Attempts at Biography. Four Narrative Strategies in the Woroszylski’s Biographies of Russian Writers

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of four of Wiktor Woroszylski’s biographical books in terms of the narrative strategies adopted in each of these biographies. The books taken into consideration are: Sny pod śniegiem (about the life of Michaił Sałtykow-Szczedrin), Życie Majakowskiego, Życie Sergiusza Jesienina (co-written with Elwira Watała) and Kto zabił Puszkina. Narration is recognized as the main category of biography, which responds with the text construction, author’s perspective, presentation of the hero, and the introducion of minor narratives (statements, dialogues, quotes). Additionally, narration is also the figure of understanding. On the one hand, it is connected with seeking the truth about another person, on the other hand, it could be also an attempt at the biographer’s self-understanding. Woroszylski uses such narrative strategies as incarnation, lighting, explanation and researcher-interpreter strategy. They present four ways of telling about the fate of the hero. They also show a different understanding of biography as a genre and the role of the biographer’s self. However, the analysis undertaken in this article is not intended to validate these strategies in terms of adherence to the principles that are crucial to a biography. Demonstrating differences and similarities between strategies reveals constant tendencies that are evident in Woroszylski’s biographical attempts. Moreover, it shows the author’s understanding of the genre. This paper tries to answer the question why the author repeatedly (not only in the mentioned books) returned to the issue of a Russian writer’s fate. What is also important is that each biography must be treated as an “unfulfilled project”. It emerges from the considerations that biography itself is a piece of work that cannot be separated from its author. It is included in the biography of the biographer, too. It means that the biography is a subject of reformulations affecting its construction, depending on the historical or political situation.