Окуджава

In the beginning of the article we correlate Okudzhava’s story about the creative history of his novel (“invention” of the scrivener’s image) with the writer’s statements about Decembrism, which allows us to solve the following tasks: 1) to restore the main creative impulses of the writer; 2) to characterize the formation of his cognitive strategy, which covers the mythologized past and the tragic events of the Soviet era; 3) to clarify a number of definite functions of the “little man” that have not yet been noted by the interpreters of the novel; 4) to highlight the m

The poetic song of Bulat Okudzhava «Vanka Morozov» is regarded as an early manifestation of the poet’s self-determination in the context of the romance tradition. Juxtapositions with the genre thought to be the source of the poem (urban romance), with the parody and stylization of romance in the literature of the XXth century are given. The genesis of the key images and motives is traced. A new interpretation of the romance poetics transformation in Okudzhava’s poetry is offered.

Okudzhava’s poem is regarded in the context of the classical poetics of rose, in the background of the traditional situation «farewell to the lira». The parallels with Pushkin’s, Batyushkov’s, Boratynsky’s and Khodasevich’s poetry are drawn.

In the article Blok’s tradition is revealed in the image of the Beautiful Lady in Bulat Okudzhava’s poetry (an early poem by Okudzhava “You’re Not Drunkards, You’re Not Vagrants…” is taken as an example). Kipling’s motives in the poem also add to the recognition of Blok’s tradition.

The article reveals problematic and thematic correlation and associative links that appear on the motif level between B. Okudzhava’s prose and poetry within the framework of the Decembrist problem range.

The poem by Okudzhava is comprehended against the background of a number of texts published during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Patriotic War. Okudzhava’s unique stand in the situation of the historic celebration is determined, the controversy with Levitansky’s poem The Little Man is traced. It is shown how Andersen’s formula of the ‘persistent tin soldier’ is transformed in Okudzhava’s point of view. The views of Okudzhava and Samoilov on literature about the war are compared.

The article examines the literary context of one of the most important poems of Bulat Okudzhava. Special emphasis is placed on the pattern of making a classic poet a myth in the belles-lettres of the Soviet era. The connections of the poem Meeting with Lermontov’s poetry are noted, the functions of reminiscences are examined. The place of Lermontov’s image in the ‘poetic mythology’ of Okudzhava’s poetry is defined.

In the article the main semantic components of the blood motif are revealed in the novel «A Date with Bonaparte» by B. Okudzhava; the peculiarity of the lyrical and philosophical narrative of B. Okudzhava is researched.