functioned as the safety valve on the destructive force of change. The comparative methodology of this study reveals that images of by but to the canon any means, peripheral often help to women are not sustain it. The female angle enablesthe reevaluation of certain literary longer be Gor'kii to appears no such a radical, while assumptions. Chekhov emerges as the true subversive. In Finland, the presence of women writers was not the result of a more enlightened society, as Finnish women writers were censured for their gender as much as In Symbolism, the universality of the Russian women writers. importance is By the questionable. emphasizing spirit androgynous of the national context in the comparison, this examination shows that the limitations'of political-aesthetic ambitions were defined by their basis in form Maintaining tradition. of patriarchal woman in her country's each traditional social place and cultivating taboos of essential femininity kept the revolutionary aspirations of progressive thought in check.

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8 BIBLIOGRAPHY

8.1 Russian Primary Sources

Andreev, Leonid, Mysl', Berlin, no date St Petersburg and Moscow, 1911Andreev, Leonid, Sobraniesochinenii,, 13 Artsybashev, Mikhail, Sanin, Berlin, 1909 Belyi, Andrei, Arabeski,Moscow, 1911 Belyi, Andrei, Izbrannaiaproza, Moscow, 1988 Blok, Aleksandr, Sobraniesochinenii,Moscow, 1963. Bunin, Ivan, Sobraniesochinenii v shesti tomakh, Moscow, 1987 Chekhov, Anton, Polnoe sobraniesochinenii i pisern v fridtsai tomakh, Moscow, 1974-1982 Gippius.. Alyi mech,St Petersburg, 1902 belomu, St Petersburg, 1908 Gippius, Zinaida, Chernoe po Gippius, Zinaida, [under the pseudonym Anton Krainfil Literaturnyi dnevnik, St Petersburg, 1908 Gippiust Zinaida, Lunnye murav'i, Moscow, 1912 Gippius, Zinaida, Makov tsvet,St Petersburg, 1906 Gippius, Zinaida, Nebesnye slovai drugie rasskazy,Paris, 1921 Gippius.. Zinaida, Novye hudi, St Petersburg, 1896 St Petersburg, 1913 Gippius, Zinaida, RomanTsarevich, St Petersbur& 1901 Gippius.. Zinaida, Tretia kniga rasskazov, Gippius, Zinaida, Zeknoekol'tso, St Petersburg, 1915 Gippius, Zinaida, Zerkala,St Petersburg,1898 Gippius, Zinaida, Zhivye litsa, Prague, 1925 Gor'kii, Maksim, Sobraniesochinenii,Moscow, 1960-63 Krainii, Anton, see Gippius above Sobranie Aleksandr, sochinenii,Moscow, 1957-58 ]Kuprin, Sologub, Fedor, Sobraniesochinenii,St Petersburg, 1913 Toistoi, Lev, Sobranie sochinenii v dvadfsati dvukh tomakh, Moscow, 1983

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8.2 Finnish Primary Sources Aho, Juhani, Kootut teokset,Porvoo, 1952-54 Canth,, Minna,. Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1917-20 jotuni, Maria, Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1930 Jdmefelt, Arwid, Maria Helsinki, 1897 , JRmefelt, Arwid, Puhtauden Ihanne, Helsinki, 1897 Jarnefelt, Arwid, Teoksia I-V, Porivoo, 1925-27 Kallas, Aino, Ants Raudjalg,Helsinki, 1907 Kallas, Aino, Kirsti, Helsinki, 1902 Kallas, Aino, Kuloa ja kemYttlf, Helsinki, 1899 Kallas, Aino, Uhtevien taivoien kaupunki, Helsinki, 1913 Kallas, Aino, Meren takaaI, Helsinki, 1904 Kallas, Alno, Meren takaaII, Helsinki, 1905 Kallas, Aino, Nainen jolla o1iaivot (Otavan foulu, 1912) Kianto,, Ilmari, Moskovan maisteri, Helsinki, 1946 Kianto, Ilmari, Pikku syntefif, Helsinki, 1909 Kianto, Ilmari, Valitut teokset, Helsinki, 1923 Kilpi, V61ter, Bathsheba, Helsinki, 1900 Lehtonen, Joel, Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1931-35 Leino, Eino, Kirjeet I-IV, ed. Aame M. Peltonen, Helsinki, 1961-62 Leino, Eino, Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1929-1931 Linnankoski, Johannes, Kootut teokset,Porvoo, 1952 Lybeck, Mikael, Samlade arbeten,Helsingfors, 1922 Onerva, L., Mies ja nainen,Helsinki, 1912 Onerva, L.,,Mirdja,. Keuruu, 1982 Onerva, L., Murtoviivoja, Helsinki, 1909 Onerva, L., Nousukkaita, Helsinki, 1911 Onerva, L., Vangittuja sieluja, Helsinki, 1915 Pakkala, Teuvo, Kootut teokset,Helsinki, 1921-22 Talvio, Maila, Kootut teokset,Porvoo, 1953-56 Tawaststjerna, Karl August, Samlade skrifter, Helsingfors, 1924

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8.3 Translations: English translations of works referred to in following The are published by listed author: text, the From Russian: Andreev A Story Which Will Never Be Finished in The Crushed Flower and Other Stories, trans. H. Bernstein, London, 1916 The Lie, Laughter, Silence in The Little Angel and Other Stories, trans. W. Lowe, New York, 1916 The Black Maskers,The Sabine Women New York, 1915 in Plays,trans. C. Meader and F. Scott,,
Katerina, trans. H. Bemstein, New York, 1923

in Chains,trans. H. Bernstein, New York,, 1923 Samson The Seven Who WereHanged, trans. H. Bernstein, New York, 1941 To the Stars,trans. M. Magnus, London, 1921 Artsybashev Sanine.A RussianLoveNovel, trans. P. Pinkerton, London, 1915 Belyi George Reavy, New York, 1974 Dove, Silver trans. The A Review of Gippius' Literary Diary . in Ronald E. Peterson, ed. and trans., The Russian Symbolists:An Anthology of Critical and TheoreticalWritings, Ann Arbor, 1986 Blok The Puppet Show, The Roseand the Cross in Michael Green, ed. and trans., The Russian Symbolist Theatre: An Anthology of Plays and Critical Texts, Ann Arbor, 1986 Bunin

312
Light Breathing, A Night Conversation, A Goodly Life in The Dreamsof Chang and Other Stories,trans. B Guerney, New York, 1923 Dry Valley in The Elaghin Affair and Other Stories, trans. B. Guerney, New York, 1935
The Village, trans. I. Hapgood, New York, 1923

Chekhov The Two Volodyas,A Woman's Kingdom, The Russian Master in Ronald Hingley, The Oxford Chekhov. Volume VII (Stories London, 1978 1893-1895), The Order of St Anne, Ariadne, The Artist's Story, Peasants,In the Cart in Ronald Hingley, The Oxford Chekhov. Volume VIII (Stories 1895-1897), London, 1965 A Hard Case,A CaseHistory, Angel, A Lady with a Dog, In the Hollow, A Marriageable Girl in Ronald Hingley, The Oxford Chekhov. Volume IX (Stories 1898-1904), London, 1975 The Seagull,Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters,the Cherry Orchard in Plays, trans. Michael Frayn, London, 1988 Gippius
Heavenly Words, The Eternal Woman in Selected Works of Zinaida Gippius, trans. Temira Pachmuss, Urbana, 1972

The GreenRing, trans. S. Koteliansky, London, 1920 Gor'kii Twenty-Six and One Malva, Varenka Olessova, in Malva and Other Tales,New York, 190The Mordvinian Girl [trans. B. Isaacs] in SelectedShort Stories, 1892-1901, trans M. Wettlin, Moscow, 1945 The Birth of Man, A Woman in Through Russia,trans. C. Hogarth, New York, 1932

313
Childhood, trans. M. Wettlin, Moscow, 1954 A Confession, trans. W. Harvey, London, 1910 Foma Gordeyev, trans. M. Wettlin, Moscow, 1955 Mother, trans. Margaret Wettlin,, Moscow,, 1954 The Three,trans. M. Wettlein, Moscow, 1958 Kuprin The Jewess in The Braceletof Garnets and Other Stories, trans. L. Pasvolsky, New York, 1917 The River of Life, Captain Ribnikov in The River of Life and Other Stories, trans. S. Koteliansky and Murry, Dublin, 1916
Olessia, trans. A. Harrison, London, 1908

Sulamith. A Romance of Antiquity, trans. B. Guerney, New York, 1928 Yam. The Pit, trans. B. Guerney, London, 1924
sologub

Beauty, Death by Advert isernen The Wall and the Shadows, t, The The Red-LippedGuest, The Lady in Bonds Queen of Kisses, in The Kiss of the Unborn and Other Stories, trans. Murl G. Barker, Knoxville, 1977 The CreatedLegend,trans. Samuel D. Cioran, Ann Arbor, 1979 The Petty Demon, trans. Samuel D. Cioran, Ann Arbor, 1983 Tolstoi The Kreutzer Sonata,The Devil, Postfaceto the Kreutzer Sonata in The Kreutzer Sonataand Other Stories, trans. David McDuff, Harmondsworth,, 1985 trans. A. Maude, London, 19G6 FranCoise,

Father Sergius Stories, in GreatRussian ed. GrahamStephen,London, 1959

314
What is Art? in What is Art? and Essays on Art, trans. Aylmer Maude, Oxford, 1930
Resurrection,, trans. Rosemary Edmonds, Harmondsworth, 1966

Tolstoy's Criticism on the Darling in Chekhov, The Darling and Other Stories, trans. C. Garnett, London, 1916
From Finnish:

Kallas

Bath-Sheba trans. Alex Matson, London, 1934 of Saaremaa, The White Ship: Estonian Tales,trans. Alex Matson, London, 1924 Leino Whitsongs, trans. Keith Bosley,London, 1978 Linnankoski The Song of the Blood-RedFlower, trans. W. Worster, London, 1920

315
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1908,pp-3-5) Eskola, Katarina, Haavio-Mannila, NaisniYkdkulmia, juva, 1979

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Glickman,, Rose L., Russian Factory Women: Workplace and Society Berkeley,1984 1880-1914,, Godenhjelm, B.F., 'Naissivistys ja nais-oppinot I' (Valvoia,, 3,1883, pp.103-10) Golum, Harai, 'Communicating Relationships in Chekhov's Three Sisters' in Savely Senderovich and Munir Sendich, eds, Anton Chekhov Rediscovered: A Collection of New Studies With a Bibliography, East Lansing, 1987, pp. 9-33 Comprehensive Green, Michael, ed. and trans., The Russian Symbolist Theatre: An Anthology of Plays and Critical Texts, Ann Arbor, 1986 Whitford, Margaret, eds, Feminist Perspectives Morwena and Griffiths, in Philosophy,London, 1988
Suomalainen Elina, nainen ja mies: asema ja I-laavio-Mannila, Porvoo, 1968 roolit, muutuvat A Study Chekhov: Major the Stories and Plays, Beverly, of Hahn, Cambridge, 1977 hanen ja IiYhimaailmansa,, larnefelt Arvid Helsinki, 1955 Pekka, Hakli, Canth, introduction 'Minna Minna Canth, Valitut to Toini, Havu, Teokset,Porvoo, 1965, pp-i-xx Woman Pavlova: The Poet and the Double 'Karolina Barabara, Heldt, Life', introduction to Karolina Pavlova, A Double Life, translated by Barabara Heldt, Ann Arbor, 1978 (1848), pp. i-xxii Perfection: Women Terrible Barbara, and Russian Literature,, Heldt, Bloomington, 1987 Ryssland' 'Tavaststjerna (Meddelanden Ben, frdn och Hellman,, Abo Akademis Forskningsinstitut, 44,1979, f6r stiftelsens pp. 7996) Oxford The Chekhov, trans., London, 1964-1978 Ronald, and ed. Hingley, Body Exclusion 'Subject,, the Joanna, and of Women from Hodge, Philosophy' in Morwena Griffiths and Margaret Whitford, eds, Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy..London, 1988, pp. 152-68 Selected Writings Alexandra Kollontai: trans. Alix, ed., and of Holt, with London, 1977 introduction commentaries, and an Education In Finland Science The 1828-1918, Helsinki, Taimo, of lisalo, 1979 'Naisten in Katarina Riitta, Eskola, palkkaty6n yleistyminen' Jallinoja, Elina Haavio-Mannila and Riitta Jallinoja, eds, Naisnik6kulmia, Juva, 1979, pp-17-49

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jallinoja, Riitta, Suomalaisen naisasialiikkeen taistelukaudet, Porvoo, 1983 janecek, Gerald, The Look of Russian Literature: Avant-Garde Visual Princeton, 1984 Experiments1900-1930, johnsson, Mikael, 'Alkoholikysymys' (Valvoia, 9,1889, pp.209-28) Kallas, Riitta, ed., Kolme naista, kolme kohtaloa: Aino Kallaksen kirleenvaihtoa Ilona jalavan ja Helmi Krohnin kanssa vuosina Helsinki, 1988 1884-1913, Kappeler, Susanne, The Pornography of Representation, Cambridge, 1986 Karkama, Pertti, Teuvo Pakkalan romaanit, Oulu, 1975 Karkama, Pertti, J.V. Snellmanin kiriallisuuspolitiikka, Helsinki, 1989 Karlinsky, Simon, 'Chekhov: The Gentle Subversive' in Ren6 and Nonna. D. Wellek, eds, Chekhov: New Perspectives, Englewood Cliffs, 1984,pp.31-68 Karlinsky, Simon, 'Introduction' in Zlobin, Vladimir, A Difficult Soul: Zinaida Gippius, Berkeley, 1980,pp. 1-29 Ketonen, Liisa, Suomen tyttioppikoulut autonomian aikana, Helsinki, 1977 Kilpi, Sylvi Kyllikki, Suomen tydlaisnaisliikkeenhistoria, Pori, 1953 King, Helen, 'Bound to Bleed: Artemis and Greek Women' in Averil Cameron and Amdlie Khurt, eds, Imagesof Womenin Antiquity, London, 1983,pp.109-27 Kirby, D.G., Finland in the Twentieth Century, London, 1979 Literature, London, 1982 Kishtainy, Khalid, The Prostitute in Progressive Kollontai, Aleksandra, Sotsial'nye osnovy zhenskogo voprosa, St Petersburg,1909 Kolodny, Annette, 'Dancing through the Minefield; Some Observations on the Theory, Practice and Politics of a Feminist Literary Criticism' (Feminist Studies,Vol.6, no.1,1980, pp. 1-25) Korte, Irma, Nainen ja myyttinen nainen, Helsinki, 1988 Krohn, Eino, 'L. Onerva - ensimmdinen merkittdvd naislyyrikko' (Suomalainen Suomi, 1,1967, pp. 35-43) Kryzytski, Serge, The Worksof Ivan Bunin, The Hague, 1971 kiriailijoita: kirjailijoiden Kuinka meistd tuli suomalaisten Helsinki, 1916 nuoruudenmuistelmia, Kunnas, Maria-Liisa, Mielikuvien taistelu:'psykologinen aatetausta Eino Leinon tuotannossa,Helsinki, 1972

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Kuusi, Matti, Branch, Michael, Bosley, Keith, eds, Finnish Folk Poetry Epk: An Anthology in Finnish and English, Helsinki, 1977 Paris, 1963 Lafitte, Sophie, Tchikhov 1860-1904, Laisi, Helena, 'Suomen vanhasta ty6lXisnaisli1kkeestX1in Naiskuvista todellisuuteen: tutkimusnak6kulmia naishistoriaan, Helsinki, 1984,pp.112-19 Laitinen, Kai, Aino Kailas 1897-1921: tutkimus hetnen tuotantonsa ja Keuruu, 1973 taustasta, petalinjoista Laitinen.. Kai,, Literature of Finland: An Outline, Helsinki, 1985 Laitinen, Kai, Suomenkiriallisuuden historia, 2nd. ed., Keuruu,, 1981,, Laksin, V., 'An Incomparable Artist' In Leo Hulanicki and David Svignac, trans. and eds, Anton Cexovas a Master of Story Writing: Essays in Modern Soviet Literary Criticism, The Hague,, 1976, pp.91-107 Stockholm, 1916 G., Kvinnolynnen, Carl Laurin, Suomessa 1891 Leino-Kaukiainen, Pirkko, Sensuuri ja sanomalehdist6 1905,Helsinki, 1984 Chekhov Lady Virginia, the and with the Dog, Oxford, Llewellyn-Smith, 1973 Kuprin, Boston,, Alexander 1978 J. L., Nicholas Luker, Maegd-SoEp, Carolina de, Chekhov and Women: Women in the Life Columbus, Chekhov, 1987 Work of and Chekhov Dramatist, London,, 1952 David, the Magarshack,
S., 'Zinaida Gippius' in Na parnase serebrianogo veka, Makovskii, Munich, 1962,,pp-89-122 keskiaikainen kirjallisuus, 'Suomen Aarno, in Martti Maliniemi, Rapola, ed., Suomen kirjallisuus II: Ruotsin ajan kirjallisuus, Helsinki, 1963.. pp-7-68 Johanna, 'Palvelijan ty6n merkitys Mannila-Kaipainen, naisten kotiapulainen Sfisti, rehellinen saa paikan, in vapauttamiselle: Naiskuvista todellisuuteen: tutkimusnilk6kulmia naishistoriaan, Helsinki,, 1984..pp. 122-29 Matich, Olga, Paradox in the Religious Poetry of Zinaida Gippius, Munich, 1972 Merete, Frdn Fredrika Runeberg till Mdrta Tikkanen, Mazarella, Helsinki, 1985 0 S., D. prichinakh upadka io novykh techeniiakh Merezhkovskii, literatury, St Petersbur& 1893 russkoi sovremennoi

320 Systemsin Russian Miklotin, Anthony M., ed., WesternPhilosophical Los Angeles, 1979 Literature:A Collection of Critical Studies,, Mirsky, D. S., A History of RussianLiteratureff: After 1881,2nd- ed., London, 1949 Blok,translatedby Doris V. Johnson, Mochulsky, Konstantin, Aleksandr Detroit, 1983(1948) Moi, Toril, Sexual/ Textual Politics: FeministLiterary Theory,London, 1985 Mora, Gabriela and Hooft, Karen S. van, eds, Theoryand Practiceof FeministLiterary Criticism,Ypsilanti, 1982 Moracevich, Nicholas, 'Women in Chekhov's Plays' in Jean-Pierre Great Plays: A Critical Anthology,New Baricelli, ed., Chekhov's York, 1981, pp.201-17 Naiskuvista todellisuuteen: tutkimusnak6kulmia naishistoriaan, Helsinki, 1984
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