S.G. Chavain's novel "Elnet": the unity of the Mari language, folklore and traditions

Shkalina Galina Evgen'evna Doctor of Cultural Studies Professor, Department of Culture and Arts, Mari State University 424020, Russia, Republic of Mari El, Yoshkar-Ola, 44 Kremlevskaya str., office 302 gshkalina@mail.ru

Literature as an artistic text reflects the phenomena of culture, reacts sensitively to any changes in it, whether it concerns the positive dynamics of its values or negative ones. It is such artistic information that receives interpretative embodiment in a specific material product, behavioral act, value judgment.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Mari world shone with the names of the first authors writing in their native language. The brightest pages of Mari poetry, prose, drama, and journalism in this period are associated with the name of Sergei Grigoryevich Chavain. "Only in the triplicity of the native language, folklore and traditions do I see that solid foundation and conditions without which any national literature cannot develop and become at least somewhat significant," wrote Peter Domokos, a prominent Hungarian scientist, researcher of literary creativity of the peoples of the Volga region and the Urals ^{[4, p. 99]}.

Without any doubt, all the components named by the scientist are "significantly" present in the work of S.G. Chavain. Starting with his literary pseudonym – Chavain. As a child, Seryozha bore the surname of his father, a peasant from the village of Izi Koramas (Maly Koramas) in the Sebeusad parish of Tsarevokokshaysky district of Strelkov Grigory Mikhailovich. Today it is the Morkinsky district of the Republic of Mari El. Mother – Anisimova Tatyana Anisimovna – was a gifted storyteller, knew many folk tales and songs, to which she introduced her son. The boy was baptized in the Church of the Nativity of Christ and the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Arino, built in 1752. At first it was a wooden church, and in 1828 a stone two-altar church was erected in its place.  Sergey went to the Kazan Teachers' Seminary with the surname Grigoriev, but soon became Sergey Chavain — he took a literary pseudonym.

This is the legend that residents of the village of Chavainur in the Morkinsky district of the Republic of Mari El tell today. According to legend, one of his ancestors Chavai lived in the XVI century. near the village of Maly Koramas. He had his own ilem (farm). In 1552, Chavai participated in the battles near Kazan in the army of Ivan the Terrible. For his bravery, the Russian tsar offered Chavai a high position if he would be baptized. But the Mari hero refused. Chavai had three sons: Vasli, Stopan, Yamblat. The eldest, Vasli and Stopan, were baptized and sent to Moscow to serve the tsar. After the capture of Kazan, Ivan the Terrible promised Chavai good land ownership, as well as not to impose heavy duties and not to send him to fight. However, soon the best lands of Chavai were captured by the royal nobles, all kinds of extortion increased, and young guys were recruited. Thus began the Cheremis wars against the tsar. In one of the battles, the sons of Chavai, Stopan and Yamblat, were killed. And Vasli remained to serve in the royal retinue.

Thus, the pseudonym Chavain means belonging to the family of Chavai, the legendary Mari hero who lived in the XVI century.

In the description of S.G. Chavain's literary work, the key word is "the first":  the first author's Mari poem "Oto" ("Grove") – December 1905; the first story "Yilanda" ("Yilanda") – 1908; the first play "Kayykludo" ("Wild Duck") – 1910; the first major epic work – the play "Deserter-vlak" ("Deserters") – 1920s; in 1934, Chavain was the first of the Mari to become a member of the USSR Writers' Union; in the same year he was elected to the Board of the Gorky Regional branch of the Writers' Union.

S.G. Chavain was the first Mari author who realized the beauty and power of his native word and enthusiastically realized its possibilities in fiction. He headed the flagship direction of the emerging Mari literature in the 20s and 30s. In the twentieth century, along with P. Yererlanov, V. Vasiliev (?Pymary), F. Egorov, T. Efremov, etc., born of "similar historical circumstances – the era of the domination of educational ideas; revolutionary events that awakened the national consciousness of the people and the emerging Mari intelligentsia, strengthened the spirit of liberation and creativity in society" ^{[5, p. 4]}. "A teacher by vocation and education, a man of all—round talent, he had excellent musical abilities: he sang wonderfully, played the guitar, balalaika well, and even better - the violin. He passionately loved and deeply understood nature, knew folklore, folk and classical music perfectly, and was sensitive to painting. According to the memories of relatives and friends, he painted often, enthusiastically and very well" ^{[3, p. 6]}. In short, a Renaissance personality.

The literary history of the Mari people in 1920-1930 was significantly influenced by two significant events, which then beneficially influenced the entire course of national life. First, the First All–Russian Congress of the Mari, held in July 1917 in the city of Pyr (Birsk). Among the vital issues, the delegates of the congress discussed the topics of public education, printed publications, folk art, religion, etc. The turning point of the forum was the restoration of the self-name Mari instead of the former official ethnonym cheremis. All the documents of the congress were issued with the name Marie. "The first All-Russian Mari Congress has become the most important event in the history of the Mari national movement. It was a peculiar result of the period of formation of the Mari national movement...It was followed by a number of meetings of the Mari — uyezd, provincial and II All-Russian" ^{[10, p. 23]}. 

The second event is the historical Decree on the formation of the autonomous region of the Mari people, signed by V.I. Lenin on November 4, 1920. S.G. Chavain met these and subsequent facts of the national movement with great joy and enthusiasm. He begins a new rise in creativity. In the 1920s, the play "Deserter-vlak" ("Deserters") became the first major epic work in Mari literature. New plays, short stories, dramas, and poems were written.

Since the early 1930s, Sergey Grigorievich has been working on the novel "Elnet". In 1934, in the magazine "U viy" ("New Force"), he wrote: "Now I am writing the play "Mari Roto" ("Mari Company"). Then I'm thinking of writing a big novel. Conditionally, I called it "Korno" ("Path"). Perhaps the title will have to be changed later... the novel should consist of three parts."  In early 1936, S. G. Chavain wrote in the newspaper Mariyskaya Pravda: "Now I am writing a novel "Elnet" in three parts... The first part covers the years 1911-1914; in the second I will write about the revolution, the civil war and the beginning  NEP-a;  the content of the third part is the NEP and the present time."

We emphasize that by the time the novel "Elnet" appeared in Mari prose, there were already works in a similar genre. These are the "Era" by M. Shketan and the "Savik" by N. Ignatiev. But writers claim that Chavain's novel "Elnet" occupies a special place in this series. "S. G. Chavain creates a qualitatively different work, in which the main thing is the resolution of ideological issues, that is, the writer makes an attempt to create not an illustrative, but an intellectual novel" ^{[7, p. 11]}.  

The Elnet River…  In the cultural traditions of the peoples of the world, the river is a symbol of life, an allegory of Times, Big and Small. In C. G. Jung's interpretation, the river is the most ancient and stable archetype. In some cases, the river can be a sign of fateful changes, such as the Styx in Greek mythology in the meaning of the transition to that world. After crossing the Jordan River, the Jews entered history. The metaphor of the river also means the fact of awareness — insight into the essence of the mysterious. For Christians, bathing in the river is a rite of baptism; the archetype of the stream is in Taoism and Buddhism. It is also a symbol of the elements, fertility in the traditions of many peoples of the world. In the Mari mythopoetic representations, there is a reflection of the image of the river as cosmic waters. By the heavenly river – Yumyn eher – mari, the Milky Way was understood. Yumyndyr (the Daughter of God) brought Yumyn KT (the Heavenly Herd) to this river to drink. The water in the Mari narratives, like a spring, flows from sacred places, and then flows in rivers to all ends of the earth. Traces of the cosmic, world-building role of rivers are "read" in the Mari traditional embroidery. The sacred hydronymy of Mari suggests, on the one hand, the sacralization of real rivers, on the other hand, the correlation of these real rivers with their heavenly mythological prototype – the cosmic river.

In Russian classics, the semantics of the river by A.S. Pushkin is interesting. In the poem "The Bronze Horseman", the author poetized the river on the specific example of the Neva:                             

I love you, Petra creation,

I love your strict, slender look,

Neva is a sovereign current,

Its coastal granite... ^[11].

Pushkin, who spoke in the same poem about the Finnish fisherman as the "sad stepson of nature", was Chavain's favorite poet. This is noted by all researchers of the Mari classical art. Back in 1910, Sergei Grigorievich compiled a textbook for the Mari schools, which included poems by A. Pushkin translated by the compiler. In 1937, he wrote a dramatization play based on A. Pushkin's novella "Dubrovsky" for the Mari Theater. S. Chavain's faithful friend, Mari ethnographer, folklorist Janish Yalkain called the poet "Mari Pushkin" ^{[9, pp. 71-72]}.

Thus, we can talk about the archetypal polyvalence of the image of the river in the world cultural tradition. "A word is not a thing, but an eternally mobile, eternally changeable medium of dialogical communication," M.M. Bakhtin wrote. – It never satisfies one consciousness, one voice. The life of a word is in the transition from word of mouth, from one context to another context, from one social collective to another, from one generation to another generation. At the same time, the word does not forget its path and cannot completely free itself from the power of those specific contexts in which it was included" ^{[1, p. 225]}. The most important category for M. M. Bakhtin is the Author, who "can never give all of himself and all of his speech work to the full and final will ... of the addressees ... and always assumes ... some kind of higher authority of reciprocal understanding" ^{[1, p. 366]}, which "fills up the text: it is active and has a creative character" ^{[1, p. 498]}.

"Language creates its own world. The question arises about the degree of adequacy of the world created by language to a world that exists outside of connection with language, lying beyond its borders," wrote Yu. M. Lotman ^{[2, p. 12]}. The world created in the novel "Elnet" by Sergei Grigorievich Chavain is Mari. He is visible and invisible at the same time. Let's highlight the main levels of this world.

1. Elnet is a tributary of the Volga, one of the most beautiful rivers in the Mari territory. Its shores include ship forests, which played a role in the construction of the Russian fleet back under Peter I, and rich water meadows like a "pancake land": "Elnet pinchet – varieties of redet, Koramas nuret – melna oset!", – Murat Koramas kadyr-vlak. Koramas nur manme dene nuno ogyt shoysht: Koramas nur – pesh kumda. Elnet ik velne Koramas leman kood yal ulo, Elnet ves velne, kolo vich mege koklashte, Elnet chodra she?gelne kok yal ulo... Elnet vd — kugu vd. Tudyn seryshtyzhe shuko yal, shuko chodra ulo. You are kundemyshte Elnet pincher dech sylne chodra uke, Koramas nur guy chaplet mlandat chagall. The lach varieties are Mariy shemerlan ok volgaltare, melna osyzhat chagall t?kna ^{[12, p. 161]}. ("The Elnet pine is a wax candle, the Koramas fields are pancake land!" The Koramas girls sing. The Coramas fields are widely spread. On one side of the Elnet, as many as six villages are called Koramas and on the other side, beyond the Elnet forest, twenty-five versts away, there are two more Koramas... Elnet River is a big river. There are many villages along its shores, and forests stretch far away. But there is no place in the whole of Elnet more beautiful than the Elnet forest, and there is little such good land as the Koramas fields... Only the poor of Koramas do not shine wax candles, and they get very few pancakes ^{[15, p. 13]}). 

The vibrant green color of nature in Chavain's poetics is fascinating. Always young and fresh, always being born, the real life of wildlife. He sang it metaphorically in his first poem in the Mari language "Oto" ("Grove"), which later spread all over the world in different languages of the peoples of the world.  Chavain was just over 17 years old at the time:

Ik tymyk oto ulo memnan elyshte,

Shoga tudo oto kugu er seryshte.

Tushto ladyra dech ladyra pushe?ge kushkesh,

Tushto motor dech motor saska shochesh,

Tushto, uzhar lyshtash lohashte, shshpyk mura,

Tudo oto gich yeryshke yandar pamash yoga.

Tushto shudyzhat uzhargyrak,

That's where the snowdrifts come from.

Today, my brother,

This is a pushy ruyshym vursem ^[16].

In our opinion, the most successful of the existing translations of the poem "Otho" into Russian, as close as possible to the Mari original in tone, was made by A. Spiridonov, the author of the Mari national epic "Yugorno" ("Prophetic Way"):

There is a quiet grove in my land.,

It stands above the lake, everything is reflected in it.

Its trees are slender, spreading, dense.

The most beautiful fruits are born here,

Here, in the depths, a merry nightingale sings,

A stream runs down into the lake along the pebbles,

The grass is the greenest here,

The flowers are lovely and the foliage is silky.

I love her simple beauty.

And I curse all those who destroy that grove! ^[13].

S. Chavain's "Otho" is a semiotic space of the Mari spiritual tradition. Man as a cultural being opposes the world of nature, understood as an extra-cultural space. The boundary between these two worlds runs inside the human psyche and activity. Nature is endowed with harmony. It is opposed by the disharmony of the human soul. The author hints at the eternal theme of the confrontation between good and evil in man, the questions of the need for man to know the secrets of nature. A young poet, a creator with a new outlook in a new nascent country, longs for good, passionately curses the "chopping grove" villain. In 1905, Chavain's "Oto" is the poet's plan-prospectus for a creative life path, which will lead him 30 years later to a detailed artistic treatise – the novel "Elnet", originally named by the author "The Way". So, "the intersections of semantic spaces that generate new meaning are connected with individual consciousness. When extended to the entire space of a given language, these intersections form so-called linguistic metaphors" ^{[2, p. 26]}. The novel "Elnet" is metaphorical through and through.

2. For the author, Elnet is the motherland, the Ecumenical. The author loved his people with filial love. He called him heroic. In the novel "Elnet", with reference to the main character of Chacha, the most complete archaic version of the fairy tale "Ninchyk patyr" ("The Hero from the dough") is given ^{[12, pp. 163-168]}. Ninchyk patyr is one of the most beloved fairy–tale characters of the Mari people. He appears in the triad of heroes, in which he turns out to be the smartest, strongest, bravest and defeats various enemies. He does not boast of his strength, in accordance with his name, he is gentle, benevolent, compliant.

 Elnet is the ancestral faith, the core of which is the worship of nature, and the human in man is nurtured in the bosom of the "accommodating and nourishing landscape" (Lev Gumilev's term). In order not to harm nature, he integrates into different levels of the universe, does not build large villages, adapts to peculiar living conditions: in the forest, by the water or on a hill. All the characters in the novel "Elnet" are permeated with just such an understanding of nature. From the very first lines of the novel, getting acquainted with the hunter Sakar, the reader finds himself in a magical winter forest: Izi tayyl pochesh munchalten volyshyzhla, Sakar yeche vuizho dene for a long time in shtyrym shuraltysh. Nolgo foster leather uksim perish, skins PC, GIC Sakarin vuyiya mamyk guy pescado loom karpak camboso, ist Lum, Soga crgis Purna, Sakarin Moharram sigillis, christyg of CHARALTYN Solis, SINAD guy yndar WD lien, er lapse chrg of much chipolte. Sakar vulgum netali, srigim chokchai den rialtas, leather vuyisa oncale, tununak the skin of the code logo GIC, tugade KREN listas guy Kayin, philm sm yoginam uzho. Sakar izi vashtarym rualten kuchysh, vashtar yyr savyrnen, yechyzhym tayllan toresh oyten shogale. Pychalzhym kok kidshe denat pegydyn kuchysh. Sakarin the ima guy PS sincere skin of the code lahaska Kerala, philm sm yagumo Corno den skin of much sheryn Czech TLE. Sang skins Doetsch kusnirak, the code veganista, asemalta Kuzu Pocho the den lewellyn, Shem piles musasizi segelten, Kok ancyl jolie den phylum of Isen heap, ur China, philm nsmy suisen cockes ^{[12, p. 151]} (Moving along the slope in a hollow, Sakar touched ski elm hive. An elastic high rod whipped the top of a spruce branch hanging over him, and soft, fluffy snow fell on Sakar. He got behind his collar, dusted his hot face and immediately melted, turning into cool drops like morning dew. Sakar wiped his wet forehead and cheeks with his sleeve, raised his head and saw scales like small brown leaves streaming through the thick branches of the spruce. He grabbed a maple tree with his right hand, described a semicircle around it and stopped, placing his skis across the slope. Sakar took the rifle off his shoulder, and his sharp hunting gaze ran up in the direction of the falling scales. Almost at the very top, covered with a fluffy smoky tail and ears with black tips sticking up, a squirrel was sitting and peeling a lump, clutching it in its front paws ^{[15, p. 13]}).

The Orthodox missionary Sergei Nurminsky wrote: "The forest is the magical world of cheremisin. His whole worldview revolves around the forest. The whole fairy-tale world of cheremis revolves around the forest and its inhabitants, all the riddles and sayings around it..." ^{[8, p. 34]}. Unable to read and write, a forest dweller knows about wild berries, mushrooms, wild bees, animals and birds the way an author of books on biology and zoology builds bridges across rivers like a certified engineer.

3. Elnet is the "golden" world of wonderful Mari songs.

"The song texts of the novel, directly borrowed from folklore or reworked by the author, as well as created by Chavain himself in the likeness of the content and stylistics of folk-poetic works, give the artistic narrative romantic sublimity, poetry, drama and national specificity, strengthen the author's concept of the world and character of the character" ^[6]. For example, village teacher Grigory Petrovich Vetkan, tired of checking students' notebooks, grabs a violin and plays a "Forest Fairy Tale". "He loved this waltz very much, especially the second movement, which reminded him of Mari songs. He often played melodies of his favorite songs on the violin for a long time. And now the melody of the waltz has imperceptibly turned into a Mari chant. Grigory Petrovich began to sing softly" ^{[15, p. 46]}: 

Kudyveche gochet onchalymat,

Uremyn-uremyn koidale.

Urem is bellowing onchalymat,

Pasuyn-pasuyn koidale.

Onchalymat is shouting to pass,

Olykyn-olykyn koidale.

Olykyshket onchalymat,

Lomberyn-lomberyn koidale.

Tendan olyk — memnan orlyk,

Kunam lombyjo peledes?

Uzhar lombyjo ok peled gyn,

Mo den olykda silneshtesh?

Memnan ilysh — tulyk ilysh,

Lachak muryna vele uldalesh.

Memnan muryna ogesh lii geun,

Mo den ilyshna silneshtesh? ^{[12, p. 184]}

(When I looked out the gate,

He saw our street.

When I looked into the distance from the street,

I saw a field across the street.

When I looked into the distance from the field,

I saw a green meadow.

I looked at the green meadow,

The bird cherry tree is often seen.

Meadows for you, but trouble for us.

When will the bird cherry blossom?

What will decorate your meadows,

Cherry trees if they don't bloom?

Our share is an orphan's share,

So, we should also sing sad songs.

What will decorate our bitter life,

If we don't sing songs either? ^{[15, p. 46]}).

Then the Mari teacher Grigory Vetkan proudly, but immediately with regret, says: Mogai silne muro... Kech mutshym nal, kech semzhym nal – yandar shrtn. And me, mari-vlak, shkenan murynam aklen ogyna moshto. Me, Mari intellectual vlak, mari murim murash vozhylyna. Eh, yomsho turnya-vlak!.. ^{[12, p. 184]} (What a beautiful song... The words and the tune are pure gold. And we, the Mari intellectuals, do not appreciate our songs, sometimes we even feel shy to sing them... Oh, cranes that strayed from the flock!.. ^{[15, p. 46]}). 

Let us emphasize that in the Mari spiritual tradition, the idea of nature as the basis of all sensory experience is understood even more abstractly and more sophisticated than the idea of God. This centuries–old experience took shape in an ancient Mari song: Pich chodyra – myyn acham, uzhar olyk – myyn avam, kande kava, volgido erzhara - myyn yeratym yoltash–vlak (Dense forest – my father, green meadow – my mother, blue sky, bright lightning - my beloved friends) ^{[17, p. 86-123]}. Traditional rituals passed down from generation to generation, songs renew life every time they are repeated, returning again and again to its origins. At the same time, a person himself is reborn, freeing himself from the daily hardships of a busy life, cultivating his soul. Through rituals, everything that "wears out" over time – space, society, and man - is transferred to its original state. Any fact of creation is a repetition of the creation of the world, even if this world is limited to a modest house or a simple song.

4. Elnet is the prophetic Way of the Mari people. In 1910, the young poet Sergei Chavain wrote a poem "Molan my shochynam?" ("Why was I born?"):

Kshn?-kshn?, t?nyambalne,

We will go to the koshtesh;

Uzhar-kande fervor yymalne

Tyge kutkizh yir perdesh.

 Koshich koshtash cho 'eshten

Kugu p?rysh? mylanem

Kugu shuldyrym puen,

Manyn, my muraltem.

Pesh pychkemysh vet tyashte!

Om shyplane, omat lad:

Tulem ulo gyn shinchashte,

Ok chaktare myym yd.

 Kechyvalzhat, shuchko yodshat –

It is a closed yolgem;

Chyla vera, ketch-kushtat

Shokta myyn rash yankem.

Chylam palime alem ulo:

It's my favorite shinch.

Liyshash onchyk mo geun ulo,

Today, my palem is cold.

Viem ulo, kuatem, –

Yd is stuck in the right pocket;

Tulem ulo, sitar,

Volgydyzhym my condem.

 К---кн,, тняня......

We will go to the koshtesh:

Uzhar-kande fervor yymalne

Tyge kutkizh yir perdesh ^{[14, pp. 65-66]}

(Flying high above the world

My thought is strong, free,

Where the sky is only turning blue,

She soars like an eagle.

I sing a proud song:

"Mother nature gave me

For a flight to the skies

The wings of a powerful eagle!"

The world is still shrouded in darkness,

But fear is unknown to the heart.

The night has no power over me:

The light is burning in my eyes.

Whether it's day or night, I shine,

And the people are all surprised:

My voice won't stop

It's being distributed… He's everywhere!

There is a power of knowledge in me,

My thought embraces everything –

I know what used to be,

And I know what will happen.

I am dispelling the darkness of the night,

There is no barrier for me,

I'm burning without fading,

I bring light to the people.

Flying high above the world

My thought is strong, free,

Where the sky is only turning blue,

Like an eagle, she soars).

"The creative fire in my heart was lit not for my personal glory, but for the sake of my people, for the sake of their enlightenment. The grief of the people was my grief, their joys were my joys. I never thought to separate myself from the people, from their fate. All the good things in my work were born out of love for the Mari workers, out of a desire to help them build socialism sooner," Chavain said in 1935. He confirmed the same thoughts in a written "explanation" during interrogation when he was arrested in May 1937: I am now working not for fear, but for conscience. I consider myself quite a Soviet person. I don't want anything, just let me work in peace. I don't value my personality. I have lived in the world – I am 49 years old – I have seen sorrow and joy. I have one big feeling. This is love for your people. If love for your people is a crime, then punish me ^{[10, pp. 93-94]}.

The name of Sergei Grigoryevich Chavain is one of the most fateful for the Mari nation. Even today, he remains a "singer of the people", a vivid symbol of national life. Sergey Chavain's name unites different representatives of the Mari – Lugovye and gorny, eastern and northwestern regions, because his poetics, ethnoesthetics, and innovative creativity reflect the spiritual values of the people, evoke deep patriotic feelings, collective memory and collective consciousness, and promote national identity in the international arena.  The state of the intellectual and cultural status of the nation, its world-building horizon, greatly worried the author of the novel "Elnet". The story of Marie, understood by S. Chavain, is a Road leading into the distance with an open door, at the same time it is a spiritual process fueled by a rich cultural heritage, currents of the present, and a dream of accomplishment.