The Reflection of “Capital — Province” Relations in Contemporary Ural Poetry

Abstract

This article considers current issues of literary regionalism with reference to the analysis of the fourth volume of the Anthology of Ural Poetry (2018) compared with the third volume (2011) and the Encyclopaedia of the Ural Poetry School (2013). The subject of the research is the reflection of participants in the Ural poetic movement over the status of a provincial poet. The methodological basis of the article, in addition to the historical-literary principle, is the theory of the pragmatics of a fiction text. The Ural poetic movement is considered in the context of the concepts of local text, regional literature, provincial, local, and peripheral culture. The change in the historical and cultural circumstances over the past decades in the country and in the Urals in particular has caused a transformation of traditional ideas about the uniqueness of a poetic personality. The Ural Poetry School as a project of V. Kalpidi shows the effectiveness of collective strategies in organising and presenting poetry. The goal of the anthologies issued every seven years is not only to fix the current state of Ural poetry but also to comprehend its development and set the directions of further progression. The consideration of the poetic and analytical texts included in the fourth volume of the anthology of Ural poetry convinces us of the sequence of actions aimed at turning Ural poetry into a “poster project” for all Russian poetry. To determine the essence of the Ural Poetry School phenomenon, the author of the article refers to the theory of actor-network interactions by Bruno Latour. According to Latour, it is not subjects that define movement (performatives), but movement forms subjects. The Ural Poetry School can be viewed as actor-networked education, voluntary and dynamic interaction, and common meaning is given to common gestures and practices by the efforts of Kulturtragers — overcoming the dualism of the capital and the province in the participants’ self-awareness.