Tracce di SMOG: un «ritratto di gruppo» affrescato da Saša Sokolov. A proposito di “Obščaja tetrad’” (1989)

Abstract

In 1989 Russian author Sasha Sokolov published “Obshchaia tetrad, ili zhe Gruppovoi portret SMOGa” (The Shared Notebook, or a Group Portrait of the SMOG), a lyrical essay whose form lies between prose and poetry. In this text the writer commemorates his poetic experience as a young member of the SMOG underground group in Moscow in the early 1960s. However, unlike other memories published on the matter by former smogists, this is a highly lyrical work that recreates the atmosphere and the emotional drive felt by the young poets back then. In analyzing the short text, it is possible to enucleate the structure, the motifs, the images, as well as the collage through which the author puts together the «shared notebook» of the group. The text is the result of the harmonic and organic interweaving of verses and images taken from other smogists, as well as from the smogists’ literary models.