Article

Name: «AN INSECT IN THE GRAINFIELD OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE…»: ONE L. SLOVOKHOTOV’S LETTER TO P. SAKULIN (1929)

Authors: A. V. Khroustaleva

Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov

In the section

Abstract: The article is the commentary to the letter by Leonid Slovokhotov to Pavel Sakulin written in 1929. It demonstrates the ways how vulgar-sociologic literary scholars explained their method. It also shows that Saratov literary school didn’t follow Pereverzev in his methodological searches rigorously. Slovokhotov was born in 1881. His rank and social position as a member of Cadet Party didn’t promote his career after the October Revolution, that’s why his biography and literary works are somehow the illustrations of «the lost generation». He managed to survive and even get a place in a literary establishment, but the article shows that was mainly through protections and social ties. The main motive to write a letter is Sakulin’s being an academician and authorita-tive figure in the literary elite of the time. But the article also shows that Slovokhotov used his ideas. The author is the first to publish main details of the Slovokhotov’s biography. Thus the date of death, the exact place where the grave is located, some details concerning Slovokhotov’s work at the railroad are revealed by the author. The main idea the Slovokhotov took from Sakulin’s work is that there is no gap between two different epochs, that’s how it’s quite natural to study Russian classic literature. On the contrary, some representatives of the Marxist literary criticism thought there was no sense in doing so. Slovokhotov writes in his book and his letter to Sakulin that Russian classics showed great ideals to the descendants. It is quite noteworthy that he cites Leo Trotsky in his book in 1927. This fact and also some archive data let the author state that the communist control over literature in 1921-1928 was rather unbalanced. The author shows where Slovokhotov followed Pereverzev and vulgar-sociologic literary scholars, nonetheless the problem has to be studied further. Shall we decide that was Plekhanov’s method or his modification by Pereverzev? Shall we ascribe his own method to Sakulin? If so, why this method is not studied in depth? The author also demonstrates that in Saratov many decisions were taken not by party, but pri-vately. The critical reviews on Slovokhotov are given. The material shown by the author of the article is meant to hint that the taxonomic problem of exact methodological definition of text in-terpretation is far from being solved. The absence of typology criteria for existing methods inevitably hinders the work of literary scholars and interferes with the proper systematization of the material.

Keywords: L. A. Slovokhotov, P. N. Sakulin, Russian classical literature, a method in literary criticism, vulgar-sociological literary criticism

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