Russian Literature LXIV (2008) I

www.elsevier.com/locate/ruslit

MENIPPEAN SATIRE
IN RUSSIAN POSTMODERN PROSE

NINA KOLESNIKOFF

Abstract
This paper examines the presence of Menippean satire in Russian postmodern prose.
The works discussed include Anatolii Korolevs Golova Gogolja, Viktor Pelevins
Chapaev i Pustota, and Vasilii Aksenovs Volteriantsy i volterianki. In accord-
ance with the Bakhtinian model of classical Menippean satire, these works serve as a
vehicle for the renewal of literary forms through a greater hybridization of generic
conventions, a mixing of extremely diverse discourses and an exuberant play with
language.
Keywords: Menippean Satire; Russian Postmodernism; Korolev; Pelevin; Aksenov;
Bakhtin

The genre of Menippean satire has had a long history in the development of
European literatures from the ancient period to modern times. In his 1963
monograph, Problemy potiki Dostoevskogo, translated into English as Pro-
blems of Dostoevskys Poetics, Michail Bachtin commented on the longevity
and importance of Menippean satire in the following fashion:

This carnivalized genre, extraordinarily flexible and as changeable as

Proteus, capable of penetrating other genres, has had an enormous and
as yet insufficiently appreciated importance for the development of
European literatures. Menippean satire became one of the carriers and

0304-3479/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ruslit.2008.07.003
48 Nina Kolesnikoff

channels for the carnival sense of the world in literature, and remains so
to the present day. (1984: 113)

Michail Bachtin is unquestionably the most important scholar to theorize

Menippean satire. In his works on Franois Rabelais and the development of
the novel, he traced the history and outlined some basic characteristics of Me-
nippean satire, including its extraordinary philosophical universalism, juxta-
position of the serious and comic elements, bold use of the fantastic and slum
naturalism, representation of unusual and abnormal states, scandal scenes,
sharp contrasts, and multiplicity of divergent styles and discourses. He em-
phasized the deep organic unity of these seemingly heterogeneous factors, as
well as its great flexibility to absorb into itself kindred small genres, and to
penetrate as a component element into other larger genres.
In Western literary criticism, Northrop Frye is recognized as the
ultimate authority on Menippean satire. In his influential study, Anatomy of
Criticism: Four Essays, he sketched the development of Menippean satire
and stressed the difference between this genre and the traditional novelistic
forms of romance and picaresque novel. The principal difference, according
to Frye, involves the change of focus from the exploits of heroes and the
structure of society to abstract ideas and theories, as well as the stylized
representation of characters who appear as mouthpieces for the ideas they
represent. Frye defined Menippean satire as a loose-jointed narrative which
relies on the free play of intellectual fancy and the kind of humorous ob-
servation that produces caricature. In its most concentrated form Menippean
satire presents us with a vision of the world in terms of a single intellectual
pattern and a structure based on violent dislocations in the customary logic of
narrative (1957: 108-112).
Bachtins and Fryes seminal studies on Menippean satire have inspired
a great number of scholarly investigations of the history and nature of this
unique genre, as well as explicatory studies of individual works and authors
who followed the Menippean tradition. Eugene Kirks Menippean Satire: An
Annotated Catalogue of Texts and Criticism, published in 1980, lists more
than two hundred critical works devoted to this genre. Some of the most
recent general explorations of Menippean satire include Joel C. Relihans
Ancient Menippean Satires, W. Scott Blanchards Scholars Bedlam: Menip-
pean Satire in the Renaissance, and Jose Lanters Unauthorized Versions:
Irish Menippean Satires. Some of the most interesting explicatory studies of
Menippean satire investigate the use of this ancient genre by leading post-
modern writers, such as William Golding, Thomas Pynchon, Salman Rush-
die, and others. 1 As for the critical investigation of the menippea in Russian
literature, the best known is undoubtedly Ellendea Proffers study of Michail
Bulgakovs The Master and Margarita, but there are several works analyzing
 Menippean Satire in Russian Postmodern Prose 49

the use of the menippea by other twentieth-century Russian writers, such as

Boris Pilnjak, Vladimir Vojnovi, Aleksandr Zinovev and others. 2
The purpose of the present study is to examine the presence of Menip-
pean satire in Russian postmodern prose and to assess its role in the process
of renewal of literary forms undertaken by contemporary writers. The metho-
dological framework for this study will be provided by Michail Bachtins
theory since it offers the most comprehensive and rigorous formulation of the
essential properties of Menippean satire and its continuous role as a carrier of
the carnivalesque tradition in modern literature. Moreover, Bachtins theory
has been widely recognized in Russian literary criticism and might have had
a direct impact on some of the Russian postmodern writers experimenting
with new forms of literary expression.
As could be expected, elements of Menippean satire appear in numer-
ous postmodern texts, co-existing with other generic conventions. The most
frequent combinations involve the picaresque (Palisandrija, Russkaja krasa-
vica, isla), the epic (Velikij pochod za osvobodenie Indii), autobiography
(Dua patriota, ili razlinye poslanija k Ferfikinu) and dystopia (Goluboe
salo, Kys). In all these works which represent a striking medley of different
generic conventions, the menippea functions as a secondary component sub-
sumed and controlled by other dominant elements. Nevertheless, its presence
is clearly noticeable and marked by extraordinary freedom of plot and
philosophical invention, a radical rejection of established hierarchy and order,
as well as an exuberant and transgressive narrative style which relies on a
polyphony of discourses and languages. The overall function of Menippean
satire in these texts is to carnivalize the narrative by introducing some
universal concerns and presenting them in a comic manner, by juxtaposing
the lofty and the mundane, the abstract and the concrete, the high and the
low. In addition to numerous texts which rely on the menippea as a secondary
component of a larger genre, there are some works which use Menippean
satire as a predominant element shaping the entire structure, including the
plot, characterization, narrative perspective, and language. The best examples
of full-fledged menippeas include Anatolij Korolevs Golova Gogolja (Go-
gols Head), Viktor Pelevins apaev i Pustota (apaev and Void, translated
as Buddhas Little Finger) and Vasilij Aksenovs Volterjancy i volterjanki
(The Followers of Voltaire). In accordance with the Bakhtinian model, these
texts are distinguished by a unique combination of serious philosophical
concerns and a comical narrative manner which relies on sharp contrasts and
paradoxes, unusual points of view and an unrestrained use of the fantastic. Of
the three postmodern menippeas, apaev i Pustota has the most obvious
philosophical focus, since it places in the center of the narrative the idea of
the illusory nature of the physical world and the need to discover inner
spirituality. The novel continually underscores the difficulty in distinguishing
between reality and illusion, actual experience and dreams, sanity and
50 Nina Kolesnikoff

insanity, appearance and essence. Characteristically, these abstract ideas are

conveyed in the novel in a down-to-earth and playful manner which relies on
absurd explanations full of ironies and oversimplifications, and a juxtapo-
sition of sophisticated philosophical terms with the most deflated concepts. 3
Philosophical concerns are equally important for Volterjancy i vol-
terjanki which poses questions of rational philosophy and religious beliefs,
individual responsibility and prescribed moral conduct, excessive pride and
selfishness as opposed to compassion and social involvement. Despite its
outward appearance of a quasi-historical novel depicting a fictitious meeting
between Voltaire and Catherine the Great, the novel is more concerned with
abstract ideas of matter vs. spirit, reason vs. emotion, good vs. evil. As befits
the menippea, the narrative relies on the free play of intellectual fancy, the
humorous depiction of philosophical debates between Voltaire and his
Russian followers, and the highly unusual adventures of two Russian officers
and their devotion to an idealistic notion of love and romance. The narrative
is distinguished by a comical tone, most apparent in the playful comments by
the extradiegetic narrator regarding the story and its characters, the over-
abundance of mystifications and mistaken identities, and a highly amusing
quasi-archaic language. 4
In comparison to the overtly philosophical novels by Pelevin and Akse-
nov, Anatolij Korolevs Golova Gogolja has a more distinct political focus
directed at the common materialistic underpinnings of the French and Rus-
sian revolutions and the nature of political terror, as inspired by revolutionary
ardor. Beneath the overt political context lies a deeper philosophical layer
reflecting the eternal struggle between good and evil, individual responsi-
bility versus imposed social order, moral choices as opposed to blind obe-
dience or passivity. The questions of moral choices are closely linked in the
novel with the nature and responsibility of art as exemplified by the sup-
posedly immoral works of Nikolaj Gogol that glorify the dark side of human
nature and the supremacy of evil. All these serious philosophical ideas are
conveyed in the novel in a highly playful manner which relies on sharp
contrasts and paradoxes, ironies and linguistic puns. The playful tone is
particularly noticeable in the Gogolian subplot which inverts some well-
known Gogolian motifs, introduces parodying doubles and triples, and imi-
tates Gogols skaz-oriented style. 5
Typically for Menippean satire all three novels exhibit an extraordinary
freedom of plot, juxtaposing several narrative lines and moving freely
between distant temporal and topographical settings. Golova Gogolja inter-
twines three distinct narrative lines, dealing respectively with the French
Revolution of 1789, the excavation of Gogols corpse in the 1920s and the
delivery of Hitlers skull to Stalin in May of 1945. The narrative covers a
period of 150 years, and depicts various settings in Paris, Moscow and Lon-
don. apaev i Pustota juxtaposes two plot lines, one dealing with the Russian
 Menippean Satire in Russian Postmodern Prose 51

Civil War of 1919 and the other set in a Moscow psychiatric asylum in the
1990s. While the setting of the Moscow narrative is restricted to one location,
the story introduces different spatial dimensions in the embedded narratives,
capturing the hallucinations of several mental patients, including the prota-
gonist Petr Pustota. The Civil War subplot encompasses a large territory of
Russia, including Moscow and the Ural mountains, as well as the fictional
space of the netherworld. The actual plot of Volterjancy i volterjanki, de-
picting a fictitious meeting between Voltaire and Catherine the Great, covers
a span of several days/weeks in the summer of 1764. The temporal frame-
work is, however, extended in the epilogue which takes place in 1812 and
captures some of the most important events of the preceding fifty years. The
spatial dimensions of the novel are even more impressive, with the action
moving between St. Petersburg and Paris, Ferney and Rjazan, the fictional
island of Ottec on the Baltic Sea and different German municipalities.
The extraordinary freedom of plot is combined in all three novels with
the unrestrained use of the fantastic. 6 Among the divergent forms of the
fantastic, the reader encounters fictional characters endowed with extra-
ordinary, supernatural powers, historical figures who interact with characters
from another world, and objects which possess some unusual healing or
destructive attributes. The introduction of the fantastic is particularly startling
in the context of the rather ordinary and even banal circumstances depicted in
the narratives. The fact that the fantastic coincides with the most mundane
aspects of reality produces an even greater shock and bewilderment on the
part of the reader. Two of the novels, namely Golova Gogolja and Vol-
terjancy i volterjanki, rely on the representation of the dark side of the
fantastic and evoke a sense of physical and spiritual terror. In both novels the
fantastic is linked overtly with the figure of Satan who enters the fictional
world to proclaim his victory over the forces of good and to foreground the
close link between atheistic philosophy and political terror. In Golova Go-
golja Satan appears in all storylines, but is developed most fully in the Stalin
subplot portraying Satans arrival in Moscow at the end of World War II. In
his encounter with Stalin, Satan acknowledges his admiration for the Soviet
leader for his perfection of the absolute power which has corrupted the entire
nation.
The figure of Satan figures prominently in Volterjancy i volterjanki
under the guise of various surrogates, such as Master Sorokapust, a ghost in
an old castle, Vidal Karantce, a self-proclaimed chemist from Copenhagen,
and Field Marshal von Kuras, the minister of Secret Operations for Frederick
the Great. Throughout the narrative Satan plays the significant role of an
adversary, setting up tricky schemes and challenging characters to respond to
his probing questions. In addition to the dark representation of Satan, the
novel introduces a more playful fantastic in the images of petty demons who
follow Voltaire from his Ferney estate to the island of Ottec. While the
52 Nina Kolesnikoff

demons appear quite harmless in their pursuit of fun and innocent tricks, they
nevertheless bring into question the boundaries between the rational and
irrational, real and unreal, scientific and mysterious.
In apaev i Pustota the fantastic is linked with the figure of Baron
Jurgen and his kingdom of dead warriors which represents the netherworld
typical of Menippean satire. In accordance with the three-planed construction
of the classical menippea, the novel also introduces the element of the ideal
world in the form of Inner Mongolia, a harmonious and peaceful state of
mind strived for and achieved by the protagonists at the end of their long
journey. A three-plane structure is also present in Volterjancy i volterjanki
in the depiction of the highly unusual visions experienced by one of the two
Russian officers on their secret mission to Europe. In the first part of the
novel, Michail Zemskov finds himself in a world of non-existence which
closely resembles a traditional depiction of hell. By the end of the novel,
Zemskov transcends into a heavenly realm where he meets Voltaire and
Catherine the Great transformed respectively into a tree of knowledge and a
field of wheat in a perfect landscape resembling a picture by Van Gogh. A
fully-developed three-plane construction is absent in Golova Gogolja, but the
narrative does introduce elements of the netherworld in the closing sections
of the novel, depicting the posthumous visions of lieutenant Katja, one of the
countless victims of Stalins purges.
As befits Menippean satire, the fantastic is combined in the three post-
modern novels with a crude slum naturalism and the depiction of worldly
evil. This aspect of the menippea is most apparent in Volterjancy i vol-
terjanki in the portrayal of the gang of army deserters led by the Cossack
mil. The gang crisscrosses the territory of Central Europe, robbing
travelers and attacking the poorly-protected principalities. The novel depicts
several episodes of violent acts, culminating in the brutal attack on the castle
and the rape, torture and killing of the Gruderink family. The elements of
slum naturalism are also evident in the portrayal of the gangs leisure time
with its excessive drinking, internal fighting and crude language. In apaev i
Pustota crude naturalism is displayed in the anarchistic behavior of the Red
Army weavers battalion, both in their vulgar performance on the eve of the
battle, as well as in their drinking orgy and their attempt to assassinate
apaev. In Golova Gogolja slum naturalism is transferred from the rebels to
the establishment in the depiction of the extreme violence of the French
Revolutionary Tribunal and the inhuman system of repression in Stalins
Russia.
Typically for the menippea, the three Russian novels introduce numer-
ous instances of unusual states of mind, including insanity, hallucinations and
unusual dreams. In apaev i Pustota insanity is the main theme of one of the
two storylines, depicting the treatment and drug-induced hallucinations of
four schizophrenic patients. The second storyline, dealing with the Civil War,
 Menippean Satire in Russian Postmodern Prose 53

may be considered as an extended representation of the hallucinations

experienced by the novels protagonist who assumes the identity of a Red
Army commissar. The Civil War story in turn contains numerous instances of
Petr Pustotas disturbing dreams and hallucinations triggered by his head
injury and his use of cocaine. Many of these hallucinations are introduced
into the narrative without an opening or closing frame, blurring the transi-
tions between primary and secondary representations. In Volterjancy i vol-
terjanki almost all major characters experience some unusual dreams or vi-
sions, but the most intriguing case involves Michail Zemskov who has con-
tinual nightmares and visions prompted by his head injuries. The narrative
introduces several embedded descriptions of his recurring dreams, terrible
nightmares and a vision of his afterlife. In Golova Gogolja the highly unusual
and disturbing visions occur in the Stalin subplot, in a series of posthumous
visions experienced by Katja and in an appearance by Christ on the Sea of
Galilee contemplating the death of John the Baptist.
Along with the representation of abnormal states of mind, the three me-
nippean narratives introduce numerous scandal scenes involving inappro-
priate speech and behavior. In apaev i Pustota scandal scenes abound in
both storylines, but produce the most shocking effect in the Civil War nar-
rative due to the juxtaposition of unexpected and incongruous elements.
Some of the most startling scandals include an outrageous cabaret perform-
ance, a confrontation between Petr Pustota and two White Army officers in
the town of Altaj-Vodnjansk, and the wild drinking party of the Weavers
Battalion. Scandal scenes abound in Volterjancy i volterjanki in the
depiction of the crude behavior of the patrons of the Danzig and Paris
taverns, the bawdy reception of Voltaires play at the Comdie Franaise, or
the monks unusual strategy of using cats in order to interrupt a hot air
balloon flight. The entire action of the novel consists of a series of scandals,
eccentric escapades, mystifications and unexpected outcomes.
One of the most visible devices of Menippean satire employed in the
three postmodern novels is heteroglossia, based on the juxtaposition of very
divergent discourses, frequently clashing with one another and producing the
effect of linguistic estrangement. 7 The device of heteroglossia is most
apparent in Volterjancy i volterjanki which combines several linguistic
strata, including the quasi-archaic language of the extradiegetic narrator, the
highly sophisticated language of Voltaire and the most vulgar speech of the
members of mils gang. The narrators highly stylized discourse is distin-
guished by the use of neologisms, unusual spelling and elaborate syntax, as
well as play with words. Many linguistic puns involve highly unusual
personal names and designations of fictional places and foreign words in their
Cyrillic transcriptions. In contrast to the highly stylized language of the
narrator, the direct speech of Voltaire represents a very modern, almost con-
temporary language. It relies on highly sophisticated idiom suitable for in-
54 Nina Kolesnikoff

tellectual disputes, as well as everyday language which conveys Voltaires

physical and emotional reactions. The third linguistic stratum capturing the
coarse language of the rebels relies on augmentative and obscene language,
with frequent references to the lower parts of the body and their functions.
Another striking quality of that stratum is its mixture of several East Euro-
pean dialects that produces the comic effect of a nonsensical language,
amusing in its absurdities and incoherence.
While conforming in most aspects to the Bakhtinian model of classical
Menippean satire, the three Russian postmodern menippeas depart from it in
some significant ways. First of all, they show little concern for current or
topical issues, focusing their attention on the historical or quasi-historical
events and juxtaposing the officially accepted versions with other, contra-
dictory versions. 8 The only exception in this regard is apaev i Pustota
which depicts some contemporary events, albeit in the most estranged fashion
by framing them as the drug-induced hallucinations of schizophrenic patients.
The embedded stories of Marija, Serdjuk and Volodin contain oblique refer-
ences to the failed putsch of 1991, the post-Soviet free-market economy, and
the culture of drugs and violence. Significantly, these references are rendered
in a non-realistic manner by grotesquely distorting some important details
and introducing elements of the fantastic.
Unlike apaev i Pustota, the other two postmodern menippeas shy
away from current issues and concentrate on the historical past: the reign of
Catherine the Great in Volterjancy i volterjanki, and the events of the
French revolution and Stalins terror in Golova Gogolja. Both novels overtly
contradict official historical records and offer new versions of events by
introducing unusual points of view previously excluded in historical accounts
and by integrating history with the fantastic. The alternative history presented
by Aksenov suggests the strong and direct influence of Voltaire on Catherine
the Great both in terms of her domestic and foreign policies. The novel
credits Voltaire with the ideas of delaying the abolition of serfdom, and
proceeding with a war against Turkey to establish a great Christian empire
centered in Constantinople. The novel also presents an apocryphal version of
the Pugaev rebellion by transposing the Cossack rebel to Western Europe
prior to the uprising in Russia and placing him in direct contact with the
deposed emperor Peter III. Another highly radical revision of the historical
record involves the figures of Frederick the Great and his sinister Minister of
Secret Operation, who turns out to be Satan himself.
The alternative version of history offered in Golova Gogolja supple-
ments the official record of the French revolution with a demythified por-
trayal of its leaders and the inclusion of the unique perspective of a wax
sculptor making death-masks of the victims of the Revolutionary Tribunal
and eventually of the revolutionaries themselves. The second narrative line,
on the other hand, integrates the historical account with the fantastic by
 Menippean Satire in Russian Postmodern Prose 55

introducing a fictional story of Hitlers skull delivered as a war trophy to

Stalin, and portraying a direct confrontation between Stalin and Satan. The
combination of the quasi-historical and the fantastic is most apparent in the
Gogolian subplot, depicting a fictitious story of the excavation of Gogols
ashes and introducing a terrifying image of Gogols skull being used by Satan
as a bowling ball to destroy the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in
1936 and to start the French revolution in 1789. Images of decapitated heads
and skulls reappear throughout the novel, linking the divergent storylines and
underscoring the philosophical message of the eternal struggle between good
and evil and the moral responsibility of art.
The second notable departure from classical Menippean satire is linked
with a much darker view of the worldly evil conveyed by the three novels.
Whereas classical Menippean satire frequently contained elements of social
utopia, the postmodern Russian menippeas present a dystopian view of man-
kind and a destructive technology. A dystopian perspective is most prominent
in apaev i Pustota, particularly in the embedded descriptions of post-Soviet
reality with its violence, drugs and lack of spirituality. A dystopian tone is
also distinct in Golova Gogolja, in the depiction of the hellish atmosphere of
terror and the evil use of technology in the form of the guillotine during the
French Revolution and the powerful human grinder nicknamed Russian
Roulette supposedly invented during Stalins years of terror.
The third noticeable quality of the Russian postmodern menippea, in
comparison with classical Menippean satire, involves a greater degree of
absorption of other generic conventions. While classical Menippean satire
had a tendency to integrate some kindred small genres, the postmodern me-
nippea absorbs into itself some other larger genres, most notably the ad-
venture story, the picaresque novel, the epic, Bildungsroman, and others. The
text of Volterjancy i volterjanki provides the best example of this ten-
dency. The narrative introduces a great number and variety of inserted
genres, including reminiscences, didactic stories, Socratic dialogue, colloquy,
letters, et cetera. More importantly, it incorporates the conventions of the
adventure and picaresque novels by portraying the numerous exploits and
adventures of the two Russian officers hired to protect Voltaire and the honor
of two German princesses. The novel openly parodies the conventions of
these popular literary genres by deflating the heroic qualities of the two
protagonists, by placing them in compromising and ridiculous situations, and
ultimately by having them fail in their mission. The narrative subverts the
traditional elements of the romance by exaggerating the notions of mistaken
identities, the gap between the ideals of pure love and physical intimacy, and
the high expectations of romantic lovers as opposed to the prosaic reality of
married life. Ultimately, the text of Volterjancy i volterjanki resembles a
generic medley in which Menippean satire absorbs other generic conventions
and acts as the dominant element of the new structure. The same tendency
56 Nina Kolesnikoff

toward hybridization distinguishes other postmodern menippeas, with Golova

Gogolja integrating Menippean satire with the fantastic story, apocryphal
history and political satire, and apaev i Pustota combining elements of
Menippean satire with the picaresque novel and Bildungsroman.
It should be evident from the preceding discussion that the ancient
genre of Menippean satire continues to flourish in Russian postmodern fic-
tion. This is largely due to the enormous potential of this genre to contribute
to ongoing dialogue on the nature of good and evil, individual responsibility
and ethical choices. With its unprecedented energy and imaginative force,
Menippean satire allows writers to raise these important questions in a fresh
and attractive manner, and to engage readers in the process. But the most
important function of Menippean satire in Russian postmodern literature is to
serve as a vehicle for the renewal of literary forms themselves through a
greater hybridization of divergent generic conventions, a mixing of extremely
diverse discourses and an exuberant play with language. True to Bakhtinian
prediction, Menippean satire has remained a vital genre to carry a carnival
sense of the world to literature and to create vibrant and innovative forms of
literary expression.

NOTES

1
See Kharpertian (1990), Ball (1998), Crawford (2002).
2
See Proffer (1973), Rowson (1986), Booker and Juraga (1995).
3
For a more detailed analysis of the novel, see Rodnjanskaja (1999), Ka-
nevskaja (2000), Iimbaeva (2001), Mrch (2005).
4
For a more detailed analysis of the novel, see Galieva (2004), Eliferova
(2004), Aleina (2004).
5
See Ardov (1993), Dark (1993), Nemzer (1994).
6
For further discussion of the fantastic, see Todorov (1970), Cornwell (1990),
Jackson (1991).
7
See Bachtin (1975).
8
See McHale (1987), White (1987), Hutcheon (1988).
 Menippean Satire in Russian Postmodern Prose 57

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