The 20th-Century Russian Novel: Revolution, Terror, Resistance

Evgeny Vodolazkin Bio

There are two kinds of history. The first is history that is told as stories of past events that defines the centuries prior, where cultural movements, wars, and innovations are scrutinized as lessons on how to approach the current state-of-affairs. Then, there is the history that is more intimate, the history of humanity, defined by the tears of loved ones, the smiles on children’s faces, and the rummaging minds of state-leaders while they tried to navigate the turbulent times of the past. For Yevgeny (Eugene) Germanovich Vodolazkin, documenting these intimate thoughts and moments through writing is paramount to humanizing events that may seem far too distant for today’s audience. “I’m not interested in history but in the history of the soul,” Vodolazkin once stated in an interview. “I don’t write about historical periods but about people. I just find the most appropriate context; the context that will reveal most about that person” (Amos). It is with this impassioned mindset, that Vodolazkin became a world-renowned novelist, one who reassesses the modern literatures and fictions of the 19th-20th century and transforms them into his own distinct style that reforms the pinnacle of narrative fiction from a century prior (James, 94). Through his of meta-modernist techniques, Vodolazkin humanizes the traumas in the midst of the previous, turbulent centuries, filling in the voids of the hearts of those who survived times of grief and unease, speaking words that were left unspoken for so long (James, 94).

Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1964, amidst the reign of the Soviet Union, Vodolazkin's leanings led him to reject Soviet ideals and to move to Germany in the 1990s. However, his time in Western Europe played a vital role in his development of writing as he learned of the atrocities his admired countries had committed, including the NATO bombings on Serbia (Amos). In response, he focused his style and academic specialization on Old Russian literature, moving far away from the present atrocities and back towards the Golden Age of Literature and beyond in Russia (Amos). His historical fictions have led him to receive a vast amount of awards and recognition from historians and literary critics alike. Among these accolades are the Andrei Bely Prize, the oldest and most prestigious literary prize for Russian Literature, the Big Book Prize, an annual literary award for Russian pieces in which the prizes are just short of the Nobel Prize for Literature, as well as the Yasnaya Polyana Award, a prestigious award granted to the best traditional-style Russian novel (“Big Book”; Columbia). Through his writings, Vodolazkin has been able to harmonize the complications of major events throughout Russian history with the creative world-building elements that allows the reader to witness how Russia has evolved within the pages of his novels. Vodolazkin’s works of art take readers through fifteenth-century Russia in Laurus (2012) as they bear witness to plague-infested Europe, the rise of the Bolsheviks in Solovyov and Larionov (2009), and most recently, to the fall of the Soviet Union in The Aviator (2015). He currently works as a literary and historical scholar in the Old Russian Literature Department at the Pushkin House, the first and largest literary museum in Russia, located in St. Petersburg (Read Russia; “Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House)”).

In an interview by Maya Vinokour, a professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at NYU, with Vodolazkin about The Aviator, readers of his novels are given a glimpse into the brilliant mind behind his literary works. When asked why he incorporated the specific themes of justice and death within the novel, Vodolazkin responded with ideals surrounding personal values and philosophies. He wants the reader to ponder the intricacies of human nature, such as whether justice should always be enacted, or the dangers of extreme individualism and “sociality.” Vodolazkin also carefully weaves his philosophy of “Christian Personalism,” a school of thought in which independence and values should be placed upon the person, instead of stemming from another being (Vinokour). From this discussion, it becomes apparent that Vodolazkin wants readers to carefully untie the knot that is human nature through his novel during a time of uncertainty, knowing that there might be instances in which these strings are completely stuck, impossible to untangle. 

Vodolazkin’s writings take his readers through a time-machine, allowing them into the intimate lives of his fictional characters as they lived through the most pivotal moments within Russian history. One of his most recent books, The Aviator, takes place in post-Soviet Union Russia through the lens of Innokenty Petrovich Platonov as he tries to navigate through the Post-Soviet environment after waking from a hundred-year-long sleep (Ings). As stated in Vodolazkin’s interview: “Each person has his or her own voice, but they all end up blending together into a whole.” (Vinokour). Hopefully, as we take on this novel together, we would be able to unite the mind of Vodolazkin, the characters in this novel, and our minds and form a coherent picture of the subtleties of human nature and what is to come.

Bibliography

Amos, Howard. “Yevgeny Vodolazkin: Russia's Prize-Winning Novelist on Orthodoxy, Death
      and Playing with Time.” The Calvert Journal, 1 Nov. 2018,
     www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/10737/yevgeny-vodolazkin-russia-prize-winning-novelist-on-orthodoxy-death.

“Big Book.” Russian Literature Online, www.rus-lit.org/prizes/21/.

Columbia. “Mark Lipovetsky Awarded Special Andrei Bely Prize for His Contributions to Russian  Literature.” Columbia, 6 Dec. 2019,           
     harriman.columbia.edu/news/mark-lipovetsky-awarded-special-andrei-bely-prize-his-contributions-russian-literature.

Ings, Simon. “The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin Review – a Time-Traveller's Life.” The
     Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 June 2018,
     www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/07/the-aviator-eugene-vodolazkin-review.

“Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House).” St. Petersburg Official City Guide,
     www.visit-petersburg.ru/en/leisure/194604.

James, David, and Urmila Seshagiri. “Metamodernism: Narratives of Continuity and
     Revolution.” PMLA, vol. 129, no. 1, 2014, pp. 87–100.,
     www.jstor.org/stable/24769423. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.

Kaplunov, Elizabeth. “Russian Authors Say Literature Refutes Time and Space.” The Moscow
     Times, The Moscow Times, 27 Apr. 2014,
     www.themoscowtimes.com/2014/04/27/russian-authors-say-literature-refutes-time-and-space-a34678.

Los Angeles Review of Books. “Eugene Vodolazkin.” Los Angeles Review of Books,
     lareviewofbooks.org/author-page/eugene-vodolazkin/.

Read Russia. “Eugene Vodolazkin.” Read Russia,
     readrussia.org/writers/writer/eugene-vodolazkin.

Vinokour, Maya. “What History Cannot Teach Us: A Conversation with Eugene Vodolazkin and
     Lisa Hayden.” Los Angeles Review of Books, 7 May 2018,
     lareviewofbooks.org/article/what-history-cannot-teach-us-a-conversation-with-eugene-
     vodolazkin-and-lisa-hayden/.

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