Salty Literary Critique

Spring 1863

In March of 1863, the poison pen of Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin sketched a critique of the state of contemporary literature, which was dominated by voices proclaiming the importance of content over form. Art, from the viewpoint of many writers and philosophers at the time, must first and foremost be beneficial, correct and noble, and it must inspire a sense of sympathy for the poor and weak. Form and aesthetics were relegated to the lowest of priorities. This is how Shchedrin saw the situation:

Whole phalanxes of short story writers, novelists, satirists, and dramaturges have emerged who have decided once and for all that talent is nonsense, knowledge of life is claptrap, keenness of observation is hokum, and that the most important thing is nobility of feeling. Having so decided, they are falling over one another in their attempts to demonstrate:

That education is far better than lack of education;

That vice is still vice, even if it’s dressed up in silks, and virtue is still virtue, even if it’s dressed in rags;

That vanity is still vanity, even in golden chambers, and submission to fate is still submission to fate, even in a humble hut;

That a well read young lady is much more pleasant than a young lady who is not well read;

That a young lady who teaches science in Sunday schools should be given preference as a life companion over a young lady who takes dance classes at Yefremov’s;

That someone who donates a ruble to help a sobriety society flourish is incomparably more virtuous than someone who drinks away a ruble in a tavern;

That those able to race around in a trotter-drawn cart should think about the fact that the vast majority of the human race is forced to plod along in cabs (if they can afford one!);

That those who eat steak should not forget that there are unfortunate people who eat bread and kvas;

That nasty thoughts are nasty;

That ignoble sentiments are ignoble;

That to write bad verse with noble sentiments is far nobler than to make fun of noble sentiments;

That life is deception.

As you see, the code by which we must live is not very complicated or hard to get the hang of. And with the help of that uncomplicated code, the phalanx of writers enthralled by noble sentiments have decided to gradually and tirelessly poison life for the rest of humanity!

The fruit of that intention comes in the form of dreadful stories and dramas that plunge their audience into a stupor.

Shchedrin then proceeds to offer several paradigmatic, dreadful stories of his own contrivance, including the story of “Masha Tattered Rags,” which is translated on the Russian Life website: russianlife.com/blog/mashatattered