Images of English Writers in the Novel « Old England » by E . L . Lann

Objectives: The article is aimed at understanding the peculiarities of the Soviet historical novel «Old England» by E.L. Lann, in particular, the unique images of the famous English writers Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison and Alexander Pope. Methods: The article is methodologically based on research in the field of textology and poetics of the historical novel, of problems of intercultural communication, dialogue and «someone else’s word», and semiotics. In the process of analysis, cultural-historical, comparative-historical, historical-typological, historical-genetic approaches, as well as methods of problematic, comparative analysis of artistic works were used. Findings: The novel by E.L. Lann «Old England» recreates the social, cultural and literary life of England in the first half of the 18th century, in the time of opposition between Whigs and Tories, and contains vivid portraits of leading writers. In the foreground there is the figure of Jonathan Swift, who was worried about the fate of literature because it was losing the educative value and stopping to guide readers to higher ideals, accentuating the inferior principles of being. E.L. Lann shows the political parties in power, or aspiring to it, using the talents of many writers in their own interests due to the venality of the latter. Novelty: «Old England» is written in the traditions of the Soviet novel, but it has a number of features, that was stipulated by the unusual nature of the characters and by the special way of discovering characteristics of heroes.


Introduction
The novel «Old England» was published in the difficult years of the war, when the release of books was noticeably reduced.It was mainly because of the political reasons connected with the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition of the USSR, the United States and Great Britain and with the expectation of the second Front.In those years, there began to appear the publications on coalition allies, -a newspaper «British ally», «Soviet War Weekly», a bulletin «Soviet War News» (Vatchaev, 2015, pp.25-30), and numerous articles on American and British literature, culture, and art.At the same time there was a surge of interest in the historical novel, especially devoted to the heroic deeds of Russian soldiers, the merits of commanders -Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Suvorov, Kutuzov.The novel by E.L. Lann «Old England» was in part the creation of the literary tradition, it could not be considered either heroic, or folk, or sustained in the spirit of the English literary tradition.It was a typical Soviet-era historical novel, its main characters were the English people, whose traditions, the way of thinking, on the one hand were interesting to the author, and on the other reflecting the mentality of the early Soviet era, characterized by passion to change the existing state system, and to overthrow the established order, the necessity and legitimacy of the social revolution.Possessing many characteristic features of the Soviet historical novel, «Old England» by Lann was, however, significantly different from other works of the genre, familiar to the Soviet reader.First of all, these differences were based on the unconventional choice of the plot, taken from English history, connected in this case with the struggle for the Spanish inheritance and the opposition of the Tory and Whig parties in the first half of the 18th century.The images of figures of English literature of that time are vividly represented in the novel.

Methods
The article is methodologically based on research in the field of textology and poetics of the historical novel, of problems of intercultural communication, and of dialogue, and «someone else's word», and semiotics, in particular on the works of Alexander N. Veselovsky (1940), Aleksey N. Veselovsky (1906), V.M. Zhirmunsky (1979), M.P. Alekseyev (1982), A.V. Fedorov (1983), G.G. Gachechiladze (1980), S.M. Petrov (1961), A.I. Pautkin (1970) and others.In the process of analysis there were used the cultural-historical, comparative-historical, historical-typological, and historical-genetic approaches, as well as methods of problematic, comparative analysis of artistic works.

Results
The plot in E.L. Lann's novel «Old England» is somewhat blurred, because the foreground is not the dynamics of action, but the multi-aspect of detailed descriptions, in some cases acquiring the features of historical chronicle.It is important for the author, not just entertain a reader with a series of successive events, but give a thoughtful assessment of people and their actions, a detailed analysis of the inner life of key figures of social development of the time, such as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Duke of Marlborough.At the same time, the fragmentation of the description does not allow us to single out the figure of the main character; a number of different plot lines, in some cases unrelated to each other, makes the narration somewhat mosaic, even confused.The author, probably, sacrificed the integrity of the narration in order to maximize the details and the realities of the surrounding life in order to recreate it in the fullness of opinions and judgments of the people, who belonged to different social groups.
Disclosing the historical process in one of its turning-points the writer followed the contemporary literary tradition.The events described are easily correlated with the life of Russian society during the First World War that showed the incapacity of the government and the need to reform the state apparatus.War becomes the impetus for future changes, for necessary renewal of the world around.However, the features of time in the novel are uncovered in an unusual way.Russian literature represents the era through the fate of a particular person (fictional or real), for whom the war is most often a source of ills, shocks, and a driving force to the feat; everything is different in Lann's novel -one can find here some general judgments about the war as a source of trouble for squires and as a means of enrichment for the capitalists: «… we -the English nation -are ruined.We can not pay taxes on land.These nine years of war are ruining us, sir, they have already ruined.But gentlemen from the City, they feed them, sir» (Lann, 1943, p.106).But Lann's understanding of public life differs from traditional Soviet historical novels.The author of «Old England» completely transfers the levers of change to the opposing parties -Whigs and Tory, while the people were traditionally the driving force of history.
At the beginning of the novel, the leading position was occupied by the people of the capital, by the Whigs -the party of rich capitalists, businessmen from the City, bank employees, and speculators, interested in the continuation of hostilities.The English bank became the «fortress of the Whigs» (Ibid., p.65), the place of concentration of their interests.The state, whose resources were exhausted over the long years of the war, had to resort to bank loans; this made the stock price constantly growing, which enriched the capitalists, and increased the taxes, but droved the majority of the population into poverty.Not only British businessmen were getting rich in the war but also allies, who were using the fighting England as a vast market for goods, and the possibility of employing their forces in hired military service.This outraged English squires; they began understanding the reason for ceasing of income from their land and where their taxes go: «…we can not pay the Imperials and the Dutch for their help.<…> The government takes our wheat for nothing to pay gold to our allies» (Ibid., p.106).Squires and urban residents were also anxious about the influx of refugees, caused by the long war; the authorities were worried about them much more than about the local population impoverished due to crop failure: «The country has been fighting for the Spanish inheritance for about nine years.And this -1710 -year the harvest was poor.Craftsmen in cities complained of bad times.Do we have to care about the refugees from Catalonia instead?The Whig ministers think about them more than about the poor people of their country.And there is no end to the war» (Ibid., p.70).
The Tory used the people's discontent in their own political interests -they were just the same notable but excommunicated from power British, who were eager to replace the Whigs and access to English money.The Tory were talking about an immediate ending of the war, about signing a peace treaty with France, about the consequences of what was happening, about the devastation of ordinary people, farmers and squires.Many Tories were people of trade, and therefore it was important for them to revitalize industrial and agricultural production and to release their own goods.They were ready to make fortune not at the expense of war, but at the expense of peace.Having replaced the Whigs in power, the Tory showed their true face: the war ended, but there was no any relief for the lives of ordinary people.In this connection, Swift's remark is repeated three times in the novel: «… when it hurts as I lie on my right side, then I usually turn over to the left side, although I have no hope of relief» (Ibid., p.460).As we can see, behind the outwardly different words of the Whigs and Tory, there was the same meaning hidden -the desire to achieve a position in society and money Representing the historical process as a struggle between the Whigs and the Tory, Lann abandoned the Soviet-era concept of the predominant role of the masses in history and the idealization of historical figures that were fighting for the interests of the people.On the contrary, the political figures of that era are presented in a very bad light in the novel; they pursue their private, sometimes party interests, which almost always contradict the interests of the state and the people.The change of the power of Whigs to the power of Tory makes a sharp turn in the life of the higher strata of society, but the historical milestones and the social order have not been radically changed.
The Tory proclaimed to return the Anglican Church, which had lost its former influence with the Whigs, but remained popular among the common people.In this regard the slogan «The Church and the Crown!» arose, which implied the strengthening of the unlimited power of the monarch, rather than the strengthening of the church, and it was supported by the church in every way.Following Dr. Satchverel, the defender of the «true church» from the Whigs traitors, the people also rose up.In the novel by Lann one can watch a peculiar kaleidoscope of everyday life, where not so much noble wrestlers do stand up for the protection of church principles, but the people without moral principles, the people, who can hardly be considered the best representatives of the English civil society: «Pig castrators with knives at the waist, Covent Garden hefty guys with pitchforks, butchers from the Hungerford market in bloody leather aprons, Smithfield horsemen with scourges, fishmen and goatskins from Leaden Hall, black coal miners from the Billinget market, loaders from the docks of the Thames, lodgers of brothels of White Chapel, robbers of the surrounding great roads, young chicks flown out of the thieves' nests in the forests near Kensington… And women -women drinking the same strong ale like men, drunk with the same hatred for false brothers…Tradeswomen of lard and hemp, tradeswomen of nuts in the night caps from Ludget Hill, girlfriends of runaway convicts, gatherers of easy prey, harbor whores…» (Ibid., p.51).They gathered all these people, having breathed in them the «bestial malice», and «screams of clerics from the church pulpits», imbued with calls for a right struggle for the ancient Episcopal church of the Holy Fathers interpreting the Holy Scripture more reliably than others.
Tory was supported by lower layers of clerics, which can be explained by the desire to gain power and rich parishes (Swift) or by religious fanaticism (Satchverel).The Satchverel process that was organized by the Whigs, demonstrated church and political split and the accusations could be viewed as certain fears of the authority for its positions.In particular, Satchverel was accused of the following: «Spoke publicly about the recent revolution in the very rude terms and suggested that the means by which it was caused were unjustified and vile; he attacked the tolerance of dissenters and in order to achieve his goal, he distorted the texts of the Scriptures; he incited sedition, inspiring that the Anglican Church was in danger under the government of Her Majesty; he called Lord High Treasurer "Volpone", gave shameful nicknames to other ministers and called many persons as "false brothers" to whom Her Majesty entrusted high church posts» (Ibid., p.64).Tory used the clergy in their political interests, and primarily to the increase of pressure on Queen Anne, who feared the rebellion of the people, dissatisfied with the position of the church elite.This insurrection could have lead to the defeat of the Bank of England to its siege and to a complete economic collapse.
Among those who supported Tory and believed their promises, was the writer Swift, who sought to help his church career in England.The original portrait of Swift presented by E.L. Lann is very unsightly; however, later, on the background of the details of the slovenly rustic appearance, there emerges something largescale, heavy weighted, externally significant that highlights the hero against the background of other characters in the novel: «The black cloth cassock sat on a tightly-knocked body that began to grow fat.The wide sleeves, collected at the wrist, touched passers-by.The cleric squeamishly brushed off the dust and flour from his elbows.He pushed his broad-brimmed hat to the back of his head.It was hot in the wig, short and cheap, and the breeze from the river could not drain sweat drops on the high forehead» (Ibid., p.74).Later E.L. Lann has been repeatedly mentioning this «high forehead» of Swift-the thinker, supplementing the portrait with the description of expressive convex eyes, the expression of which was constantly changing, reflecting the incessant process of searches and discoveries.The artist Gervase saw in the eyes of Swift «how to say it … force» (Ibid., p.83), that were following the movement of thought; after a meeting with Joseph Addison Swift «wide opened his eyes <…> very large and very hungry» and looked «straight ahead, in the sun, as if he had seen it for the first time» (Ibid., p.102); Miss Vanessa Vanhomrigh felt the smell of lindens in the writer's eyes: «… his blue eyes smell of lindens.Why -she does not know; maybe because the first time she saw him four years ago the lindens were blooming» (Ibid., p.457).In another scene, Swift took Vanessa's hand into his, «small and not at all rustic» (Ibid., p.198) hand of a man who never did rough physical work.But himself Swift preferred to think differently: a little earlier in the same scene, he as if wanting to emphasize his provinciality addressed to Vanessa and offered to hold her «little hand» in his «rustic hand» (Ibid.,p.197).
By the end of the novel, the image of Sweet itself, represented through the worldview of Vanessa, was expressing grief, the power of which, not only did he change his glance, but even the color of the writer's eyes, making them darker: «She sees his eyes, the blue air from the window is pouring right into them.But now she sees -and she will always remember it -that his eyes are not blue <…>.Today, right now, she sees that his eyes are dark, very dark, dark blue (Ibid., p.457).The shadow of sorrow falls on the clothes of Swift, dressed in a summer traveling cloak, «black as <...> a cassock» (Ibid., p.457), and on the expression of his lips: «…there is the same incomprehensible shadow around his mouth.<…> it always lies on his mouth when he feels bad, -and for some reason it always does not seem to be a shadow, but a grin or a grimace» (Ibid., p.457).Saying goodbye to Swift, Vanessa recalls his words, his thoughts, while from the outward appearance only the most important thing remains -his eyes that lost their blueness on the day of departure «now he does not breathe the blue air of the blue sky» (Ibid., p.458), in moments of reasoning about human inconsistencies and contradictions they become «very young, just naughty» (Ibid., p.459), in moments of reflection on the fate of England, they seemed to be «so bitter as if he could not bear the pain» (Ibid., p.460).
Unhappy reflections of Swift about his life and events around him are accompanied by constant references to the writer's headaches.For the first time pains appear during a conversation with Addison: «Swift rubbed his forehead.The head ached.He unbuttoned his collar, but this did not help» (Ibid., p.98).E.L. Lann contrasts the painful excitement of Swift and the relaxation of Addison, who was having rest and enjoined his life: «Addison scattered his hands like wings on the back of the bench and stretched out his thick legs in simple woolen stockings.He was having rest in the silence, lowering his eyelashes» (Ibid., p.98).Soft and benevolent Addison is favored by Whigs ministers, and therefore he reflects on secular and ecclesiastical politics with a sense of self-control.As Ireland Chief Secretary, he does not hurry to return to Dublin, he awaits parliamentary elections, counting on promotion.Richard Style, the editor of «The Newspaper» and the editor of «The Chatterbox», calls Addison «the personification of common sense» (Ibid., p.113) of the Whig party.Addison himself realizes that «he has almost collapsed, lying on the ground with the party», but this does not interfere with his self-control, for he «has not stained his hands with dirty deeds and dirty money» and, accordingly, could expect indulgence: «… no one will abuse him <…> he bears his dignity as solemnly as a sword is carried before the Speaker of the House of Commons» (Ibid., p.96).
Swift envies Addison and at the same time avoids him, fearing to give out his disagreement with the church policy of the Whigs.If earlier writers were friends, now they are «only polite acquaintances»; for Swift, the civilian position of Addison as «the incorrigible Whig and assistant <...> of the scoundrels of Sommers and Wharton» was unacceptable (Ibid., p.202).Swift does not want to return to Ireland, but his return is inevitable, and that is why he suffers from lack of freedom of choice.The Irish clergy fell into poverty, endlessly expecting some miserable alms; it has not received from Queen Anne even a small part of those preferences that were given to English priests.That is why Swift is eager to go to England -a place of gaining coveted happiness and success in life for him.As E.L. Lann points out, in this case «the brain can be a burden» that does not allow to ignore the problems and bad apprehensions, rejoicing at the momentary success between the leaders of the Tory party, who in reality are not able to correct the situation in the country and give the promised to Swift.Reasoning about the brain as a burden becomes a key point in the episode of Swift moving in a dirty hired coach after meeting with Robert Harley, one of the influential Tory: «If your turbid eyes are lighted up with the insight, then my brain will not be a burden to me.I can not afford such a burden <…> But what do you know, Mr. Harley, about a brain that can be a burden?Not about our mind, but about a mind, which is the most terrible force on earth?About a mind that is stronger than a person, stronger than all his calculations and stronger than all his skill ... It could be happy to blind itself, but can not be blind.It should be tied with chains in order to be tamed, and it tears all chains» (Ibid., p.131); «Although you are not yet at Court, Dr. Swift, but nevertheless you should agree that your brain is really a burden to you» (Ibid.,p.134).The brain of Swift is trying not to find answers in the world around but inside himself; he first of all relies on his own life observations and conclusions: «…his forehead sometimes frowns and he squints his eyes and that means that he catches a necessary link somewhere in the depths of himself …» (Ibid.,.While conducting a mental interaction with Swift, Lann emphasizes the inscrutability of the way of the mind that is forced to protect the writer from himself, from the confusion in his mind, destroying the habitual way of life: «The world is ruled by order, the devil creates confusion.These are your words.Your brain is ruled by the devil, and what a confusion did he create in your mind!» (Ibid., p.304).And after many events and historical breaks, the mind is still a burden for Swift, completely destroying the hope of easing the fate, emphasizing the severity of the accursed fate, the writer's doom to commit «some other business», i.e. promoting the ideas of the Tory, trying to make their public reputation better: «… there is no relief for you, your mind does not give it, your mind, which is your burden.For it burns your hope, for it knows more than is necessary for the happiness of man, and for it sees further than you want» (Ibid., p.305).Doing the great «other people's business» Swift feels completely injured, because he continues to be in the status of a pastor of a provincial parish and does not see any prospects for changing his position: «To know that there is no hope of relief, still staying a rural rector and doing someone else's business, goes beyond even your mind» (Ibid., p.305).Squires, which interests Swift defends, cause only pity, disdain and contempt in his brain, as well as stupid, ignorant rural clerks of the Anglican church, and dark, impoverished Irish cotters: «You are only coming to power on the dull heads of the Anglican vicars, Dr. Swift.After all, the adventurer Sen John has came to power on the blunt heads of rural squires!» (Ibid., p.303).For the sake of a squire, «as stupid as a pig's snout», Swift deliberately destroys all obstacles in the public consciousness, without finding a rational explanation for his actions and only relying on his own judgment from «The Tale of a Tub»: «…all of us are crazy and we are happy only insofar as crazy» (Ibid., p.306).It is interesting, that, against the background of numerous arguments about Swift's mind, Lann did not mention his soul (apparently, influenced by the epoch when the novel was created); the only argument about the «sad and cruel soul of Dr. Swift» (Ibid., p.306), which appears among the thoughts about Swift during the creation of the pamphlet «The Conduct of the Allies» (1711), looks like a certain dissonance to previous descriptions.
In his dealings with Vanessa Swift expressly outlines the everyday principles that became significant for him in his youth and continued to remain relevant throughout his life: «do not repeat the same stories», «do not listen to scammers and talkative servants», «do not brag about the former beauty and attention of women», «do not love children and keep them close to you», «have good friends», «do not marry a young one» (Ibid.,.The reason of these firm decisions can be everyday observations, everyday trivialities, unsuccessful life experiences, and intuitive anticipations.Of all his principles, only one («do not love children and keep them close to you»), Swift does not consider praiseworthy; in adulthood, he cannot understand what in the past made him think so, perhaps it was the desire for peace and inner balance, not achieved until now.Swift made the weapon that transforms the world and human destinies from his pen, the Tory needed so much to improve their reputation among the population and downgrade the Whigs: «The sharpest weapon is in your hand, -it's more terrible than the spears of a whole regiment of royal dragoons <...> And now you creak with a goose quill on paper» (Ibid., p.306); «They need this accursed pen, -here it lies and waits…» (Ibid.,p.365).
Swift expected to have some changes in his fate with the Tory coming to power, who owed him «more than anyone else in Europe» (Ibid., p.450), but there was no change: as a kind of alms for Swift who dreamed of breaking out of Ireland, was his appointment the dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, and that meant a definitive and irrevocable return to the province.In this respect there is a symbolic parallel between the announcement of the signed royal decree Swift heard in the theatrical box from the Lord of the Great Treasurer, and the episode of the awarding the actor Bout with a puffy purse with money by Lord Bolingbroke.The denouement of the fate of Swift, who placed his muse in the service of politics, occurs during the premiere of the tragedy «Cato» by J. Addison, adopted both by the Whigs and Tory: the power has changed, but J. Addison is again approved, while Swift is forced to leave, murmuring to himself that «Addison's verses are alas!-not above his, Swift's» (Ibid.,p.448).
Describing Swift, Lann represented a famous person as an active principle, a subject (not an object!) of history, and that was quite typical for historical novels created by Soviet writers at that time.However the choice of a key figure is quite unusual -it is not a ruler or a politician, not a commander and not a revolutionary or a leader of the insurgents, not even a strong willed person; we see the image of a writer, a genius who managed to arouse public opinion with his creativity, who played a decisive role in overthrowing the Whigs and in concluding peace between England and France.When the Swift's pamphlet «The Conduct of the Allies» appeared, the Duke of Marlborough, the main enemy of the Tory party, was removed from command of the British army, and that facilitated the rapid ending of the war.The Whigs, who sacrificed the welfare and interests of the country to the banks and speculators, were condemned in Swift's pamphlet; the writer contrasted the toiling farmers, who supported the Tories and their active struggle, to them.However, this struggle, as turned out later, did not appear to be a battle for principles, but a mere predatory redistribution of parliamentary power and spheres of influence, and this completely disappointed Swift.
There was one more representative of the writer's environment, whose image was recreated in the novel of Lann, Alexander Pope, who did not belong to any of the parties.He communicated with representatives of the Tories, often sitting at the same table with them, but internally he remained alien to politics, which was reflected both in his creativity and in the formation of the characteristic reputation of Pope as «English Boileau».On the example of Pope, Lann convincingly showed that not all the literature of the epoch described was representing the current political processes, that there were also authors who locked in themselves, mainly selfishly, on their own perception of the world.On the example of Pope, Lann showed convincingly that not all of the literature of the epoch was describing the current political processes, that there were also authors who were closed on themselves, mainly selfishly, on their own perception of the world.The very appearance of Pope is extremely unattractive («…a small, lopsided hunchback, who is always chilly» (Ibid., p.222)), his human qualities are far from ideal (for example, see the unsaid remark of St John: «He is just a vinegar and gall, obscene, but a damned-capable verse monger» (Ibid., p.218)); but this was not at all the obstacle for Swift and other contemporaries to perceive his large-scale creative talent: «This monster-vanity is in fact the best poet of England» (Ibid., p.448).In the episode of listening to the overture to «Rinaldo» performed by G.F. Handel during the Tory dinner party, Lann gives a lengthy portrait of Pope, emphasizing his brightly emotional, extraordinary nature, and his ability to feel music as if letting it through.Pope is compared with an owl, which, «having lift its shoulders like wings and immersed a large head in its ugly hump, sits <...> and rounds off its big black eyes» (Ibid., p.389).He hears a rhythmic melody and starts to move: literally everything shivers -both his troubled pupils, and thick lips, and a big head in a black short wig; «…as if against his will, the right hand suddenly begins to beat the tact in the air, and even his index finger is separated from the compressed childish fist, and just as suddenly the fist freezes motionless » (Ibid., p.389).Melody, like a cobweb, tightens Pope in itself, he tries to reject it, but to no avail: «…the finger, as if of its own will, begins to rhythmically oscillate again, and the lips move silently» (Ibid., p.389).Just similarly in the episode of the premiere production of «Cato» by J. Addison, the hero's hand «hovers to the rhythm of the poems» (Ibid., p.448) not only following the course of the action, but also emphasizing the extraordinary nature of Pope himself.The «big black eyes» of the hero sitting «under the rachitic skull» are mentioned in the description of the feast at St. John, and the image of Pop is describing love intrigues, appearing as something natural, are creating a certain model of behavior, which is far from sincerity, confidence and simplicity in relations, among our young girls: «An indecent story and indecent imagination do our ladies have <...> you have also read "The New Atlantis", do not deny.I would have flogged this Mrs.Manley.She did pick up the obscene gossips about our high society and so corrupted the imagination of the girls <…> I would not be surprised if you know the "Defender of Women" by heart <…> All of our young people are on the side of this dirty book, they do not want to know the old Lazal, against whom this twittering unknown lady, who created the "Defender" took up her arms» (Lann, 1943, p.196-197).Swift was also worried about the fate of the literature itself, because it was completely losing its educational value, having ceased to guide readers to high ideals and accentuated the low level of the public demand.