Synopsis and description of "The Captain's Daughter," the greatest work of Pushkin's later years.
Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837)Wikipedia.
The Captain's Daughter is a historical novel written by Pushkin in 1836.
I read "The Captain's Daughter" translated by Kiyoshi Kaminishi, Iwanami Bunko.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
This is the best of Pushkin's late prose fiction. The story is about an honest captain, his daughter, Mariya, a girl who is reserved on the surface but has a strong devotion and unwavering intelligence, and a simple and lovable old servant. This work, with its generous classical style, forms an amalgam of the historical novel aspect of the Pugachev rebellion and the documentary aspect of the lives of the two families.
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The work is a historical novel about the Pugachev Rebellion, a massive uprising that took place from 1773-1775 during the reign of Yekaterina II.
But that is Pushkin. He does not simply deal with historical events, but only with the subject matter of those events,the people involved in that incident.We choose them as our protagonists.
We will discuss this again later.
The Captain's Daughter" is considered a very important work in the history of Russian literature, and is described by Kaori Kawabata in his "History of Russian Literature" as follows
Pushkin's only completed long historical novel, "The Captain's Daughter" (1836), was published in Pushkin's literary journal "The Contemporaries" and was well received. It was published in the literary journal "Contemporaries" by Pushkin and was well received. The characterization is excellent throughout, and the simple, humble captain of the garrison is the prototype of the humble Russian hero found in Lermontov's "Modern Heroes" and Tolstoy's "War and Peace.
Kawabata Kaori, History of Russian Literature, Iwanami Shoten, p. 134-135
This work was previously introduced by Lermontov'sA Modern Hero."and that Tolstoy.War and Peace."The work was also a major influence on the "Captain's Daughter". The commentary at the end of "The Captain's Daughter" also stated
Captain Mironov's character is extremely eulogistic.jealousyHe was "deeply moved" by the work of Lev Tolstoy, who was a great admirer of the "hero" and recalled, "This is the real hero, I couldn't help but say so.
Iwanami Bunko, The Captain's Daughter, translated by Kiyoshi Kaminishi, p285-286
Another interesting connection is with the British writer Walter Scott.
The commentary at the end of "The Captain's Daughter" likewise states the following.
It was only natural that he parted company with his first teacher, Byron, and found a new euphoria in Shakespeare. The historical drama "Boris Godounov" (1825) commemorates this important turning point with a freshproductivenessThe first was the Shakespearean influence on the historical novel. But if we speak of the influence of Shakespeare in historical drama, we must not forget to mention Scott's influence in historical fiction.
Scott's chivalric and glamorous historical novels were also dominating Russia at the time,right thenIn 1812, the Russian Romanticism movement had won a major victory in the Russian parliament, and the name of the movement had become the banner of the Russian Romantic movement, against the backdrop of the upsurge in national spirit that followed the victory in 1812.
It is easy to imagine how Scott's fashion had spawned a multitude of imitators, large and small, in the northern literary circles, as Pushkin himself noted in 1830: "Today, when we speak of a novel, we mean a great historical event that has been extended into a fictional story. It is easy to imagine that Pushkin himself was a great imitator, as he wrote in 1830, "Today, when we speak of novels, we mean great historical events that have been fictionalized in fictional stories.
And Pushkin himself could not escape Scott's influence, although of course his own worldview had been shaken to its very foundations by Byron.
Since his first encounter with Scott's work in the 1820s, Scott's art has gradually and strongly penetrated his mind, and in the 1930s, its influence began to appear strongly in his work in various forms.
Iwanami Bunko, The Captain's Daughter, translated by Kiyoshi Kaminishi, p280-281
Some line breaks have been made.
Pushkin began writing his masterpiece "Eugenii Onegin" in the 1820s, and his work was strongly influenced by the English poet Byron.
The influence was so strong in Russia that the term "Byronic" was used.
From there, Pushkin would break away from "Byronic" and become influenced by Shakespeare.
And it was the theatrical work "Boris Godunov" that strongly influenced him.
From there, in the thirties, Pushkin developed a strong interest in history and became influenced by the English Walter Scott.
Walter Scott, as previously mentioned in this blog, is the author of Chivalry, which Dostoevsky loved.
It is that Walter Scott whom Dostoevsky recommended to people before his death, "For the education of children, let them read Scott.
Dostoevsky's fondness for Scott was also due to its great popularity in Russia. He did not seek it out on his own.
To return to the story, Pushkin thus wrote "The Captain's Daughter" with his own unique sensibility, while being influenced by various writers.
The excellence and uniqueness of this work is described in Henri Troyer's "Biography of Pushkin" as follows.
Before Pushkin, literature only selected its protagonists from a group of outstanding figures with ostentatious names and extraordinary constitutions, disdaining buried lives, examples of modest courage, and signs of mundane grief.
Before Pushkin, the "hero" and the "crowd" were separated by an insurmountable chasm. The protagonist enjoyed the privilege of isolation and illumination. The crowd was spoiled by the lonely role of the marginal actor.
Pushkin brings the crowd out of the dark. Thanks to Pushkin, a second lieutenant, a provincial captain, an orphaned girl who is not so pretty or beautiful, a woman who lives a miserable life, a servant who is not so beautiful or beautiful, receive citizenship in the literary world.
Just as Pushkin introduced the language of the common people into the vocabulary of his poems, so he introduced the regulars of the novel's protagonists, the downtrodden.
The Captain's Daughter is more than just a well-crafted story or an engrossing read. It is truly an innovation of the highest order for its time.
If Pushkin had abandoned his plan to write The Captain's Daughter, Tolstoy's War and Peace would never have been published. War and Peace is an excellent development of one of the many themes in The Captain's Daughter.
In Tolstoy, as in Pushkin, scenes of battle and encampment alternate with scenes of love and domestic relaxation. Several narrow streams of plot meander between the great mountains of historical events.
Publicly deified giants (for Tolstoy, Napoleon, Alexander I, and Kutuzov. For Pushkin, Ekaterina II and Pugachev) are confronted with the image of the ordinary human being with a very simple simplicity. And the era is revived more vividly by those who play its margins than by its protagonists.
Henri Troyer, A Biography of Pushkin, translated by Hinako ShinozukaP623
Some line breaks have been made.
And Troyer puts it this way.
The Captain's Daughter is a masterpiece of psychological description and expression. The mastery of conception is matched by a marvelous certainty of sentence structure and terminology. The Russian language has never produced anything more admirably structured, perfect, and complete than this seemingly rough tale.
Henri Troyer, A Biography of Pushkin, translated by Hinako ShinozukaP625
Pushkin continues to tell his story in this work with a fast-paced narrative style that focuses on verbs and a concise style that omits all unnecessary adjectives.
And as Troyer says, it was not only interesting, but also a major event in the history of Russian literature. He brought nameless people buried in history into the world of literature.
This may seem trivial to those of us who are familiar with contemporary novels, but considering the historical background of the time, it was a tremendous shift in thinking.
It was because of Pushkin's achievements that Tolstoy's "War and Peace," which has been called the greatest work of world literature, was later born.
Of course, Dostoevsky was also strongly influenced by him.
The Captain's Daughter was a surprisingly easy read. I think this is truly the result of Pushkin's writing style.
And the portrayal of the great historical figures in this work, Pugachev, the ringleader of the Pugachev Rebellion, and Tsar Yekaterina II, is also excellent.
They are much more alive and human than they appear in the history textbooks. In Pushkin's hands, these historical figures come to life as human beings just like us.
Pushkin's Pugachev is authentic because the poet saw him through the sensibility of the common man. Pushkin's Pugachev is authentic because he has been placed in the crowd of anonymous faces that historians are competing to omit. The Pushkin pugachov is real because it is no longer alone among the names of battles, lists of generals, and indicative dates, but because the people of the time have begun to live around it again.
Henri Troyer, A Biography of Pushkin, translated by Hinako ShinozukaP623
As Troyer says, perhaps it was Pushkin's vivid portrayal of nameless people that made me feel that way.
The Captain's Daughter" is not a book that one would easily take a quick look at and say, "Whoa, I should read this," perhaps due in part to its blunt title.
To begin with, Pushkin himself is a minor figure in Japan.
However, I think this situation is a waste of time.
It seems like a tremendous loss that his works should remain dormant as minor classics.
I can't speak highly of Dostoevsky, as I met him in the process of learning about him.
Pushkin has produced a lot of really interesting works. They are not at all inferior to contemporary novels. It would be a shame to dismiss them because they are classics. They are surprisingly easy to read, and the richness of their content is top-notch.
We hope that this blog will be an opportunity for you to experience Pushkin's works.
This is the synopsis and commentary of "The Captain's Daughter," the best film of Pushkin's last years.
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