SOURCE: Zholkovsky, Alexander. “Mandel'štam's Egyptian Stamp: A Study in Envy?” Slavic and East European Journal 38, no. 2 (summer 1994): 224-44.

In the following essay, Zholkovsky outlines several similarities between Osip Mandel'štam's novel The Egyptian Stamp and Envy, while noting differences in style.

1. Chronology, Postures, and Style

Mandel'štam's The Egyptian Stamp (1928; henceforth: ES) appeared soon after Envy (1927), and its writing, begun prior to the publication of Oleša's work, may have been spurred by the latter's instant success.¹ The stylistic and thematic affinities, as well as differences, between the two did not go unnoticed by contemporary critics (e. g., by Berkovskij, 1989 [1929]), who, among other things, praised Oleša for being more in tune with the future-oriented Soviet culture than the predominantly retrospective Mandel'štam. Recently, the connection has been restated in terms that again—albeit mutatis mutandis—come down harshly on Mandel'štam:

The Egyptian Stamp was neither...