V.P. Burenin vs Leonid Andreev: «the Production Technology» of a Parodic Personality

For citation: Boeva G.N. (2016) V.P. Burenin  vs Leonid Andreev: «tekhnologiya proizvodstva» parodiynoy lichnosti [V. P. Burenin vs Leonid Andreev: «the Production Technology» of a Parodic Personality]. Mediaskop 3. Available at: http://mediascope.ru/node/2160

© Galina N. Boeva

PhD, Assistant Professor, Head of the Chair of Culturology and General Humanitarian Disciplines, Nevsky Institute of Language and Сulture (St. Petersburg, Russia), g_boeva@rambler.ru

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the mechanism by which the activity of V.P. Burenin as a critic and parodist influenced the process of turning Leonid Andreyev into a parody personality (term by Tynyanov) on the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. It is being traced how in his parodies and articles the critic replaces the real identity of the writer Andreyev with a collective image, which is absolutely negative and discredits  the writer. It is shown that dispelling of Leonid Andreyev by Burenin is directly related to critic's ideology and aesthetics, for whom the main task of art is educating the "average man".

In this work not only the Burenin's parodies of Andreyev's works ("The Life of a Man", "Tzar-Hunger", "Sasha Zhegulyov"), but also some articles about the writer are being researched. Based on the analysis, Andreyev is a "cross-cutting" character in Burenin's works  of 1900s, the embodiment of all the "sins" of the modernist literature. Appealing to the parodies of Andreyev created by other satirists, the author of the article argues, that the methods which were used by Burenin (diminishing, direct citation, use of a multitude of parodic masks), noticeably influenced the parodic discourse in the early 20th century.

At the same time Burenin's activities devoted to the disaffirmation of Andreyev led to an unplanned effect: the reader learned the language of the "new art". The literary reputation of Andreyev, including posthumous, was largely defined by Burenin's parodic view of him.

The main mechanism of Leonid Andreyev's parodic personality formation is the exploitation of  mass consciousness stereotypes.

Keywords: Leonid Andreev, V.P. Burenin, parody, parodic personality, reception, criticism.

Notes

Burenin V.P. (1917) Anafema: Leonido-andreevskaya bedlama v odnoy kartine [Anathema: Leonid Andreev's Bedlam in One Picture].In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works]. Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 5, pp. 171−172.

Burenin V. (1916) Kaloshi na golovakh [Galoshes on the Heads]. In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works].Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 4, pp. 321−343.

Burenin V.P. (1903) Kriticheskie ocherki [Critical Essays]. Novoe vremya, 31 January, p. 2.

Burenin V.P. (1907) Kriticheskie ocherki [Critical Essays]. Novoe vremya, 24 August, p. 3.

Burenin V.P. (1902) Kriticheskie ocherki. Razgovory s razocharovannym: Razgovor chetvertyy [Critical Essays. Conversations with a Disappointed: Conversation 4]. Novoe vremya,  25 January, p. 4.

Burenin V.P. (1917) Literaturnoe chtenie v obshchestve «Bedlam-modern» [Literary Reading in "Bedlam-Modern" Society]. In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works]. Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 5, p. 151.

Burenin V.P. (1914) Malen'kaya oshibka g. Leonida Andreeva [A Small Mistake of Leonid Andreyev]. Novoe vremya,17(30 January, p. 5.

Burenin V.P. (1917) Morda i lyubov': Modern-bedlamma v 3-kh bezdeystviyakh [Muzzle and Love: Modern-Bedlama in 3 inactions]. In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works]. Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 5, pp. 153−170.

Burenin V.P. (1916) Pisatel' Oglupeev: P'yano-drama [Writer Oglupeyev: Drunkenly-Drama].In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works].Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 4, p. 150−152, 157.

Burenin V.P. (1916) Pyu, Khryu i Kyu: dramaticheskiy shedevr samogo novogo stilya i samogo poslednego fasona. V odnom bezdeystvii, no s kupletami, s geroyami i, glavnoe, so skandalom

[Pju, Khrju and Kju: Dramatic Masterpiece of the Newest Style and the Latest Fashion. In an InACTion, but with Verses, Characters and, Most Importantly, with a Scandal]. In: Sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works]. Petrograd: [n. p.], vol. 4, pp. 177−190.

Chernye maski: Parodiya N.A. Teffi [Black Masks: Parody of N. A. Teffi]. Utro. Ponedel'nik, 1908, no 28, 27 December, p. 2.

Slonimskaya Yu. (1910) P'yanyy student, ili lyubov' v kaloshakh: Misticheskoe slaboumie v 4-kh popoykakh [Drunk Ыtudent or Love in Galoshes: Mystical Madness in Four Busters]. Sankt-Peterburgskie teatral'nye vedomosti,no 20, 19 September (2 October), pp. 2, 5.

Zhasminov Aleksis, graph [Burenin V.P.] (1908) Tsar' Bedlam: Simvolicheskaya glupo-drama [Tzar Bedlam: Symbolic Foolish-Drama]. Novoe vremya  14(27) March, p. 4.

Zhasminov Aleksis, graph [Burenin V.P.] (1908) Tsar' Bedlam: Simvolicheskaya glupo-drama [Tzar Bedlam: Symbolic Foolish-Drama]. Novoe vremya, 28 March(10 April), p. 4.

Zhasminov Aleksis, graph [Burenin V.P.] (1907) Zhizn' Duraka-modern: Tragi-parodiynoe predstavlenie v stile «nuvo» [Life of a Fool-Modern: Tragi-Parodic Performance in the Style of "Art Nouveau"]. Novoe vremya, 14(27) September, p. 4.

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