Smirnova, N. (2020). The depicted and the narration in ‘The Belkin Tales’ [‘Povesti Belkina’]. Moscow: Kanon. (In Russ.)

Abstract

1. Smirnova’s monograph examines the multiple levels of the narrative system in A. Pushkin’s The Belkin Tales [Povesti Belkina]. The author focuses on various nuances of Belkin’s manner as a narrator, and, in particular, on the controversial character of the numerous interpretations of his stories. The book’s main message is that The Belkin Tales’ significance is neither in the book’s parodic nature, nor its multi-layered structure, purportedly serving to reveal the levels of parodic mistrust in the narrator. Pushkin’s ‘events in their own right’ are assumed as a criterion of the truth and sincerity of the narration, where, instead of producing a parodic gap in meaning, the accumulation of events signifies an enormity beyond the narrator’s reach. The numerous unidentifiable perspectives in The Tales are results of two intertwining time periods in the narration: the past (as an era) and the present (the modern period).