Erotic Nihilism in Late Imperial Russia: The Case of Mikhail Artsybashev's Sanin

3. Counterliterature: The Search for Poetic Justice

3 Counterliterature The Search for Poetic Justice Among the many reasons for which critics and readers found fault with Artsybashev, one of the most important was his decision to end the novel with the sudden departure of his hero. Sanin leaves his hometown as unexpectedly as he arrived, even deliberately avoiding a last encounter with his family. After two suicides and one rape, this denouement was perceived as highly unsatisfactory, for it implied, in the eyes of critics and readers alike, that Sanin’s “immoral” behavior remained unpunished. Worse yet, the novel’s very last sentence describing Sanin “striding forth to meet the sun” emphatically suggested that the author approved of his hero’s conduct and had presented him as an example worthy of imitation. Where was Sanin heading? What would his future look like? These were the questions with which many of Artsybashev’s critics struggled in an attempt to establish his significance as a hero of his time. Judging by Sanin’s self-confidence and insouciant mood in the closing scene, there seems little reason to assume that the events in his hometown have affected his views on life. Yet it is precisely this suggestion of ideological continuity that critics and readers deemed unacceptable and even implausible. One commentator maintained that the image of Sanin walking toward the sun was nothing but a pretentious symbol testifying to the author’s inability to point the direction in which his hero was developing as both an individual and a social type.1 The Marxist critic Vasilii L’vov-Rogachevskii attached great significance to the fact that Sanin boarded a train in the final chapter and “was on the move 76 again.” In his opinion, the journey metaphorically represented the birth of a new identity that would surely emerge in the near future.2 The symbolic potential of Sanin’s sudden departure was so rich that it inspired a considerable amount of “counterliterature”—fictional works intended to serve as clear parallels to the original yet also seeking to debunk its ideas.3 Though the number of texts seriously taking issue with Sanin is rather small, especially when compared to the number of parodies and slapdash adaptations for the stage, the total output of works that attacked, ridiculed, exploited, or otherwise referred to Sanin is impressive, specifically when considering that the texts I discuss here are, in all probability, merely the tip of the iceberg. This chapter begins with a brief overview of a number of alternative endings that were proposed for the novel and other light-hearted material , some of which was never published. Subsequently, the discussion focuses on two “countertexts” that pretend to pursue a more serious agenda. Intended for entirely different audiences with different tastes, these texts also employ divergent narrative and rhetorical strategies to convey their messages. Whether or not we choose to regard Sanin as middlebrow or “boulevard” literature, these countertexts reveal that its resonance extended well beyond the boundaries of one particular class of readers. The final section centers on the reception of Artsybashev’s second large novel, At the Last Frontier, particularly on the widely held view that it somehow “completed” the story of Sanin and marked the end of Artsybashev’s career as a writer. Adaptations, Satires, and Mock Sequels As I stated, not all countertexts that Sanin provoked seriously attempted to convince the reader of its pernicious nature. Some authors simply made fun of the novel and its purported message of sexual freedom . Others may have sensed an opportunity to make a profit by exploiting Artsybashev’s success. The archives of the St. Petersburg State Theater Library contain at least seven manuscripts of adaptations for the stage that do not betray a polemical or even satirical intent. Though the authors proved highly eclectic in selecting their material, some leaving out the rape scene with Karsavina, others ignoring Iurii Svarozhich’s suicide, they never ventured beyond the closing scene in an attempt to show what happened (or should have happened) to Sanin after his Counterliterature 77 departure from his native town. For the most part, these amateur playwrights appear to have been keen on preserving Sanin’s heroic stature and suggesting that his actions are morally justified. The following stage direction from a play by an unknown author entitled Sanin: Scenes from the Novel, which is intended to render the infamous deflowering scene, clearly follows the novel, insisting that Karsavina consents to...