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Rethinking Romantic Irony: Puškin, Byron, Schlegel and The Queen of Spades
Author(s): Maxim D. Shrayer
Source: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 397-414
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/308998
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ARTICLES
This essay will examine Pu'kin's The Queen of Spades (1833) in light of the
current debates on the place of romantic irony in the Romantic movement.
Pu'kin's oeuvre on the whole has been associated with Romanticism in one
way or another, although scholars indicate some unsolved problems with
Puskin's place in the Romantic "canon."2 Hopefully, a discussion of roman-
tic irony in The Queen of Spades-a recognized tour de force of Pu'kin's
prose-well elucidate Puskin's status as Romantic writer.
The defining statement of romantic irony-both as an artistic style and
as a philosophical system-originated within a group of German post-
Kantian aestheticians centering around Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829).3
Friedrich Schlegel and his followers in their aesthetic writings insist on the
essentially chaotic nature of the universe and deny the possibility of any
absolute order. The essence of reality is defined as becoming, rather than
being. Schlegel writes, "An idea is a concept perfected to the point of irony,
an absolute synthesis of absolute antitheses, the continual self-creating
interchange of two conflicting thoughts."4
According to Schlegel, one must always sustain the "incredibly difficult
but not impossible dual awareness that everything one believes is both true
and false.'"5 This awareness opens new perspectives for artistic production.
As suggested by Anne K. Mellor, a romantic ironist is one who creates or
represents an ordered world in which he believes and to which he commits
himself, and, acknowledging his own limitations as a human being, is simul-
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398 Slavic and East European Journal
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 399
Mellor's definition is brilliant, but how does it apply to the actual object
of Mellor's examination-Byron's long lyrical poems, especially Don
Juan?
The problem with the relation of Byron's long poems to romantic irony
as defined by Mellor is that the poet himself as the agent who demystifies
his various Byronic characters (Giaour, Manfred, Childe Harold, Don
Juan, et al.) often falls into the trap of Byronism, either by becoming a
Byronic character himself or by identifying with one of the Byronic charac-
ters. Byron is a romantic ironist when he is anti-Byronic, thus allowing for a
double vision in his poems. The Giaour is the only character in the epony-
mous poem with whom we can identify,
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400 Slavic and East European Journal
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 401
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402 Slavic and East European Journal
Chapter III up until the point when Germann enters the Countess' house,
communication between Germann and Lizan'ka develops and their mutual
attraction grows. Germann the Byronic/Napoleonic figure here becomes a
Wertherian figure. We certainly know that Germann wants to learn the
secret of the three cards. Because of the effect of the narrative, however,
until Germann hides in the Countess' bedroom when she returns from the
ball, the reader is not sure whether Germann came for the Countess' secret
or for a rendezvous with Lizan'ka. It is not by chance that Germann, a
Russified German, copies his first letters to Lizan'ka from a German novel
which very well could have been The Sufferings of Young Werther by Goe-
the. Germann as an innamorato is inventive in conventional terms. As his
passion grows, he begins to compose his own letters and expresses in them
both the "inflexibility of his desires and the disorder of an unrestrained
imagination"32 (nepreklonnost' ego strastej, i besporjadok neobuzdannogo
voobraienija).33 Because Lizan'ka has no idea of Germann's real intentions
(if one can speak of them in the letter-exchange episode), she is caught in
an actual romantic situation. But one must emphasize that although the
readers are told of Germann's true goal, they are still likely to 'buy into'
Germann's Wertherian romance.
From acting like Werther, Germann metamorphoses into Faust in the
episode in the Countess' bedroom. Andrei Kodjak in his article on the
Faust legend in The Queen of Spades examines the role of the legend in
Pu'kin's narrative. In particular, he discusses the Faust legend as one of the
four main sign systems in the story along with the numbers sign system,
narrator sign system, and ghost sign system. Sharing Kodjak's beliefs,
Mark Simpson treats The Queen of Spades as a Russian Gothic novel which
re-enacts the Faust legend. Kodjak's reading of The Queen of Spades as a
Faustian tale is, nonetheless, not free of shortcomings. Still, the scene at
the Countess' bedroom certainly carries some traits of Faustianism. Here
Germann offers to take over the Countess' sin, in a Faustian pact with
Satan: "Reveal your secret to me! What is it to you? ... Perhaps it is
connected to a terrible sin, to a pact with the devil. . . . Think: you are old,
you do not have long to live-I am ready to take your sin on my soul. Just
reveal your secret to me. Think. .. ."34
Tomskij creates a bridge for the reader from Germann as Faust back to
Germann as a Byronic/Napoleonic character. During the ball scene, chrono-
logically preceded by the scene in the house and narrated after it, Tomskij
describes Germann to Lizan'ka as a "truly romantic character" (lico istinno
romaniceskoe), having the profile of Napoleon and the soul of Mephis-
topheles' and "at least three crimes on his conscience."35 Lizan'ka, condi-
tioned by sentimental novels36 and sharpened by Tomskij's remark at the
ball, regards Germann with a mixture of fear and desire. The narrator's
comment about the vapidity of the persona, created by the contemporary
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 403
Everyone was waiting for him. The generals and Privy Councillors left their whist to watch
such unusual play. The young officers jumped up from the couches; all of the servants
gathered in the drawing-room. They surrounded Hermann. The old gamblers did not place
their cards, waiting impatiently to see how he would end.4
It is only when Germann loses in the game that everyone turns away from
him. To society Germann is mysterious and Napoleonic insofar as he controls
their imagination by winning astronomical sums. Once he has lost, there is
no more mystery about him. Thus, Germann's loss demystifies him in the
eyes of society. His Byronism/Napoleonism is gone in a moment. What the
society now sees is a madman. The same society needs to complete the cycle
of Germann's mystification-demystification by sentencing him to an institu-
tion. Only when he is confined to a madhouse is Germann seen by them as a
madman. There is only a small step between perceiving Germann as a
Byronic/Napoleonic persona and as a madman. And Germann makes this
step himself-he loses. Society has to put Germann in an institution to
redeem its own recent infatuation with him. Society has to separate itself
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404 Slavic and East European Journal
from Germann since if he is not mad, they are. At the same time, the society
with the exception of the omniscient narrator and-to some extent-
Tomskij, completely misreads Germann from the very beginning.
One might propose that Germann as a romantic-ironic character under-
goes a process of demystification within the course of the narrative.41 The
narrator constructs him as a Byronic character at the beginning. Germann
goes through a first circle of demystification, moving from Byronism/
Napoleonism through Wertherianism to Faustianism and then back to
Byronism/Napoleonism. There are in fact two circles in Germann's demys-
tification. One, the inner circle, encompasses the Germann-Werther-Faust-
Napoleon stages and is based on the events that are hidden from the public
and known to the reader. Exemplifying this circle is Germann's pursuit of
Lizan'ka and of the old Countess with her secret. In the first circle the
reader possesses a great advantage over the public and recognizes what
Germann is striving for. The inner circle of demystification joins the large
external circle when Germann collapses in the cathedral. For the publ
Germann's demystification begins at Narumov's in Chapter I and ends a
the madhouse; it culminates at the last punting night scene. And it is
precisely the technique of romantic irony, or one of parallel mystificati
and unravelling the mystification, that allows the reader to join with t
public in the punting scene. Although the reader is seemingly much m
aware of Germann's actual self, she/he still identifies with Germann's m
niacal desire to win. The reader is still mystified by the three cards. In fact
in the last punting scene, when Germann places his last bet of 188,000 t
reader-joined with the public-is inseparable from Germann. The reade
is Germann for a moment! When he loses, things come to order. Germa
is put into a madhouse. The society forgets about him as quickly as the
were once lured by his mysterious aura. The readers can enjoy the informa-
tion, shared with them by the narrator, and speculate about possible rea
ings of the story. Tomskij can marry Princess Polina and remain above a
beyond society. And what about the narrator? And Pu'kin? They c
observe their readers become their characters, particles of the fundame
tally unchanging infinite Universe.
One must distinguish two main readings of The Queen of Spades. Th
first treats the story as realistic and tries to demystify all the instances of th
mystic and the fantastic.42 It reads the punting scene as realistic, a queen of
spades simply sticking to the ace due to the newness of the pack. It the
treats Tomskij's anecdote as consisting of two parts. One-the real, pre
ents Count Saint-Germain as an historical person who lived in Parisian hi
society in the 1750s and died in 1784.43 In the realistic reading, Count Saint-
Germain simply gives Tomskij's grandmother the money she lost in pun
ing. The very story of the cards-the second half of Tomskij's narration
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 405
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406 Slavic and East European Journal
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 407
offers to take over the Countess' sin, that is her pact with Mephistopheles.
He offers to free her from the pact by assuming her role in the pact, the role
of a Faust, not of a Mephistopheles, unlike the apparent suggestion of
Tomskij's characterization of Germann. Even if Germann and the Countess
miscommunicate rather than have no communication at all, even if the
Countess envisions getting Germann's soul to die in peace while Germann
thinks about replacing her in her pact with Mephistopheles in exchange for
the secret of the three cards, the situation still does not follow the logic of
Kodjak's argument. Moreover, further complicating the situation, Kodjak
suggests that there are parallels between Germann and Saint-Germain: both
have a quest, share similar names, and seek information.50
A possible solution would establish Saint-Germain as Mephistopheles
and Germann as one of the many simultaneously existing facets of the
multifaceted Mephistopheles. The Countess awaits Saint-Germain, who
controls her as either her lover or the possessor of her soul; the first, or a
combination of both roles, typifies Tomskij's embedded narrative. Indeed,
why would she deny the existence of the three cards, saying instead, "That
was a joke . .. I swear to you, it was a joke!"51 (eto byla svutka . .. kljanus'
vam! Eto byla futka!).52 Perhaps it really was a joke? Ultimately, then the
Countess dies, scared by Germann, one of Saint-Germain's hypostases.
Because Kodjak does not acknowledge romantic irony as Puskin's
method in The Queen of Spades he must concentrate on the Faust sign
system in his study.53 However, only by acknowledging Saint-Germain's
crucial role in the course of the romantic-ironic mystification can we fully
account for the problematic points in the narrative.
One additional problem remains to be explained, the scene of the Count-
ess' visit to Germann's bedroom. Both the Countess and Germann are
manipulated by Saint-Germain; Saint-Germain exercises his power to
bring the Countess' ghost to Germann's bedroom and have her reveal the
secret of the three cards. And it is precisely because of the "intoxicating"
impact of the ghost thriller upon the reader that Saint-Germain allows the
Countess' visit. Everything-the secret of three cards, Germann, the
Countess, the punters, and the public-is predicated upon the romantic-
ironic design of the story, with Saint-Germain being the agent of the
romantic-ironic manipulation. The art of Puskin as romantic ironist in The
Queen of Spades is to allow the reader to apprehend his design, to see the
manipulations of Saint-Germain, while still prompting the reader to desire
to ghost thriller, to 'buy into' the mysticism, and to stop her/his breath short
when the Countess visits Germann and when he punts at Cekalinskij's.
Kodjak almost recognizes romantic irony without identifying it.54 His
notion of a doubleness in the narrative-ghost thriller and Faustian psycho-
logical story-partly anticipates my own view of the technique of romantic
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408 Slavic and East European Journal
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 409
NOTES
1 Schlegel, 156.
2 See, for example, Victor Terras' discussion in his article "Pu'kin and Romanticis
3 The concept of romantic irony is anatomized in a number of Friedrich Schlegel'
particularly in his essay On Incomprehensibility (1800), in Athenaeum Fragments (
and in Critical Fragments (1797). A comprehensive modern translation of sev
Schlegel's works is in Firchow's Friedrich Schlegel's Lucinde and the Fragments. Cat
Wheeler's The Romantic Ironists and Goethe contains a rather useful selection from a
number of texts pertaining to the subject of this essay.
4 Schlegel, 176.
5 Mellor, 13.
6 See Mellor, 4-5, 7-8, 14-15.
7 Schlegel, 267.
8 See McGann, 22.
9 This formulation was suggested to the author by Professor William Galperin of the
English Department at Rutgers, New Brunswick; despite its allegorical character it seems
to be very precise.
10 Mellor, 18.
11 See Mellor, 5-6.
12 Abrams limits his picture of the Romantic movement to its organicist trend, the provin-
cial British version represented largely by poets of Protestant sensibility: Wordsworth,
Coleridge and Blake. At the same time, he ignores the second major trend of European
Romanticism-the Continental, or romantic-ironic trend. For a recent polemics, see, for
instance, Galperin, 133; it is remarkable that in his rather critical review of Frederick
Garber's book on romantic irony Galperin departs from a reference to the post-Kantian
nature of the aesthetics of romantic ironists and from the reassertion of the two trends of
European Romanticism; the distinction between the two trends is crucial in the overall
approach to the texts of romantic irony. Works by both Byron and Pu'kin exemplify the
Continental trend.
13 Mellor, 24-25.
14 Byron, 113.
15 As demonstrated by Lauren G. Leighton, Pu'kin must have been indirectly familiar with
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410 Slavic and East European Journal
the ideals of the Schlegel school, most likely via P. A. Vjazemskij; see Leighton 1987,
134-135, 90-91, 96-97, 63, 51-54. This is not to say that there is a necessary connection
between Pu'kin's familiarity with Schlegelean easthetics and his art as romantic ironist;
Coleridge, who was well versed in post-Kantian philosophy, including the Schlegels,
nontheless represents the provincial English non-ironic trend of European Romanticism.
Alhough Leighton does not speak of romantic irony per se, in various places of his
commnetary he outlines the features that are romantic-ironic, as, for instance, in his
notes to Vjazemskij's criticism: "Even the most vigorous champions of the new Romantic
school were troubled by what they considered ambiguity in Pugkin's verse tales. He did
not spell out his heroes' motivations, and he did not decisively resolve their conflicts or
fully develop his themes." (Leighton 1987, 54). Sergej fon Stejn's discussion of Pu'kin's
attitudes to philosophy during the Lyceum years is also very illuminating: "Skeptiteskoe
otnogenie Pugkina k filosofii opredeljaetsja o'en' rano, imenno v Licee [...]. Skol'noe
eja izuienie re'itel'no ne davalos' Pugkinu, o EUm soxranilis' mnpgo'islennye rasskazy
ego licejskix tovarifiej. Doglo do nas i dokumental'noe ob etom svidetel'stvo v otzyve
professora A.P.Kunicyna, kotoryj konstatiroval, 6to uspexi Pugkina v filosofskix
predmetax '6cen' neveliki, a osoblivo po easti logiki'." (53) ?tejn also quotes from
Pugkin's letter to Delvig of May 2, 1827: "Ty penjaes' mne . . . za nemeckuju metafiziku
[. . .]. Bog vidit, kak ja nenaviiu i preziraju ed." (57)
16 Examination of romantic irony in Pugkin's oeuvre remains to be undertaken; Evgenij
Onegin is first on the author's list of candidates.
17 J. Thomas Shaw refers to The Queen of Spades as "psychologcal thriller." (115)
18 Two points in Mellor's book call for further investigation. First, one might question the
idea of simultaneity of the two dimensions/visions of romantic irony in Mellor's schema.
Second, on a larger scale, it is difficult to substantiate the idea of hovering between self-
creation and self-destruction, between being and becoming. Romantic ironists like
Pu'kin and-to some extent-Byron always maintain a very clear, non-chaotic vision of
the universe. This vision rejects any teleological narratives of apocalyptic rebirth in the
unchanging and all-encompassing infinite Nature.
19 Terras' article "Pugkin and Romanticism" is an exception that seems to prove the rule;
Terras mentions romantic irony as one of the aspects of Pu'kin's oeuvre. Although he
seems to be leaning towards Abrams' approach to Romanticism, he nontheless defines
romantic irony as the "doubling of the poet's mind which allows him alternately to merge
with his work and then again to observe it from the outside" (Terras, 50). Terras also talks
of a strong dose of romantic irony in The Queen of Spades. As of today, the only notable
article to discuss Russian romantic irony is that by Roman S. Strug, published in the
collection Romantic Irony (see Strug, 1988). Strug's article gives only a brief outline of
some dimensions of the subject without going into textual details.
20 Thus, for instance, Jurij Mann's Poetika russkogo romantizma (1976)-a major contribu-
tion to the field-hardly at all considers the problem of romantic irony.
21 V. V. Vinogradov's "Stil' 'Pikovoj damy' " (1936)-perhaps the most meticulous analysis
of the tale ever undertaken-makes only a few references in passing as regards irony and
its stylistic implications. The most significant among Vinogradov's observations on irony
in The Queen of Spades concerns the problem of the gambling jargon and its potential for
ironic two-dimensionality. (Vinogradov, 100) Some discussions of the tale's style-
relevant to this essay-may be found on pp. 77, 93, 106, 107, 113 of Vinogradov's article.
22 See Zirmunskij, 14-22.
23 This was demonstrated by Andrei Kodjak in his article on the Faust legend in The Queen
of Spades.
24 A. S. Pugkin, "The Queen of Spades," tr. Carl R. Proffer, 311; hereafter Proffer.
25 Pugkin, 320.
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 411
26 Proffer, 311.
27 Vinogradov makes a suggestion that as early as in Chapter 1 Tomskij is already launching
the mechanism of mystification: "No v 'Pikovoj dame' tajny kartoinoj igry uze v pervoj
glave osvoboideny Tomskim ot istolkovanija ix razgadki v 'ulersko-bytovom plane.
Preide vsego xarakterno, Cto oni svjazany so staruxoj--erez ne--s Kaliostro. Krome
togo, predpoloienie
28 Proffer, 311. o vulerskoj ulovke srazu ve otricaetsja Tomskim ... " (85)
29 See Makogonenko, 183; his article is written from a retrograde critical position, but
contains some observations that anticipate the subject of this study. In an influential
article on the theme of gambling in Russian literature Jurij Lotman characterizes Ger-
mann as follows: "Germann-c-elovek dvojnoj prirody, russkij nemec, s xolodnym umom
i plamennym voobraveniem-z-aidet vnezapnogo obogavvenija. Eto zastavljaet ego
vstupit' v Euiduju dlja nego sferu Sluvaja." (Lotman, 134)
30 See ibid, 187.
31 Proffer, 316.
32 Proffer, 318.
33 Puvkin, 336.
34 Proffer, 320.
35 Proffer, 321; the following excerpt from Wheeler's introduction to her anthology The
Romantic Ironists and Goethe will perhaps explain why Carl R. Proffer opted for 'roman-
tic' instead of the Russian romaniceskoe: "The word 'Romantisch', used to signify the
distinguishing characteristic of modern literature, originated form a family of terms,
including 'Roman' (meaning only very roughly 'novel' and including romance and related
prose narratives), the adjective 'Roman' (meaning Roman civilization), 'Romanze' (refer-
ring to medieval romances and ballads), and 'romantic' (suggesting love, the sentimental,
the exotic, and the fantastic). All these elements contributed to the acceptance of 'Ro-
mantisch' as the adjective used to describe the essentially modern." (3). Thus, lico
romaniceskoe in Puvkin's text can be read 'a modern character,' 'a new character,' 'a
character of the new epoch,' 'a figure of romantic-ironic discourse'.
36 Shaw writes the following about the state of Lizan'ka's mind: "Lizaveta Ivanovna's
imagination, like that of other heroines in Pushkin's works, is fed by her reading. She is
prepared to accept Tomsky's characterization of Germann [...]. She 'did not know
anything of the German language'; hence the 'current novels' involved were English and
French, and the hero is the Byronic hero and the hero of Gothic and post-Gothic novel."
(Shaw, 124)
37 Puvkin, 344.
38 In an interesting article Diana Lewis Burgin elucidates the connections between the
gossip about Germann and the ironic narrative mode: "The gossip about the Countess at
her funeral is included to support the reader's speculation that the Countess had a natural
son, an apparently tangential possibility which is in fact central to the mystery. The gossip
is a typical mystery story device [. . .]. Deliberately and ironically misleading in that it
gives only partially correct information, it nevertheless sets the reader thinking about a
possibility he may have ignored or forgotten." (Burgin, 54)
39 Jurij Lotman (1975) argues for a special, privileged position of card-playing in the Rus-
sian socio-cultural milieu of the time. His observations regarding the semiotics of gam-
bling in the context of The Queen of Spades are highly provocative.
40 Proffer, 325.
41 Shaw speaks of the "uncrowning of German" as implying the uncrowning of Napoleon
and the Napoleonic ideal. (119)
42 See Makogonenko quote from L. V. Cxaidze's article "O real'nom znavenii motiva trex
kart v 'Pikovoj dame'." (Makogonenko, 183-184)
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412 Slavic and East European Journal
59 A number of scholars have expressed in various ways the idea of a double vision in The
Queen of Spades. The author is most indebted to J. Thomas Shaw who noticed that
"everything is presented in double vision, one of which is ironic" (126), Paul Debreczeny
who spoke of "fantasy within reality, past within the present, and lyricism within an ironic
framework" (211), and Diana Lewis Burgin who observed that Pu'kin creates the "reader
ambivalence about the reality of irrational occurrences" in order to "interpret the story in
several ways, either fantastically, realistically, or both." (46)
60 In her introduction to the prose section of The Ardis Anthology of Russian Romanticism
Christine Rydel describes The Queen of Spades as a story wherein Pu'kin "begins to
debunk Romantic myths" (189); although Rydel does not speak directly about the roman-
tic irony of Pugkin's story, her brief remarks on the double status of the narrative antici-
pate several conclusions of this essay.
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Romantic Irony and The Queen of Spades 413
61 Debreczeny concludes the following about Pu'kin's vision: "Pushkin's poetic vision, open
to symbolical and psychological complexities, discerns the transitory nature of life and the
unity of opposites reconciled by the passage of time." (238)
62 Finally, it ought to be mentioned that Pu'kin's art and vision in The Queen of Spades
(1833) was shaped by the defeat of Decembrism in 1825 that signified a collapse of
Byronic aristocratic optimism. Lauren G. Leighton's article on gematria in The Queen of
Spades (Leighton, 1977) made the author think about the connection between Pu'kin's
romantic irony and Decembrism; the author intends to undertake a study of the impact of
Decembrism on romantic irony in Russian literature.
63 The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the following teachers and col-
leagues for their advise and encouragement at various stages of this work's completion:
Vladimir E. Alexandrov, William Galperin, Daria Kirjanov, James L. Rice, Alexander
M. Schenker, Mary-Adair Woodall. Special thanks to SEEJ's anonymous readers.
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