Pushkin's Lyric Intelligence

411 Pages·2008·1.6 MB·English

by  Andrew Kahn

PUSHKIN’S LYRIC INTELLIGENCE
This page intentionally left blank
Pushkin’s Lyric
Intelligence
ANDREW KAHN
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwidein
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Withofficesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
intheUKandincertainothercountries
PublishedintheUnitedStates
byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork
©AndrewKahn2008
Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted
DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2008
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,
orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate
reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction
outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,
OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover
andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Kahn,Andrew.
Pushkin’slyricintelligence/AndrewKahn.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-923474-5
1. Pushkin,AleksandrSergeevich,1799–1837–Poeticworks. 2. Pushkin,
AleksandrSergeevich,1799–1837–Themes,motives. 3. Pushkin,
AleksandrSergeevich,1799–1837–Philosophy. 4. Pushkin,
AleksandrSergeevich,1799–1837–Aesthetics. I. Title.
PG3356.K3482008
(cid:1)
891.713–dc22
2008009771
TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk
ISBN 978–0–19–923474–5
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to the following institutions for support: the British Academy,
the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Principal and Fellows, St Edmund Hall,
Oxford, the Humanities Division, and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern
LanguagesandLiteratures,UniversityofOxford.
Iwish tothanktheLibrariansandStaffofthefollowing:theBritishLibrary,
the Taylor Institution Library, the Taylor Institution Slavonic Annexe, the
BodleianLibrary,theCodringtonLibrary,AllSouls,theBibliothèqueNationale
de France, the National Library of Russia, the Institute of Russian Literature
(Pushkinskiidom),theLibraryoftheAcademyofSciences,StPetersburg,Russia,
BibliothèqueRoyaledeBelgique,theBancroftLibrary,UniversityofCalifornia,
Berkeley, the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collection), the Butler
Library,ColumbiaUniversity.
I owe warm thanks to Eric Naiman and Irina Paperno for their invitation
to spend a semester at the University of California, Berkeley, where I taught
a graduate seminar on Pushkin. It is a pleasure to acknowledge a debt to the
graduatestudentsinthatcoursewhocontributedsomuchtomythinkingabout
thisproject,andtothankcolleaguesfortheirhospitalityandkeeninterest.
I owe real gratitude to the following friends and colleagues for help of dif-
ferent kinds: Jennifer Baines, Madeline Barber, Polina Barskova, David Bethea,
RosalindPollyBlakesley,PhilipBullock,JulieCurtis,NataliaElagina,Elizabeth
Fallaize,AmyFreund,JaredIngersoll,AnnJefferson,ThomasKarshan,T.I.Kras-
noborod’ko,EkaterinaLarionova,DominiqueLussier,LilianaMilkova,Stiliana
Milkova, Igor Nemirovskii, Lucy Newlyn, Yuri Slezkine, Adrienne Tooke, Kate
Tunstall,MariaVirolainen,RenéeWilliams,WesWilliams,AndreiZorin,Irina
Zorina; and Lazar Fleishman, Stephanie Sandler, and G. S. Smith for lasting
lessons about Russian literature. Alexander Iosad and Anna Zaranko were kind
enoughtoreadthetypescriptclosely.
I would like to thank the anonymous readers for their meticulous attention
andsuggestions.AtOUPJacquelineBakerhasofferedexpertandfriendlycoun-
sel,andJacquelinePritchardandClaireThompsonprovidedvaluablehelp.Iam
deeply indebted to Andrew McNeillie for his inspirational encouragement and
indispensable judgement. Nicholas Cronk has shared tirelessly of his learning,
time, and enthusiasm, a gift I could hardly begin to repay. I wish to thank my
motherandlatefatherforalifetimeofencouragementandpracticalhelp.
A.K.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ListofIllustrations ix
NotetotheReader x
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
CriticalApproaches 2
Methods 5
1. TraditionandOriginality 13
TheLiteraryContext:‘AnOldParnassianDynasty’ 13
TheAnonymityofCoterieWriting:TheClassicismofArzamas 15
DialogueswiththeDeadandtheAnxietyofInfluence 19
TraditionandOriginality(‘ToZhukovsky’,1816) 26
2. InventionandGenius 34
TheRomanticDebate 35
PoeticTheoryandtheAestheticofInventionandInspiration 38
Inspiration 48
3. TheMeaningofBeauty 62
TheIdeaofBeauty 63
TheSublimeandtheReinventionofBoileau 66
RomanticHellenism 74
ThePlasticArtsandthePlatonicIdeal 80
FromClassicaltoRomantic 85
4. AReticentImagination 88
ThePoweroftheImagination:Galich,Coleridge,Hazlitt 90
RadicalismandtheImagination 107
5. NatureandRomanticSubjectivity 117
NatureinPushkin’sEarlyVerse 119
RomanticIntimations:‘TheOrbofDayhasSet’(1820)and‘Tothe
Sea’(1824) 124
‘Autumn’(1833)andtheMindofthePoet 134
TheGeneralLaw:‘Ivisitonceagain...’(1835)andWordsworth’s
‘TinternAbbey’ 144
6. GeniusandtheCommerceofPoetry 158
ProfitMotive:PoeticLabourandtheBookMarket 159
TheRightsofAuthorialIdentity 170
viii Contents
TheEconomicsofInspiration:‘ConversationbetweenaBookseller
andaPoet’(1824) 175
TheProphecyof‘AndréChénier’(1825) 186
ArtforArt’sSakeandPoeticEgotism 197
ThePurposeofthePoet 201
ProteanPushkin 214
7. TheHero 217
ThePhilosopherHeroandClassicalEmulation 218
TheActionHero:Napoleon 230
HeroicTypologyandEnlightenmentHistoriography 238
‘TheHero’(1830) 246
PaintingtheHeroicIdeal:‘TheCommander’(1835) 259
AlienationandIndependence 273
8. BodyandSoul 278
TheScienceofFeeling 279
EpicureanMasters:Lucretius,Voltaire,andDiderot 282
TheMeaningofthePassions 292
TheLibertine 304
PoeticMortalityandNegativeCapability 316
StoicFateandFriendship 326
Appendix 339
Bibliography 343
Index 379
List of Illustrations
Antoine-JeanGros,BonaparteVisitingthePlagueVictimsofJaffa,1804.
MuséeduLouvre,Paris.
1. Jacques-LouisDavid,NapoleonattheGreatStBernardPass,1800.Musée
duLouvre,Paris.
2. Antoine-JeanGros,NapoleonatArcola,1796–7.TheHermitage,St
Petersburg,Russia.
3. ThéodoreGéricault,WoundedCuirassier,1812.MuséeduLouvre,Paris.
4. Antoine-JeanGros,NapoleonBonaparteontheBattlefieldofEylau,1807.
MuséeduLouvre,Paris.
5. DetailofAntoine-JeanGros,BonaparteVisitingthePlagueVictimsofJaffa,
1804.MuséeduLouvre,Paris.