David Burliuk in Color and Rhyme Magazine. Article 2. Across Epochs and Cultures: A Journey to France, 1949

Abstract

In 1949 Maria and David Burliuk made a trip to France “following Van Gogh” in order to restore the memory of the French painter's stay in Arles. This trip was embodied in a series of Burliuk’s paintings and in the text Journeys available in Russian (handwritten manuscript) and in English (magazine publication). The paper considers author’s narrative strategies in both versions of the travel journal; special attention is paid to the subjective organization of the text. One can hear the voices of Marusya Burliuk as well as her husband’s although she employs the author’s we. Complex narrative structure of the text is construed with a number of techniques, the most important one being switching of point of view. The paper focuses on the goals of the journey that were set by the travelers and on the ways they were reflected in the text. It is shown that the trip to France, first of all, was aimed at strengthening Burliuk's reputation as an “American Van Gogh”, and, next, at commemorating the French painter and preserving his heritage. The publication in the magazine Color and Rhyme is a unique complex work based on the interaction of both visual and textual material, it includes ekphrases, literary allusions, an epistolary, reprints of materials from the press, American reviews of the Burliuk’s works, etc. There are lots of descriptions, genre scenes, literary portraits, masterfully created by Marusya Burliuk in the published version of the journey, while on the handwritten version reflects private, intimate aspects of the journey (letters to the family).

Keywords

• d. burliuk
• color and rhyme
• russian émigré literature
• travel literature
• cross-cultural interaction
• van gogh
• narrative
• ekphrasis