Chekhov’s Mistess

Dmitri, Anton, and Francine (and Bill too)

SCMZZZZZZZ.jpg” style=“float:left;padding:0 8px 0 0;”/> I finally got around to watching Sonata for Viola, the Sokurov (Russian Ark, Fathers and Sons) documentary on Shostokovich last weekend and I keep on watching bits here and there.

The film centers around the great composer’s death and weaves a biographical sketch along with music and a lot of old Russian footage throughout – including the only film available of Anna Akhmatova’s funeral in 1966. It’s more of a homage than a strict documentary, I’d say, if only for the fact that it attempts to cover the entire life of a very accomplished man in the space of 90 minutes. I would have expected to see more about the periods that Shostokovich suffered through that are now part of a Soviet mythology of sorts, like when he wrote music on Hebrew themes and hid the music away for the repercussions it could have had if found (of course when I say Soviet mythology I really mean the stories I’ve read in liner notes to albums).

If for nothing else, Sonata for Viola is well worth seeing for the brief footage of Leonard Bernstein conducting Shostokovich’s 5th Symphony with characteristic vigor, or the clips of performances of The Nose, Shostokovich’s opera of Gogol’s great story, but all of the music and footage is terrific and I was left wanting more – I’d say this could easily have been a three hour documentary and the music would have moved it along nicely.

The film is a story in itself as it – the film – was arrested by the KGB with only a positive print hidden away at first in several different bathrooms and then in Sokurov’s apartment. By the time the negative was released years later and the film could be distributed, Russian cinema distribution collapsed (in the 1990s). To my eyes there was nothing discernible that would have the Soviet authorities upset, although there is footage of an anti-war speech that doesn’t seem exactly anti-war to me.

SCMZZZZZZZ.jpg” style=“float:right;padding:0 0px 0 8px;”/> One impression from the film that will last in my mind is of Shostokovich having his favorite Chekhov story, “Gusov,” read to him shortly before his death. “Gusov,” is a sad but beautiful story of a man dying at sea with nothing more than to show for his life than memories of his Russian winters at home. The end of that story is as poignant as anything Chekhov wrote and the entirety of it is exemplary of the amazing way that he could make a story so interesting when nothing really happens.

SCMZZZZZZZ.jpg” style=“float:left;padding:0 8px 0 0;”/> That story also happens to be one (out of Chekhov’s 600 stories) that Francine Prose mentions in her book on writing, Read like a Writer. In her chapter “Learning from Chekhov” she demonstrates with his stories how Chekhov turns many conceptions of writing on their head. She mentions Gusov because the narrative point of view changes several times and the main character dies before the end of the story – one of the problems she cautions her students against. I won’t go into how Chekhov solves that little problem, because if you haven’t already, you should go and read it. The couple of chapters I’ve read of Prose’s book look pretty good too, although I found her must-read list (“Books to be Read Immediately”) at the end of the book is a bit dissatisfying because it is just a list and could stand for some notes besides what might already be in the text itself (ala William H. Gass’s useful, thoughtful and personal ”A Temple of Texts: Fifty Literary Pillars.”

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About this Post

• Posted by: Bud Parr
• Date: September 05, 2006
• Filed Under:
  Wise Men Fish Here: Literature

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