OUR LITERARY CORNER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16156, 9 March 1918, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER.

A RUSSIAN SATIRIC COMEDY. » (SPECIALLY WBITIEK TOR "THE TKISS.") (Br J. W. Jotst, M.A.) A first-class comedy is rather a "raja avis" in .Russian nineteenth century literature. Those who have been nourishing their souls on the tragic intensity of Pushkin, the cold Byronic irony of Lermontov, the terrible realism of Dostoyovsky, or even the fine but mournful tones of Tnrgenyev, Tcurn for an antidote of some sort. Is there nothing to illumine this atmosphere of sombre pessimism? Then we take up Gogol, and find a new element. Here, we feol, is a satirist and an uncompromising critic of his age; and ho seems just as hopeless of his age as the others are. But there fcppnis something more human about him, and humor begins to play a part quite different from Lermontov's. Then we come to the play, the title of which, might be given in English as "Tho In-spector-General, " or "The Revising Inspector." The effect is irresistible. Fun and satire are inextricably blended. Tho material is drawn from contemporary Russian life, but the spirit and humour of the thing appeal to all. It is probably the Best comedy in the Russian language, and would do credit to the stage literature of any country. The play has recently "been re-published in a more accessible form. It might be of interest to give a sketch or summary of this amusing picture of life in a Russian provincial town of the early nineteenth, century. It may cheer those who imagine Russian literature to consist 6olely of mysticism or pessimism or emotional realism. Ido not know whether an English translation exists; if there is one, it cannot be very widely known in New Zealand. The characters are the leading officials of the town; the wives of some of them, and the daughter ofone; a couple of young squires, the gossips of the town; policemen, merchants, servants, etc.; and lastly, the contral figure, a visitor from St. Petersburg. (We will use the old name.) The chief official we will call the Mayor for convenience, though the Russian word (gorodnitchyO • indicates rather police authority. "We. have also his wife and daughter. Then there are "the judge, the director of schools, the coriimissioner of charitable institutions, the -postmaster,, the municipal doctor, and the of police. The Mayor, it may be premised, is the driving..force of the whole movement of the piece. In the opening scene he has invited all the others to hear, and discuss with him, news which has reached him from the capital, that a revising in-

spector is about to visit the town, and

overhaul the management of the dif~ * ferent departments. The news casnses. consternation, and some resentment. "Why should the sleepy life of these worthy gentlemen be agitated by meddlesome inspectors? However, there are. hurried consultations and suggestions for getting things ship-shape just for the hrief period of the inspection. The Mayor takes the lead. The patients in tho hospital are to have clean nightcaps, and on the head of . each bed ft to be an inscription in Latin, ' 'or some other language," showing name of illness, day and hour of admission, kind of medicines used. Moreover, the patients are not to smoke such strong tobacco. The Judge is requested to give a hint to his assessor, who smells like a distillery. to try certain remedies. "I have spoken to him about it," replied the Judge, "but he tells me that it is incurable. In his childhood the nurse let him fall, and sinco then he had always exuded vodka." The court-janitor, too, must for the timebeing keep his family geese out of the court, because thoy poke about .under people's feet. Rubbish must be cleaned out of the municipal cupboards, and hunting whips and other trophies must bo temporarily removed. Then the director of schools is exhorted to suppress some of the eccentricities of his teachers. "There is that fellow with the fat face'," says the Mayor, "who makes such grimaces at his pupils. I .know it is done out of a friendly spirit, but what if he should do the same thing to an official visitor?" And the Mayor goes on to give his experience of the history teacher. "Ho has scraped up a lot of knowledge, but he gets into such a fever of excitement. I was listening to him ono day, and while he was dealing with the Babylonians and Assyrians, he kept quiet enough. But when he came to Alexander of Macedon, I thought the man fiad taken fire. Ho jumped from the platform, and banged his chair with all his strength an the floor? No doubt Alexander was a great hero,'"but why should the man break his'chair? The cost falls on the municipal funds." Then, of course, the delicate question of a little bribe for tho coming inspector is thrown out tentatively, and tho ethics thereof discussed with refined hypocrisy.

The group is joined by the postmaster, who has tho latest gossip' about the approaching arrival. He gets a hint from the Mayor. to steal a look inside important letters now and then. Oh! no novice at that business, and we fret a little of the fruits of his • investigations in that line. Then. burst

in two young men about town (Bobtchinsky and Dobtchinsky), panting with excitement, and interrupting each other m their eagerness to blurt out the great news:—"He has come! Ho is at the hotel !*' Circumstantial details of their discovery are piled on,' each narrator contradicting the other. The Jlayor rises to the dignity of his office, orders his uniform, and gives rapid instructions for the removal of certain eyesores in the toiAi. i Next scene introduces the two ladies, j the Mayor's wife and daughter, Anna ' and Marva (wo mi.y omit the patronymics and surnames). - They are palpitating with excitement; at least the mother is. '-'What is he like? What am 1 to wear?" Marva, aged 19, is more phlegmatic. "We shall know'all about it by and by." And the young 047 totally disagrees with her mother's ">

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER.

NOTES ON BOOKS AND AUTHORS.

suggested choice of colours for the great occasion.

With the second act we are inside the hotel. _We find a young wastrel from the capital, of good social position, his servant. He has been a failure in the army; and his father has sent him down to a property of his in tho country, some distance bevond this town. He has been in the liotel for a

woek. He has lost all his money at cards, and the landlord has refused to

give him any more food. He has pawneverything to his last ehirt, and has only •what he stands in. He suffers the pangs of hunger; and we have his reflections and description of his symptoms, while the servant tries to feed himself on reminiscences of the fleshpots of St. Petersburg. Chlestakov (the young man) tries bullyijig and swaggering. At last he is be allowed one more dinner. He gloats over the prospect. The food comes up; but it is appalling, beyond description. The starving man struggles manfully, but has to give in. Despair, denunciations, threats! Then, suddenly —the Mayor is announced. Some amusing by-play follows. Tho Mayor is pompous and official; -while Chlestakov believes that he has oome to take him to prison. The fun of the piece lies in this youth's being mistaken for tho dreaded visiting Inspector, and his playing up to the part, and turning the situation to his own advantage. In this first interview there are many "asides," and much mutual perplexity. It ends in an invitation from the Mayor to leave the obdurate hotel and become his guest. Meantime they will visit some of the institutions of the town; and the young man, rising gradually to his part, discovers in himself an unsuspected interest in municipal affairs. The Mayor, proud of his capture, sends an express messenger to his wife to have the "best room prepared, and the best bottio of wine produced. The third act passes in the Mayor's house. We find the mother and daughter again in a state of eager trepidation, leaning out of the window for the first glimpse of the wonderful guest. A figure appears in the distance. "He comes!" gasps the vain and agitated mother. "How do I look?" "No, mamma; it is only Dobtchinsky." Dobtchinsky is bombarded with questions. "What is he like? How old? Tall

or short? Fair or dark?" He, by persistent effort, manages to pet out his story. Enter Chlestakov's. servant and trunk; and shortly afterwards the great man himself, accompanied by the Mayor and some of the leading officials. 'The ladies have retired.) C. is delighted. It is very good of them to pay so much attention to visitors; and the Breakfast was first-rate. What was the name of that fish? What was the place where they hid breakfast? The convalescent home. The Mayor, in puffy, effusive mood, dilates on the disinterestedness and pure municipal patriotism which form his guiding principles, in contrast to his predecessors. No taint of corruption or self-seeking with him. Chlestakov throws out a feeler for a club or a game of cards "God forbid! no breath of such things here. I have never had a card in my hand. Once, on seeing a king of diamonds, I had an attack of nausea. and once, after seeing children build j card-houses, I had bad dreams."

Then comes the introduction to the ladies. There i 3 much bowing nnd scraping; and mutual compliments and coquetries. "Ah, you have the manners of the.capital," sighs the mother; "and you must find us all so provincial J" This sets C. going. Oh. yes, in St. Petersburg he is really-a great man, yon know. He is hail-fellow-well-met with all the Ministers of State, the Ambassadors, the Generals, writerß,*joxrrnaiists, millionaires; .in fact, everybody of any note. And it is not he who seeks after them, but they him. He is invited to dinner everywhere, aiid is pointed out by the crowd in tne street. Most of the operas and plays, appearing under other names, were really written by him. Dear old Pushkin consults "him about every new work which ho is planning. The magazine editors are constantly bombarding him for articles. Aid just before he came away he was on the point of being made a Field-Marshal.

After his long rhapsody, he thinks he will have a sleep; and leaves Lis hearers staggered, gasping, and incoherent. When speech becomes possible, each comments suitably to character. Anna, while alone with her daughter, is all rapture and exaltation. "Aud did you notice how he looked at .ne all the time?" "Oh, no, mamma; I saw him looking at me a good part of the time." "Silly 1 Why should he look at you, except, perhaps, a glance now and then out of delicate consideration? But when he spoke of literature and music, he looked steadily at me." But Anna, with her awe-strickcn husband, repudiates all suggestion of having been overpowered. "To me he was just a cultivated city gentleman. You, of course, have had no experience of refined society." Chlestakov's servant enters; and the husband and wife shower questions on him about his master (each according to character),! while the cunning servant takes full advantage of his opportunity, and goes away well-lined.

At the oponing of the fourth act we find the officials (except the Mayor) assembled in an ante-chamber to C.'s room, rehearsing their parts for the great man's levee when ho wakes. The judgo does the coaching; he has been to court, and knows the procedure. They are not to go in in a procession, but singly. Each tremblingly declines the honour of being first. Chlestakov. is heard waking up," and there is a general stampede, all jostling and tumbling over each other to escape being caught. He comes forth, and they present themselves one by one. Each has learned a sort of fixed formula for tho opening and closo of the interview: "I have the honour to present myself" —gives name, family, official position, and Orders, if any. And on retiring: "I dare not disturb your Excellency further." The entry is with straighti ened figure and hand on sword; but presently come quaking knees and faltoring tongue; and the retirement is anyhow. The young man is a model of bland good-nature; chaffs a little; asks after their affairs; offers a cigar; and ends by borro.. ing money—(several hundred roubles) off each. He is very pleased with nimself and sits down to write a letter to a journalistic friend in the capital, describing the queer lot he has fallen amongst, and his queer experiences with them. Excellent ''copy" for his friendJs next article on the provinces ! His servant comes in to venture a suggestion that it might be prudent and advisable to be moving on as soon as possible.- C. pooh-poohs danger, but orders him to engage the best team and carriage available for next morning.

Meantime the town is in a turmoil, and there is clamour in the street helow. A Minister of State arrived! We must lay our grievances before him. A body of merchants press in, complaining* in highly embroidered language of the exactions, extortions, and rapacious rascality of the Mayor. Soldiers' wives pour out their woes on the harshness and inequality of the compulsory recruitirg: And so on. The young man is gracious, and promises his b©st_ efforts, for redress, tinder a ma-sk of pious horror at the Mayor's villainies, he has a little chuckle to himself. Then centos the climax. CbiestaKov finds Mitrya alon", and starts vigorous love-making, during which she blends the artless provincial miss with the conventional coquette. The mother enters

to find him on his knees Before her daughter. She, in her jealousv, attacks Marya, who retires; and the young man with placid audacity turns his vows °.nd pleadings on the mother. But Anna sees that nothing is to be gained by following that line, and she skilfdlv mnnanivres him into the position of accepted suitor for her daughter's hand. Enter the father, who is duly staggered: but at length, on tho urgent insistence of his self-possessed wife, he finds voice to falter out, a blcsaiitg. Chlestakov informs him that ,he_must make a journey next day to obtain the blessing of an uncle in*tlY> country. Then he sees h.is servant about tho final arrangements for departure in the morning.

Aft V.: Next day. The family discnss the new exalted destiny which awaits them, and build cloudy castles of gorgeous, colours. But the Mayor has a score to settle -with tho merchants, against whom he vows vengeance. He has them summoned to his presence; and in his own phrase, "administers hot pepper" abundantly. They cower and grovel before the man -who has suddenly sprung into greatness; and the Mayor spares no effort to make them Toalise tiie lofty eminence to which he has attained. Then the friends of the family come to express their congratulations with all proper solemnity. The business is carried out with rigid coremonial. They are all in their best clothes, and very stiff and formal. Each one in turn advances first to the father, then to tho mother, then to the daughter, with the same little conventional phrase for each. Occasionally the solemnity of the proceedings is interrupted by a wife's voluble outburst, who must really tell her dear Anna exactly how sho felt when she heard the news, what she was doing, what she remarked to her husband, ivhat he remarked to her, etc. Then, of course, they all demand to be told "all about it", how it came about; in what style he made liis proposal. And Anna is in her element, as she expatiates on the "refinement" and elegance of the gTeat man's mode of procedure, complacently appropriating to herself all his impastioned and despairing rhapsodies, while poor Marya interrupts occasionally with her timid little claim: "But really, mamma, it was to me he 6aid that." On this scene of cloudy visions, pompous formalism, and sub-acid envy and hypocrisy, bursts in the Postmaster, waving an open letter, and announcing: "The official whom we have received as Inspector-General was no InspectorGeneral." It is the letter written by Chlestakov to his journalistic friend, as "copy" for his next article, in which he had recounted his experiences, and dressed down tho town officials. The worthy postmaster, after many internal struggles, had opened it. And now there is a vehement discussion on the ethics of the proceeding, and on the question whether it should be read. Tho "ayes" have it. The Postmaster reads aloud, till he oomes to something spicy about himself, when he mumbles, and wishes to skip. Shouts of "Head on! Read all!" The hospital superintendent snateheß the letter, and picks up the reading, till he comes to his own dose. Same process; stammers, covt-rs up, and tries to skip. Same shouts; letter snatched again. And so it goes round through the Jot. And here w© may drop our little curtain. The rest may be imagined. Such, in outline, is Gogol's famous comedy. But no outline can convey the keenness of the satire or the vivacity of the humour. They lie in the dialogue and in the delineation of the characters. Perhaps what strikes us most about the piece is the absence of any individual, male or female, endowed with the least trace of genuine dignity or worth. The author makes sport relentlessly with his provincial town, and the meanness, vulgarity, obsequiousness, and trickery of its representative citizens. To him thore is no redeeming feature. But that was threequarters of a century ago. The Russian provincial towns_ have undergone considerable changes since then.