On the infl uence of the novel What is to be done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky on the story Yar by S. A. Yesenin

There is evidence of Yesenin’s acquaintance with What is to be done? by Chernyshevsky, which happened during the adolescent years of the future poet, while he was studying at the Spas-Klepikovskaya second-class teacher’s school in 1909–1912. From the novel by a 19th century writer individual plot twists (the “living corpse” line), some stylistic fi ndings and the author’s judgments (about the mystery, the liar, Hamlet) seem to have migrated to the story of the 20th century poet, of course, in a veiled and transformed form. It can also be assumed that one of the moments of Chernyshevsky’s exile was refl ected in a minor character in Yesenin’s story (the city of Vilyuysk and the Vihlyuisky shooter – with the loss of one letter). Meanwhile, any estimations of the infl uence of Chernyshevsky’s poetics on the artistic fabric of Yesenin’s story remain hypothetical, for which reason other possible interpretations of the “dark places” of Yar are given. Yesenin could be attracted by the biographical data of a number of heroes (the city of Ryazan and the Oka river are mentioned) in connection with his own place of birth in the Ryazan region, as well as by an innovative approach to the novel genre (with the inclusion of dreams and the presence of other insertions); the poet himself also introduced many additional elements into Yar – ethnographic descriptions of the wedding and the ritual of plowing around the village against epizootic, folklore quotations from non-ritual songs and funeral lamentation, proverbs and sayings, etc. As a result, the complex compositional and plot structure of Yesenin’s story is quite comparable to the multifaceted nature of Chernyshevsky’s n ovel, with its adventurous line, with many philosophical digressions, with the trips of the heroes (the motive of wandering). Unlike What is to be done?, aimed at the future, Yar depicts everyday life of peasants and traditional festive culture, it is replete with sketches of regional rural life, which eventually has become a valuable ethnographic material.

What is to be done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky, Yar by S. A. Yesenin, images of Ryazan and Oka, concept of mystery, Hamlet, Vikhlyuisky shooter