Re-reading Vsevolod Ivanov’s Story “The Armored Train 14-69” Against Siberian Periodicals (1919): The historical comment of the Russian allies in the Civil War
Journal Title: Studia Litterarum - Year 2017, Vol 2, Issue 4
Abstract
The essay discusses the role that the allied powers — United States, France, Britain, and Japan — played in the development and in the collapse of the Admiral A.V. Kolchak’s anti-Bolshevik Russian government between 1918 and 1920. The discussion is based on the material of the hitherto unknown newspaper publications by Vsevolod Ivanov issued in 1919 by a military newspaper Vpered (Forward) and his literary works. The latter include his classic story about the Civil War entitled “The Armored Train 14-69” (1921), the homonymous plays (1927), and the screenplay (1963). For the first time, the article closely examines Ivanov’s cooperation with the newspaper Forward. The newspaper’s editor, Colonel V.G. Yanchevetsky, supported the government in major political questions. Ivanov’s articles “Bonds of friendship” (1919. September 26) and “‘Go’ and ‘Captain’” (1919. October 16) represent polar views on the role that the allies of the Russian government played in the Civil War. The first article underlines the importance of friendly relations with the allies that emerged during the First World War and that developed during the years of struggle against the “Bolshevik-German armies.” Ivanov’s second article, a response to the events in Vladivostok in the Fall 1919 — particularly, to the secret support of the anti-government conspiracy of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks on behalf of the allied forces — calls for the necessity to concentrate Russia’s forces and to strengthen Russia’s place in the international arena. The present article shows how Ivanov’s position about the allies developed under the 1919 Siberian circumstances, was reflected in his literary work. For example, it analyzes a plot line associated with the treacherous behavior of the Japanese lieutenant Tanako Muzzi that first appeared in the “The Armored Train 14-69” and then got developed in the homonymous play.
Authors and Affiliations
Elena A. Papkova
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26195
- DOI 10.22455/2500-4247-2017-2-4-230-249
- Views 398
- Downloads 15
ON LITIGATION CONCERNING “LITIGATION”: THE PROBLEMS OF DATING ONE EPISODE OF GOGOL’S BIOGRAPHY
This article focuses on the problems around the exact dating of the final edition of Gogol’s play The Letigation read aloud by the author in house of Aksakov on his first return to Russia from abroad (1839–1840). Gogol’...
Diderot as the critique of art and the translation of time and place: from the pictural composition to the literary decomposition / recomposition
In his reflections on painting, Diderot as a theoretician of fine arts explains that the painter must respect the unity of time and place for the paintings to be thematically and aesthetically solid. However, the uniti...
Russian Folk Culture in the 20 th Century: Oral Evidence of the Villagers (On the Materials of Folklore Expeditions)
Folk culture is capable of developing certain adaptation mechanisms that help it promptly react to the changing conditions of natural, socio-political, and economic environment. This is evidenced by the stories of the v...
IN SEARCH OF FOLKLORE IMPERATIVE: IVAN A. IL’YIN AND PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT OF THE RUSSIAN IMMIGRATION CIRCLE
This article is part of the larger research project “Philosophical Thought of the Russian ‘Silver Age’ and Folklore.” Its aim is philosophical reflection of the Russian folk culture considering it as living tradition th...
THE OCTOBER GARBO: CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD AND THE REVOLUTION
I propose to discuss Ernst Lubitsch’s decision to tailor Ninotchka (1939), his film with Greta Garbo, to Garbo in the role of a Soviet revolutionary, which — given the overwhelming importance of Garbo to classical Holly...