Sacrifice In Russia

The Russian attitude toward love during Chekhov’s time is very patriarchal and is considered normal to marry for practical reasons, parental pressures or other considerations rather than for love. The feelings that accompany love, such as passion and spirituality, are not a societal consideration and this institutional attitude toward human emotion is the catalyst for Chekhov’s story. When a person is deprived of love, he or she builds up a futility of life which consumes the human soul. In Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog”, the readers are placed in a setting where the main character Gurov, and his love interest Anna, are given the emotional freedom to feel love toward one another. This freedom is the driving force in the story

Mikhail Lermontov’s ‘A Hero of our Time’ is set in the 1840s, a crucial time in Russian history. Pechorin was a revolutionary character in Russian literature due to his cynical and amoral personality that alienates him from all social strata. ‘A Hero of our Time’ generated a large amount of outrage from the public due to Lermontov, claiming Pechorin to be the ‘hero’ of our its time. ’Bela’ is a framed narrative portrayed from the views of an old friend, Maxim Maximych, however, the story told by Maxim Maximych suggests it is an unjust and biased view of our ‘hero’ thus we as readers are to depict the true ‘hero’ Pechorin is. Examining the chapter ‘Bela,’ his actions signify his capability to damage a society, demonstrating him to be the callous and manipulative character he is.

Young women in particular face serious forms of abuse during this time. The author describes on multiple occasions when she was assaulted by Russian soldiers. While she describes how horrible this makes her feels, she knows that having the Russian officers around her does protect her in certain ways. She is the companion of Russian soldier by the name of Anatol. He and other soldiers

Aleksander Nikitenko is notable for an extraordinarily detailed dairy kept from a very early age that provides an intimate view of Russian culture during the early 1800s. Aleksander’s written account, Up from Serfdom, offers a first-hand account of Russian history, making a rather insightful contribution to slave literature. This book is among one of the very few autobiographies ever written by a pre-existing serf. Despite being a bright child, Nikitenko was nevertheless one of the three hundred thousand serfs that were the personal property of the Sheremetiv family in Voronezh Province, whom possessed legal authority to dispose of the serfs as they wished. Nonetheless, through a remarkable turn of events, Aleksander, unlike other serfs

The stories of Anton Chekhov mark a focal moment in European fiction. This is the point where 19th realist caucus of the short stories started their transformation into modern form. As such, his work straddles two traditions. The first is that of the anti-romantic realism which has a sharp observation of external social detail. It has human behavior conveyed within tight plot. The second is the modern psychological realism in which the action in typically internal and expressed in associative narrative that is built on epiphanic moments. In consideration of the two sides, Chekhov developed powerful personal styles that presage modernism without losing traditional frills of the form. This essay will discuss the Chekhov's portrayal of women.

In modern day times the hero has always been a male, especially during the 12th century where gender stereotypes of men and women greatly existed. At least that’s what we all have been accustomed to believe. Not to mention in movies like Hercules, Twilight, Titanic, and even in Cinderella all men are the heroes of course. However, “Lanval,” a 12th century lay, composed by a woman by the name of Marie De France, during a time when woman did not write or even have rights, contradicts the beliefs of all to prove otherwise. Not always are men “Superior.” Not always is the man the “hero” in the

“Days of a Russian Noblewoman” is a translated memoir originally written by a Russian noblewoman named Anna Labzina. Anna’s memoir gives a unique perspective of the private life and gender roles of noble families in Russia. Anna sees the male and female gender as similar in nature, but not in morality and religiosity. She sees men as fundamentally different in morality and religiosity because of their capability to be freely dogmatic, outspoken, and libertine. Anna implies throughout her memoir that woman in this society have the capacity to shape and control their lives through exuding a modest, submissive, and virtuous behavior in times of torment. Through her marriage, Labzina discovers that her society is highly male centered.

Traditionally, women have been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being only housewives and bearers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men; society, in general; and within a woman herself. Kate Chopin‘s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, focus on a woman’s dilemma near the turn of the 19th century. Contradicting the “normal” or sad assumption of death, “The Story of an Hour” illustrates the significance of death representing freedom. The Story narrates about an hour of Louise Mallard’s life, as she tries to understand, and deal with her feelings of her husbands death.

From the middle of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, anecdotes were very popular in Russian culture. The most well-used anecdotes had to do with peasants and ethnic minorities which the audience found funny. In the work, Entertaining Tsarist Russia edited by James von Geldern and Louise McReynolds, one is given examples of the anecdotes used during this time period. These stories are more stereotypical of those they are portraying, which in Russian culture was humorous. The anecdotes used in this work, although meant to be funny, shows the underlying social problems in Russia at this time.

Hadji Murat, Tolstoy's second book with the Caucasus as its setting can be considered a work of historical fiction that is a beautiful tale of resistance, and a window into not only the Caucasian War of the mid-nineteenth century, but also the culture of the Russian Empire during this period. As a work of fiction the reader must be wary of depictions of actual persons such as Tsar Nicholas I, whom Tolstoy was not enamored with, to say the least, but many insights about the period and its people can be gleaned from the story. The novel is one of great contrasts between Chechens and Russians and also of what life was like during this time.

In Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades,” many aspects of the short story have made for considerable debate among scholars.  Pushkin fills an integral role in Russian literary history, and there are abundant research sources to use in analyzing and interpreting his texts.  Pushkin is often referred to as the Father of Modern Russian Literature, but until just recently much of the criticism on Pushkin focused on Pushkin himself as the author, the innovative simplicity in his prose, or the political relationship between Pushkin and the Russian aristocracy.  Pushkin’s personal life was often the subject of public debate among his readers and the Russian aristocracy,

“A Transcultural Monument: Anna Akhmatova in Postsocialist Russia.” South Atlantic Review. 74.2 (2009): 62–81. JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. Written by Sarah A. Krive, from the Department of Languages at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the article, “A Transcultural Monument: Anna Akhmatova in Postsocialist Russia” (2009), argues that Akhmatova was a postsocialist poet, because she began producing her work at the end of Imperial Russia and throughout Soviet Russia, until her death in 1966. She believes that Akhmatova was a symbol of strength in her stand against Stalin, and subsequent persecution from his regime. Next she posits that Akhmatova achieved what many Russians could not; she was able to make a permanent record of Stalin’s reign through her poetry. She emphasizes that instead of Russians internalizing the trauma, they turned to Akhmatova and regarded her as the voice of Russia. In the second half of the piece, she details the creation and collection of Akhmatova’s poetry cycle Wreath for the Dead, an elegiac work. Krive discusses elements of Akhmatova’s work of poetry in order to express the importance of the poet as a mouthpiece for Russia. Her audience appears to be any researcher who wishes to further understand the relationship between Akhmatova and Russia. This article focuses on delivering a large measure of information on Akhmatova’s work of poetry, and this will aid the

Popular descriptions of Alexei Karenin label him as a cold and passionless government official who doesn’t care about his wife or family. Indeed, he is viewed as the awful husband who is holding Anna hostage in a loveless marriage. However, this is a highly exaggerated description, if not completely false, analysis of Karenin. Upon careful analysis of Karenin’s character and his actions, it is clear that he is not the person Anna makes him out to be. In fact, with thorough examination of the passage on pages 384 and 385 of Anna Karenina, it is clear that Alexei Karenin can be considered the hidden tragic hero of the novel.

However, Valente uses this as a backdrop to set the tone of the myth, giving reader’s a subtle undertone of history without it turning into a history lesson. Thus, Deathless gives insight to the development of Russian history during the twentieth century while simultaneously developing a contemporary lens to the myth: “Koschei the Deathless”.

In 19th century Russian literature there was often a gender inequality depicted between the male and female characters. Women were expected to get married, start a family, and obey their husbands. Women often made sacrifices and married men they weren’t fond of in order to support their families. Anton Chekhov’s writing questions these gender relationships. The female characters have a strong presence within Chekhov’s works, and they transcend typical gender roles.