The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-06-06
By H. c. STEVENS (Plebs, London)

AINT year in the development of
Soviet fiction as it was in the eco
nomic and political spheres. 1t was
the year in which Seifullina's Virinea
and Babel's Cavalry Army were pub
lished, and in many ways it marked a
definite turning-point in the develop
ment of fiction. But, above all, 1924
was noteworthy for the publication Of
Fyedin's Towns and Years.
Constantin Fyedin had begun writ
ing Immediately after the war, and
had attracted attention by such
shorter stories as The Orchard, in
which his later development finds its
early indication. But he had not
caused any great stir, and Towns and
Years came as distinctly fresh con-
tribution to the Development of the
Soviet novel. Indeed, if we exclude
such stories as Pilnyak's Naked Year,
and others which are novels only in
length, then Towns and Years was
really the first Soviet novel to be
written.
Nor is its distinction confined to
this, or to the peculiar form which
Fyedin chose to take as his medium.
Such mechanical devices as placing
the last chapter at the beginning and
other displacements of time sequence,
as well as minor diversions of plot
development, may be disregarded by
us as being merely an attempt to OBJ
tain striking effects. 1t is the con-
tent, and not the form, of Towns and
Years which is Of interest.
The story is in the main psyche
logical study of four principal char
acters, and their interplay of person
atty, seen against the background
of war and revolution in Russia and
Germany. Andrea Starkov may be
taken as personifying the pre-war in
tellectuals with his Chekhovian ire
solution, his continual vacillation and
his inability to subdue his impulsive
emotional reactions to any informed
will and purpose. In strict contrast
to him is Kurt Van, German artist
and Communist, whose every action
and thought is dominated by the cause
and ideals to which he has devoted
his life, whose character knows no
vaciilations or hesitancies even when
it is case of delivering his friend
Andrea to revolutionary justice for his
mistaken and sentiment-inspired be-
trayal of the Communist cause. But
the real protagonists of the story are
not Andrei and Kurt-Andrei is
merely a foil for the third character,
Markgraf Schroenau, who is the in
carnation of the most malignant as
also the most intelligent and purpose
full element of the old order. 1t is be-
tween Kurt and the Markgraf that
the real struggle takes place, and
Andrei's position is that of the man
between the upper and neither mill
stones. The same is true of the hero
inc, Mary Ulrich, who embodies the
emotional protest of modern youth
against the domination of the old and
all its horrors, yet who fails to see
any straight and narrow way to its
overthrow.
The story ends lin the first chap
terl) with the elimination of Andrei,
and the temporary defeat of the Mark
graf and his withdrawal to Germany.
But while the revolutionary forces
thus triumph, Fyedin leaves the I'LL
innate issue in doubt, while making it
clear that the elimination of the pur-
poseless and uncertain elements of
the old order merely leaves the stage
free for the renewal of the far great
er struggle between the old purposes
and the new.
Apart from its content, Towns and
Years is noteworthy as a mastery
study in modern psychology, and by
taking a psychological line of APP
proach to his characters Fyedin has
in a sense returned to the manner of
the classic Russian novel. But it has
to be emphasized that it is not strictly
a return, rather is it an advance; for
his psychological treatment is not
comparable with the intensely sub
iective psychological analysis which
/ CHdA dIICIlACo Tic Olu WIiJGISs IL ID
a more scientifically objective analy-
sis, dissertation of the author from,
his characters, and this enables him
to avoid the utilities of the old in
tropection and to carry the story on
to a definite conclusion and achieve
ment.
Lenov's Badgers, certainly the out
standing novel of 1925, takes very
different conflict for it's theme: the
conflict of town and country. Deal
ing in particular with the life Of two
young peasant lads, Simeon and Pavel,
who come to Moscow and work there
until the outbreak of war, its general
theme is the innate antagonisms be-
tween the village and the town, espe-
cially as accumulated and intensified
during the period of civil war and
grain acquisitions. Partly perhaps by