A. Volokhonsky’s underground ‘Paradise’ [‘Ray’]: poetics and commentary

Abstract

The author studies the lyrics of the song ‘Paradise’ [‘Ray’] (also known as ‘The City of Gold’ [‘Gorod zolotoy’]) in relation to Volokhonsky’s poetics through the years and discovers a consistent narrative structure of the poet’s songwriting oeuvre. The structure is based on the protagonist’s appeal to his beloved and sacralisation of their love through its transposition to a divine context. In ‘Paradise,’ however, the structure undergoes a significant modification: the scholar believes Saint John the Divine’s Revelation to be the main source of the poem. Alongside a detailed analysis of ‘Paradise’ covering its history, narrative structure and the authorship problem, Drobinin discusses a wider context of 1980s Soviet underground poetry, including, among others, Volokhonsky and Khvostenko’s co-authored cult songs ‘Green Sleeves’ [‘Zelyonye rukava’], ‘A Swan’ [‘Lebed’], etc. that feature similarities with the imagery and plot of ‘Paradise.’ As a separate topic, the article considers discrepancies between Volokhonsky’s original version of ‘Paradise’ and one performed by B. Grebenshchikov — they affect the perception and understanding of the song, argues Drobinin.