"Erast Krutolobov's Journey to Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 30s of the XIX century" by V. Novodvorsky as a parody of the sentimental narrative model of travelogue

Konstantinova Natalia Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0002-7329-9977 PhD in Philology Associate Professor of the Department of Russian and Foreign Literature, Theory of Literature and Methods of Teaching Literature at Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University 630126, Russia, Novosibirsk region, Novosibirsk, Vilyuiskaya str., 28, building 3 scribe2@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

In modern science, travelogue parodies become the object of research more often in order to identify the modification of genre features, in the context of describing the evolution of the genre in the historical and literary process. At the same time, attention is rarely paid to the analysis of the specifics of the organization of the narrative structure of the travel text. At the same time, numerous parodies of "sensitive travel" in Russian travelogues of the first third of the XIX century ^{[2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 19, 12]} the crisis of sentimental poetics, the "weakness" and the inconsistency of the "commonplaces" of the "Karamzin canon" clearly demonstrate. The sensitivity, subjectivity of the narrator's perception of the world is brought to the point of absurdity, which leads to the disappearance of the main event of the travelogue – the movement of the hero in space, the transition from his own to someone else's, unknown. The truth (factual accuracy) is also questioned the story of the journey itself, set out in the text, is allowed fiction, fantasy, imagination, as a consequence of the boundless freedom granted to the "sensitive traveler" as the creator of the travelogue. In this regard, there are variants of the phenomenon of travel – "travel before travel", "travel without travel", "travel on a familiar street", "imaginary / fantastic travel", leveling the fact of the authenticity of what is happening, which determined the foundation of the genre. Bringing to the fore the writing/narrating subject – the "sensitive traveler" – gradually destroys the genre features of the travelogue, the "confession of oneself" as a changing personality (physically and spiritually) under the influence of moving in space, renewal turns into a formal everyday conversation about an insignificant event. These features actualize important research tasks – to determine which elements of the sentimental narrative model of the travelogue are parodied, as expressed by the author's reflection on the way the narrative is organized in a parody text about the journey.

In the research field, there are different approaches to the description of parody texts in the stated aspect. Thus, highlighting the "space of irony" in Russian travelogues, A. Schenle highlights the principle of changing the traditional model of the narrative structure of the text about the journey as the main object of parodies of Stern's works: the event of the trip is reduced to a minimum, to insignificant meetings, but "full freedom is given to the imagination of the traveler" ^{[21, p. 152]}. An appeal to the analysis of the parody texts of Veltman and Senkovsky in the context of describing the evolution of the genre in the first third of the XIX century allows us to make a similar remark by I. V. Banach: "... sentimental journey "outlived" itself with its own capabilities, destroying the very idea of an event in a journey as a change in the original topological structure, and showed an example of a plotless narrative – journey without travel" ^{[1, p. 79]}. V.M. Guminsky explains the emergence of parody travel as a continuation of "the dialogue of Russian literature (culture) with Western European" ^{[6, p. 129]}. O. Y. Osmukhina also draws attention to the crisis of author's identity in Russian travelogues of the 1830s (based on the material of parody texts by Veltman and Senkovsky), highlighting the phenomenon of the "author's mask" ^[15]. The destruction of the traditional travelogue model is also presented in the popular work of I.P. Myatlev "Sensations and remarks of Mrs. Kurdyukova abroad, dan l'entrange" ^[13], the material for which was Myatlev's real trip to Europe (1836-1839), namely Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. According to Yu. V. Shatin, "Myatlev blows up the genre from the inside, destroying its integrity, replacing it with a collage and thereby achieving the effect of a travelogue travesty" ^{[20, p. 271]}. O. V. Kublitskaya (Mamurkina) pays special attention to the features of the narrative structure of parody texts in her research, singling out the type of narrator – "sensitive traveler" as the main object of parody in N. Brusilov's travelogues ^[2] and the anonymous author ^{[8] [9, 11, 12]}. According to the well-known statement of Yu. N. Tynyanov, "parody exists insofar as the second plan, parodied, shines through the work; the narrower, more definite, more limited this second plan is, the more all the details of the work have a double shade, are perceived from a double angle, the stronger the parody" ^{[18, p. 26]}. Based on the fundamental research of the scientist, we determine that the sentimental narrative model becomes the "second plan" in the parody Russian travelogues of the first third of the XIX century. Using structural-semiotic and hermeneutical-interpretative research methods, we will analyze a fundamentally new version of the parody text.

These trends become the object of philological author's reflection in the own parody text of one of the key researchers of the Letters of the Russian Traveler N. M. Karamzin ^[17], V. V. Sipovsky – "Erast Krutolobov's Journey to Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 30s of the XIX century" ^[14], published in 1929 under a pseudonym V. Novodvorsky.  According to A. Y. Veselova, "Sipovsky's novel in a parody form illustrates the reflection of the literary struggle of idealism and realism in public life of the early XIX century and the role of sentimentalism and its creator Karamzin in the history of the development of Russian literature" ^{[4, p. 66]}. A separate work of a literary critic is devoted to this aspect ^[16].

V. V. Sipovsky's text is a kind of "literary game" with the previous tradition, as indicated by the abundance of various kinds of reminiscences already presented in the title. We will also be interested in the work about Erast Krutolobov's journey as a parody of a travelogue expressing the point of view of the author-philologist, researcher of the "Karamzin canon", his influence on the formation of the genre in the first third of the XIX century. In this regard, "Erast's Journey ..." is considered as a parody of the key elements – the "common places" of the sentimental tradition of travel, on the sentimental narrative model as a whole. Choosing the form of a travelogue, V. V. Sipovsky demonstrates, in turn, an individual author's version of rethinking both the literary tradition of the XIX century and the documentary, highlighting universal models with the help of parody discourse. In this regard, it can be stated that the author's self of the work about Erast includes both the biographical author, who decides to hide behind the pseudonym V. Novodvorsky, and the author-philologist, professionally oriented in the poetics of travelogue, and the subject of the narrative, representing the history of a certain type of travel ("to Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 30s years of the XIX century").

In a short preface "From the author" it is reported that "the material for the story: "The Journey of Erast Krutolobov" is drawn from the memoir literature of the 30-40 years, as well as from novels and novellas of the same era. The author's goal was to show some aspects of everyday life of ordinary people of that time. For the sake of aggravating the entertainment, the story is given an adventurous character, as well as some anachronisms are deliberately allowed" ^{[14, p. 182]}. In the commentary, attention is drawn, firstly, to the time period of the XIX century, highlighted also in the title - the 30s. Secondly, the principle of material selection and the author's goal express the desire to correlate literary and documentary, authentic and fictional, with which to indicate the typical.

The correlation of literature and reality becomes one of the problems that the main character of the work, Erast Krutolobov, discusses. In the finale, after completing the journey, he, despite his mother's admonitions, refuses to write about it: "Erast didn't want to write anything about his sentimental walking trip in Little Russia. After rereading the "Journey through Little Russia", composed by his great-grandfather, Prince Shalikov, he found that there is nothing in common between this work and Ukrainian reality" ^{[14, p.181]}. However, Erast refuses to write only in the genre of travelogue, while he discusses "literary topics" with his mother. The parody description of Erast's "literary activity" (everything arises and ends only at the project level) reveals the most popular plots for the literary sentimental canon: "about the poor Palasha, kidnapped by a hussar"; "about the ill-fated Polina, a victim of parental arbitrariness"; "about Erast's forced marriage (or suicide from sensitivity)"; "about geranium bush" (about the love disappointment of a sensitive spinster).  It is significant that such a choice of plot repertoire correlates not only with the literary tradition of sentimental travel itself, but also with parody versions of it. For example, the fourth plot – "about the geranium bush" – obviously correlates at the level of numerous reminiscences with A. Veltman's work "Travel impressions, by the way, a pot of geranium", published in 1840 in the magazine "Son of the Fatherland" ^{[14, p.181]}.

Of particular interest is the parody of the type of "sensitive traveler", which is embodied by V. V. Sipovsky in Erast Krutolobov. The 30s of the XIX century are described as a period of symbolic death of this model of the traveler in the evolution of the travelogue. This is indicated by the hoax of Erast's death during the journey, and the name of a possible literary plot – "suicide from sensitivity", and the reaction of others to the hero's behavior.

Imitation of Erast's death in the finale in order to save him from an unwanted marriage with Agrippina Antonovna Zapekankova, according to the plot of the text, likened him to another hero – Victor – the personification of the type of "young Werther who died of unhappy love": Graves Grave brings people together, and the elder Krutolobova appreciated the sincerity of the grief of the "daughter-in-law", took her to the cemetery, to Victor's grave, but could not explain to her in any way whose grave it was, and the younger Krutolobova did not understand why she was brought there. The first thought was that she was brought to Erast's grave" ^{[14, p. 177]}. The parodic rapprochement, the "replacement / substitution" of one hero by another, is shown through the position of the mother, the bride – typical sentimental heroines, as a sign of absurdity, the highest limit of sensitivity, reaction to the "longing of the soul".

In the text of V. V. Sipovsky, all elements of the "sensitive traveler" type become objects of parody - from naming to specifying the purpose of the trip, describing ways to travel along the way, the route, the finale of the event.

In the scene of acquaintance with the hussar, Erast presents himself in a special way: "Erast Krutolobov, a nobleman, I travel around the Russian Empire for the benefit and pleasure" ^{[14, p. 119]}. The installation obviously expresses the main principle of sentimental travel, and it is characteristic of the "Karamzin canon", which is described in his monograph by V. V. Sipovsky. In contrast to Stern, Karamzin in his "Letters of a Russian traveler" tries to balance the rational and emotional beginnings, simultaneously characterizing the "life of the soul" of the traveler and satisfying the interests of the mind – "for the benefit and pleasure."

The journey of Erast, a kind of noble neophyte, brought up in a deep province, in the rural wilderness, is profaned from the very beginning of the narrative: in the madcap head of the mother, Glyceria Anempodistovna, the granddaughter of Pyotr Shalikov, a plan for the "sensitive journey" of the son to the "civilized" countries is born. The mother's consciousness is presented as formed on the "experiments of N.M. Karamzin and Pyotr Shalikov," thanks to which she knew "how to develop the journey of young people." The dialogue of the mother with the Mentor Mentor ironically reveals the need to combine feeling and reason in the sentimental canon: "Travel is necessary for a sensitive heart," she orated. And for a mind hungry for knowledge, madam! – added the crafty Mentor… I will make every effort to enrich the feelings and mind of my dear pupil" ^{[14, p. 26]}. In addition, as a necessary attribute of travel in the conversations of the heroes, the importance of creating an essay about him is highlighted, necessarily in the form of letters: "... in the spirit of Stern ... Lawrence Stern: "Letters of two sensitive travelers, or Telemak of the XIX century" <...> We will print this work later" ^{[14, p. 26]}. The enthusiastic reflections of the heroine reveal a certain scheme of the sensitive canon in the genre of travelogue of the beginning of the XIX century: making a trip from the province to the capital for the sake of benefit and pleasure, writing an essay about this event and publishing it in a well-known magazine to glorify the name, obtain the status of author / writer.

The category of "sensitivity" itself is parodied in V.V. Sipovsky's novel, the ways of its expression by different characters, the degree of manifestation. The most "sensitive" heroine, of course, is Erast's mother, but the ways of expression are different. So, in the process of preparing for her son's journey, she chooses a very prudent and everyday, lowly way to get money – to choose the most beautiful yard girls and sell them to a loving neighbor: "Sensitivity did not prevent Krutolobova from selling "live goods". In addition, she was convinced that for a simple serf girl to get into the count's ballet or choir, or even a harem, was the height of well-being" ^{[14, p. 31]}. The "sensitivity" of Glyceria Anempodistovna's nature is also manifested in the way letters are created. In order to provide her son with a good reception in Moscow, she writes letters to distant relatives according to the noble tradition: "This writing took several days, since the letters were written sensitive and long-long, even with extracts from the diary, with sweet memories of the past, with rosy dreams about the future" ^{[14, pp. 32-33]}. The style and content of these letters later became the object of ridicule in the capital's secular society: General Epanchova reads aloud several fragments, which causes general laughter. The main reason for such a reaction is a complete discrepancy between sensitivity and reality, the sublime and everyday: "I absolutely do not understand anything!.. Telemak? Mentor?.. Erast... tenderness... sweet dreams... flowers of graces ... a broadsword girl... geese and piglets..." ^{[14, p. 82]}. The absurdity of the content of the letters of Krutolobov's mother is summarized by the general's wife as follows: "Congratulations! Now your cousin has arrived from the province – a sensitive traveler, and brought his "beautiful soul" and a Broadsword with piglets" ^{[14, p. 82]}. However, laughter is caused not only by the comic combination of the sublime and everyday in the message of a provincial relative, but also by the very fact of Erast's appearance in Moscow as a sensitive traveler. At this stage of the development of the plot of the parody text, the time period indicated in the title is updated – the 30s of the XIX century, a turning point both in the historical and literary process and in everyday life. Sentimental-romantic ideals go into the past as something unviable, implausible, contrary to reality. The fact of the destruction of the canon is also recorded in the text of V.V. Sipovsky. General's Wife Epanchova expresses unequivocally a negative reaction to the proclaimed "sensitive" nature of Erast's journey, the nomination "sensitive traveler": "After learning that Glyceria goes to the grave of a local Werther and wants to make a "sensitive traveler" out of her son, the general's wife shook her head and said: – Oh, how she lagged behind! What "sensitive travelers" are nowadays!" ^{[14, p. 89]} Although the interjection "ah", and the abundance of rhetorical exclamations, and the style of phrases, in turn, indicate dependence on the sentimental canon and the general's wife herself. In the capital's secular society, the stereotype of the image of a "sensitive traveler" is discussed, the phrase "if you are a sensitive traveler, you should ..." is constantly used as a stable verbal formula in the speech of the heroes, "if you are a sensitive traveler, you should ..." know / read/ write/understand, etc. The way in which the traveler type nomination is included in the text of the work also serves as an indicator of the pattern: the phrase sensitive traveler is always used in quotation marks. Here are some illustrative examples in which the attributes of the sentimental canon in the genre of travelogue are used: "If you are a "sensitive traveler", you should know this book by heart! Have you read the New Eloise?"; "I really want you to fall in love … After all, if you fall in love, I will get to the pages of your “sentimental journey"? Do you keep a journal? ..." ^{[14, p. 95]}.

Various ways of moving a "sensitive traveler" in space are also openly profaned. The hero's journey from the provinces to Moscow and St. Petersburg is described in the form of trips on all types of transport available to travelers at that time. The story of Erast begins with a comic description of his unsuccessful trip on a piroskaf, which he built himself, trying to match the capital's travelers, then he goes on an old crumbling tarantass to Moscow, from there he goes on a Dragonfly stagecoach to St. Petersburg, where he unexpectedly gets into a balloon in the garden, on which he flies to an unknown direction. It is significant that all his ways of moving end in disaster, destruction of the vehicle, which entails a stop on the way, the need to change the route. The final movement of Erast in a balloon ends not only with a catastrophe and a fall, but also leads the hero to the need to marry an old maid Agrippina Antonovna Casserole, whom he saw naked by the lake at the time of the fall. From that moment on, the plot of the work implements a variant of the sentimental story, which Erast and his mother put in 3rd place in their "literary plans" and nominate "about Erast's forced marriage (or suicide from sensitivity)". The new story begins with the fact that the unexpected fall of Erast with the servant Frolka on a balloon from the sky into the lake is perceived by the locals as a diabolical obsession, and Erast himself is compared to the Serpent Gorynych. Moreover, later the residents dubbed the space of the traveler's fall "unclean" and, looking at him, constantly crossed themselves: "Not only in the nearest village, but also in the surrounding estates, all Blew, Cavunts, Shkvorni started talking about the fact that the Casserole estate was "unclean". The groom arrived in the form of a snake, married a Gripochka Casserole and flew away, and left the "skin"" ^{[14, p. 173]}. And after the news of Erast's death, "not only the Casserole estate and themselves, but the lake itself was reputed to be "unclean"" ^{[14, p. 180]}. Thus, the final movement of the "sensitive traveler" in space becomes a symbolic transformation into a demonic image – a devil, a snake, a runaway convict ("runaway Kamchatka"), which ends with a message about his death. An imaginary event invented by Erast's family expresses the symbolic death of a "sensitive traveler" as a type of hero of the "sentimental canon" in a travelogue. The insert plot "about suicide from sensitivity" in V.V. Sipovsky's parody travelogue actualizes the change of tradition in the 30s of the XIX century in the context of the evolution of the genre in the historical and literary process. In the finale of the text, Erast, who returned home, "resurrected" as a village nobleman after a "sensitive journey", "began to think about an official career." It is symbolic that this idea is given to him by his father in a "bright moment of sobering up." In Erast's reflections on his future activity and role in society, images begin to appear representing the types of heroes of the new literary tradition – the "natural school", partly only related to travel: "It's good, of course, to be a coachman on the "extra", to blow the trumpet… But it's even better to be a skipper on a piroskaf!.. It is not bad to be a courier, whom the station keepers are so afraid of..." ^{[14, p. 181]}. The role of the "sensitive traveler" remains only as a role in literary history with a certain plot. The struggle of idealism with realism described by V. V. Sipovsky is embodied in the text about Erast's journey in the form of exposing the insolvency of the "sensitive traveler" type by real reality, the destruction of the hero's book consciousness by everyday life. In an effort to "bring social justification to facts," Sipovsky addresses the conflict of the real and the ideal in Russian reality in the first third of the XIX century, demonstrating it as a clash of literary trends at different levels, including formal. The sentimental traveler as a type of narrative subject in the "Karamzin canon" is expressed in the context of the development of the historical and literary process in the 30s of the XIX century by other types - different representatives of the social hierarchy traveling on duty.

In addition, "Erast's Journey ..." by V. Novodvorsky, as a variant of a parody travelogue, actualizes the author's problem, expresses a special – philological, research – point of view of the author himself, V. V. Sipovsky, who simultaneously presents a reflection on the fate of the "Karamzin canon" in the history of the development of the travelogue genre in the XIX century, and generalization of "common places" genres subjected to special modifications and leveling in the 30s, and an understanding of the uniqueness of the new narrative paradigm that is being formed against the background of the destruction of the sentimental model. The "View" of a literary critic from the 30s of the XX century (Sipovsky's text was published in 1929) expresses in a special way an understanding of the crisis stage in the history of the genre development: in the process of creating a parody of a parody, research reflection is broadcast not only at the level of a literary game, but also through modeling the narrative structure of the text, in which not only are the stages of the journey of the main character, Erast Krutolobov, "the event of the journey" described /parodied, but also the ambivalence of ideas about the "event of telling" about the journey is expressed (sentimental model and realistic).