The Napoleonic theme in the story by A. Zegers "Slavery returned to Guadeloupe" in the context of the traditions of F.M. Dostoevsky

Melnikova Lyubov Alexandrovna ORCID: 0000-0001-5257-6069 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Philological Disciplines; Balashov Institute (branch) of Saratov National Research State University named after N.G. Chernyshevsky 29 Karl Marx Street, Balashov, Saratov region, 412300, Russia lmelnikova5@mail.ru

Attempts to comprehend the image of Napoleon, to assess the impact of his activities on the course of French and world history, the fate of different people were made by various writers of the XIX-XX centuries: F. Stendhal, O. de Balzac, V. Hugo, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, S. Zweig and others. The German novelist and publicist Anna Seghers joins them in this regard (Anna Seghers, present. first and last name Netty Radvanyi, nee. Reiling, 1900-1983), which exposes the artistic study of the consequences of Napoleon's colonization policy in the Caribbean Islands in the story "Slavery returned to Guadeloupe" (1948).

In her literary and critical articles, A. Zegers repeatedly denounced the Napoleonic concept of power. The writer reflected on it as part of the analysis of the creative heritage of two outstanding Russian writers of the XIX century – F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy – in her articles "The Napoleonic ideology of power in the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky" ("Die napoleonische Macht-Ideologie in den Werken Tolstoi und Dostojewskis", 1948) and "The Idea of Napoleonic power in the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky" ("Die Idee von der napoleonischen Macht in Romanen von Tolstoi und Dostojewski", 1963). Researchers of the work of A. Zegers drew attention to the fact that in her "Negro" novels, the writer solidalizes with the position of F.M. Dostoevsky regarding the assessment of Napoleon's activities ^{[9, p. 105]}. In this article, we will consider how the Napoleonic theme is revealed in the story by A. Zegers "Slavery returned to Guadeloupe" in the context of the influence of the traditions of the above-mentioned Russian classic.

The relevance of this research is connected, on the one hand, with the increased interest of Russian literary criticism in recent years to the problem of Russian-German literary dialogue of the XIX-XX centuries, as evidenced by a series of scientific conferences "Russia-Germany: literary meetings" held on the basis of the IMLI RAS, on the other – insufficient detailed and versatile study of the creative heritage A. Zegers in Russian Germanistics in the aspect of the problems stated in this article.

I. Mishin ^[8], G.M. Friedlander ^[10], Yu. Lehman ^[7], G.G. Ishimbayeva ^[5] drew attention to creative parallels in the artistic worlds of F. M. Dostoevsky and A. Zegers. The Napoleonic theme in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky became the object of study by a number of domestic researchers – E. N. Agashina ^[1], N. A. Gorbanev ^[2], E.M. Zhilyakova ^[3], N. N. Podosokorsky ^[9], the specifics of revealing the Napoleonic problems in the work of A. Zegers, the artistic world of her story "Slavery has returned to Guadeloupe" has not yet been the subject of a separate study in Russian literary studies. This is due to the novelty of our work.

The author of the article uses the following methods: the method of holistic analysis, the method of structural analysis, the method of comparative analysis of works of art.

"Slavery has returned to Guadeloupe" is one of the so-called "Negro" novels by A. Zegers. The central issue in this work is the problem of freedom and oppression of the black population of Guadeloupe, which arises at the very beginning of the story, revealing itself through the representation of landscape descriptions: "The night was quiet. Somewhere behind the hut, invisible and inaudible, the sea lurked. In the peaceful glow of the moon, the shallow basin looked like a lake, and the hut clinging to its edge looked like a boat. The shadows of lonely palm trees, bare to the tops, drew a grid on the surface. No matter how weak the wind was, it made a peculiar noise, shaking the feathery leaves of palm trees, like the crackling of a hidden fire" ^{[4, p. 163]}.

The comparison of the sea with the lake, in our opinion, indicates the territorial, "local" limitation of the place of action in this work, it also shows that at the time of the beginning of the events described in the text, the atmosphere on the island is outwardly relatively calm. The likening of a hut to a boat, on the one hand, emphasizes the instability of the situation of Blacks, who can be "carried" by the waves of the consequences of political storms occurring in their native country of colonizers, on the other hand, hints at the hope of blacks for the possibility of choosing their path of further development.

The general soothing atmosphere of the first part of the above night landscape description sharply dissonates with the second part, in which motives of loneliness, anxiety, and desperate impulsivity arise. This is facilitated by the images of lonely palm trees, the shadows of which draw a grid on the surface of the lake. This detail makes it clear to the reader that real freedom is impossible for Blacks, and as the further development of events in the work will show, one of the reasons for this will be the rise to power of Napoleon. Before proceeding to the analysis of the Napoleonic theme in the story itself, let us characterize the character level of the text under consideration.

The system of characters in the story "Slavery returned to Guadeloupe" is polycentric and based on the opposition of "blacks" – "whites", the middle position between them is occupied by mulattoes. Among the heroes, three protagonists are described – Beauvais, the adjutant of the commissioner of the island ("white"), Beranger, the commandant of the fort (mulatto), Paul Roan ("black"). Having created a kind of alliance, these three characters are conducting educational work among blacks, explaining to them what changes in their lives should be brought by the resolution of the Convention on giving the black population of Guadeloupe the opportunity to divide the island's land equally among themselves and begin to cultivate it for themselves, which, in fact, is equivalent to the abolition of slavery. These characters are united not only by following a common goal – to achieve freedom for Blacks – but also by the fact that each of them puts their professional and moral duty above personal interests. Beauvais refuses to return to Paris, where his fiancee Claudine has been unsuccessfully waiting for him for several years, Beranger discreetly communicates with his wife and daughter who suddenly arrived on the island, since all his thoughts and aspirations are subordinated to the goal of direct implementation of the Convention's orders on the island, allowing Blacks to gain independence. Both of these characters can be classified as ideological heroes, since they, like many of F.M. Dostoevsky's heroes, are concerned about the fate of mankind (even within the boundaries of a small island in the Caribbean Sea) much more than personal passions.

The development of the events described in the story is based on antagonism and the problem of mutual rejection of blacks and whites. There is a motive in the work of the arrogant and contemptuous attitude of the French towards Negroes, it gets a particularly vivid expression in the episode describing the arrival of Commissioner Boisseret and his secretary and deputy Fabien to the island after the establishment of Napoleon's power in France. The aide-de-camp of the former commissioner, Beauvais, does not see any cause for concern during the first meeting with them, however, Paul Rohan immediately understands that the arrival of these officials will bring bad changes to the island, because he catches hints of them in their behavior: "the barely noticeable chill with which the new bosses accepted Beauvais' words that the Negro, if necessary, will supplement his report. An elusive sneer on the face of both during the welcoming hugs" ^{[4, p. 187]}.

Paul Rohan occupies a special place in the system of characters in this work. His natural insight in the story is complemented by an indication that he has learned to read and write. Because of this, "whatever events were brewing in the east, in a country unknown to him, and no matter how differently people perceived them, it was easy for Paul Roan to make a judgment about them. It is much easier than for those who cooked in all this" ^{[4, p. 187]}. The above quote shows that Anna Zegers, by pointing to these qualities of her character, is trying to rehabilitate him in the eyes of readers, to point out that blacks can intellectually not only be inferior to whites, but even surpass them.

It is through Paul's non-direct speech that the cruelty of the "whites" is emphasized in the story: "Paul Rohan became convinced as a child that whites would stop at nothing if they had the desire and power" ^{[4, p. 188]}. At the same time, the representative of the Jesuit Order, Father Dumerk, who lived on the island for forty years and taught Paul Rohan and other blacks to read, sought to show by his example other behaviors of Europeans. The monks of his order released the slaves belonging to the monastery on the island, and he tirelessly "tried to explain to the Negroes that greed, thirst for pleasure, desire for power and cruelty are optional properties of Christians with white skin" ^{[4, p. 186]}. However, the behavior of the colonialists on the island often contradicts such statements, and Napoleon's behavior refutes them. The latter belongs to the category of negative characters in the work. The problem of the oppressed position of Negroes in the story is closely related to the image of Napoleon. It should be noted that among the characters directly acting in the work, Napoleon does not appear on the pages of the story.

The integral image of this character in the text is recreated gradually. At first, it arises as a result of occasional mentions that Bonaparte has returned from Paris. The portrait of this hero, formed by the crowd, initially boiled down to the fact that "Bonaparte is a very young officer who led the revolutionary army from victory to victory" ^{[4, p. 190]}. It should be noted that in his story A. Zegers focuses not so much on the representation of Napoleon's personality, as on the description of the essence and consequences of his policy towards the Negro population of the islands colonized by France. With the advent of Napoleon, the political rhetoric of the French authorities regarding the black population of Guadeloupe instantly changed: "In the very first circulars received in Guadeloupe, the inspiring breath of freedom was no longer felt. It was proposed to replace all officials in the city and village" ^{[4, p. 183]}. Further, the psychological portrait of Napoleon is complemented by an expressive speech characteristic of the adjutant of the commandant of Fort Beranger: "Bonaparte cannot stand Negroes. He is always angry when they are assigned or promoted somewhere" ^{[4, p. 184]}. The possibility of future unkind changes is also hinted at by a circular received by the commandant of the fort, which reads: "All instructions of the previous government henceforth, until special discretion, to declare invalid" ^{[4, p. 184]}. Arriving in Guadeloupe, the new commissioner Boisseret and his secretary Fabien become a kind of Napoleon's envoys, seeking to implement the instructions received from the new consul on the island. The attentive Paul Rohan immediately guesses the true purpose of their visit: "from what slipped through their conversations, it was not difficult to conclude that the Negroes were going to take away their liberties, curtail their civil rights" ^{[4, p. 187]}.

The story provides an assessment of Napoleon, from Dumerk's point of view, through the representation of the latter's improperly direct speech, in which criticism of the cynicism and excessive pragmatism of the new leader of France is evident: "A request came from the consul: what have the Antilles given the state since the liberation of the Negroes? What can you give from a man who measures the cost of freedom by the cost of ships loaded with sugar and coffee!" ^{[4, p. 186]}.

It is noteworthy that none of the positive characters in the work approves of Bonaparte's policy. There is only one hero in the work who admires Napoleon's personality – Fabien, but his image is marked in the story by negative connotations of perception. In a conversation with Beauvais, Fabien becomes a repeater of Napoleon's position regarding the Negroes. Commenting on Toussaint's attempt to create a republic in Haiti, he exclaims: "Where did you hear that peace was made with blacks? <...> You don't know our General Bonaparte! He will give you a surprise yet!" ^{[4, p. 190]}.

Fabien's assessments of Napoleon are marked by signs of enthusiastic idealization: "What kind of man is Bonaparte <...> He will build a new fatherland for us. Not on revolutionary chatter, but on glory and honor!" ^{[4, p. 191]}. He also manifests himself as a declamator of the key direction of Napoleon's foreign policy: "Now we need colonies. We need coffee and sugar. And, therefore, slaves are needed" ^{[4, p. 191]}. At the same time, the writer, through the use of expressive artistic details, points out to the reader the fallacy of Fabien's views. Propagating colonialist policies and aggressive ambitions, he enters into an argument with a man convinced of the fallacy of such an approach and the need for more constructive changes by Beauvais, during which he declares: "You are mistaken," Fabian said. He was peeling salt from almonds with his fingernail, mistaking it for sugar (our italics are L.M.). – Sugar under Bonaparte is no different from sugar under Louis the Sixteenth <...> Sugar has brought wealth and enviable prosperity to our fatherland <...> The whole difference is who the slave works for <...> for whom he cuts sugar cane – for Louis the Sixteenth or Napoleon" ^{[4, p. 192]}. In our opinion, this detail (mistaking salt for sugar) is very indicative and has several interpretations, Firstly, it indicates that Fabien mistakenly assesses the political situation and the greatness of Napoleon, secondly, it emphasizes the selfish ambitions of this character, his excessive focus on the problem of sugar extraction, thirdly She hints at this hero's lack of political cleanliness and insight. Fabien concludes his reflections on the expediency of Napoleon's chosen policy with a cynical conclusion that emphasizes the hypocrisy of his nature: "The Englishman is our primordial enemy <...> And if the British produce more sugar with their slaves than we do with our cries for equality, then the conclusion is the same: “We must stop talking! On your knees, Negroes! And you can continue to flaunt in tricolor scarves as much as you like" ^{[4, p. 192]}. The next day, Fabien distributes a proclamation on the island, in which Napoleon appears as an exposer of Toussaint's treachery on the island of Haiti. The astute Paul Rohan, after reading a proclamation about the fate of the negroes who rebelled in Haiti, makes a prophetic statement about the future fate of blacks in Guadeloupe: "Bonaparte, whose name is under the proclamation, has nothing to do with the Republic. He will make us slaves again" ^{[4, p. 194]}.

After the publication of this proclamation, the motive of crowding arises in the story. It is used by the writer to describe the reaction of the protagonists to this document: "In the evening Beauvais went to the Field. It seemed to him that the walls had moved closer, and with the walls and people. Time became tighter, it pressed on my shoulders, squeezed my throat" ^{[4, p. 194]}. The changes in the moods of Roan's family emphasize expressive comparisons: "In everyone's eyes, fright froze, as if a hurricane had struck the island" ^{[4, p. 194]}. Indirectly, Father Dumerk, who received the order to leave the island, expresses his disagreement with Napoleon's intentions: "If a difficult time comes again, Dumerk said, and he will not be with them, let them know that it did not depend on him" ^{[4, p. 195]}. Soon after the proclamation is announced, the division of lands is carried out and Negroes begin to work on the plots allocated to them. However, the process of discrimination against the black population of Guadeloupe after Napoleon came to power is gradually gaining momentum: a new provisional government is being created, which does not include a single Negro, and the services of Paul Roan as an intermediary between whites and blacks are no longer needed by the French colonialists. After a while, a legitimate return of slavery takes place: an order is issued that blacks and their families must return to their former places of work, since the decrees of the previous government are declared invalid.

The protagonists of Beauvais, Beranger, and Paul Rohan react painfully to these changes. The image of Napoleon arises in a conversation between Beranger and his black maid Jacqueline. Reproaching his master for being "too sick of Negroes," the servant tries to dissuade Beranger from the fatal decision: "<...> whatever you do, it won't help us blacks. Your new master is the one who writes laws and issues orders, he is said to be a powerful master. So what can you do against him–alone, on this island? <...> our island is so tiny – your powerful lord does not even care about it. What is one island more or less for him!" ^{[4, p. 202]}. However, Beranger, not wanting to be a participant in a new round of enslavement of Negroes, blows up the fort entrusted to him on the island, expressing by this act and his death a protest against Napoleon's policy.