Meidanov

Meidanov is the poet among the men who gather around Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin, and his verses repeatedly turn private feeling into performance. The narrator first meets him at Zinaïda’s gathering, sees him recite a newly published poem, and later encounters him again at the theatre, married and in the civil service. Across those scenes, Meidanov’s poetic self-presentation persists even as his circumstances change; his literary ardour is at once a contribution to Zinaïda’s circle and part of the young narrator’s record of its shifting affections.

Identity and Place in the Circle

At the first gathering, Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin introduces Meidanov to the newly arrived narrator as the poet among her guests, alongside Count Malevsky, Doctor Lushin, the retired captain Nirmatsky, and Byelovzorov. His identity is thus established through the company he keeps and through the role he performs in it: he brings poems, recites them, and makes courtship part of a literary display. The narrator, still confused by the introductions and conscious of having been embarrassed by Doctor Lushin in the garden, initially knows little about him beyond this public role.

The older narrator’s account places Meidanov among Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin’s several admirers, each of whom answers a different aspect of her character. Meidanov responds to what the narrator calls the poetic fibres of her nature. He is described as cold in temperament, a qualification that makes his ardent declarations more complicated than an uncomplicated portrait of a passionate lover. He tries to persuade her that he adores her, and perhaps also tries to persuade himself. The account presents his devotion as both sincere and self-conscious, without resolving one into the other.

Courtship and Poetry

Meidanov’s attentions take the form of endless verses praising Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin, which he reads aloud with an enthusiasm the narrator judges affected and sincere at once. She sympathizes with him, but also teases him; the relationship includes neither simple acceptance nor outright rejection. After listening to his outpourings, she sometimes asks him to read Pushkin, saying that this will clear the air. The gesture places his own poetry in a lively, somewhat comic contrast with an established poet, while showing that Zinaïda can direct the terms on which her admirers’ performances are received.

That contrast becomes especially sharp when Meidanov reads his newly printed poem, Manslayer. The company has returned to the lodge after Zinaïda hurriedly presses the narrator’s hand and runs ahead, leaving him absorbed in the meaning of her words. Meidanov begins to declaim, but the narrator barely listens: the four-foot iambic lines seem to him loud and meaningless, their alternating rhythms jingling like little bells. His judgment belongs to the narrator’s distracted, jealous attention, not to an impartial assessment of the poem. The scene makes Meidanov’s recitation part of a larger emotional disturbance: while he performs for the room, the narrator watches Zinaïda and tries to understand whether she is in love.

Recurring Gatherings and Performance

Meidanov returns to the lodge at a later gathering after dinner, when the familiar company assembles again. The occasion recalls the first evening, but its mood has changed: the practical jokes and noise have disappeared, and Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin gives the proceedings a different tone. Meidanov arrives earlier than the others and brings new verses. His repeated arrival with fresh writing makes poetry an ongoing feature of the group’s social life, not merely a one-time declaration of affection.

The games of forfeits also reveal how readily Meidanov turns a social prompt into literary composition. Zinaïda proposes that anyone who pays a forfeit should tell a dream. Meidanov’s response is not an ordinary dream but a full romance, populated by sepulchres, angels with lyres, talking flowers, and music carried from afar. Zinaïda stops him before he can finish and redirects the game: if the company is to invent compositions, everyone should make something up openly, without pretending it is a dream. The episode gives Meidanov a recognizable comic tendency toward elaborate poetic conventions, while showing Zinaïda setting a limit on the performance and calling attention to its artifice.

Later Life and Narrative Significance

Four years later, the narrator meets Meidanov at the theatre. Meidanov has married and entered the civil service, but the narrator finds no change in him. He still falls into ecstasies with what the narrator regards as unnecessary intensity and then, just as suddenly, sinks into depression. This brief later portrait carries the earlier pattern beyond the lodge: the poet’s expressive swings remain recognizable even after marriage and a professional change of direction.

At the theatre, Meidanov supplies the news that Zinaïda Alexandrovna Zasyekin is in town and has married a man named Dolsky. He asks whether the narrator remembers the young princess whom they were all in love with at the country house near Neskutchny Gardens. The question gathers Meidanov and the narrator into a shared past, while his report makes him the link between the youthful circle and its later outcomes. Meidanov’s own life has moved into marriage and service, but his manner appears unchanged; the woman around whom the earlier group formed has likewise married, and is now encountered through a name from another life. His recurring presence therefore helps frame the narrator’s recollection of first love: poetry, games, and infatuation belong to a past that can be revisited, though neither memory nor the people it preserves remain entirely as they were.