“A HANDBOOK FOR WINTER MOSCOW VISITORS” BY NIKOLAI STRAKHOV: POETICS OF SATIRE
Abstract
DOI 10.18522/1995-0640-2021-4-113-123
“A Handbook for Winter Moscow Visitors” is an example of late Enlightenment satire. Nikolai Strakhov exposes the vices and follies of high society fops obsessed with fashion and ignoring reason. This is a usual topic of 18th-century satire. Why the “Handbook” deserves attention is mostly because of its form rather than content.
Its primary source is the genre of satirical essay embodied in moral weeklies. But in comparison to essays Strakhov greatly widens the scope of his work. The book’s plot follows the calendar, embracing several months showing fops arriving to Moscow, indulging in all ways of entertainment and finally leaving for their estates in spring. For the fops, this means the whole year circle, as life in the country, out of high society, has no value for them. The satirist’s view is, however, opposite: in his opinion, fops waste all their time, as their lifestyle is nonsensical. The characters are nameless, which is a method of generalization.
Narrative modes are extremely various. The major mode is a rare form of narration in the imperative, the story presented as advice to fops. The satirist recommends them to indulge in unreasonable behavior. The reader is sure to understand that such advice should not be taken seriously and must not be followed, irony being the predominant principle in the book.
Advice in the imperative alternates with narration and description in the indicative. In this case the characters are often addressed in the second person or spoken of in the third person. There is also first-person narration where the author pretends to identify with the characters. The book’s syntax is characterized by parallel constructions, particularly based on anaphora.
Key words: 18th-century Russian literature, Enlightenment satire, narration, irony
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