Lyric Complicity: Poetry and Readers in the Golden Age of Russian Literature by Daria Khitrova

Abstract

Reviewed by: Lyric Complicity: Poetry and Readers in the Golden Age of Russian Literature by Daria Khitrova Elena Pedigo Clark Daria Khitrova. Lyric Complicity: Poetry and Readers in the Golden Age of Russian Literature. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019. x + 296 pp. ISBN 978-0299322106. Daria Khitrova's book Lyric Complicity: Poetry and Readers in the Golden Age of Russian Literature provides a fascinating new perspective on the heavily-studied era of early nineteenth-century Russian literature. By combining close reading and cultural background with "historical pragmatics," or the study of what people used poetry for at the time it was written, as her methodological basis, Khitrova is able to show how poetry influenced its readership and vice versa. She argues that, rather than there being a strict line between readers and poets in that period, Golden Age poets often wrote their poems in order to create a particular effect in the "real world," whether as album verse, love declaration, or political statement. Readers, meanwhile, participated actively in the production of poetry by memorizing it, copying it, circulating it, and recreating their own versions of particularly felicitous lines. This approach emphasizes the living, interactive nature of the poetry of the era, explains the rise of the lighter forms of verse that took place during the first three decades of the nineteenth century, and gives a clearer picture of how it was integrated into (high) society. The book is divided into two parts: "Functions and Uses," which covers how verse was used in different situations, either by the original poet or by the readers who appropriated the verses for their own ends; and "One, Two, Many: To Whom Poems Speak," which examines the uses of pronouns and modes of address in lyric poetry. It is concluded by "The Art of Epilogue: Critique of the Golden Age in Eugene Onegin," which describes how Pushkin tried to break free of the reader-poet interdependence of the time, instead attempting to achieve poetic independence. Although the book is by necessity fairly Pushkin-centric, it also includes numerous works by other significant authors of the time, such as Konstantin Batyushkov, Vasily Zhukovsky, Denis Davydov, Anton Del´vig, Pyotr Vyazemsky, and Yevgeny Baratynsky. This breadth of focus provides a rich idea of what the literary milieu of the time was like, and shows the interaction between the main literary figures of the day and how that was instrumental in the development of their poetry. The combination of close reading of individual works with an examination of their intended and actual uses—as gleaned from letters, diary entries, margin notes, and so on—gives interesting background to the production and reception of what have become canonical works of Russian poetry. [End Page 197] An example of Khitrova's approach is the discussion of how Sofia Del´vig, wife of the poet Anton Del´vig, used Baratynsky's poem "Dissuasion" ("Ne iskushai menia bez nuzhdy…"), which had become a popular song, as part of her affair with Alexander Vulf. Khitrova traces the development of the affair, as outlined in the participants' letters and diaries, and how "Dissuasion," itself a "post-love" elegy, was used by the couple to covertly express their feelings and play love games. This is followed by a close reading of "Dissuasion," with particular attention paid to the use of semantics and word roots in order to create a sense of ambiguity that allowed the lovers to appropriate it for their own various interpretations. This dual lens through which Khitrova examines the poem gives fresh meaning both to the poem itself and to the circumstances around its original reception. Similar readings are performed on other significant works of the time. Of particular interest is her interpretation of Pushkin's "Vol´nost" and Eugene Onegin, and how Pushkin used these works to set out his own poetic course, one that emphasized artistic independence over author-reader interaction. Lyric Complicity is a highly specialized book intended for a specialist audience, but despite the dense and scholarly topic, it is a pleasure to read with an engaging writing style. Researchers of any facet of Golden Age literature will find it interesting, but its greatest utility may be...