Juri Rytcheu. Der letzte Schamane: Die Tschuktschen-Saga.

Mozur, Joseph P., Jr.

Antje Leetz, tr. Zurich. Unionsverlag. 2002. vii + 351 pages. 19.80 [euro]. ISBN 3-293-00299-4

IN MANY WAYS, Juri Rytcheu's Der letzte Schamane (Last of the shamans) is an extended epitaph inscribed on the tombstone of his small nationality, consisting of only twelve thousand people living today in Russian Chukotka, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska. The book has not appeared in Russian yet, but when it does it will be published under the title A Chukchi Bible, which perhaps better captures the full breadth of Rytcheu's attempt to retell the history of his people. Indeed, the narrative falls neatly into an indigenous genesis myth, a fall from grace and fratricide legends, a Chukchi Deuteronomy, and a prophetlike figure--Mletkin, Rytcheu's own grandfather, whose miracles, teachings, and betrayal are chronicled throughout most of the narrative. The saga concludes with Rytcheu's birth in 1930, which virtually coincides with Mletkin's death.

"The Last of the Shamans" records the rapid demise of an ancient culture, which for centuries served to sustain human life in perhaps the harshest climate on this planet. The clash between the indigenous people and European culture began ha 1648 with the arrival of the Russians ("haft-mouths" in Chukchi) and continued with the appearance of American whalers and merchants ha 1819. In both cases, the results were the same--the seduction and coercion brought to bear by technologically more advanced nations prove too powerful for the primitive inhabitants to withstand. Exploitation, primarily for the purpose of acquiring furs, walrus tusks, and women, soon destroys the initial good will between the two civilizations. When torture and violence become excessive, the Chukchi rise up against their "haft-mouth" exploiters. Drawing on oral legends and Russian historical documents, many of which were taboo during the decades of Soviet power, Rytcheu recalls the Chukchi rebellions of 1690, 1730, and 1744 and highlights the natives' victories over better-equipped Russian units.

With the unrestrained destruction of the whale herds, primarily by American whalers in the nineteenth century, the very foundation of Chukchi life was jeopardized: whale hunting was the chief source of food for the Arctic people, and many Chukchi rituals are centered on the hunt and consumption of whales. Indeed, whales play a central role in the totemistic myth of the Chukchi and are revered as brothers and equals--both men and whales were believed to be the offspring of Nau, the first woman, and Reu, her whale lover. When Nau's human children begin to kill their whale brethren, the gods punish the Chukchi coastal inhabitants, the Luorwetlan (the real name of Rytcheu's people), by raising the tides and inundating the region, thus creating the Bering Strait. Hundreds of years later, European and American whalers lay waste to the once mighty herds that had sustained the Chukchi way of life. The coup de grace follows soon after the bolshevization of the region, with ill-fated attempts to collectivize an already impoverished people; wholesale condemnation of Chukhchi dress, habits, traditions; and, finally, the slow suffocation of the indigenous language in Soviet boarding schools.

Rytcheu's grandfather, Mletkin, is the last of the Chukchi shamans. In accordance with Chukchi tradition, Mletkin is chosen by his grandfather for the vocation. Yet he proves to be a reluctant shaman, and when his first attempt to bring good fortune to his hamlet's hunters fails, he flees in shame into the tundra. There he meets Vladimir Bogoraz, an exiled Russian revolutionary, who comes to admire the Chukchi and devotes his time to extensive ethnographic research among them. Decades later, as a professor at Leningrad University, the exile would publish materials on Chukchi folklore, mythology, and linguistics, playing an active role in the creation of the Chukchi alphabet and grammar. In his travels with Bogoraz, Mletkin learns to read and speak Russian and becomes familiar with the tenets of Russian Orthodoxy. Later, his thirst for knowledge takes him to San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Mletkin learns English and eventually becomes a living exhibit at the World's Fair in Chicago. Years later, however, he rejects the comforts of Western life and returns to Chukotka (1901), where he finds disease, desolation, and death everywhere. Resolved to help his people and live out his life in Chukotka, he lays claim to his childhood betrothed, who has married in his absence. In a ritualistic knife fight he kills her husband, a deed that only serves to enhance his reputation as a shaman. Mletkin's fame spreads rapidly throughout Chukotka--his knowledge of both Western medicine and indigenous ways enable him to heal the sick and speak with authority.

With the arrival of the Bolsheviks, Mletkin quickly finds himself the prominent target of a Soviet campaign to establish their authority in the region under the slogan, "Destroy the rich and the shamans!" After the drunken chairman of the revolutionary committee fails to kill Mletkin execution style, missing him with his revolver at point blank, he comes to believe that the bullets have miraculously bounced off the shaman's chest. He fears Mletkin and continues plotting to kill him. Success comes only when he shoots him in the back, before Mletkin realizes what is happening and can use his powers. Mletkin's grandson, Juri Rytcheu, is born shortly before the shaman's death, and Mletkin chooses the Chukchi name Rytcheu (the unnamed), because the spirits remain silent at the name-giving ritual. Essentially, Rytcheu himself becomes the last shaman, who as a writer magically raises his people from the grave. Ironically, his tale is written in the language of the tangitan (Europeans), for among the inhabitants of Chukotka there are few remaining whose command of Chukchi is good enough to be able to read the saga in their native tongue.

Recently, there have been signs of a modest national revival of Chukchi culture in the post-Soviet era. People now openly discuss the ecological and cultural disasters brought on by the years of Soviet rule and have become more aware of their own heritage. Rytcheu himself is gaining more and more recognition in his homeland for his literary preservation of a once unique civilization, and several years ago the governor of Chukotka agreed to subsidize the repatriation of all of Rytcheu's works published abroad over the past ten years.

"The Last of the Shamans" incorporates many of the themes and character types from a number of Rytcheu's successful works, most notably from his 1995 novel, Die Suche nach der letzten Zahl (The search for the last number; see WLT 70:3, p. 723). Although Rytcheu's readers will not be able to overlook the reemergence of previous themes and characters, "The Last of the Shamans" distinguishes itself from the author's other works by a heightened sense of nostalgia and by the sober recognition of the inevitable demise of a way of life. Antje Leetz's German translation of the Russian original captures well the full range of Rytcheu's style, from the lyrical prose of his myths and legends to the down-to-earth idiom of European whalers and merchants.

Joseph P. Mozur Jr.

University of South Alabama