POSTKOLONIALNE ZAPISKI Z PODRÓŻY DO „KOLONII”. OSIP MANDELSZTAM PODRÓŻ DO ARMENII, JURIJ KARABCZIJEWSKIJ TĘSKNOTA ZA ARMENIĄ

Abstract

Prosaic notes by Mandelstam and Kаrabtchiyevski selected for critical reading contribute to the Armenian text in the Russian literature (Alexander Pushkin, Valery Bryusov, Sergey Gorodetsky, Andrei Bely, Anna Akhmatova, Vasily Grossman, Andrei Bitov). A methodology adopted in the article enables analyzing the postcolonial awareness of travelling authors expressed in the two works, and its origin one should look for in the position of an outsiders in the Soviet culture. The autobiographic narrators — Mandelstam and Karabtchiyevsky — seem to be fully associated with a frequently tragic experience of a centuries long colonial domination suffered by Armenians. While the attitude of the author of the Journey to Armenia is supported by exceptionally broad knowledge about history and culture of the country, the main role in Longing for Armenia is played by well-motivated ethical emotions of the traveler.