Article

Name: Mikhail Shcherbakov’s Lyrical Ekphrasis in the Collection “Gates” (1934)

Authors: Elena Yu. Kulikova

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

Abstract:

The article deals with the poems by Mikhail Shcherbakov, who was the head of the association “Monday” and is known for his ethnographic essays, adventure short stories and stories, translations and stylizations of oriental poetry – “Japanese Temple”, “Cherry” and “Tanka”, published in the collection of Russian emigrants “Gate”. Shcherbakov uses the technique of ekphrasis, trying to show “art within art”, “to wrap” Eastern architecture and painting into a new form – language, images, rhymes and rhythm. For publication, Shcherbakov chose three poems with an “oriental” colouring – ekphrasis, still life and landscape. “Cherry” and “Tanka”, not being ekphrasis in essence, embody the images of the paintings that the poet describes.

Keywords: Mikhail Shcherbakov, ekphrasis, still life, landscape, East, Japan, orientalism, tanka

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