Allusions to J. Goethe heritage in A. Akhmatova lyrical works

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ALLUSIONS TO J. W. GOETHE HERITAGE IN A. AKHMATOVA LYRICAL WORKS

Корнієнко С.А.

Інститут міжнародного права і економіки імені О. С. Грибоєдова (м. Москва, Росія)

Устіновська А. О.

Московський інститут фізики і технологій (Державний університет)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of intertextual connections of A. Akhmatova and J. W Goethe works. Direct and indirect receptive references used by A. Akhmatova are revealed in the paper. Different ways of introducing “J. W Goethe's text” into A. Akhmatova's poems are pointed out. Her reception of “Faust” is considered based on her dialogue with B. L. Pasternak. A. Akhmatova's reflection on the tragedy seen in her late lyric works is manifested. There is also interconnection between her poems and J. W. Goethe's “Poem without a Hero”.

Key words: reception, intertextual calls, epigraph, reminiscence, allusion, reference.

Анотація

Алюзії на творчу спадщину. І. В. Гете в ліриці А. Ахматової. Комієнко С. А., Устіновська А. О.

Статтю присвячено проблемі інтертекстуальних зв'язків творчості І.В. Гете і лірики Анни Ахматової. У роботі виявлені прямі і непрямі рецептивні відсилання, які використовує Ахматова, і показані різні способи включення «гетевского тексту» в авторський текст. Крізь призму діалогу з Б. Пастернаком, розглянуто сприйняття А. Ахматової трагедії «Фауст», показано її відображення в пізній ліриці і позначено її присутність в підсумковому творі поетеси - в «Поемі без героя».

Ключові слова: рецепція, інтертекстуальні переклички, епіграф, ремінісценція, алюзія, відсилання.

goethe akhmatova lyrics text

Аннотация

Аллюзии на творческое наследие И. В. Гете в лирике А. Ахматовой. Комиенко С. А., Устиновская А. А.

Статья посвящена проблеме интертекстуальных связей творчества И.В. Гете и лирики Анны Ахматовой. В работе выявлены прямые и косвенные рецептивные отсылки, которые использует Ахматова, и показаны различные способы включения «гетевского текста» в авторский текст. Сквозь призму диалога с Б. Пастернаком, рассмотрено восприятие А. Ахматовой трагедии «Фауст», показано её отражение в поздней лирике и обозначено ее присутствие в итоговом произведении поэтессы - в «Поэме без героя».

Ключевые слова: рецепция, интертекстуальные переклички, эпиграф, реминисценция, аллюзия, отсылка.

Statement of the problem and different approaches to the topic

In 1930-1940-s A. Akhmatova referred much to J. W. Goethe works. We find evidence of that in “Poem without a Hero”, where there are plenty of intertextual references to J. W. Goethe “Faust” tragedy. We can also notice different elements of Goethe's reception in lyric works such as: “The Devil did not betray, I succeeded...”, “Alice”, “And Faust outlines in the distance...”, “The expanse has collapsed, the time has shattered.” There are many authors who mentioned Akhmatova's borrowings from Goethe's works. Among them are: T. L. Alexandrova, N. N. Ska- tov, V. D. Berestov, M. V. Ardov, M.S. Shaginyan, Berlin, Y. I. Eichenwald.

Topicality of the problem is stipulated by several factors. Firstly, the necessity to study the influence of Goethe's works on the “Silver Age” poets' works. In particular, poets of acmeist movement. Secondly, the importance of thorough study of “Silver Age” literature in connection with modern criticism tendencies and the reconcideration of attitude towards pre-revolution literature in general after the collapse of the USSR. Thirdly, there is the necessity in researching into intertextual borrowings found in Akhmatova's works from Goethe works.

The scientific novelty of this research is that this paper is the pioneer in thorough study of Goethe influence on Akhmatova lyrical works. In his fundamental work “Goethe in Russian Literature” by V. M. Zhir- munskiy [12] due to political situation in the country was unable to conduct a thorough study of Goethe influence on Akhmatova. In this paper we continue to develop his research with the involvement of new methods of literary criticism such as: intertextual, receptive and psychoanalytical.

Statement of the main material

Having analyzed works of A. Akhmatova formally we can find very few direct borrowings from J. W. Goethe heritage, with the exception of “Poem without a Hero”. Goethe's influence in the poem, which we can perceive without difficulties, is immense. Nonetheless in her other works we must ascend to a completely different level of text analysis to trace interconnection between Goethe's and Akhmatova's texts. Sometimes Akhmatova hints at this interconnection herself. For example, in 1922 for her poem “The Devil did not betray, I succeeded.” [1, p. 392] she chooses the epigraph from “Faust”: “I'm Vorgefьhl von solchem hohen Glьck GenieЯ ich jetzt den hцchsten Augenblick.” [9] In the second version of the same poem, we can find the other epigraph: “Остановись, мгновение!” (“The moment, stop!” here and further translations by S. A. Kornienko, edited by A. A. Ustinovskaya). [1, p. 881] Both of these epigraphs refer to the last scene of “Faust”, when the main character made the decision to bring his earthly existence to the end and to give his soul to Mephistopheles forever. We remember the background information on how the tragic events happened. After realizing that he had done enough for the humanity, Faust comes to conclusion that the humanity can do well enough without his help. On the contrary Mephistopheles deceives Faust as we learn later. The similar plot can be found in the aforementioned poem. The main character does something important that later makes him make a deal with the devil in order to have a success. As it can be seen at the end of the story, the main character ruins his life. The character deprives himself of either future or present. His ordeal is to remember the glorious past. The deal with the devil leads to the character being devoid of love. The character suggests taking his heart out of his chest and feeding it to a hungry dog. We reminds us that Faust met Mephistopheles for the first time when he turned into a dog.

The poem is written in 1922 and reflects the poet's feelings of losing a close person. It was written several months after Akhmatova's husband was sentenced to death. In the 1920-s A. Akhmatova came through one of the most difficult periods of her life. During this period she started refering to different Goethe's archetypes in her poems. She might have reread many works by J.W. Goethe where she found a lot of useful ideas that she felt would be appropriate to use in her own poems. Thus we can find many intertextual references of such kind in her “Poem without a Hero”, which was written in the 1930-s and became the culmination of her creative work.

We can also find borrowings from Goethe in Akhmatova early works, but they are scarce and sporadic. For example, in “Alice” [1, p. 47], which is written in 1911, we can find Mignon from Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. In the poem Akhmatova uses the image of the adolescent girl - Mignon. This image combines unrequited love of Mignon with longing for her distant southern motherland. This image is widely used by “Silver Age” poets. Thus we can assume that A. Akhmatova was familiar with J. W. Goethe novel, though the image used was not directly borrowed from the novel. She merely used an existing archetype that suited the characteristics for creating a certain mood of the poem. Nevertheless the person who created this archetype is believed to be J. W. Goethe. This fact confirms Akhmatova's interest in Goethe's works even at an early period of her life. We can find the evidence in the works of different authors. They state that besides studying the works written by J. W. Goethe, A. Akhmatova researched into the works by W. Shakespeare, Dante, Lord Byron and many others. [11]

In the 1940-s we can find many Faust allusions in A. Akhmatov works. In the time of war, she turns to the heritage left to people by the German poet. The dialogue with B.L. Pasternak shows the importance of tragedy “Faust” for A. Akhmatova. [5] After returning to Leningrad after WWII, she suggests L. Pasternak to write a new Russian version of the tragedy. After giving it some thought, he decides to make a new translation of “Faust”. Being still unsatisfied with that, A. Akhmatova insists on him writing a completely new version of the text, introducing some new cultural paradigm shifts and technological advances to it. Unfortunately, B. L. Pasternak rejects this idea, as he believes that the tragedy is obsolete and does not need a new version written.

One of the modern realities that A. Akhmatova wanted to see in a new “Faust” would have been the nuclear energy and the nuclear bomb, in particular. In M. Ardov's memoirs, we can find A. Akhmatova's words: “It's a pity that Goehte didn't know about the existence of the nuclear bomb: he should have inserted it in “Faust”. There is an episode that perfectly fits...” [4, p. 328] In September 1945 the world witnessed the terrible consequences of nuclear bomb usage. The governments of many countries as well as ordinary people began preparation for the new type of war, with weapons even more devastating that everything known before. It is worth mentioning that along with destruction the nuclear energy provides people with huge powers for creating new things such as, relatively cheap electricity in faraway places of our planet, where there are no other resources available. A. Akhmatova perceives this dualism of creation and destruction. She believes that it is necessary to include it in the new version of “Faust”. On the contrary, in B.L. Pasternak's opinion “Faust” is the true classics. He is of the opinion that the aforementioned dualism can be found there, no matter how it is expressed: through alchemic powers, supernatural being or nuclear energy.

Influenced by the dialogue with B. L. Pasternak Akhmatova writes the poem “And Faust outlines in the distance.” [2, p. 107] It is written August 8, the day the USA drops nuclear bomb on Japan. This also proves that, in A. Akhmatova opinion, such a destructive power as a nuclear bomb must be introduced into a new version “Faust”.

Literary critics agree that the town mentioned in “Faust outlines” is Marburg, the town where B. L. Pasternak studied. [6, p. 496] It can also be noticed that the last lines of the poem describe A. Akhmatova's impression of visiting the opera house and listening to “Faust” opera, the music to which was composed by C. F. Gounod. The opera was highly acclaimed by A. Akhmatova's contemporaries. In the poem the author develops the idea of Goethe's fate. As it has been mentioned above, A. Akhmatova wanted L. Pasternak to write the new “Faust”, after him refusing to do it, she was determined to do it herself. This poem might have been her first draft. The plot of the poem tells us about a deal with the Devil of a motley company: organ grinders, moneychangers, bouquinistes. The author considered them to be the typical characters of the century. On the contrary, Faust is an educated person, a scientist. After all the horrors of the first part of the tragedy, he wants to redeem his sins and make something useful for humanity. However, his contemporaries aim only at getting rich. In addition, Faust feels responsible for his decisions until the very end on his live. In the poem by Akhmatova, the idea is presented differently. This piece of poetry once again reveals a large number of J. W. Goethe's allusions in A. Akhmatova works written in the 1940-s. In this grievous period in the history of the country, she appealed to J. Goethe's works, where she found artistic images and ideas to use. Moreover, until the very last day she dreamt of the “Russian Faust” - the symbol of the whole epoch. Much later in the year 1959 she wrote a poem, which might also be the draft for a new “Faust”: “The expanse has collapsed, the time has shattered...” [3, p. 35]

In this piece of poetry, she focuses on the future of the mankind and the problems it can face. This draft became prophetic to some extent. The author foresees the increase in tempo of life. She calls it “the demon of speed”. By the end of her life she starts to feel the process of acceleration of life. She also feels that there is a huge gap between “Silver Age” and a post-war period in the USSR. After the war there remained very few people who could be mediators providing cultural continuity from generation to generation. There is also the idea of directing the great Siberian rivers to the South to agricultural regions of the USSR. A. Akhmatova foresees the extinction of people, crop failure, spread of poisonous and inedible plants. The last words leave the readers with the dilemma whether this day might bring either good from which many would benefit or bad that will lead to total destruction of mankind. The author suggests that all depends on people themselves.

There seems to be a big difference between two poets A. Akhmatova and J. W. Goethe. Though, some researchers point out subtle characteristics that interconnect them. According to M. S. Shagin- yan, the major part of two poets' lyrical works are so-called “artificially created” pieces of poetry. [10] J. W. Goethe himself agreed that his major works “West-цstlicher Divan” and “Faust” belong to this type of creative works. There are few “spontaneous” lyrical works among A. Akhmatova's works as well. Thus, it can be said that one of the unifying traits is that both poets spent much time polishing their works, adjusting the plots and improving technical details.

In I. Berlin memoirs, he states that A. Akhmatova held the ideology of the world culture and world literature, in particular, which was derived from J. W. Goethe's concept of “world literature”. [7] In general, in her opinion all the poetry and all the art were “longing for the world culture”. Here she quoted the famous definition given by O. Mandelstam on acmeism.

In addition to previous opinions on the topic under discussion Y. Eichenwald states that almost all pieces of poetry of the two poets were written as responses to some events or feelings that took place in poets' lives one time or the other. Sometimes it might seem as some of the lines by A. Akhmatova have little connection with her real feelings, but that is not quite true. If we scrutinize her works, we will understand that she carefully follows J. W. Goethe's testaments. It comes in accordance with the words of Y. Eichenwald, who says that: “There is a perfect convergence of external and internal; she has nothing extrinsic; she is assured in her sincerity, and a reader believes, that the interconnection between phenomena depicted in her poetry is not a mere coincidence; the nature isn't a mere background, all the lines are united in spirit. Her poetry is life.” [8]

Conclusion

During the early period of her life A. Akhmatova used romantic archetypes created by J. W. Goethe, such as Mignon. This character conveyed the combination of unrequited love and longing for distant motherland. A. Akhmatova's interest in J. W. Goethe's heritage grew when she met her future to-be husband N. S. Gumilev. He frequently used J. W. Goethe's archetypes in his works. A. Akhmatova used Faust archetype with similar characteristics as her husband did. Out of all J.W. Goethe works A. Akhmatova put an emphasis on `Faust”. Several lines from the tragedy she used as epigraphs to her works. Indicative example is “The Devil did not betray, I succeeded...”. When the poet was living through one of the most difficult periods of her live, when her husband was shot and her son was imprisoned, the amount of allusions on J. W. Goethe's works grew up dramatically. The tragedy “Faust” acquired certain correlation with the time of instability and the Judgement Day.

She strongly believed that her contemporaries needed a new Faust character. She asked B. L. Pasternak to write a new version of “Faust” that would include this archetype, though she wanted him to be modernized and include new reality of the day, a nuclear weapon. She believed that J. W. Goethe's “Faust” was incomplete for modern readers. Among the works of A. Akhmatova we can find pieces of poetry which might be drafts of her new version of the tragedy. They raise the most important problems that humanity was facing at that time.

B. L. Pasternak did not feel like writing new “Faust” but the new ideas were partly brought to live by A. Akhmatova herself in her “Poem without a Hero”. This poem corresponds with J.W. Goethe's works in style and spirit. That is why in the poem by A. Akhmatova we can discover the whole range of allusions on “Faust”. (For further information refer to J. W. Goethe's “Faust” code in A. A. Akhmatova's “Poem Without a Hero” by L. G. Kihney and S. A. Kornienko).

References

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