The Petty Demon Read Online Free
fantasy and the desire to transform earthly existence. Such were the abiding leitmotifs of Sologub’s verse:
From the worlds’ decrepit misery
Where women wept and children babbled,
Into the clouded distances I flew
In the embrace of joyful fantasy.
And from the wondrous height of soaring flight
The earthly realm I did transform,
And thus it gleamed as bright before me
As darkly golden fabric spread.
And when aroused from dreaming vision
By life’s befouling touch,
Back to the torments of my native land
I bore the unfathomed mystery
(1896)
A heavy pall of gloom and the inescapable odor of death clung to most of Sologub’s verse. Death seemed the one noble consolation
in a life often portrayed by Sologub as a vulgar and hideous, yet seductive wench, who lured man to the false charms of this
world:
Cherishing my somber thoughts
Deep in waking, melancholy dream,
I have no remorse for this dark life
And I rent the transparent fabric,
The fabric of youthful expectations
And misty childlike reveries;
Far removed from vain desires.
Long prepared for death am I.
Deep in melancholy dream, cherishing pain,
I rent life’s web assundez,
And know not how to conclude
For what purpose and by what means I live.
(1895)
So overpowering was the scent of death and decay in Sologub’s verse, so complete the depressing aura of pessimism, that many
years later, Maxim Gorky wrote what many critics took to be a most biting parody of Fyodor Sologub’s preoccupation with death.
The hero of Gorky’s “Fairy Tale” was a certain Mister “Smertyashkin” (Mister Death) who makes his living at first by writing
gloomy verses for obituaries and
in memoria
. However, his talent for somber verse is exploited by his wife and her enterprising paramour to make a sensation and a financial
fortune on the literary scene. Subsequently, the term “Smertyashkiny” became synonymous in Russian literature with the “dealers-in-death,”
namely those writers and poets who during the pre-revolutionary era seemed to trade on the general pessimism and gloom of
society to make a living. 8
Sologub did not give up his teaching responsibilities as he began to move in the glittering circles of young aspiring poets,
writers and artists in St. Petersburg through the later 1890’s. Particularly with the publication of his first book of verse
in 1896, there seemed little doubt that Sologub had become heir to the French decadent tradition in Russia.
In 1899 Sologub received a promotion as school-inspector for the Andreyevsky Civic School in the capital. Despite his acquaintanceship
with the leading representatives of literary and aesthetic modernism in Russia, Sologub, withdrawn, and somehow ridiculous
(after all, he was not only a decadent poet, but a teacher and a school-inspector as well!) never seemed to be entirely accepted
by his literary colleagues who often made fun of him behind his back. His regular Sunday receptions, hosted by himself and
his chronically-ill sister, Olga, were something of a contrast with those of other patron-practitioners of the arts:
At the Merezhkovskys’ everyone spoke loudly, at Sologub’s in a hushed voice; at the Merezhkovskys’ people argued excitedly
and even passionately about the church, at Sologub’s they deliberated over verses with the impartiality of masters and connoisseurs
of the poetic craft. In the host’s study, where stood somber, somewhat cold, leather furniture, the poets sat decorously,
obediently read their verses at the behest of the host and then humbly listened to the master’s judgments which were precise
and stern, but almost always benevolent, yet at times cutting and merciless if the versifier had dared to come forth with
frivolous and imperfect verses. This was the Areopagus of the Petersburg poets. 9
If the person of Sologub was ignored or belittled by many, then the name was certainly to be reckoned with increasingly after
the turn
From the worlds’ decrepit misery
Where women wept and children babbled,
Into the clouded distances I flew
In the embrace of joyful fantasy.
And from the wondrous height of soaring flight
The earthly realm I did transform,
And thus it gleamed as bright before me
As darkly golden fabric spread.
And when aroused from dreaming vision
By life’s befouling touch,
Back to the torments of my native land
I bore the unfathomed mystery
(1896)
A heavy pall of gloom and the inescapable odor of death clung to most of Sologub’s verse. Death seemed the one noble consolation
in a life often portrayed by Sologub as a vulgar and hideous, yet seductive wench, who lured man to the false charms of this
world:
Cherishing my somber thoughts
Deep in waking, melancholy dream,
I have no remorse for this dark life
And I rent the transparent fabric,
The fabric of youthful expectations
And misty childlike reveries;
Far removed from vain desires.
Long prepared for death am I.
Deep in melancholy dream, cherishing pain,
I rent life’s web assundez,
And know not how to conclude
For what purpose and by what means I live.
(1895)
So overpowering was the scent of death and decay in Sologub’s verse, so complete the depressing aura of pessimism, that many
years later, Maxim Gorky wrote what many critics took to be a most biting parody of Fyodor Sologub’s preoccupation with death.
The hero of Gorky’s “Fairy Tale” was a certain Mister “Smertyashkin” (Mister Death) who makes his living at first by writing
gloomy verses for obituaries and
in memoria
. However, his talent for somber verse is exploited by his wife and her enterprising paramour to make a sensation and a financial
fortune on the literary scene. Subsequently, the term “Smertyashkiny” became synonymous in Russian literature with the “dealers-in-death,”
namely those writers and poets who during the pre-revolutionary era seemed to trade on the general pessimism and gloom of
society to make a living. 8
Sologub did not give up his teaching responsibilities as he began to move in the glittering circles of young aspiring poets,
writers and artists in St. Petersburg through the later 1890’s. Particularly with the publication of his first book of verse
in 1896, there seemed little doubt that Sologub had become heir to the French decadent tradition in Russia.
In 1899 Sologub received a promotion as school-inspector for the Andreyevsky Civic School in the capital. Despite his acquaintanceship
with the leading representatives of literary and aesthetic modernism in Russia, Sologub, withdrawn, and somehow ridiculous
(after all, he was not only a decadent poet, but a teacher and a school-inspector as well!) never seemed to be entirely accepted
by his literary colleagues who often made fun of him behind his back. His regular Sunday receptions, hosted by himself and
his chronically-ill sister, Olga, were something of a contrast with those of other patron-practitioners of the arts:
At the Merezhkovskys’ everyone spoke loudly, at Sologub’s in a hushed voice; at the Merezhkovskys’ people argued excitedly
and even passionately about the church, at Sologub’s they deliberated over verses with the impartiality of masters and connoisseurs
of the poetic craft. In the host’s study, where stood somber, somewhat cold, leather furniture, the poets sat decorously,
obediently read their verses at the behest of the host and then humbly listened to the master’s judgments which were precise
and stern, but almost always benevolent, yet at times cutting and merciless if the versifier had dared to come forth with
frivolous and imperfect verses. This was the Areopagus of the Petersburg poets. 9
If the person of Sologub was ignored or belittled by many, then the name was certainly to be reckoned with increasingly after
the turn
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