Dueling

[miljohnj5]

Greetings all,
I'm a new member and I'm looking for some advice. This fall semester I will be entering English honors. We need to have 'themes' prepared for what is to be our year long thesis before the semester starts. I feel psyched but I need assistance AND direction.
First, I want to do a comparative thesis on short story realism of 19th Century Russian Lit. (Chekhov/Dost./Pushkin/Tolstoy) based on the physical act of dueling as compared to the American short story realism of Hem./Fitz./London from within the thematic pretext of events containing a dueling nature such as boxing.
I was initially paranoid to post my original idea for fear of others stealing my ideas... yes I know, weird. Anyway, bon courage... I wanted to have the American short story dueling theme to be 'internalized' meaning the protagonist confronting himself internally in a good vs. evil struggle (old idea) to do what is right. Opens up alot of avenues for pyschoanalytic considerations such as suicide etc... Anyway, I will be a senior undergrad. this fall so please no positing theoritical Foucault-isms, I'm not there yet...
Thank you.

[chaplin]

I think maybe Lermontov and Turgenev would be essential for your idea, which I may say is a very interesting one; Lermontov with A Hero of Our Time, and Turgenev with Fathers and Sons. Both have great dueling scenes and they're quite different from each other. Of course if you're only focusing on the "short story" that may cancel those out, even though they're both fairly short.

You probably already thought of it, but you could also incorporate the early deaths of both Pushkin and Lermontov in duels.

[Logos]

Duelling is a common theme in Russian works :) You might want to check out Turgenev's "The Duellist" (1846) :)
http://www.online-literature.com/turgenev/2710/

Also, if you search Turgenev's http://www.online-literature.com/turgenev/
Dostoevsky's http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/
Tolstoy's http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/
Artzybashev's http://www.online-literature.com/artzybashev/
Chekhov's http://www.online-literature.com/anton_chekhov/

etc. sites for the word 'duel' you will many occurrences.

[Whifflingpin]

Lermontov of course - but check out his poem called, I think, "A dream." It may begin, "v dolini Daghestanu .." "In a gorge in Daghestan" and describes a death from a duel, the blood soaking into the sand.

Lermontov died in a duel, his blood soaking into the sand in a gorge in Daghestan.

[byquist]

That sounds like a fascinating topic to knock the socks off of the prof.

Naturally, there's the loss of life at the end of 3 Sisters.

You could also research the history of dueling, at least from the chivalric principles. When I first took fencing we studied it, and it was all about proper posture, finesse, honor, all those good attributes before you stick the opponent. Also, it related to women's posture, erect, head high, confident, indomitable, etc.

[miljohnj5]

Greetings,
I originally started this dueling thread with what I thought was a great idea and I had the exitement I needed for writing a complex thesis on dueling in my senior year for a college English honors program. Well...the hype of it actually getting somewhere productive in the program is all drivel. The pretense was that I would be given an opportunity to write an effective piece. Rather now, its me fumbling through the process itself without any real assistance. No problem, if I could actually do it on my own but I can't because a research thesis is new to me. I've asked for assistance and instead I'm being mediated, more accurately, stifled, every step of the way between the honors directors opinion and my 1st professor reader not to even mention my 2nd professor reader. Now the game is pandering to 3 opinions. I cannot believe the hard work I've done get here (nobody gets in with less than a 3.8GPA) now I can't believe the amount of disgust I feel which has killed the inspiration I needed to carry me through the second semester of this tediousness.:flare: I won't apologize for the way I feel because its not unfounded. Refer to my first post on this thread if you want something positive. Let's see...for starters I wrote a publishable quality 67 page political theory paper in ONE semester last year so for them to come off half-cocked trying to insert their perspectives makes me sick. I'm appreciative though that I'm going into Speech-Pathology and I won't EVER have to sit on a board filled with these idiots who can't decide on things like "What if Adorno and Whitmen met one day....:crash:

[bazarov]

Lermontov of course - but check out his poem called, I think, "A dream." It may begin, "v dolini Daghestanu .." "In a gorge in Daghestan" and describes a death from a duel, the blood soaking into the sand.

Lermontov died in a duel, his blood soaking into the sand in a gorge in Daghestan.


After reading this fascinating fact, I've done some research. I think that that poem was found in his pocket when he died. He planned to die that day, from bullet or jumping/falling so I guess he wrote it day before death, deciding and describing how will he die.
What do you think, Whifflingpin?

[Whifflingpin]

Lermontov of course - but check out his poem called, I think, "A dream." It may begin, "v dolini Daghestanu .." "In a gorge in Daghestan" and describes a death from a duel, the blood soaking into the sand.
Lermontov died in a duel, his blood soaking into the sand in a gorge in Daghestan.


After reading this fascinating fact, I've done some research. I think that that poem was found in his pocket when he died. He planned to die that day, from bullet or jumping/falling so I guess he wrote it day before death, deciding and describing how will he die.
What do you think, Whifflingpin?

I think my memory and my Russian are both rusty - The poem begins "V poldnyevnii zhar, v dolinye Dagestana" It was, as far as I can find out, in a pocket book containing a number of his poems - so, was it his last? Who knows? Duels seem to be a recurring theme in his life - the death of Pushkin in a duel affected him greatly, and Lermontov had fought at least one duel before the one that killed him. A description of the duel on the edge of a cliff occurs in "Hero of Our Time," written a couple of years before Lermontov's death. Was Lermontov's final duel fought in the same way?

It may be, of course, that death in battle or in a duel was almost inevitable for someone of Lermontov's temperament in his time.

Or was it that Lermontov truly had visions of his own end? His ancestor was, after all, Thomas Learmont, known as Thomas the Rhymer - a Scottish poet who was reputed to have spent time with the Queen of Faerie, and whose descendants were reputed to have inherited a gift or curse of True Seeing.

[miljohnj5]

Wow, you guys are great and very knowledgeable. I love Russian lit., that is what little I know of it. It feels 'right' I guess, all of it from Tolstoy and Turgenev to Dost. and Chekhov but these are the only ones I sort of know. I love the Dost. quote about how all Russian writers emerged from under Pushkins overcoat. Great imagery, I imagine surrealistically them all emerging like little people on a mission; the mad Dostoevsky moving away mysteriously and the moral high-road Tolstoy walking patiently and Turgenev yelling 'Save me...' just for fun and Chekhov being psychologically prudent and watching it all very scientifically. I'm sure with the caliber of e'tudiants here that the Turgenev reference wasn't too elusive. But just in case, check out his 'Fire at Sea' story. He was accused of acting very irrationally when a boat he was sailing on caught fire and he ran about yelling, 'Save me!' He was accused of shoving women and children aside and pleading with a matesman that he would give him a lot of money if he would allow him into a life boat. All of either St Petersburg or Moscow knew about it afterward. Anyway, the story goes that many years later Turgenev's friends were putting on a play and during an act which there was a fire he ran onto stage yelling SAVE ME..!!! :lol: Thanks for reading ;)

[bazarov]

It's Gogol's cloak, not Pushkin's overcoat! :D

[miljohnj5]

Dang nabit, dernit!;)