Article

Name: “Smoky Trace” of N. Gumilyov’s Lyrics in the Poetic World of B. Volkov

Authors: Elena N. Proskurina

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

Abstract:

The paper analyzes the lyrics of Boris Volkov – an almost forgotten poet, prose writer of Eastern emigration – in a dialogue with the poetry of Nikolai Gumilyov. The study is based on Volkov’s only collection of poems “In the dust of other people’s roads”, published in Berlin in 1934 and no longer reprinted. In the poetry of Volkov’s predecessor, the theme of traveling to exotic countries, the image of China adopted from French poets, attracts. The theme of forgotten worlds is close to both poets, as well as the perception of the world as a theater with roles painted by the Creator. Volkov’s dialogue with Gumilyov is created both at the thematic level and at the motive, figurative level. In addition, closeness arises through the common attitude for both poets to life as a duel with a “warlike fate”.

Keywords: Boris Volkov, Nikolai Gumilyov, East in poetry, literature of the first emigration

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