Navigating the Twilight Realm
When the warm, bright sun slowly wanders beyond the horizon to make room for the crescent moon, one enters the world governed by haziness, subliminal thoughts, and liminal perceptions, as what is supposed to be clear under the gaze of the mid-noon sun can easily be mistaken for something else. During the twilight hours, the screech of a barn owl could be mistaken for the cries of a desperate maiden, a wooden crutch could be mistaken for firewood used to start the morning hearth, a beloved companion could be mistaken for a hunting wolf. In Sasha Sokolov’s novel, Between Dog and Wolf, Sokolov blurs the lines between imagination and reality, utilizing these hazy distinctions to draw the subtle differences in perspectives between dangers and pleasures, good and bad, neglect and nurture, as well as to depict how one of the main characters in the novel, Ilya, becomes completely blinded to one side of this duality, eventually causing his downfall later in the novel. This dichotomy, although just a small piece of the novel, plays an important role in the readers’ understanding of the story and interpretation of this piece of art. A notable passage in which Sokolov plays with this duality and shows how Ilya is blinded by one side of the dichotomy is found on page 129 of the novel’s English translation, following the suicide of Pytor/Fyodor/Yegor, a drunkard within the novel who supposedly had an unwarranted affair with a mysterious 'dame,' when Ilya muses about the meanings and romanticization of death.
Ilya starts by describing the Wolf River, the river that is also portrayed as a personification of a woman’s (somewhat sexual) tender love. Earlier in the book, Ilya recounts how the Wolf River tells him to drink from her waters to quench his thirst, eat her mussels, and rest his head onto her softest stones (16). This pleasant, tender view of the Wolf River will later be contrasted by the deaths of many of the characters in the novel as the Wolf River becomes the final resting place of those unfortunate souls who drown within its water. These depictions of the Wolf River juxtapose each other; the views of the same river blur together such that the Wolf River instills both the aspects of the pleasures of men, as well as the dangers it poses to them. This parallel between pleasure and danger is exemplified in the following segments, in which the water of the Wolf River seems to be calm, “as if it were standin,” yet the Itil (another name for Russia’s Volga River), is “rushin, rushin with its entire liquid body” (129). The stark contrast between the dangers and pleasures of the Wolf River allows the reader to ponder the complexities of Ilya's mindset, as he blinds himself by the river’s serenity, the time that moves in slow-motion upon her banks, and the billowing clouds glide gently above. However, despite the romantic interpretation of the Wolf River, the same seemingly peaceful water will eventually be the cause of Ilya’s death later within the novel.
The lines between dangers and pleasures similarly blur with Ilya’s description of “Life Everlastin,” a peaceful personification of heavenly pleasures. He writes, “I’m dreamin about departin during the forest harvest, sweetening my lips with a handful of wild strawberries and sinkin into Life Everlastin with them” (129). It can be assumed that Ilya is alluding to the peaceful forest near the banks of the Wolf River, as he describes its serene banks earlier. In spite of how “heavenly” Ilya makes the forest banks of the Wolf River seem, it is important to note that this is just one perception of the river bank's dual natures, seen through only Ilya’s eyes. In the poem by Yakov titled “October,” Yakov writes of the changing seasons, where the balmy autumn air slowly surrenders itself to the bitter winter wind. With the new season setting in, new faunas grow, such as scarlet berries, snake berries, solanum, all of which are highly toxic for consumption (35). Note the extreme similarities between the poisonous snake berries and the strawberries mentioned by Ilya: both berries are scarlet in color, have similar shape, and to the untrained eye, can easily be mistaken for each other. Sokolov intentionally includes both berries in the text in order to further highlight the point that what Ilya perceives as pleasurable to consume can consequently, kill him. This section of the passage plays with the blurring of realities where the romanticism expressed in “Life Everlastin” can be a source of Ilya’s downfall.
Moving forward with the text on page 129, Ilya can be seen questioning a higher being on what his purpose in life is. He belongs in the realm of the living like a “saddle on a pig,” implying his out-of-placeness in his current society, and suggests that a peaceful death where he is enveloped by the tenderness of the Wolf River is his ideal state of being. Ilya then mocks “God” and the personification of death itself, declaring that it “suffer[s] and do[es] donkey work…” (129). Ironically, when death appears at Ilya’s feet, he refuses to accept it. This moment is yet another instance in which the lines between pleasure and danger is blurred. On one hand, death in Ilya's can be seen as a peaceful escape from his hard life, an idea that he forces himself into valuing. On the other hand, when death greets Ilya on the train tracks, where “[a] handcar mournfully brays,” Ilya feels humiliated as Orina, a temptress who has led men to their suicides, has to save him and even calls “the obnoxious Ilya[,] a poor fox,” referencing the unfortunate fox-cub earlier in the text (31, 195). Taking all these instances into account, one can infer that the original perception of death changes for Ilya; what he wills himself into believing—by blinding himself to the reality of the situation—was a peaceful end becomes a “humiliating” experience once he stares death right in the eye. As the lines blurs between the perceptions of the Wolf River, strawberries and snake berries in “Life Everlastin,” and a dog and wolf, it also blurs for death as well, but this time, Ilya snaps out of his romanticized "day-dream" and fights against the idea of death as a peaceful retreat of his harsh life.
Throughout the text on pages 128-129, many instances of blurred realities are shown, symbolizing the pleasures and dangers to life as well as the their effects on Ilya as he blinds himself to only the pleasurable side of the duality. Take the Itil River, for instance: one could see it as the beautiful bloodline, pumping life into the cities and towns built along its banks; others could see it as an intimidating, fearsome power of nature to fight against, as boatmen heave their ships onto shore. Sokolov brilliantly plays with the duality of perceptions, displaying both sides of the coin in the context of each characters’ natures within the novel. This aspect is not only limited to the pages analyzed here, but to the entire text as a whole, much like how Orina would both use “her saucy figure… [to tease] … Ilya on purpose,” which can lead to the downfall of Ilya as he becomes ever more obsessed with her with every flirt, as well as how she uses her hands to untie Ilya from being crushed by the impending train (106). Another prominent example of this dichotomy can be seen in how mussels are described within the novel, as they are good for consumption, but would pinch a person if stepped on in the river mud (106). Sokolov wonderfully fills his work of art with a plethora of symbolism, leaving the reader to decipher the intricacies of the text and characters. Ilya’s final statement on page 129 is, “Yeah, we [humans] ain’t risk-takin, daring creatures; not high, upon verification, is our soarin,” which (ironically) alludes to how being on the safer side of things is how humans survive and thrive (129). Perhaps it may be good to question the novel as a whole against Ilya’s advice, daring to take on this difficult novel piece by piece with various new angles, navigating through the twilight zone that Sokolov has painted in his Between Dog and Wolf.
Bibliography
Sokolov, Sasha. Between Dog and Wolf. Translated by Alexander Boguslawski, Columbia University Press, 2017.
