Time, Locus, and Lack of Freedom in Pu&shachek;kin's Southern Poems
Elena
Wilcox
The Romantics in their search for a national identity directed their
attention to the Orient. According to Edward Said
(Orientalism, 1978) the Romantics were influenced by the
idea of a regeneration of Europe by the Orient and by the conflicting
idea of the European mission to enlighten the Orient. In agreement
with Rousseau's ideas on the relationship of man and nature, the
Romantics defined the Orient as free from modern European social
conventions. This definition reflected the affinity of the Romantics
for the ideas of rebellion and freedom. Pu&shachek;kin's view on
oriental naivete and wildness
was different than
traditional views of the Romantics . Pu&shachek;kin in his Southern
Poems already reinterpreted the romantic notion of the Orient/South as
a locus of freedom and unrestrained passion, and concluded that ideal
freedom is unachievable.
My research is focused on: 1) Pu&shachek;kin's view on locus in
its relationship with time and with lack of freedom, and 2) the
poetic devices he employed to express his attitude toward the
Orient/South. Drawing a picture of the South, Pu&shachek;kin creates a
system of the confined spaces (in The Gypsies—a
tabor; in The Prisoner of Caucasus—a village,
surrounded by mountains and separated from the world by a river; in
The Fountain of Bax&chachek;isaraj—a harem, a
xan's palace, a fish pool, etc.) and expresses a strong sense of
containment. The South appears in these poems as a place where
creative and individual freedom is incarcerated. Incorporating Mixail
Baxtin's theory of chronotope
(Formy vremeni i
xronotopa v romane, Literaturno-kriti&chachek;eskie
stat&soft;i. 1986) I conclude that Pu&shachek;kin in his
Southern Poems enunciates the idea that a lack of freedom is a part of
life and it is everlasting. It is essential that Pu&shachek;kin's
Southern Poems are anti-chronotopean.
Time and locus
are in discord. I propose that the locus and space in the Southern
Poems became the exponents of Pu&shachek;kin's view on the Orient and
confinement. No matter what time or epoch, Pu&shachek;kin sees the
South as a dungeon. I believe that this point of view on
Pu&shachek;kin's Southern Poems allows better and deeper reading of
his poetry of that period, and it opens a new way to perceive his later
works.