Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. Selected Papers from the ...

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12 The next time Yurii recalls Lara, it is a vision of her parallel to his own crucifixion by sunset. This illusion is more material. Lara grows no wings, and her shoulder-blades are not opened by a sunbeam, but by a sword. Her soul is exposed, and its contents are eerily corporeal: 'the foreign cities and expanses' (358) stretch out of her soul in a long ribbon. Apparently, Lara is affirmed by this vision as a foreign, exotic Other. Then, immediately after the vision of her open soul, the adoration of Lara is elevated to the heavens. A fuzzy vision of her face, elevated high above the earth, appears in the mist and rain (358). In contrast with the two previous recollections, Lara is not named here, and the anonymous vision is slightly ambivalent. The vision is bogotvorimyi, 'worshiped' which is close but not equal to bozhestvennyi, 'divine'. The enormously enlarged visage is apparently not the image of the divinity, but another mirage of Lara. Finally, the strongest event of the group comes where Lara is present – not in her own body, but in the form of her metaphoric twin, the rowan. In this scene, predicted by Kubarikha's song, Yurii passionately embraces a beautiful rowan tree covered with snow (or with sugar, as the title of Part XII, 'Ryabina v sakhare', suggests) and in Yurii's perception, the tree merges with Lara: 'I shall see you, my princess rowan'. With this striking embrace, movement toward the resounding culmination of the LC commences. 9. UNION L's note to Y (T is mentioned) (XIII,2:370) * Y and L meet in L's house (XIII,9:383) * Y and L live together (XIII,10-16:384-398) A letter from T to Y (L is mentioned) (XIII,18:403-405) * K arrives in Yuryatin (XIV,1:406) * Y and L live in Varykino (while T and A are invisibly present) (XIV,4-10:414-430) * K arrives in Varykino (XIV,11:432) * L leaves with K (XIV,12-13:435-437) Y's lament for L; L's voice (XIV,13-14:438-441) The arrival of A; A and Y talk about L (XIV,15-17:442-448) This is the largest, and the strongest group in the LC. Strong contacts come in clusters and the weaker ones are in the minority. The group starts with an inverted echo: immediately upon his return to Yuryatin, Yurii finds Lara's note addressed to him, in which she mentions Tonya. This note opens a new era in their relationship: Yurii and Lara meet in Lara's house and live together. Their happiness is disturbed by the intrusion of their past. As a parallel to Lara's note, Tonya's
13 farewell letter, in which she mentions Lara, arrives. The past then begins its bitter fight with the present: After arriving in Yuryatin, Komarovskii pursues Lara and Yurii wherever they go, in Yuryatin and Varykino. Finally, he takes Lara away from Yurii. However, Komarovskii is not solely responsible for the separation; the logic of the LC suggests that in breaking the union of Yurii and Lara, Komarovskii is aided by two secret allies. Latently but definitively, Tonya and Antipov have been there all the time, doing what they can to disrupt the union of Lara and Yurii. The three spouses/adversaries act in concert; imperceptibly, they infiltrate the lives of the lovers. The arrival of Komarovskii is only a link in the long chain of their joint actions. When Yurii and Lara are living together in Yuryatin, soul-searching analysis of their relations with Tonya, Antipov, and Komarovskii constitute a large part of their conversations. Then, Yurii and Lara went to Varykino together, but their abandoned spouses are awaiting them there. Yurii and Lara spend their last thirteen days in a place where both Tonya and Antipov are constantly, though only implicitly, present. After the arrival of Tonya's letter, the small house in Varykino becomes an active reproach to Yurii. To avoid the house where the presence of his family is so tangible, he and Lara take refuge in the large Mikulitsyn house, but Antipov, an invisible intruder in their privacy, is already there. Just as Tonya's letter is transformed into a real scene of the abandoned small house, Antipov's invisible presence in the big house is later rendered actual, when he finally appears there in person. Thus, the three abandoned lovers join their efforts and, with Komarovskii operating as a surface agent, tear Lara away from Yurii. Antipov comes to Varykino in order to meet Lara; instead, he can only talk with Yurii about her. Yet, against all odds, Lara's husband achieves his aim by shooting himself. Spilled out on the snow, Antipov's blood is shaped in little red balls that, to Zhivago, looks like frozen rowan berries – the symbol of Lara 10 assigned to her by Yurii. Through his posthumous meeting with Lara, Antipov has been drawn one step closer to Yurii, because it was Yurii who (prompted by Kubarikha's song) created a metaphor bringing together Lara, a snowy rowan tree, and blood: 'I shall see you, my rowan, my beloved drop of blood.' (Ya uvizhu tebya, ... moya ryabinushka, rodnaya krovinushka'), and it was Antipov who converted his own blood into rowan berries scattered in the snow. Antipov's suicide has dual significance for the LC. On the one hand, by killing himself, he achieves his desire: he meets with Lara, and this irrational meeting ends the group of UNION. On the other hand, he dies, and, with his death, the next group starts.
Page 1 and 2: Published in: Twentieth-Century Rus
Page 3 and 4: 3 1. physical presence - absence; 2
Page 5 and 6: 5 2 Twelve Motivic Groups The event
Page 7 and 8: 7 The impressive symmetry of VISUAL
Page 9 and 10: 9 rooms of the upper floor', with t
Page 11: 11 voice, which he is unable to ide
Page 15 and 16: 15 11. DEPARTURES * Y's funeral (XV
Page 17 and 18: 17 considered. The order of motives
Page 19 and 20: 19 (d) a brief coda which is attach
Page 21 and 22: 21 Since Tristram Shandy, shifting
Page 23 and 24: 23 death by heart attack, is presum
Page 25: 25 17. I am leaving open the questi

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