| Don Quixote exerted a profound influence upon the Russian novel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This influence includes not only popular perceptions of Don Quixote, i.e., the legend of Don Quixote as it exists irrespective of the novel, but also Cervantes' actual text. Cervantes' role is particularly evident in works by Pushkin, Gogol', Turgenev, Dostoevskii, Sologub, and Platonov. These authors are most appropriate for a discussion of Cervantes' role in Russian literature, because they represent mileposts in the development of the Russian novel. They demonstrate how the changing use of Don Quixote in Russia parallels to some extent changing views of the novel itself.Don Quixote is among the literary works that comprise the subtext of Evgenii Onegin. Tat'iana in many ways is a Quixote figure, but her Quixotic faith ultimately causes her to accept the conventions of marriage and society, and not reject them as does Don Quixote. In Dead Souls, Gogol' makes use of "the captive's tale," an interpolated novella in Don Quixote, to construct his own "Tale of Captain Kopeikin." The "Tale of Captain Kopeikin" in turn contributes to a level of Cervantine metaparody in Dead Souls. The title character in Turgenev's Rudin is an ambiguous figure in the Quixotic tradition. His actions seem foolish in comparison with the more constructive efforts of the people around him, and yet his Quixotic idealism sometimes seems more admirable than the pragmatism of other characters. In The Idiot, Dosteovskii continues the tradition of ambiguity by using Quixotic attributes in his characterization of Prince Myshkin, whom critics have viewed as both saint-like and destructive. Dostoevskii also alludes to other episodes in Don Quixote to express a wide range of ideas. Sologub in The Petty Demon presents a character, Peredonov, who is in some ways an inversion of the idealistic Don Quixote. Like Dostoevskii, Sologub also alludes directly to Cervantes in many episodes. Platonov's Chevengur is populated by a number of Quixotes, and most notably Stepan Kopenkin. The novel examines the difficulties and disillusionment of these Quixotes as they assume positions of power at the time of the revolution. |
