Summer School on the Russian Literature. 2014.
Vol. 10. № 1

Alexey Balakin

Unwritten memoirs of A. F. Koni about Goncharov
Reconstruction attempt

The article introduces new facts about the relationship between I. A. Goncharov and the lawyer A. F. Koni. The author publishes Koni’s early plan of recollections about Goncharov and attempts to reconstruct this unembodied project basing on other texts (memoirs, correspondence, and recollections).

Keywords: I. A. Goncharov, A. F. Kony, memoires, re-construction.

Alexander Zholkovsky

The underside of „Bacchanalia“ („Nocturnal Flowers In the Morning Sleep…“)

The analysis of the poem concluding Boris Pasternak’s cycle „Bacchanalia“ („Nocturnal Flowers In the Morning Sleep…“) focuses on its distinct contrast with the previous fragments — in light of the traditional poetic motif of „nocturnal flowers“, the rhetoric of presenting image of „lack“ or „absence“, the central Pasternakovian invariants of „unity“ and „magnificence“, the formal and thematic interplay with the novel Doctor Zhivago and the poet’s biography.

Keywords: Pasternak, nocturnal flowers, absence, unity, magnificence, motif, invariant.

Alexander Kobrinsky

Vera Shvarsalon's letter to her brother Sergei about the preparations for the arrival of Vyach. Ivanov to Sudak in the summer of 1908

This article focuses on the circumstances of the Vyach. Ivanov trip in Crimea in summer 1908 First published letter Vera Shvarsalon to her brother Sergei.

Keywords: Vyach. Ivanov's, Crimea, Vera Shvarsalon, Sergei Shvarsalon.

Lada Panova

A L S O S P R A C H Z A R A T H U S T R A – COSÌ PARLÒ MAFARKA IL FUTURISTA – that's what Khlebnikov said

The Nietzschean genealogy of Velimir Khlebnikov’s „Ka“ (1915) involves an intricate mechanism of borrowings, not only from the treatise Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but also from its literary „descendants“ — in the first place, Mafarka the Futurist: an „African novel“ (1910) by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The protagonist of „Ka“ an autobiographical „Khlebnikov“ could be seen thus as a „grandson“ of the legendary Zarathustra (a misanthropic thinker developing the doctrine of superman) and a „son“ of Mafarka (a futuristic leader in a fictional Arab state embodying the idea of superman). This paper places „Ka“ in a broader context of Modernist imitations of Nietzsche, including the Nietzscheanism of Khlebnikov’s fellow Futurist Vladimir Maiakovsky.

Keywords: Nietzsche, Nietzscheanism in Symbolism and Futurism, Marinetti’s „Futurist Mafarka“, Khlebnikov’s „Ka“, literary genealogy.

Mikhail Ljustrov

Banging wigs and talking about compliments
Holberg's Epistle on petimeters in the Russian translation of the XVIII century

The article is concerned with the comparative analysis of L. Holberg`s epistle about petitmaîtres and its Russian translation, extract of „Introduction to history of European countries“ by Holberg and Russian „Magazine“ (1704). The article considers the most representative variant reading and proves the opportunity of usage by Holberg the Russian relation as one of the sources of „Introduction“.

Keywords: Russian literature of the 18th century, Danish literature of 18th century, L. Holberg.

Oleg Lekmanov

Sologub and Mayakovsky in Vaginov's „Goat song“: additions to the comment

In this note we analyze the interaction of the subtexts of Fedor Sologub and Vladimir Mayakovsky in the Constantine Vaginov’s novel „Goat Song“.

Keywords: K. Vaginov, F. Sologub, V. Mayakovsky, subtext.