''Poshlost'' or ''Poshlost' '' ( rus , по́шлость , p= ˈpoʂləsʲtʲ) is a Russian word for a particular negative human character trait or man-made thing or idea. It has been cited as an example of a so-called
untranslatable word, as there is no single exact one-word English equivalent. It carries much cultural baggage in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and has been discussed at length by various writers.
It is derived from the adjective
пошлый.
Description
It has been defined as "petty evil or self-satisfied
vulgarity
Vulgarity is the quality of being common, coarse, or unrefined. This judgement may refer to language, visual art, social class, or social climbers. John Bayley claims the term can never be self-referential, because to be aware of vulgarity is to d ...
", while
Svetlana Boym
Svetlana Boym (russian: Светла́на Ю́рьевна Бо́йм; 1959 – August 5, 2015) was a Russian-American cultural theorist, visual and media artist, playwright and novelist. She was the Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic and C ...
defines it briefly as "
obscenity
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...
and bad taste".
Boym goes on to describe it at more length:
Early examinations of ''poshlost'' in literature are in the work of
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
. Gogol wrote (of
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
),
In his novels,
Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 ( Old Style da ...
"tried to develop a heroic figure who could, with the verve and abandon of a
Don Quixote
is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...
, grapple with the problems of Russian society, who could once and for all overcome 'poshlost’, the complacent mediocrity and moral degeneration of his environment".
Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
applied the word to the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
;
Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...
, to Western-influenced young people.
D. S. Mirsky was an early user of the word in English in writing about Gogol; he defined it as "'self-satisfied inferiority,' moral and spiritual".
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
made it more widely known in his book on Gogol, where he romanized it as "''poshlust''" (punningly: "
posh
Posh is an informal adjective for "upper class". It may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Posh'' (album), a 1980 album by Patrice Rushen
*" Posh!", a 1968 song from the musical ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''
* ''Posh'' (2006 TV series), a 2006 Philip ...
" + "
lust
Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can ...
"). Poshlust, Nabokov explained, "is not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive. A list of literary characters personifying ''poshlust'' will include... Polonius and the royal pair in ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', Rodolphe and Homais from ''
Madame Bovary
''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by France, French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities ...
'', Laevsky in
Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
's 'The Duel',
Joyce's
Marion ollyBloom, young Bloch in ''
Search of Lost Time'',
Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
's '
Bel Ami
''Bel-Ami'' (, "Dear Friend") is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled ''Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel'' first appeared in 1903.
The story chronicles journalist ...
',
Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...
's husband, and Berg in ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
''". also listed
Azar Nafisi
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Tehran, Iran
, death_date =
, death_place =
, resting_place =
, occupation = Writer, professor
, language = English
, nationality =
, citizenship = American
, education =
, ...
mentions it and quotes the "falsely" definition in ''
Reading Lolita in Tehran
''Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books'' is a book by Iranian author and professor Azar Nafisi. Published in 2003, it was on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list for over one hundred weeks and has been translated into 32 languages.
Plo ...
''.
[.]
Nabokov often targeted ''poshlost'' in his own work; the Alexandrov definition above refers to the character of M'sieur Pierre in ''
Invitation to a Beheading
''Invitation to a Beheading'' (russian: Приглашение на казнь, lit=''Invitation to an execution'') is a novel by Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov. It was originally published in Russian from 1935 to 1936 as a serial in '' ...
''.
Another notable literary treatment is
Fyodor Sologub
Fyodor Sologub (russian: Фёдор Сологу́б, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, russian: Фёдор Кузьми́ч Тете́рников, also known as Theodor Sologub; – 5 December 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, trans ...
's novel ''
The Petty Demon
''The Petty Demon'' (russian: Мелкий бес, Melkiy bes), also translated as ''The Little Demon'', is a Symbolist novel by Russian writer Fyodor Sologub. It was published in a standalone edition in 1907 and quickly became popular, having t ...
''. It tells the story of a provincial schoolteacher, Peredonov, notable for his complete lack of redeeming human qualities.
James H. Billington
James Hadley Billington (June 1, 1929 – November 20, 2018) was an American academic and author who taught history at Harvard and Princeton before serving for 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutions. He served as the 13th Librarian ...
said of it:
Richard Taruskin
Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...
summarized poshlost as "highfalutin bad taste," applying the term to a performance of the
.
See also
*
wikt:некультурный
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* The original interview, with Herbert Gold in the October 1967 issue of the ''
Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
'', i
available on line and an extract is available in a ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'
article(Dec. 1, 1967) about the interview.
*{{cite book , last = Taruskin , first = Richard , title = On Russian Music , publisher = University of California Press , year = 2009 , isbn = 978-0-520-24979-0
Aesthetics
Russian culture
Russian words and phrases