REMINISCENCES AND ALLUSIONS IN N. OTSUP’S “DIARY IN VERSE”

Abstract

The article deals with reminiscence as the organizing principle of the great lyric-epic canvas in the legacy of N. Otsup. The global picture of the tragic situation of the individual in the circumstances of the twentieth century is recreated by the author through dialogue with many poets and thinkers of different countries and centuries, old Testament and the gospel prophets and saints, the heroes of Greek mythology and Russian folklore. Pushkin, Tyutchev, and Blok are symbolic names to the author: Pushkin for him is a “mind without evil”, Tyutchev is a seer of the mysteries of the Russian soul, Blok is the singer of the Eternal Femininity who overcame the poison of irony, a close contemporary (“I supported Blok’s coffin with a shoulder”). “Diary in verse” described the fate and spiritual transformation of a man, doomed to wander, to endure captivity, to lose home, be aware of the origins of evil, to defeat it with Christian love. Due to the direct and indirect allusions, the background of the world culture is included by the poet into the space of the soul of an autobiographical character.