Ironic-Byronic Influence in Lermontov's Tambovskaja Kazna&chachek;ej&shachek;a
Heather
Daly
The failure of past assessments of Lermontov's Tambovskaja
Kazna&chachek;ej&shachek;a in producing a satisfying analysis
is remarkable. In an effort to come to a greater understanding of the
work within the context of Lermontov's oeuvre, I attempt, in my paper,
an analysis of Tambovskaja Kazna&chachek;ej&shachek;a
through the lens of the ironic-Byronic tradition established in
Beppo. For although the literature available on Byron's
influence on Lermontov is extensive, almost nothing has been written
on the impact of Byron's later ironical works, despite evidence that
Lermontov adopted numerous devices and techniques from Byron in
composing this ironical narrative poem. The primary goal of this paper
is to discover how Lermontov adapts and develops Byron's form and
devices. To this end I examine the ways in which both authors violate
romantic conventions. I limit my examination of Beppo's
influence on Tambovskaja Kazna&chachek;ej&shachek;a to
five general points of comparison: genre choice, setting, techniques
of digression and omission, the author-narrator personas and the
depiction of the heroes and heroines in both works. Through an
examination of these categories we can see how both authors set
themselves up the task of breaking down convention and escaping the
artificiality of, what seemed to them, romantic genres which had
outlived their age. Yet, despite numerous similarities, Byron and
Lermontov use this same form to break down distinctly different
conventions. Whereas Byron focuses more on the depoeticization of his
heroine and a debunking of his orientalist and metaphysical legacy,
Lermontov places more emphasis on disappointing his readers' genre
expectations. In this aspect Lermontov goes further than Byron,
refusing to even provide a real ending to his poem.
Both
Tambovskaja Kazna&chachek;ej&shachek;a and
Beppo are clearly highly metapoetical. Rejecting the
primacy of the story, the authors focus on their own telling, creating
author-narrator characters who are more developed and arguably more
compelling than the works' heroes.
The authors do not
tease and mock their readers out of contempt. Through their poetical
works they attempt to educate them, to force them to be more rigorous
in their reading. Seen in this way, these texts serve as a sort of
initiation of skilled readers into a more exclusive segment of the
reading public, capable of both discerning and appreciating romantic
irony.