Dmitry Galkovsky - Major Works - The Infinite Deadlock

The Infinite Deadlock

(Alternative translations: Endless Dead-end, Endless Impasse)

Galkovsky's first major work was the philosophical novel Бесконечный тупик (The Infinite Deadlock). The work consists of three parts. The first part, completed in 1984 and entitled "The Round World," is a brief analysis of, and homage to, the work of the Russian philosopher Vasily Rozanov. Rozanov's writings were not published during Soviet rule, and he had become somewhat obscure by the time Galkovsky was writing. "The Round World" argues that Rozanov's work is "very modern and relevant" to Russia in the late 20th century, and that he is "perhaps...the most modern Russian philosopher."

The second part of The Infinite Deadlock, referred to as "The Infinite Deadlock (main text)" in the third edition, is an essay (completed in 1985) that fleshes out many of the arguments made in "The Round World." In this work, Rozanov is placed in the greater context of 19th century Russian history and philosophy. The essay favorably compares Rozanov to such writers as Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Berdyaev, whom Galkovsky views as "infantile" and "talkative." Galkovsky makes the argument that the Russian language is inherently highly amorphous, and that Russian culture is better adapted to faith (which is associated with "silence") than to reason ("logos" or "speech"). In this interpretation, the fragmented nature of Rozanov's later writing is the ideal expression of the Russian way of thinking.

The third part of The Infinite Deadlock is called "Comments on 'The Infinite Deadlock'" and consists of 949 "comments" (fragments of text anywhere from one sentence to several pages long). Each "comment" is addressed to a single phrase, either from the "main text" in the second part, or from an earlier comment. Thus, the comments have a tree structure, with one main branch commenting on the "main text," and other smaller branches taking off from comments in the main branch, forming a hypertext. The comments constitute the vast majority of the overall text of The Infinite Deadlock (the third part takes up 1077 out of 1230 pages in the third edition).

The fragmented, episodic nature of the comments resembles Rozanov's style of writing. However, although Rozanov provided the main inspiration for Galkovsky's work, he is only one of many subjects discussed in the third part of The Infinite Deadlock. The main topics covered by the hypertext include the following:

• An attack on the high status of Russian literature in Russian culture. Galkovsky believes that the doctrine of "realism" adopted by Russian literature was a false front for a revolutionary agenda. In this interpretation, Russian literature uses a hyper-real appearance to describe things that were not actually common in real life, and often were surreal inventions of the authors. For example, Galkovsky interprets the work of Nikolai Gogol as the author's own fantastic, irrational expression of the ambiguity of the Russian language, and concludes that Gogol's influence became irreparably harmful when this work was interpreted as a realistic criticism of Russian society. In general, Galkovsky argues against the idea that writers should have political and social influence.
• Historical revisionism of 19th century Russian history leading up to the Russian revolution. Galkovsky argues that revolutionary movements were patronized, and often directly supervised, by the imperial police. He characterizes the revolutionary movement, starting with the Decembrist revolt, as a series of "double provocations" in which elements of the government deliberately sabotaged the government's own response to revolutionary acts. In his analysis, the revolution had become inevitable by the reign of Nicholas II due to long-standing treason at every level of the government. Galkovsky cites the pervasiveness of Freemasonry in Russian society and the influence of Jews in revolutionary movements, but he implies that their success was inspired and funded by European governments for the purpose of destroying the Russian monarchy.
• A discrediting of the character and work of Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, a key figure in Russian religious philosophy. Galkovsky portrays Solovyov as an opportunist who was largely ignorant of the Greek and Christian philosophy that he attempted to summarize in his work. The Infinite Deadlock implies that Solovyov's main goal was to create a caricatured form of conservatism that would draw attention away from more "authentic" nationalist thinkers such as Yuri Samarin. Galkovsky expresses similar criticism of Nikolai Berdyaev, whom he views as a 20th-century epigone of Solovyov.
• The nature of the Russian language itself. Galkovsky notes what he considers to be the amorphousness of the Russian language, building on the "silence"/"speech" dichotomy put forth in the "main text." In his view, the ambiguity of language makes it difficult to create an unambiguous depiction of evil in a written work. He gives examples of works from Russian literature that use language to "muffle" psychological or ideological conflicts.
• The author's own feelings of loneliness (Galkovsky refers to himself using the name "Odinokov," meaning "lonely one"), his childhood experiences, and his relationship with his father. These passages form a literary (often lyrical) counterpoint to the denser philosophical passages in the text. However, Galkovsky also implies that his experience is a natural outcome of the historical and literary developments he discusses throughout the novel.

Many other subjects are covered in passing, including the nature and purpose of philosophy, a discussion of Platonism and Aristotelianism, and an analysis of the characters of Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Lenin.