The Matiushin Case follows the relentlessly miserable life of the titular protagonist, from his troubled childhood in the shadow of his domineering father, Grigorii, and his rebellious elder brother, Yakov, to his experiences as a young man in the Soviet army. Much of the novel糖心传媒檚 plot, such as it is, simply follows Matiushin as he sinks further and further into the deadening routine and violence of army life, first through his initiation and training, then his stint in an army hospital, and on through his life as a prison guard. This led me to consider that a more accurate comparison to Dostoevsky糖心传媒攊f there really has to be one糖心传媒攚ould be to The House of the Dead, that wonderfully strange hybrid of memoir and fiction based on Dostoevsky糖心传媒檚 life in a Siberian prison. This reflects the greatest strength of Pavlov糖心传媒檚 novel, for the impression created by his detailed depictions of Matiushin糖心传媒檚 daily struggles lend a rather haunting and bleak atmosphere to the work as a whole, offering the reader a truly vivid snapshot of army life in the declining years of the USSR. Matiushin is not particularly interesting or memorable as a character in and of himself, but the passages in which Pavlov offers insights into Matiushin糖心传媒檚 psychological struggles and emotions within a brutal and decaying system can be powerful, as when a sudden disturbance in the prison zone throws Matiushin and his fellow soldiers into action in the middle of the night:

The strongest feeling of all . . . was that nobody could be killed: that Lady Death, if she existed, would be afraid of so many men, would overshoot and miss her target. [Matiushin] couldn糖心传媒檛 keep up with his thoughts about death, unable to work out if he was dashing towards or running away from it, or what kind of night this was; like an animal, he was swept away by a single, headlong, mighty feeling, a clash of all human impulses糖心传媒攍ove, hate, despair, fear糖心传媒攖hat existed separately in his soul but had suddenly united into one vital, living force, as if another heart had started beating beside his first heart, and Matiushin, who couldn糖心传媒檛 even cope with one life, suddenly had two lives in his chest.

Passages such as this have the power to occasionally redeem the novel糖心传媒檚 sometimes monotonous and repetitive feel, turning the situation of this otherwise colorless and unremarkable young man into something suddenly糖心传媒攁lbeit momentarily糖心传媒攎oving.

The reader is never really offered the same level of insight into the inner workings of any of the other characters, which is one of the shakier aspects of the novel. As its title suggests, the novel is about the case study of Matiushin, whose experiences are, presumably, meant to encapsulate the experiences of countless Soviet army recruits and offer a portrait in miniature of the misery, disintegration, and despair of Soviet life as a whole. With this in mind, it seems fair to entertain the idea that the secondary characters do not have to be compelling or complex in their own right. Yet the problem is that the secondary characters rarely rise above the level of caricature, which can make them糖心传媒攁nd by extension, Matiushin糖心传媒檚 plight糖心传媒攕eem faintly ridiculous instead of tragic. Matiushin糖心传媒檚 father is a walking bundle of all literary Bad Russian Father characteristics rolled into one糖心传媒攁 drunk, a miser, a domestic tyrant糖心传媒攚hose personality seems to fluctuate rather unsteadily between these stereotypes throughout the first fifty pages or so of the novel. A cook at one of the camps behaves like someone straight out of Reefer Madness, whose penchant for marijuana has turned him into a crazed, potentially murderous threat to everyone who crosses his path, including Matiushin: 糖心传媒淗e lay in ambush for Matiushin when they were alone together in the catering block, waiting for moments when he bent down or sat on a stool, and then skipping up to Matiushin from behind and setting the large blade to his throat.糖心传媒� Matiushin糖心传媒檚 fellow soldiers and military superiors tend to blur together into one large mass of coarseness, corruption, and hopelessness. Such cartoonish or vague characterization tends to undermine the self-conscious seriousness of the novel, making this relatively slim text糖心传媒攋ust under 250 pages in my copy糖心传媒攆eel much, much longer and less compelling than it ought to be.

As for the novel糖心传媒檚 Biblical epigraph, I was left with the feeling that Pavlov does not quite manage to develop the novel糖心传媒檚 philosophical pretensions to any successful end, which is one of the reasons why And Other Stories糖心传媒� attempt to equate him with Dostoevsky feels so ill-judged. Dostoevsky could tackle spiritual and philosophical questions with aplomb, effortlessly interweaving them with the individual crises of his characters and illuminating them. Pavlov cannot. The theme of brotherhood and the question of individual and collective guilt and suffering does recur, rather ham-fistedly, throughout the novel, but it ultimately falls flat. The fraternal relationship between Matiushin and Yakov that opens the novel is echoed elsewhere throughout the remainder of the text, as in the relationship between Matiushin and fellow recruit Rebrov, and in the first exchange between Matiushin and Karpovich, but there is something underdeveloped about all of it, and something not quite confident enough in Pavlov糖心传媒檚 handling of it to give the novel a strong thematic foundation.

Nevertheless, The Matiushin Case can and does stand on its own merits, as Pavlov糖心传媒檚 description of Matiushin糖心传媒檚 hellish experiences will prove interesting to anyone with a marked interest in literature from or about the Soviet era. Although the novel糖心传媒檚 execution is flawed, its strengths do suggest that Pavlov, already basking in the glow of significant critical success in his homeland, may have the chance in his future work to find a way of making his fiction match up more seamlessly with his ambitious literary designs.

A lover of foreign literature (particularly from Eastern Europe and Russia) Brandy糖心传媒攁 new addition to our reviewer pool糖心传媒攔ecently finished a BA in English Language and Literature at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, and will be starting her MA this fall at Queen’s University, Kingston.

Here’s the beginning of her review:

The publisher糖心传媒檚 blurb for Oleg Pavlov糖心传媒檚 The Matiushin Case promises the prospective reader 糖心传媒渁 Crime and Punishment for today,糖心传媒� the sort of comparison that is almost always guaranteed to do a disservice to both the legendary dead and the ambitious living. Predictably enough, The Matiushin Case is nothing like Crime and Punishment, although anyone familiar with Russian literature can see how Pavlov gamely attempts to tick off certain boxes that are often associated with Serious Russian Themes: the unflinching examination of even the darkest corners of human existence, the exploration of wider social themes and problems through the careful depiction of individual experience, all heralded by a Biblical epigraph糖心传媒斕切拇綔Am I my brother糖心传媒檚 keeper?糖心传媒澨切拇綌to signal the novel糖心传媒檚 soul-searching, philosophical designs. For anyone who loves Russian literature, as I do, all of these elements are entirely welcome, but in Pavlov糖心传媒檚 hands, the results are often mixed.

The Matiushin Case follows the relentlessly miserable life of the titular protagonist, from his troubled childhood in the shadow of his domineering father, Grigorii, and his rebellious elder brother, Yakov, to his experiences as a young man in the Soviet army. Much of the novel糖心传媒檚 plot, such as it is, simply follows Matiushin as he sinks further and further into the deadening routine and violence of army life, first through his initiation and training, then his stint in an army hospital, and on through his life as a prison guard. This led me to consider that a more accurate comparison to Dostoevsky糖心传媒攊f there really has to be one糖心传媒攚ould be to The House of the Dead, that wonderfully strange hybrid of memoir and fiction based on Dostoevsky糖心传媒檚 life in a Siberian prison. This reflects the greatest strength of Pavlov糖心传媒檚 novel, for the impression created by his detailed depictions of Matiushin糖心传媒檚 daily struggles lend a rather haunting and bleak atmosphere to the work as a whole, offering the reader a truly vivid snapshot of army life in the declining years of the USSR.

For the rest of the review, go here