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Space and Storytelling in Late Imperial Russia: Tolstoy, Chekhov, and the Question of Property
Author(s) -
MANGOLD MATTHEW
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the russian review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.136
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-9434
pISSN - 0036-0341
DOI - 10.1111/russ.12120
Subject(s) - modernization theory , space (punctuation) , storytelling , property (philosophy) , criticism , history , russian literature , literature , empire , aesthetics , sociology , political science , law , narrative , art , philosophy , epistemology , ancient history , linguistics
This article brings the question of late Imperial Russian space into the scene of historical criticism. It does so by examining the spatial problematics of four stories Tolstoy and Chekhov published during the final decades of the nineteenth century. Tolstoy’s “How Much Land Does a Man Need” (1886) and “Kholstomer” (1886) and Chekhov’s “The Man in a Case” (1898) and “Gooseberries” (1898) inscribe into public discourse spatial terms, ethical quandaries, and a range of spatial experiences common during the rapid modernization of imperial Russia. Each author anchors major spatial binaries like city and country and spaciousness and crowding to the question of property, thereby posing a series of related questions to readers. Who will manage the growing space of Russia? How will it be managed? And what could be done if it is not managed well? When placed within the relevant social and historical contexts, I argue, these stories show Tolstoy and Chekhov grappling with the problem of space through both their chosen literary forms and in their lives as landowners.