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PARTISAN REVIEW
production was aJew. A local radio broadcast was devoted to the issue, and
when the central press started to make fun of the ever-vigilant inhabitants of
Sverdlovsk, one of Moscow's literary magazines came to their defense.
Pamyat's activities, however, for all their viciousness, would be considered
only marginal, in some kind of bad taste,
if
it were not for the legend of the
Zionist plot against Russia, a legend still supported indirectly by people who
are otherwise widely respected.
This new phenomenon does not refer to the notorious "anti-Jewish riot"
that took place in November 1989 during the meeting of the Russian
Republic's Writers' Union. That riot, regardless of its odious nature, was
nothing but a manifestation of the material interests of those disgruntled
"official" writers whose very livelihood was suddenly jeopardized when their
work was discredited with the advent of
glasnost.
No one with serious claims
to cultural leadership would take part in this kind of activity. Yet among the
so-called "country writers," many of whom are true masters of contempo–
rary Russian prose, such as Viktor Astafiev, Vasily Belov, and Valentin
Rasputin, are those who are responsible for perpetuating the new cultural
anti-Semitism. Rasputin, the most respected of the group, has openly taken
Pamyat under his wing, calling its members true Russian patriots. This phe–
nomenon is hard for any cultured Russian to accept; the only consolation is
that not every Russian comes from the country.
In Victor Astafiev's novel,
A Sad Detective Story,
one finds a seemingly
innocent word: the Jewish students at the college attended by the main
character are called
"yevreichata"
(a derivation from the Russian word
yevrei,
this word really means "little Jews"). Actually, the word does not carry any
overt malicious connotation: the author used a diminutive suffix, which could
be interpreted as a indication of hidden contempt, but which in all likelihood
would have been overlooked. However, Nathan Edelman, a well-known,
recently deceased historian, chose to call attention to this apparent "slip of the
pen" and wrote a letter to Astafiev demanding an explanation. Astafiev's
response was blatantly anti-Semitic; he substituted the word
"zhideniata"
("little kikes") for
"yevreichata."
Edelman treated this exchange in the true
spirit of
glasnost;
he made it public through the underground
samiulat,
and it
became a scandal.
Another significant event laden with anti-Semitic implications and in–
volving the country writers has been the publication ofVasily Belov's novel,
Everything Is Still Ahead.
The villain in the story is a Jew by the name of
Misha Brish. His crime consists of marrying the main character's exwife and
then plotting to emigrate to America, separating the children from their
natural father. Misha Brish plays the role of a demon, whose purpose is the
corruption ofRussian women.
Although the reputation of the country writers as champions of
pere–
stroika
has suffered, the Soviet intelligentsia still considers them a significant
