Образ Севастополя в творчестве советских уральских поэтов

Abstract

The paper aims to reveal the characters of Sevastopol created by Soviet Ural poets by using historico-functional, cultural-historical and biographical practices. In one of the first poems written in the 1930s, the city was depicted not only as an outpost of the Southern borders in the Black Sea region but also as a defender of the entire country. This trend continued the pre-revolutionary tradition of Sevastopol’s glorification after the First Defense (1854–1855) during the Crimean War. Sevastopol’s image as an impregnable fortress gradually drew stronger in the cultural consciousness of Soviet society, which continued after the Second Defense (1941–1942) during the Great Patriotic War. An overwhelming majority of poems by Soviet writers were dedicated to this historical period, many of whom witnessed the war. Over the course of the entire Soviet era Sevastopol was marked as a standard of courage, as a “place of power” of the Soviet (“Russian” in a broader sense) people, and even as the guarantor of national security. It was Sevastopol that shaped the Black Sea as a unique locus not only as a resort, but also as a monument to the heroes. Such an emblematic perception of the city in the cultural memory of Soviet society can be explained by several factors: the remoteness of Crimea from the Urals, its being a so-called “closed city” during the Soviet Era and — most importantly — the over-patriotic discourse, whose elaboration began in the USSR in the 1930s.