Unreliable Source
In her anthology
of Russian afterlife poetry, collected by
The publication of these posthumous poems, produced by the
so-called method of direct writing,
may be considered
as one of the utmost expressions of the notorious quasi-religious cult
of literature and literati that had emerged by the end of the
nineteenth century. It is evident that these texts do not provide us
with information on their departed authors, but rather on the
aesthetic and religious beliefs, aspirations, and fears of a certain
group of readers. In the words of Jurij Lotman, the deciphering of
such unreliable texts
might become an important
source of our knowledge
concerning Russian literary mythology
and cultural consciousness of the late nineteenth century.
Pu&shachek;kin's epistle from the beyond
belongs to
an array of the most informative works of the kind. In my paper, I
plan to demonstrate how some major tendencies of the
Pu&shachek;kin myth
are logically realized in this
bizarre poem. I presume that the appearance of the work is closely
linked to the family legend
about Pu&shachek;kin and
his death, created by some of the poet's relatives and friends
(&Zhachek;ukovskij, Pavli&shachek;&chachek;evs, Dal&soft;). The second
publication of the epistle
during the 1899 jubilee, in
turn, should be viewed in the context of the stormy polemics of the
late 1890s concerning the symbolic meaning of the poet's death
(Mere&zhachek;kovskij, Solov&soft;ev, Rozanov). The participants of
that dispute expanded on the famous question, formulated by
&Zhachek;ukovskij, a witness of Pu&shachek;kin's death, as early as
1837: &ellipsis; Oh, what could he tell me, if he could be
resurrected?!
Thus, the purpose of my paper is threefold: to show a) which motifs
and devices of Pu&shachek;kin's lyrics were used by the creator(s) of
the posthumous poem
; b) the links between the text and
the family legend
of Pu&shachek;kin's demise
(1837–1860s), and c) the meaning and role of the poem in the
pre-symbolist myth on Pu&shachek;kin (1880–1890s).