Пушкинские традиции и анти традиции в поемах Велемира Хлебникова

Abstract

Pushkinian traditions in Velemir Khlebnikov's poetic work were already discussed in contemporary criticism. The latest research confirms them, too. Nearly two-thirds of Khlebnikov's poems have been found to contain either direct quotations from Pushkin, echoes of his work, or formal analogies. On putting the material to a dceper analysis, we find that Pushkin's work in many cases acts as "tops", or a system of images fixed in the international context. This is also borne out by the fact that besides direct quotations from Pushkin, we have found in Khlebnikov* s work a number of passages from works of various authors, from medieval literature to the 19 th century pocts and as far as the symbolists and futurists. Such a large quantity of loans cannot be considered an incidental use of verses once fixed in the poet's mind. In fact it reflects an obvious poetic intention intluenced by the techniques of contemporary painting, especially cubism. This system of text collages (which, in the bud, existed as carly as the romantic period, csp. in Lermontov's work”, was used by Khlebnikov as "estragement"—as one of the stylistic mcans of producing an unusual effect, which is cłose to dadaism. Khlebnikov's drawing on Pushkin is especially conspicuous in his grotesques, as in the ballad Lynbotnik Yunony (Jimo's Lover), similar to Pushkin's burlesques, and in the cycle of neoromantic idylls in folklore style, as in the poems IFnuchka AMalushi (Malusha's Granddaughter) and Shaman i Venera (A Shaman and Venus), following the line of Pushkin's Rusłan and Ludmila. Other features of Khlebnikov's works connecting them with the romantic long poem are the following: rhythm, rhyme structure and composition (the introductory description of the landscape, the dominating monologue of the main hero combined with dialogue, etc.). All these traditional structural features of the romantic poem are reshaped, however, and so they acquire new values. In line with contemporary tendencies in the long poem genre, Khlebnikov almost suppresses the plot, often uses a very diversified rhythm, such as syllabic-accentual verse, then what is known in Russian literature as dolnik, and also accentuał verse or frec verse, and enriches the language with ingenious neologisms. Khlebnikov's poems, exceptionally vigorous from the poetic point of view, show convincingly how an outstanding talent can infuse new life into traditional literary forms. Thus Pushkin's work, intrinsicaliy close to Khlebnikov, stimulated him to a number of poetic discoveries.