Innokenty Annensky: the poet’s appearance

Abstract

The topic of the article places it within the overlapping boundaries of literary criticism, the history of 19th-c. men’s suits, and memoirs.The methodology of the study involved comparing all contemporary descriptions of I. Annensky’s appearance with his photographs as well as Parisian fashion magazines with articles on men’s fashion, in particular, on collars and neckties; it was mostly these items of his wardrobe that caught the eye of the people who wrote about Annensky. And if it seems that descriptions like ‘overly ceremonious’ and ‘old-fashioned’ begin to dominate the memoirs, it is not because of Annensky alone but rather that, instead of recording what they saw with their own eyes, their authors tend to engage in a dialogue protracted in time and defined by contradictions, concessions and repetitions. The scholar concludes that, not only in his poetry but also in appearance, Annensky was a direct successor of the French poètes maudits with their dandyism. Interestingly, there was no contradiction between Annensky’s poetry and dandyism and his bureaucratic airs; in fact, dandyism and the Decadent fondness for beautiful artefacts perfectly coexisted with the distinguished public office of this Tsarskoe Selo resident.