Images of Paradise in the Russian Poetry of the End of the 20th Century
- DOI
- 10.5922/2225-5346-2018-2-5
- Pages
- 60-68
Abstract
The article deals with the concept of Paradise and its figurative representations inherent in the poetic generation of the 1980-2000s. The study is based on the material of the poetry of Russian meta-realists — A. Parshchikov, I. Zhdanov, A. Eremenko, A. Dragomoschenko, V. Aristov, S. Soloviev, Ye. Danin, and N. Iskrenko, a member of the Moscow "Poetry" club. The author reveals the specific character of the metaphorization of the mythologeme and the realization of its symbolic meanings in poetic representations of the Garden of Eden, the earthly and heavenly Paradise in the image of the city and the mountain, the boundaries of Paradise, the light as a marker of heavenly elements and energies. The study shows that both the Old and New Testaments determine poetic interpretations of Paradise, and the Paradise itself looks apocalyptic. The author analyzes the images of the Forbidden fruit and the Tree of knowledge, and reinterprets the expulsion from Paradise into exile in Paradise. It is emphasized that the poetry of the period under consideration is characterized by philosophical reflections on Paradise as a Purgatory; it shows the traumatism of paradise freedom, which is determined by the experience of this poetic generation of moving from the literary underground to the centre of the literary process and by changing the reality reflected in poetry, the appearance in this reality of signs of "paradise life" and new, sometimes surpassing the creative personality, opportunities for self-expression. There is also a connection between the new "paradise" poetry and the literary tradition that comes from Dante, Mandelstam, and Tsvetaeva.
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