RUSSIAN ART

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 507, 9 February 1915, Page 7

RUSSIAN ART

• '■ ♦ Generally speaking, we consider the ordinary Russian a barbarian of the " scratch a Cossack and you find a. Tartar " type. And when I chanced to hear of some Russian cruelties m .Austria it was natural to say : "Of course, they are only' barbarians ; Aye expect little better from them." But when one comes to think of it. thty are nearly as old a nation as the Austrians, only their social and political evolution has been vastly slower. This is more than probably due to two causes. Firstly, that they are, or have been, an unsettled and divided people. Secondly, that until lately their chief aim and aspiration has been the acquiring of moie and more territory, bo that they have had little time to develop their internal policy. They have extended their boundaries south and east, always with their faces turned to the Bosphoius. Many of them dream of a great pan-Slavic nation ; indeed, most Rtissians are convinced Slavophils. Ji was Peter the Great that first welded their many peoples into anything like a solid nation, and since then (1698) Rufcsian advancement has been markedly rapid, save only m political spheres. Especially rapid has been the evolution o f . distinctive Russian art, and the corresponding growth of an appreciative or artistic class — the intelligensia. Modern, intensely alive to the growth and spread of art, but above all devoted to social and political reforms, this class has no equivalent m any other nation. It is the brain of the empire. Speculative, didactive, and, generally speaking, entirely unpractical, yet they have done much by the spread of pamphlets, literature, and art to relieve the political pressure. We often find that poetry or folk songs are the first artistic creations of any nation. The Russians have many ancient folk songs, generally belonging to either of two characteristic classes — the quick, short, Slavonic song of the south, or the shxpll, plaintive, minor melody of the north. Puskin gives us both. His poems are of a distinctive national character. Indeed, he has been called the " father of the Russian .language." He has no one that can justly claim to be his successor. Perhaps because Russians seem to have quickly adopted the more modern, popular form of literary expression — that is, the novel. And they have quickly achieved distinction, or, as Matthew Arnold says : " The Russian ncvelist is master of a spell to which the secrets of human "nature willingly make themselves known." Its first exponent, Gogol, is overshadowed by his greater successors, nevertheless he is a distinct factor m Russian literature. His short stories are graphic, combining an intense love of Nature with all the humor aijd gaiety of the southern Russian. He is' more typically Russian than the greater novelists. Dostoeivskv may be the spirit of the nation, Turganiev a faithful chronicler of contemporary manners, and Tolstoy the king of Russian raconteurs, but Gogol is : the voice of the people — the simple, hearty peasants of the south. Tolstoy and Turganiev are better known, because they belong to that vast city Cosraopolis, whose denizens cannot claim- nationality, as they are for all. Dostoeiysky, unhappily, is nbt well translated ; ?nd*eed, ' Crime and Punishment/ which I am assured is not the best of his books, is so far 1 the only one obtainable, at any rate m an English version. Turganiev. though popular among Biiglish students of Russian literature, Js tho shallow and plac'.d to make any lasting impression. His influence is already passing away, though his true picture of Russian country life (vide 'lA Housa of Gentle Folk') will, no doubt, always be of interest as a correct portrayal of the customs of his time. He. is overshadowed by Tolstoy — unhappy, riestless Tolstoy. Personally, I cannot read his stories without something akin to fear. His pessimism is terrifying, especially m his shorter tales, such as 'The D*eath of Ivan Ill'ich.' There is Something hopeless' in his outlook, an unstable philosophy that is always searching for something on which to steady itself. Little need, be said of him, as his works are well known to English! readers. ' Anna Karennina' is now • considered his best, and it is certainly one of the most interesting novels of the period. Of it Matthew Arnold says : " The truth is we are jnot to take ' Anna Karennina ' as a work ;of art, 'but as a piece of life. The author lias not invented and combined it ; he has ■seen it. It has all happened before his inward eye. . . . The author saw it •all happening so — saw it, and therefore •relates it; and what his novel loses m this way m art it gains m reality." As :to whether reality is an ideal m art I leave an open question. Certainly Tolstoy is worth reading. He ceased writing m 1899, and his immediate followers have 'shown little or no originality, perhaps 'owing to the restless political agitation of the time. Among these later writers Garshin showed some genius, but wrote little. Chehov has been called the Rus- , sian ' Maupassant, but perhaps is better ; known by his two plays, 'The Three Sisters' and 'The Seagull.' This last play has been analysed by M. Baring m this 'Studies m Russian Literature,' and Jwe may hope to hear of its being. staged : in -London at an early date. Other 'writers of the time are Andriev, Solugub, and Kuprin, a retired army officer, who wrote 'The Duel.' Gorky at first wrote with great fire and genius, but the bitter- | ness and roughness of style of his later works has done much to! detract from ;his fame. i As far as the other arts are concerned, 'Russia has shown the same activity. Her music is well known and deservedly popular among true music lovers. It is not " popular " music, as we understand the term, but,, its forms, have vivid characteristics that attract the student. Glinka is the father of Russian opera, and Chaivosky's ' Evgen Onegin ' has been performed at Co vent Gardens. Skriabin is a modernist 6f the Wagner type, his music thereby losing much of its purely Russian character. But, above all, there is the Finnish music ; Sibelius its greatest exponent, through all of whose music runs that haunting national air. F.J.R. Dunedin.