The United States of America in Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done? and Sergey Yesenin’s Biography: the Way over the Ocean and the Folklore Motif of Wanderings

Abstract

The article discusses possible sources of Yesenin’s acquaintance with Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s novel What Is to Be Done? and its critical evaluation. Deep comprehension of the the novel on a subconscious level could lead to the fact that the poet’s personal life began to resemble the fate of literary heroes. Yesenin's trip with Isadora Duncan through Western Europe and the United States of America is to some extent reminiscent of Chernyshevsky's characters’ travels abroad; descriptions of their travels in the novel influenced the poet’s attitude to the way of life in different countries. In his autobiographies, Yesenin mentions his trips to America and Western Europe – the fact that emphasizes the importance of these continents in his biography and work; letters from different countries indicating geographic places of stay find parallels with the toponymy in Chernyshevsky’s novel. There is a certain similarity the names in Chernyshevsky’s novel and in Yesenin’s works: Charles and Charin, Jim. Mentioning Ryazan and Tambovskaya guberniia in connection with Lopukhov-Beaumont should have attracted Yesenin’s attention, who was a native of Ryazan region that he praised in his poems; he also wrote about the neighboring Tambov province. Political and economic questions of America raised by Chernyshevsky, Yesenin considered in his Iron Mirgorod.

Keywords

• what is to be done?
• nikolay chernyshevsky
• sergey yesenin
• travel to america
• iron mirgorod
• country of scoundrels