Подмена как образ жизни (История и сатира Юрия Тынянова)

In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, Band 30, Heft 3, S. 297-303

Abstract

Michel Heller, Substitution used as a representation of life. History and satire in the works of Iurii Tynianov.
In the late 1920's, the most perspicacious (and incidentally the most talented) writers make use of metaphor (substitution) to speak of the changes occurring in the country. E. Zamiatin, M. Bulgakov, A. Platonov, M. Zoshchcnko write metaphorically on contemporary themes. Iurii Tynianov, for his part, is applying this method to historical material. He is doing so most successfully in the "trilogy" of stories "Podporuchik Kizhe", "Voskovaia persona", "Maloletnii Vitushishnikov", composed in the rare style of historical satire. A non-existent officer - Kizhe - was born of a mistake in a written order. This fact does not prevent him from making a brilliant career in acting as an excellent substitution for living persons. The waxen figure of Peter I is substituted for the emperor, lie is substituted for truth. "All is substituted! All is unreal!", says A. Platonov 's hero. Thus is created the "kingdom of the imaginary" in which the heroes of Tynianov (and of his contemporaries) are turned into figures in the formula of despotism.