Dutch contributions to the Sixth International Congress of Slavicists: Prague 1968 [Reprint 2018 ed.] 9783111393957, 9783111031439

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DUTCH CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SLAVICISTS

S LAVI STIC PRINTINGS AND REPRINTINGS

86

1968

MOUTON THE H A G U E • PARIS

DUTCH CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SLAVICISTS Prague, 1968

edited by

A. G. F. VAN H OLK

1968

MOUTON THE H A G U E • PARIS

© Copyright 1968 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 68-57401

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague

TABLE OF CONTENTS

"Terminatedness" as a Grammatical Meaning in Old Church Slavonic T. H. Amse-de Jong

7

The Christian Wolf Russian-German Manuscript Lexicon . . . . Ton van den Baar

12

L. Sestov and L. Tolstoj J. H. Dubbink

33

Aperçu de la structure artistique du roman Anna Karenine . . . Jan van der Eng

50

Anna Axmatova's Poèma bez Geroja A. M. van der Eng-Liedmeier

67

The Function of the Verbum Dicendi in Cexov's Smert' Cinovnika H. Hamburger

98

The Digressions in Evgenij Onegin Jan M. Meijer

122

Poetry and Syntax K. Verheul

153

Quelques remarques sur le constructivisme de Meyerhold I. de Vries-de Gunzburg

165

"TERMINATEDNESS" AS A GRAMMATICAL MEANING IN OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC by T. H. AMSE-DE JONG

Meaningful elements, belonging to a closed system, are grammatical meanings; meaningful elements, belonging to an open system, are lexical meanings. The above definition of lexical and grammatical meaning is taken from A. Martinet, Éléments de linguistique générale (Paris, 1961). This article will deal with the formal element called "preverb" and its meaning; as there is a closed system of preverbs: do-, iz-, mimo-, na-, nad"-, o-, ob"-, ot"-, po-,pod"-,pri-, prë-,prëd"-, raz-, s"-, u-, v"-, v"z-, za-, they have grammatical meaning. a) In na-lezit" ("it is lying on something"), v"schodit" ("it is rising up") etc. the preverb has a "spatial" meaning, a grammatical meaning. This study, however, will leave "spatial" meaning out of consideration, nor will it be concerned with the problem, whether this "spatial" meaning occurs in cases, where the grammatical meaning TE of the preverb is neutralized (cf. c) below). b) In combination with a terminative lexical meaning of the verb, the preverb has the grammatical meaning of "terminatedless" (TE). Terminativity. An event admitting a natural termination through a direct or indirect object will be called terminative. This terminativity is part of the lexical meaning of the verb. "He ate" always includes "that which is eaten", even though this object is not realized in the utterance. Likewise, no murder-event can exist without 1) a murderer, 2) a person, who is murdered; no give-event can exist without 1) a person who gives, 2) that which is given, 3) the person to whom it is given. The "natural termination" is not a termination in time, but, of course, the natural termination, if present, coincides with the end of the event in time. As "natural termination" is a lexical meaning, it cannot be defined

8

T. H. AMSE-DE JONG

completely. (A description of a lexical meaning will never be linguistically satisfactory.) 1 But starting from the grammatical facts, an approximate definition may be reached. The following will show, how the natural termination is interpreted with some different events. celiti:2 to tend to a patient/illness medically. The verb is terminative, the natural termination is: the moment when the doctor ("the person who is tending to") has transformed the patient or illness ("the person or illness tended to") into a person or illness that has been cured; in other words: when the "tending to" ends successfully, and therefore cannot be continued in time. But not every ce/m'-event reaches its natural termination; some celitievents do end "in time", but not with a natural termination: the patient dies, or the illness becomes worse, and so on. In that case no natural termination is reached: the "tending to" ends unsuccessfully. moliti: to ask someone something. The verb is terminative, and its natural termination is the moment when the "person who asks" receives "that which is asked for" from the "person it is asked f r o m " - the moment, in fact, when the asking-event cannot be continued in time, having been successful. Not every mofoi-event, however, reaches this natural termination; some of them may end in time, but not with a natural termination: "that which is asked for" is not given to the "person who asks", or the "person who asks" is chased away, etc. In this way, the natural termination of any terminative event may be approximately defined, but the reaching of the natural termination is not given in the lexical meaning of these terminative verbs. Sometimes the context will make it clear whether the natural termination was reached or not, but in most cases the question: "natural termination reached" or "natural termination not reached" remains unanswered, not only in the form itself, but also in the context: it is a lexical, not a grammatical fact. But whenever a preverb is added to a terminative verb, the grammatical meaning TE ("terminatedness", "natural termination reached") is found. 1 Cf. C. L. Ebeling, "A semantic analysis of the Dutch teDses", in: Lingua XI (1962), p. 88. 2 Compare T. H. Amse, "Aspect pairs in Old Church Slavonic", in: Dutch Contributions to the Fifth International Congress of Slavicists, Sofia 1963 (The Hague, 1963), p. 7-17; L. Moszyriski, "Jeszcze o rodzinie staro-cerkiewno-slowianskiego czasownika celiti", in: Wroclawskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Rozprawy Komisji Jgzykowej VI (1966).

"TERMINATEDNESS" AS A GRAMMATICAL MEANING

9

Thus, in iceliti, or in iceljati, the preverb i(s)- = TE, and every iceljatior iceliti-event is grammatically known to reach the natural termination. Likewise, in 1) po-moliti, 2) u-moliti the preverb = TE. So 1) po-moliti is a moliti-zvznt with reached natural termination: "to get something by asking for it", and 2) u-moliti is a moliti-eveat with reached natural termination: "to get someone to do something by asking for it". Some examples from the Suprasliensis: 531,27 molijego popesti sq o pestere "He asked him to take care of the cave" The utterance does not contain an answer to the question: natural termination reached/not reached. 390,26 moli nek'to farisei g{ospod)a da jast" s' nim" (up to here the example is a parallel of the one mentioned above) i v'lez" v" dom" fariseov" v"zleze Here the second part of the utterance (the context) makes clear that the natural termination was reached. "A pharisee asked him to have a meal with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down" 14,13 Styi Paul" umoli sec"eg jako da Iiilijanijg prezde jego usek'ngt" "Saint Paul by asking got the hangman to decapitate Juliana before himself" Only in this last example it is grammatically stated by the preverb, that the wish of Paul was fulfilled. Compare also: 152,14 isprosiv" chartijg napisa tako "When he had got the paper he had asked for, he wrote down the following", and 558,7 prosiv" chartijg napisa sice v" nei "After asking for paper he wrote down the following" In 558,7 the context makes clear he got the paper, in 152,14 this is grammatically stated in the preverb is- of isprosiv". c) In dajatijdati-. To give something to somebody, the natural termination is the moment, when the "person to whom something is given" accepts "that which is given"; but as no dati-event is thinkable without this moment, the reached natural termination is present in any dati-event: it is part of the lexical meaning of the verb. But TE is absent: there is

10

T. H. AMSE-DE JONG

no opposition, consequently there is n o grammatical element. (Cf. Martinet, Éléments ...) It is interesting to note, what Delbrück (in 1897!) writes about the aspect of dati? Man wendet aber diesen Ausdruck "perfektiv" ... nicht bloss auf die zusammengesetzten, sondern auch auf die einfachen Verba an, z.B. auf dam' "ich werde hingeben". Ich muss aber gestehen, dass ich mich dieser Ausdehnung des Begriffs perfektiv nicht anschliessen kann. Denn bei einer Form wie dam' steht es doch nicht so, dass die Wurzel den allgemeinen, unbegrenzten Begriff des Gebens enthält, zu welchem in der slavischen Form der Nebenbegriff der Vollendung hinzutritt, sondern ... die Wurzel enthält von vornherein die einfache Anschauung des Hingebens, und diese Anschauung setzt sich in der slavischen Form fort, die deshalb richtiger punktuell als perfektiv genannt wird. Ich glaube natürlich nicht, dass es mir gelingen könnte, die Slavisten zu einer Änderung ihrer Terminologie zu veranlassen. Delbrück dismisses dati as a perfective verb, as it does not contain a preverb (no TE), and as the stem contains a terminated event. Delbrück's objections are right, it seems, but for the purposes of slavicist studies dati may be maintained a perfective verb, as a partner of dajati. Neither of these verbs has the grammatical element of TE, but the same applies to the opposition icëljati vs. icëliti. As both partners contain the element i(s) = TE, there is here no question of an opposition. This means the element T E is neutralized in this opposition; in fact the element T E is only present when cëliti is considered a member of the opposition: cëliti vs. icëljati vs. icëliti. The above shows, that in dajati vs. dati exactly the same grammatical elements are found as in icëljati vs. icëliti, so if we call icëljati vs. icëliti aspectpartners, there is no reason to dismiss dajati vs. dati as such, or razdajati vs. razdati (in this case the preverb cannot be TE, of course).

SUMMARY

The preverb in combination with a terminative lexical meaning of the verb (e.g. moliti) has a grammatical meaning T E ("terminatedness"), while without the preverb the lexical meaning does not state whether or not the natural termination was reached, though the context may limit the choice to one of both possibilities. 8 Brugmann und Delbrück, Vergleichende Grammatik der indogermanischen IV. Syntax, 2. Tl. (Strassburg, 1897), p. 146.

Sprachen,

"TERMINATEDNESS" AS A GRAMMATICAL MEANING

11

With a terminated lexical meaning of the verb (e.g. dajati/dati) where this choice is lexically absent, there can be no TE, because there is no opposition. In combination with such a lexical meaning the grammatical meaning TE of the preverb is absent. A further "spatial" grammatical meaning of the preverb, found e.g. in na-lezit", v"schodif \ is left out of consideration in this article.

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF RUSSIAN-GERMAN MANUSCRIPT LEXICON by TON VAN DEN BAAR

The dictionaries of Russian at present available show a remarkable gap in their treatment of the lexical material of the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. This fact, repeatedly stressed in the first half of this century, has ultimately resulted in a revival of research on compilations containing material in this field,1 both handwritten and old prints. These documents comprise conversations on every-day themes or words and expressions grouped by subjects, grammatical notes, writing samples, prayers and proverbs. It is clear that as relations with Russia became more intensive, merchants, tradesmen and civil servants felt a need for some practical guide for the (spoken) language and either copied existing razgovorniki or compiled lexical material as it was passed on to them orally. The latter group is of course not only important from a lexical point of view but also valuable for phonological data, since the compilers frequently had no more than a rudimentary knowledge of Russian and registered what they had heard according to the acoustic impression it left on their untrained ears. As regards arrangement most "dictionaries" of the time have much in common and seem to have been modelled on or at least influenced by similar documents, the earliest of which dates back to the XVth century. 2 1

A comprehensive list of the publications on the subject is found in Tönnies Fenne's Low German Manual of Spoken Russian (Pskov, 1607), edited by L. L. Hammerich, R. Jakobson, E. van Schooneveld, T. Starck and Ad. Stender-Pedersen, vol. I (Copenhagen, 1961), pp. 28-31. To be added are E. Günther, Zwei Russische Gesprächsbücher, Phil. diss. (Berlin, Humboldt, 1965). See also E. Günther, "Ein NiederländischRussisches Gesprächsbuch aus den 17. Jh.", Zeitschrift für Slawistik, Bd. VIII (1963), pp. 485-496. The latter article also comprises a discussion of the major compilations mentioned in the edition of Tönnies Fenne's Manual. 2 This Ms. - the original has been lost - has been traced in four copies (XVI-XVIIth c.), that have been described by M. Vasmer, "Ein Russisch-Byzantinisches Gesprächsbuch", Beitrage zur Erforschung der älteren russischen Lexikographie (= Veröffentlichungen des baltischen und slavischen Instituts an der Universität Leipzig, Bd. 2, Leipzig, 1922).

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

13

The Ms. we are going to deal with, is kept at the Leyden University library (Ms. LTK 584) and, though of a later date, belongs thematically to the lexical compilations referred to above. Its frontispiece bears the name of Christian Gottlieb Wolf in both Cyrillic and Latin lettering and the date: 1 November 1731. We do not have any proof that this compiler or owner was in any way related to the German philosopher of that name (1679-1754) though judging from the maxim the compiler adds to his name (Ame xto xonerb mhoixo 3 H a ™ , TOMy n o a o G a e T i , M a j i i o cnaTH, 'he who wants to know much should sleep little') and the contemplative nature of some of the chapters one might be tempted to establish some relation, at least in the philosophical field. How the Ms. eventually came to Holland we do not know. Some of its history, however, becomes clear from the name of J. C. W. Le Jeune that is written in black ink in the left-hand corner of the frontispiece.3 Le Jeune (1775-1864), a lawyer in The Hague and a member of the Maatschappij van de Nederlandsche Letterkunde collected an extensive library, which - for reasons we have not been able to establish - he had anonymously sold (30 May 1842) by Messrs. Scheurleer twenty-two years before his death.4 It was at this auction that Leyden University library obtained the manuscript. The Ms. is written on paper and is bound in a brown leather cover; it comprises 237 folia (474 pages) each measuring 19.5 X 16 cm. A reconstruction of the watermark showing - inter alia - on folia 116 and 155 resulted in a mark that was in use by a Dutch papermill near Amsterdam in 1729s (reproduction, see p. 14). The first description of Wolf's lexicon is found in 1847:6 (l) 7 Russischhochteutsches Wörterbuch, in der Form einer durchgängige Rede abgefasst, und getheilt in 150 Capitteln. (2) Einige täglich vorfallende Vocabula aus der Moskovitischen Sprache, nach dem Alphabeth gesetzt; (3) voran sind einige Alphabets und Vater unser in unterschiedene Sprachen (die Unga* Under the name are added the numbers: 365 (crossed out), 584 (the present number) and M45. 4 "Levensberichten der afgestorven medeleden van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde", Handelingen der Jaarlijksche Algemeene Vergadering van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, 1865, pp. 3-13. £ W. A. Churchill, Watermarks in Paper in Holland, England, France etc. in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries and their interconnections (Amsterdam, 1935), N o . 50, p. 67. 6 Catalogus van de Bibliotheek der Maatschappy van Nederlandsche Letterkunde (Leiden, 1847), 2e deel, p. 489. 7 Figures in brackets added by the present writer.

14

TON VAN DEN BAAR

rische, Siebenburgische, Wallachische, Croatische, Dalmatische, Sclavonische, Servianische, Moscovitische, Schwedische, Estnische), und der Nähme Chr. Gotl. Wolf, anno 1731.230 (sie) bladen.fr.b.4to. Only the part marked (2) is found in the Ms. We presume that originally the lexicon also contained part (1) on the first folium recto that is at present stuck to the leather cover. Part (3) has probably been added in German by a Dutch librarian as the two preceding parts were already in that language. This assumption is confirmed by a later description 8 where part (3) occurs in Dutch. 9 As becomes evident from the phonological idiosyncrasies expressed in the orthographical representation of the Russian text, the compiler - not 8

Catalogus der Bibliotheek van de Maatschappy der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, le deel, le afd. Handschriften, bewerkt door Dr. H. C. Rogge, met supplement bewerkt door Dr. S. G. de Vries. 2e afd. Drukwerken, bewerkt door Louis D. Petit, le gedeelte (Leiden, 1887), p. 36. 9 The Dutch translator even considered it appropriate to translate "Siebenburgische" into "Zevenbergensch".

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

15

necessarily Wolf - hailed from a German-speaking area or community. In fact probably Siebenbürgen, the mountanous and wooded region in Transsylvania,10 as the Siebenburgen-German Our Father is the only version of that prayer in a dialect among other recognized languages. Moreover, this version follows in the Ms. the Hungarian (the first in the series) and preceeds the Wallachian (Rumanian) Our Father, a sequence which seems to situate Siebenbürgen roughly in its geographical position.11 Following the Lord's Prayer in various languages we find the writing samples of the Cyrillic letters - a feature apparently inherent in lexical compilations of this kind - subsequent to which three pseudo-alphabets are reproduced, viz. the Egyptian,12 the Tartar and the Indian 13 (das Indianische). These alphabets were for the greater part invented or adapted from existing alphabets and designed by caligraphers as a pastime or as a means of developing original form in letterwriting. From the number of symbols - virtually coinciding with the number of letters in the Latin alphabet - it is evident that they can have only served as a primitive kind of tainopis' in private or semi-official correspondence. In fact the author of the Ms. demonstrates their use (f. 5r.) couching the German Our Father in Tartar letters. The careful summary of the versions of this prayer as found in the description {supra) does not include this High German version, which appears to prove one the purposes of this mono-alphabetic substitution. The actual lexicon comprises 150 numbered chapters, which are preceded by one chapter without a number. This chapter is probably intended as a kind of introduction as under the heading: KTOJ xoneTi> YQHCH, E r"s MOJIHCH, 3a .aijio HMHCH, the author tells us about his approach to life and his intentions: IIpHflH tUTpoKT.

Kom

her

y i H c a MSapcTBOBaTH

lerne

klug

HTCJU cie ecTb MSapcTOBaTH

Knabe sein

w a s ist d a ß

(sic)

BCH

klug

sein

alles

HTO noTpeÖHo ecTb

w a s n ö t h i g ist

n p a M o pa3SMtTH

recht verstehen

10

At present the Magyar autonomous region in Rumania. A village or area of that name in the Bohemian Forest can therefore be ruled out. 12 Cf. the versions of the Egyptian and Indian alphabets as designed by Palatino in the XVIth century in Italian Caligraphy (New York, 1953), pp. 226f. 13 See note 12. 11

16

TON VAN DEN BAAR

n p H M O TBOpHTbl

npHMO BBiroBopbiBaTH KTO) ms cero) HayMHTT> A3T.

Cl> 6foMl>

recht thun rechtauß reden wer wird mich daß lernen Ich mit Gott ...

a n d h e c o n t i n u e s (f. 8v.) : n p e a c a e B c e x t BemeH AOJI3KHO T H yHHTHCH n p o c T H a rjiacw B KOTOpHXt COCTOHTT» p t n b HJinecKara KOTOpblH CBipne

3HaiOTl. H3o6pa»CaTH iaCHKT. T B O H

3HaeTi> noflpaxcaTH and

vor allen Dingen must du lernen die schlichten Stimmen in welchen bestehet die menschliche Rede welche die Thiere wißen abzubilden ... und deine Zunge weiß nachzumachen ...

finally:

nOTOM"b noH/teMt B MHp"b nOCMOTpHMT>

Bea BemH

danach wollen wir gehen in die Welt und wollen beschauen alle Dinge ...

Following this exposé the author adds some twenty-five names of animals each with its onomatopoeic verb, to which category he also considers the crying child to belong (MJiaaeHenb njianeTi, 'das Kind weinet'). The chapters, which average one and a half pages are similar as regards arrangement to the example above: The Russian text in the left hand column and a fairly literal translation to the right of it, constituting the durchgängige Rede as the author names it. In this respect the Wolf Lexicon differs from other lexocigraphical compilations and can neither be called a dictionary nor a conversational guide. Wolf presents a most varied range of activities and phenomena, discussing them or rather providing superficial descriptions of them. In many cases, too, he reduces his commentary to a simple enumeration of words pertaining to

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

17

the field in question, as for instance when dealing with flowers and birds or the tools used in certain trade. Within each chapter the text part is followed by a summary of Russian words - mostly substantives and adjectives - with their German translation. In these lists the author - at times - includes basic grammatical information, adding the feminine and neuter nominative endings to the masculine form of the adjective, e.g. f. 22v. aojirm, n, e. Unfortunately, he repeatedly subjects substantives to these changes as well, e.g. f. 37v. ia6jTOKT>, MH, H, e.

Following the 150 chapters an alphabetical German-Russian list of words is given (f. 199r.-237v.), comprising the letters A-P, where it abruptly ends after two lines on f. 237v. At the head of this list we find the description (marked 2) as reproduced from the catalogue (supra p. 13). Before dealing with the various aspects of this document it is perhaps useful to dwell for a moment on this description specifically the part marked (2). If we can go by the files of Leyden University library the Wolf Lexicon has been examined only by Dr. Swoboda 14 on 2nd September 1957, who suggested the following assessment to be added to the Ms. (the original in Dutch): "According to Dr. Swoboda this is an important Ms. The earliest known dictionary with every-day (Dutch: alledaagse) Muscovite (Dutch: Moskovitische) words.15 Very valuable." This appreciation has no doubt been based on part (2) of the description, i.e. on the qualification the compiler himself supposes to be relevant. However, the qualification täglich vorfallend should not necessarily be interpreted as "colloquial" or even for that matter as meaning "generally known" (which we believe S. did). Within every specific subject, which as stated cover most varied fields, the words may be regarded as current or known only among people familiar with the particular subject, e.g. f. 106v. pomern. 'Tenakel', among printers, f. 129v. paHHbin 3Haici> 'Krebs', as one of the symbols in the zodiac - among astronomists and the like, f. 40r. Tejiem» MopciciH 'das Meerkalb', perhaps among seafaring folk. Even among these categories the terms mentioned do not appear to be altogether indispensable in daily conversation! Judging by the style in the descriptive parts of the lexicon we can only 11

Dr. S. was at the time a lecturer at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in the University of London. 15 S. apparently did not know about the Mark Ridley dictionary at Oxford (written between 1594-1599) and similar documents before 1731.

18

TON VAN DEN BAAR

conclude that we are confronted with the author's representation - often multilation - of what at the time was regarded as the accepted style, i.e. a strongly slavonicized kind of Russian. We suppose that Wolf - or whoever compiled the lexicon - was aware of the dichotomy between current every-day Russian and the fossilized written language. Throughout, however, he maintains a mixture of "high" and "middle" styles intermingled with a number of "low" words - to use Lomonosov's terms16 - which have nothing typically Moscovian about them. Vulgar words - in the true sense of the word - as they are found in Richard James' and Tönnies Fenne's dictionaries17 and which should not be committed to paper 18 are not recorded by our compiler. Towards the end of this paper we shall return to a group of words from an "adjacent lexical field" which the author has not, however, in our opinion considered vulgar in the sense as used above nor do they indicate that he wished to record certain aspects of the spoken language. The Russian in the Ms. bears strong imprints of German phonological subtrats. This becomes especially clear in the faulty recording of voiced and unvoiced consonants, e.g. npeBHo 'ein Balcken' and noHKa 'Faß'. Similarly, he proves to be none too certain as regards this differentiation in his own language either: Leichen Paare (f. 156v.), Baare (f. 156r.) oapi.; Beltz(e) ms6a(bi) (f. 73v.). The defective recording of "hard" and "soft" consonants - not typically German but found in Russian documents written by foreign hands - is also seen throughout the lexicon ( i a c H K t / i a c b i K i ; npncara; KpSK etc.). The Cyrillic part has been written by one German hand in skoropis' that does not yet show the effects of the introduction of the "civil writing" in 1708, viz. the unification of small letters and capitals, separation of words and sentences, the abolition of "upper-margin" letters, to mention the most important innovations. Throughout the writing shows the 16

CpeflHHä inTHJib COCTOHTBFLOJIACEHH3 peiemiö, 6ojn>me B POCCHACKOM H3buce ynoTpeÖHTeJibHMx, icyna MOHCHO npHHjm. HexoTopwe peiemw cnaBeHcicHe, B BMCOKOM m m n e ynoTpe6HTejn>Ho, oflHaxo c BCJIMKOH OCTOPOJKHOCTMO, HTO6M cnor HE KA3AJICH HaayTHM. PaBHbiM 06pa30M ynoTpeÖHTb B M M MOXHO HH3KHe cnoBa oflHaico ocTeperaTbca, HTOÖM He onycTHTbca B nofljiocTb. M. B . JIOMOHOCOB, IIoAHoe Coöpanue CoHUHeuuii, T. 7, CTp. 589. 17 Richard James records Russian equivalents of two four-letter words - one of which he uses in a Latin text - and some more "popular" words, which Larin ( E . A . JIapHH, PyccKO-AUZAUÜCKUÜ Cjioeapb - flueenuK Puiapda ffstceMca 1 6 1 8 - 1 6 1 9 , JleHHHrpaÄ, 1959) in his careful Russian translation of the Ms. either leaves out (op. cit., pp. 185, 193) or "translates" by HenpHCToitHo (improper) (op. cit., p. 177). Similarly, words of this category are found in Fenne's Manual, e.g. op. cit., p. 89. 18

JIOMOHOCOB, op.

cit.,

p. 588.

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

19

characteristics of the Moscovian school as found in the pre-Petrovian period (the alpha-like a, the rectangular b, the j'-like element as the first part of ligature m, the forceful downward strokes of x and initial c). The letters are fairly equal in height with a ductus slightly forward-leaning and lack the elaborate form often seen in XVIIth and early XVIIIth c. handwriting. The German writing shows two different hands. In the initial stages the translations of the Russian sections (to be referred to as part I) are written in a carefully running Gothic. The translations of the summary of words following each chapter (to be referred to as part II) are given in a hand characteristic for someone who is accustomed to writing much and fast, causing the letters to merge into a hardly decipherable maze of lines and the end of words to blur into crooked strokes, leaving the Sectional endings to be guessed at. After f. 43r. the first German hand disappears altogether and both parts I and II are written in the second hand in all chapters. Comparing the styles of writing of the Cyrillic and German parts, we presume that the "first hand" wrote the Russian text throughout the lexicon (especially the changing pressure on the pen is characteristic for the first German hand) and that he subsequently set about the translations into German, leaving the translation of the parts II in all chapters to be filled in later. He carried on the translation of parts I as far as f. 43r. where the second hand takes over, i.e. the latter started from the beginning filling in the translations of the parts II and from f. 43r. both parts I and II. Whoever the two authors of the lexicon were they had one thing in common: a rudimentary knowledge especially of the structure of Russian. This fact combined with the utter negligence the translator into German in particular demonstrates in his approach to his task, serves to warn us to exercise extreme caution as regards the reliability of the information the lexicon contains. Even ignoring the contents certain "physical factors" in the arrangement of the material should raise suspicion. These factors often overlooked in the evaluation of documents - include in this lexicon the gradually decreasing degree of neatness in the organization of the material: initially the Russian and German texts are carefully separated by vertical lines, the text and the vocabulary by horizontal lines. After f. 50 these divisions disappear and at times Russian and German texts merge into each other. This carelessness and lack of consistency - perhaps the two most unwanted qualities in a lexicographer - are all the more clearly demonstrated in the actual texts. These characteristics can be

20

TON VAN DEN BAAR

shown comparing the German translations of what is considered by the author as one Russian entry as they occur in parts I and II of a given chapter, e.g. f. 10 r. BenecTBo 'Seyn [Ding]' (part I), BtiHbin, aa, oe 'Seyn, Wesen' (part II); f. 13r. CBtnbio 'die Licht Kerze' (I), cßina 'ein Licht' (II); f. 57v. apeBHbin 'Viehzucht' and BpeMa 'Uhralt', both in part II, whereas in part I of that chapter he gives b .gpeBHiixb BpeMeHaxi,, 'vor uhralten Zeiten' (the translation 'Viehzucht' is taken from a preceding line in part I); f. 179r. c o r j i a m a e T b 'gibt ... Beyfall' (I) and in II c o r j i a m a T e j i b 'Beyfall'. Less alarming, though typical of the compiler, are the translations of Russian words by German synonyms, e.g. f. 65v. hSmhhomt. 'mit fein Löffel', f. 66v. hsmöhi» 'Schaum Kelle'; f. 53v. 3acT§noMT> 'mit der Spade', f. 54v. 3 a c 8 T S n (sie!) 'Grabscheid'. A similar inconsistency and arbitrariness is demonstrated in the orthography of the author's own language: heiligjheylig-, Kehle/Kühle; schröpfen!schrepfen. Below we reproduce a number of extracts from various chapters which will not only show treatment of grammar, syntax and lexicography but also what the compiler considered to be eine durchgängige Rede and täglich vorfallende Vocabula. Chapter 19, f. 27v. floMaimna iuium Hauß Geflügel IleTSxi der Han / wxce noöTps noerb so des morgens krähet / H M t n rpeöeHb hat einen Kamm / hjih kjihkh19 und Sporen / KJiaaeHH gekappet / HapHiiaeTtca KanjiSH 2 0 heist er ein Capaun / h Hacbimacrca und wird gemistet / Ha Hacbcrt in dem Hüner-Korb I ... Chapter 39, f. 45v. Maco h BHSTpenHaa Fleisch und Ingeweidt Ha Tijit cSTb am Leibe sind / Koxca die Haut / c nepenoHaMH mit dem Häutlein I ... I h BHSTpeHHaa u. die Beine u. Einge- / ame CHHTa weide / K o a c a Haut / iaBJiaeTca mhco erscheinet das Fleisch / hh bo oahoh naert nicht in einem Stück / ho pa3fltjieHHoe sondern getheilet / aKH b khuikh gleichsam in Würste I ... Chapter 49, f. 60r. Xjii6oneHHie die Brod Backerey X j i t G H H K t Der Becker I... I a t j i a e r b r t c T o macht einen Teig / h M i c H T b eruj u. knetet ihm / BecjioMb mit dem Knetscheit / xnt6bi Brod Leibe / ÖJiHHbi Kuchen / KOJiann Bretzeln (Krengel) / KpeHflejiH h nponaa Grengel u. dergl. / 1B SC.: KJIbIKH. 20

Cf. F.IE. Capon; D. Kapoen; G. Kapphahn.

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

Chapter 57, f. 69r.

21

... Bapemi die Mahlzeit

... Ksuiame Die Speisen oder Tractamente 21 / hochtc» werden aufgetragen / H a 6 j n o f l a x i > in Schüßeln I ... I tocth die Gäste / CD x o c H H H a von dem Wirt / BeaeH hineingeführet / moioti. pskh waschen sich die Hände I ... I hjih H3 K S j i r a H a aus der Gieß Kanne / H a j t T a 3 0 M i > über dem Handbecken / hjih H a j i o x a H H oder Gieß Becken / h yrapaioTi pSKH (?) u. trucknen (?) die H ä n d e / pSHHMMt nojioTeHiieMi. mit der

Handquehle / ... / psuiajimnic 'der Vorschneider / trenchieret (?) die Speise j ...

psmaerb

tcTBa

The description given above seems to prove that the compiler moved in better circles as well. Chapter 66, f. 77v.

¿Jomt. das Hauß

IIpeM flßepMH floMa Vor der Tühr des Hauses / e c T b c%hh ist der Eingang / .ziBepb H M i e T t die Tühr hat / nopor eine Oberschwelle / h npHTOJiKS u. Unterschwelle / Ha o6ohxt> CTpaHaxi. u. beyderseits / 6pscbi Die Pfosten / ... / h (no) icpsrjiHMi jiicTmmaM u. (über die) windel Treppe / B03X0fl5rn> HaßexHaa steiget man auf die Oben / 3flaHHe Stockwercke I ... The translations Oberschwelle and Unterschwelle have obviously been interchanged. Chapter 110, f. 128v.

Ms^pocTb

Die Klugheit

. . . i a K o 3Mia wie eine Schlange I ... I cmotphti. sihet sie / H a c p e f l H H b i sich um nach Mitteln / iaxoace H a n S T b als den Weg / B t a s u i r a n p H M t T e der zum Ziel führet / ho H3BicTHbm h aber gewiße u. / jiexKHH leichte / h j i S n e MaJibia u. lieber wenige / HexceJiH MHorna als viele / htoöm hhhto damit nichts / npHMefljrajio hindere / npHJisnne auf die Gelegenheit / KOTopoe welche / Ha cejii MoxHaToe an der Stirn haaricht / ho b 3aTbiJiKi rojioe aber am Scheitel kahl / h CBepx Toro KpmiaToe über das geflügelt / jiexKO yxoflHTi. leichtl. entwischet / BHHMaen» giebt sie achtung / h

jioBHTt ee u. greifet darnach / Ha aoporfe auf dem Weg / npnxo#HTi>

fähret sie / non^eTb fort / npo3opJibiBe vorsichtig / na. He npHKocHeTca daß sie nicht anstoße / hjih 3a6ji8»(flaeTca oder irre gehe // In many parts of the lexicon the German translation is an important aid to the understanding of the syntactically defective Russian text. In this 21

According to J. Ch. Adelung, Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 4 Th. (Leipzig, 1793-1801), IV, col. 637, this word is used only in den niedrigen Sprecharten for a "blow-out".

22

TON VAN DEN BAAR

chapter, however, lack of logical coherence makes it difficult to follow the line of thought of the compiler, even in German. Chapter 5, f. 14r. ... BHXopi»

Bo3fl8xi>

Die Luft

der Wirbel Wind / B e p T H T C » b Kpsrs drehet sich im Kreiß /

BtTpi> nofl3eMHbiH der Wind unter der Erden / noxiBtnaeTb erreget / 3eMHbiH Tp8ci> ein Erdbeben / zitjiaen. daß macht / 3eMHbie na^e»H Erd Fälle // Chapter 118, f. 140r.

)KeHHT6a

der Ehestandt

... Mojioaem» ein Jungmann, Jungges. / ... / noTOM ceöt HsönpaeTb darnach sihet er ihm aus / B3pocji8io Sbhus eine Mann baare Jungfr. / hjih b ä o b s oder eine Witwe / KOTopsio bo3Jiio6ht die er liebet / rfltace naie norjiawMBaerb da aber mehr zu sehen ist / Ha 6jiroHecTHe auf Tugend I ... I iatco h ,ao6poJiHHHe als auf Schönheit / h npa^aHoe oder auf das Heyrathguth / noTOMi. nach diesem / oGpsnaeTCfl c Heio verlobt er sich mit ihr / He TaHHO nicht heimlich / h o CBaTaen sondern wirbt um sie / iaKo CBarb als ein freyer / y ujTua bey Vater / h MaTepH

u. Mutter / hjih y 3acT8nHHKOBT> oder bey den Vormündern / hjih y poflCTBeHHHKOBi. u. befreundeten / Hpe3 /ips»ceKi) durch die Freywerber I ... Chapter 121, f. 145r.

Focno^HHT.

der Herr

... cjiSra Ein Knecht / öwjit. npeacae cero war vor Zeiten / hcbojihhkt. Leibeigen / Haß K0T0pbiMi> über welchen / itihhS BjiacTb 6biJia ein Herr Gewalt hatte / >kh3hh h cMepTbi über Leben u. Todt / hh1j cjisxcht bojiho heutzutage dienen freywillig / HHiHHe die Ärmern / m3/iok> HaHaTbie um den Lohn gedinget // Chapter 125,

f.

150v. Ka3HH

3JioflteBi> ( h ) B o p o B i .

Die Leibestraffen

der Überthäter (sie) ... pa36oHHHKH Räuber / hjih KojiecoMi. Ka3naTca entweder geradebrecht /

Ha Kojieco KJiaASTCH aufs Radt gelegt / hjih Ha kojii. BTHKaioTca oder auf einen Pfal gespißt /

kojiashw

die Hexen, Unholden /

b cTps6t werden

auf

den Scheiterhaufen / coxcHraioTCH verbrennet / HtKOTopbiMt etliche / npexcfle Ka3HeHia ehe sie gerichtet werden / ia3biici> Cöpt3biBaeTca wird ihnen die Zunge ausgeschnitten /

hjih

Ha n j i a x t oder auf dem Block /

pSKa cDctneTCH die H a n d abgehauen /

hjih ropamHMH

KjiemaMH oder

sie werden mit gluenden Zan- / pbStch ge gebrennet / KOTopbiM >KH3Hb AapseTbca denen man das Leben schenckt / Ha psraTejiHbiH ctoJim. die

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

23

werden an den Pranger / npHBfl3BiBaioTCfl gestelt / Ha ziwös no^HHM a i o T c a geprellt, gewippt / Ha ko6mjis c a a c a i o T c a auf den Esel gesetzt / y u i H {Dpi3biBaiOTCH der Ohren beraubt / j i 0 3 a M H ö b i o T c a ausgestäubt / . . . Chapter 149, f. 192v.

—

Die Vorsehung Gottes

Mjiiecicoe m a c r a e das Menschl. Glück / He npn^aeMt ist nicht zuzuschreiben / 4>opT8Ht macTiK) dem Glück oder der Fortuna / hjih cjisnaio oder dem Zufall / hjih TeneHiio 3ßi3,m> oder den Einfluß der Sterne / xoth k o m c t h zwar die Cometen / xbo3tomhh« 3Bfe3fflbi Schwantz sterne / H H i e r o #o6paro He noica- pflegen nicht guths an zu / 3 S e T i deuten / ho BceBHflameMS oks sondern gottes allsehendes / 6ra h e r o Auge u. deßen / BceaepxcHTejiHOH päue all regierender Handt I ... From the sections of the text given above it appears that the author was familiar with the most various aspects of life, both of the aristocracy and common folk. However, one may well ask whether it is life in Russia that is described. In fact practically all subjects might just as well refer to life in the author's homeland, at least as far as we can judge from the superficial representation of various aspects, that have nothing typically Russian. In some cases one even wonders whether the situation as described may reflect life in Russia at the time at all, e.g. in Chapter 121: ... ein Knecht war vor Zeiten Leibeigen ... heutzutage dienen freywillig die Ärmern ... Yet, whichever setting has served the author as a basis for his Russian material, the Russian phonological idiosyncrasies reflected in the orthography {infra) and the sometimes detailed knowledge of professional terms in Russian displayed by the compiler prove that he learned the language in direct contact with Russian tradesmen, although he probably recorded them afterwards without the assistance of a reliable native informant. So the author "knew" the spoken language and as he notes his impressions in what he considered to be the recognized bookish style he must have noticed their dissimilarity. Choosing the style he did seems to be sufficient proof that he had no intention of recording the spoken language, in fact he perhaps tried to avoid doing so. When, however, the author decides to embark on a chapter on the deformities of the human body - a soil so fertile as to yield a seemingly inexhaustible variety of illustrative derivatives - then he simply has to gloss terms that can be regarded as colloquial only. This is what we see in Chapter No. 43 about xSfloa>6pa3Hb[H h oypoflbi 'Ungestalte undt Miß Gebührten', where the following occur:

24

TON VAN DEN BAAR

rjiaBacTbiH der Groß Kopf / meicacTbm der Wurstmaul / KpHBoxnea der Krum Hals / iumiorjiaBbin der Spitz Kopf / KHJioBaraH der Kröpfichte / 22 In another field - the description of the human body - where earlier non-Russian compilers do not hesitate to gloss words that seem to outlive the natural processes lexicography is subject to, 23 our author does not commit himself but states the facts in a rather academic choice of words (Chapter 37): . . . B CPEFLHHI eru> in deßen (i.e. des Bauchs) Mitte / n8m» der Nabel / nofl HHMI> noflnsnue darunter der Schmerbauch / 24 H c p a M H b i H 8FLT» und die Scham /

In the part following this expose the author seems to be less particular: ... nocjii n j i e m t / auf die Schultern / cSTb npecjia / folgen die Lenden / c BepTjiSraMH / mit den Hüften /

H

npn

TSCHS

/ und am Hintern /

3aflHHiibi I die Hinterbacken I ... Even the German Hintern is too stylish a translation of the Russian word that because of its vulgarity was replaced by ry3jio or Ky3Jio.25 In this chapter the compiler also deals with the sexes and it is interesting to note how he differentiates between them: ... rpSflb die Brust / ecTb HanepeflH ist vornen I ... I ripn T t x t HMaTb an jener haben / JKCHCKIH n o j i t die Weibs Bilder / «Ba cocica zwo Dutten / 3 6opo/iaBKaMH mit Wartzen sitzen (, Zitzen?) // Discussing forms of immorality - a subject equally productive of picturesque terms - our lexicographer once again proves that he prefers giving views to recording lexical material the subject might have supplied. 26 Under the deceptive title B03flep>KaHie die Mäßigkeit (Chapter 112), the author tells us: nbflHHim die Schlämmer / ynHBaioTca sauffen sich toll u. voll / uiaTaioTca taumeln / 6JIIOIOTI> speyen u. hadern / H C nHHHCTBa noxMijme aus der Schlamerey (...?) / npoH3cxoflHTt entstehet / noxoTtHie Geilheit / H3 Heroace aus dieser / HeMTaa )KH3Hb ein Unzucht-Leben / MeacflS ÖJiaflS22

Adelung, op. cit. II, col. 1800: Kropfig, einen fehlerhaften Auswuchs am Halse habend. E.g. Fenne, op. cit., p. 89 and James, op. cit., p. 185. 24 Adelung, op. cit. III, col. 1568: Schmerhaut, in einigen Gegenden für Fetthaut. Schmerbauch does not occur in Adelung. 26 A RAT KHyn> CT> y3JioMi> T£IMT» npoib C I Ky3Ji0MT>. B. flaut, TOJIKOSMÜ CAoeapb oKueoeo eeAwopyccKoeo H3biKa (MocKBa, 1956), I, p. 406. 26 As opposed to James (Larin, op. cit., p. 175) who records terms like slizövka, the likinge streete and stukolövka, the knockinge street. 23

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEX CON

25

unter Huren / H ÖJIHTKÄMH u. Schläpsäcken / 28 UTJIOBAMEMT. mit Küßen / ocH3aHHeMi> Betasten / o6jio6bi3aineMi> umarmen / h n j i a c a r a e M i . u. danzen // HAMH27

Whenever the compiler uses terms that at least today strike us as vulgar or improper and even for that time were not suitable (by Russian standards, anyway) to be written down he certainly does not do so to record the spoken language. It seems more likely that - although he grasped the basic meaning he had either failed to understand the "undercurrent" of the terms or resorted to them for lack of more acceptable circumlocutory indications. Apart from incorrect translations - due to negligence - which we noted on page 20, a number of German translations indicate lack of correct understanding on the part of the author. In many cases he seems to know the sphere or field a word belongs to but fails to give it its proper place, e.g. MSKHHa 'die Wanne' where chaff is meant as the "product" of the winnowing-mill; poca 'die Dämmerung' for the phenomenon that may occur at sunset; STopt 'der Boden (eines Faßes)' whereas it only refers to the groove into which the bottom of a barrel is fitted. An entry like KpojiHKT» with the translation 'der Zaunkönig', where KopojieKi. is meant, is another typical mistake: words similar as regards root or sound are often interchanged. Thus in one of the chapters about birds (No. 19) we find the word T p s c t twice translated as 'der Storch', the bird - as the author tells us - that builds its nest on roofs. The Russian is probably a defective reproduction of the Russian cTpayc or a "transliteration" of German 'Strauß'. 29 If such mistakes are of frequent occurrence in a lexicographical document one should exercise considerable caution on meeting words that are not or not as such attested in earlier dictionaries. Below we comment on a number of representatives of the latter category: IIaji(fe)MO 'Fackel', a substantive that has been derived - probably by the author - from najrt as it is found in najioM najiHTt. The word rpaMoTSuiKa 'Spielzeug': the Russian can mean "a piece or wad of paper". As such it may have served as a kind of toy, but whether it ever indicated a specific kind of toy seems doubtful. The same attitude towards meaning - i.e. non-collective nouns rendered as collectives - appears in uiamca 'Badegeschirr'. This wooden vessel for ladling or carrying water 27

28

SC.: -HHMH.

Schleppsack, ein liederliches Weibsbild, Adelung, op. cit. III, col. 1239f. 28 In chapter 5 occurs the word (3eMm>m) T p 8 c Erdbeben. In chapter 21 cTpsci. der Strauß. In the latter form it also glossed by I. F. Kopievski, Nomenciator trium linguarum: Latine, Russice et Germanice (Amsterdam, 1700) and translated by Dutch struis.

26

TON VAN DEN BAAR

can of course be used in bathing, but is not to be regarded as a collective for any kind of bathing utensil as the German suggests. In chapter 132 {die Fechter) we find the word ojienapflb translated as 'die Partihane (sc. -sane)', a longhanded spear like the halberd. What is meant is ajie6apaa as it is found in the Russian version of W. Sewel's Nederduytsche Spraakkonst.30 The Russian npaTa3aHHHKb 'ein Trabandt' (i.e. the man carrying a halberd) occurs in the lexicon in chapter 138 (die Königl. Majestät) for npoTa3aHmHKi.31 Among the weapons in chapter 132 Wolf glosses nanuarb translated as 'der Duseck', a short but broad sword with an opening in the blade instead of a hilt. Probably it should be nannua 'bludgeon', which of course does not answer the German translation. However, for our compiler this does not constitute any reason not suggesting it! Other words, again not to be found in other sources may, however, be considered as having been in use at the time, e.g. eM8pji8io> 'die Reisemantel' as a derivative from eMypaHica, a species of rabbit 32 and KSJiHKOBaTaa (aopora), 'krummer (Weg)' formed from Kyjrara as found in aaTb Kyjinry, 'to make a detour'. Though generally speaking the lexical material is doubtful, it should be added that at times the compiler is very exact and detailed in his description and — what is more important — puts it across in tolerable Russian. For example in chapter 127 ( M a ß und Gewicht) he describes a pair of scales thus: ecTb I KapaMbicjiHua / h b cpe^HHt ea ocHHfca / Ha / psnica / b kotopoh CTopoacoMi» / noaBHsaeTca / Ha o6hxt>

... Ha TtxT> (BtcKaxi>) Bepxsace

CTpaHaxt I cSTb naiiiKH / bhchllihh / Ha M8TOBbi3axi>33 / 6 e 3 M t M . /

ffiBtiUHBaeTb BemH / ... in deßen Mitten die Axe / oben darüber / das wag gericht / worinen das Züngl. / gehet / zu beyden seiten / sindt die Wag schaalen / hangendt / an den wag-strängen / die Schell-wage / wägt ab die Sachen j ... Although this example shows a comparatively correct translation of the Russian substantives, it is clear that, when we encounter "unknown" 30

"BiJiiMa Cfcßena McKyccTBo HeaepnaitacKaro flibiKa", printed in St. Petersburg in 1716/1717, was translated from the Dutch by Jacob Br'usov, organizer of Peter the Great's army and mentioned by Puskin in his Poltava (3rd song, line 213). The book contains a Russian-Dutch vocabulary comprising 270 pages (see my forthcoming article in Handelingen van het fertigste Nederlandse Filologencongres to be published in April 1969). 31 flajib, op. cit. 32 Dipus acontion. 33 Sc. MyTOBH3HXT>.

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

27

words in the lexicon, their meaning cannot be accepted until proof is found in more reliable sources. As regards treatment of grammar our document shows the typical deficiencies characteristic for the non-Russian writing in Russian, viz. forms derived from "new" imperfectives, 34 e.g. n e p e T e p J i a e r b , Ha3HaHHBaeTT> and arbitrary conjugational forms like cocaeTt, cnpaTaen., naxeHaeTCH. The last form is translated as "fortgetrieben werden" apparently derived from CS. n o r t H a r a , -»ceHX. A similar arbitrariness can be observed in flectional endings, e.g. the ending -i in the nominative plural of neuter substantives (öjho^h) and -ei for the genitive plural of 'hard' feminine nouns (icopoBeH nacT8xt>). In addition to the phonological phenomena showing German subtrats as given on p. 18, we note below some facts that can be regarded as reflections of spoken Russian. The representation of i following s as u, e.g. mspMOBaTejib 'Fechter'. Hence in this position recorded as a back vowel. Similarly in iikthSiiiko where y is represented by u. On the other hand there is the reproduction of "soft" pronunciation of u following c: hiobctbo. The interchanging of back vowels also appears in KoöwuiKa for KSöbiuiKa and tojisbs for tojiobs. This phenomenon has been recorded in both Russian and non-Russian authors. 35 The reflections of akanje are of frequent occurrence, a fact that can be regarded as a proof that the author collected his material or at least learned his Russian in the Moscow area: 3 6 naBapHa; TBapori, (translated as 'Laab' 3 7 ), H3 TBopors; oKajia. Examples like ö j i o r o c T b , / r f e j i o K n t , CTOKam» showing the reverse substitution may show that the compiler was aware of akanje but in writing these words wrongly considered them to be subject to it. 38 It seems more likely, however, that this orthography 34

Cf. A. A. KoMHecapoB, "Ouihökh ynamHxca b 06pa30BaHHH bhaobmx nap TJiarojiOB", PyccKuü Ü3HK e uiKO/ie, 1967, JVb 5, p. 90. 35 E. Günther, "Ein niederländisch-russisches Gesprächsbuch aus dem 17. Jh.", op. cit., p. 494. 36 There is in fact one more indication that the lexicon was probably written in Moscow, viz. in chapter 108 Wolf enters in the list of HaiaJurfcHinHH u p T B a , MocKBa Moscau preceding the name Poccw Reußen. However, both names may still have been regarded as synonymous, by the author anyway. 37 Sc. Lab, gallium verum (Adelung, op. cit. II, col. 1854). 38 This interchanging of ajo is not only typical for non-Russian authors. In 1675 Tsar Alexei laid down that "if a petitioner, ignorant of the proper spelling, should write someone else's name with o for a or a for o ... according to the custom of the town he was born in and his own way of speaking or writing, he shall not be held in reproach", IIoAHoe Coöpauue 3OKOHOS POCCUÜCKOÜ ÜMnepuu c 1649 z., t. I (C.neTepöypr, 1830), p. 100.

28

TON VAN DEN BAAR

reflects the spoken language where (un)stressed a following 1 and unstressed a preceding a stressed syllable resembled - as far as the author could make out - the vowel o. Stressed e preceding "hard" consonants is written as o in a few cases only: BepoBKa/BepeBica; hojihi/hcjiht.. Returning to Dr. Swoboda's note regarding the value of the manuscript ("very valuable"), we feel that it cannot be made to relate to the Russian lexicographical contents of the lexicon. The negligence displayed - especially in the translation of Russian words - gives no guarantee for the minimum standard of reliability we should expect from a linguistic informant and consequently - where it comes to "new" Russian words - they must be regarded as doubtful both in structure and in meaning. However, Swoboda's assessment may well be applied in respect of the cultural value of the lexicon, but perhaps even more to the German it contains. The description (p. 13) refers to the document as written in Hochteutsch. This may have been the intention of the author, but in many places dialectical phonological subtrats appear (voiced for unvoiced consonants: danzen, Beltz; interchanging of Ijr: Schritt-jSchlittschue, dunkelbrau, Vberthater/Ubel-) and words are used that can only be regarded as colloquial (Schmerbauch, belly; eingescharrt werden, to be buried; Schleppsacke, prostitutes; Pubelhering, clown, punch). The ultimate answer to this question we leave germanists to find. We conclude with a full summary of the chapters the lexicon comprises. Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12

Erl Mapt H6o (Drffb Bo3,h8xt> Boaa OÖJiaKo 3eMJia n j i o a 3eMHbIH

Psflbi KaMerne fl,peBo

(introduction) Gott die Welt der Himmel das Feuer die Luft das Waßer die Wolcke die Erde Erd Gewächse (minerals) die Steine das Holtz

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

29

Chapter 13

ßpeBHMH njioflbi

14

IjBtTM

15

ÜJropoflHbia njioflbi

16

XjrbÖHMH h j i h n o j i e B H H n j i o f l b i

17

XßOpOCTM

18

3ßtpb

19

floMamma

20

I1ÌBHHH II THUM

nimbi

21

IToJieBWH H JltCHbl« nXHUbl

22

IToSWIIOmblH nTHUbl

23

B o A H b i a nTHUbi

24

—

25

MeTBepoHoruH 3 B t p n h nepBbia

26

EbIKb

27

COceub

flOMaUIHHH

3ßtpn

28

flHKHH CKOTHHbl

29

flHKHH 3 B Ì p H

30

3mih

31

MepBH

32

—

33

Pbi6a

34

Me^CflS MOpCKHMH p w 6 a M H

35

HJIKb

36

—

37

H a p s x c H b m CMbicjibi HJiBtica

38

F i l B a H pSKH

39

MflCO H BHSTpeHHHH

40

5KHJIbI H KOCTH

41

HapäJKHblfl H BHSTpeHHblH

die Baumfrüchte die Bluhmen Garten-früchte Getreyde oder Feld-früchte die Sträuche das Thier Hauß Geflügel Gesang-Vögel Feld und Wald Geflügel Raubvögel Wasser Geflügel (insects) Vierfüssige Thiere und erstlich die Hauß Thiere der Ochse der Eßel Wild-Vieh Wilde Thiere die Schlangen die Würmer (iaquatic animals) der Fisch unter den Meer Fischen der Mensch der Mensch die Äuserlichen Glieder des Menschen Haupt und Hände Fleisch und Eingeweide Geäder u. Gebeine Euserl. u. innerl. Sinnen

CMbICJIbl 42

/ l u i a HjriecKaH

43

X8aou)6pa3Hbia oypoabi

44

OropoAHoe

45

3eMJieAiaHie

flijiu)

46

CKOTonHTaHie

47

Boprb

48

MtjiHoe

fltjio

die Seele des Menschen Ungestalte undt Miß Geburten die Gärtnerey von Ackerbau die Vieh Zucht der Hönig Bau das Mühlwerck

30

TON VAN DEN BAAR

Chapter

63

IIJIOTHHKT»

64

KaMeHIIIHKT»

die Brod Backerey die Fischerey der Vogelfang die Jagdt der Fleisch Hack daß Kochwerck die Wein Lese die Bier Brauerey die Mahlzeit Flachs-Arbeit das Gewebe die Leinwandt der Schneider der Schuster der Zimmermann der Mäurer

65

—

(handling of loads)

66

^OMI.

49 50

XjitöoneHHie PbiöojioBjieHie

51

FLTHUEJIOBJIEHIE

52

JIoBjieHie

53

MHCHHKI

54

59

IloBapeHHoe fltjio BHH036ipaHie ÜHBOBapeHie BaHKtTt JleHHoe aijio TKaHie

60

ITOJIOTHO

61

IlopTHOH CanoacHHKTi

55 56 57 58

62

75

Ps.no KO name KS3Heu"b CTOJiapi. H TOKapT> ropmeHHHKT. MacTH jioMa H3Öa H KOMopica Kjiaae3H BaHH CTpHrojiHaa

76

KOHIOUIH«

77

Hacoßoe FLTJIO ManeBaHie y3pHTejibHaa cTexjia OÖp8HHHKl> KaHaTHHKt H peMeHHHKt IIOflOpO»CHIKl> K O H H I K I » [ßepiIIHHK'b] TejiirH •Bsaa IlepeB03i. ITjiaBame

67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74

78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87

das Hauß die Ertz Grube der Grobschmid der Tischler u. Drechsler der Töpfer die Haußgemächer Stube u. Kammer Schöpf Brunnen das Badt die Barbier Stube der Pferdestall Uhrwercke die Mahlerey Gesichts Gläßer der Böttcher der Seiler u. Riemer der Wandersmann der Reuter die Wagen das Fuhrwerck die Überfurth das Schwimmen

THE CHRISTIAN WOLF MANUSCRIPT LEXICON

Chapter 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125

daß RuderschiiT das Last-SchifF IIorpSHceHie Kopaöjia der Schiff-Bruch ÜHcaTejiHoe xSaoacecTBo die Schreibe-Kunst BSMara das Pampier (sie) KHironenaTHe die Buchdruckerey KHHacHaa jiaBKa der Buchladen nepenjiexHHKi. der Buchbinder KHHra das Buch IÜKOJia die Schule das Kunstzimmer YHHjinme Rede-Kunst XsjioacecTBo ptnH die Klang-Spiele MS3HK¡HCKaa Hrpa 4>iJioco(J)ia die Welt Weißheit 3eMJietvrbpie die Erd-Meß-Kunst IIIapi> H6HHH die Himmels-Kugel laBjierae njiaHeTt Planets-Stellung MtceHHbm 4>ir8pti des Monds Gestalt 3aTMeHie cjwua i JISHBI Sonn u. Mond Finsterniß BHIIIHHH uiHpiHa iuapa 3eMHaro der Erd-Kugel Ober-Fläche HiacHaa inHpma iuapa 3eMHaro der Erd-Kugel Unter-Fläche Evpona Europa Naucka o obyczajach (sie) die Sitten Lehre MsflpocTb die Klugheit IlpmitiKaHie die Eifrigkeit Bo3aepacarae die Mäßigkeit KptnocTb die Tapferkeit Tepntme die Geduldt HjiKojiK)6ie die Leutseligkeit FIpaBaa die Gerechtigkeit BjiaroaaaHie die Müdigkeit ^CeHHTBa der Ehestand KaTopra KopaÖJib oöpeMeHHbiH

— —

rocno^HHi.

TopoAb BHSTpeHHbia nacTH rpaaa Cöflb Ka3HH 3JIOAÍeBT> (H) BOpOBb

(relatives)

der Elter Standt der Herr die Stadt das Inwendige der Stadt das Gericht die Leibe Straffen der Übelthäter

31

32

TON VAN DEN BAAR

Chapter 126 K s n e n e c T B o 127 M t p t l H BtCKH 128 JleKapcTBcu 129 Ilorpe6eme 130 I l 0 3 0 p H e M t C T t 131 H o 3 o p b i 132 IIISpMOBaTejiH 133 M a n e M i j arpa 134 IlIaxMa. 135 C K o p o x o a e m » 136 OTpOHHblH H r p a 137 KopojieBCTBa h u n e M a 138 KopojieBCKe BejianecTBo 139 CajIAaT BOHHHHKT> 140 JIarepb 141 E a T a j n e 142 MopCKIH 6 o h 143 Oca^a r o p o A a 144 Efocjisaceme 145 146 147 XpHTH5IHH3MSMl> 148 MaxMeTCKiH ß t p s 149 150 CTpaiUHbffl C8fll> —

—

—

die Kaufmannschaft Maß u. Gewicht die Artzeney Kunst die (sie) Begräbniß das Schau Spiel die Gauckeley die Fechter das Ball Spiel das Bretspiel der Wett Läufer Kinder Spiel das Reich u. die Landschafften die Königl. Majestit der Kriegs Mann das Feld Lager die Feldschlacht das See-Treffen die Stad Belägerung der Gottes Dienst (heathen gods)

das Judenthum das Christenthum Mohamet die Versehung Gottes das Jüngste Gericht

f. 199r.-f. 237r. Alphabetical German-Russian list of words (letters A-P).

L. SESTOV A N D L. TOLSTOJ by J. H. DUBBINK

In 1936, two years before Sestov's death, one of his friends, B. Fondane, wrote: "Sestov was born in 1866 in Kiev, and in his youth took part in the life dedicated to the 'Great Ideals' of that time. He ardently believed that (according to the words of Dostoevskij) 'Man will be born shortly from the Idea directly' - and in order to hasten the coming of that time, he wrote a dissertation for his doctor's degree on the misery and exploitation of the working class. This dissertation was forbidden by the tsarist censor. Later he discovered Shakespeare and wrote: 'Shakespeare and his critic Brandes'. In this book he still tried to adhere to the Ideal and Moral Greatness. Shakespeare 1 had written 'The Time is out of joint', and Sestov tried at all costs to put Time in order again. But after reading Nietzsche the young philosopher encountered his first great difficulties. He felt that after Nietzsche and the questions raised by him, all ideas about 'greatness' and so on, were obsolete. Then immediately he left the world of scientific philosophy, closing the door after him with a bang."2 This does not mean however, that Sestov also left behind him all the questions raised by idealistic and essentialist philosophy. On the contrary: his whole life was filled by his quest to find other answers for these questions, which he considered to be insoluble within the borders of traditional philosophy. Sestov was haunted by the existentialist questions raised by Nietzsche, by Dostoevskij and also by Tolstoj. He started writing on Tolstoj in 1900, and in exile in Paris, he has still not said the last word - and it remains clear, that no last word is possible. The "cTpaHCTBOBaHHe no ayrnaM" never comes to a final end. The aim 1 2

Hamlet, II, 1,1. 189. Benjamin Fondane, La conscience malheureuse (Paris, 1936), p. 262.

34

J. H. DUBBINK

of the present essay is to follow Sestov on his " c T p a H C T B O B a i m e " through Tolstoj. This work: "flo6po B yieHHH rp. TojicToro H HHTine" (1900) was indeed a bang with the door! The reader is confronted with two startling thoughts, formulated by Sestov: (1) Tolstoj and Nietzsche are both false prophets, and consequently on the same level. (2) Both prophesy in the name of a narrow-minded rationalistic ethical system. The greater part of Tolstoj's works on religious subjects was forbidden in Russia. Therefore Sestov choose the guise of literary criticism, just as for instance Mixajlovskij had done before him. Sestov and Mixajlovskij write as laymen ("npo(J)aH"), as individuals using their inalienable, authentic rights: "We laymen, reckon it our sacred right, which nobody can take from us, to judge ourselves; the right to know right and wrong, to call a coward a coward. It is quite true that human behaviour is determined by laws, but the right to judge must not be denied to us." 3 Especially volume II and III show us Sestov as layman in the sense of Mixajlovskij; in them this criticism is applied to the great leading literary and philosophical figures Tolstoj, Dostoevskij and Nietzsche. In 1913 a Russian critic4 rightly remarked that Sestov had one leading idea, which we in 1967 might call "existentialism", but which Grivtsov called "a system of gumannost'" through lack of better term. We might say that Sestov started to ask himself and those regarded as leaders: "What is in human life authentically human, and what is not authentic, camouflage, 'nponoBeflb'"? In later years Sestov called this "method" a "cTpaHCTBOBaHHe no flyrnaM", and this expedition of exploring the authentically human started with this second volume of the Complete Works. In Chapter I Sestov tries to give an objective evaluation of the process of conversion, which started when Tolstoj was writing Anna Karenina, and which received a mighty impulse some years later when he was visiting the slums of Moscow. In his: What is Art? (published in 1897), Tolstoj states that his ideas had already begun to take shape fifteen years ago. This brings us to the beginning of the 1880's, just when Tolstoj published an essay Thoughts provoked by the census in Moscow. This "conversion", of which Tolstoj gave such a masterly expression in his A Confession, has two very different aspects. The first is: "(...) aytueBHaa 6ypa, K 0 T 0 p a a OTOPBAJIA rp. TojicToro OT pyccKoii HHTejuinreHUHH; » Mixajlovskij, Works1, III, p. 437. * B. TpHBuoB, Tpu Mbicjiumejiu (KneB, 1913), p. 189ss.

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

35

nyacflwe HaM cjioBa" ; the second is the urge to "c^ejiaTb BT>ipa6oTaHHoe ( . . . ) MHp0B033peHHe o6i.a3aTejibHbiM m% Bcex juofleii." This second aspect is called by Sestov the "nponoBe/ib", and an evolution in this direction was already predicted by Mixajlovskij when reviewing Anna Karenina and Sestov - as we will see - also clearly discerns it there. The first criticism Sestov makes, is that this conversion was not sufficiently authentic, that it stopped half-way. A revelation from "another plane of being"8 was not realised by Tolstoj. True, there was a deep crisis. The result, however, was not a complete change, but a state of equilibrium, in which Tolstoj tried (in vain !) to reconcile the contradictory. Sestov concentrates especially on the second aspect, the "nponoBeflb". Perhaps he did not yet dare to speak more overtly on the nature of the irrational, revealed to Tolstoj in his conversion. Very often Sestov makes clear hints that the real problems treated by Tolstoj (and by himself!) are religious problems. But "religious" and "intelligentsia" were before 1900 still mutually excluding notions ... Literary criticism is no more than a method to try to meet the authentic writer himself in and behind his works. The religious character is clearly to be seen in the motto and envoy of the essay, a quotation taken from Nietzsche : "Woe to all loving people, who do not know anything higher than compassion." For Sestov compassion is a "social" phenomenon, not authentically part of the human person or individuality. He also stresses, that something higher must be sought. This is made abundantly clear in the envoy: "flo6po - ÔPATCKA» jnoôoBb - MM 3HaeM Tenepb H3 onbiTa HHTrne, ne ecmb Eoz. Tope TeM JHOGJIIUHM, y KOTopbix HeT

( . . . ) OH HayHHjica r o B o p n y t cTpaHHbie H

ramero

Bbime cocrpaaaHHa'. Hirniie OTKpbiJi nyTb. HyacHo HcicaTb

Toro, HTO ebiiue cocTpaaaHHH, euiue ao6pa. Hy»Ho HCKaTb Bora." This quest for God is the one thing that really matters for Sestov. His criticism amounts to a proof, that the prophesies of Tolstoy and Nietzsche (and of Dostoevskij) are in reality no prophesies at all, but a queer mixture of moralistic commonplaces and very cleverly written literature. He finds no real, authentic, authoritative religious experience at the base. According to Sestov Borna u Mup is really a philosophical treatise. Tolstoj cross-examines Nature about every human being, though Homerical or Shakespearean "naivety" is still paramount. He does not want to recompense men for their deeds, good or evil; there is still a knowledge that the responsibility for human life can only be found £

P. Masson-Oursel, Le fait métaphysique (Paris, 1942), speaks repeatedly about a "biplanisme" and "l'explication des phénomènes par de l'absolue".

J. H. DUBBINK

36

higher, outside our world (p. 53). Where this "higher" is to be found is made clear on p. 51: it is the "will of your Father which is in heaven" Sestov quotes St. Matthew 18:14. Not the laws of human goodness are the highest (p. 85): "Kaicoe ace npaBo HMEET OH (T.e. TOJICTOH) HasbiBaTb CBOK> HpaBCTBeHHOCTb - BorOM, H 3aKpbIBaTb nyTH HmymHM fleHCTBHTenbHoro Bora? (...)" Some lines further on: "(Eor), K O T O P U H HyxceH nejioBeKy, noHHBiueMy BecbyacacCBoero 6eccnjina, ( . . . ) KOTOPBIH Moxcer noMOHb." This "weakness" is a theme of the later works of Sestov. Let us now return to p. 53, where Sestov notices a change in the "naivety" we saw: "TojibKo B oraomeHHH K HanojieoHy He BbwepxcaH OGUJHH TOH, xapaKTepH3yiomHH Bouny u Mup. HanoJieoH xsin rp. ToJicToro c Hanajia flO KOHIia OCTaeTCH B p a r O M - H B p a r O M , HpaBCTBeHHO B H H O B a T b l M . "

According to Isaiah Berlin 6 Tolstoj's views on Napoleon were greatly under the influence of the French anti-napoleonic writer de Maistre. From these and other passages Sestov concludes that we cannot say that Tolstoj evolved from literature to philosophy. The changes in the work o f T o l s t o j c a n n o t b e characterized in this w a y ; w e can only speak o f a gradual difference in emphasis, and n o t o f a m e t a m o r p h o s i s as the result o f a religious conversion.

A second step in the direction from less to more philosophy, and to Tolstoj's moral tyranny over his heroes is found in Anna Karenina. Sestov writes on this subject: " H o nocjie/JHWM H rjiaBHbiM noflcy^HMBIM, no NOBOAY KOTOporo, OHCBH^HO, H npeBeaeH B Hanajie KHHI"H eBaHrejibCKHH CTHX - HBJIHeTCH AHHa. Ee 5K/ieT OTMemeHHe, eft B03flaCT rp. TOJICTOH. (...) Bo Been pyccKOH, a MoxceT 6 b i T b , H B HHocTpaHHoii jiHTepaType HH OAHH xyzjoxcHHK TaK 6e3»cajiocTHo H cnoKoimo He npoBo.ziH.JI CBoero repoa K oacHflaiomeH ero CTpauiHoii ynacra, KaK STO caeitaji rp. TOJICTOH B CBOCM poMaHe c A H H O H . Majio CKA3ATB 6e3»CajIOCTHO H CnOKOHHO - C paflOCTbK) H TOp»CeCTBOM. Il030pHbIH H MYNHTEJIBHBIH

KOHeu A H H MFLJIArpaa ToJicToro - oTpa^Hoe 3HaMeHHe.

Y6HBIIIH ee, OH npHBo/JHT JleBHHa K Bepe B Bora H 3aicaHHHBaeT CBOH

poMaH. (...) r p . TOJICTOH OTJIHHHO nyBCTByeT, MTO 3TO 3a MYAC FLJIA A H H H KapeHHH; KaK HHKTO, OH onucbiBaex BECB yacac noJioaceHHa aapOBHTOH, yMHOH, HyTKOH H 5KHB0H /KeHLUHHbl, npHKOBaHHOH y3aMH 6paKa K XOAAMEMY ABTOMATY. H o y3bi 3TH EMY HYACHO CIHTATB o6i>a3aTejibHbiMH, cBHmeHHWMH, H6O B cymecTBOBaHHH o6tH3aTejib-

Boo6me OH BH^HT AOKA3ATEJIBCTBO BbicmeS rapMOHHH. H Ha 3amHTy 3TOH 06TA3ATEJIBH0CTH OH BoccTaeT co Bceii CHJIOH CBoero xyaoacecTBeHHoro reHHH. AHHa, HapyiHHBiuaa 'npaBHJio', aojracHa HOCTH

« "The hedgehog and the fox", Mentor Book 198 (New York, 1957), p. 76 sqq.

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

37

noraGHyTb MynHTejibHoii CMepTbio." The philosophical implications of these ideas of Tolstoj's and the source from which they issue, are the subject of much of Sestov's later works as we will see presently, 7 and only one aspect is treated here. It is perfectly clear, that the source of this "religion" is not an authentic religious experience: Tolstoj is not on the way to become a meek Christian, forgiving sin and the sinner! He remains the champion of the "abstract principle" (to use the words of 19th century Russian philosophers!) of Reason against the individual and inalienable rights of every man. This made Sestov the more furious, because in his eyes these inalienable rights were not based on positivistic sociological theories as for instance was the case with Mixajlovskij, but because man is created in the image of God. "H3 EH6JIHH M M 3HaeM, HTO Eor co3flaji nejioBeica no CBoeMy o6pa3y H noAoGwo, B EBaHrejiHH Eor Ha3HBaeTCH HauiHM He6ecm>iM O T U O M . H O Hnrae B STHX KHHrax He CKA3AHO, HTO ao6po - ecTb Eor" (p. 63). Therefore the following words of Tolstoj's, quoted on that same page, are simply a sacrilege: "PeJiHnio3Hoe co3HaHHe Harnero BpeMeHH B caMOM o6meM npiiJioaceHWi ero ecTb co3HaHHe Toro, HTO Harne 6jiaro, H MaTepaajibHoe, H .nyxoBHoe, H oTflejibHoe, H o6uiee, H BpeMeHHoe, H BenHoe, 3AKJIIOHAETC9 B 6 p a T C K O H » H 3 H H Bcex JHOFLEFI, B JIIO6OBHOM eflHHeHHH HameM MEAC co6oii." Sestov continues: "IJejib 3Toro oupeflejieHHH - Toace HHCTO nojieMHnecKaa, H6O OHO AAET npaBo rp. TOJICTOMY KjieiiMHTb Bcex Tex, K0T0pbie CMeioTb ayMaxb, HTO, IIOMHMO 6paTCKoro eflHHeHHa ecTb eme 6jiara B XCH3HH, H TEM 6oJiee Tex, KOTOPWE BO B3AHMHOII JIIO6BH BHAHT He uejib, a T0JibK0 cjieitcTBiie 6oJiee TecHoro C6JIH»CHHH jnofleii." Sestov's criticism is aimed at two different aspects; first: Tolstoj is misleading his readers. For as Sestov thinks - the identification of God, the highest good for humanity with brotherly love is totally alien to all religious life and thought. Secondly: all teaching and "nponoBeAt" are meant not (as all prophecies should be), as a testimony of the transcendent God, but as arguments to ensure his, Tolstoj's own inner security. For some reasons, as we will see presently, these feelings of security were lost. In order to restore them to life it was inevitable to build a philosophy such that all moral sanctions were on the side of Tolstoj, and against his opponents. This proces of loosing and finding of these securities was according to Sestov as follows. Some years after writing Anna Karenina the census brought Tolstoj into contact with the poorest parts of the population of Moscow. From the essay Mbicm, ebueaHHbie nepenucbto, Sestov quotes the following ' E.g. "Ha crpamHOM cyflc", see p. 46.

38

J. H. DUBBINK

passage on p. 27: "H npexyje (...) Hyayjaa MHe h CTpaHHa« ropoflcicaa »CH3HI. Tenepb onpoTHBejia MHe TaK, HTO Bee paaocTH POCKOUIHOH HCH3HH, KOTOpbie MHe Ka3ajIHCb paaOCTHMH, CTaJIH AJIH MeHX MyneHHHMH (...). -H He MOr He BHWeTb paflOM C 3THM rOJIOflHblX, XOJIOflHMX, H yHH^ceHHbix «HTejieii JIanHHCKoro floMa." Evidently, says Sestov, the reality of the misery seen by Tolstoj had a greater influence upon him than all the misery he described in his Bouna u Mup. The whole story of Tolstoj's conversion as told by himself, is condensed b y Sestov in the following words: " H rp. TOJICTOH, C6POCHBUIH c ce6a eBponeiicKoe njiaTbe, o^ejica no-MyxcnuKH, cTaji caM xuia ce6a T o n H T b nenb, y6npaTb KOMHaTy, naxaTb, c e a T b h T.fl." " H T y T - T o , npHfla K 3 T O M y C03HaHHK> H IipaKTHHeCKOMy B b l B O ^ y - rOBOpHT OH - H 6bIJI eo3HaapaoKdeH enoAHe 3 a T O , HTO H e 3apo6eji nepefl BbmoaaMH pa3yMa H norneji Ty/ia, icyaa OHH BCJIH MCHH." B neM ace 0Ka3ajiacb Harpaaa? B TOM, HTO jianHHCKHe JKHTCJIH cTajiH HHHMH, HTO HX cyflbSa CTajia MeHee yacacHoii? HeT, caMo C 0 6 0 1 0 pa3yMeeTca, JlanHHHbi 3a6biTbi: jiynme CTaji caM rp. TOJICTOH. This is indeed a very Nietzschean cruelty, and entirely in the line of the death of Anna Karenina, according to Sestov. In these same years the idealist philosophers in the IIpo6jieMbi udeaAii3Ma pointed to a resemblance between Tolstoj and Nietzsche. Thus S. Frank on page 177, note 1: "JIio6onbiTHo, HTO 3flecb, XOTH H C HHMM 0TTeHK0M, neM y Hnu,me, BbicKa3biBaeTCH Taace H^ea: Bbirne JIK)6BH K JHOflHM CTOHT JIK>6oBb K npH3paKaM. (...) B HpaBCTBeHHblX HaTypax STHX flByx BejiHHaiimHx MopajiHCTOB XIX BeKa ecTb Boo6me MHOTO cxoflHaro, H e c M O T p a Ha noJiHoe pa3JiHHHe B coflepacaHHH HX y n e H H H . " It is indeed remarkable to see and observe the resemblance and differences. For Frank, as an "idealist", the resemblance is "formal", the contents of the teachings of Nietzsche and Tolstoj are quite different. For Sestov, as an "existentialist", the resemblance is not to be found in the form, but in the contents: both are "prophets", whose voices are not authentic. The "pa3BeHHaHHe" which Sestov practices on Tolstoj is really meant for all "Great Ideals", as he told his friend Fondane in Paris. After Tolstoj's death and the publication of his posthumous works, more light was thrown on the nature of the "Gypa". Not the discoveries of social abuses in Moscow, but a psychic crisis was meant by Tolstoj in his Confession (see p. 34). This was made clear by the 3anucKu cyMaciuediueao compared with a letter to his wife. Though Sestov was not in the possession of the key to Tolstoj's works, as he later (see p. 47)

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

39

called these 3anucKu, his intuitive feeling, that both Tolstoj and Nietzsche came to their "nponoBeflb" as a reaction to the approach of mental crises or insanity, proved to be true, in spite of the "proof" Sestov found in the wrong place, viz. the Mbic/iu, ebi3eanHuu nepenucbw. Before turning to the second essay of Sestov, we should give one more quotation (p. 41): "MoaceT 6brn> y rp. TojicToro eme pa3 xBaraT CHJI H MyacecTBa caceib TO, neMy OH Tenepb noKJioHaeTca, H B03BecTHTb HOBoe CJIOBO? (...) ecjiH H nponoBeab ero He o6jiernaeT nojioaceHUH Macc TO, cjie^oBaTejibHo, H ee HyacHo oTBeprayTb." This "cacenb" and "OTBeprayTb" is precisely what happened shortly before Tolstoj's death: he left all behind, and went where God knows who led him. ... Here indeed Sestov turned out to be a prophet! The envoy "one must seek God" had indeed very little influence, except on the writer Mereskovskij, who was publishing his Tolstoj andDostoevskij. The first part was already printed, but Mereskovskij altered the manuscript of the second part, in order to insert "God", as Sestov had made him clear ... 8 In this second work Sestov thoroughly destroys the "image" of Tolstoj as a religious thinker and prophet, but the cause of Tolstoj's conversion and of his failings, the "6ypa" does not become very clear for the reader. In the third work ffocmoeecKuû u Humtue; (fjuAococfiun mpazeduu this "6ypa" is described by Sestov in other ways. Though the work deals mainly with Dostoevskij and Nietzsche, Sestov often makes a digression on Tolstoj, as he had made similar digressions on Dostoevskij in his former essay. Tragedy means: a situation where man is confronted with powerful forces and compelling circumstances to which no adequate reactions are possible, and man remains utterly powerless, indeed a "damné" in the words of Baudelaire quoted by Sestov as motto and envoy of his essay: "Aimes-tu les damnés? Connais-tu l'irrémissible?". After having destroyed the image of Tolstoj, Sestov now starts to depict the coming of the "noflnojibe" in the former's life and works. Even in Bouna u Mup there appear signs of "obscure underground forces" (p. 43). Tolstoj creates a sort of Homerical world of heroes with the following aims: "... OAHO HenpepbiBHoe CTpeMJiemie Tax HJIH HHane - CHJIOH, x H T p o c T b i o , OÔMAHOM - n o S e / m T b y n o p H o r o Bpara, noflpbmaiomero B caMbix ocHOBax B03M0>KH0CTb cnacTJiKBoro H cBeTjioro cymecTBOBaHHH." As an example Sestov quotes on p. 43 a conversation between Nikolaij Rostov and Maria from War and Peace: "Pa3roBop 8 Memoirs of Sestov: "Lev Sestov as I remember him", by Herman Lowtzky, partly published in russian in fpanu (nrs 64 and 65).

40

J. H. DUBBINK

6biJi caMbiil npocToii h He3HaHHTejibHbifi (!). OHa tobophjih o BoiiHe, HeBojibHo, KaK h Bee, npeyBejiHHHBaa cboio nenajib 06 stom co6hthh." HECKOUBKO aajibuie rp. Tojictoh eme NOACHAET: "bhaho Ghjio, hto o HecnacTHHx P o c c h h OHa (KHamia Mapba) Morjia roBopHTb npHTB0pH0,

ho 6paT ee 6wji npeflMeT, cjihihkom 6jih3khh ee cepauy h OHa He xoTejia h He Morna cjieraa roBopHTb o hcm." Tp. T o j i c t o h Be3fle, r^e TOJibKo MoaceT,

HanoMHHaeT

HaM, hto ajih JiynuiHX Jiioaeii 12-ro ROAA HecnacTbH

P o c c h h 3HanHJiH MeHbiiie, neM hx coScTBeHHbie, jiHHHbie oropneHHH (...) o h yMeeT coxpaHHTb Heo6biKHOBeHHyK>, Ha bha, acHocTb ayuiH, t o h h o HHHero oco6eHHoro He npoH3ouuio, t o h h o h b caMOM ziejie pa3yM h coBecTb MoryT cnoKOHHO rjiaaeTb Ha npoHBjieHHe Taxoro HyqoBHmHoro 3roH3Ma. (...) KaKoii 6bi raM no^HajiH ohh, ecjiH 6bi BMecTo Toro,

hto6bi "npHTBopHo" oropnaTbcn 6eflCTBHHMH Pocchh, KHHACHA MapbH Hanp., n p a M O 3a«BJiHa, Ha MaHep NOANOJIBHORO nejioBeKa: "Pocchh jih NORH6HYTB, hjih MHe naio HE nHTb? 5H CKAACY: nycTb ce6e RN6HET Pocchh, a h t o 6 MHE nan 6 h j i . " After giving some more e x a m p l e s from Anna Karenina, Sestov continues (p. 48): "CoBceM TaK, KAK y /JocxoeBCKoro. Pa3HHua b tom, hto y rp. Tojictoto GbiJia eme hhcto bhchihah bo3mo>kHOCTB BEPHYTBCH K JKOFLHM, aFLOCTOEBCKHHyace HE HMeji ee (...). Tp. Tojictoh eme HMEET HAFLEACAY h

ho

KOHiia

mch3hh SopeTcn c

CTparn-

HbiM npH3paKOM 6E3IIA/IE»CHOCTH, HRKOR^A HE OCTABJINMHM ero HA flojiroe BpeMH b noKoe." 3TA 6opb6a onpe/iejiaeT coSoio Bee TBOPNECTBO rp. TojiCToro, b jiHiie KOToporo mw HMeeM eAHHCTBeHHbift npHMep reHHajibHoro nejioBeKa, bo

cto

6BI t o

hh

CTajio CTpeM»mer0CH

CPABHHTBCACNOCPEFLCTBEHHOCTBIO, caMOMy cmamb NOCPE^CTBEHHOCTBIO." If we compare this passage with former ones, we see, that Sestov employs a different imagery. He speaks now of "underground forces" instead of using the metaphor "storm". Tolstoj's creations are now seen as a means to remain "common", that is to say to remain within the boundaries of that normal world which Sestov in his later works designates with the Aristotelean term of "common to us all" (see p. 47). On page 50 Sestov continues: ' T p . Tojictoh (...) rjiy6oKo y6e»caeH, h t o OTBETA nem (sc. on the hopelessness of h u m a n conditions), a crajio 6biTb HYACHO He TojibKo wraTejieft, h o h caMoro ce6n OT^EJIHTB o t fleHCTBHTeJIbHOCTH XyflOHCeCTBeHHblM BblMHCJIOM. BoUHd U Mup B 3TOM CMbrcjie HBjineTCH UIEAEBPOM (still p. 53)." BejiHKHii rmcaTejib se.VUM pyccKoS (...) noHHJi, KAKOE BejiHKoe npeHMyiuecTBo hmciot Poctobm npea Bojikohckhm. (...) H NOCMOTPHTE, KAKOE rjiy6oKoe YBAACEHHE NHTAET rp. Tojictoh k POCTOBY. "/lojiro, paccKa3biBaeT oh HAM, nocjie ero (HnKOJiaa) CMepra b Hapoae xpaHHJiacb HA6OXCHAH naMHTb O ero

41

L. §ESTOV A N D L. TOLSTOJ

ynpaBjieHHH." (...)

H e M 3acny>KHJI STOT 0 6 b i K H 0 B e H H b i i i n e j i o B e i c T a K y i o

npH3HaTejIbH0CTb? A

3HaJi,

KaK

acHTb

BOT HMeHHO CBOeS 0 6 b i K H 0 B e H H 0 C T b K > :

H 6HJI noTOMy

Bceraa

TBepa.

Bo

POCTOB

BCIO xce

CBOIO

n a c a T e j i b C K y i o a e i r r e j i b H o c T b r p . TOJICTOH H H n e r o T a K He UCHHJI, K a K o n p e ^ e J i e H H o e 3HaHHe H T B e p a o c T b , H6O y c e 6 a He H a x o a H J i HH T o r o , HH a p y r o r o .

OH

pa3yMeeTca,

6HJI

Mor

TOJibKO

npHHyacaeH

nodpaxcamb P o c T O B y , H, c a M O CO6OK> pacronaTb XBajiy C B o e M y B b i C 0 K 0 M y

o 6 p a 3 u y . ( . . . ) "$L n p e K j i o H H i o c b n p e a POCTOBHM, a He n p e a I l y i i i K H H O M

BCeM 3aHBJIflK> 3 T O " - BOT CMblCJl SIIHJIOra K Borne u Mupy. After quoting some other examples, Sestov concludes (p. 56): OH (TOJICTOH) BO HTO 6bi HH CTajio xoneT npnpyHHTb Tex Semenbix 3Bepeii, KOTOpbie Ha3bIBaiOTCH HHOCTpaHHblMH CJIOBaMH CKenTHUH3M a neccnMH3M. (...) IlocjieflHaa 4>opMyjra rp. TOJICTOTO, K 0 T 0 p 0 i i noflBOflHTca HTor Bcefi ero HeycTaHHoii MHorojieraeH 6 o p b 6 e , H KOTopyio OH ocoSeHHo TopacecTBeHHo BO3BCCTHJI B CBoeii KHHre Hmo maKoe ucKyccmeo, rjiacHT: " f l o 6 p o , GpaTCKaa jno6oBb - ecTb Eor." In his former essay (p. 3 4 ) Sestov said: "Tyr TOJIBKO CKA3BIBAETCH TO npeflCTaBjiaiomeecH Ha nepBbra B3rjiiM napaaoKcajibHbiM o6cToaTejibCTBO, HTO nponoBeab (...) He HMeeT H He HiueT iiejiH BHe caMoii ce6a." We see more clearly now what Sestov meant: the formulating of that "sermon" is the main weapon in a struggle against that feeling of hopelessness and tragedy. The aim is not in the first place to bring about a conversion of others, but a self-defence of Tolstoj against the intruding forces of the "noanojibe". But even in the "sermon" there reigns uncertainty - to say the least. Listen to Sestov (p. 135 of ffocmoeecKuu u Humuie): "HcTopiffl aceHHTb6bi H ceMeiiHOH XCH3HH JleBHHa, c O^HOH CTopoHbi, H HBaHa HJIBHHA H Ilo3flHbimeBa, c flpyrofi, Be^b B KOHii;e KOHUOB oflHa H Taace 'HCTOPHH', TOJIBKO Ha HHOH JIAA PA3CKA3AHHAA, HJIH IIIeKCnHpOM, H OTKpblTO

HHANE OCBEMEHHAA. H U H , CCJIH XOTHTC, OUEHHEHAA. *ITO6 YGEFLHTCA B

TOM, A0CTaT0HH0 nofl p a a nponecTb Amy Kapemny H Kpeuifepoey Conamy. Y JleBHHa c KHTTH 6biJia TOHHO TaKHe x e oraomeHHH, KaK y no3flHbiuieBa c ero »CCHOH: B TOM COMHCHHH 6biTb He MoaceT. CeMeHHaa ace >KH3Hb JleBHHa peKOMeHflyeTca HaM, KaK 06pa3U0Baa, a Ilo3flHbimeB roBopHT o ce6e: 'Mbi HCHJIH KaK CBHHbH'. OTiero B HCTOPHH JleBHHa nponymeHO TO, HTO noflHepKHyro B HCTOPHH IIo3aHbimeBa? ..." What is the use of "teachers" (exclaims Sestov), who like Tolstoj "prove" in different phases of their life different evaluations of sexual life?? Again one must admire Sestov for his clear insight: long before the autobiographical 3anucKu cyMaciueduiezo were published, Sestov had

42

J. H. DUBBINK

seen the weak points of the whole of Tolstoj's "prophecies". The last pages of his essay contain in fact a "prophecy" which has come true in literature, especially since the Second World War (p. 156-7): "YBaxaTb BeJiHKoe 6e3o6pa3ne, Bejimcyio Heyflany! 3 t o nocjieflHee cjiobo (J)hjioco(J)HH Tpare^HH (...) Koi\aa Forojib cacer pyKoiracb BToporo TOMa 'MepTBbix flyrn', ero o6i>$ibhjih cyMacmefluiHM - HHane Hejib3H 6mjio cnacra HfleaJibi. Ho Torojib 6 h j i 6onee npaB, Korzja cxcnraji c b o i o aparoueHHyio pyKonHCb, KOTopaa Moma 6bi na.Tb 6eccMeprae Ha 3eMJie uejioMy flecaTKy He 'cyMacmeAiiiHx' kphthkob, mcm Koraa nncaji ee. 3Toro HfleajiHCTbi He aonycTST HHKorfla, hm HyacHbi 'TBopeHHa rorojia' h HeT AeJia ao caMoro Torojia h ero 'bcjihkoh HeyaaHH, BejiHKoro HecnacTba, BejiHKoro 6e3o6pa3Ha"\ We can translate this "yBaacaTb" in plain words: we witness for instance in the title of Sartre's LaP... respectueuse not only the lifting of a taboo on sexual life, but the very respect paid to those "6e3o6paxcHeiimHM", to use the words of Nietzsche in the context in which Sestov quotes them. The next of Sestov's works is the Ano0eo3 EesnoueenHocmu of which I have only a French translation at hand. This work was intended by the author as an essay on Cexov and Turgenev, presumably in the same form as the essays we have already studied. In the course of writing however Sestov changed his mind and followed the example of Nietzsche. A series of aphorisms was the result. Indeed, the aphoristical style is the only form that to some extent expresses the intentions of Sestov. He now uses still other metaphors for the "6ypa" and the "noanojibe". The negativistic elements of these metaphors find their culmination in the title of the essay - but all the same the positive elements, the "seeking of God" remain always at the back of the aphorisms. Even if some youthful readers accepted them shortly after the publication as a sort of gospel in nihilism, they simply would not accept aphorism 109 of the first part for instance. Here the main points of 19th and 20th century life criticized by Sestov are, that they "break all bonds between God and men". Neither did they notice the whole idea of aphorism 26, where Sestov criticized his contemporaries, whose "god" consisted of two moral (?) qualities, viz. perseverance and (technological?) genius - that is to say, who ignored the real God. As for Tolstoj, Sestov adds little to his former views, and is only more outspoken and clear. Thus in the 35th aphorism of the first part, the two roots of Tolstoj's "nponoBeflb" are put in clear words: the fear of death, and a battle against other (??) weak points in his own character. This battle is waged with perseverance and adroitness, as we can read there.

43

L. §ESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

In aphorism 80 he writes of a feeling of irritation when reading the "sermons" of Tolstoj, and reminds us, that Tolstoj was unable to really help either himself or his neighbour. For (as we read in aphorism 92) Tolstoj's own doubts were not at all overcome by the means he preached to others. In other respects too nobody really believed Tolstoj, and only his grey hairs prevented him from being ridiculed (aphorism 96). Aphorism 8 of the second part has a title partly in german: " ' D a s Ewig Weibliche' in Russian Literature". It is devoted to a great extent to a severe criticism of Tolstoj's views on love and sex. "Love for its own sake, that is to say love which does not lead to procreation, and also art for its own sake, art not determined by the demands of practical life, just as philosophy for its own sake - all this amounts (sc. for Tolstoj) only to snares and dangerous temptations. When his thoughts went too far in this direction, he got into a panic, and went to the steppes to have a treatment with "kumys"'. You will find sundry confessions of that sort in his works. (...) Tolstoy can maintain himself only thanks to an instinct of self-preservation. (...) If he had not instinctively stopped just in time he might have finished as badly as Puskin or Lermontov. But in that case he could have found an opportunity to unveil some mysteries of nature and to let his fellow-men take part in these discoveries instead of preaching self-control, simplicity and submission." In the 14th aphorism Sestov speaks about Tolstoj's solipsism, his feeling of being absolutely lonely. To overcome this feeling he preached, that Christ had come upon earth in order to teach men to be normal and not to act stupidly ... That is to say (concludes Sestov): all tragedy, all solipsism comes from the devil; God is on the side of all that is in harmony with common sense. Already earlier Sestov had said that Tolstoj was a genius who tried at any cost to remain ordinary ... A few years later (1908) in HauaAa u Komfbi Sestov speaks again on this solipsism of Tolstoj's. This work was written under the impression of the Russo-Japanese war and the revolution. Tolstoj's reactions to these events are analysed, especially the letter in which Tolstoj declares (p. 80): HTO B BejIHKOM CTOJIKHOBeHHH BpaHCflyiOmHX Meac CO6OH B POCCHH CHJI OH He y M e e T OTJIIIHHTIJ npaBOH OT HenpaBOH H B c e x 6 o p i o m H x c a KjieiiMHTb o 6 m H M HMeHeM 6e36o)KHHKOB! Reality itself had once again proved that Tolstoj's prophecies about a coming reign of peace had not been realized at all ... On page 71 we read: "TOJICTOH, H a n p H M e p , a a B H o yace oSemaji HTO JIKOTI C K o p o oHHyTCH, 6pocaTb CBOIO 6paToy6HHCTBeHHyio

Boimy H HaiHyr

HCHTB, KaK c u e / i y e T

HCTHHHMM

x p H c r a a H a M , H c n o j i H s a e B a H r e J i b C K y i o s a n o B e ^ b JIK>6BH. TOJICTOH

npea-

44

J. H. DUBBINK

cKa3biBaji H nponoBeatiBeji. J I K W H HHTSJIH e r o , Kaic He wranH, KaaceTca, HH oflHoro nncaTejiH, a CTapbix CBOHX npHBtineK H B K y c o B He MCIWJIH . . . A Harna TenepemHHH peBOJiiouHa, c BoopyaceHHbiMH B03CTaHH«MH, BHcejiHiiaMH, pa3CTpejiaMH, 6oM6aMH, peBOJUOxina, npHiueflinaH Ha

CMeHy KpoBonpoJiHTHeiiiiieH aanbHeflocTOHHOH Boime!" How ardently Sestov wished that his analysis of Tolstoj's prophecies had not turned out to be so literally true as the subsequent course of events proved it to be! These thoughts suggested a theme to Sestov, which had often been treated in the history of philosophy: Has a genius (e.g. Plato, Tolstoj o r Goethe) in fact a better view on practical life than most of his contemporaries? Plato in his Apologia and Gorgias severely criticizes all the Athenian political and cultural leaders; Goethe did in the beginning not realize the importance of the French revolution, and Tolstoj said that he had very little insight in the reality of the present Russian revolution (see p. 43). In this context Sestov thinks: "/JJIH Hero (ToncToro) 3HaiHTeJIbH0 TOJIbKO TO, K He.My OH, TOJICTOH, npHJIOHCHJI pyxy: Bee, HTO BHe ero H IIOMHMO ero npoHcxoAHT, fljia Hero He cymecTByeT. TaicoBa Bejimcaa npeporaTHBa BCJIHKHX nio/ieii." But this privilege condemns even the genius to remain between the borders of subjective knowledge that is to say in uncertainty (p. 145): "TaicoBa Harna aaoHb: B Hen Myapeijbi H rjiynubi, cTapHKH H MJiaaeHUbi, aayT Hayraa K ijejiHM, KOTopwe He o6Hapy»ceHbi zio CHX nop HH CBCTCKHMH, HH ayxoBHMMH, HH 06biKH0BeHHbiMH, HH CBHUICHHBIMH KHHraMH." Therefore nobody should expect a "prophet" or "teacher" to be consequent in his own life - and this spirit of relativism and resignation concerning all merely human activities will remain at the base of all Sestov's later "OGJIHHCHHH" of Kierkegaard, Husserl, Gilson (the well known French specialist on medieval philosophy) and others. Also the essay written in hounour of the 80th anniversary of Tolstoj's birth, and published on page 84-153 of the Benmue Kanyuu in 1912 breathes that same spirit. Here we no longer find any sharp condemnation as in the earlier works, but a wise relativism. This may be due to the fact, that this essay is written in honour of Tolstoj, but I think that another factor also is not without weight in this respect. In these years Sestov made a close study of Luther — indeed he was the first Russian thinker I know of who seriously studied Luther. The result of this study, an unfinished essay Sola Fide, published posthumously in Paris 1966 makes it clear, that especially the nature of the "underground", of the "6ypa" was seen by Sestov as only one aspect of Faith in the sense

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

45

Luther gave it. Still more reasons for Sestov to change his negativistic criticism of Tolstoj's "underground" can be found in this essay about Luther. The essay on Tolstoj bears the title : Pa3pyuiatou^uù u co3daeuiuu Mupu. The word "world" is used much in the same sense of the French thinker Bachelard in his: La poétique de la Rêverie (Paris, 1961, p. 14 especially). He says: "(...) la rêverie nous donne le monde d'une âme, (...) une image poétique porte témoignage d'une âme qui découvre son monde, le monde où elle voudrait vivre, où elle est digne de vivre." "L'âme" - which we may translate in this context as "man" - creates a world, in which he may live ... this is a good transcription of one aspect of Sestov's essay on Tolstoj, and it is no mere verbal coïncidence that the word "world" is used both by Bachelard and Sestov. But the evaluation of this "world" is quite different. Bachelard values it positively, Sestov (under the influence of Luther) negatively. As is often the case, the first and last words of the essay contain the clue to comprehension: The same quotation from Shakespeare "The Time is out of joint" is repeated at beginning and end. The word "time" is used by Sestov in the sense of the clock-time, the regularity at the base of the whole of ordinary life. This "world" of ordinary human life was destroyed in the following w a y (p. 151): "^Baacflbi B r j u m y j i B JIHUO HacToameii CMepTH TOJICTOH, ^Baac^BI BbipwBajica OH H3 B j i a c r a HejioBenecKHX cyeBepHH H irpeapa3cyAKOB, H MHoro pa3CKa3aji OH HaM o TOM HHOM MHpe, icyna 3Bajia e r o CTpaHHaa rocTbH. H o 6 a pa3a OH BepHyjica o6paTHo."

T h e verb

"to return" is used here by Sestov to convey the same idea which was called on page 43 listening to the instinct of self-preservation. The human ratio is the weapon by which this instinct tries to conquer this "call" of Death, of absolute Reality, which destroys all time, the whole human organisation. Tolstoj's life and work are seen in this essay as a sort of compromise between the irrational apocalypse or Reality and the rationalized and rationalizing instinct of self-preservation. Curiously enough, a modern Yugoslav anthropologist gives an analysis of Tolstoj's War and Peace9 and comes to the same conclusions. "Kako je onda bilo uopste moguce da se Tolstoj ipak tako cvrsto drzao svojih 'logickih sankcija'? Ovo pitanje takode pociva na jednoj racionalistiôkoj predrasudi. To je predrasuda po kojoj glavnu ulogu u formiranju nasih koncepcija igra razum. Medutim, upravo psiholoska struktura Toltojevih knizevnih likova demantuje to glediste. Tolstoj nam, recimo, prikazuje " Nikola Milosevic, Antropoloski Eseji (Beograd, 1964); the essay in question: Antropoloski problem u Tolstojevom romanu Rat i Mir, p. 63/82.

46

J. H. DUBBINK

svog glavnog junaka Pjera Bezuhova kako gradi Citavu teoriju o vernosti 'plavih Sarapa' svakoj oCiglednosti uprkos. (...) Ali i kompromis izmedu iluzije i istine takode je zivotna potreba. Zato 'priroda' salje prevarenim muzevima poput Pjera Bezuhova jedno stanje suzene svesti u kome £ak i najodiglednije cinjenice, u krajnjoj liniji, ne izgledaju onakve kakve jesu. To je onaj isti psihi5ki mehanizam koji cini - ma koliko to zvucalo vulgarno i grubo da se cesto cak i najslozenije antroploske teorije zidaju se na isvesnim ociglednim i prostim neistinama" (p. 81). Maybe the "stanje suzene svesti" is in itself a verbalisation of a psychological fact rather than a causal explanation; the words "psihicki mehanizam" require per se ipsa a causal explanation, but do not afford one. On the other hand it is somewhat strange to look for a rational explanation of an irrational reality, as Sestov himself would have said ... After the publication of the posthumous works of Tolstoj Sestov wrote an essay on them, which he published for the first time only in 1920 in the (Paris) CoepeMeumie 3amcKU. This was later included as a chapter in his Ha Becax Hoea.10 As some of these posthumous works gave proof of Sestov's former suppositions about the role played by Death in the works of Tolstoj, the title of Sestov's essay Ha cmpauiHOM cyde will not seem very strange. Again we will start with the quotations used by Sestov as the first and last words of his essay. The motto is a quotation from Plato's dialogue Phaedo (p. 64A), in which Plato suggests that all real philosophy consists in an exercise in the art of dying (E7UTT|Seijeiv dKoSvriaKeiv). This brings a new aspect of Death into Sestov's philosophy. In his former works Death came as a thief in the night, unannounced. But now it looks as if a sort of preparation is possible and desirable. From a quotation at the end of the essay, taken from Plotinus, it is clear that Sestov is going still one step further: a sort of collaboration between Death and the philosopher is envisaged in the way Plotinus ( = Sestov) urges us to "fly to our native country, whence we came, and where our Father is" (Enn. I, 6-8). Some of these posthumous works of Tolstoj are interpreted as this "training to die". Sestov mentions especially: 3anucKu CyMaciueduiezo (written 1884); Ympo nocae 6a/ia (1903); H ceem eo mMe ceemum ( ± 1882); Omey Cepeuu (1890-1898); XO3HUH u PaGommiK (1895). In these works Sestov finds his "hypothesis" on the role of Death and Fear completely corroborated, especially when compared with the novel CMepmb Heana M/ibuna. In the 3amcKU CyMacuieduiezo about which Sestov speaks on p. 95-106, the main point is not the conclusion one could draw from Tolstoj's novel, namely that 10

Paris 1929; I quote this publication.

47

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

"life is meaningless" (whatever such a proposition may signify). Sestov's thoughts take quite another direction: human reason ( p a 3 y M ) is in itself not capable of solving any of the major questions. Both life and death are basically wholly transcendent, and reach farther and deeper than the p a 3 y M is ever able to fathom. Death is fearful, with a "yacac K p a c H b i f t , 6 e j i b H H , K B a f l p a T H b m " , but that same epithet "fearful" is applied by Tolstoj to life, to " y M H p a i o m a f l a c i O H b " as a whole. In this word " c T p a x " lies according to Sestov the key to the understanding of the 3anucmi, and this story contains in itself the key to an understanding of Tolstoj. Tolstoj, as depicted here by Sestov, lives on the boundaries of two worlds. The "common" world is the world of the anonymous landowner ( = Tolstoj) in the 3anucKu; the world of the judge in CMepmb Meana Hjibima, the world of ecclesiastical holiness in Omeif Cepeuii. This is the world which is common to us all, a world in which all normal people live (in this context Sestov quotes Aristoteles - the founder of rationalism, here for instance on p. 94: A p H C T O T e j i r,ne-To r o B o p H T , HTO y j c a x c a o r o CHOBHOTa CBOH Co6CTBeHHbIH M H p , y BCeX-3Ke 6 o f l p C T B y K ) m i i X o6mHH

MHp.

3TO

nojioacemie-ocHOBa

He TOJIBKO

OAHH

apHCTOTENEBCKOII,

HO H B c e i i , KaK flo H e i o , TaK H n o c j i e H e i o c y m e c T B O B a B i i i e i i

HaynHoii

n o j i o a c H T e j i b H o f t (})HJIOCO(J)HH.

This world is more or less rational; "pa3yM" gives the possibilities of real communication - to use a modern word. But just round the corner of all security lurks the "yacac K p a c H t r a , 6 e j i b i i i , K B a a p a T H b m " , which may intrude in "normal" life without any of the sufficient reasons, postulated by logics. In the Ympo nocjie 6cuia one and the same man is in the evening the loving father of a lovely young girl, and a few hours later the executing officer by a beastly terrible condemnation to death of a soldier. Between these two worlds Tolstoj wavered; in his great novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina he defended the "rational" world, trying to ignore all " c T p a n i H o " by giving it its place in a homerical world. In his theological works he defended the rational world, by rationalizing religion to the utmost degree, as we have seen. No human being can do without "pa3yM", everybody is bound by some spell, symbolized by the Fall of Adam in the Old Testament, to live (can that be called Life?) on the fruits of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, that is to say on the conclusions of "pa3yM". But God bids us to follow not knowing where we go - Sestov again and again quotes the history of Abraham. The "pa3yM" bids us not to go without sufficient reasons and certainties and to restrain our religious life "innerhalb der Grenzen der Vernunft" as Kant puts it.

J . H. DUBBINK

48

T h i s is the essence o f S e s t o v ' s p h i l o s o p h y , a n d these a r e the t h o u g h t s he tries to p r o v e o n his never e n d i n g "cTpaHCTBOBamie n o

flyrnaM".

i

n

his KupKezapd u 3K3ucmenijuaAbHan tfiuAocotjiuR (Paris, 1939) Sestov studied the " c a s e " o f K i e r k e g a a r d - h o w , in spite o f all existentialism, h e s u c c u m b e d t o t h e t e m p t a t i o n s o f " p a 3 y M " , a n d in t h e s e s a m e y e a r s , he published

for the last time an essay o f s o m e length o n

Tolstoj:

" • H c H a a I l o j i H H a h A c T a n o B o , k 2 5 - j i c t h i o c o .zjhh c M e p r a J I . T o j i c T o r o " ,

in CoepeMeHHbie 3anucKu, 61 (1936), and reprinted: yM03peme Kpoeetiue

u om-

(Paris, 1964), p. 157-176.

In this e s s a y S e s t o v s p e a k s with d e e p u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d

sympathy

a b o u t Tolstoj, w h o even when succumbing to the temptations o f " p a 3 y M " created masterpieces such as

War

and

Peace.

Without

condemnation

Sestov quotes the following specimen o f Tolstoj's rationalism.

A

priest

and Nicolaj ( = Tolstoj) are speaking: " C B H m e H H H K : P a 3 y M M o a c e T o S M a i i y T b , y BCiiKoro c b o h p a 3 y M . H n K O J i a i i HBaHOBHH: B o t s t o - t o y x c a c H o e K o m y H C T B o . B o r o M HaM oflHo cBHmeHHoe o p y a w e a m

no3HaHHH h c t h h m , o a h o ,

aaHo

hto

Hac

M o a c e T coeflHHHTb b eflHHO. A m m e M y He BepHM. ( . . . ) Ho

y T o j i c T o r o n o j i y n H j i o c b a p y r o e . 3ara,qoHHbiM o 6 p a 3 0 M ,

Kor^a

OH HanpaBHJICH K IlHCaHHK), OH, XOTH H 3apyHHJICH nOKpOBHTejIbCTBOM p a 3 y M a h b3hji e r o c c o 6 o h r j i z 6e30nacH0CTH h

pyK0B0flHTejibCTBa,

KaK 3 t o a e j i a e M Mbi B e e , He 3 a 6 b i J i 3 a x B a T H T b c c o 6 o h e m e o a h o KOToporo, o 6 m h h o ,

3peHHe,

y

jnoaeii

He 6 b i B a e T

h

npo-

KOTopoe

ITbep

BbipaxcHJi b c j i o B a x : ' o h nyBCTBOBaji, h t o B 0 3 B p a T H T b c a k B e p e b 5kh3hb

He e ezo eAacmu'

H o b Hbeii B j i a c T H ? " ( p . 1 6 6 s q q . ) . T h e p o w e r i s i n t h e

h a n d s o f G o d , in W h o s e g u i d a n c e A b r a h a m t r u s t e d : A B p a a M noBHHoB a j i c a npo3BaHHK> H f l r a b C T p a H y , K O T o p y i o HMeji n o j i y i H T b b H a c n e A H e h n o u i e j i , He 3 H a a c a M , i c y ^ a y a e T ( p . 1 7 0 ) . m a d e abundantly clear f r o m his w o r k s :

T h i s " k n e w " T o l s t o j , a s is

XO3HUH

U

PaSomuuK

OMEif

and

Cepzuu (p. 166). B u t S e s t o v ' s m a i n a r g u m e n t s f o r the reality o f s u c h a " n p o 3 B a H H e " in T o l s t o j ' s life a r e to b e f o u n d in t h e f o l l o w i n g q u o t a t i o n a t the e n d o f t h e

essay ilcnan IToAxua u Acmanoeo. flHeft

ao

cMepTH,

6e3

bchkoh

"Oh (Tojictoh) (...) 3a HecKOJibKO

Hyayjbi,

6e3

6c»koh

'npHHHHbi',

6e3

' f l o c T a T O H H o r o o c H O B a H H a ' 6 o k h t , c a M He 3 H a a Ky.ua - n o K a He a o 6 e r a e T AO

AcTanoBa.

(...)

UpHBeAy

eme

He6onbmoH

otpmbok

H3

KHiirii

T o j i c T o r o o B e p e , KOTopbiH o c o 6 e H H o H a n u m H o n o K a 3 b i B a e T B H y T p e H H y i o CBH3b M e a y t y - H c h o h H o j i h h o h h A c T a n o B b i M . O h h Moryr

MOJiHTbca

XpHCTy-Eory,

ho

He M o r y T

flejiaTb

(xpHCTHaHe) .zjeji

XpHCTa,

n o T Q M y h t o 3 t h A e j i a B b i T e K a i o T H3 B e p b i , 0 C H 0 B a H H 0 i i H a c o b c c m h h o m

L. SESTOV AND L. TOLSTOJ

49

yieHHH, HeacejiH TO, KOTopoe OHH npn3HaioT. OHH He MoryT npHHecra B »epTBy eflHHCTBeHHoro ctma - icaic 3TO c^ejiaji ABpaaM, Mexmy TeM, KaK ABpaaM He Mor AAACE 3aayMaTbca HAA TEM, npHHecra HJIH He npHHecra CBoero cbma B acepTBy Bory, TOMy Eory KOToptifi OAHH AaeT CMWCJI H 6jiaro ero >KH3HH." TaK roBopHJi, TaK ziyMaji TOJICTOH - H STO noraajio ero B AcTanoBo. A sadder and a wiser Sestov saw as clearly as ever the strength and weakness of Tolstoj; but he no longer condemns anything, knowing that he himself succumbs to the "pa3yM" as we all take that deceptive guide "c co6oii AJIH 6e30nacH0CTH H pyKOBOflHTeJitcTBa." I have used the following editions of Sestov's works: JJo6po e ynemiu Tojicmozo u Humuie ((¡MJiocoiJttifl H nponoBeflb) (BepjiHH, 1923). (Originally TOM II Co6p. Cot.). ffocmoeecKuu u Humuie (HJiocoiM TpareflHH) (EepjiHH, 1922). (Originally TOM III Co6p. Cov.). Sur les Confins de la Vie (Paris, 1927) (traduction de B. de Schloezer du Anotfeoi 6emoHeeHuocmu). (Originally TOM IV Co6p. Coi.). Hmata u KoHifbi, TOM V (Co6p. CoTOHeHHft, CaHKT IIeTep6ypr, 1903). Bejiume Kanynbi, TOM VI (Co6p. Co - OH

He npuMenaji. O H

ornymeH

B h j i m y M O M BHyTpeHHefi T p e B o r H .

(His old clothes Were torn and mouldering. Evil children Threw cobbles after him. Oftentimes the coachmen's whips Lashed him, because He payed attention to the road No more; it seemed - he Did not notice, he was Deafened by the roar of inner turmoil.) Here the bizarre enjambments seem to have the function of realising Evgenij's mental confusion and disintegration in the rhythm arising through the tension between line and syntax. Generally speaking, perhaps an element of evaluation in the reader's reaction to a poetic structure is formed by the greater or lesser degree of integration of the linguistic and aesthetic forms. Nevertheless, the degree of the integration of these two formal systems is closely connected, on the one hand, with the typological differences between various genres - thus it is, for instance, considerably less characteristic of the epos than of the short lyrical poem - , and, on the other hand, with the historical development of various poetical currents - thus symbolist and post-symbolist poetry, for instance, is characterised, as opposed to the poetry of almost all preceding schools, by a maximum of integration between the forms of language and those of verse. Next I would look at some aspects of the relation between syntax and verse structure as it occurs within the unit of the line. In the first place this concerns what is usually called metre, the form of the distribution of the accents, the stresses, within the lines. According to De Groot there are three kinds of accents: the accent of the word (on weg- in the Dutch word weglopen, Engl. e.g. on -hear in overhear), the accent of the morphemes of the word (on o- and on -hear in the same word) and the accent of the word group (subordinative and coordinative).3 For the rhythm of the sound form of a sentence especially the latter accent, that of the word group, seems to me to be decisive; thus for instance in the Russian sentence ona stojala pered oknom (she was standing before the window) the accents on -ja- of stojala and on -nom of oknom, not the word accents of ona and pered (in English the accents on stan- and win-, not, for instance the word accent on -fo- in before). By metre we under3

A. W. de Groot, op. cit., p. 45.

158

K. VERHEUL

stand the perception of the regularity of the distribution of the accents of the word groups within a line of verse in connection with that distribution in the other lines of a poem. That metre is not a particularity of one separate line of verse, but of the lines of a particular poem, was already shown by de Groot himself in the chapter on the aesthetic use of language in his introduction to general linguistics.4 As the reader gradually perceives a certain regularity in the way in which the accents of the word groups of the lines are distributed within those lines, in his mind a certain expectation is aroused, a pleasant feeling that he has caught the beat of what will come. If the reader is disappointed in his expectation, he is faced with the well-known tension between rhythm and metre, i.e. between the expectation aroused and the differing distribution of the accents in a separate line. The latter factor, too, the disappointment of the expectation of the regularity of the accents, forms an aspect of the extra form without independent meaning, though it is rather a negative aspect, the striking absence of that form. Because the form, through its absence, forces itself in this case so strongly upon the reader's attention, this is an aspect which can carry a great function in the total meaning. Thus it is one of the metrical principles of Puskin's little poem R eac JIWQUJI (I was in love with you) that there are never two consecutive word-group accents, except in the seventh line: R Bac jiio6hji Tax HCKpeirao, TaK h&kho (Kax flaii BaM 6or jnoSnMOfi 6 b i T b apyrHM) (I was in love with you so tenderly, so truly As God may grant you to be loved by someone else) At the same time this line forms a high point in the emotional curve of the poem, not only through the disturbance of the metrical regularity, but also through the meaning, the moral weight, for instance, of the adjuncts tenderly and truly. Of course, this kind of analysis is essentially a coarse simplification of reality. We unravel a totality, the situation in which a reader is confronted with a poem, divide it into some parts and say: this is the meaning of the words, this is the extra form, and this is the connection between the two, whereas it belongs to the essence of this situation that it is a whole, whose parts cannot be separated without the situation becoming something else. Some ways in which metre may occur I would illustrate with three examples from Russian poetry. As a first specimen I will take the beginning of Nikolaj Nekrasov's Edy AU noubio no yAuife meMHoii. * A. W. De Groot, Inleiding tot de Algemene Taalwetenschap (Groningen, 1962).

POETRY AND SYNTAX

159

E g y jth HOHbK) no yjraue tcmhoS, E y p n 3acjiyniaiocb b nacMypHtitt aem>, £(pyr 6e33amHTm.iH, G o j i b h o h h 6e3flOMHbrii, Bflpyr npeflo m h o h npoMejibKHeT t b o h TeHb! Cep/me coacMeTC» MyHHTejn>Hoii ayMoft. C fleTCTBa c y « b 6 a He B3Jiio6HJia TeSa: BefleH h 3 6 j i 6 m j i o t c i i t b o H yrpioMLift, 3 a M y » nomna t l i - flpyroro j h o 6 « . Etc.

The regularity of the distribution of accents here initially seems to form a pleasant certainty, but soon it turns into a mesmerising monotony. It seems to be the regularity of a train ticking its way along the rails. Still, we cannot say that the regularity is complete. This it would only be if a line of poetry should be considered as a mere combination of accented or unaccented syllables, the most traditional view. But syllables are parts of words, and words are syntactically connected in word groups, and, as we have proposed, metre is determined especially by the accents of the word groups. If we want to present a more subtle analysis of the metrical relationship between the various lines of this poem, we will also have to consider how the stresses occur within the word groups of those lines. When we do this, there appears to be more variation than we had originally thought. Let us revert to the first four lines: / _ _ / _ / _ _ / _ E a y j i h | HOibK) | no yrame t c m h o h ; / . _ / __ / _ _ / EypH 3a 3acjiymaiocb | b nacMypHbift aem», / _ _ / _ / . _ / _ flpyr 6e33amHTHbiii, | 6ojn>Hoft h 6e3,«0MHbift, / _ _ / _ _ / __ / Bflpyr | npeao m h o h | npoMejibKHeT | t b o h Tern.!

Within the word groups there is, apart from the correspondences, obviously a certain variation. The regularity here seems to be the figure ( ) / _ _ / ( ) , the variations are mainly to be found in the "up-beat" and the "coda". But it is especially the fourth line which is striking, and which has a rhythmic movement of its own (though regular within the overall metrical pattern), rising and anapaestic. There appears to be here a certain hierarchy in the metre: there are the regularities and variations of the distribution of accents within the word groups, which together again determine the regularity of the line. An absolute regularity on the latter level apparently does not exclude variations on the former.

160

K. VERHEUL

A completely different metrical structure we find in the poem by Puskin, whose first stanza I here propose to examine: fljia

6 e p e r o B o t h h 3 h m .aaJibHoft

Th noKHflana Kpafi nysKofi; B nac He3a6BeHHbiS, B iac neianbHtifl SI flonro nnaicaji npefl To6oft. M o h x n a f l e r o m H e pyKH Te6fl CTapajmcb yaepxcaTb; ToMjiera>» CTpaniHoro pa3JiyKH Mo& c t o h Momin He npepbraaTb: There is no question here of a clear regularity in the distribution of the accents within the word groups of the lines, and hence we do not find here variations on such a pattern. Here the metre is rather only a feature of the various lines in relation to each other. Probably this is due to the fact that, unlike what we saw in Nekrasov's poem, the words and the word groups of the lines of this poem are much more closely connected, firstly through their closer syntactic relationship, and then also through the inversions; thus the sixth line contains two word groups: staralis' (iuderzat' tebja) and uderzaf (tebja); through the inversion the adjunct tebja has been disconnected from its kernel uderzaf and thus it is more integrated into the whole of the line as such. There are as a rule three word group accents in the lines of this poem, sometimes two and sometimes four. Between the accents there are one or three unaccented syllables, except in the third line which is clearly experienced by the reader as deviating from the pattern. It would be a coarse simplification to speak here of a four-footed iambus. As an instance of another possibility of distributing the word group accents of the lines I would take the poem 3a epo6oM by Blok; the first three stanzas will suffice: EoMCba MaTepb | ymo/i MOU rteuaAii / _ / _ / / Ilepefl rpo6oM mna, | C B e r a a | ™xa. _ _ / _ / _ _ _ / _ A 3a rpo6oM | B TpaypHoft Byann _ _ / _ . /_ _ . / Ulna HeBecTa, | npoBoacaa aceraixa. _ _ / _ , _ _ / _ / _ EblJI OH TOJ1BKO | JTHTepaTOp MOflHblfi, / / - / - - , - / TojIbKO | CJIOB KOnjyHCTBeHHblX I TBOpei; ... _ _ / / / - / Ho MepTBeu- | poflHofi | ayme HapoflHoft: / _ , Bchkhh

/ cbhto

/ _ _ , _ / h t h t o H a [ KOHeq.

POETRY AND SYNTAX / _ ,

/ _

_

_

161

/ _

H HaBCTpeiy | KJiaHHJiHCb, | KpecTHUH _ _ // _ _ // _ // MHoroflyMHbiñ, | MHoroTpyzpibDi JIO6. / _

A flpy3M h 6jffl3KHe, _ _ / _ _ /

/

|

nbununi /

H a HKOHy, | H a H e e , | Ha r p o 6 .

This poem shares with that of Nekrasov the fact that it consists of lines which to a large extent are made up of word groups that are mutually connected, but which nevertheless in a sense form independent units within the lines. It differs from Nekrasov's poem, however, in that there is no overall metre of the lines themselves over the relative regularity of the accentual distribution in the word groups. Something like verse metre certainly occurs in 3a zpo6oM: three or four accents, and between them one or three unaccented syllables, and two unaccented syllables at the beginning of each line, but it is not this that determines the regularity of the sound form of this poem, as it is experienced by the reader. This is done rather by some rhythmical patterns in the words and the word groups, rhythmical cells recurring in the sound form of the syntactic content of the verses, which are experienced as being part of the form of the verse-line, and which as such could be called metrical. These patterns are primarily the following: /_, /, /_, _/ and their combinations. On the level of the syntactic sound form it is the metre in which the verse form manifests itself in the sentences of a poem. On the syntactic level of word order the poetic structure manifests itself through such phenomena as inversion and the separation of members of one word group. According to De Groot the order of the members of a word group is a superfluous, a redundant feature, 5 i.e. a feature which is usually present, but which is not indispensible for the identification of word groups. Especially these superfluous, redundant features, features which are usually present, but which do not necessarily need to be used, form the material of the so-called poetic licenses. What these licenses are, and how great they are depends on the structure of the language the poet uses. This appears when we examine some cases of unusual, or as De Groot calls it: "not purely syntactic" word order from poetry written in different languages. We will first take a line from Virgil: Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes. The purely syntactic word order of this sentence, in which the adjuncts stand next to their kernels according to the Latin rules, would probably 6

Structurele Syntaxis, p. 67, 156.

162

K. VERHEUL

be: Extemplo Fama it per magnas urbes Libyae. But for the perception of the syntactic structure of this sentence the word order is superfluous, redundant. It is already clear from the word forms themselves, from their endings, what words belong together here as members of the same word group : magnas belongs to urbes, Fama is marked by its case form as being an adjunct to it. The case of Libyae h different; it could belong to Fama and to urbes. Here it is the context, the situation of the parole which decides. The next example is from Racine: Loin du trône nourri, de ce fatal honneur, Hélas! vous ignorez le charme empoisonneur; De l'absolu pouvoir vous ignorez l'ivresse, Et des lâches flatteurs la voix enchanteresse (Athalie IV, 3). The adjuncts which have changed places with their kernels (inversion) and which are sometimes also separated from them (hyperbaton), are, unlike those of Virgil's line, not words but word groups. For a last example we will revert to two lines from the Russian poem }],AH ôepezoe omnumu da/ibnoii: ToMJieHta cTpainHoro pa3nyKH MOM CTOH MOJIHJI He npepwBaTb.

The purely syntactic word order would have been in this case : Moii CTOH MOJIHJI He n p e p w B a T b CTpauiHoro TOMJICHHH pa3jiyKH. But even without this word order the syntactic structure of this sentence, the fact for instance that moj ston is the subject of molil and tomlenja strasnogo razluki the direct object of ne preryvat' and not the other way round (although the syntactic order in Russian is : first subject and next the direct object) and the fact that strasnogo is an adjunct to the preceding word and not to the following, is apparent from the case endings. The similarity of the deviations in the word order of Puskin and Virgil as against those of Racine is paralleled by a typological similarity in their languages: relations which in Latin and Russian are indicated by word forms are usually rendered by word groups in such languages as modern French or English. In this case typological differences, differences between types of language structure, determine differences in the degree and the form of the freedom of handling word order. Another clear example of a poetic license which is paralleled by a typical feature of language

POETRY AND SYNTAX

163

structure is afforded by a great number of syntactic oddities in modern English poetry (e.g. that of Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, E. E. Cummings) which are based on a phenomenon which is typical of English, conversion, i.e. the occurrence of a word of a certain word class with the valences, the combinatory possibilities, of another word class: to catch, a catch', a house, to house; ups and downs etc. The fact that these poetic possibilities are bound up with the structure of English clearly appears from the difficulties of translating this type of poetic expression. Word order in poetry forms, therefore, like the distribution of the accents, an aspect both of the syntactic structure and of the extra form of verse. It is important to notice, however, that the three factors we have discussed - accentual division, word order and syntactic connection form three aspects of one and the same thing, a certain line of verse, and not three independent elements which have been put together. Thus the lines ToMjieHbfl CTpanmoro pa3JiyKH M o h c t o h m o j i h j i He npepbiBaTb

do not, of course, consist of the sentence Mou cmoH MOJIUA ne npepueamb cmpaumozo moMJienun pa3Jiyi