«ЕГИПЕТСКИЕ НОЧИ» А. С. ПУШКИНА: ПОЭТ В РОЛИ КЛЕОПАТРЫ

Abstract

This article explores Pushkin’s “Egyptian Nights,” which critics consider to be an unfinished work. For the first time, the analysis of the story’s plot structure is carried out exclusively in regard to the autograph draft in prose without taking into consideration the poetic improvisations which are absent in the poet’s manuscript, but are traditionally inserted by publishers into the printed text. The author argues that the story’s plot design is completed in Pushkin’s prose text. An allusive parallel between the story of Cleopatra and the story of the improviser based on the motifs of “prostitution” and the “severed head”, is described. It is shown that the plot structure of the story is built on the juxtaposition of two narrative levels: symbolic and real. In contrast to the ancient legend, in which the public (lovers) pay for the love of the Egyptian queen with their heads in a literal sense, in the main plot the improviser pays for the love of the public with his head in a figurative sense.