The image of V. K. Pleve in Nikolai Svechin's retro-detectives

Chzhan Shitsun ORCID: 0009-0006-2519-4560 Postgraduate student; Faculty of Philology; St. Petersburg State University 7-9 Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199406, Russia. aidazh@126.com

Introduction

In the historical genre, as V. S. Sergeeva rightly notes, "the relationship between history and fiction is always not accidental" ^{[1, p. 152]}, and the author's goal is of particular importance here: it determines the principle of selecting materials and ways of interpreting them. The modern reinterpretation of the relationship between literature and history within the framework of the so-called New Historicism points to a certain "homogeneity" of historical fiction and documentary texts: the writer, like historians, conducts a kind of research, collecting materials and interpreting events. Against this background, it seems that when studying works of modern fiction, the action of which is attributed to the past, it is advisable to involve, according to L. A. Trubina, "a broader intertextual and interdisciplinary context" ^{[2, p. 432]}, i.e. to involve a wide range of historical sources in the study.

This article is devoted to the retrodetections of Nikolai Svechin, which have become very popular among readers in recent years. These works are characterized, on the one hand, by the desire to faithfully reproduce the era described. Thus, according to L. Danilkin, Svechin's novels "are remembered not so much for their criminal plot as for their amazing information, which cannot be found in any textbooks" ^{[3, p. 149]}. Other researchers have also come to the conclusion that the primary role in the writer's novels is played not so much by detective and adventure stories as by the historical and local history component in them ^{[4, 5]}.

On the other hand, the detective genre presupposes "rigid genre-themed canons.", <...> offering a certain plot scheme and having a common theme, a well-established set of characters or types of heroes." "Canonical principles and typical patterns," according to M. A. Chernyak, "form " the genre expectation of the "reader" ^{[6, p. 4]}. Thus, despite the writer's desire for historical authenticity, the depiction of the past in his novels is inevitably fictionalized and simplified, obeying the canons of the genre.

Comparing Svechin's texts with their possible historical sources, we will try to find out how Nikolai Svechin justifies the "genre expectation" of readers, ensuring the reliability of the information provided about the era described, how he reworks documentary materials in order to bring them in line with the poetics of mass literature, which, as a rule, is alien to the analysis of complex moral problems.

The system of characters in Svechin's retrodetections is based on this simplified poetics, canonical for mass literature. Svechin's characters can be roughly divided into two groups: friends and enemies of Alexei Lykov. Consider the image of one of Lykov's "friends", V. K. Plehve.

Discussion

The image of the minister first appears in the novel "Between Amur and Neva" (in subsequent editions the novel was called "Fatal Numbers" and "The Demon of the Underworld"), where Plehve is depicted almost as a kind of mythological hero who restores order from the chaos that previously reigned in the empire: "By this time, the chaos that reigned began The first stones of the future order are being laid. April 15, Director of the State Police Department <Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve was appointed. <...> With an iron hand, Plehve quickly and effectively began to restore order in the empire" ^{[7, p. 25]}. As Blagovo's immediate superior, the Director of the Police Department provided tremendous support to the operations conducted by the detectives. In the novel "Shot at Bolshaya Morskaya", Plehve is portrayed as a boss who knows how to appreciate the dignity of subordinates and gives them the opportunity to develop. The main characters treat the boss with full confidence: "For help," Blagovo ordered Lykov, "if necessary, turn only to Pleva. Don't trust anyone else!" ^{[8, p. 76]}. In both novels, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich's mind is constantly emphasized: "... clever Plehve decided to separate him from the criminal prisoners once and for all" ^{[7, p. 398]}; "Clever Plehve was not mistaken in his fears" ^{[8, p. 24]}; "A steamer carriage flew up, stopped, and a clever one leaned out of it Plehve's face" ^{[8, p. 369]}, etc.

Plehve's noble image is preserved in the novel "Death Rays", where the central intrigue – the murder of Professor Filippov – is revealed against the background of the struggle between two major political figures of the Nicholas II era: Interior Minister V. K. Plehve and Finance Minister S. Y. Witte.

The narrative about the political situation in tsarist Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, which precedes the actual detective story, tells how the tsar asked Witte and Pobedonostsev for an opinion on the candidacy of the new Minister of the Interior: who should I choose – Plehve or D. S. Sipyagin? This text is apparently borrowed from the memoirs of Witte, who wrote that, in his opinion, Plehve was certainly an intelligent and capable man, but without any convictions; Sipiagin was much less capable, but with convictions. Pobedonostsev expresses himself in a similar way in the novel, only more sharply: "…Plehve is a scoundrel, and Sipiagin is a fool" ^{[9, p. 377]}.

Witte, being an enemy of the Minister of the Interior, had a very low opinion of Plehve's personality, recognizing, however, the intelligence and ability of the official. So, in his memoirs, Witte characterizes Plehve's personality as follows: "... a very intelligent secret police agent, a good lawyer, an opportunist, superficially educated, cunning and dexterous career official, generally very intelligent, but without any state instinct" ^{[9, p. 540]}. The memoirist describes his relationship with Plehve as follows: "Plehve had a personal grudge against me because he thought that I had twice prevented him from becoming Minister of the Interior, he was vindictive and vindictive. We also disagreed about public policy (I'm not talking about beliefs, since he had none). on most issues. My conviction is that the Russian Sovereign must rely on the people. Plehve believed that He should rely on the nobility" ^{[9, p. 502]}.

As we can see, although Witte claims that Plehve had no convictions, he immediately attributes conservative monarchist views to him, and the confrontation loses its purely personal character. In the reviews of other major figures, there are also indications of conservatism and Plehve's lack of views. Thus, E. M. Feoktistov highly appreciated his "considerable mind, enormous memory and ability to work without rest", on the one hand, but admitted that "it is doubtful that Plehve treated with cordial concern for anything other than his personal interests" ^{[10, p. 227]}, on the other.

There are many other similarities with Witte's text in the novel. So, in the epilogue, the author tells how, shortly before his death, Plehve was going to report on Witte's "collaboration" with the revolutionaries and writes that "Vyacheslav Konstantinovich was a policeman in mind and spirit. And his methods were police" ^{[11, p. 366]}. Witte wrote that "since he <If Plehve was only an intelligent, cultured and unscrupulous policeman, then, of course, he could not come up with any measures to eliminate this public outrage, except for police measures, measures of force or measures of police cunning" ^{[9, p. 509]}. In Plehve's words from a conversation with Lykov, there is an indication of the anti-Semitic sentiments of the Minister of the Interior: "He <Witte. – C. S.> has long been at the mercy of the European Jews. When he places loans on exchanges. And he is a Jew by nature" ^{[11, p. 193]}. Witte also hints at the minister's anti-Semitism, talking about his disagreements with Plehve on the Jewish issue: "I hesitate to say that Plehve directly organized these pogroms, but he was not against this, in his opinion, anti-revolutionary opposition" ^{[9, p. 509]}.

In real history, Plehve's policy as Minister of the Interior did not suit "neither a significant part of the ruling elite, nor the liberal society, nor, of course, the revolutionaries" ^{[12, p. 202]}. This circumstance is mentioned in Lykov's monologue: Plehve "really was looking for trouble, turning everyone and everything against himself" ^{[11, p. 358]}.

Despite the fact that at the very beginning of the novel "Death Rays" Plehve is characterized by Pobedonostsev as a "scoundrel", in the further development of the plot Vyacheslav Konstantinovich appears as a purely positive character. Thus, according to Lykov, Plehve, "for all his apparent severity, took very touching care of his employees, even ordinary ones" ^{[11, p. 18]}. The minister is not only interested in Lykov's disagreements with his boss, A. A. Lopukhin, and solves the official problems of his loyal subordinate, but also orders the pension to be awarded to the mother of Lieutenant Belokon, who died during a police operation. Plehve's life is under constant threat from the revolutionaries, but the minister shows courage and remains faithful to his duty: "I can be killed at any moment. <...> – Don't comfort me, I'm not a student. Of course they'll kill you! The question is, what will I have time to do before that" ^{[11, p. 21]}. People close to the minister, including Lykov, are worried about Plehve.: "Do you understand how hard it is for him? To live and constantly wait for bullets or bombs..." ^{[11, p. 117]}. However, the minister himself, despite the threats, remains hardworking and energetic, selflessly working for the interests of the empire. Plehve's dislike of Witte was not due to his career ambitions, as the finance minister wrote in his memoirs, but to concern for the fate of the state: "Witte will be gone soon,– Plehve replied with conviction. – I will remove this bastard from power. Stop ruining the country for him" ^{[11, p. 20]}.

In the memoirs about Plehve, written in an apologetic spirit, one can find many correspondences with these moments in the novel. Thus, his contemporary wrote that "Vyacheslav Konstantinovich made a charming impression on many people who came into contact with him by his sincere simplicity of manner, his constant willingness to help and his heartfelt responsiveness to any true grief" ^{[13, p. 45]}. The conservative Moskovskiye Vedomosti wrote about the minister's "golden heart" after his death: "It was a great joy for him to do good to someone, and he repeatedly said that his high position had only one attractive side for him - a great opportunity to do good" ^{[13, p. 63]}. The real Plehve, according to his contemporaries, maintained "constant mental poise" ^{[13, p. 43]} in the face of death threats, and "it was painful for people close to him to see how he banished any thought of a personal future, and this future was close and threatening to him" ^{[13, p. 51]}. Plehve showed dedication and fearlessness in public affairs: "Vyacheslav Konstantinovich <...> he believed in the high vocation of the Russian people and fearlessly pursued what he considered to be the good of Russia" ^{[13, p. 43]}.

The above suggests that there is some kind of internal conflict in the image of Plehve in Svechin. On the one hand, being the boss of the main characters, Plehve stands firmly on their side in the main plots of detectives and appears as a character from among the "friends of Alexei Lykov." On the other hand, Svechin, who is well acquainted with various sources, does not idealize the personality of Vyacheslav Konstantinovich as a state martyr, inserting episodes into the text of his historical narrative that depict various dark sides of his biography. Nevertheless, in general, Svechin's image of Plehve remains noble. The plot of the novel "Death Rays" – and, in particular, the episode with Zubatov's resignation and Witte's fall – refutes Pobedonostsev's judgment at the beginning of the novel about the "meanness" of the Minister of the Interior.

In the real story, Witte himself actively acted against Plehve, whose importance in the novel, however, turns out to be reduced. Durnovo becomes the leader of the group opposing the Minister of Internal Affairs in Svechin's novel, secretly controlling the course of the struggle and turning the finance minister into a "puppet". The writer thus adds to the historical plot the motive of the struggle between major dignitaries characteristic of his detectives: the exposure of a behind-the-scenes intriguer, who initially seemed to the hero to be a neutral person. Lykov, revealing the truth about Filippov's murder, thinks: "But Durnovo… He respected Pyotr Nikolaevich. Lykov served under him for eight years. There was never any misunderstanding between them, he was an outstanding statesman!" ^{[11, p. 348]}.

This rejection of the real story leads to a number of inconsistencies between the novel's text and historical sources. In real history, the famous provocateur Evno Azef was connected with P. N. Durnovo only by writing anonymously to the Police Department, offering cooperation, at a time when Durnovo was the director of the Department. There is no evidence that Pyotr Nikolaevich directed the provocative activities of Azef. The decision to hire him was made by I. I. Petrov, who became director of the Department after Durnovo's resignation. As a student of Zubatov, Azef found himself under the guidance of Plehve in the early 1900s. In the novel, however, Azef becomes an informant, whose activities are directly supervised by Durnovo. Plehve did not participate in the provocation and, accordingly, became an innocent victim of an intrigue against him. However, Svechin, aware of the ambiguity of the real circumstances of Plehve's murder, does not unequivocally indicate the reasons why Azef organized the assassination attempt. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the writer is hinting that the murder of Plehve was arranged by Durnovo. Pyotr Nikolaevich, as if inadvertently making a slip of the tongue, says to Lykov: "– <...> Vyacheslav Konstantinovich is coming to an end soon. And then he realized: "I mean retirement, not death by a terrorist's bomb!" ^{[11, p. 351]}. In the epilogue concluding the novel, the writer cites exactly the version of the assassination attempt on Plehve, which is connected with Zubatov: "According to one version, osved fulfilled the request of two retirees – Zubatov and Rachkovsky. Both of them "guided" him through the service for a long time, had personal relations with the provocateur" ^{[11, p. 367]}. In the novel, Azef was the "friend" not so much of Zubatov as of Durnovo himself. When Lykov realizes that "Ivan Nikolaevich" is Durnovo's informant (this happens in a conversation with the latter), the author immediately explains to the reader in a footnote that this is one of the pseudonyms of the famous Yevno Azef. See: ^{[11, p. 352]}. The detective-adventure plot thus presents readers with one of the possibilities of a real story, which enhances the conspiracy flavor of the text.

Plehve's image as an honest policeman and victim of behind-the-scenes intrigues is deepened by the artistic reworking of his real relationship with Zubatov. Zubatov's experiments on the introduction of so-called "police socialism" in historical reality were supported by Vyacheslav Konstantinovich. According to Zubatov's student A. I. Spiridovich, Plehve "was very interested in his projects on a work issue." <...> Zubatov did not lose sight, of course, of developing before the new minister the idea of how wrong Witte was, ignoring the working question <...> And as soon as Zubatov was transferred to St. Petersburg <...> he was allowed not only to patronize the already established Moscow movement, but to continue it in Minsk, to stage it in Odessa, Kiev and, most importantly, in St. Petersburg" ^{[14, pp. 81-82]}. Under Plehve, Zubatov became the main man in the affairs of police investigation: "... in essence, now the entire police unit," Plehve said, "i.e., the police tranquility of the state, is in the hands of Zubatov, on whom one can rely" ^{[9, p. 511]}. Witte, known as a liberal, on the contrary, believed that "the idea of Zubatovism is as simple as it is naive" ^{[9, p. 510]}. Knowing about the Minister of Finance's attitude towards himself, Zubatov, according to Witte, did not seek to establish any personal ties with him, remaining a Plehve man. In the novel, however, Zubatov's connection with Plehve is not particularly emphasized – he turns out to be Durnovo's direct subordinate not Plehve (for the sake of plausibility of historical information, the author casually mentioned at the end of the novel that Plehve supported "Zubatovism". See: ^{[11, p. 364]}).

Due to the fact that Durnovo becomes Zubatov's immediate superior in the novel, the reason for Plehve's sudden dislike of Zubatov is also being processed. In the real story, just as Svechin writes in the novel, Plehve fired Zubatov "in an exceptionally rude manner": "in the presence of comrade Interior Minister V. V. Val, without offering Zubatov to sit down, without going into detailed explanations, he demanded that he immediately transfer cases and leave the capital" ^{[15, p.. 242-243]}. However, the dismissal of the historical Zubatov was largely due to the fact that he had cheated on his boss: Zubatov, along with Witte, Plehve's enemy, had staged an intrigue against his patron. "Plehve would have forgiven him for his failures in building "police socialism," but not for his intrigue" ^{[15, p. 243]}, says historian F. M. Lurie. In the novel, Zubatov's behavior provoked a sharp reaction from Plehve for another reason: "Sergei Vasilyevich was only in the seventh grade by rank. His influence on domestic politics was greater than some ministers. Head of the Special Department of the Police Department! The creator of new security departments that have covered all the important centers of the empire with a network. An ideologue of internal awareness and a master of secret investigation. And suddenly he replaces the minister, passing the death sentence on the revolutionary..." ^{[11, p. 357]}.

It highlights the leadership's dissatisfaction with Zubatov's arbitrary decision to kill Filippov, as well as the concern that the official's enormous influence and ambitions are causing. In other words, the Minister of the Interior's hostility towards Sergei Vasilyevich stems, by and large, from concern for the welfare of the state and the legality of the behavior of his subordinates.

In the novel, the plot about the intrigue against Plehve and Zubatov's dismissal was borrowed mainly from the memoirs of A. A. Lopukhin. According to the memoirist, Zubatov prepared a letter stating that Plehve's policy was disastrous for the country and that Witte should be appointed Minister of the Interior instead. "Meshchersky was supposed to give this letter to Nicholas II," Lopukhin writes, "as the voice of the people, and convince him to follow the path indicated by this voice" ^[16]. Nevertheless, Zubatov inadvertently initiated Gurovich into this plan, and Gurovich informed Vyacheslav Konstantinovich about the letter. Plehve told about the plotting to the emperor, which led to the fall of Witte and the dismissal of Zubatov. As Lopukhin writes, "in order to avoid undesirable publicity and scandal for the government, he <Plehve. – C. S.> I was forced to link the punishment imposed on Zubatov with the latter's policy on the labor issue" ^[16].

The Witte-Zubatov-Meshchersky intrigue against Plehve is just one of the versions of the reason for Witte and Zubatov's resignation. Witte, for example, recalls how Zubatov, sensing danger, turned to him in search of protection. The Finance Minister, despite a long-standing conflict with Plehve, however, decided not to harm Zubatov and not to tell Plehve about his conversation with Zubatov. Sergei Vasilyevich then went to Prince VP Meshchersky for help, after which Meshchersky not only told Plehve about Zubatov's thoughts, but also informed him that he had been to Witte. "This was a sufficient reason," writes the Finance Minister, "for Zubatov not only to be removed from his place, but even exiled to the city of Vladimir" ^{[9, p. 511]}.

It should also be noted that, in Witte's opinion, the measures taken by Plehve against the revolutionaries led to the death of the Minister of the Interior.

As for Witte's resignation from the post of finance minister, according to Witte himself, it is "explained almost exclusively" by his disagreement with the policy in the Far East, which led to the Japanese War ^{[9, p. 530]}. At the same time, Witte claims that Plehve played a significant role in his resignation: "I felt that Plehve was at the head of everything, but he did not show up. When he was killed and they began to sort out his office, it turned out that all the documents related to the affairs of the Far East, either in originals or in copies, ended up in his possession" ^{[9, p. 562]}.

Thus, Lopukhin's version differs from Witte's version in that it makes Plehve look relatively clean and honest. The minister himself did not arrange intrigues against his enemies, but only rebuffed them. By choosing Lopukhin's version as a material for creating a text about the fall of Zubatov and Witte, Svechin, on the one hand, ensures the plausibility of the narrative about real figures in the novel (the intrigue is borrowed from historical sources) and the expressiveness of the plot (the author chooses the version with intrigue). On the other hand, he strives to portray a positive image of Plehve as an honest policeman, whose side is chosen by the main character, incorruptible Alexei Lykov.

The relationship of the main character to Plehve's enemies is shown very clearly by the author of the retrodetective. Lykov referred to Zubatov as a kind of "proposed opponent": "But Zubatov is an outstanding master of political sleuthing, it's stupid to deny it. Let him pout at Lykov like a mouse at a croup. If he's smart–and he's smart–he'll calm down quickly. If ambitions take over, well, to hell with it" ^{[11, p. 52]}. As for Witte, Lykov, considering him to be a man of limited ability in public affairs, wanted Plehve to win their fight: "I have a strong opponent, you know. This is Witte. And the trip with the royal family is very important. As a result, one of us will lose his post. It's either him or me. "It would have been better if he had," the detective muttered" ^{[11, p. 511]}; "Get rid of him," the detective muttered. Then it dawned on him: "But excuse me, which Witte is the Minister of the Interior?!" ^{[11, p. 353]}.

However, Witte is portrayed in the novel in a rather simplistic way. A major statesman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Witte was certainly a complex personality. The minister's views in real history have evolved (see, for example, the judgment of historians: "As a statesman, Witte was distinguished by a rare quality for representatives of the Russian bureaucracy – he was a pragmatist and had an amazing ability to radically change his views depending on circumstances. His pragmatism, bordering on politicking, often shocked his contemporaries" ^{[17, pp. 7-8]}). In the novel, however, Witte appears primarily as a corrupt official. When talking to Lykov, the official does not persuade Alexey based on his political beliefs, but only tries to bribe the interlocutor: "All people need something. And you are no exception. Rank, rent, allowance – what do you want?" ^{[11, p. 356]}. This episode proves the validity of Plehve's remark about the finance minister: "He bribes everyone, turns them against me" ^{[11, p. 193]}.

Plehve's confrontation with his enemies is thus simplified compared to the real story. Without going into a detailed account of the conflicts of dignitaries over various state issues, the writer portrays Plehve's confrontation with the Durnovo-Zubatov-Witte group as a struggle between the protagonist's "friend" and his enemies, i.e. a struggle between an honest, capable and selfless civil servant and corrupt, self-serving officials.

Conclusion

The above allows us to come to the following conclusions. Relying on abundant documentary materials when creating literary texts, Svechin provides readers with very reliable information about such a major political figure as V. K. Plehve. At the same time, the writer, based on the values inherent in mass literature, greatly simplifies the image of the minister, emphasizing his moral integrity and portraying him as an exemplary honest official who, being an undoubted "friend" of the main character, acts in most cases as a defender of the good.