‘The living word’ of Boris Nepomnyashchy

Abstract

The article paints a literary portrait of the poet B. Nepomnyashchy against the background of Russian Acmeist poetics, defined by its preoccupation with the subject, constant lyrical self-reflection, and the fondness for the genre of a fragment. Particularly important for understanding Nepomnyashchy’s poetry is his connection with I. Annensky: the article centers on their creative dialogue and follows the transformation of Annensky’s reflections of a suffering mind into Nepomnyashchy’s resolute acceptance of fate and clear understanding of one’s poetic vocation. The latter becomes a leitmotif of Nepomnyashchy’s entire work: from his earlier to later poems, he considers his talent as a responsibility, an oracular duty, and faithfulness to God’s truth, hence his exacting approach to himself and his poetry, which he creates with absolute mastery, earning him a place among the most brilliant poets of the 20th c. In her detailed analysis of Nepomnyashchy’s poems in the collection In the Light of the North Star… [Pri svete Polyarnoy…] (1996, 2002), the author recreates a comprehensive idea of his artistic manner as well as the image of the lyrical hero, a resident of the later 20th c.