Sergei Dovlatov and His Narrative Masks

5. Dovlatov’s Sanctuary and Pushkin

110 Chapter Five Dovlatov’s Sanctuary and Pushkin DOVLATOV’S NOVEL ZAPOVEDNIK (THE SANCTUARY) is loosely based upon the author’s own experiences during a period spent working in the “Pushkin Hills” (Pushkinskie Gory) Museum at Mikhailovskoe. It was not unusual for members of the Moscow and Leningrad intelligentsia to work as guides at the museum, and when Dovlatov’s life in Estonia became unbearable and he could neither find employment in Leningrad nor persuade publishers there to accept his work, he took a job in Mikhailovskoe as a way of earning a living. It is clear from his correspondence that he actually worked there in 1975–77; the action of the novel, however, is attributed to a slightly later time, around 1978. He evidently had the first idea about writing a story about Pushkin and literature while still in the army. It is common knowledge that all textbooks in the U.S.S.R. depict Pushkin’s killer d’Anthès in the blackest of terms. Dovlatov admits it is a silly idea, but he decided to stand up for d’Anthès, arguing that there is a rational idea behind it. One of Dovlatov’s letters contains a jocular poem about d’Anthès: “In all textbooks d’Anthès is depicted as a terrible man. I decided to defend him. It’s a stupid song, but everybody likes it.” Some of the ideas of The Sanctuary can be traced to this: D’Anthès von Haekkern Was of course a bastard So why in heaven’s name Is he so famous later? [. . .] That fellow didn’t even read Pushkin’s poetry He didn’t have a clue About Pushkin being a genius. [. . .] So how was he to know That idiots of both sexes Dovlatov’s Sanctuary and Pushkin 111 Would later come to call him An enemy of culture. Dantes fon Gekkern Konechno byl podonkom Togda na koi zhe khren Izvesten on potomkam. [. . .] A tot i ne chital Ego stikhotvorenii Ne znal on ni cherta Pro to, chto Pushkin—genii. [. . .] Otkuda mog on znat’ Chto duraki i dury Kogda-to budut zvat’ Ego vragom kul’tury.1 Dovlatov spent several summer seasons, from 1974 onward, working in the Pushkin Hills Museum, known more widely as the Sanctuary. As noted in chapter 1, he told Zibunova in March 1978 about his plans for the new novel. The first draft of The Sanctuary was completed in Leningrad. Ar’ev explains in his interview “Sergei Dovlatov po obe storony okeana” (“Dovlatov on Both Sides of the Ocean”) that The Sanctuary was simply rewritten in the West according to Dovlatov’s new, absolutely strict rules, which “allowed him to work on every sentence, on every word individually.”2 Ar’ev explains that this allowed Dovlatov to achieve the strictest control over every line, even over every sound, in his writing. In the issue of Novyi Amerikanets for September 27, 1980, Dovlatov published an excerpt from his book Fiveways entitled “Pskovskie otkrytki” (“Postcards from Pskov”), which later formed part of The Sanctuary. In the May 16, 1980, issue of Novyi Amerikanets he had already published the story “Schastlivaia derevnia” (“A Happy Village”), which also forms part of the final version of The Sanctuary. “Postcards from Pskov” also has a brief introduction explaining the story behind it and outlining the real state of affairs in the Pushkin Museum: “About the false exhibits, prepared by one Samorodsky. About the notorious textbook veneer. About the neglect of real historical materials. About the profound ignorance of the guides and the tourists. About the grandiloquent obscurantism of the director, S. S. Geichenko .”3 In the same brief introduction, Dovlatov writes that he had in mind to dedicate this piece to Abram Tertz and call it “Progulki s Dantesom ” (“Walks with d’Anthès”): “After all, Pushkin’s murderer, d’Anthès, and Chapter Five 112 the falsifier of [Pushkin’s] biography, Geichenko, can be regarded as intellectual allies.”4 The family archive contains a 1978 draft version of The Sanctuary, which had the working title Naslednik (The Heir). This also has an epigraph, which throws some light on the completed work: I know it is immodest, but I would still like to address my story to Pushkin. If only because he is the only real person here. The rest of the characters are invented . . . Pushkin has long been silent, but his is the silence of...