Article

Name: An Attempt at a Motivic Comparison of Eduard Bagritsky’s “Ballad of Whittington” and the Seventh Part of Boris Volkov’s “Raised to the Scaffold”

Authors: Elena N. Proskurina

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section The Plot, Motive, Genre

Abstract:

The present study is an attempt to analyze the poem “In the West, the ray roars scarlet” (undated) by eastern emigrant writer B. Volkov in comparison with “The Ballad of Whittington” by E. Bagritzky (1923). Neither of these works has yet been subjected to special literary analysis. Pre-texts of Bagritsky’s ballad, such as the English fairy tale ‘Whittington and His Cat’ and R. Southey’s ‘Ingkap Reef’, have been identified. The connection between the ballad and these two works is shown at the level of several hints. The main one is the motif of the sounding bell, which plays a key role in Bagritsky’s work. When comparing it with Volkov’s poem, we analyze the elements of intertextual dialogue related both to the poetic thesaurus and to the level of grammar forms.

Despite the lack of sufficient arguments in favor of the receptive character of Volkov’s poem, the method of intertextual analysis revealed the difference between the internal positions of the two authors expressed in the lyrical characters. The vagueness of the lyrical subject of ‘The Ballad of Whittington’ reflects the poet’s own mental metamorphosis in the early period of creativity, while Volkov’s lyrical self is characterized by the features of a warrior and a fighter, who found the fullness of being in a fight with fate.

Keywords: E. Bagritsky’s poetry, B. Volkov, literature of Eastern Emigration, intertextual dialogue, Eng-lish Fairy Tales, Russian romanticism

Bibliography:

Bagritsky E. Pesnya o Vittingtone (Iz angliyskikh pesen). Moryak [Seaman], 1923, no. 337, April 15. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Ballada o Vittingtone, ego puteshestvii i vozvrashchenii. Siluety [Silhouettes], 1923, no. 12, p. 3. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Ballada o Vittingtone, ego puteshestvii i vozvrashchenii. Komsomol’skaya pravda [Komsomol Truth], 1926, May 23. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Pesnya o Vittingtone. Krasnaya niva [The Red Field], 1928, no. 52, December 23, p. 5. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Odnotomnik [One-volume Book]. Ed. by I. Utkin, intr. by Yu. Sevruk. Moscow, Sovetskaya Literatura Publ., 1934, 251 p. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Collected Works. In 2 vols. Moscow, Leningrad, GIKHL, 1938, vol. 1, 724 p. (in Russ.)

Bagritsky E. Stikhotvoreniya i poemy [Poems and Poetry]. Intr. by E. P. Lyubareva, comp. by E. P. Ljubareva & S. A. Kovalenko, prep. and comment. by S. A. Kovalenko. Moscow, Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1964, 569 p. (in Russ.)

Blyum A. Zapreshchennye knigi russkikh pisatelei i literaturovedov. 1917–1991: Indeks sovetskoi tsenzury s kommentariyami [Banned books by Russian writers and literary critics. 1917–1991: Index of Soviet Censorship with commentaries]. St. Petersburg, 2003, 404 p. (in Russ.)

Borovskaya A. A. Rolevye ballady v russkoi poezii pervoi treti XX v. Gumanitarnye issledovaniya [Humanitarian Studies], 2008, no. 4, pp. 102–110. (in Russ.)

Dickens Ch. Torgovyi dom pod firmoyu Dombi i syn [Dombey and Son Trading House], illjustrirovannyi roman v perevode Vvedenskogo. In 2 dooks. 4th ed. Moscow, K. K. Shamov, 1886, 230 + 347 p. (in Russ.)

Dnevnik Literaturnoi gazety. 12 oktyabrya. Literaturnaya gazeta [Literary Newspaper], 1934, no. 137 (453), October 12, p. 1. (in Russ.)

Gasparov M. L. Selected articles. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 1995, 476 p. (in Russ.)

Gerbel N. V. Angliyskie poety v biografiyakh i obraztsakh [English Poets in biographies and specimens]. St. Petersburg, A. M. Kotomin Publ., 1875, 448 p. (in Russ.)

Izdaniya, postupivshie v redaktsiyu. Mech [Sword] (Warszawa), 1934, no. 29, December 2, p. 8 (in Russ.)

Kataev V. Almaznyi moi venets [My Crown of Diamonds]. München, ImWerden Verlag, 2005, 122 p. (in Russ.)

Lipkin S. Vtoraya doroga. Zarisovki i soobrazheniya [The Second Road. Sketches and Considerations]. Moscow, Olimp, 1995, 272 p. (in Russ.)