| Abstract | This dissertation examines the cultural life of Russian émigrés in Harbin and Shanghai, the two Chinese cities where most Russians who fled Russia to the Far East after the October Revolution settled, and focuses on two most outstanding authors, Arsenii Nesmelov (1889–1945) and Valerii Pereleshin (1913–1992). It includes four chapters. Chapter One provides the historical and cultural background of the Russian emigration in China. Harbin, a “Russian” city with its colonial history, accepted a large portion of refugees; and the Chinese Eastern Railway built by Russians in Chinese territory provided the refugees opportunities to work. It was under these conditions that Russian émigré literature in China developed. To understand this will help us understand its uniqueness and its relationship with its counterpart in Europe. Chapter Two provides a general picture of the development of Russian émigré literature in Harbin and Shanghai, focusing on three generations of representative poets and prose writers and periodicals and books related to literature. It also accounts for social, historical, cultural, and literary reasons for the efflorescence of Russian émigré literature in China. The subject of Chapter Three is Nesmelov, the most famous Russian poet in Harbin. Most of his poetic heritage has been reprinted, thus his value as an important poet in the history of twentieth-century Russian literature has been recognized. This chapter concentrates on his biography and his prose works, most of which has not been reprinted. The discovery of his forgotten short stories brings to light his prose heritage that is unique for its themes, including the First World War and the Russian Civil War from a White perspective. Chapter Four strives to clarify many vague points, especially some commonly accepted explanations, in Pereleshin's biography and poetry, in order to determine his real relationship with his first homeland, Russia, and his second homeland, China. It analyzes the real reasons behind his contradictory attitudes toward Christianity and earthly pleasure, and, subsequently, interprets his poems from a biographical and psychological point of view. His translation of Chinese poetry is also briefly discussed. |
