МИФОЛОГЕМА ПУШКИНА-«СМУГЛОГО ОТРОКА» В ПОЭЗИИ А.АХМАТОВОЙ

Introduction

The application of the concept of the “Pushkin myth” is very diverse, which sometimes leads to an unreasonable expansion of the meaning of the term. In this case, we consider the myth of the new time not in the interpretation of Roland Barthes as a means of manipulating of the mass consciousness [2]. In this sense, the Pushkin myth functioned in the Soviet era (1922–1991), starting with the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the poet’s death in a duel, in 1937, when Stalin’s propaganda began to form the image of a poet-the-prophet of the revolution.

Method

The Pushkin myth itself appeared earlier: the myth of the miraculous child began to take shape in the correspondence of elder poets (V.Zhukovsky, P.Vyazemsky, K.Batyushkov), who had met Pushkin during his tuition at the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum (1811-1817). Therefore, in this work we consider the myth of modern times as a means of transmission of cultural memory in the interpretation of M. Eliade [4], as well as in the postulates by N. Berdyaev [3] and A. Losev [6], who defined myth as the universal language of spiritual experience. No less important is the conclusion by A. Potebnja that, when updated, the myth acquires personal characteristics [7]. Mythologization of Pushkin is a process similar to what was happening in other European cultures:  it was Dante mythologization in Italy, Shakespeare mythologization in England, Goethe in Germany. This process is associated with the emancipation from the French culture, under the influence of which the intellectual life of Europe was developing in the 18^th century.

Discussion

In the case of Pushkin myth, mythologeme is an element of the biographical plot, that part of the “body of myth”, which is both the most representative image and the event. For example, mythologemes that imply ambiguous, sometimes opposite interpretations in the contemporary cultural situation: the tsar, the nanny, Anna Kern, Natalia Goncharova and d'Anthès are images that have been interpreted diversely in 20^th century literature. The mythologemes-images associated with the self-determination of the poet are: the miracle child, the Arzamas cricket (insect), the descendant of blacks, the prophet, the monument. Mythologemes-events (actions): the lyceum friendship, the “Arzamas”, the Southern deportation, the Northern deportation, the marriage, the duel. The mythogenicity of these events of biographical legend is related to their ability to generate new interpretations, both in artistic and in scientific areas. It proves that Pushkin myth does not only not collapse with the end of the totalitarian era, but, on the contrary, is actively involved in modern national self-determination, while in need of careful scientific reflection.

All the significant stages of life from infancy to the death of Pushkin are reflected in pictorial art and literature. The very first lifetime portrait – the Infant Pushkin, a miniature work by Xavier de Maistre, in which the characteristic features of the external appearance are visible: plump lips, characteristic nostrils, chin, gray eyes, curls. This is exactly how the poet looks like in the novel by Yury Tynyanov, Pushkin (1836): Abram Petrovich Gannibal at first does not recognize a relative in a baby because of his blond hair and eyes of aquamarine color, but then grabs baby in his hands with a rhapsodic shout. The theme of wonderful dissimilarity associated with the images of little Pushkin and the old "blackamoor" Gannibal is introduced [11].

The second portrait is an application to the poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”. A portrait of Pushkin, painted during lyceum years supposedly by S. Chirikov, with an engraving by E. Geytman: soft, rounded features of a 14-year-old teenager, a collar “à la Byron”. Pushkin wrote about this portrait in a letter to the publisher of the “Caucasian Captive” in the 3^rd person: “A. Pushkin” is seen as if from aside. In the self-portraits of that time, Pushkin portrayed himself with sharper, definite features. Apparently, the imitative Byronic adolescent categorically did not suit the poet, who stood at the origins of creating his own artistic image or, within our concept, Pushkin myth. Nevertheless, the poem came out precisely with the geographer's lithograph, influencing the course of the poet's further mythologization.

The image of the "swarthy youth" of the lyceum student was developed in the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. The theme of the Lyceum phase of Pushkin's childhood is a significant mythologeme for the first book of poems by A. Akhmatova “The evening”, which included a cycle of poems “In Tsarskoye Selo”. The first mention of the topos of Tsarskoye Selo in the book of poems is connected with feelings of languor and boredom, but this boredom is not idle, but painful and symbolizing confusion of the spirit. We also note the repeated appeals to the French language (including the epigraph from the poem of the 19^th century poet André Theuriet), creating a general ambience of influence of French culture on Russian in general and on the young man of Pushkin in particular. Recall that the lyceum's nickname of the poet is Frenchman (“monkey with a tiger” is an idiom meaning the irreconcilable qualities of a true Frenchman). So in the Yury Tynyanov’s novel "Küchl" (1925) in a direct and improperly direct speech of Wilhelm Küchelbecker the poet is called only Frenchman [10].

For Pushkin myth, the poem “The Swarthy Youth Wandered Along Alleys” is the most representative. It was written about in the fall of 1911, when it turned 100 years since the day Pushkin entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, hence the Akhmatova’s lines: "And we cherish the epoch / Barely heard the rustle of steps."[1] Note that in the same year, the famous painting by Ilya Repin "Pushkin on the Lyceum exam in Tsarskoye Selo on January 8, 1815" was painted, which depicts a dark rosy boy declaiming "Memories in Tsarskoye Selo ...".

In this poem Akhmatova does not mention the name of Pushkin, confining to the descriptive “swarthy youth”, which is often found in the memoir liteature on Pushkin, hinting at his kinship with blackamoor of Peter the Great. The omission of the “sacred” name is part of the poetics of the Pushkin myth.

From 1811 to 1817 Tsarskoye Selo is the Fatherland for poet, as he wrote in the poem "October 19" (1825). The text constituting the author's myth about the lyceum was a poem written in 1830 “At the beginning of life I remember school ...”, in which there are lines: “Amid the youths, I silently spent the whole day / Wandered sullen <...>” [8, P. 191].

In the poem about the “swarthy youth” Akhmatova not only describes portrait characterization, but also reveals his state of mind: “wandered along the alleys, at the shores of the lake was he sad”. These psychological details remind us of what Pushkin wrote about himself in a poem of 1830: “I walked sullen”. The first poem about the Lyceum "Recollection in Tsarskoye Selo" (1814) also begins with the lines: "The cover of a gloomy night is hanging" [9, P. 70]. Yury Lotman in the "Biography of the Poet" speaks of Pushkin's poetic perception of the lyceum as a strict monastery. Perhaps this perception explains the persistent repetition of this epithet. Note that this epithet may have influenced the self-presentation of the lyrical character of Alexander Blok’s poem “Oh, I madly want to live...” (1914), in which all the qualities of a true poet (goodness, fairness, freedom) are opposed to “sullenness”, which the “Great Dictionary” defines as “severity, gloom” and illustrates it with the help of the phrase “poet’s sullenness” [5]. Consequently, in the poem “The Swarthy Youth Wandered Along Alleys” in front of us is a revised Pushkin automythologeme. Akhmatova replaces “Sullenness” with fair sadness as a reflection of the later perception by Pushkin of his adolescence. It can be an allusive response to the paradox of the Pushkin formula “I feel sad and easy” from the poem “In the hills of Georgia...”, in which opposite impulses harmoniously combine.

Results

It is worth noting the fact that Akhmatova calls the Muse of hers “swarthy” in memory of the “swarthy youth” or an appeal to Pushkin themes in the poem “Tsarskoye Selo statue” (1914). Anyway, these works appeal to the mythologeme of the lyceum childhood of the poet as a transitional period to youth, the reflection of which will be the mythologeme of the “cricket” (insect) – nickname of the poet in the literary community "Arzamas". The mythologeme of the “cricket” is associated with the poet’s transitional period: from the reserved, monastic-like life in the Lyceum to “liberal” Saint Petersburg, from youth to the first stages of adulthood. At first it was actively developed by the “Arzamas” themselves, later this mythologeme can be found the prose and poetry of 20^th century. The image of the character of the mythologeme can be defined by such epithets as: brisk, cheerful, noisy, brave, crafty. In the mythologeme, the image of “small Pushkin” (in comparison with the elder Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, the uncle of the poet, who was also a member of the community) is fixed. It is indicative that the connotation of slyness and fun in the image of the young Pushkin is not perceived by Akhmatova. On the contrary, in the poem "... And on the steps to meet" (1913) the image of a “cricket” – the herald of the midnight – sort of returning to the original source of the mythologeme – “Svetlana” poem by Zhukovsky. Young Pushkin’s nickname (cricket) and other “Arzamas” members’ nicknames were borrowed from that poem. The Akhmatova’s lyrical character, like the character in Zhukovsky’s “Svetlana”, communicates with the “unalive” lover. The cricket’s crackling symbolizing not the joy and fun, but the mysterious romantic horror of the mystical encounter.

Conclusion

To conclude, the creative impulse for writers who turned to the mythologeme of the “swarthy youth” was the search of points of contact between the past and modernity. Therefore the reviewed texts are focused on the search for connectedness of historical phenomena, hence the mythogenicity of nature of artistic thinking in the works of the authors we reviewed.