Human Tragedy and Contemporary Awareness in Mikhail Artsybashev’s Short Story Happiness

Mikhail Artsybashev, known as the author of Sanin, was once a highly popular writer in early 20th-century Russia. However, his works were long excluded from scholarly attention due to their perceived sensationalism and their status as banned books during the Soviet era. Artsybashev’s literature occupies a unique position as belletristic writing, bridging the gap between classical and popular literature. This study focuses on his short story Happiness to analyze the depiction of human tragedy and social consciousness in Artsybashev’s work. While Sanin is characterized by radical individualism and explicit sexual depiction, Happiness employs a restrained and compressed narrative structure that closely links human existence with social reality. Happiness portrays the extreme conditions and loss of dignity experienced by Sashka, a female protagonist who has fallen to the margins of society, through her despair, hunger, and physical and emotional limits. The story redefines the universal concept of happiness within the context of existential suffering, presenting a stark reality that engages both the reader’s emotions and reason. The story incisively reveals the structural contradictions of early 20th-century Russian society and the tragedy of human existence, exploring the meaning of happiness redefined under extreme conditions. This approach raises questions about alienation and the conditions of happiness that remain relevant to contemporary readers, securing the work’s modernity and universality. By examining Happiness, this study reconsiders Artsybashev’s insights into human existence, social marginalization, and survival, contributing to a broader understanding of his literary significance and value.