A Comparative Study of the Theme of Nature in the Works of Paustovsky and Prishvin

Yang Min

Capital Normal University,Beijing,China

Email:yangmin_1116@126.com

[Abstract] Both Kon Paustovsky and Mi Prishvin were born in the central plains of Russia.Nature offered each of them,not only artistic discovery and inspiration,but also spiritual comfort.More than merely occupying an important position in the creative works of the two writers,nature might be said to be the source of their creativity.Their works are usefully seen as a song to the beauty of nature and the warmth of the earth.Through nature,these writers explore the true meaning of life.They also realize their aesthetic ideals,and,for this reason,an analysis of the theme of nature in their works will help us better understand their respective creative visions.

[Keywords] Paustovsky;Prishvin;nature.

Introduction

Goethe once said:"The artist has a dual relationship with nature:he is both the master and the slave of nature.He is the slave of nature,because he must work with materials from the world in order to make people understand;at the same time,he is the ruler of nature,because he makes this material obey and serve his higher will." (Goethe,2005,p.137)For the two writers,Paustovsky and Prishvin,who love Russian nature,it is not only a material aspect of the world,but also a spiritual aspect of the world.Both writers believe that nature is in uninterrupted motion.

Contrasting the writers'overall views of nature

As far as Prishvin is concerned,natural changes can be cosmic,geographic,physical,and biological,and all the processes of development or decline are not static.In the bookNature's Calendar,there is a scene in which the protagonist and the people in a large motorcade are walking together on the snow-covered road.Facing the falling snowflakes in front of him,the protagonist can't help but sigh at his impression that the earth's movement is endless,yet it seems to refuse to appear old.Endlessly,everything beginnings anew.

In real life,many of us feel that life is ordinary and static.Prishvin's poetry offers a deep and unique view of the changes in nature.According to his understanding,nature is by no means static.A vision of the mystery of existence comes through,but always in the struggle between light and shadow,day and night.Prishvin carefully depicts the movements of nature,the instincts of animals,the changes in weather,the coming of spring or autumn,and the perpetual routines of nature.These events,for Prishvin,are intertwined into a unified life,and,in his artistic vision,the boundaries of time and space are no longer obvious.

The writer often associates local earthly life with the movements of the universe.The mystery of the universe,for Prishvin,is that all matter finally returns to a unified whole.Prishvin's vision reveals a blood relationship between nature and mankind,in which people's attitude towards nature becomes a"family concern."We see evidence of this in Prishvin's own descriptions."Today I feel the whole of life in nature,without knowing the individual names.I feel that I have a blood relationship with all these flying,swimming,and running creatures.In my life,I feel the memories in my heart suddenly emerge from my blood after tens of thousands of years:just look at them and you will understand that they are a reality in my life....We and the whole world are related by blood.Now we are using the power of family-like attention to restore this connection,and through this,we can discover our own qualities among people living in different ways,even among animals and plants."(Liu,2012,p.55)

In the case of Paustovsky,nature constitutes a great whole,and each individual in the whole struggles for his own existence.Similarly to Prishvin,he is a folk writer and a singer of nature.He firmly believes that a person's attitude towards nature is one of the most important considerations in evaluating his moral quality.Therefore,for this writer,it is a moral value to love and care for nature.Furthermore,to be kind to nature in all its manifestations is to be kind to ourselves.Paustovsky's work is full of the strong theme of"Mother Earth".Of his hometown and its unique nature,he said:"This feels like looking at a mother.Only a son can understand the mother's heart and can deeply understand the tenderness hidden in the mother's heart.Pain and limited joy."(Paustovsky,2017,p.161)It is clear that nature is not ruthless in the author's mind,but gentle and positive.

It is generally agreed that the affection for nature is a traditional sentiment for Russian writers.Prishvin inherited this tradition from Russian writers of the 19th century,but he also integrated into it his own philosophical consciousness of the unity of the universe and nature.It is noteworthy that Prishvin believes people can create things without individuality,while everything in nature is unique.He said:"I think only people are capable of creating both spiritual treasures,on the one hand,and machines without individuality,on the other.In nature,everything,even the laws of nature themselves,are individual:even these laws are changing in the living nature."(Liu,2005,p.157)

On this point,Paustovsky's and Prishvin's views are slightly different.Paustovsky,for his part,spies an integrity in nature.He adopts a point of view toward it that reveals it as a great harmonious whole.Each point is blended together with the other points and is naturally in constant motion or in an "uninterrupted game" in such a way that it consistently appears and disappears.Every discreet being in nature is kept in existence by living together with other beings,but every phenomenon lives independently and self-sufficiently.Each being is inextricably linked to the rest of the world.

On the relationship between man and nature

The nature described by Prishvin and Paustovsky often takes the form of landscapes.The striking and poetic descriptions of these writers have won unanimous praise from readers at home and abroad.In the eyes of these writers,art is not identical to nature.Rather,humans add something undetectable to nature,that is,art is done by man and nature together.

On the subject of the relationship between man and nature,Paustovsky believes that man should obey and follow nature.Nature is the master of man's destiny and his God.This kind of concept of man's relationship with nature is also evident in the novel Story of a Lifetime.In this novel,Paustovsky writes a monologue specifically on the subject of nature:"I am happy to realize that I am superior to nature.Despite this,I know that nature possesses a weapon that is more powerful than any that humans possess."(Paustovsky,2017,p.52)It seems clear that the author believes nature is superior to humans,but he argues that nature cannot be allowed to run its own course.It should be controlled for the benefit of mankind.This utilitarian idea of using and transforming nature is similar to Prishvin's.

After the October Revolution of 1917,with the rise of popular socialist sentiment,Prishvin's works began to describe the ensuing changes in the traditions of land use,the loss of old houses,and other related dynamics.At this time,the destruction of the war was also central in the writer's work.Following the destruction of the forests and rivers,and the chaos,hunger,and bombing which mirrored that destruction,there was no harvest in the fields and the villages were soaked with blood.The peasants prayed in the forest and the smell of death spread on the front line.But there is a peaceful place at the junction of Afctlia.At this real junction,with the wide pond on one's right-hand side and the crystal-clear river on one's left,where war seems never to have happened,people may leisurely engage in fishing,but the adjacent area is full of tragic remnants of the frontline of battle.This strange paradox inspired Prishvin to think deeply about the relationship between man and nature.It was also at this time that the purity of nature helped the writer to emerge from his grief.He wrote,"When I love,I love everything around me at the same time,people,plants,and animals are all around me..."(Prishvin,1995,p.344)

As a result of this conflict,the life of the population has undergone a fundamental change,and the misfortunes of society cannot be remedied entirely through nature.However,nature has greatly encouraged and supported the writer in meeting the task of facing this tragedy.In Prishvin's view,understanding nature can be the key to understanding the secrets of life.Defeating nature,by contrast,may be the beginning of cosmic disaster.People should realize that nature is strongly dominant over them.Prishvin believes that nature works by its own rules,which are independent of the human will.People,however,firmly believe that they are the masters of nature,and tend to ignore God and His laws.

Prishvin said that the arrival of humans on the scene of nature constitutes a"human uprising",meaning the beginning of a trend tending toward death.He believes that human beings have fallen,ecologically,into a desperate situation.It seems impossible for them to emerge from this predicament.To this end,we should change our attitude towards nature and obey its laws.We should realize we are not the masters of nature,and do not have the power override its forces.Rather,we are part of nature and are far from being indispensable.

Through his meditation on nature,Prishvin has repeatedly emphasized that man is an incomplete entity,and that drawing close to nature and comprehending it are man's only means of discovering his spiritual"integrity".Therefore,when the writer discusses the relationship between "man and nature" in the bookEyes of the Earth,he emphasizes that only when man and nature reveal the human soul together,will the face of nature appear through the medium of poetry.Only by living in harmony with nature can man understand the secrets of nature.In this regard,the Russian scholar U.Mohnatkina pointed out:"For Prishvin,life can only be integrated into the whole.It's meaning only emerges when integrated into the uninterrupted creation process of the entire universe."(Mokhnatkina,2005,p.10)

Prishvin believes that the dynamics of nature and social conflict catalyze the birth of the human personality.This is to say that seeking completion in the struggle between light and darkness,good and evil,forges man's nature.Everything in the course of life,in Prishvin's eyes,is full of this lofty ideological meaning,even death,which he regards as "passing his own career to others",that is,as the continuation of his own life.As to Paustovsky,his talent lies in describing both instantaneous and eternal changes.Nature itself will not die,but rather changes constantly.For this writer,only when humans treat nature well will they be able to understand its secrets.

The scholar Liu Yiqing pointed out:"From the moment human consciousness is naked and wrapped in leaf and animal skins,man no longer integrates with nature,but regards it as an alien and a threat to himself." (Liu,2004,p.147)People in primitive society feared and worshiped nature,seeking protection from the gods through various sacrifices and rituals.In contrast,members of our modern industrialized society wantonly destroy nature and set the ecology out of balance."Returning to the depths of history"and"returning to the depths of nature"are,in a sense,both the happiness of returning to the human origin.Prishvin's convictions about the meaning of life in nature were strong.One of his beliefs was that the emotions people lose when divorced from nature can be re-acquired by making contact with nature.This is a process of finding and developing oneself within nature.

The death of nature and the question of personality

As a passionate explorer of the mysteries of nature,Prishvin spent most of his time living inside it.In Prishvin's view,infinite loops are the foundation of the universe,and it is difficult for humans to perceive its eternity since they are mere passers-by within it.The destiny of men seems very predictable from their birth to their death.All generations seem to repeat the same journey during their lifetimes.Only those who are close to nature,however,are able to perceive that the greater patterns of the universe are actively participant in every of our moments.In other words,death only exists in human consciousness,but is actually absent in nature,in which a permanent cycle seems to hold sway.

From this perspective,all human beings struggle to achieve immortality in their lifetimes.InEyes of the Earth,Prishvin offers profound perceptions of death and rebirth in life:"In the depths of our souls,we all feel that the trunk on which our lives depend is one.We know that our lives are limited.Seeking to know which branch belongs to oneself,knowing that one will inevitably bid farewell to the branch,we often forget that nature hides the sacred law:the dying life is replaced by the new one,and the mortal life is fundamentally immortal." (Liu,2005,p.26) In other words,for the artist,the death of life breeds new life,and new life brings vitality and creativity.Prishvin believes that life and death only exist in two seasons,symbolized as the spring of immortality and the autumn of death.To a certain extent,this idea of immortality is equivalent to Prishvin's idea of infinite motion.It can be said that they are essentially the expression of the unity of the universe.

In Paustovsky's works,the narrations of nature,on the one hand,and the story,on the other,are separated,and nature exists in a separate segment in the work.Nature,like humans,has its own thinking and lifestyle.The changes of nature have the property of instantly spreading in all directions,like the ripples caused by a stone dropped in the water.For writers,time moves too fast,and unfortunately still rules the world,but Paustovsky always believes that happiness has been a close companion of misfortune,and after the endless winter,spring will surely usher in its blooming flowers.The death of nature also gives birth to a new life,symbolizing the beginning of goodness and hope.

In the opinion of Prishvin,the creations of nature are different from the creations of human beings:nature creates the present,and mankind builds the future.In the natural world,human beings battle the forces of nature to dominate their own personal spaces.This struggle for"ruling power"is understood by Prishvin as altruistic rather than individualistic.As the Russian scholar N.Borisova pointed out:"Nature in Prishvin's writing is soulful and capable of thinking,so for Prishvin,everything in nature exists in its individuality."(Prishvin,2003,p.129)

Conclusion

Both Prishvin and Paustovsky strive to discover the subtle relationship between man and nature.They hope that man and nature will be able live in harmony despite the fact that the relationship between the two is not actually harmonious.In this regard,the scholar N.Kutelko suggests:"Turgenev and his successors are pessimistic in solving the problem of the relationship between man and nature.Human beings and immortal nature achieve harmony."(Kutelko,2005,p.47)

Although Gorky praised Prishvin as a"terrestrial optimist",this optimism is not the kind of positive,enthusiastic attitude that some might superficially perceive.We believe that its true nature is expressed in two ways.One is in Prishvin's love for the earth and for knowledge about the earth.These are harmoniously blended together,and do not make for a similar whole to Madame Turgenee's worship.In his works,he combines folklore,phenology,archaeology and other minds of knowledge about the earth,to reveal the complete and unified relationship between man and the earth in a comprehensive and profound way.This is a rare achievements for any writer on nature.The second way his optimism finds expression is in his regard for the earth as a blood relative.People are born from the earth and nourish the earth through their labor.They beautify the earth with their imagination.All this is cause for gratification and comfort,for the author.