Figurative and Motive Unity of Joseph Brodsky’s Cycle “Mexican Divertissement”

Abstract

An interpretation of the semantic unity of the poetic cycle of Joseph Brodsky “Mexican Divertissement” (1975), consisting of 7 (15) lyrical texts, is proposed. If earlier researchers considered one or another poem of the cycle in isolation, then the problem of the integrity of the entire lyrical work is actualized in the work, the question of the relationship of individual cyclic texts is raised. It is shown how the same characters (emperor Maximilian, Huaretz, lyrical hero), images (ducks, parrot, lizard, cancer, etc.), motives (loneliness, death, delirium), details (geometry of figures, etc.), words and signs (explicated and implied) pass from text to text, ensuring the unity of the whole variety of melodic “pictures” of the divertissement. It is traced how “random” details appearing in one text are overgrown with additional connotations in another, providing semantic and logical support for the whole. Brodsky’s intertextual references to classical Russian literature are revealed, which translate the code of the text from “Mexican divertissement” to “Leningrad / Petersburg”, allowing one to discern the contours of the history of Russia and the fate of the hero himself (alter ego of the author) behind the exotic realities of Mexico. Some “dark places” of the cycle are deciphered, new interpretations of those already reflected by criticism are proposed. It is shown that the intention of the hero-narrator is focused not on the position of the scriptertraveler, but the creator-thinker.

Keywords

• joseph brodsky
• mexican divertissement
• compositional unity
• intertext
• analogies
• parallels