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Title of the article: |
STRATEGIES FOR PERCEIVING A POEM BY JOSEPH BRODSKY “STANZAS” |
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Author(s): |
Bogdanova, O.V., Vlasova, E.A. |
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Information about the author/authors |
Olga V. Bogdanova — DSc in Philology, Professor, A.I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, Moika River Emb. 48, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia; Russian Christian Academy for Humanities, Fontanka River Emb. 15, 191023 St. Petersburg, Russia. |
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Section |
Philological sciences |
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Year |
2024 |
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Volume |
Vol. 72 |
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Pages |
pp. 177–187 |
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Received |
August 7, 2023 |
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Approved after reviewing |
February 21, 2024 |
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Date of publication |
June 25, 2024 |
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DOI: |
https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2024-72-177-187 |
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Index UDK |
821.161.1 |
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Index BBK |
83.3 (2Рос = Рус) |
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The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation no. 23-18-01007, Available at: https://rscf.ru/en/project/23-18-01007/; Russian Christian Academy for Humanities. |
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Abstract |
The paper offers an analysis of the famous poem by Joseph Brodsky “Stanzas (‘I don’t want to choose a country or a churchyard...’)”, which is very popular among fans of the Nobel Laureate’s work (1987), but very rarely turns out to be the subject of literary reflection, predominant interpretation of which is inclusion in general reviews. The study shows that the text of “Stanzas” generates controversy and that the practice of its perception is dual. Some researchers (e. g., A. Izmailov) refer the poem to love lyrics — on the grounds that it initially represents a text “in an album” and includes a dedication to the author’s girl-friends (E.V., A.D.). Other researchers (including the authors of this article) analyze the mechanism of the love text growing into a meditative, philosophical one and identify artistic strategies that allow moving to a different (not intimate) level of perception of Brodsky’s “Stanzas”. The authors show that the metaphysics of the space modeled by Brodsky overcomes the scale of the real geographical coordinates of the strict streets-lines of Vasilyevsky Island of Leningrad, but reveals the multidimensionality of the philosophical vector-gaze of the lyrical hero of “Stanzas”. The sphere of the lyrical character’s presence is not Vasilyevsky Island, but the mystical and mythological boundless Universe. The contrast of universality and particularity, boundlessness and concreteness, demonstrated by Brodsky, introduces tension and drama into the narrative, marks the acuteness of the internal conflict of the poetic plot, allowing to overcome the author’s public “dislike” for one of his most intimate poems. |
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Keywords |
I. Brodsky, “Stanzas” (1962), Love and Meditative Lyrics, Factual and Mythology, “Petersburg Text”. |
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Reference |
References 1 Bogdanova, O.V. “Peterburgskii podtekst” Iosifa Brodskogo [“Petersburg Subtext” by Joseph Brodsky]. St. Petersburg, Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University Publ., 2012. Vol. 56. 26 p. Series: “Literaturnye napravleniia i techeniia” [“Literary trends”]. (In Russ.) 2 Bogdanova, O.V. “Peterburg i Venetsiia v poeticheskom tekste Iosifa Brodskogo” [“St. Petersburg and Venice in the Poetic Text of Joseph Brodsky”]. Gorodskoi tekst v angliiskoi i drugikh evropeiskikh literaturakh: sbornik stateti po materialam Mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii rossiiskoi assotsiatsii prepodavatelei angliiskoi literatury [Urban Text in English and other European Literatures: Collection of Proceedings by International Conference of the Russian Association of Teachers of English Literature]. Nizhniy Novgorod, Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University Publ., 2019, pp. 152–157. (In Russ.) 3 Volchina, A.S. “Peterburg / Leningrad: ‘svoe’ i ‘chuzhoe’ v angloiazychnom tvorchestve poeta” [“Petersburg / Leningrad: ‘Your Own’ and ‘Someone Else’s’ in the English-language Work of the Poet”]. Iosif Brodskii: problemy poetiki: sbornik nauchnykh trudov i materialov [Joseph Brodsky: Issues of Poetics: a Collection of Scientific Papers and Materials], ed. by A.G. Stepanov, I.V. Fomenko, S.Iu. Artemova. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2012, pp. 256–259. (In Russ.) 4 Gordin, Ia. Rytsar’ i smert’, ili Zhizn’ kak zamysel. O sud’be Iosifa Brodskogo [The Knight and Death, or Life as a Plan. About the Fate of Joseph Brodsky]. 2nd ed., corr. Moscow, Vremia Publ., 2010. 256 p. (In Russ.) 5 Izmailov, A. “‘Ia syn fotografa…’ — pisal Iosif Brodskii” [“‘I am the Son of a Photographer...’ — Wrote Joseph Brodsky”]. Neva, no. 5, 2010, pp. 224–232 Available at: https://dlib.eastview.com/browse/doc/22003260 (Accessed 1 August 2023). (In Russ.) 6 Losev, L. “Iunosheskie stikhi Brodskogo” [“Brodsky’s Youthful Poems”]. Losev, L. Iosif Brodskii. Opyt literaturnoi biografii [Joseph Brodsky. The Experience of Literary Biography]. 3nd ed., corr. Moscow, Molodaia gvardiia Publ., 2008. 447 p. (In Russ.) 7 Ranchin, A. “Etiud o dvukh gorodakh: Peterburg i Venetsiia v poezii Iosifa Brodskogo” [“A Study about Two Cities: St. Petersburg and Venice in the Poetry of Joseph Brodsky”]. Novyi mir, no 5, 2016, pp. 150–168. (In Russ.) 8 Toporov, V.N. Peterburgskii tekst russkoi literatury: izbrannye trudy [The Petersburg Text of Russian Literature: Selected Works]. St. Petersburg: Iskusstvo-SPB Publ., 2003. 614 p. (In Russ.) |
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