Article

Name: “Alien name” by N. D. Akhsharumov and “Humiliated and insulted” by F. M. Dostoevsky: shades of creative failure

Authors: A. E. Kozlov

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper examines the phenomenon of creative failure in the aspect of publishing practices and the author’s self-awareness. The situation of literary rivalry, dialogue and non-dialogue of F. M. Dostoevsky and N. D. Akhsharumov is modelled. Having appeared in the literary field in the same year, then “having fallen out” of literary life for a decade (1850−1858), the writers would become rivals in the early 1860s, when the magazine “Vremya” would begin to publish the novel “Humiliated and insulted” and the literary journal “Russky Vestnik“ − the “Alien Name.” The two novels, feuilleton and adventurous one, precisely focused on the genres of mass litera- ture, would bring ambiguous fame to their creators and determine their reputation in the early 60s. Our attention is focused on the reviews of Russian criticism of Akhsharumov’s novel (Dobrolyubov, Grigoryev, Khvoshchinskaya). Due to having been comprehensively studied, the articles and comments on the perception of the “Humiliated and insulted” are not taken into account.

The research has revealed the specific shades of creative failure for the career of writers. The failure, recognized by Dostoevsky himself, is subsequently considered in the general context of the author’s evolution. However, for Akhsharumov, as “a writer without a biography,” his novel becomes synonymous with a dead end, a false path that determined his place in the periphery of cultural history.

Keywords: Russian literature of the 19th century, classics and fiction, secondary and alterna- tive, the phenomenon of creative failure, Akhsharumov, Dostoevsky

Bibliography:

Ashcheulova I. V. Rets. na kn.: Fenomen tvorcheskoy neudachi. Pod obshch. red. i s predisl. A. V. Podchinenova, T. A. Snigirevoy. Ekaterinburg, Izd. Ural. gos. un., 2011 [Book review: The phenomenon of a creative failure. Ed. and pref. by A. V. Podchinenov, T. A. Snigireva. Ekaterinburg, Ural State University Publ., 2011]. Siberian Journal of Philology. 2012, no. 4, pp. 227– 231.

Bakhtin M. M. K filosofii postupka [To the philosophy of act]. In: Bakhtin M. M. Sobr. soch.: V 7 t. [Selected works in 7 vols]. Moscow, Russkie slovari, 2003, vol. 1, pp. 7–68.

Barthes R. Izbrannye raboty: Semiotika. Poetika [Selected works: Semiotics. Poetics]. Moscow, Progress, 1989.

Blesk i nishcheta natsional’nogo geniya: Bodler, Po, Dostoevskiy [The splendors and miseries of national genius: Bodler, Poe, Dostoevsky]. S. Fokin, A. Urakova (Eds). Moscow, New Literary Observer, 2017.

Bogoderova A. A. Syuzhetnaya situatsiya ukhoda v russkoy literature vtoroy poloviny 19 veka [The plot situation of care in Russian literature of the 19th century]. Cand. philol. sci. diss. Novosibirsk, 2011.

Bourdieu P. Rules of art: Genesis and structure of the literary field. Stanford University Press, 1996.

Chernov A. F. Iz istorii russkoy belletristiki (A. F. Vel’tman-romanist: 30–60-e gody 19 veka) [From the history of Russian Fiction Prose. A. Veltman as a novelist (30–60 of the 19th century)]. Cherepovets, 1996.

Dmitrenko S. Belletristika porodila klassiku (k probleme interpretatsii literaturnykh proizvedeniy) [Belletrics created the classics (to the problem of interpretation of literary works)]. Voprosy literatury. 2002, no. 5, pp. 75–102.

Dubin B. V. Klassika, posle i ryadom: sotsiologicheskie ocherki o literature i kul’ture [The Classics, after and about: sociological essays on literature and culture]. Moscow, New Literary Observer, 2010, 344 p.

Eykhenbaum B. M. Lev Tolstoy: Issledovaniya. Stat’i [Leo Tolstoy: Researches. Articles]. St. Petersburg, 2009.

Genieva E. Yu. Strannaya sud’ba U. Tekkereya [The strange fate of U. Thackeray]. In: U. M. Tekkerey: Tvorchestvo. Vospominaniya. Bibliograficheskie razyskaniya [Creativity. Memoirs. Bibliographic surveys]. Moscow, 1989.

Fenomen tvorcheskoy neudachi [Phenomenon of a creative failure]. A. V. Podchinenov, T. A. Snigireva (Eds). Ekaterinburg, UrFU, 2011.

Fenomen tvorcheskoy neudachi [Phenomenon of a creative failure]. A. V. Podchinenov, T. A. Snigireva (Eds). Moscow, Yurayt, 2018.

Ivashchenko T. S. K voprosu ob istoricheskikh istochnikakh romana-epopei L. N. Tolstogo ”Voyna i mir” [On the question of historical sources of the epic novel of L. N. Tolstoy ”War and Peace ”]. Yugra State University Bulletin. 2016, no. 1 (40), pp. 92–100.

Khrestomatiynye teksty 19 veka: ocherki bytovaniya i kanonizatsii [Canon texts of the 19th century: sketches of life and canonization]. In: Trudy po russkoy i slavyanskoy filologii. Literaturovedenie, 9. Khrestomatiynye teksty: russkaya pedagogicheskaya praktika 19 v. i poeticheskiy kanon [Proceedings on Russian and Slavic philology. Literature studies, 9. Chrstomatist texts: Russian pedagogical practice of the 19th century and the poetic canon]. Tartu, 2013.

Klassika i sovremennost’ [Classics and modernity]. Moscow, MSU, 1991.

Kozlov A. E. “Dvoynik” F. M. Dostoevskogo i “Dvoynik” N. D. Akhsharumova: k voprosu o lingvostilevoy organizatsii vtorichnogo teksta [“The Double” by F. M. Dostoevsky and “The Double” by N. D. Akhsharumov: to the question of linguistic organization of the secondary text]. Siberian Journal of Philology. 2017, no. 1, pp. 36–45.

Kubasov A. V. Chekhov i Suvroin [Chekhov and Suvorin]. In: Fenomen tvorcheskoy neudachi [The phenomenon of a creative failure]. Ekaterinburg, UrFU, 2011.

Leman E. I. “Iz nikh byl slaven ne odin”: Rod Akhsharumovykh v Rossii [“Not only one was glorious among them”: the Aksharumov family in Russia]. Proceedings of the Russian Geographical Society. St. Petersburg, 1997.

Lotman Yu. M. Massovaya literatura kak istoriko-kul’turnaya problema [Mass literature as a historical and cultural problem]. In: Lotman Yu. M. O russkoy literature. Stat’i i issledovaniya: istoriya russkoy prozy, teoriya literatury [On Russian literature. Articles and studies: History of Russian prose, theory of literature]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo, 1997, 820 p.

Mayorova O. E. Akhsharumov Nikolay Dmitrievich. In: Russkie pisateli. 1800–1917: Biograficheskiy slovar’ [Russian writers. 1800-1917: Biographical dictionary]. Moscow, 1989.

Mednis N. E. Semiotika oshibki v gorodskikh tekstakh [Semiotics of an error in the city texts]. Critique and Semiotics. 2003, no. 6, pp. 51–55.

Penskaya E. N. Problemy al’ternativnykh putey v russkoy literature: poetika absurda v tvorchestve A. K. Tolstogo, M. E. Saltykova-Shchedrina i A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylina [Problems of alternative ways in Russian literature: poetics of absurdity in the works of A. K. Tolstoy, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylin]. Moscow, Carte Blanche, 2000.

Pecherskaya T. I. Raznochinskiy diskurs russkoy literatury 19 veka [Commoners discourse of 19th century Russian literature]. Novosibirsk, NSPU, 2018.

Reytblat A. I. Kak Pushkin vyshel v genii. Istoriko-sotsiologicheskie ocherki o knizhnoy kul’ture Pushkinskoy epokhi [Historical and sociological essays on the book culture of the Pushkin era]. Moscow, 2001.

Sozina E. K. Individual’noe i obshchee v sud’be i tvorchestve literatora-raznochintsa: razmyshleniya nad prozoy F. M. Reshetnikova [The private and the public in the fate and work of the writer-raznochinets: reflections on F. M. Reshetnikov’s prose]. Ural Historical Journal. 2009, no. 1, pp. 41–50.

Tyupa V. I. Mezhdu arkhaikoy i avangardom [Between archaic and avant-garde]. In: Klassika i sovremennost’ [Classics and modernity]. Moscow, MSU, 1991.

Vershinina N. L. Russkaya belletristika 1830-kh – 1840-kh godov [Russian fiction prose of in the 1830s – 1840s]. Pskov, 1997.

Vinitskiy I. Graf Sardinskiy. Dmitriy Khvostov i russkaya kul’tura [Count Sardinskiy. Dmitry Khvostov and Russian culture]. Moscow, 2017.

Vinokur G. O. Biografiya i kul’tura. Russkoe stsenicheskoe proiznoshenie [Biography and culture. Russian stage pronunciation.]. Moscow, Russkie slovari, 1997.

Volodina N. V., Lavrova S. Yu. Tvorchestvo N. D. Akhsharumova: opyt monograficheskogo analiza belletristicheskikh tekstov [Creativity of N. D. Akhsharumov: experience of monographic analysis of fictional texts]. Cherepovets, 2018.

Vtoraya proza. Russkaya proza 20–30-kh godov 20 veka [Second Prose. Russian Prose of the 20s – 30s of the 20th century]. Trento, Dipartimento di Scienze Filologiche e Storiche, 1995.

Zhirkova M. A. Traditsii F. M. Dostoevskogo v romane N. D. Akhsharumova “Kontsy v vodu” [The tradition of F. M. Dostoevsky in the N. D. Akhsharumovʼs novel “None will be the wiser”]. Art Logos. 2019, no. 2 (7), pp. 18–33.