TOPOS OF ITALY IN NICHOLAY OTSUP’S POEMS
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2017-11-218-225
N. Otsup, Russian poet of the first wave of emigration lived abroad for 34 years. He lived in France, but his heart belonged to Italy. His first poem, dedicated to Italy, appeared in the book “In the smoke” (1926). N. Otsup was hoping to see a country of great culture, but found the country of philistines. Gradually his negative impressions were replaced by descriptions of the aesthetic space of Italy, largely due to meeting with his future wife. In N. Otsup’s lyrics Italian motifs are closely intertwined with motives of love and faith, as the wife has brought him to God. The poem “Meeting” (1928) was dedicated to the enlightenment of the lyrical hero. Italy is a prideful country, where the life passes slowly, and therefore the enlightenment comes not very soon. Italy took important place in the last N. Otsup’s poem “Diary in verse”. The poet dedicate it to his wife, which he compares with Dante Beatrice. Otsup describes the usual life of Italians, the idyll of rural Italy and also wrote with sadness about fascism. The poet joined Italian Resistance and fought for the country as for his second homeland. During the WWII he experienced a spiritual crisis, but he overcame adversity and found his Paradise in the Holy land of Italy. Analysis of the image of Italy shows the hero’s journey from despair to the attainment of love and faith.
Keywords: Russian literature abroad, poetry of Nikolai Otsups, Italy
References:
1. Obrazy Italii v russkoy slovesnosti (po itogam Vtoroy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii Mezhdunarodnogo nauchnogo-issledovatel’skogo tsentra “Russia – Italia” – “Rossiya – Italiya”. Red. O. B. Lebedeva, T. I. Pecherskaya [Images of Italy in the Russian literature (following the results of the Second international scientifi c conference of the International scientifi c-research center “Russia – Italia” – “Rossiya – Italiya”. Ed. O. B. Lebedeva, T. I. Pecherskaya]. Tomsk – Novosibirsk, TSU Publ., 2011. 664 p. (in Russian).
2. Berdyaev N. Filosofi ya tvorchestva, kul’tury i iskusstva [Philosophy of creativity, culture and art]. V. 1. Moscow, Liga Puvl., 1994, pp. 367–371 (in Russian).
3. Russkiye v Italiiy [Russians in Italy] (in Russian). URL: http://www.russinitalia.it/index.php (accessed 30 July 2017).
4. Otsup N. A. Okean vremeni: Stikhotvoreniya; Dnevnik v stikhakh; Stat’i i vospominaniya [Ocean time: Poems; The Diary in verses; Articles and memoirs]. St. Petersburg, Logos Publ.; Dyusseldorf, Goluboy vsadnik Publ., 1993. 616 p. (in Russian).
5. Otsup N. A. V dymu [In a smoke]. Paris, Petropolis Publ., 1926 (in Russian).
6. Otsup R. Otsupy – moya sem’ya: ocherki o srednem pokolenii [The Otsups – my family: sketches about middle generation]. St. Petersburg, Lema Publ., 2016. 172 p. (in Russian).
7. Bergson A. Sobraniye sochineniy v 5 t. T. 3: Materiya i pamyat’ [Collected works in 5 t. T. 3: Matter and memory]. St. Petersburg, M. I. Semenov Publ., 1914 (in Russian).
8. Petrova N. G. O nekotorykh osobennostyakh zaglaviy poeticheskogo diskursa akmeistov [About some peculiarities in titles of acmeists’ poetic discourse]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta – TSPU Bulletin, 2012, no. 10 (125), pp. 180–183 (in Russian).
9. Otsup N. Nikolay Gumilev. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo [Nikolay Gumilev. Life and creativity]. St. Petersburg, Logos Publ., 1995. 200 p. (in Russian).
10. Smirnov D. A. Ital’yanskaya tema v poezii russkoy emigratsii v epokhu Vtoroy mirovoy voyny [Italian subject in the poetry of the Russian emigration during an era of World War II]. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy. Ural’skiy region – News of higher educational institutions. Ural region, 2014, no. 3, pp. 98–101 (in Russian).
11. Russkaya Italiya. Sayt istorika Mikhaila Talalaya [Russian Italy. Site of the historian Mikhail Talalaya] (in Russian). URL: http://www.italy-russia.com/2014_07/ocup-nikolaj-avdeevich (accessed: 10.01.17).
12. Perepiska Vyach. Ivanova i N. A. Otsupa [Correspondence of Vyach. Ivanov and N. A. Otsup] (in Russian). URL: http://az.lib.ru/i/iwanow_w_i/text_0300.shtml (accessed: 30.05.2017).
( 478.1 kB ) 
( 471.09 kB )
Issue: 11, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 11
Rubric: RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉ LITERATURE
Pages: 218 — 225
Downloads: 776