From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
The Petty Demon was an attempt to create a living portrait of the concept known in Russian as
poshlost' (an idea whose meaning lies somewhere between evil and banality). It tells the story of a provincial schoolteacher, Peredonov, notable for his complete lack of redeeming human qualities. The technique used to portray
antihero Peredonov is an
omniscient third-person narrative which allowed Sologub to combine both his Symbolist tendencies and the tradition of Russian Realism in which he engaged throughout his earlier novels, a style similar to
de Maupassant's
fantastic realism. The novel recounts the story of a morally corrupt Peredonov going insane and paranoid in an unnamed Russian provincial town, parallel with his struggle be promoted to a governmental inspector of his
province. Realistic elements of
The Petty Demon are included in a vivid illustration of 19th century's rural everyday life while the metaphysical theme of Peredonov's mental degradation consists in including his hallucinations as elements equal to everyday life. While the book was received as an acidic indictment of
Russian society, it is a richly metaphysical novel and one of the major prose works of the Russian Symbolist movement. James H. Billington said of it:
The book puts on display a Freudian treasure chest of perversions with subtlety and credibility. The name of the novel's hero, Peredonov, became a symbol of calculating concupiscence for an entire generation... He torments his students, derives erotic satisfaction from watching them kneel to pray, and systematically befouls his apartment before leaving it as part of his generalized spite against the universe./blockquote>
