American Contributions to the 14th International Congress of Slavists. Ohrid 2008

The Middle Way: Berberova between Bunin and Nabokov

David M. Bethea, ed. American Contributions to the 14th International Congress of Slavists , Ohrid, September 2008. Vol. 2: Literature. Bloomington, IN: Slavica, 41–50. The Middle Way: Berberova between Bunin and Nabokov Julian W. Connolly The aim of this essay is to characterize Nina Berberova’s unique voice in Russian émigré literature by providing a close reading of two of her short stories in comparison with corresponding works by two fellow writers, Ivan Bunin and Vladimir Nabokov. While critical attention to Berberova’s work has tended to focus on the autobiographical element (see, e.g., Kalb 2001, Peterson 2001, and Livak 2002) or on broad themes, particularly Russian émigré life (see, e.g., Barker 1989, Harwell 2000, and Kalb 2005), her early work on Russian domestic subjects has received less attention . The two stories to be discussed here—“The Ladies from St. Petersburg” and “Zoia Andreevna”—have not been the subject of scholarly analyses. This essay will compare those two stories with stories displaying clear structural and thematic affinities by Bunin and Nabokov in an effort to discover the specific ways that Berberova’s art both reflects and diverges from the artistic concerns of her peers. For the first set of comparisons we will examine one of Ivan Bunin’s most famous works, “The Gentleman from San Francisco” (“Gospodin iz San-Frantsisko,” 1915), a text renowned for its penetrating depiction of the shock and dislocation triggered by the unexpected death of the title character. The Berberova text with which Bunin’s tale will be compared also reveals the consequences of untimely death: this is her short story “The Ladies from St. Petersburg” (“Baryni,” 1927). A broad parallel between the two works is signaled by their titles. In both works, the title evokes the image of individuals distinguished only by their social class or status, not by personal identity (we can contrast the title “Baryni” with Anna Karenina, for example). Within the story itself, both works feature individuals who are struck down by sudden death while traveling away from home. The sense of alienation and lack of familiarity produced by the very state of travel accentuates and deepens the alienation and estrangement brought on by the occurrence of death itself. Let us now look at the two works together, noting both the elements of similarities and the key points of divergence. We can begin with the way each author sets up the context for the sudden death of one of the protagonists. As has already been noted, the central characters in both works are traveling away from home when death strikes. Bunin’s protagonist is a successful businessman who feels he has earned the right to embark upon an expensive Grand Tour of Europe. Bunin emphasizes the gentleman’s 42 JULIAN W. CONNOLLY smugness and egocentricity as the man fully “believes” in the concern and solicitude shown to him by the numerous waiters, bellhops, and hotel proprietors who seem to anticipate and satisfy his every need.1 Berberova’s travelers, in contrast, seem much less secure, and one gets the sense that not only are the two women who have come from St. Petersburg not rich, but the times in which they are traveling are also fraught with anxiety and uncertainty. Indeed , scattered allusions in the story indicate that the events of the tale occur shortly after the spontaneous worker uprising in Petrograd on July 3, 1917 (July 16, New Style). Berberova exposes the simmering tensions of heated class antagonism when she conveys the thoughts of the two travelers as they carry their own bags: “these were not times to be relying on servants.”2 Indeed, as one reads Berberova’s story, one gets the impression that Berberova has picked up an important social theme in Bunin’s work and shows its subsequent evolution. Bunin’s work highlights the economic disparity between the world of wealthy businessmen and the world of the ordinary working class. The subtle resentment fostered by this disparity is revealed only intermittently (as for example, in the mocking disrespect for the gentleman’s corpse displayed by one of the staff members in the Capri hotel where the gentleman died; see p. 33). In Berberova’s work, however, this resentment has broken out into the open. The potential cataclysm that is only hinted at in Bunin’s work has now become a reality. Nonetheless, even if the ladies from St. Petersburg are traveling in somewhat straightened circumstances, the set to which they belong evinces some of the same...