Acmeism is one of the canonical poetic movements of Russian literature. That name, and whether it has any real meaning, continues to be debated, but the other name Adamism lost currency early on. I propose to revisit that name once again, and to discuss the meaning of Adamism for Acmeism, with particular but not exclusive focus on Gumilev's work, and his avowed interest in painting.
Adamism
is given two main meanings. One is related
to the famous formulation mu&zhachek;estvennyj vzgljad na
&zhachek;izn&soft;,
and evokes images of courage as well as a
certain odor of machismo. Indeed, courage informs much of
Acmeism—not to mention the poets' lives. My paper will briefly
discuss the varieties of courage in the poetic oeuvre of the
movement.
However, the bulk of my paper concerns another meaning evoked by
Adamism, one that I find crucial to Acmeism. I am interested in
vzgljad Adama,
not with Adam as first man/male, but
with Adam as first human. I will discuss how some Acmeists sought to
recapture in poetry what Adam saw on the day of
creation,
and their concomittant fascination with pre-history
and mythic primitive
worlds. This particular discussion
will bring me to compare their work to their contemporaries in the art
world, especially the Neo-Primitivists and three painters favored by
Gumilev: Gauguin, Rerix and Gon&chachek;arova.