Pushkin and Dostoevsky in Russian Rock Poetry

Abstract

The article deals with Russian rock poetry, whose authors strive to overcome cultural and personal decay by turning to classical literature and absurdist aesthetics. The rock poet chooses either Pushkin or Dostoevsky as the central and at the same time supporting figures of Russian culture, and his self-determination – the self-determination of a genius of the 20th–21st centuries – occurs precisely at the intersection of myths about two, at first glance, polar cultural heroes («solar» Pushkin and «shadow» Dostoevsky). An appeal to the figures of Pushkin and Dostoevsky, as well as a cultural dialogue with their texts, occurs as follows: on the one hand, the genius seems to be brought down to the modern author’s level, and on the other, the themes and motifs covering the foundations of Russian spiritual culture are affirmed, re-actualized and adapted to new contexts. The purpose of the study is to prove through an intertextual approach that rock poetry can be viewed as a phenomenon of elite culture, since the value paradigm of the texts of rock poets is traditionally built through the juxtaposition of ideal and real plans. A rock performer himself is a «slave of honor» and a «poet» who is invariably placed in opposition to the reality around him. Absurdist aesthetics, techniques of comedy and deconstruction «renew» and at the same time complicate the long-familiar image.