Pushkin’s “Poltava” VS Byron’s “Mazepa”: Aspects of the Controversy and Its Reflection in English Pushkin Studies

Abstract

The article aims to determine the degree of research coverage and variants of resolving the problem of relations between Pushkin’s “Poltava” and Byron’s “Mazepa” and accordingly clarify and supplement academic knowledge about the polemical orientation of Pushkin’s work towards Byron’s poem. Particular interest in the issue of the correlation of “Poltava” with “Mazepa” in modern English-language literary criticism is connected with attention to the writer’s political beliefs contextualized by the influence of new historicism. This leads modern foreign researchers to the conclusion that Pushkin’s historicism is conventional since the poem reveals his imperial or even imperialistic views. This sociological approach is opposed in the article by a comprehensive literary analysis combining the methodology of comparative research and techniques of hermeneutic analysis. The article argues that, entering into polemics with Byron and his “Mazepa,” Pushkin developed specific artistic strategies that embed psychology in history and history in psychology.

Keywords

• alexander pushkin
• lord byron
• “poltava
• ” “mazepa
• ” modern english-language literary criticism
• aspects of polemics
• artistic strategies