American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Belyj Subtexts in Pil'njak's Golyj God

Author(s): Vladimir E. Alexandrov
Source: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Spring, 1983), pp. 81-90
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
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BELYJ SUBTEXTS IN PIL'NJAK'S GOLYJ GOD

Vladimir E. Alexandrov, Harvard University

Boris Pil'njak's indebtedness to both the style and themes of Andrej

Belyj's fictionhas been widely noted in the criticism,and was, in fact,
acknowledged openlyby Pil'njak himself.'However,the commentsthat
have been made about this dependence have generally been brief or
vague: it is as ifno one wanted to belabor what seemed obvious to all. A
related problem is that formost readers the Belyj in question is the
author ofPeterburgalone. Thus, in the case ofGolyjgod, Pil'njak's first
and best-knownnovel, Belyj's influenceis seen in such featuresas the
novel's confusedpresentationoftime and space, its themeofEast versus
West, and its complication of syntax and emphasis on rhythmand
alliteration (i.e., its "ornamental prose" style)-all of which are gen-
erally perceived as coming fromPeterburg.2 There is no denyingsuch a
dependence ofGolyjgod on Belyj's masterpiece ofcourse, although one
would like to see studies describing it more fullyand more exactly.
By contrast, the importance of Serebrjanyj golub' for Pil'njak in
general and Golyj god in particular has been largely ignored,which is
all the more surprising since one of the more enigmatic component
stories or episodes in Golyj god is a parody of the central plot of
Serebrjanyj golub'.3 I have in mind Semen Matveev Zilotov's plan to
mate Olen'ka Kunc and tovari Lajtis, (describedlargely in the section
of Chapter One entitled "Pentagramma, ili massonskij [sic] znak, pe-
revod s francuzskogo"),which is based on Kudejarov's comparable plan
forDar'jal'skij and Matrena.4
Among the many difficultpassages in Pil'njak's recalcitrantnovel,
this componentstoryin particular has been the cause of special con-
sternationand abuse. There are fewbook-lengthstudies on Pil'njak to
begin with.Thus it is especially strikingthat in a recentmonographthe
meaning ofthe Zilotov-Kunc-Lajtisstoryis writtenoffas being unclear,
its relation to the rest ofthe novel as uncertain; its debt to Belyj is also
not recognized.5In an earlier commentary,Viktor Sklovskij, who was
hardlya fanofPil'njak's and judged him harshly,also observedthat this
SEEJ, Vol. 27, No. 1 (1983) 81

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82 Slavic and East EuropeanJournal

story"is the most forced('natjanutoe') and most useless ('neputnoe')" in

Golyj god, and one that is tied to the rest of the novel "in the most
primitivemanner." Sklovskij also states that Zilotov's only functionin
the text is as an arbitrary motivation forthe inclusion of quotations
fromMasonic works,whose role,in turn,is to increase the "polysemy"of
the novel. The only general debt to Belyj which Sklovskij noted was the
"possibility"that Pil'njak phrased certain sentences like Belyj's."These
views could not be more wrong.
The operating principle behind a study of Pil'njak's reliance on
Belyj-or indeed,that ofany author on another,and especially when the
older author's works are more complicated, and, in this case, more
talented than the youngerone's-should of course be an analysis from
the point ofview ofthe artisticand thematic wholes which their works
represent. Of interest is what Pil'njak did with Serebrjanyj golub"s
entire world when he refractedit throughthe one he created in Golyj
god (or what he did with othersofBelyj's workswhen he borrowedfrom
them). One would ultimately like to understand whetherPil'njak was
polemicizing with Belyj, or in harmony with him, or somewhere in
between.As I hope to show,the patternthat emergesfromanalyzing the
relation ofthe Zilotov-Lajtis-Kuncstoryto the plot ofSerebrjanyjgolub'
also illuminates the meaning of the rest of Golyj god, and suggests a
general approach to the other ties between Belyj and Pil'njak.
Before turning to this, however, it is worth pausing on the one
dominant conceptual system that is crucial forunderstandingBelyj's
works, especially Serebrjanyj golub' and Peterburg-namely, an apo-
calyptic view ofworld history,and, specifically,in the formgiven it by
Vladimir Solov'ev in his Kratkaja povest' ob antixriste.Solov'ev's apo-
calypticism is based firmlyin Biblical Revelation, but has certain sui
generis propheticadditions, the most famous of which is the phenom-
enon ofpan-Mongolism. This, ofcourse, involves the unificationofthe
peoples ofAsia and theirinvasion ofRussia and the West-which acts as
a harbingerofthe comingofthe antichrist,and signals the beginningof
the end ofthe entireworld-historicalprocess,with a culminationin the
Second Coming. This is not the place to detail all the evidence,but even
if one judges by Serebrjanyj golub' and Peterburg alone, these ideas
clearly had an absolutely hallucinatory effecton Belyj.
Now for Serebrjanyj golub' itself. The core of the novel's plot is
Dar'jal'skij's involvementwith Kudejarov and the Doves. In turn,this
involvement centers on Kudejarov's attempt to cause the birth of a
"world-savior,"whose fatheris to be the Westernized,minor decadent
poet Dar'jal'skij, and whose intended mother is the coarse peasant
wench Matrena-one ofthe representativesof the Eastern pole in the
novel.

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 BelyjSubtextsin Pil'njak'sGolyjgod 83

Kudejarov's program is thus literally theurgic. Through his own

effortshe wants to cause the Christ to reincarnate-in effect,to cause
the Second Coming. Although in the earlier parts of the novel the
narratorshares the Doves' point ofview when he describes Kudejarov's
occult rituals (I, 113 ff.),towardthe end ofSerebrjanyjgolub' it becomes
clear to both the narrator and Dar'jal'skij that evil has taken over
Kudejarov's theurgic efforts.No Christ child is forthcoming;instead,
both the narrator and Dar'jal'skij become aware of an invisible and
threatening presence manifesting itself during Kudejarov's ra-
denija-an evil ofwhich Kudejarov, however,remains unaware (II, 151,
180). These efforts, it could be argued, actually give birthtothe demonic
forcewhich comes closer and closer to Dar'jal'skij, and eventually leads
to his murderwhen he attemptsto escape fromthe Doves. Readers ofthe
novel will rememberthat shortlybeforeDar'jal'skij reaches thehouse in
Lixov in which the Doves kill him, the narrator comments,following
Dar'jal'skij's utterance of an oath, that "szadi [Dar'jal'skogo] el eort"
(II, 228). It is temptingto see this evil figureas related to the one in the
wagon followingDar'jal'skij fromCelebeevo (II, 214), which, in turn,
seems to have developed fromthe one associated with the bush which
has stood menacingly over the town formany years (I, 47; II, 21; etc.).
It should be noted that such dualistic perceptions,as of the bush
which also seems to be the dark figureof a threateningwanderer,are
typical ofthe narrator and certain characters throughoutthe novel. In
all cases, the perceptionshintat hidden,sentient,and malevolentforces
below the surfaceofeverydayreality. This general phenomenonseems
to me to be a widespread, small-scale echo of the appearance of the
demonic in the guise of the good during Kudejarov's theurgicrituals,
which,in turn,comes straightfromthe Bible and Solov'ev, and is a clear
adumbration of the coming of the antichrist. Both these individual
perceptions and the demonic usurpation of Kudejarov's theurgy are
thus manifestationsofthe apocalyptic schema that comprisesthe back-
ground of Belyj's world view.
As I mentioned above, the Kudejarov-Dar'jal'skij-Matrena
relationship is the source ofthe storyinvolvingZilotov-Lajtis-Olen'ka
Kunc in Golyjgod. First,I would like to comparePil'njak's descriptionof
Ordynintown,the settingforhis storyabout Zilotov,to Belyj's descrip-
tion ofthe town ofCelebeevo, in which most ofSerebrjanyjgolub' takes
place:
Again and again, into the blue abyss ofday, full ofhot, cruel gleams, the Celebeevo
belfrythrewits loud cries.... And the heat oppressedthe breast.In the heat the
wingsflashedglassilyoverthepond,andflewup intotheheat,intotheblue
dragonflies'
abyss of day, there-into the light blue calm of desolate spaces. (I, 9)

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84 Slavic and East EuropeanJournal

The sultrysky pours a sultryhaze, and in the evening yellowtwilightwill lingerfora

long time. The sultry sky is flooded with light blue bottomlessness,and the chapels,
passageways,houses,theearth-all burn.A wakingdream.In thedesolate
monastery
quiet the cathedral bells peal with a glassy ringing-don, don, don-every fiveminutes.
These days-it's a waking dream. (19)

The vast emptiness ofthe sky,the heat and light,the repetitivenessof

the pealing of the bells, the derivatives of "glass"-all are present in
both passages and clearly suggest that Pil'njak's description was
inspiredby Belyj's. Moreover,the phrase "waking dream" ('son najavu')
which Pil'njak repeats twice, is the title of the tenth part of Chapter
Three of Serebrjanyj golub' (I, 202). Although this is an appropriate
designation for the complex, dualistic reality of Belyj's world, which
includes both material and spiritual realms, Pil'njak's use of it in his
novel is ultimatelyironic,as I shall argue below. I hope to show that the
significance of the similarity in the descriptions of the two settings
emergeswith an understandingofPil'njak's parodistictreatmentofthe
central eventsthat transpire in his town in contrastto Belyj's.
The characters who comprise the "triangles" in the two towns are
also alike. Pil'njak's Zilotovbears a resemblanceto Belyj's Kudejarov on
a purelyphysical level. One ofKudejarov's mostdistinguishingcharac-
teristics is his strangely dualistic face. According to the narrator,at
times it seems as ifone half ofit resembles a "gnawed sheep bone." The
two sides ofhis face also seem to have lives oftheirown,as is suggested
by the narrator'sobservationthat one side slylywatches what the other
seems to fear (I, 42-43), an effectwhich Belyj conveys with great
artistry.The meaning ofKudejarov's dual face is found,I believe, in his
status as a sorcerer-in the factthat he has occult powers,and that he
thus straddles the material and spiritual realms.
Zilotovhas a comparable countenance.We learn that as a resultofa
war wound his face was twistedto one side, one moustachebegan to look
larger than the other, and that he lost his right eye (27-28). A major
differencebetween Zilotov and Kudejarov, however,is that there is no
suggestion that the occult caused Zilotov's facial duality. I should also
mention that Zilotov's involvement with Masonic books seems to be
another borrowing fromSerebrjanyj golub'-but fromthe character
Schmidt, and once again, without a transferenceof Schmidt's authen-
tically occult aura in Belyj's novel to Zilotov. Although it is true that
Kudejarov is described as being well-read in the Scriptures, to the
extent of debating them with the village priest (I, 43), there is no
mention of his reading anything "occult."
As forthe other two characters: being a Balt, comrade Jan Lajtis
serves as an analogue to the Westernized Dar'jal'skij; and Olen'ka
Kunc-the typicalunreflectingsoviet "meSdanoaka"-fulfillsthe role of

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 BelyjSubtextsin Pil'njak'sGolyjgod 85

Matrena-the simple, but "primal" peasant wench in Kudejarov's plan.

It is worthstressing that this is the way in which Zilotov himselfsees
these two characters: they embody the West and Russia, respectively
(30). As with the similarity in the descriptionsof the two towns, the
ultimate significance of Pil'njak modeling his characters on Belyj's
emerges with a consideration of Pil'njak's attitude toward the central
action in which his characters are involved.
In the final analysis, the most importantevidence for Pil'njak's
borrowingfromBelyj is the goal of Zilotov's plan. He wants to save
Russia fromthe chaos of the immediate post-revolutionaryyears by
causing the birthofa savior, clearly recalling Kudejarov's wish forthe
same. Zilotov's formulationis: "Crez dvadcat' let budet spasitel'. Rossija
skrestitsja s inostrannym narodom" (30). An important difference,
however, is that whereas Kudejarov wants to cause Christ to appear
(and manages to produce,or become the tool ofevil), Zilotov wants the
devil fromthe verystart: "Cert, a ne Bog," he says, "Boga poprat"' (28).
Moreover,he regularly swears by the devil: "ej vertu,pentogramma"is
his sacred oath. I will returnto this differenceshortly.Anothersimilar-
ity, however, is that Zilotov, like Kudejarov, imagines the act of
engendering in a religious and mystical context. Kudejarov wants
Matrena and Dar'jal'skij to meet with prayers and under his occult
guidance (II, 116). Analogously, Zilotov has his characters meet in the
altar ofa church(30). (The specificdetail ofthe churchmay have cometo
Pil'njak fromRozanov, by the way, who had writtenabout the appropri-
ateness of newlyweds spending their firstnights in the church where
they were wed as a signal of the sanctity of their sexual act).7
However, the differencesbetween Zilotov's and Kudejarov's com-
parable plans are as important as the similarities between them,
because they point to Pil'njak's polemical attitude toward Belyj.
Whereas Kudejarov's effortsactually bear fruit (although different
fromthat which he had intended),Zilotov's are clearlywrong-headedto
the pointofabsurdityfromthe verybeginning.For example, he refersto
Olen'ka Kunc as a virgin(30), which she clearly is not,as is revealed by
the narrator(99) (who also speaks ofhimselfas the author in the novel
[133]). When it does take place, the meetingwithLajtis is characterized
more by clumsiness on his part and practiced cynicismon hers than by
anythinglike the occult aura that surroundsMatrena and Dar'jal'skij.
Zilotov's plan also involves the absurd twist ofthe participants'deaths
by fireaftertheir meeting (which precludes the birthof any "savior"),
but the only one to die in the fireintended forthem is Zilotov himself;
Olen'ka Kunc had gone to the movies prior to the fire,and Lajtis is
arrestedafterit. Pil'njak's referenceto "son najavu" in the descriptionof
the setting forhis story (a phrase which recalls Belyj's descriptionof

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86 Slavic and East EuropeanJournal

Celebeevo) can thus be seen as ironic. In Golyj god there is nothing

remotely like the blurring of a boundary between the material and
spiritual realms that one findsin Serebrjanyjgolub'. One can conclude
thereforethat Pil'njak's point in evoking the physical settingofBelyj's
world was part of a broader desire to undermine that world,as I shall
suggest below.
I should add that the conflagrationwhich Zilotov anticipates will
followafterthe meeting ofthe Russian woman with the foreignermay
also be derived from Serebrjanyj golub', but not from Kudejarov's
theurgical program. Rather, it sounds like Dar'jal'skij's encomium
(shared by the narrator) to the differencebetween the characters of
Russia and the West as expressed in their"words"(II, 95-96). This is one
of the more obscure passages in Serebrjanyj golub', but its meaning
appears to be that an apocalyptic conflictbetween Russia and the West
is forthcomingand will result in a world-wideconflagration.
In general, however,the fact that Pil'njak has presented debased
versions of Belyj's characters, and has Zilotov perish in a firethat is
quite simplyan act ofarson (ratherthan a proto-apocalypticholocaust)
suggests the directionof Pil'njak's polemic with Belyj's world view: in
part it is clearly deflationand parody-more generallyit is additionand
correction.
But ifin contrastwiththe narratorin Serebrjanyjgolub', who takes
both the Doves' rituals as well as the evil which issues fromthem very
seriously, Pil'njak does not grant Zilotov's plan to save Russia any
authorityor legitimacy,and ridicules it openly,the question remains,
how does Pil'njak's alteration of the central plot of Serebrjanyj golub'
articulate with the two novels in question as wholes?
To answer this it is necessary to examine two comments about
Zilotov's programwhich the narrator/authorofGolyjgod makes. Gen-
erally speaking, it is in commentslike these that the special authority
resultingfromthe author's identificationofhimselfwiththe narratoris
most palpable. Immediately afterreportingZilotov's explanation that
he wants to "Spasti Rossiju," the narratorasks "(ot 'ego, sobstvenno?)"
(28). The implicationofthis laconic parentheticalaside is ofcourse that
what Zilotov sees as Russia's terrible state is not a problem fromthe
narrator'spoint ofview-Russia in her post-Revolutionarychaos does
not need saving.
Kudejarov's entire occult plan is predicated on a strugglebetween
good and evil. Zilotov's plan if also based on such a struggle,but, as I
mentioned,he claims to be on the side ofthe devil-which is an inver-
sion of the case in Serebrjanyj golub'. The narrator's implication that
Russia does not need saving is, therefore,in effecta denial of the
existence ofany strugglebetween good and evil, as seen fromeitherthe

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 BelyjSubtextsin Pil'njak'sGolvjgod 87

positive or the negative pole. A furtherimplicationis that all the chaos

going on in Russia is forthe good. And this, in turn, suggests a very
particular attitude towardBelyj's worldview in Serebrjanyjgolub' (and
by extension in Peterburg) on Pil'njak's part.
Before continuingthis line of argument,however,I would like to
add to my discussion the narrator's second comment about Zilotov's
plan. In his conversationwith Sergej Sergeevid,Zilotov affirms(forthe
second time) that he wants to "save Russia," and immediatelythere-
afterthe followingindentedparentheticalcommentappears in the text:
"(... I togda iz podvoroten smotrit soldatskimi pugovicami Kitaj,
nebesnaja imperija. ...)" (30). Indented passages such as this occur in
differentplaces throughoutGolyj god. They are all inset toward the
right margin of the page more than regular paragraphs, and remain
indented throughout their entire length. Pil'njak probably got this
important typographical device fromPeterburg,and, I would argue,
uses it like Belyj to demonstrategraphically the narrator's intrusive
relationship to his text, as well as to call attentionto some ofthe most
importantmotifsin the novel." The phrase in question is thus highly
significantin terms of its form.
Because of a series of associations, its contentis also very sugges-
tive. The phrase clearly echoes Solov'ev's entire pan-Mongolian theme
found in Belyj's firsttwo novels. The specificassociation of Asia and
soldiers is also found in Peterburg,in the motifabout the "shaggy fur
hat" fromthe "blood-stained fields of Manchuria," which appears in
various places in the novel (e.g., I, 102, 121; II, 86, etc.),and whichis but
one of numerous well-known referencesto Asia in that novel.' The
indented phrase also hearkens back to the section at the beginning of
Golyjgod entitled"Kitaj gorod"(16-18), in whichthe narratordescribes
how the Revolution had liberated the dominantAsiatic side ofRussian
culture which had been overshadowed by Western, European forces
beforethe Revolution. In turn,this idea is obviouslya reflectionofthe
so-called Eurasian view of Russia as a unique civilization occupyinga
positionbetween Europe and Asia-a view to whichPil'njak subscribed
(although he did not accept the OrthodoxChristian bent ofsome ofthe
Eurasians), and which is manifestedthroughoutGolyj god. The most
importantspokesman forEurasianism in the novel is ArchbishopSyl-
vester.10
To gain a proper perspective on the symbol "Kitaj gorod" in the
novel, however, it is necessary to digress for a moment beyond the
confinesof Golyj god and to recall that the Eurasians transvalued the
Asiatic component of Russia's character into a positive feature, in
contrast to both the Westernizers and Slavophiles who had seen it as
somethingnegative. This recalls Solov'ev's transvaluation of the pan-

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88 Slavic and East EuropeanJournal

Mongolian threat in his famouspoem "Panmongolizm"(1894), in which

he says that "Xot' slovo [panmongolizm]diko, / No mne laskaet slux
ono." The reason is that it "Kak by predvestiemvelikoj /Sud'binyboiiej
polno." The factthat the pan-Mongolian invasion is the firstphase ofthe
events leading to the Second Coming allowed Belyj (followingSolov'ev)
to maintain, at the veryleast, an ambivalent attitudetowardAsia in his
first two novels. Similarly, in Golyj god, Pil'njak treats the mani-
festations of Asia in Russia as a positive unfetteringof vital and
cleansing forces-the widespread horrors of the post-Revolutionary
periodnotwithstanding.Such a mixed attitudeofhope and despair with
regard to the firstfewpost-Revolutionaryyears was in factnot uncom-
mon among Eurasians themselves. One of the movement's founders,
Petr Savickij, expressed a vision as follows: "Russia in sin and god-
lessness, Russia in loathsomeness and filth.But Russia in search and
struggle,in a bid fora citynot ofthis world."" Secularizing the endingof
this vision producesa pictureofRussia much like Pil'njak's in Golyjgod.
To sum up then, if one considers Zilotov's explanation to Sergej
Sergeevih that he wants to "save Russia" in the light of these multi-
fariousassociations with Solov'ev, Peterburg,and Eurasianism that are
implied in the indented passage under discussion, it becomes apparent
that the instrusive commentis the narrator/author'sfurthercorrection
ofZilotov,as well as a judgment ofhis plan, accomplishedby means ofa
nod toward Belyj-but a Belyj that Pil'njak has modifiedin accordance
with his own needs. It is as ifPil'njak were saying again that there is no
need to save Russia-that Zilotov's implied desire to oppose a "good" to
an "evil" is wrong; and that Belyj's concernwith similar polarities in
Serebrjanyj golub' (and Peterburg) is also irrelevant to the con-
temporarysituation in Russia. The symbol of the Celestial Empire of
China-in the formof soldiers' buttons-is placed, therefore,on the
same level as Zilotov's wish to save Russia. In other words, Russia is
already saved by the Asiatic strain unleashed in her through the
Revolution-the strain that had been suppressed byWesterninfluences
since the time of Peter the Great.
So, whereas Belyj's essentially Christian apocalyptic schema is
denied by Pil'njak, Belyj's use of a symbolicAsia as the beginningofa
world-historicalprocess is preservedby Pil'njak. And the pan-Asiatic
invasion which according to Belyj would destroyRussia and the West
prior to the coming transfigurationof the world,becomes figuratively
transformedin Golyjgod intosomethinglike the firstmajor step toward
Russia's salvation. Moreover,it is only the firststep because neitherin
Eurasian doctrinenor in the narrator/author'sstatementsin Golyjgod
is the chaotic manifestation of Asia during the immediate post-
Revolutionaryperiod seen as an end in itself.Pil'njak suggests that the

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 BelyjSubtextsin Pil'njak'sGolvjgod 89

Bolsheviks will replace the "Celestial Empire" of China (138). And

Euraisians saw Russian bolshevism as an imperfectprototypeof the
true "ideocratic" social order to come.
In conclusion,I would like to returnbrieflyto the indentedpassages
in Golyj god-a formal device fromPeterburg which Pil'njak neatly
intertwinedwith the theme and plot ofSerebrjanyjgolub'. In Peterburg,
in addition to representingthe narrator/author'sintrusiverelationship
to his text,the indentedpassages also depict graphicallythe instrusive
role of the transcendentin the narrator/author'sown life (and art), as
well as in the lives of his characters. The device illustrates,therefore,
the world view and esthetic doctrine which Belyj summarizes in the
programmaticlast section of the novel's firstchapter,entitled "Ty ego
ne zabudeg' vovek!" (I, 72-73). Furthermore,an examination of all the
intrusivepassages in Peterburgshows a strongpositivecorrelationwith
the novel's most portentoussymbols and symbol clusters, all of which
can be related to the coming apocalypse-the novel's main focus.
In Golyjgod, some half ofthe indentedpassages (fiveout ofeleven)
deal withChina (17, 30, 96, 137-38); twowithconflagrationsin 1914 and
the rising and setting of the sun over Russia (13, 45); one with the
passage oftime (21); one with the forcedpassing ofgenerationsduring
the Revolutionarytime (34); one with earth-boundsectarian fecundity
(66-67); and one withthe anarchists (69). All can be understoodin a way
comparable to Belyj's: namely,as the author's recognitionthat the same
long-supressed, primal forces are surfacing everywhere in post-
RevolutionaryRussia. And although Pil'njak's worldin the novel is not
based in a complex,systematicmetaphysicslike Belyj's, the appearance
of the thematically linked indented passages in varying contexts in
Golyj god acts as a unifyingdevice by showing that the same sub-
stratumunderlies the seeming chaos ofscenes out ofwhich the novel is
composed.12

NOTES

1 Pil'njak's admission in his Materialy k romanu that he "came out of' Belyj (and
Bunin) is cited by RobertA. Maguire, Red VirginSoil: SovietLiteraturein the1920's
(Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1968), 123.
2 General commentsabout Pil'njak's debt to Belyj can be foundin Edward J. Brown,
Russian LiteratureSince theRevolution(New York: Collier, 1969), 104; G. Gorbadev,
"Tvorieskie puti B. Pil'njaka," in Boris Pil'njak: Mastera sosvremennojliteratury:
Stat'i i materialy,ed. B. V. Kazanskij and Ju. N. Tynjanov (Leningrad: Academia,
1928; rpt. Letchworth-Herts,England: Prideaux Press, 1973), 47, 50-52; Hongor
Oulanoff,The Serapion Brothers: Theoryand Practice (The Hague: Mouton, 1966),
56; Gleb Struve, Soviet Russian Literature,1917-1950 (Normal: Univ. ofOklahoma

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90 Slavic and East European Journal

Press,1951),34. Oulanoffand ViktorGofman("MestoPil'njaka,"inBorisPil'njak:

Mastera sovremennoj 12ff.)also pay special attentionto the stylistic
literatury,
betweenPil'njak'sand Belyj'sprosestyles.
differences
3 A connectionbetween Serebrjanyj golub' (as well as Peterburg)and Golyj god had
beensuggestedbyMariettaSaginjan(see PeterAlbergJensen,Natureas Code:The
AchievementofBoris Pilnjak, [Copenhagen:Rosenkildeand Bagger,1979],271);
Gleb Struve, 34; and Reinhard Damerau, Boris Pil'njaks Geschichts- und Men-
schenbild(Giessen:W. Schmitz,1976),56. Jensenhimself(304) comesmuchcloser
thanmosttorecognizing use inGolyjgod (through
Pil'njak'sparodistic thefigureof
Zilotov)oftheEast vs.WestthemeinSerebrjanyj golub'.However, hiscomments are
strangelyinconclusive.
4 All references to Golyjgod are to the earliestand mostcomplete"export"edition,
publishedbyGriebin:Berlin-Peterburg-Moscow, 1922(rpt.AnnArbor:Ardis,n.d.).
The editionofSerebrjanyjgolub' used was the Berlin1922 reprint(rpt.Munich:
WilhelmFink, 1967); and ofPeterburg, the Moscow1928 edition(rpt.Munich:
WilhelmFink, 1967),whichis theclosestto therevisededitionBelyjpublishedin
Berlinin 1922.Allpagereferences (andinthecase ofBelyj'snovels,volumenumbers
as well) will be givenin thetext.All translations fromtheRussianare myown.
5 Damerau,72-73.
6 Pjat' delovekznakomyx(Tiflis: Zakkniga, 1927), 83-84.
7 See VasilijV. Rozanov,Opavgielist'jaI, 1913(selectionsreprinted
in V. V.Rozanov,
Izbrannoe,ed. and forewordbyJu.P. Ivask [NewYork:Chekhov,19561,243-44).In
his otherwise closelyarguedstudy,KennethBrostrom ("Pilnyak'sNaked Year:The
Problem of Faith," Russian Literature TriquarterlyNo. 16 119791, 117) extends
Rozanov'sroletoofarwhenhespeaksofZilotov'splansingeneralas a "Rozanovesque
recipe."
8 A numberofcommentators have mentioned in passingthatPil'njak'stypographic
arrangements owesomething toBelyj's,butnonehas beenveryspecific: forexample,
see A. Pinkevid,"BorisPil'njak: Vstupitel'najastat'ja,"in Golyjgod (1929?; rpt.
Letchworth-Herts, England:Bradda,1966),9; and Gorbadev, 50-51.Understanding
theindentedpassagesas narrativeintrusions wouldbe an argument againstGaryL.
Browning's thesisthatGolyjgod is "polyphonic"; see his illuminatingstudy"Poly-
phonyandtheAccretive Refrainin BorisPilnyak'sNakedYear,"RussianLiterature
TriquarterlyNo. 16 (1979), 154-70.
9 For moreon this, and otheraspects of Peterburg, see my monographic article
"UnicornImpalinga Knight:The Transcendent and Man in AndreiBelyi'sPet-
ersburg,"Canadian-American Slavic Studies 16, No.1 (Spring 1982), 1-44.
10 For a discussionofEurasianismbya partisanoftheOrthodox Christianform, see
D.S. Mirsky,"The EurasianMovement," The SlavonicReview6 (1927),311-19.An
objectiverecentoverviewofthemovement (withan extensivebibliographyin the
notes)is providedbyNicholasV. Riasanovsky,"TheEmergenceofEuraisianism,"
California Slavic Studies 6 (1967), 39-72.
11 QuotedbyRiasanovsky, 53.ThatPil'njaktreatedthethemeofAsia inGolyjgodfrom
thepointofviewofEurasianismhas beennotedwidely;see,forexample,Maguire,
106. By contrast,Browning,162-63,arguesthat the themeofAsia is mostoften
associatedwiththelong-livednegativetraitsofRussia'scharacter;and Brostrom,
127, 145,speaksofthe"Kitaj gorod"motifas associatedwith"nothingness."
12 I read an earlierversionofthispaperon 22 September1981 at theAAASS Con-
ferencein Monterey, California.

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