“My Sight Broke...”: Esenin about America

Issue:

№3 2017
УДК / UDK: 82-821
DOI:

10.22455/2541-7894-2017-3-247-269
Author: Natalia I. Guseva (Shubnikova-Guseva)
About the author:

Natalia I. Guseva (Shubnikova-Guseva) (A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow; Chief scientific Researcher, Doctor Hab. in Philology)

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Abstract:

The article deals with the changes in Esenin's image of America as it is representedThe article deals with the changes in Esenin's image of America as it is representedin his works of various years. The main attention is focused on the analysis of thedramatic poem “The Country of Scoundrels” (1922–1923) and the essay “The IronMirgorod” (1923). These works were written under the impression of the poet’s travelto the States in 1922–1923 together with his wife, the American dancer Isadora Duncan.The research is based on the textual analysis of the manuscript sources and isaimed at revealing dialogism and Shakespearean subtext in “The Country of Scoundrels”,as well as Esenin’s polemic with Vladimir Mayakovsky’s articles about Parisand the poem “150 000 000” in “The Iron Mirgorod”.Special emphasis is laid on the difference between Esenin’s image of America in the abovementioned works and in the story “Yar” (1916), the poem “Inonia” (1918) and the article“The Keys of Mary” (1918) that allows to trace the changes of Esenin’s view onthe future of Russia caused by his stay in America and the impression the powerfulAmerican civilization made on him.
Keywords: S.A. Esenin, America, “The Country of Scoundrels”, “The Iron Mirgorod” (1923), Shakespeare, V. Mayakovsky “150 000 000”, Mayakovsky ‘s articles about Paris.
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