B.Pilnyak’s Golyi God

B.Pilnyak’s Golyi God

ORDYNIN HOUSE : MICROCOSM OF SOVIET SOCIETY OF EARLY TWENTIES OF LAST CENTURY

1. Charumati Ramdas

Russian literature has always been reflecting socio-political conflicts very effectively, be it the era of romanticism, modernism, socialist realism and so on. The writers always found ways and means of depicting a true picture of society. The most challenging period for such brave, outstanding writers were the decades of twenties and thirties of the last century, when the ‘purges’ were looming large over the country, when people used to disappear suddenly not to be seen ever again in the society. But the Russian writers had, soon after the Great October Revolution, in spite of strictest possible censure and threats of liquidation, started presenting a true picture of society, of which family is a microcosm.

Boris Andreevich Pilnyak was probably the first Soviet writer, who described the Great October Revolution, as he saw it. The first significant panorama of this Great Upheaval was presented by him in an impressionistic way. Unlike some of his contemporaries like Isaac Babel, who in his work Red Cavalry described the Revolution as one who demands blood, Alekxandr Blok, who expressed symbolically the shock and horror experienced both by the opponents and propagators of the Revolution in his poem The Twelve; Evgenyi Zamyatin who predicted the formation of a post-revolutionary society of identical people who are identified not by names but by numbers in his novel We, Pilnyak in his short story Ivan and Maria wrote, “ I think that the whole Revolution…The Whole Revolution! – smells of sexual organs.”

The very form of the novel Golyi God is anti-western. The traditional components of a novel like character development, plot structure etc., were not acceptable to Pilnyak, as they were not able to reflect the chaos and confusion which the author wanted to express. So Pilnyak chose such a form, which would portray the chaotic, as well as anti-western nature of revolution. Thus the first reading of the novel gives the impression of an unsystematic collection of random jottings, disjointed or unrelated montage of violence and disorder. It seems as if the reader is watching a song sequence on STAR TV. The characters do not develop in the ‘normal’ way – they are presented in an impressionistic manner. They have little or no psychology and appear only to portray different view-points of the revolution, or as the various aspects of pre- and post-revolutionary society the author wishes to portray at a given moment.

In order to depict the social life, PIlnyak describes the lives of a few families – but we can’t still say with guarantee, who are the central characters or which family constitutes the essence of social life. There is the Ordynin family symbolising degenerating noble class; family of communist Arkhip Arkhipov who is the proud representative of future communist society; family of Ivan Koloturov – President of village committee, Olga Kuntz and Laitis, then there is a small village family, which is the symbol of purity for the author, various unconnected, unrelated characters whose lines of action and fates do not at all influence each other. But taken together they succeed in portraying the confusion and chaos that prevailed in the country; it is enough to have a glance at each family and the whole country stands before the readers.

The Ordynins live in a big and strong house which stands as a monument to the past that has now been swept away by the forces of history. The conflict of personalities within its walls represents the ideological conflict outside. For a hundred years the house has stood as a symbol of Tsarism in Russia, just as now its decaying walls and syphilitic inhabitants symbolise both the destructive power unleashed by the events of 1917 and the rotting condition of the society which is on the verge of self liquidation.

Ordynin household consists of two branches – Ordynins and Volkoviches. Volkoviches had only one survivor left – Andrei Volkovich who had joined Bolsheviks after revolution. Ordynins had Prince and Princess Ordynin, their three sons, three daughters and two grand children in this house. A servant maid Marfusha also lived in the house. Out of the three sons Boris was suffering from syphilis, Yegor was a drunkard, Gleb – the youngest was a truth seeking artist, who was celibate and pure. It is obvious, thus, that there will be further expansion of Ordynin family. Out of the three daughters Lydia, an actress, and Katerina, the youngest were also syphilitic. Natalya was a doctor, a Bolshevik, the only hope for future. Boris describes her like this, “Gleb is degenerate, Katerina is degenerate, Lydia is degenerate – Natalya’s the only human being.”

The Princess still clings to her grand routine of distributing the maids’ duties and the old Prince is retreating more and more into a world of make-believe. He has wrapped himself in the overcoat of religion so as to protect himself from the icy winds of revolution.

But the children don’t approve of their parents. Natalya goes to stay in the hospital; grandson Anton Nikolayevich joins the association of young communists; Boris shoots himself; Lydia and Katerina are also on the path of moral degradation.

Then there is the family of Arkhip Arkhipov. This young communist, who wears leather jacket, writes an order to shoot his father, as he is considered enemy of the working class. Father, at the same time, comes to know that he is suffering from cancer and before the CHEKA could shoot him, he shot himself in the mouth.

Natalya and Arkhip Arkhipov finally get married, thus suggesting that they will produce a new line of healthy children. Here Pilnyak introduces another of his favourite notions – the need for the nobility to regenerate itself through intermarriage with the lower classes.

Olga Kuntsova, the soviet young lady, who works in the Peoples’ Polise Department prepares arrest warrants through a copier. She goes to theatres, flirts with influential people, signs search and arrest warrants against whomsoever she wants. She, after an affair with the Head of the Peoples’ Police Department, Ian Laitis, signs arrest warrant against him. But Laitis proves more powerful than Olga Kuntsova and arrests her. Through these characters the general portrai of young soviet women and abuse of power by bureaucrats are reflected. This abuse leads them to their end.

Boris Pilnyak probably suggests that the Revolution has cleaned the society of its vices and a new society of healthy, honest citizens is in the making. But it is not this conclusion or the fates of various characters which is the highlight of the novel. Most astonishing is the form and style of the author.

Before discussing the stylistic characteristics of the novel, let us have a quick look at the arrangement of chapters and their titles. The novel consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Exposition and Conclusion. Further, Introduction consists of two sections : Ordynin Town and China Town. Pilnyak has used similar introductory sections in his novel Mahogany too. While ‘Ordynin House’ traces back the history of Moscow since eighteenth century, undermining apparent stability of capitalist Moscow, the constant symbolic references to China Town, which peeps around the corners at night like soldiers’ buttons, anticipate the return to a consciousness of Oriental antiquity, jolted by the Revolution.

Exposition consists of seven chapters. Chapter I has three sub-sections – ‘Tomatoes sold here’ describes the life in Ordynin Town, depicts the various households, and of how they interact with each other; ‘Olenka Kuntz and the Warrant’ tells about misuse of power and arbitrariness of bureaucrats. This chapter ends with the section ‘The Death of old Arkhipov’.

Chapter II, entitled ‘The Ordynin House’ deals in detail about the members of Ordynin household, their philosophies their way of life in the four sub-sections named, ‘Without a Title’, ‘Two Conversations’, ‘The Old Men’ and ‘Denouements’. In this chapter children of Ordynin family express a genuine, though confused interest in the events going on outside. The conflict between the Old and the New Russia is highlighted. Gleb, like PIlnyak, is unclear in his mind about his attitude to the Revolution. Both welcome it as the destroyer of the capitalist world, but both realise as well that Western influence has actually been enhanced by Revolution. Author emphasis on resurrection of the Oriental past.

For personal interpretation of Revolution, author uses the technique of Skaz in chapter III. Starting from the assumption that the Revolution brings ‘Freedom’, PIlnyak describes in detail how the different characters look at this freedom. Use of Skaz enabled the author to express certain feelings or ideas about the events of the story from the viewpoint and in the speech style of one of the characters. Pilnyak often tells not in his idiom but in that of a vulgar town character, a peasant, a criminal or a news paper. This made possible the inclusion of critical or satirical comments on soviet life for which the author would not have to take responsibility. ‘Through the Eyes of Andrei’, who seeks his freedom among anarchists, freedom means depriving others of their freedom. For Natalya, freedom means being allowed to lead the academic life of an archaeologist, supporting the Revolution, but not actually taking part in it; while for Irina ‘Freedom’ implies arrogance, survival of the fittest, liquidation of the weak. This chapter beautifully reflects the doubts in the author’s mind about the nature of Revolution and whether or not to welcome and support it.

But most telling ic Chapter VII which is about a title and consists of only three single nominative sentences:

Russia

Revolution

Snow Storm

Author probably wants to predict that after the Revolution there will be snowstorm which would destroy everything.

The whole work, as said earlier, lacks continuity in episodes. The reader gets the impression that a few separately published scenes are put together in a haphazard manner. The author has also tried to create some confusion by various other devices. He uses the same names for Bolsheviks and religious sectarians, for doctor Natalya and archaeologist Natalya, one of whom dies and the other marries Arkhip Arkhipov. Pilnyak’s manipulation of time and nature is also striking. Through manipulation of time the author wants to create the impression that though time has moved forward, a new Soviet State has been created – but in fact nothing has changed.

Pilnyak frequently suspends the narrative at a critical point by inserting a depiction of natural phenomena. Various passages of this type emphasise that man is inseparable from nature. He is in fact a part of nature.

In spite of all its confusing and incomprehensible nature, it is clear that through his novel Boris Pilnyak wanted to portray the chaotic state of the country, for which he uses three families and through the fate of these families he succeeded in predicting a healthy future which would be created by joint efforts of Bolsheviks and a few active sympathisers from the old noble class.

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