Zeke Newbold
Carbon based biped.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2015
- Messages
- 1,249
The idea of `the superfluous man` can be found in a lot of Russian literature - and many of the central character of Russian stories from the Nineteenth Century are described as being `superfluous men` (perhaps the best known being Eugene Onegin, the hero of Pushkin's verse, which was also turned into an opera by Tchiakovsky).
I have known about this label for some time, and have even used it myself. However I was not really all that clear about what it actually entailed until I recently read `The Diary of a Superflous Man` by Ivan Turgenev (1850). This is the very novella that introduced the term to the world and was responsible for making the idea fashionable among Russian novelists at that time. It explains what `superfluous man `means quite clearly. On page 10 of the Alma Classics version (published 2019) we come across this:
As for me -that's all you can say about me: I'm superfluous - that's the top and bottom of it. Surplus to requirments - no more, no less. Nature did not count on my putting in an appearance, and as a result has always treated me as an unexpected and uninvited guest.
It continues like that in the same vein for some time (gowoutandbuyitwhydontcha!) Now be honest with yourself. Does that resonate with you at all? If you're anything like me it does.
When I first read it I was instantly reminded of a remark a friend - who was into reincarnation and such like (but not Russian literature) -once made about me many years ago. He said:
`It's as though you're somehow not meant to be here`.
So as superfluous people - I suppose in this day and age women can be superfluous too - we are never likely to lead the charge of any brigade. Never likely to be the male/female lead of a romantic epic. Never likely to be the much loved family guy.... (Or when we try these things we get a slap in the face. Thus Turgenev's anti-hero from the above mentioned story challenges his rival in love to a duel. His rival agrees and our superfluous man only succeeds in slightly wounding his rival - who then calls the duel off as a show of magnanimity. The result: his rival comes out of it looking brave and kind and our superfluous man is shuinned by polite society).
But there are some upsides:
*We are inoccent bystanders who get to observe, and even partake in things, without ever really being held accountable for them.
* We survive things that would fell other people (It's as though, because we are already superfluous `nature` doesn't feel a need to be rid of us).
* We get to be like characters in Nineteenth Century Russian novels and can be `brooding` and `tortured` and `mysterious` in a way that non-superfluous people would pay good money for.
Just thinking aloud.
I have known about this label for some time, and have even used it myself. However I was not really all that clear about what it actually entailed until I recently read `The Diary of a Superflous Man` by Ivan Turgenev (1850). This is the very novella that introduced the term to the world and was responsible for making the idea fashionable among Russian novelists at that time. It explains what `superfluous man `means quite clearly. On page 10 of the Alma Classics version (published 2019) we come across this:
As for me -that's all you can say about me: I'm superfluous - that's the top and bottom of it. Surplus to requirments - no more, no less. Nature did not count on my putting in an appearance, and as a result has always treated me as an unexpected and uninvited guest.
It continues like that in the same vein for some time (gowoutandbuyitwhydontcha!) Now be honest with yourself. Does that resonate with you at all? If you're anything like me it does.
When I first read it I was instantly reminded of a remark a friend - who was into reincarnation and such like (but not Russian literature) -once made about me many years ago. He said:
`It's as though you're somehow not meant to be here`.
So as superfluous people - I suppose in this day and age women can be superfluous too - we are never likely to lead the charge of any brigade. Never likely to be the male/female lead of a romantic epic. Never likely to be the much loved family guy.... (Or when we try these things we get a slap in the face. Thus Turgenev's anti-hero from the above mentioned story challenges his rival in love to a duel. His rival agrees and our superfluous man only succeeds in slightly wounding his rival - who then calls the duel off as a show of magnanimity. The result: his rival comes out of it looking brave and kind and our superfluous man is shuinned by polite society).
But there are some upsides:
*We are inoccent bystanders who get to observe, and even partake in things, without ever really being held accountable for them.
* We survive things that would fell other people (It's as though, because we are already superfluous `nature` doesn't feel a need to be rid of us).
* We get to be like characters in Nineteenth Century Russian novels and can be `brooding` and `tortured` and `mysterious` in a way that non-superfluous people would pay good money for.
Just thinking aloud.
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