Pushkin's Poem Research Articles

«Слово же есть человек, человек — соборность, соборность — София»: Гностический миф и конструирование автора в «Софии земной и горней» Л. П. Карсавина

«Sophia the earthly and the heavenly» was written by L.P. Karsavin during his transition from medievism to religious philosophy. The text was first published in the third issue of the almanac Sagittarius (1922). It represents a literary hoax: an «unknown» Gnostic treatise with parodic commentary «from the publisher». The basis of the work is an artistic translation of the chapters of the treatise Pistis Sophia with poetic inserts by Karsavin. The study offers an analysis of the structure of the author's self in the context of the Gnostic myth. The thematic connections of the work with the texts of other authors of the almanac, as well as with other «gnostic» texts by Karsavin are traced. The sources of mystification and principles of parody are revealed. The connections of the work with Alexei Remizov's stylisations («Russia in Letters»), S.P. Bobrov's hoax (a continuation of A.S. Pushkin's poem «Judith»), etc. are established. The connection of Karsavin's poetics with the abstruse language of the Futurists (Velimir Khlebnikov), the poetry of Symbolism (Vladimir Soloviev), and Acmeism («gnostic» poetry of Mikhail Kuzmin) is revealed. The Gnostic line in the works of other authors (Belenson, Kuzmin, Hollerbach, Rozanov) of the almanac helps to decipher the idea of «Sophia...» as the wandering of the soul in the aspect of eros mysticism. The latter theme is the leading one in «Noctes Petropolitanae» (1922), where in the image of Adam Kadmon Karsavin proposes the idea of the all-unified man as a symphony. The Sophia myth is continued in On Beginnings (1925). As a result, the structure of the text of «Sophia...» reveals an ensemble of authors, immanent and external to Karsavin's authorial self. All of them are connected in the multitudinous subject-author. Another meta-theme of the almanac is the Word: its creative power (Fyodor Sologub) and its mute impotence (Artur Lurie). In «Sophia...», in the idea of the Word as the Fullness of being and non-being, a synthesis is realised. For the authorial utterance Karsavin turns to the not-word, constructing from it his own-other multi-subjective self. The text of «Sophia...» is thus a laboratory of the author's multi-subject self, where the model of the symphonic personality is experimentally assembled and tested as the leading concept of Karsavin's subsequent doctrine of personality, in his ontology («On the Beginnings») and philosophy of history.

어떤 자유?

The aim of this work is to shed light on the ideal of “another freedom” expressed by Pushkin in the poem “From Pindemonte” in the context of modern concepts of freedom. It specifically intends to argue against the view of A. Etkind, who understands “another freedom” as equivalent to Isaiah Berlin's “negative freedom.” Whether Etkind's view is valid is examined in the context of the debate over Berlin's theory of freedom in modern political philosophy. Pushkin, who belongs to liberals, shares with Berlin the position of anti-rationalism and anti-utopianism. Modern republican critique of Berlin's liberal view of freedom can also be applied to Pushkin's political ideal of “enlightened despotism” in his later years. As such, there are several valid reasons to regard Pushkin's “another freedom” as the same paradigm as Berlin's “negative freedom.” However, Pushkin's position is different from Berlin's value pluralism. Pushkin's “another freedom” is not limited to “negative freedom.” In Pushkin's poem, both ‘autonomy’ and ‘authenticity’ of “positive freedom” are embodied. In a strict sense, Pushkin's “another freedom” differs from Western liberals' understanding of freedom. “Another freedom” that Pushkin wants is ‘anarchist individualism’ in its essence. The fundamentally different attributes of Pushkin's “another freedom” and Berlin's “negative freedom” in pursuit of the universal ideal of freedom of private life raise the issue of cultural differences in understanding the concept of freedom, which will be discussed in another study.

ՀՈՎՀԱՆՆԵՍ ԹՈՒՄԱՆՅԱՆԻ ԹԱՐԳՄԱՆՉԱԿԱՆ ԱՐՎԵՍՏԸ / Translation art of Hovhannes Tumanyan

The article discusses one of the important aspects of the work of the great Armenian writer Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869–1923). He was a lot of and seriously engaged in the translation of both poetic and prose works. The pinnacle of his translation skills is considered to be the translation into Armenian of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin's poem «Winter Evening». This article compares texts in two languages in order to determine the degree of identity of both their pragmatic meaning and linguistic means of expression. Hovhannes Tumanyan also paid close attention to the methodological issues of translation activities. He succinctly formulated the essence of the philosophy of translation in three basic requirements: skillful selection of the original, excellent language, and impeccable edition. There are a few more rules: the translator must have a high sense of responsibility towards the author and his work; it should, as far as possible, remain true to the content and meaning of the original; it is desirable to provide the translation with explanatory notes; it is unacceptable to "bribe" the reader in advance with references to translation difficulties; a good translation needs serious criticism. Hovhannes Tumanyan highly appreciated the role of successful translations in the intercultural communication of peoples, in particular, he noted that if there are a sufficient number of translations from other languages into Armenian, then there are very few reverse translations, meanwhile it is extremely important for other peoples to be able to compile the correct idea about us.

"Eugene Onegin": three ways of reading and understanding ‒ from science, personality psychology, philosophy of art

The article analyzes Pushkin's poem "Eugene Onegin" and two opposite interpretations of it, by Alexander Minkin and critic Vladimir Kozarovetsky. The author partially agrees with the interpretation of the poem proposed by Minkin, objects to Kozarovetsky, but mainly interprets "Eugene Onegin" on the basis of his concept of art and the methodology proposed by him for analyzing works of art. The views on the poem of Minkin and Kozarovetsky are compared: the first believes that the poem describes the moral evolution of the personality of Alexander Sergeevich, and the second that we have a brilliant hoax started by Pushkin to shock readers. The author offers his own reading of Pushkin's poem, in which much is based on the analysis of artistic reality. He shows that the narration in "Eugene Onegin" is conducted from four persons (Pushkin himself, Onegin, Tatiana and the rest of the characters), and the narrators convey their ideas and contents to each other. Although formally Onegin says very little, Pushkin speaks for him a lot and intelligently; although Pushkin is not Onegin, but Onegin's fate threatens Pushkin as well. The narrator in the poem "Eugene Onegin" resembles Proteus: sometimes he speaks for himself, following his character and nature, then on behalf of other narrators, hiding behind their looks and speeches. The reader needs to understand this poetic masquerade: to separate the author from the heroes, to understand where the author is, and where he is the hero and narrator, where the heroes speak for themselves, and where on behalf of Pushkin? Having built such an artistic reality, forcing the reader to work, solving the author's constructions, reflecting on his life, Pushkin acted as a real innovator of art.

Между литературным сообществом и индивидуальным жизнетворчеством: Пушкин и Вольное общество любителей российской словесности

Abstract: The article reviews the history of Pushkin's participation in the activities of the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, one of the most significant literary and social institutions of the 1810s and the first half of the 1820s. The author reconstructs in detail the cases when Pushkin's texts were presented at the meetings of the Free Society in 1819–23 using the materials of the Society's archive, including unpublished documents. She also introduces previously unknown information about the presentation of the Lycée cycle of "Tableaux"—"The Faun and the Shepherdess" ("Favn i Pastushka") in 1820 and identifies which of Pushkin's poems was read at the Free Society's May 1823 public meeting under the title "Farewell" ("Proshchanie"). This newly discovered information allows us to revisit the question of why, despite his participation in the Society, Pushkin was never inducted as a member. The answer offered here proceeds from analysis of both Pushkin's literary strategy 1819–25 and the Free Society's institutional principles: the poet did not fit into the organizational structure of the Free Society, and his literary strategy at the time eschewed legitimization from any literary society, salon or circle.

РОМАН В СТИХАХ «ЕВГЕНИЙ ОНЕГИН» А. С. ПУШКИНА: ПУТЬ НА ОПЕРНУЮ СЦЕНУ

The article traces the theatrical life of A. S. Pushkin's dramatic and poetic works. It is known that the poet did not prevent theatrical productions of his works, as evidenced by a lifetime staging of the poem "Gypsies", the permission for which he himself gave. It is noted that Pushkin did not want to become an opera librettist, realizing that in this case he would be assigned a secondary role. An exception is his unfinished drama "The Mermaid", the text of which, according to researchers, is nothing more than a full-fledged libretto written for an unknown composer. The work emphasizes that Pushkin's poems and stories attracted special attention of theater directors. Some of the poet's works were staged in the genres of ballet, drama and even melodrama during his lifetime. A novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" was adapted for the stage as a dramatic performance by Prince G. V. Kugushev in 1846. Kugushev's play was written in the Onegin stanza and many verses from Pushkin's novel were preserved. Based on a number of studies, the paper suggests that Kugushev's play could have been the starting point for the libretto of the opera "Eugene Onegin", since the dramatic scheme of the opera by P. I. Tchaikovsky largely coincides with the plan of his play.

«Сводня грустно за столом»: K истории и интерпретации

Abstract: This article examines the literary and practical context of Pushkin's poem "Svodnia grustno za stolom…" in an attempt to elucidate what caused Pushkin to put aside his labors on important works like Eugene Onegin and The Blackamoor of Peter the Great for the sake of a facetious, obscene poem clearly never intended for publication, and to explain what made him conceal this poem from everyone he knew. This parodic ballad is analyzed in the context of the literary society Arzamas and its informal mode of communication, the influence of Pushkin's uncle Vasilii L´vovich and his poem "Opasnyi sosed," and as of a piece with Pushkin's juvenile parodies of Zhukovskii. The author situates "Svodnia…" in a broader picture of Pushkin's everyday life and his social circle after his return from exile in Mikhailovskoe, as well as a change in Pushkin's attitude towards parodies targeting Zhukovskii which came about in the mid-1820s in the context of literary battles and polemics in the journals. Along the way, this article dispels a conspiracy-minded interpretation of the poem that connects it to the executions of the Decembrists and reads the deadbeat "guests" in the poem as the executioners carousing after carrying out the sentences.

Niero, A. (2019). Tradurre poesia russa. Analisi e autoanalisi. Macerata: Quodlibet. (In Italian)

The review offers an in-depth look at the new monograph by the renowned Slavicist and translator Alessandro Niero, describing its structure, the historical principle of organizing the material, and the combination of theory and detailed examples from translation practice. In his attempt to create a history of translations of Russian poetry in Italy, Niero begins by examining translations of A. Pushkin's poem Eugene Onegin and concludes with examples from translations of D. Prigov's poetry. At the same time, the monograph dwells on talented translators of Russian poetry, such as Ettore Lo Gatto, Renato Poggioli, Angelo Maria Ripellino, and Giovanni Buttafava, and provides a summary of the modern state of translation and perception of Russian poetry in Italy. The monograph will be particularly interesting to specialists in translation, scholars of poetry, historians of Russian poetry and its reception abroad.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF MYKOLA SUMTZOV IN THE STUDY OF ALEXANDR PUSHKIN LEGACY (BASED ON KHARKIV MATERIALS)

The article is devoted to the one of the most outstanding scientists of Kharkiv University of the late 19th – early 20th centuries – professor of The History and Philology Faculty of Kharkiv University Mykola Sumtzov. The authors paid attention to the contribution of Mykola Sumtzov in the study of Alexandr Pushkin poetry and his activities to memorialize of poet’s personality in the city of Kharkiv. Mykola Sumtzov’s study of the most famous poetry of Pushkin are analyzed in the article. Sumtzov reviewed and analyzed Pushkin poems in detail, searched for analogues and parallels with the works of other authors. He took interest in creative conditions of the poet, in his special style and in his rich spirituality. Mykola Sumtzov as the most devoted admirer made great efforts to commemorate Alexander Pushkin in Kharkiv. He understood an outstanding importance of Pushkin’s poetry in the development of culture. Sumtzov wrote that in the conditions of early 20th century Russian Empire reality only free culture would promote the development of flourishing Ukrainian culture.

ПРОЯВЛЕНИЕ ЯЗЫКОВОЙ ЛИЧНОСТИ ПЕРЕВОДЧИКА ПРИ ПЕРЕДАЧЕ ОЦЕНОЧНЫХ ЗНАЧЕНИЙ

The paper focuses on translator's linguistic identity and the way it is revealed in translating evaluative language means. The study is based on the translations of Alexander Pushkin's poems by Julian Henry Lowenfeld. The research has revealed that the translations by J.H. Lowenfeld are metonymic by nature

Peculiarities of the functional state of the brain upon reading and listening to chapters and verses of the holy Quran

Throughout years of studying the Quran by the method of interpretation, the scientists managed to succeed in disclosing its meanings. Hence, huge interest has arisen nowadays towards researching the “wavelength” component of this holy book. This topic had been investigated in the past. However, it has never been conducted in a student environment and it is therefore interesting to carry out this study for the first time among students. The research work was based on recording alpha-rhythm waves using the electroencephalograph and recording a number of functional tests: Background recording, reading of A. S. Pushkin's poem (I loved you), recitation of the first Chapter (Surah) of the Quran (Al-Fatiha) and (Al-Kursi verse), and listening to the verses. 1. Recording the EEG on a 21-channel computerised electroencephalograph. 2. Dermatoglyphic study. 3. Statistic analysis. The study which was conducted on subjects reading and listening to the Quran with their eyes closed, has revealed an increase of the bioelectric activity in the alpha range in the occipital lobe of both hemispheres. Taking into consideration the nature of generation and the neurophysiological mechanisms of spread of the alpha-wave oscillations in the human at the state of relative relaxation, it is possible to propose the fact that reciting and listening to the Surahs and verses of the Quran contribute to the optimisation of the central nervous system status, as well as the provision of a relaxing impact.

Пророческая тема в стихотворении А. С. Пушкина «Пророк»: диалог с традицией и эпохой

Пророческая тема в стихотворении А. С. Пушкина «Пророк»: диалог с традицией и эпохой

From the New Word to the True Word: The Bronze Horseman Subtext of Crime and Punishment

It has become obligatory in Crime and Punishment scholarship to define Raskolnikov's “schism” (raskol), which readers generally attribute to the conflict between intellect/spirit or selfishness/suffering. Many read Part One of the novel as a chart of the hero's divided psyche; indeed, the schizoid path he cuts through Petersburg reads like a roadmap of the battle between rationality and compassion. A reading informed by the novel's position in the Petersburg literary tradition does not invalidate this interpretation, but rather helps to contextualize it: as this paper demonstrates, the schism's roots are actually textual ones, extending back to the iconic roles established by Pushkin in The Bronze Horseman, the tradition's foundational text. In Pushkin's poem, the world‐building words of Peter the Great (“From here we will threaten the Swede, / Here a city will be founded”) instantly take shape in cast‐iron and granite, while those of the poor clerk Evgenii (“Somehow I will build for myself / A humble and simple refuge”) remain forever unrealized. In contrast to Evgenii, the archetypal “inarticulate” little man of the Petersburg tradition, Raskolnikov strives to fully control language: he has actually taken up the pen, written what he terms a “new word” (novoe slovo) and then taken steps (730 of them, to be exact) to actualize that word through the murder of the pawnbroker, a crime explicitly likened to Peter's own “crime” of hacking a window through to the West. The zigzag course that Raskolnikov carves as he alternately steps toward and recoils from the idea of murder may be profitably interpreted in light of this primal split between Peter, controller of word and nature, and Evgenii, voiceless victim of the State. An analysis of Raskolnikov's impressions of and engagement with Peter's city in the moments immediately before the murder and in the days just following it highlights this struggle between the hero's two sides.

“The poor knight lived in the world ...” A. Pushkin in the life-creation and philosophy of love of D. Merezhkovsky

The article is devoted to the consideration of the reception of the A. Pushkin's poem “The poor knight lived in the world ...” in the D. Merezhkovsky’s life-creation and religious-philosophical concept of love. The image of the “poor knight” has become an integral part of the literary life of the writers in the symbolist circle, as evidenced by the studies of A. Lavrov, O. Matich, L. Sproge, M. Tsimborskaya-Leboda and others. He owes his popularity by F. Dostoevsky’s novel “Idiot”, where he acts as a kind of projection of the image of Prince Myshkin, as indicated by Merezhkovsky. With the image of the “poor knight” he associates all “chaste” literary heroes (Hippolytus, Myshkin) and writers (Chaadaev, Lermontov (in a certain period)), who have a platonic feeling for a secret lover. Merezhkovsky does not differentiate the editions of Pushkin’s poem (“Legend” and “Franz's Song” from “Scenes from Knightly Times”), since he is a man of ideas, in the framework of which the “poor knight” becomes the basis of his idealistic concept of platonic love, the bearer of pure feelings, and symbol of the ideal sweetheart, he defines A.M.D. As a result of the study, we determined that the unconventional interpretation of the abbreviation as Alma Mater Dei dates back to Merezhkovsky to the early medieval Catholic name of Our Lady, which converted to Christianity from Roman paganism, where it denoted mother goddesses. This fact in many respects determined the appearance of his neo-Christian concept of the sanctified Mother-Spirit flesh in the “Kingdom of the Third Testament”. The writer's frequent appeal at different periods of his work to the “The poor knight lived in the world ...” Pushkin, its original interpretation and commentary, as well as life practice, allowed us to define the image of the “poor knight” as a psycho-typological model of Merezhkovsky’s “life scenario”. The subject of further research will be the reception of Pushkin’s poem in the work of Z. Gippius, who also at different times refers to the image of the “poor knight” and acts as a co-author of her husband’s idea, but implements them in her own individual way.

The Prophet

In 2009, artist Enrique Martínez Celaya sounded a clarion call to artists in the lecture “The Prophet” to make work that aspires to more than entertainment, decoration, or activism. Years later, the situation is just as urgent and his argument just as timely. “What the age needs,” Martínez Celaya argues, “is a prophet” who is responsible to the world, who searches for what he calls “a whisper of the order of things,” who affirms the complexity and mystery of life and searches for understanding, clarity, even truth, which Martínez Celaya believes is the distinctive role and responsibility of art. Drawing on Pushkin's poem “The Prophet” (1826) and Kahil Gibran's book The Prophet (1923), Martínez Celaya explains that the prophet is no martyr or mystic who seeks transcendence from this world, a hero who triumphs over the world, or a saint who inspires through certainty, but one who turns humbly and curiously toward the world. For him, the artist-prophet's work is a search for “a whisper of the order of things” that lies just below the surface of appearances. Although his artist-prophet might be unattainable, Martínez Celaya offers an inspiring and hopeful declaration of faith in the practice of art through clarity of purpose, character, urgency, and desperation in an otherwise cynical and superficial culture.

Поэма «Медный всадник» А.С. Пушкина: политико-философские проекции

Поэма «Медный всадник» А.С. Пушкина: политико-философские проекции

On Laughter and Dreaming in Pushkin

This article argues that the dreams depicted in Alexander Pushkin's poems, plays, and stories often concern the nature of social relations, and the dynamics of social power and social impotence. It argues that moments of scornful dream-laughter and merriment are central to Pushkin's negotiation of intersubjectivity: in the moment of being laughed at, the dreamer is made aware of how powerfully he or she has internalized the opinions and attitudes of others. This article argues that Pushkin's dreams follow a distinctive schema, in which laughter engenders a simultaneous alienation and envelopment in a dream, and that this in turn causes a state that resembles what sociologists call social death. This article treats dreams throughout Pushkin's corpus, and relies on Bakhtin, Max Scheler, Orlando Patterson, and Plato to offer a theoretical model for the perils and powers of social life depicted in Pushkin's work.

Bloody Verses: Rereading Pushkin’s Prisoner of the Caucasus

Pushkin's 1822 narrative poem, Prisoner of the Caucasus (Kavkazskii plennik), is frequently pointed as Russia's first literary introduction the Caucasus and its peoples. Belinsky praised it both for its accurate representation of the region and for the beauty of its verses. (1) One section of the poem, the so-called ethnographic section in which the Circassian customs and way of life are described in some detail, was reprinted six times in Pushkin's life alone. (2) Yet, for all of its popularity, critics and readers alike have continued struggle with the poem's epilogue and its relation the first two parts of the story. This epilogue, written approximately three months after Pushkin finished the first two parts of the poem, differs both stylistically and thematically from the remainder of the work. Resembling first the elegy, then the epic narrative, and finally the ceremonial ode, as Harsha Ram points out, the form of the epilogue is as discordant as its apparent new message: the celebration of imperial might and the outright conquest of the Caucasus. (3) And, in fact, the epilogue does express a clearer political message than the remainder of the poem by celebrating the destruction of the Caucasian tribes and the expansion of the Russian Empire: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (4) And I will celebrate that glorious hour, When, having felt the bloody attack, Upon the indignant Caucasus Our double-headed eagle raised itself [...] You I glorify, hero, O Kotliarevskii, the scourge of the Caucasus! Wherever you rushed, a terror-- Your speed, like a black plague, Destroyed, annihilated tribes. [...] And the violent cry of war fell silent: All is subject the Russian sword. Proud sons of the Caucasus, You have fought, you have perished terribly. (5) In this article I will offer a new interpretation of Pushkin's epilogue and its relationship the remainder of the poem. Pushkin succeeds in problematizing Russian imperial expansion precisely through the addition of such a nationalistic ending what at first appears be a Romantic work about an exotic people. In the first two parts of the poem, Pushkin plays on his readers' expectations, largely based on European literature, in particular Byron, as well as on their own unspoken, sometimes unconscious, desires experience vicariously the danger and excitement of the still mythical Caucasus. (6) He then describes the bloody consequences of this fascination with the region and its peoples: total conquest by Russia and the destruction of Caucasian society. Pushkin's poem reveals the double-edged sword of imperialistic expansionism: on the one hand, there is an idealization of the Other and its way of life, while on the other, contact between the empire and the Other leads the destruction of that way of life. From this conclusion, I will then reread Pushkin's poem with this end in mind and show how the body of the work leads more organically the epilogue than it first appears. Reaction the Epilogue Upon publication, Pushkin's epilogue inspired little no commentary. In fact, in the majority of reviews of the poem, literary critics simply chose not address it. (7) Susan Layton suggests that critics were unwilling speak out against the epilogue due the political climate of the time. (8) In private, though, the epilogue caused some degree of discomfort for at least one of Pushkin's contemporaries, Prince Viazemsky. It grieves me, that Pushkin stained with blood the last verses of his tale, he writes Alexander Turgenev in a letter from September 1822. kind of hero is Kotliarevsky, Yermolov? What here is good, that he, 'like a black plague, / Destroyed, annihilated tribes?' From such praise, one's blood freezes and one's hair stands on end. (9) He goes on complain that it was impossible even to allude (nameknut ) his displeasure with the epilogue in his review of the poem due the censor. …

Mikhail Gronas Cognitive Poetics and Cultural Memory: Russian Literary MnemonicsCognitive Poetics and Cultural Memory: Russian Literary Mnemonics. Mikhail Gronas. New York: Routledge, 2011. Pp. xiii+174.

<i>Mikhail Gronas</i> Cognitive Poetics and Cultural Memory: Russian Literary Mnemonics<i>Cognitive Poetics and Cultural Memory: Russian Literary Mnemonics</i>. Mikhail Gronas. New York: Routledge, 2011. Pp. xiii+174.

Analysis on Three Versions of If by Life You Were Deceived from Perspective of Stylistics

A. C. Pushkin's poem ЕСЛИ ЖИЗНЬ ТЕБЯ ОБМАНЕТ was translated into many languages for the time being, and is famous all over the world. In this article, three versions (Russian, English and Chinese) of the poem are analyzed from the perspective of stylistics, including the lexical categories, the rhythm, the rhyme, and the sentence pattern. The purpose is to help understand the language differences of this poem in Russian, English and Chinese more clearly, and to compare the two translation versions with the original, and it is an attempt to apply stylistics into the research of literature and translation as well.