Lieutenant Kije (Prokofiev)
Encyclopedia
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
; the story was used as the basis of a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by Yury Tynyanov
Yury Tynyanov
Yury Nikolaevich Tynyanov was a famous Soviet/Russian writer, literary critic, translator, scholar and screenwriter. He was an authority on Pushkin and an important member of the Russian Formalist school.-Life and work:...
published in 1927 and filmed in 1934 with music
Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev)
Lieutenant Kijé is the score composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer based on the novel of the same title by Yury Tynyanov.-Suite from Lieutenant Kijé:...
by Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
. The plot is a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
.
Original version
The first appearance of the anecdote is in Vladimir Dahl's "Rasskazy o vremenakh Pavla I" ("Stories of the time of Paul I"), a short piece published in the journal Russkaya StarinaRusskaya Starina
Russkaya Starina was a Russian history journal published monthly in St. Petersburg by amateur historian Mikhail Semevsky and his successors between 1870 and 1918. Its authors included Ivan Zabelin, Dmitry Ilovaysky, Nikolai Karlovich Shilder, and Nikolay Kostomarov...
in 1870; he reported it as told by his father, Jochan Christian von Dahl (1764-1821). In this original version, a clerk miswrites an order promoting several ensigns (praporshchik
Praporshchik
Praporshchik is a rank in the Russian military.-Imperial Russia:Praporshchik was originally a name of a junior commissioned officer rank in the military of the Russian Empire equivalent to ensign...
i) to second lieutenants (podporuchiki) so that the end of the word podporuchiki is separated and combined with the following particle zh (here, 'and') so that it looks as if there is a podporuchik Kizh (Second Lieutenant Kizh). The Emperor Paul decides to promote the nonexistent Kizh to first lieutenant (poruchik
Poruchik
Poruchik was a military rank in several Slavic countries, such as the Russian Empire and the Republic of Poland, equivalent to Lieutenant. "Poruchik" means "messenger", "officer for orders". This is a Slavic copy of the term "Lieutenant" .In Russia this rank was first introduced in Strelets New...
); he quickly rises through the ranks to staff captain and full captain, and when he is promoted to colonel the emperor commands that Kizh appear before him. Of course no Kizh can be found; the military bureaucrats go through the paper trail and discover the original mistake, but they decide to tell the emperor that Kizh has died. "What a pity," the emperor says, "he was a good officer."
Tynyanov version
Yury Tynyanov, who had been researching the period for his historical novels Kyukhlya (1925) and Smert Vazir-mukhtara (The death of the ambassador plenipotentiary, 1928), wrote a novella based on Dahl's story that was published in 1927. He considerably expanded it, adding several characters (including the historical statesman Aleksey ArakcheyevAleksey Arakcheyev
Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev was a Russian general and statesman under the reign of Alexander I.He served under Paul I and Alexander I as army leader and artillery inspector respectively. He had a violent temper, but was otherwise a competent artillerist, and is known for his...
), and changed the imaginary officer's name from Kizh to Kizhe (using an alternate form of the particle, zhe). In his version, along with the imaginary Kizhe there is another mistake: a Lieutenant Sinyukhaev is wrongly marked as dead. Several sections of the novella are devoted to Sinyukhaev's fruitless attempts to get himself restored (he ends up wandering the roads of Russia, living on the charity of strangers).
Tynyanov further complicates the story by adding a lady-in-waiting who has had a brief affair with an officer who shouts "Guard!" in the courtyard, disturbing the emperor; when the offender cannot be found, the emperor Paul is told that it was Kizhe, who is accordingly flogged and sent to Siberia (the fact that no actual person is there does not seem to bother anyone). This upsets the lady-in-waiting, but when the emperor changes his mind and has Kizhe returned to the capital and promoted, the lady-in-waiting is able to marry him (there is no groom at the ceremony but it proceeds as scheduled, and she has a child from her brief encounter), and she quite happily lives in his quarters, carrying on affairs, while he is supposedly in the field with his regiment. In the end the emperor, increasingly paranoid and lonely, feels the need to have someone as dependable as Kizhe (who has had a spotless career) near him, promotes him to general, and orders him brought to his palace in Saint Petersburg. Since this is impossible, he is told that Kizhe has died, and the general has a state funeral as the grieving emperor says "Sic transit gloria mundi." The last line of the story reads "And Pavel Petrovich [the emperor Paul] died in March of the same year as General Kizhe — according to official reports, from apoplexy." (In fact, Paul was murdered by a group of dismissed officers.)
Film
The story was made into a filmLieutenant Kijé (film)
Lieutenant Kijé is a 1934 Soviet comedy film directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer based on the novel of the same title by Yury Tynyanov. The film was released in the USA as The Czar Wants to Sleep.Sergei Prokofiev composed the score.-Cast:...
, directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer
Aleksandr Faintsimmer
- Filmography :*Proshchalnaya gastrol' 'Artista *Traktir na Pyatnitskoy *Bez prava na oshibku *Pyatdesyat na pyatdesyat *Daleko na zapade *Devushka s gitaroy *The Gadfly...
, which is now remembered primarily for its music
Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev)
Lieutenant Kijé is the score composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer based on the novel of the same title by Yury Tynyanov.-Suite from Lieutenant Kijé:...
, the first instance of Prokofiev's "new simplicity".
Parallel characters
The story of Kijé — the conveniently invented fictitious war hero, who ultimately must die as a victim of his own success — is frequently referenced and parodied in popular culture.- George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
contains a brief passage in which the protagonist, Winston SmithWinston SmithWinston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
, a worker at the propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
-producing Ministry of TruthMinistry of TruthThe Ministry of Truth is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
, creates a fictitious hero "Comrade Ogilvy", a man dedicated to Oceania (the novel's totalitarian régime) who "dies" in the line of duty. - Poul AndersonPoul AndersonPoul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
's 1953 novelette Sam Hall features a disgruntled bureaucrat who creates fake records about a rebel named Sam Hall (after the song) who fights against the totalitarian government. - Lieutenant Kijé is parodied in the first season episode of M*A*S*H "Tuttle". A similar character appears as the war hero "Schumann" from Wag the DogWag the DogWag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
(1997), and obliquely in the BrazilBrazil (film)Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
(1985) opening sequence. - In her novel Eclipse of the Century (1999), Jan Mark presents a deserter from the Russian ArmyArmed Forces of the Russian FederationThe Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR...
who renames himself Lieutenant Kijé, as a sign that he no longer exists. - In the eighth season episode of SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
"The SusieThe Susie"The Susie" is the 149th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 15th episode for the 8th season. It aired on February 13, 1997.-Plot:...
" (episode #149), Elaine BenesElaine BenesElaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
inadvertently creates an alter ego named "Susie", who co-workers believe is actually real. To avoid conflict, Elaine and the fictional Susie attend a conflict resolution meeting with the company president. Ultimately, Elaine rids herself of the non-existent Susie by saying she has committed suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
; a large number of guests attend Susie's funeral. - The plot line of a full length musical comedy, Kije!, subtitled a Magical Musical Fairy Tale, revolves around an imaginary hero of that name in the mythical kingdom of Wuz. The play was selected as Carnegie Mellon University's annual Spring Musical and premièred in April 1980 in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The storyline was written by Arthur T. BenjaminArthur T. BenjaminArthur T. Benjamin is an American mathematician who specializes in combinatorics. Since 1989 he has been a Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College....
, and music, composed by Arthur Darrell Turner, was added later, enabling the play to win the 1980 contest.
External links
- Original film Lieutenant Kizhe with English subtitles, at Google Video