The existential ambivalence of the young Lermontov: Byron or the other?

Abstract

This article analyzes the existential ambivalence of the artistic consciousness of the young Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov, who both was and was not Byron. Evidence for that lies in the fact that Lermontov’s early works manifest the concept of anxiety described by Kierkegaard’s, which the Russian poet was forced to overcome, as well as the transitional ambivalence in relation to the key components of Byron’s psychology and aesthetics. This duality forced Lermontov to openly accept Byronic characters and the storylines animating them. Recognizing these common features, the author of the article shows how the discovered existential ambivalence eventually gave Lermontov a special independence from Byron. For his ambivalent attitude towards Byron pushed Lermontov away from romanticism, which Byron so vividly represented, and placed the Russian poet into post-Romanticism. Comparing the corsairs created by Byron and Lermontov, the author of the article concludes that Lermontov adopted the external attributes of Byron’s poem in structure, plot, setting, plot twists, and gloomy emotionality. At the same time, Lermontov weakened the dynamic potential of these attributes, turning the story inward, slowing down its pace, reducing the central character and generally refraining from aesthetic abundance, psychological efforts, and high morality, which gave Byron’s “Corsair” attractiveness. These weaknesses reflect an ambivalent attitude towards Byron from the very beginning of Lermontov’s writing activity. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that Lermontov was aware of the inconsistency of Romanticism with the spirit of his time, as a result of which Lermontov’s “non-byronic” poetry can be considered as a vivid example of the predicament of an artist experiencing the aesthetic influence of an authoritative current in a transitional period when the artist simultaneously reveres, doubts, and departs from an outstanding model along with the ideals of the era that he inexorably leaves behind, plunging into the unknown abyss of a new cultural direction.