Discovering Russian Literature discussion

Let's move on to the second story: Hide and Seek by Fyodor Sologub.

Text: Hide and Seek


Enjoy!

Ok, I'll start again. This is an amazing story, talk about the symbolism. Mother "hides" from the bitter reality, she feels alive and belonged when her daughter "seeks" her. Daughter "hides" and by "seeking" the young child, mother feeling alive, she functions. So mother/Serafima Aleksandrovna's life is bound to her daughter's. So what happens on the day she can't "seek"/ find her daughter? At least that's what I think of the title.

I don't know you all, but this is the first time I've seen a clear portrayal of Madwoman in in nineteenth-century Russian literature and Sologob has been very kind to mother's character.

The story is about maternal love, lives of women where everything is bitter and only hope lighting up their dark existence is to be found in their children.

I really liked how Sologub has ended the tale, we see the world through Serafima's eyes, the confusion. It reminded me Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper.

This was an interesting story, and I agree it does make one think of the madwoman syndrome, and the "hysiterical" woman and how women's mental health concerns where so invalidated and not really taken seriously. Or how women who showed any so called abnormal behavior they where auturicmally labled was mad and than often put away.

But I was very confused about how the game of hide and seek seemed to lead to the daughers illness and eventual death.

While it seems the story is a warning about the mother devoting too much of herself and her love to her daughter and neglecting her husband, and in consequence reverting to a childlike state herself, as well as perhaps being too overbearing and smothering and not giving her daughter enough independence. I don't understand the significance of the game of Hide and Seek and the ominous warning of the nurse that she will "Hide and hide herself away"

I kept trying to figure out how old the daughter was, but it seemed like she was still pretty young, so I never understood why it was a bad thing that she played hide and seek.

It might be somewhat troubling if she was a teenager and still doing it.

I find this story to be a mix of realism with a hint of the surreal. On the realism side from the time of the author, child mortality was certainly higher than it is now. Antibiotics and supportive medical care were non-existent, thus many children died of what would today be non-fatal illnesses. The death of this beloved daughter provoked an all too real grief response of the mother. I do not find the mother mad but heart broken. She is also not the first mother who "put all her eggs in one basket," the basket of her child.
On the surreal note, the story turns on the belief of servants that a common game is an omen. This superstition seems to grow as the story goes and leads to fear and seemingly leads to death of the little girl. Was the death caused by the suggestion of the omen? Was the death caused by the playing of a childhood game? Or was it all a coincidence? The author does not say, and we as readers know the author was the "cause" of all.
Thank you for picking out this story.

The girl had pronounced lisping, characteristic for a child normally not older than five.
Of course Hide and Seek game did not bring illness to the child.
The significance of the ‘omen’?
Here is what the author tells us about the ‘omen’:
“The old woman [the talkative old cook Agathya] had invented this sign, quite suddenly, herself; and she was evidently very proud of it.”
Vanjr is absolutely right, child death was very common in those days. Banal cold could very likely pass on into pneumonia.
The way how the stupid talk of the stupid cook could affect the well being of Serafima
[symbolism lovers, how would you interpret her name, Russified female form for Seraphim?],
is the core of the story, I think. Agathya maybe was not aware of the power she had over her mistress, but her gut sure instinctively sought for it. Just out of omnipresent will for power of all humans. Maybe that’s the significance of the omen – words can hurt, and hurt very hard. And Serafima was so fragile, as a child herself. All her life was placed into one basket, her child. Such an easy and only target for a punch. And when Serafima’s child was gone by natural causes, there was nothing left to maintain her sanity.

Bigollo wrote: "The girl had pronounced lisping, characteristic for a child normally not older than five.
Of course Hide and Seek game did not bring illness to the child.
The significance of the ‘omen’?
Here is w..."

But it seems to me the repetition of the words "she will hide and hide herself away" is meant to impart more meaning than just the superstitious chatter of a cook.

While the phrase was used as a reference to the daughter playing hide and seek, dose it in some way refer to the way in which Serafima hid herself away within her daughter? So that when her daughter died she did ultimately become lost.

Or is the expression mean to be some sort of foreshadow of the eventual death of the child? Of course as soon as the "omen" is brought up we know something bad is going to happen.

Did she eventually hide herself in death, the one place of which she could not be found again?

Silver,

You wrote,

“…does the expression [she will hide and hide herself away] mean to be the eventual death of the child?”

Obviously. And that’s what the cook meant and how the nurse and Serafima understood it. And that’s why they got so agitated about it.

You wrote,

“But it seems to me the repetition of the words "she will hide and hide herself away" is meant to impart more meaning than just the superstitious chatter of a cook.”

To me, it is ‘just the superstitious chatter of a cook’, but just a chatter can be psychologically very powerful and destructive. In a very real sense, without any mysticism.

You wrote,

“While the phrase was used as a reference to the daughter playing hide and seek, does it in some way refer to the way in which Serafima hid herself away within her daughter?”

I agree. Serafima is a real tragic figure. If to think about her character longer, it is almost obvious that her fate was inescapably doomed within the realities of that time and place. Angels have very few dimensions to survive among real people.

I think one message that Sologub had slipped in was for husbands to take notice and be warm with their wives. The husband had an affair and was also "cold" with Serafima, probably driving her to smother her child. This is speculation of course, but I got that from the section: "After their marriage there was nothing in the manner of Sergey Modestovich to suggest anything wrong to his wife. Later, however, when his wife was about to have a child, Sergey Modestovich established connexions elsewhere of a light and temporary nature. Serafima Aleksandrovna found this out, and, to her own astonishment, was not particularly hurt; she awaited her infant with a restless anticipation that swallowed every other feeling."

Is Serafima playing hide and seek herself? Who is she hiding from? Her husband? There's no mention of her family or a world outside of her married life, which may be fairly accurate for Russian women of this time, but she doesn't exactly hide from the maids.

Silver, I think the daughter ended up hiding away into death (odd it was caused by a cold (the husband killed her!).

Bigollo, your point about her fate being doomed sounds true, but it makes me think why should she even get out of bed after the "prophecy".

And Amalie, I totally agree, the ending did a great job wrapping up the story for me.

Brownguy wrote: "Silver, I think the daughter ended up hiding away into death (odd it was caused by a cold (the husband killed her!).."

According to what I have read Sologub was associated with the Symbolist movement, and one of the common themes in his are ideas relating to death, and the notion of rejecting life.

I wonder if the daughter, in hiding herself away leading to her eventual death was in a her her rejecting her life.

During the period of the daughter's illness I believe Serafima does make a remark about her fears of her daughter hiding from the world.

So perhaps she is turning her back upon life by not actively taking part in it in the way in which she doesn't allow the world to see her, but is always hiding her face from the life/world.

"Sologub was associated with the Symbolist movement" I guess that explains a lot.

I agree with both Silver's and Bigollo's views on Hide and Seek. It is psychological and even symbolic as some other have mentioned but at the same time, Sologub might have associated "Hide and Seek" with superstitious believes on certain cultures, when children could not be found they were taken by fairies, things like that. Basically some cultures don't/didn't like the game because the purpose of the games is to not to tell anyone where you are and what you are doing. The game also asks children to do what we’ve always told them not to - be/keep secrets or hide. I believe it's an innocent game but with all the pedophiles out there, I don't know. We will have differences in opinions. The point is, perhaps Sologub is associating to the paradoxical nature of the games or on superstitious beliefs or both.




Brownguy wrote: "Is Serafima playing hide and seek herself? Who is she hiding from? Her husband? There's no mention of her family or a world outside of her married life..."

I think they all play a game of hide and seek in their real lives. Think about the husband's behaviour? I doubt anyone knows about his lack of concern for is wife and child or about his extra-marital affair/s. He too hide himself from the world wearing sort of a mask. I kind a feel he is the initiator of the "game" they all play and his wife and then his daughter became followers, in their own ways.

I mean, the real game, Hide-and-seek has many names and variety of versions. When I was little we used to play a version where hiding players can move from one location to another to avoid being caught. It was awesome!

Amalie wrote:"I really liked how Sologub has ended the tale, we see the world through Serafima's eyes, the confusion. It reminded me Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper."
Thought so too.
A multi- faceted tale. Superstitution on one side, psychological complexity on the other.

This is a very interesting tale. Pretty much agree with what everyone has already mentioned here.

I think Sologub's mother's love (and lack of father's love) has a strong link to his own childhood, he grew up without a father and had been very close to his mother.

I have read another story with mother-child bond called "Shadows". I don't remember which collection it was from. I definitely recommend it.

I liked this story too and agree with what everyone else has said.
Perhaps Sologub wanted also to underline the ignorance of superstition?
In my opinion he talks very well about the strong bond among mother and child, above all from the mother side. In a few and simple words he is able to make alive for the reader this strong love.