GEORGY SHENGELI: CULTURAL ISOLATION AS A POETIC STRATEGY
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2022-6-145-155
Introduction. This article examines cultural isolation as a form of poetic behavior by Georgy Shengeli, one of the representatives of “Moscow Acmeism” of the first half of the 20th century, consciously chosen by the poet as a reaction to the ideological pressure of the Soviet state in the field of literary policy. The purpose is to trace the formation of this author’s strategy, its causes and reflection in the poet’s lyrics. Material and methods. The methodology of research assumes a literary interpretation of lyrical texts based on the aesthetics and poetics of Acmeism, using the method of intertextual analysis and comparative method of analysis of the poetic text, involving historical commentary. Results and discussion. Georgy Shengeli’s lyrics have rarely attracted the attention of literary critics for the analysis of their poetics; our study is designed to consider the influence of Acmeism on the poetic fabric of texts from different periods of the author’s work, to discover the similarity of the aesthetic and outlook of the poet to the emigrant lyrics, the main theme of which was nostalgia, caused by the forced cultural isolation. Conclusion. Georgy Shengeli’s lyrics fully reflect the strategy of cultural isolation chosen by the poet as the only possible option for creative existence at a time of active promotion of official Soviet art. The poet regarded his “departure” into the world of Culture as a mission for its preservation, voluntarily undertaken as an heir to the Silver Age of Russian poetry. Shengeli, who knew the first generation of great names of the early 20th century, considered as his duty to continue his work as a younger and one of the last in the cohort of poets who did not leave their homeland in the throes of its tragic trials. His experience of forced “retreat into the literary underground” was akin to the emigrant experience of refugee poets resulting from the separation from their native cultural soil. The obvious affinity is largely explained by the commonality of the “cultural womb” of Acmeism, which nurtured Shengeli and his fellow emigrants. The idea of preserving the traditions of Russian literature in the Word unites the poets who live on different sides of the border, and once again proves the vagueness of these borders for a united great Russian culture.
Keywords: Georgy Shengeli, “Moscow acmeism”, cultural isolation, acmeist traditions, “internal emigration”
References:
1. Krivtszova A., Lann E. O Shengeli. Publikatsiya, vstupitel’naya zametka i primechaniya P. Nerlera [About Shengeli. Publication, introductory note and footnote by P. Nerler]. Voprosy literatury, 1987, no. 6, pр. 278–280 (in Russian).
2. Ocherki belogvardeyskogo tyla. Glavy iz romana-khroniki G. A. Shengeli “Chyornyy pogon” (Publikatsiya A. V. Man’kovskogo) [Sketches of the White Guard Home Front. Chapters from the novel-chronicle G. A. Shengeli “Black epaulet”]. . Vstrechi s proshlym: Sbornik materialov CzGALI SSSR [Encounters with the past: a collection of materials from the Central State Archive for Literature of the USSR]. Vol. 7. Moscow, Sovetskaya Rossiya Publ., 1990. Рр. 122–156 (in Russian).
3. Gasparov M. Georgiy Shengeli, uchenyy poet [Georgy Shengeli, scholarly poet]. Arion, 1997, no. 4, pp. 32–36 (in Russian).
4. Shengeli G. Inokhodets: sbornik stikhov. Povar bazilevsa: Vizantiyskaya povest’. Literaturnyye stat’i. Vospominaniya [The Pacer: A Collection of Poems. The Cook of Basileus: A Byzantine Narrative. Literary Articles. Memories]. Moscow, Sovpadeniye Publ., 1997. 542 р. (in Russian).
5. Perel’muter V. Zhivushchiy na mayake: nad arkhivom Georgiya Shengeli [Lighthouse dweller: Above the Georgi Shengeli Archive]. Voprosy literatury, 1990, no. 6, pр. 57–85 (in Russian).
6. Shengeli G. A. Stikhotvoreniya i poemy: v 2 t. [Shengeli G. A. Stikhotvoreniya i poemy [Rhymes and poems]. In 2 volumes. V. A. Rezvyi (ed. and comm.), V. E. Molodyakova (bio sketch).]. Moscow, 2017 (in Russian).
7. Postoutenko K. Yu. 75 let knige (Georgiy Shengeli. “Gong”. 1916–1991) [5 years of the book (Georgy Shengeli. “Gong”. 1916–1991)]. In: Pamyatnyye knizhnyye daty [Book anniversaries]. Moscow, 1991. Рр. 174–177 (in Russian).
8. Postoutenko K. Yu. Mayakovskiy i Shengeli (k istorii polemiki) [Mayakovskiy and Shengeli: (To the History of the Polemics)]. Izvestiya Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. Seriya literatury i yazyka – News of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Literature and Language Series, 1991, vol. 50, no. 6, pр. 231–240 (in Russian).
9. Postoutenko K. Yu. G. A. Shengeli o semantike metra (K itogam russkoy normativnoy poetiki) [G. A. Shengeli about the semantics of meter (To the results of Russian normative poetics)]. In: Kul’tura russkogo modernizma [Readings in Russian Modernism]. UCLA Slavic Studies. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1993. Рр. 280–290 (in Russian).
10. Postoutenko K. Yu. Anna Akhmatova i Georgiy Shengeli: k istorii vzaimootnosheniy [Anna Akhmatova and Georgy Shengeli: Toward a History of Relationship]. In: Poeziya i zhivopis’. Sbornik trudov pamyati N. I. Khardzhiyeva [Poetry and painting. Collection of works in memory of N. I. Khardzhiev]. Moscow, 2000. Рр. 727–735 (in Russian).
11. Molodyakov V. E. Georgiy Shengeli. Biografiya [Georgy Shengeli. Biography]. Moscow, Vodoley Publ., 2016. 616 р. (in Russian).
12. Zholkovskiy A. “Krepkaya voda” – krepkiy oreshek. O tonkostyakh perevoda [“Hard water” is a hard nut to crack. On the nuances of translation]. Stengazeta [Placard newspaper]. 1 marta 2007 (in Russian). URL: https://stengazeta.net/?p=10002931. (accessed 1 August 2022).
13. Zhukovskaya T.N. Georgiy Shengeli: poet, teoretik stikha i perevodchik [Georgy Shengeli: poet, poetry theorist, and translator]. Krymskiy arkhiv, 2015, no. 3 (18), pр. 73–87 (in Russian).
14. Rezvyy V.A. “Fal’sifikatsiya Shekspira”: neizdannaya stat’ya Georgiya Shengeli o perevodakh Borisa Pasternaka [“The Falsification of Shakespeare”: Georgy Shengeli’s unpublished article about Boris Pasternak’s translations]. Studia Litterarum, 2017, vol. 2, no 3, pр. 300–333 (in Russian).
15. Egorova L.V. Lord Bayron v perevodakh Georgiya Shengeli [Lord Byron in translations by Georgy Shengeli]. Voprosy literatury, 2019, no. 4, pр. 284–289 (in Russian).
16. Zhatkin D. N. G. A. Shengeli i E. L. Linetskaya: neizvestnyye materialy k istorii pervykh sovetskikh izdaniy V. Gyugo i E. Verkharna pervoy poloviny 1950-kh gg. [G. A. Shengeli and E. L. Linetskaya: Unknown Materials for the History of the First Soviet Editions of V. Hugo and E. Verhaeren of the first half of the 1950s.]. Khudozhestvennyy perevod i sravnitel’noye literaturovedeniye. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov. Otv. redaktor D. N. Zhatkin [Literary Translation and Comparative Literature. Collection of scientific works]. Moscow, 2020. Рр. 62–75 (in Russian).
17. Stankevich A. I. Pushkiniana Shengeli [Shengeli’s Pushkiniana]. Paradigma: filosofsko-kul’turologicheskiy al’manakh [Paradigm: A Philosophical and Culturological Almanac]. Daugavpils, University of Daugavpils Publ., 2012, no. 20, pр. 33–43 (in Russian).
18. Vasil’yev N. L., Zhatkin D. N. Konkordans k poezii A. S. Pushkina, podgotovlennyy v 1930-kh gg. G. A. Shengeli [Concordance to the poetry of Alexander Pushkin, prepared in the 1930s by G. A. Shengeli]. Izvestiya Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. Seriya literatury i yazyka – News of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Literature and Language Series, 2019, vol. 78, no. 3, pр. 39–51 (in Russian).
19. Vasil’yev N. L., Zhatkin D. N. “Pushkinskiy slovar’” G. A. Shengeli: neizdannaya stat’ya avtora konkordansa k stikham A. S. Pushkina [“Pushkin’s Dictionary” by G. A. Shengeli: an unpublished article by the author of the concordance to the poems of Alexander Pushkin]. Literaturnyy fakt – Literary Fact, 2020, no. 1 (15), pр. 458–476 (in Russian).
20. Vasil’yev N. L., Zhatkin D. N. Iz istorii pushkinskoy leksikografii: neudavshayasya popytka G. A. Shengeli izdat’ “Pushkinskiy slovar’” [From the History of Pushkin’s Lexicography: G. A. Shengeli’s unsuccessful attempt to publish Pushkin’s Dictionary]. In: Boldinskiye chteniya 2020. Materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii [Boldin Readings 2020. Materials of the International Scientific Conference]. 2020. Рр. 205–221 (in Russian).
21. Gasparov M. L. Georgiy Shengeli: ot iskusstva k nauke [Georgy Shengeli: From Art to Science]. In: Izbrannyye trudy. Seriya: Yazyk. Semiotika. Kul’tura [Selected Works. Series: Language. Semiotics. Culture]. Moscow, 2012. Рр. 656–660 (in Russian).
22. Pavel’yeva Yu. “Kaznennyye molchaniyem”: poety ostavlennoy rodiny v otsenke poeta DP [“Executed by Silence”: Poets of the abandoned Homeland as Evaluated by the DP Poet]. In: Drugiye berega russkoy literatury i kul’tury: idei, poetika, konteksty [The other shores of Russian literature and culture: ideas, poetics, contexts: a collective monograph]. Vroczlav – Krakov, Skriptum Publ., 2021. Рр. 185–196 (in Russian).
23. Itkin I. B. Staryy doktor v obvetshaloy toge…”: ob odnom “neokonchennom’ stikhotvorenii Georgiya Shengeli [“An old doctor in a weathered toga...”: about one “unfinished” poem by Georgy Shengeli]. Rema – Rhema, 2018, no. 3, pр. 9–14 (in Russian).
24. Khadynskaya A. A. Ekfrasis v ranney lirike Georgiya Shengeli [Eсphrasis in Georgy Shengeli’s Early Lyrics]. Izvestiya Ural’skogo federal’nogo universiteta. Seriya 1: Problemy obrazovaniya, nauki i kul’tury – News of the Ural Federal University. Series 1: Problems of education, science, and culture, 2019, vol. 25, no. 1 (183), pр. 78–87 (in Russian).
( 737.75 kB ) 
( 722.14 kB )
Issue: 6, 2022
Series of issue: Issue 6
Rubric: LITERARY STUDIES
Pages: 145 — 155
Downloads: 419