Second Lieutenant Saber

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Yuri Tynyanov

Second Lieutenant Saber , also Second Lieutenant Sjedoch ( Russian Поручик Киже , Porutschik Kische ), is a historical novella by the Soviet writer Yuri Tynyanow from 1927.

In this grotesque Saber was born “through a typo”. Tynyanov has now added two anecdotes to a story that illuminates the essence of the Tsarist era.

Emergence

This satire on cadaver obedience at the court of Paul I is based on two anecdotes from the years 1796 to 1801 that Tynjanow had from a book published in 1901. One tells of a Second Lieutenant Saber, who only "exists" because of a typo in the files and who is promoted again and again by Tsar Paul in quick succession. The courtiers around Paul I only dare to object when Saber is supposed to appear before the Tsar as a general. The other anecdote mentions a lieutenant Sinyukhaev who - again through the oversight of a regimental clerk - was listed as deceased. Again, no one comes up against the latter spelling mistake before the ruler. The novella now illustrates that the power apparatus at court functions in both cases on the principle of blind obedience in view of the imperator's unpredictability.

content

Paul I, who has looked through the first-mentioned incorrect regimental order, orders Second Lieutenant Saber to be on watch. In Preobrazhentsi Regiment there is no officer named Saber. First of all, the commander wants to ask Baron Araktschejew . Then he leaves it better and turns to his relative Sablukov, His Majesty's aide. Sablukov decides that Saber will be assigned to guard duty and that the unsuccessful search for a Saber will be kept from the Tsar.

The regiment has started. The commander reads out the above-mentioned order, pronounces the name Saber and continues reading that the deceased Lieutenant Sinyukhayev has left. Sinyukhaev - very much alive - winces when the commander looks at him reading and reads on without interruption. After the roll call on the parade ground, the commanding officer remains silent in front of Sinyukhaev; don't know what to say.

In his quarters, Sinyukhayev realizes that he is dead. Sablukov reports to His Majesty that the one who called for help outside because of a misunderstanding is Second Lieutenant Saber. Paul I orders corporal punishment and a walk to Siberia.

Since Sinyukhayev has left the regiment, an auditor from the Senate Junk School moves into his quarters and takes away the uniform and boots from the "deceased" man. Sinyukhayev, in the worn out uniform of the auditor, leaves Petersburg on foot, visits his father, Arakcheev's personal physician in Gatchina , and confesses his own passing. The father lays the son in one of his hospital beds and notes his death in Latin on the board at the head end.

The sentence imposed by the tsar is carried out: after the commander shouted the name Saber, two guardsmen beat the bare wood of the whip bench. Afterwards, the escort soldiers have to escort an exile to Siberia whose chains do not clang. The compassionate Paul I ordered Saber back from Siberia. The second lieutenant is supposed to marry the tsar's mistress . First, he is promoted. The husband Saber becomes a father. Paul I keeps a new mistress. Saber gradually makes it to the colonel.

The overzealous Baron Araktschejew reports to the Tsar that Sinyukhayev has arrived at the hospital. The baron receives a reprimand for failing to comply with official channels.

The emperor thinks that Colonel Saber deserves the promotion to general because he never wanted to make a career, but always quietly performed his service.

When Paul I wants to speak to Saber confidentially, Count Pahlen reports the newly minted general to the emperor sick. After a few days, the tsar learns of Saber's death.

Film adaptations

reception

  • 1938, Sylvia Townsend Warner : "... the application of satire to a historical subject is an excellent idea." A "thoroughly wrong society" is criticized with devastating criticism.
  • 1977, Lewin: "A legality of the bureaucracy of the Russian Empire ... its striving for ... regulation of the entire life ... of each of its residents is revealed ."

literature

Used edition

Second Lieutenant Saber. Translated from the Russian by Maria Einstein . Pp. 5-50 in Juri Tynjanow: Second Lieutenant Saber. The guard. The minor W. With an afterword by Herbert Krempien . 292 pages. Publishing house culture and progress, Berlin 1970 (1st edition)

Secondary literature

  • Fritz Mierau (Ed.): Juri Tynjanow: The monkey and the bell. Stories. Drama. Essays. 624 pages. Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1975 (1st edition)
  • Wladimir Lewin: Scientist and Artist , pp. 358–382 in Juri Tynjanow: Wilhelm Küchelbecker, poet and rebel. A historical novel. Translated from the Russian by Maria Einstein . 400 pages. Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1977 (2nd edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lewin, p. 378, 4th Zvu
  2. ↑ Mierau, p. 587, 1. Zvo
  3. ^ Krempien in the afterword of the edition used, p. 285. See also Lewin, p. 378 middle
  4. ↑ Russian ru: Поручик Киже (фильм)
  5. ↑ Russian ru: Шаги императора
  6. ↑ Russian ru: Рябоконь, Олег Всеволодович
  7. ^ ST Warner, quoted in Mierau, p. 588, 8. Zvo
  8. ↑ Lewin, p 377.6. Zvu