Bøger af Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev

Sanin is a novel by the Russian writer Mikhail Artsybashev. It was written at the peak of the various changes in Russian society such as nascent democratic movements, the first democratically-elected Duma, as well as the Russian Revolution of 1905. It was published and criticized in 1907, the year of one of the most horrific political reactions in Russian history. When Artsybashev emigrated to Poland after the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was condemned by the Soviet authorities and his books were banned from publication, only to be revealed afresh to readers in the 1990s.

Sanin is a novel by the Russian writer Mikhail Artsybashev. It has an interesting history being written by a 26-year-old in 1904 - at the peak of the various changes in Russian society (democratic activities, first democratically-elected Duma, as well as the Russian Revolution of 1905). It was published and criticized in 1907, the year of one of the most horrific political reactions in Russian history. In the early 1900s Russia society was heavily influenced by religions, primarily the Russian Orthodox Church. Though there were many other religions such as Uniate Catholics, Judaism, and Muslims, none of them condoned an open expression of sexuality. By 1908 the novel was no longer being produced due to censorship. It was banned as a "work of pornography" (Otto Boele). When Artsybashev emigrated to Poland after the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was condemned by the Soviet authorities and his books were banned from publication, only to be revealed afresh to readers in the 1990s. Sanin is a novel of true originality of form and content. Its hero, twenty-something Sanin, after a long absence from home, comes back to visit his mother and sister. Sanin deals with sex and sexual activity throughout the novel. The main character Sanin and his sister Lida dabble in premarital sex. Lida describes her experience with Zarudin as her body filled with "thrilled and shaken with passion". Knowing it is not the best thing for a young lady not to be married and have relations, she's longing for another chance to experience that same passion and lust. The novel deals with nihilism, the belief that traditional morals, ideas, beliefs, etc., have no worth or value. One of the characters gets to a point where he admits "that life was the realization of freedom, and consequently that it was natural for a man to live for enjoyment". Lida has some remorse because of society and their views on premarital sex, but then comes to the realization that it is her life saying "I wanted to do it and I did it; and I felt so happy". During his stay Sanin meets various people, some of whom are neutral, amazed, threatened or excited by his way of thinking about the world and human existence. Sanin remains confident and self-assured having seduced and deflowered a local virgin, but at the end of the book leaves town under a cloud.

It evoked almost unprecedented discussions, like those at the time of Turgenev''s Fathers and Sons. Some praised the novel far more than it deserved, others complained bitterly that it was a defamation of youth. I may, however, without exaggeration assert that no one in Russia took the trouble to fathom the ideas of the novel. The eulogies and condemnations are equally one-sided."Thus did Mikhail Artsybashev (1878-1927), whose novels and short stories are suffused with themes of sex, suicide, and murder, describe the reaction to publication in 1907 of Sanin, his second novel. The work provoked heated debates among the Russian reading public, and the journal in which it was published serially was soon closed down by the authorities.The hero of Artsybashev''s novel exhibits a set of new values to be contrasted with the morality of the older Russian intelligentsia. Sanin is an attractive, clever, powerful, life-loving man who is, at the same time, an amoral and carnal animal, bored both by politics and by religion. During the novel he lusts after his own sister, but defends her when she is betrayed by an arrogant officer; he deflowers an innocent-but-willing virgin; and encourages a Jewish friend to end his self-doubts by committing suicide. Sanin''s extreme individualism greatly appealed to young people in Russia during the twilight years of the Romanov regime. "Saninism" was marked by sensualism, self-gratification, and self-destructionΓÇòand gained in credibility in an atmosphere of moral and spiritual despondency