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A Hero of Bygone Time, or Russian Literature as an Ecological System in Vladimir Makanin's Underground and Other Works Konstantin Kustanovich Introduction Who is the "hero" in Makanin's novel Underground, or A Hero of Our Time? Since both the second part of the title and the epigraph in Makanin's book are quotations from Lermontov's famous noveV one is tempted to treat Makanin 's protagonist Petrovich in the way Lermontov presents his Pechorin-as a "hero of our time" who bears the traits, beliefs, and "vices"2 common to his generation. The problem with this reading, however, is that, on a closer look, Petrovich is a rather strange figure whom it is difficult to place in any particular group, let alone to understand as representing his entire generation. He is a writer who does not write anything; an author who refuses to publish his works; an intellectual with a taste for Heidegger who, for no good reason, murders two people. In short, he is a Dostoevskian cl1aracter; sucl1 characters escape typification and hardly represent any social body or phenomenon except , maybe, "the mysterious Russian soul." Petrovich's seemingly fraternal relations with the declasse tenants of the obshchaga (the Dorm), or bomzhatnik,3 (the Bumhouse)-a kind of communal housing where live the least fortunate and for the most part little-educated Muscovites-are based on selfish interests . He apartment-sits for the better-off tenants and has no official rights allowing him to live in the Dorm, which makes his situation rather vulnerable. Most of his sexual encounters with the female inhabitants of tl1e Dorm and other women have the same superficial and self-serving character. Although he rarely declines an invitation to share a bottle of vodka, no matter whence it comes, and often invites himself for free drink and food to a celebration at the 1 The title of Lermontov's novel, A Hero of allr Time, is echoed in Makanin's; Lermontov 's preface is the source for Makanin's epigraph. 2 "the vices of our entire generation." See Mikhail Lermontov, Geroi nGshego vremcl1i, in Poinoe sobrnnie sochinenii (Moscow-Leningrad: OGIZ, 1948), 4: 8; and Vladimir Makanin, Andegrmllld, iii Ceroi nashego vremeni (Moscow: Vagrius, 1998), 7. All translations into Russian are mine unless otherwise indicated. 3 Derived from the Russian word bomzh (bum, vagrant), which, in turn, is the abbreviation of the official term bez opredeiellllOgo mesta zhitel'stva (no permanent residence). Routes of Passage: Essays on the Fiction of Vladimir Makanin. Byron Lindsey and Tatiana Spektor, eds. Bloomington, IN: Siavica Publishers, 2007, 115- 27. 116 KONSTANTIN KUSTANOVICH Bumhouse or a party at a bohemian hangout, Petrovich, like many of Makanin 's protagonists, is paradoxically an outsider, i'etral1ger,4 to his milieus One of the possible readings of the novel's title-a purely grammatical one-suggests the "hero" is not Petrovich at all. In Russian grammar when two nominal phrases are separated with the conjunction iii (or) preceded by a comma, the second member is identical with the first one6 Thus, the grammatical structure of the title may point at the "underground" as "a hero of our time." The word "underground" in the contemporary Russian cultural context refers to the unofficial, nonconformist art, including literature, of the seventies and eighties? Makanin himself, however, attributes to the "underground " a much broader meaning. First of all, this word denotes anyone belonging to the non-conformist intelligentsia, all those who stir the already excited Russian quietness, wave after wave. [First, it is] the hermit as an inner emigre; as soon as hermits are gone, the real emigres come; those are replaced by dissidents; and when dissidents evaporate, the underground comes forward. This is us.... We are Russia's subconscious. We are registered tenants here. Under any circumstances, be it vile or even the brightest ones, they will try to kick us out and we will poke door after door adorning the length of the hall. We will wander with our cheap plastic typewriters, hoping that for us too a tiny room can be found in the endless hall of the giant Russia dorm8 The more prevalent meaning of the Underground in the novel, however, is genuine literature, Literature with a capital L. In the above quotation this association is rendered through an important symbol in the novel, "a cheap plastic typewriter." And through this association another important connection is formed: literature is "the society's subconscious.,,9 Makanin's novel 4 It is tempting to...

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