Филологический класс (Oct 2021)
Specifics Features of the “Frame Text” in the Books of M. A. Zenkevich “Wild Purple Mantle” and «Under the Meat Purple Mantle”
Abstract
The article is devoted to the analysis of the frame text (titles of books, titles of poems, subtitles, epigraphs, dating) of two books of M. A. Zenkevich; the book “Wild Purple Mantle” [Dikaya porfira] published in 1912 and the compiled, but unpublished book “Under the Meat Purple Mantle” [Pod myasnoi bagryanitsei], which included poems of 1912–1918. The authors provd that the elements of the frame of the text of “Wild Purple Mantle” [Dikaya porfira] unambiguously indicate the connection with the theoretical principles of acmeism and creative activity of N. S. Gumilyov and A. A. Akhmatova. It is shown that the titles of the poems are interpreted as a symbolic convolution of their meaning; in addition, the titles set the compositional vector of perception of the author’s first book as a metacyclic unity. The authors conclude that the epigraphs in “Wild Purple Mantle” [Dikaya porfira] indicate a polemical dialogue with the proximal tradition (the creative work of Russian and foreign Symbolists, as well as the symbolically minded classic poets); the subtitles play the role of genre landmarks of the acmeistic format; the dedications also indicate the “guild” solidarity with literary colleagues. In the second book, we observe a redistribution of the functions of the components of the text frame. Epigraphs are no longer used as an instrument of polemics, but as an indirect method of embodying the apocalyptic motives of our time: the horror of waiting for death, pain, violence, in tune with the realities of revolution, world and civil wars. In the titles of the books Zenkevich represents his life-creating myth, relying on the key motives of his mature creative work. The quintessence of this myth is associated with the figure of the titan Porfibagr, whose name was compiled by the author from the key words of the titles of the two books under consideration. The elements of the frame “Under the Meat Purple Mantle” [Pod myasnoi bagryanitsei] are to designate the prophetic essence of the poet and show the perception of new socio-cultural realities through the prism of the author’s myth. In general, the titles of the poems and sections of both books form the meta-plot of each of the books and set the main semantic lines of their reader’s comprehension.
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