Impressionistic features in the satires by Leonid Andreev (“Courier”, 1900–1903)

Abstract

The problem of impressionism in the Russian literature has attracted the attention of researchers throughout the 20th century. The authors of the works on the impressionism (I. I. Ioffe, B. V. Mikhailovsky, I. V. Koretsky, V. T. Zakharova, L. G. Andreev, N. O. Nilsson and others) attempted to determine its place in relation to realism, naturalism, symbolism and expressionism. Quite fairly, the poetics of L. N. Andreev is associated with the aesthetics of expressionism. However, this view doesn’t exclude some impressionistic trends in Andreev’s early works. In a few works on the impressionism of Leonid Andreyev (M. Nevedomsky, K. Chukovsky, L. N. Voitolovsky, T. Y. Ganzelevich), authors analyse mainly the early stories of the writer. Unfortunately, none of the researchers has shown any interest in his satires. The article analyses poetics and aesthetics of impressionism in Andreev’s early satires during the period of his work in the Moscow newspaper “Courier” in 1900–1903. The impressionistic element in the Andreev satires is imbued with delicate, soulful lyricism. As a rule, the lyrical fragments are found in the satires, where Andreev is talking about theatrical performances of the Moscow Art theatre, describes his visits to art exhibitions or his voyages (The Volga and the Kama, Travel experiences. Riga. The Baltic Sea, The South). In this regard his article about the trip on the Riga coast is particularly interesting. The attentive consideration of the feuilleton by Andreev suggests that some elements of the impressionistic poetics and aesthetics such as the subjectivity of the narrative, the transmission of flickering impressions created through visual, audible, olfactory sensations, the use of a wide range of color and lighting of signs; increased interest in the landscape, which often merges with the psychological state of the protagonist and conveys a certain mood were successfully implemented in them.