“And hop from Riga to Krakow…”: (Un)traditional Polish Text in the Cycle of Poems “The Krakow Trumpeter“ by Sergey Moreino

Abstract

This article focuses on the issue of so-called Polish text of Russian culture in the poetic cycle Krakovskiĭ trubach [The Krakow Trumpeter] (1989–1990) by Sergey Moreino, a Russian poet and translator, who currently lives in Latvia. Traditional semiotic patterns and national stereotypes which existed in Soviet culture (Poland as a Big Cemetery, Poland as a Big Border, Romantic Poland, etc.) had a long-term impact on post-Soviet literature. As it turns out, however, in the case of Sergei Moreino, who consciously kept distance from any Polonophilia moods of the 1960s and 70s, there emerged innovative ways of presenting Poland, and especially the urban space of Krakow.