Le Studio Franco-Russe 1929-1931. Toronto Slavic Library, I by Leonid Livak (review)

342 SEER, 87, 2, APRIL 200g excruciating nostalgia forherfamily. Finally, inspiteofthefactthatinBerlin she receivesa numberofmarriage proposals(one ofthemfromthewriter BorisPil'niak),she finally marriesher second cousinFrederick Pasternak, twenty yearshersenior, whomshehad knownsinceearlychildhood. Finally,one of the unique aspectsof the memoirisJosephine's idea of memory. Memoirists usually tendtoprofess absolutememory, thisbeingone ofthereasonsand evenjustifications oftheirpresumption to engagein this typeofwriting. Josephine, however, often claimsto haveforgotten detailsof events andevenwhena particular eventhappened.Thisquality ofherwriting createsan almoststream-of-consciousness impression; we feeldrawnintothe innerworldofthenarrator rather thanobserveitobjectively. This is an interesting book forthosewho wantto knowmoreabout the writers and artists depicted, and also aboutthelifeofMoscow intelligentsia in theyearsbeforeand after theRevolution. However,italso has meritas an exploration of a complex,sometimes contradictory, personality of a young girl, an individual in herownright. Department ofLiterature, Theatre, andFilmStudies A. Vernitski University ofEssex Livak,Leonid(ed.).Le Studio Franco-Russe ig2g-igji. TorontoSlavicLibrary, 1. Toronto Slavic Quarterly,Departmentof Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, 2005. 623 pp. Illustrations. Notes.Appendices.Index. CANftgo.oo: US$70.00: €50.00 (paperback). This publication in book format of a set of materials, previously available onlyonpoor-quality microfiche attheBibliothèque Nationalede France,considerably facilitates thetaskofresearchers who studythecultural history of theRussianParisiandiasporaoftheinter-war periodand,morespecifically, itsinfrequent attempts to integrate intotheFrenchintellectual and literary context. The Franco-Russian StudiowascreatedbyRussianémigré journalist and minorliterary figure Vsevolodde Vogtand Frenchnovelist and literary criticRobertSébastienin orderto providean appropriate environment for meetings and thefreeexchangeofideasbetweenFrenchand Russianwriters and thinkers. The Russiancommunity in Francehad a higher percentage of creative intellectuals thanothercentres oftheRussiandiaspora.Atthesame time,duringthe 1920s,it existedin relativeisolationfromcontemporary WesternEuropean influences, especiallyin the area of verbal art. Older Russianémigré writers, wholargely defined cultural politics in thediaspora, believedfora longtimethattheBolshevik regime wouldsoon falland they would subsequently returnto theirhomeland.Therefore, theyproclaimed as theirchief'mission'the preservation of the Russian classical(i.e. preRevolutionary ) tradition, presumably eradicatedat homebythenewrulers, in orderto transmit it to theyoungergeneration and eventually to revive it on Russian soil. In the course of the 1920s,this dominantdiscourse discouraged cultural and artistic assimilation. Writers cultivated retrospective, reviews 343 conservative aesthetics at theexpenseofan interest in either Western avantgardeorSovietliterature . Bytheendofthedecade,however, itbecameclear thatthefallof theBolsheviks was not imminent and thatthe exileperiod would be longerthan expected.The professional conditionsforRussianlanguagewriters in emigration wereextremely harsh,as thecircleofRussian readersprogressively narrowed.Therefore, therewas an obviousneed to establish contactswithFrenchpublishers and to reach out to non-Russian readersthrough translations. In addition, theyounger generation ofRussian writers, whohad left Russiaas teenagers during theCivilWar,weremaking their first inroadsintoliterature aroundthistime.WhilemostchoseRussian as theirlanguageof artistic expression, theydid not necessarily sharethe attitudes of theirolderpeersand soughtto establish creativecontactswith their Frenchcounterparts. The Franco-RussianStudio was expectedto respondto the needs of Russian émigréwriters, while also offering theirFrenchcolleaguesdirect exposureto a foreign intellectual community thatwas livingin theirmidst. BetweenApril1929and April1931,theStudioorganizedfourteen meetings, each dedicatedto a specific, previously selectedtopic,including'anxiety' in literature, the novel since 1918, Soviet literature, Frenchand Russian brands of Symbolism,spiritualrevivalin France, East and West, and Frenchinfluences on Russianliterature. Separatesessions werededicatedto discussions ofwriters suchas Dostoevskii, Tolstoi,Proust,Gide and Valéry, as well as philosophers Descartesand Péguy.Two speakers,one French and one Russian,wouldfirst present their paperson thesubject, and thenthe floor wouldbe openedfora generaldiscussion. AmongtheRussianspeakers, besides de Vogt, figuredGeorgii Adamovich,Nikolai Berdiaev,Georgii Fedotov, Boris Vysheslavtsev, Kirill Zaitsev, Nina Berberova,Vladimir Weidlé,Nadezhda Gorodetskaia and Iulia Sazonova. The languageofthese meetings wasFrench.Stenographic recordings ofthemeetings werepublished inthejournalCahiers dela Quinzaine. The sessions oftheFranco-Russian Studio attracted a wide audience,including, on the Russianside,Mark Aldanov, Nadezhda Teffi,Boris Zaitsev,Gaito Gazdanov, Nikolai Otsup, Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Pozner, Ilia Zdanevich, Mikhail Tsetlin, Mikhail Osorgin,Pavel Muratov,Mark Slonim,as well as the former ambassador of the Russian Empire in France, Vasilii Maklakov,and many others. Attendance by Russianwriters, philosophers, publishers and publicfigures indicates theimportance thattheémigrécommunity attributed to thisseries ofevents. The numberofreports on varioussessions in theRussianpressof thetimeprovidesadditionalevidenceof the Studio'ssignificance. Some of thesearticles,notablyby Iuri Felzen, VladimirWeidlé, GeorgiiFedotov, BorisZaitsevand others, are reprinted in theoriginal languageintheappendix to thepresentvolume.Equally usefulare the briefbiographies of the participants and theintroduction, whichrecreates thehistorical and literary context oftheStudiomeetings. Although thedominant toneinrarelaterreferences totheStudiobysome of its Russian members(e.g. V. Veidle, Tranko-russkie vstrechi', Russkii al'manakh, Paris,1981)isthatofregret attheunrealized potential ofthisforum, whichapparently failedtoestablish a morepermanent collaboration between 344 SEER, 87, 2, APRIL 200g émigré writers and theliterary worldofFrance,themeetings had atleasttwo important results. One is of...

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