Literary and aesthetic paradoxes of Viktor Burenin

Burenin’s journalistic and literary experience includes more than half a century. During this period, a paradoxical portrait of a critic prevailed in the minds of several generations. On the one hand, Burenin is the embodiment of cynicism, anger and nihilism in relation to the literary workshop. Only some people in the Russian journal-literary environment of the late 19th early 20th centuries caused such a strong rejection and disgust of contemporaries. On the other hand, Viktor Burenin was one of the most prominent figures in Russian journalism and literature of 1870- 1910s. It is impossible to imagine the landscape of Russian culture of the last third of the 19th century without Burenin’s invasion of journalism into literary and theatre spheres. Burenin established the rules of conduct, set the tone, and defined the style of mental life for many years ahead. He was popular, and that was close to true fame. Having created his style in journalism, he became recognizable in translations, in numerous plays and parodies intended for the stage. Burenin can be considered as some kind of a «factory» for the production of works of different kind, volume, genre. It is difficult to count everything that was created by Burenin during half a century: a few thousand texts scattered and lost in periodicals in the last third of 19th - the first decades of the 20th century. The texts were signed not only with his name but also were hiding behind masks-aliases, that became the «calling card» of Burenin: count Alexis Asminov, Vladimir Monumentov, Vyborgskii Poustynnik. All these roles created and maintained a unique status of journalism as a theatre platform for actors who share their experience with readers and writers. Burenin translated and wrote «his» plays and, in addition, acted as a literary critic and columnist. He worked out a list of his «victims» - those writers and artists whom he doggedly pursued. Exposing parodies of their works, often cruel and unjust, Burenin nevertheless contributed to the purification of art from the routine and die, freeing the way for a new aesthetic system. His great working ability provided the fame and created a smooth rhythm of the journalistic machine. Moscovite, also the inhabitant of Petersburg and later Leningrad, Viktor Burenin (1841-1926) saw a lot in his lifetime, through several eras. He was a witness and contemporary of the reforms from the Crimean disaster to the First World War and Revolution.

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