Canadian Slavonic Papers
Avant-gardist versus Neoclassicist: Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
Author(s): Myroslav Shkandrij
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 42, No. 3 (SEPTEMBER
2000), pp. 315-329
Published by: Canadian Association of Slavists
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Myroslav Shkandrij
Avant-gardistversus Neoclassicist:
Viktor Domontovych'sEarly Novels
Viktor Petrov graduatedfrom the Universityof Kyiv in 1918 and became a
prominentscholar in the UkrainianAcademy of Arts createdby the Ukrainian
National Republic and subsequentlytaken over by the Soviet régime. For the
next twentyyears he filled many importantpositions in the Academy, among
them secretaryof the Historical Dictionary Commission and directorof the
EthnographicCommission. Until he stopped publishing in the thirties,he was
known in literarycircles as Viktor Domontovych, a prose writerand a member
of theneo-classicistcircle aroundMykola Zerov. During the Second World War,
afterthe Academy had been moved to the Urals, he suddenly reappearedin
editingthe
occupied Kharkiv,wherehe workedforthe German PropagandastafFel
of
the
evacuation
zasiv
(Ukrainian Seeding). Following
journal Ukrains'kyi
burst
saw
a
The
German
front.
with
the
Kharkivhe retreated
great
post-waryears
of literaryactivity in the camps that housed displaced persons. Here PetrovDomontovych, by virtueof his intellectualstatureand organizational abilities,
played a leading role in the formation of the émigré Ukrainian literary
organization MUR and once again became a productivewriter. Iurii Sherekh
called him "one of the greatest,if not the greatestintellectual figure in the
emigration."1On 18 April, 1949, he suddenlyand inexplicably disappeared.It
was not until 1956 that he mysteriouslyresurfacedin Kyiv as the senior staff
memberat the Academy of Sciences Instituteof Archaeologyand as directorof
its scientificarchives. In the years thatfollowed,he stopped work as the creative
writerDomontovych, although as Petrov he continued to produce scores of
articles on ethnography,excavatedTrypilleanand Proto-Slavic settlements,and
investigatedthe ancient burial mounds and Scythian artifacts.21965 produced
anothersurprise:he was honouredwitha medal forhis achievementsas a Soviet
spy. He died in 1969. The involvementwith the Soviet secretpolice remains a
1
Iu. Sherekh, "Viktor Petrov iak ia ioho bachyv," Ukraina (Paris) 6.1951;
quoted
XX stolittiavol. 1 (Kyiv: Lybid,
in V.H. Donchyk,ed., Istoriiaukrains'koiliteratury
643.
1993)
2
He also publishedan excavation diaryof Khvoika in Zarubyntsiia.His most
importantworksare Skify.Mova i etnos {Scythians. Language and Ethnos, Kiev,
1968) and Etnohenez slovian. Dzherela, etapy rozvytku i problematyka
(Ethnogenesisof theSlavs. Sources,Stages of Developmentand Issues, Kyiv, 1972).
canadiennedes slavistes
CanadianSlavonicPapers/Revue
2000
Vol. XLII, No. 3, September
316
Myroslav Shkandrij
controversial
andunexplained
issue. IuriiShevel'ovhas deniedthe possibility,
that
Petrov
was
andonlyallowedto
maintaining
probablykidnapped,
imprisoned
return
to activescholarlylifeduringthepost-Stalin
thaw.3
The writerDomontovych
was knownfora deepscepticism,a hostilityto
- hostilities
theSoviet state,thenew technological
societyand the avant-garde
whichhadtobe concealedandtherefore
appearedin veiledformin his ironicand
fiction
of
the
twenties.
The
eruditeandsophisticated
author,it has
mystificatory
of his day, indeedsoughtto
widelybeen held,stood outsidethe fanaticisms
anddeflatethem.4
quietlypuncture
Petrovwas knownas
However,in theimmediate
post-war
yearsin Germany
historian(he signedthesearticles"V. Petrov")anda philosopher
a literary
(for
thesearticleshe used the pseudonym"V. Ber"). Thereappearsto be nothing
Ber argues:
tentative
aboutthisPetrov-Ber's
commitments.
to have its separate
notmany:it is impossibleforliterature
thereis onlyone history,
history,paintingits own, philosophy,the naturalsciences etc. each theirown. Just
as therecannot be many histories,thereare not and cannot be many historical
periodizationsin each sphere. It is thereforeimpossible for literatureto have one
periodizationand forpolitics or artto have another.Thereis only one historyand
does not exist alone. It exists
therefore
only one historicalperiodization.Literature
in its dépendanceon a given historicalepoch, carriesall the signs of the given
historicalage and changeswiththeage.5
the new
In vigorouspolemicswith otheracademics,Petrov-Ber
put forward
thesis
was the
A
to
this
of
an
on
the
unified
mentality
age. corollary
teaching
or paradigmshifts radicalbreaks
revolutions
beliefinperiodicspiritual-artistic
who saw the
all aspectsof a culture.The writer,
redefine
whichfundamentally
this
theoretical
such
a
as
break,
politicized
contemporary
period undergoing
unreconstructed
the
previous generation's
principle, stronglydenouncing
populism:
3 IuriiShevel'ov,"Shostyiu groni.V. Domontovych
v istoriiukrains'koiprozy,"
in V. Domontovych,Proza. Trytomyvol. 3 (Suchasnist1988) 549-50. Sherekh's
assessmentis disputedby Vasyl Chaplenko whose novel Ioho taiemytsia:povist' i
Petrovas a Soviet spy being blackmailedby the
spohady(New York, 1976) portrays
secretpolice.
4
stattii
Iu. Sherekh,"Ne dlia ditei,"in his Ne alia ditei. Literaturno-krytychchni
esei (Prolog 1964) 358-75; lu. Lavrinenko,"Pro gruntodnoho bezgruntia,"in his
Zrub i parosty.Literaturo-krytychni
statti,esei, refleksii
(Suchasnist 1971): 135-41.
5 ViktorPetrov,"Vstup," in ViktorPetrov and DmytroChyzhevs'ky,Istoriia
ukrains'koiliteratury
(Munich: Instytutzaochnoho navchannia pry ukrains'komu
vil'nomuuniversyteti,
1949) 3.
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
317
themovefromethnographicand thirties
hadto complete
thetwenties
Historically,
intoa
themselves
populistpositionsto nationalones... The peopleconsolidated
into an organicwhole of
was transformed
nation.Ethnographic
provincialism
6
nationalaction.
hadno timeforconciliationwiththegeneration
His "revolutionary"
generation
oftheirparents:
andprogress.Forus thewordevolutionhas
Ourpredecessors
spokeof development
andcrisis,of
of
not
We
its
taste.
lost
progress,butof catastrophe
speak
already
themostpressingproblem
In theearlytwenties,
negationandnotofagreement...
thepopulistandtheanti-populist.
between
twocurrents:
a distinction
wasdrawing
theoretical
Theideaoftheepochservedas thebasicgeneral
principle...7
and nationalist.
HerePetrov-Ber
impatientmodernizer
appearsas a determined,
and
His ideasowe much to the debatesof the revolutionary pre-revolutionary
ofculturein linewithnational
whohadcalledfora radicalreshaping
modernists,
in
the
pre-warjournal Ukrains'kakhata
especially
political requirements,
toneof thesequotationsand
The
militant,
uncompromizing
Home)*
{Ukrainian
theirconflationof art and politics into the idea of an epoch also recall the
view of revolutionary
formalists
changein the artisticsphereand the avanttotal
of
a
idea
project.9Thereis a clue hereto the
aesthetico-political
garde's
new clasheswiththe
theradically
which
in
fiction,
decodingofDomontovych's
arecompelledtoreshapethemselves
accordingto the
old,andinwhichcharacters
natureand radically
thatcalled formastering
of a new art-politics
imperatives
betweenthe
The
conflicts
life.10
cultural
and
of
social
all
reshaping aspects
6 Viktor Petrov, "Problemy literaturoznavstva
za ostannie 25-littia
1946):44.
(Svitannia:
zbirnyk
Naukovo-literaturoznavchyi
(1920-1945),"
7 Petrov,"Problemy,"
46.
8 On theconnection
see
andnationalism
's modernism
khata'
betweenUkrains'ka
of
Ukrainian
the
Paradoxes
and
khata
Modernism,"
"Ukrains'ka
Oleh Ilnytzkyj,
Studies19.2 (1994): 5-30; andSolomiiaPavlychko,
Journal
Dyskurs
of Ukrainian
v ukrains'kii
literaturi
modernizmu
(Kyiv:Lybid,1997) 127-62.
9 For an analysisof Petrov'swritings
in this periodsee Solomiia
on culture
PetrovaKulturfilosofiia
botsi
zvorotnomu
"Na
avtentychnosty:
Pavlychko,
her
and
5
Suchasnist
111-125;
(1993):
(1946-1948),"
Domontovycha-Bera
ofthe
accountdrawson Domontovych's
279-301.Herinsightful
writings
Dyskurs,
Povist'(Regensburg:
his novelBez gruntu:
in particular
Mykhaila
Vydannia
forties,
as well as publishedin German
written
was
feels
which
she
Borets'koho,
1948),
from1941-1942. PavlychkoemphasizesPetrov'spolemicwith
occupiedKharkiv
whichhe saw as superficially
Ukrainianmodernism,
earlier,pre-revolutionary
withpopulism.
ofbreaking
influenced
decisively
byWestern
Europeandincapable
1° Thecollaboration
as
has
withbolshevik
oftheavant-garde
power beendescribed
the
is
which
artistic
the
of
essence
the
"from
project,"
avant-gardist
very
following
318
Myroslav
Shkandrij
charactersof Domontovych's fiction reflect this discourse of the twenties
concerningmodernizationand modernism.A particularinterestin the novels is
the clash between avant-gardistsand neoclassicists.11 Both parties reject the
legacy of populism and of pre-1914 Ukrainian modernism. The former is
despised for its didacticism and apotheosis of the narod, the latter for its
subjectivism,cult of feelingand lack of intellectualrigour.By contrastwith the
precedinggenerations,theavant-gardistsand neoclassicistsproject a new type of
literature.The avant-garde,representedby the futuristsand constructivists,
develop iconoclastic formsthataim to capturetheirvision of a dynamic,urban,
technocratic modernity.12Neoclassicists, on the other hand, counterpose
rationalism and scepticism to the revolutionaryfervourof the futuristsand
constructivists.
In Domontovych's fiction this conflict serves as the underlyingprinciple
that structurescharacterization.In this regard,his two early, acclaimed novels
Divchynkaz vedmedykom(Girl with a Teddy Bear, 1928) and Doktor Serafikus
(Doctor Seraphicus, 1947), along with the programmaticstory "Ekhardt and
Gozzi," written in 1925 for a planned but never-publishedanthology of
neoclassicist writings,presenta consistentpoetics. These works date from the
twenties,although Doctor Seraphicus was only published in Munich in 1947
and bears the marks of later revisions. Their particularfocus is the avant-garde
and the inevitablytragic fateof characterswho adopt its response to modernity.
Their strivingstowardthe new are frustrated
by biology (innate and hereditary
total masteryof nature:"Since the worlditself is regardedas material,the demand
underlyingthe modernconception of art forpower over the materialsimplicitly
containsthe demandforpowerover the world.This power does not recognize any
limitationsand cannot be challenged by any other, nonartisticauthority,since
humanityand all humanthought,science, traditions,institutions,and so on are
and
declaredto be subconsciously(or, to put it differently,
materially)determined
Boris
artistic
to
a
to
therefore
Groys,
plan."
unitary
according
subject restructuring
The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant-Garde,Aesthetic Dictatorship, and Beyond
(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPtess, 1992) 20-21. He also makes the point that
"Althoughthedesignof theavant-gardeartisticprojectwas rationalistic,utilitarian,
the sourceof both the projectand the
and in thatsense "enlightenist,"
constructive,
will to destroythe worldas we know it to pave the way forthe new was in the
"sacred"sphere,and in thatsense completely"irrational"
mystical,transcendental,
(p. 64).
11 See Solomiia Pavlychko,Dyskursmodernizmuv ukrainskn literatun(Kyiv:
Lybid, 1997) 168-230, especially 192-93.
12 On Ukrainianfuturism
UkrainianFuturism,1914-1930: A
see Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj,
Historical and Critical Study (Cambridge: UkrainianResearch Institute,Harvard
University,1997).
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
3 19
andbehaviour).The avantattitudes
andtradition
factors)
(historically-sanctioned
to
of Europeanclassics,is passionatelycommitted
gardistrejectstheauthority
in sexual relations.The
and experiments
social and spiritualtransformation,
whosebehaviouris
is presented
"character,"
bytheneoclassicist
counter-position
informed
tradition,
scepticismtoward
by an awarenessof theEuropeanliterary
of
in matters
andself-control
ofrevolutionary
thepossibility
change,demureness
theheart.
In Girlwitha TeddyBear a bookishyoungscientistis appointedtutorto
of a new and successfulSoviet industrialplanner.The
two youngdaughters
with the younger
teacher,Ipolit Mykhailovych
Varetsky,becomesinfatuated
naive. She,
and
He
is
blinkered
collide.
their
worlds
and
emotionally
girl,Zyna
theneed
on
futurists
ideas
of
the
the
at theage ofsixteen,has alreadyassimilated
andproceedsto put into practiceher ideas
theold artandmorality,
to destroy
results.
withdevastating
and
liberation
sexual
personalfreedom,
concerning
is widely
that
of
conduct
manner
and
a
to
life
an
attitude
Zyna represents
a
and
the
futurist
a parodyof
shared.StefanKhominsky,
guidinglightof
poet
But theradicalmoralityof theseyoungpeople is
his time,is heracquaintance.
The oldermen arealso deeplyinvolvedin
social
whole
of
the
atmosphere.
part
Panas Hryhorovych
the
society.IpolitMykhailovych,
developing technological
of the optimisticcaptainsof
and Semen Kuzmenkoare all parodieportraits
novelsoftheirday. Theyare learningthe
andheroesoftheconstruction
industry
outtheold. The Achilles' heel of all these"new"people is a
newandthrowing
- especially
of humannature
and a limitedunderstanding
breadth
lackofcultural
of this brave
of theirown emotionallives. Zyna, the youngestrepresentative
it
an accepted,indeedmandatory,
newworld,is mimicking
style,andpracticing
inherpersonallife.
The reductioad absurdumof the new religion of reason and its
utilitarianmoralityis represented
by the figureof Mykola
unsentimental,
to sellingmatch-boxes
reduced
has
been
he
on
hard
fallen
times,
Butsky.Having
out thekilling,he
wife.
Before
his
he
murders
on thestreet.
carrying
Eventually
he
considerstheact
that
It
is
clear
discussesitforseveralweekswithpassers-by.
is a "rational"desireto
his motivation
a "logical"solutionto his predicament;
s
This episode is closely relatedto Ipolit Mykhailovych'
relievesuffering.
behaviour.
social
need
to
the
and
Machiavelli
plan
thoughtsconcerning
in Machiavelli,theheromuses: "Love is not alwayssoftand
Discussingterror
gentle;sometimesit is cruelandsevere.Andoftenin an act thatat firstsight
appearsbrutaland monstrousone can observethe loftyimpulse of a spirit
ofthisepisodeforan
of theimportance
devotedtolove."13Shevelovhas written
13 Domontovych,
I: 169.
320
Myroslav Shkandrij
of thetextandDomontovych'
s views. According
to him it is a
understanding
of
"uncontrolled
human
behaviour
and
the
contradiction
between
intention
study
the terror
of
and action."14He also suggeststhatDomontovych
herepredicted
the 1930s, which was also carriedout in the name of humanity'sfuture
happiness:
of
theirrational
nature
ofmanandtheimpossibility
notonlyaffirmed
Domontovych
He stated,that those
establishingthe kingdomof reason. He wentfurther.
I5
werethemselves
irrational.
theideaofreason'sdomination
propagating
of Zyna and Mykola
Domontovychattemptsto link the moral experiments
Girl
withTeddyBear is a
of
the
twenties.
to
the
dominant
Buts'ky
art-politics
critiqueof a generationwho appearedin the grip of a myopic,heedlessly
to reshapesocietyandhumannaturein thenameof a
aggressivedetermination
reachbeyondthe
order.
The writer's
rational
concerns,
however,
new,supposedly
wider
issues that
His
books
also
raise
situation.
immediate
post-revolutionary
forsocietyof a loss
theconsequences
withmodernity:
stemfromtheencounter
of faithin reasonandprogress,thefearthatat the root of all humanconduct
theremightlie a fundamental
irrationality.16
an
as offering
is presented
of Ukrainianmodernism
The pre-war
generation
alternative
to thenew realityof the twentieth-century,
especiallyto
inadequate
faithin reason.It can suggestonlyan escapeinto a symbolist
the"irrational"
dream-world,
by Maria Ivanivna,or intothephilologist'sparadoxes,
represented
wisdom.The
by Vasyl1Hryb,who producesa cynical,oxymoronic
represented
comes from
onlyrealoppositionto the new politicsand aestheticof rupture
"all
of
model
the
neoclassicist's
who
restraint,
sister,
Lesia,
represents
Zyna's
iamb and classical
within the canonical exactness of the four-footed
andaccepts
versification."17
She behaveswitha dignityandstoicalresignation,
role of wife and mother.In one exchangewith her sister,
the time-honoured
her
Lesia expresses admirationfor Goethe's Iphigenia. Characteristically,
that
aesthetic
and
the
disavows
sister
morality
younger
Zyna passionately
like Iphigeniaand Margarita. She
producedtragicGoetheanvictim-heroines
to shapelifetoherwill.
expressesa determination
I4 Shevel'ov,"Shostyiu hroni,"518.
15 Ibid.
16 Pavlychko,
219.
Dyskurs,
17 Domontovych,
I: 88.
18 Iphigenia
in theCrimea(Tauris),an alienlandwhereher"spiritcan
languishes
notfeelat home,"boundby "solemn,sacredbondsof slavery."JohannWolfgang
von Goethe,Iphigeniain Tauris,trans.CharlesE. Passage(NewYork:Frederick
Ungar,1963) 21-22.
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
321
Zyna and Ipolit end in tragedybecause of a fatal blindness. Ipolit
to reasonalone,failsto grasphis own feelingsor his
Mykhailovych,
by trusting
circumstances.
He cannotunderstand
his love forZyna or her motivation,and
endsbydrivingherto morewillfuland,finally,
acts.She escapesto
catastrophic
Berlin,wherehe is unableto findher.In theendnot his powersof observation
or deduction
but his subconsciousmindrevealsto him in a dreamthat the
womanhe witnessedshootinghercompanionin a Berlinnightclubwas, in fact,
Zyna. The heroobserved,but was unableto see, untilit was too late. Both
of theold society
andZyna arevictimsof thedestruction
IpolitMykhailovych
"rational"
to replaceit witha functional,
and its psychology,andtheattempt
the neoclassical ideal, the
On the otherhand,Lesia represents
alternative.
andharmony.She does not "belongto today,"
timelesslessonsof moderation
IQ
butis "beyondtimeandplace."Hertodayis a "repeated
yesterday."
s
There is a constanttension betweenIpolit MykhailovychVarets'ky'
aestheticof the
to thenewand thepulluponhimoftheold,symbolist
attraction
His tripto the beach withMaria Ivanivnacontainsan
pre-1914modernism.
a mysticalmomentin whichtheunityof all thingsis sensed:
epiphany,
Solitude, silence, sun, sand, willow bushes. You can lie on the beach for hours
motionlesslylooking at the sky's azure. Your sight disappearsin infinity.In the
endless azuretimeloses itself,consciousness, "the ego," everythingthat was and
will be.20
and
theattitudes
recallsandrecaptures
In thesemomentsof reflection
Varets'ky
sentimentsof his youth, formedby the transcendental
yearningsof the
period.This makes
symbolistsand otherauthorsof the pre-Sovietmodernist
still
under
the
a
man
him partlya transitional
spell of the subjective
figure,
To this old aesthetic,the new
of this ineffectual
generation.
dream-spinning
of all art,
the destruction
futurist-constructivist
generationhas counterposed
illusionandmysticismin thenameof lucidity.Zyna, accordingto Varets'ky,
was
too intelligentto attach importanceand significanceto values that the previous
generationhad consideredrules,principles,normsand morals. For Zyna therewas
nothingforbidden...Withlucidconsciousnessshe observedherself,Lesia, myself,
her feelings,the environment,
people, objects, events,ideas and facts.She liked to
thequiet atmosphereof
contradicted
thatloudlyand incongruously
proclaimthoughts
household... She spoke as thoughshe wantedto destroyeverything
theTykhmenev
and sacred.2!
othersconsidereduntouchable
I9 Domontovych,I: 132.
20 Domontovych,I: 70.
21 Domontovych,I: 76.
322
Myroslav Shkandrij
but
Zynaalso expectsan epiphanyfromhernegationof conventional
morality,
a
will
in
that
usher
a
new
and
consciousness
anticipates passionateconflagration
a spiritual
emancipation:
thatlovewouldbe something
Shethought
biggerthanloving,thatlovewouldturnto
thatin love theazuredreamof an
ashes,theashesofdaysandweeksof routine,
unknown
future
wouldblossom.22
This, however,does not occur. Insteadshe destroysherself.In words that
Maiakovskii'ssuicidenoteby seven years,Zyna composesherfinal
prefigure
communication:
"We soughtimprobabletruths.We did not findthem. Life
brokeus..."
The plot of DoctorSeraphicusfollowsa similarpattern.The drypedantic
- knownto his friends
as Seraphicus
Komakha
hero,Vasyl' Khrysanfovych
of
andthe scientificorganization
teachesreflexology
(a formof behaviourism)
His
of
labour (Taylorismand assembly-linemanagement
study
techniques).
andthegeneralprinciplesof groupbehaviourhas done nothingto
abstractions
his
Naive concerning
preparehim forcontactwithpsychologicalcomplexities.
thoseof others,he is the victimof an
own emotions,incapableof fathoming
in freelove by the beautifulVer Eisner. She, like Zyna in the
experiment
milieu,whichalso includes
previousnovel,is partof the futurist-constructivist
her friendKorvyn,the constructivist
painter,whose abstractformsrepresent
plastic analogies to Seraphicus' abstractprinciples of behaviouraland
science.
organizational
Seraphicusfeelsa strongurgetohavea child.He hearsthecall of biology,
but cannotanswerit. His desirefora childleads him to developthe idea of
givingbirthhimself,"by the most rationalmethod,namelyby avoidingthe
in thismatterof a woman."24This projectis as doomedas the
participation
thatVer initiateswithSeraphicus.Like all
in love "withoutstrings"
experiment
s
in
world,
they receive rational elaboration:
Domontovych'
experiments
withoutwomen should be
Komakha does not accept that reproduction
his failsbecausesome
Like
Ver's
if
he
wills
otherwise.
experiment,
impossible
lawsand constantsin humannaturehavebeen overlooked.Seraphicusdoes not
conceive;insteadhe fallsin love with Ver. Naturetakesher revengeon both
characters.
itselfemphasisesthe abstract,
of Komakha-Seraphicus
The cubistportrait
theproductofrationalexperimentation:
22
23
24
Domontovych, I: 131.
Domontovych, I: 181.
Domontovych, I: 379.
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
323
Komakha
hada disproportionately
andon his
forehead,
largeheadwitha protruding
broadmuscular
the
nose,insteadofglasses,he hadcomplexlenseswhichrefracted
- triangles,
flashes
cubes,squares.The geometricised
lightintogeometrical
light
seemedtotransform
itselfintomathematical
schemes.His heavylensesappeared
to
withlight.25
servenotforseeingtheworldandpeople,butforexperimenting
In Domontovych's
aesthetic
andmorality
comesup against
world,therationalist
in
and
Tetiana
resistance failure everyrelationship
Berens,like Maria
attempted.
Ivanivnain thefirstbook,is also a memberof thepre-revolutionary
symbolistand a
She
because
she
seeks
modernist
rejects
Korvyn
marriage
generation.
in
first
who
like
Lesia
the
Komakha
loses
Taisa
novel,
Pavlivna,
family.
Komakha's
and harmoniousdevelopment.
the ideals of moderation
represents
and honestyalso
Irtsia'scharmingspontaneity
to the five-year-old
attraction
servesto emphasizehisalienation.
Finally,thereis thesketchof an earlier,perhapshomosexual,relationship
of this episode lies in its
betweenKomakhaand Korvyn.26The importance
and
tenderness
connectionwith an earlierperiod,a time when "infatuation,
devotion"were the fashion,when ineffable,"azure"dreamswere dominant.
"Thereare such absent,fantastic,
ephemeralmoods,whichare neverrealized;
whichin realitydo notexist.Theyareno morethanexpectations,
brightsunny
better
expectationsthat somewherein the worldthereis another,different,
and
both
Komakha
of
life."27Thiscouldreferto thesymbolist-modernist
youth
The
enthusiasm
of
the
revolution.
the
first
it
but
year
strongly
suggests
Korvyn,
Ukrainianstatewere
first
oftherevolution's
yearwhenhopesforan independent
in Pavlo Tychyna'sbrilliantcollectionof
at theirheightwas best reflected
of
Soniashnikliarnety
(SunnyClarinets,1918). The relationship
poemsentitled
social
with
this
mood
of
to
have
coincided
Komakhaand Korvynappears
enthusiasmthatwas capturedby Ukraine'sgreatestsymbolistpoet. In this
of social and political elation,the symbolistsand the futurists
atmosphere
obliviousto thespiritualgulfbetweenthem,andwhich
collaborated,
seemingly
theywouldonlyrecognizelater.
in this
love intrigue,
to theprimary
As in thefirstnovel,thedenouement
withVer,is preceded
case Komakha'srelationship
by a journey.This timeit is
from his
to Mohyliv. It underscoresthe hero's complete estrangement
A
in
Kamianets.
he
is
and
thinks
train
boarded
the
He
has
wrong
surroundings.
takesplace. The latteris prepared
discussionwitha sullencab-driver
humorous
andto go along withhis whims.He offersto
to drivethecustomeranywhere
25 Domontovych,
I: 367.
26 Ibid,425-27.
u Ibid,426.
324
Myroslav Shkandrij
travel"left,rightor forward,"
howeverhe is instructed,
but is adamantthatthere
nor has any streetby thatname
neverwas a streetnamed"Petrohrads'ka,"
in the citybeen recentlyrenamed"Leninhrads'ka."
Political leaders,
anywhere
this appearsto suggest,can changestreetnames, constructand deconstruct
the surfacethereremainsa firmlyunchanging
reality.
history,but underneath
KomakhaLike the politicianswho are grippedby self-deluding
ideologies,
on a real
a falsegeography
anditinerary
superimposed
Seraphicushas mistakenly
city.He cannotbringhimselfto admithismistakeand fearslosingfacewiththe
to his roomin Kyiv, it is witha sigh of
cab driver.When,finally,he returns
not
to
venture
out
and
he
resolves
relief,
again.Thereis an obviouswarninghere
place) andthe
againstthemachineage (thetraincarrieshimoffto an unexpected
graftedonto life. As thoughto
dangerof abstractconstructsunnaturally
in freelove immediately
Ver's
disastrous
these
experiment
points,
emphasise
followstheepisode.
over the issue of
The clash betweenneoclassicistsand avant-gardists
The scholar-philosopher
was,however,not withoutits complexities.
modernity
vists depictedin Domontovych's
like the futurists
and construed
Petrov-Ber,
As we have seen, duringthe
forms.
to
abstract
himself
was
attracted
fiction,
who
structuralist
he becamean intransigent
polemicsof thefortiesin Germany
of radicalcultural-political
observedthe importance
paradigmshifts.He also
wrote:
we establishthe laws of poetics not by researchingthe material,naturalor external
fromwhicha workarises, not the country'sclimate,the society and
environment
Its internal
of
biography a writer,butonly the given work,its internalstructure.
which grows out of itself,definesthe work's essence, its characteristic
structure,
existence.Matter,as such,does notexist; thereare
features.Formhas an independent
only formsof matter.28
revealedthe meaningof an individualwork,just as it revealedthe
Structure
character
of a periodor an epoch.This idea of a complexpattern
linkingform,
und
Renaissance
Wölfflin's
Heinrich
from
had
been
assimilated
and
epoch
style
Barock(1888) and Die KlassischeKunst (1899), and fromthe teachingsof
schemewas used by him to
An eleganthistoriographie
Russian formalists.
frameeventsand explainindividualbehaviour.It dominates
"emplothistory,"
29
and intellectual
on literary
hiswritings
history.
28 V. Ber [ViktorPetrov],"Zasady poetyky,"
MUR. ZbirnykI (1946): 18.
29 He wrotea long introductionto the mimeographededition of Chyzhevsky's
history.See: D.
historyin which he attempteda periodizationof literary-cultural
Chyzhevs'ky and V. Petrov, Istoriia ukrains'koi literatury(Munich: Instytut
vil'nomuuniversyteti,
zaochnohonavchanniapry Ukrains'komu
1949).
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
325
the
who adamantly
defended
Why,however,wouldthescholarPetrov-Ber,
and revolutionary,
modernizing
change,
necessityof philosophicalabstractions
allow his alter ego, the writerDomontovych,to produce fiction which
these convictions?Thereappearto be two answers.
undermined
apparently
is ultimatelynot withreasonas such but
Firstly,Domontovych'sargument
with its excesses, its reductionto mathematical
concepts,its exclusion of
a languageof formulas.
into
be
translated
could
not
inmaterial
whatever
reality
of simplydetecting
ran
the
risk
that
he
It was thiskindof consciousness, felt,
wouldhave
Thiswas a problemthewriter
one andthesamepattern.
everywhere
betweenthenoumenal
knownfromreadingKant'sdiscussionoftherelationship
characters
of Domontovych's
The schemesandexperiments
andthephenomenal.
a narrow
on
draw
can
or
disconnected
from,
only
springfrommindsthatare
andlivedexperience.
emotional
about the implicationsforhuman
was concerned
Secondly,Domontovych
He could see how intimatelythe
of any radicalsocial engineering.
freedom
withotherissues: the
andemancipatory
projectswereembroiled
demystificatory
in the
crisisoflegitimacy
posed by theloss of faithin progressandrationality
of
exercise
the
dilemmas
moral
the
and
era,
posed by
post-Enlightenment
power.30
If progress,humanismand rationality
were,indeed,illusory,what,then,
Was this
wouldbecomeofthetotalizingview of styleproposedby Petrov-Ber?
not also thedogmaticimpositionof an abstractschemeon life's multiplicity?
in orderthatthe criteriaof
Would it not necessarilyrequirea standardization
be met? Domontovych'sown novels push the historiographie
typification
a factnoticedby critics,who have spokenof
withpedanticinsistance,
argument
the
sectionsthatsoundlike essays insertedinto the text31and have described
30 He may have become familiarin the fortieswith Dialectic of Enlightenment,
publishedby Adornoand Horkheimerin 1944, which saw an urgeto control and
manipulatein knowledgethat was abstract,utilitarianand focusedon the need to
behaves towardthingsas a dictatortowardman. He
masternature:"Enlightenment
he
can make them." See Theodor Adorno and Max
far
as
knows them in so
Dialectic
(1944), trans.J. Cumming(London: Verso,
Horkheimer,
of Enlightenment
1986) 6. Some of these ideas may have foundtheirway into his Doctor Seraphicus
in Germany.In any case, the writerwas alreadyconcernedwith
duringits rewriting
In the forties,as ViktorBer, the authorput forwarda
twenties.
in
the
issue
this
was
that
of
phrasedas a contrastbetweenthe Middle Ages and
critique modernity
Europe. This last question is discussed in
post-Renaissance,post-Enlightenment
Pavlychko,Dyskurs,280-83.
31 Sherekh,"Ne dlia ditei,"367. One such section is chapter6, whichwas perhaps
revised for publication in 1947. In it the author seems to be retrospectively
strengtheninghis theoretical argumentconcerning the necessity of period
326
Myroslav
Shkandrij
"collision aroundfeelings"as reminiscentof "an algebraic problem." For all
thepotentialdangers of schematism,however,the analysis of characterthrough
conflictingperiod styles is successfulpreciselybecause the authorallows for a
subtle layering of traits. For example, Ver Eisner's intellectual evolution is
shown as moving frompopulism, throughsymbolism-modernism
and futurismconstructivismto a final denial of art's value and significance. The chapter
describingthis could stand on its own as an essay on the evolution of literary
tastes from 1910-1930. It also representsthe author's view of characteras a
constructof many historicalperiods. A similar analysis based on period styles
serves as the methodology for an "in depth" characterizationof Seraphicus,
Korvyn and Tetiana Berens in Doctor Seraphicus and for Zyna, Stefan
Khomynsky,Maria Ivanivna in Girl witha TeddyBear.
A more nuancedcharacterization
is also achieved throughthe accumulation
of nicknames and aliases. Ipolit Mykhailovych Komakha is also known as
Seraphicus and refered to by the narrator several times as "mastodon"
(mastodont),a referenceto his size, but suggestingalso a pun on the author's
own name Domontovych. The need to renameand redefineKomakha is feltby
Irtsia, who describes him as a doll (pups). Korvyn, who denies the previous
generations cult of feelings ("We disregard feelings," he says of his
contemporaries),as though rejectinghis own past, calls Komakha "a gnome, a
homuncule,a paper doll." This play with naming producesa shifting,multifaceted impression, a counterpartto the earlier cubist physical description.
Anotherlayeringof featuresis achieved throughliteraryallusion. Referencesto
Goethe's heroinesand Machiavelli are importantcases, but thereare many more.
Hans Christian Andersen's "Nightingale and Rose," Gogol's Marriage,
Cervantes' Don Quixote, Savonarola, Thomas Campion, Seneca, Plato are
among the literaryworks and historicalfiguresthat serve in Girl with a Teddy
Bear as devices of allusive characterizationand veiled plot commentary.Many
referencesare to classical and Renaissance texts. The intertextualgame can be
read as a defenceof the European humanist traditionthen under attack from
radicals: the neoclassicist sees permanencebeneath the surfaceof change, the
irony of repeatedliterarypatternsand archetypessurfacingin the contemporary
revolt against tradition.At the same time, it signals the author's anxiety over
the death of the subject in a modern world of broken images and self-reflections.
This was also theyear in whichPetrovwas composinghis introduction
revolutions.
whichdeals withstyleas thesole criterionfor
fortheHistoryof UkrainianLiterature,
periodization.
32 Pavlychko,Dyskurs,215.
33 Domontovych,I: 437.
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
327
In thewakeofthecollapseofbeliefinprogressandthevaluesof humanism,the
fromfragments.34
newsubjectcan onlybe constructed
to a degree,complicatesand
characterization
therefore,
Domontovych's
of Petrov-Ber.
The novelistappearsto be workingout
subverts
theschematism
of theoretical
the implicationsforhumancharacter
premisesadvancedby the
historianand philosopher,while at the same time suggestingthat thereare
limitationsto theory,especially in determiningthe deeper, frequently
drivesinhumanconduct.
contradictory
use of power.Whatright
The booksraisethemoralissue of thelegitimate
theaestheticandtheworldview of the old? If a
does thenew have to destroy
thento destroyit is
is boundup witha previousformation,
character's
identity
withtheirfavourite
off
are
better
to do violenceto theindividual.
Perhapspeople
at one pointsays:
illusions?IpolitMykhailovych
thisillusion,whatdidI achieve?DidI feelsomerelief?Did I
Buthavingdestroyed
balance?No! Well,then?Wouldit nothave
former
and
my
spiritual
recapture
peace
which
of thisimpossiblemeeting,
to continuelivingin anticipation
beenbetter
35
untilnowhadgoverned
myactions?
- Varets'ky,
forthemainprotagonists
The priceof modernity
Zyna, Komakha,
Eisner is shown to be culturaldislocationand rootlessness.Cut adrift
andtheliterary
deniedaccessto tradition
classics,theyare incapable
spiritually,
to others.This makes
of
or
of understanding
themselves,
relatingadequately
thesebooks subversiveof the politicsof humanengineering
self-confidently
the Ukrainianintelligentsiaof the day,
advocatedby ultra-revolutionaries:
isolatedfromsocial
impotent,
appearsto say, has beenrendered
Domontovych
in Mohyliv,and is
driver
the
cab
is
from
Komakha
as
in
the
same
realities,
way
Once more,therearewiderassociationshere.
unableto discoveritsownidentity.
Since the reign of Peter, imperialsociety had felt the impact of forced
experimentsin social planning. The eternalcab-driverrepresentssullen,
wandering
popularresistance.His aimless and unnecessary
uncomprehending,
mightalso be seen as a parodyof Gogol's famousendingto Dead Souls, in
future.
intoan unknown
as a troikacareering
which"Rus"' is portrayed
viewoftheworldis natural.It is thefivea totalizing
The needto construct
relieson an idiosyncratic
desire.Her world-picture
Irtsia'sinstinctive
year-old
into
a
facts
completepicture:"The truthof
logic thatassimilatesunexpected
detailsoughtto harmonizewith the truthof the whole."36Her belief that
a
ofinsects{komakhameansinsect)leadsherto construct
Komakhais thefather
34 See Pavlychko,
286-87.
Dyskurs,
35 Domontovych,
I: 56.
36 Domontovych,
I: 368.
328
Myroslav Shkandrij
thathe travelsfarintothedistancetobecometiny,thenclimbsintoant
"theory"
holes.The narrator
comments:
of the expressedthoughtwas impeccable.Everything
The logical structure
hadbeeneliminated,
construct
thatheldnothing
unnecessary
leavinga singlemental
or
extraneous.37
superfluous
This desireto producea mentalconstruct
thatwouldbe fullyexplanatory,
unwelcomefacts,links Irtsia's methodof
evenat theexpenseof suppressing
to
the futurists-constructivists,
thinkingto that of Komakha-Seraphicus,
imperialmonologuesandto all totalizingsystems.Irtsiais a childwho, one
andfact.Her conceptualizations,
betweenfantasy
expects,willlearndistinctions
no matterhow eccentric,
are harmlessbecause theyremainin the realm of
In theadultworldfantasies
can becomedangerous
illusions,dogmasthat
fantasy.
directpersonalbehaviourand political practice.Domontovychsensed the
frightening
consequencesthat could resultwhen immatureminds move to
whenthemodellingof conceptsbecomesthe"engineering"
theories,
implement
to
ofpeople.The author'snovelspose thequestionof how to preventdisasters,
two
illusion?
He
from
harmful
useful
implicitlysuggests
fantasy
distinguish
with
solutions. One is the studyof history:the imaginativeidentification
But themainrecommendation
canreducefanaticism.
another
timeandmentality
appearsto be a defenceof art. For readersof the neoclassicistwriter-critic
MykolaZerov the image of the source,the fountof knowledge,would have
immediately
conjuredup hisdefence,inthebookDo dzherel(To theSources),of
andphilosophicalheritage.He argued:"let us not avoid
theEuropeanliterary
us. (Who
ancientorevenfeudalEurope.Letus notfearthatit will contaminate
the class
with
to
be
infected
for
a
it
is
better
knows, perhaps
proletarian
of a
oftheWesternEuropeanbourgeoisthanwiththepusillanimity
determinants
Russian 'repentant
nobleman.')We mustget to knowthesourcesof European
cultureandwe mustmakethemourown.We mustknowthem,or else we shall
To Khvyl'ovy's'Quo vadis?'let us answer:ad fontes,to
alwaysbe provincials.
the originalsources,to the roots." In both the openinglines of Doctor
occurs.The play
Seraphicusandattheendof chapter2 theimageof a fountain
on thesurface
ofsunlight
on itsjets castsendlesslyvariedkaleidoscopic
patterns
andIrtsiadelightin watching
ofthewater.Like all people,Komakha-Seraphicus
can be
The fountain
these,musing,searchingin themfortheirown reflections.
3? Domontovych,
I: 370.
38 Do dzherel. Literaturno-krytychni
statti (Kyiv: Slovo, 1926) 118. Mykola
Zerov's exposition of the neo-classicists' position began on May 24, 1925, at a
public debatein Kyiv, whose recordwas publishedas Shliakhyrozvytkusuchasnoi
literatury.
Dysput24 travnia1925 (Kyiv, 1925).
Viktor Domontovych's Early Novels
329
takenas a metaphorfor art: a pleasurablerelaxation,a contemplationof
changingpatterns,a play of perceptions,a modeling of the world. By
implicationthose who are incapableof enjoyingthe fountainare potentially
In rejectingthe role art fulfillsas
condemnedto a disastrousinflexibility.
purposeful
play, in limitingthemselvesto one rationaliststyle of thought,
the boundary
betweenart and life, the radical
while simultaneously
effacing
modernshave shiftedthe arena of experimentation
fromart onto life with
catastrophic
consequences.
an erudite
man with catholicinterests,
felthostileto the
Domontovych,
outmodednineteenth-century
populism, and was drawn to the analytical,
demystificatory
experiments of contemporarycubists, futurists and
in
At thesametime,however,hisHobbesianfearof irrationality
constructivists.
humanbehaviourcausedhim to adopta scepticalstancetowardthe resultsof
of the
revealsan understanding
violentandradicalupheaval.His plots,therefore,
exertedbythenew,butserveas warningsagainstits siren-calls.One
fascination
implicitpersonal
maydiscoverin thisdilemmaa paradigmforDomontovych's
and Komakha,the dry,bookishscholar-thinkers,
represent
problem.Varets'ky
attractive
radical
the
the
intellectual.
and
Eisner
represent
Zyna
Domontovych
aesthetic.The hero's love, seductionand thenrecoil may have represented
withtheirideas.
fascination
andentanglement
own involuntary
Domontovych's
Ukrainianclassic of
"themostenigmatic
writer
The neoclassicist
Domontovych,
and tasteto the
thetwentieth
was, perhaps,closerin temperament
century,"39
to admit.Like
was
in
his
books
than
he
he
mocks
aestheticofrupture
prepared
to usherin
to accepttheroleof history'smidwife,
theradicals,he was prepared
s
the neoclassicist'
the new. However,by acceptingthis role, he undermined
criticshave in
of scepticismandstoicism.Sensing such a dichotomy
attitude
variousways suggestedthatthe writerexhibitsa blendof the incompatible:
and
in Sherekh'sterms,40"abstraction"
"neoclassicism"and "expressionism,"
in
or"intellectual
inIuriiKorbut's,41
a relativism
"concretization"
vagabondage"
the
to
of
an
attraction
His
fictions
evidence
simultaneously
give
Pavlychko's.42
ofitsdangers.The ultimate
newandan apprehension
messageappearsto be that
nor the fantastic
neitherself-comforting
dreams,nor voluntarism,
projectsof
embraced.
scientific
Domontovych'sdelicately
plannersshouldbe unthinkingly
and
of thegreatexperiment,
thetemptations
balanced,evasivetextsdemonstrate
subvert
them.
gently
39 Pavlychko,"Na zvorotnomu,"124.
40 Shevel'ov, "Shostyi,"529.
41 Iurii Korybut,"Doktor Serafikus.Bedekerdo romanu,"in V. Domontovych,
DoktorSerafikus(Munich:Ukrains'katrybuna,1947) 162-64.
42 Pavlychko,"Na zvorotnomu,"123.