American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Akhmatova i Blok. K probleme postroeniia poeticheskogo dialoga:
'blokovskii' tekst Akhmatovoi by V. N. Toporov
Review by: Sonia Ketchian
Source: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 483-485
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/307746
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 Reviews 483

EKaTepwHa KyneuosBa. <<flonlwcOHMw MF CWMBOJ1OB: CTaTbM O BenoM,

w Conory6e>>. TOpOHTO: 103A. "COBpeMeHHMK", 1981,100 CTp., 10.00 ~

In his editor's preface, A. Gidoni makes the point that while one may s
some literary criticism to the literature being discussed, "it is still bet
literary investigation stimulates a renewed interest in what has alrea
perhaps re-read many times." (5) This statement neatly sums up the
essays that follow. All of them would make good prefaces to the indi
focus on and would provoke renewed attention to certain features of th
them perhaps do not go beyond reviewing what is already generally kno
while others provide fresh insights as well. All are gracefully written
that avoids ponderousness but also frivolity.
The first essay, "O vlijanii V1. Solov'eva na Bloka i Belogo," is the on
theme that adds little or nothing new to our knowledge. The second
tajnovedenija u Andreja Belogo," is a good, brief synthesis of the in
Steiner on Belyj, the best I have read on this important subject. "Simvo
v poeme Belogo 'Xristos Voskres"' is the first really thorough analysi
work and a masterpiece of pithy commentary, perhaps the best essay in
the succeeding essays, "Potok soznanija i mif v 'Serebrjanom golube'
revoljucija v 'Peterburge' Belogo," "Podpol'e v 'Peterburge' Belogo,
'StraAnyj mir' Bloka," "Psixologiteskaja allegorija v 'Ogennom ange
"Perepevnaja polifonija v 'Melkom bese' Sologuba," the titles of which g
the respective contents, have stimulating insights to offer. The Brjusov
lar, which brings Jungian psychology to bear on "Ognennij angel," mig
new appreciation of the novel. In short, KuleSova's book is to be recomm
and I think pleasurable reading even for those thoroughly familiar w
question.

Gerald JaneCek, University ofKentucky

B. H. TonopoB. <<AxMaTOBa 61noK. K npo6neMe nocTpoeHM1 no3TWMeCKoro Mwanora:

'6njOKOBCKW' TeKCT AXMaTOBO0>> (Modern Russian Literature and Culture. Studies
and Texts, 5) Berkeley: Berkeley Slavic Specialities, 1981. 202 pp.

A quote from Axmatova on PuSkin transforming borrowings beyond recognition in the

crucible of his genius inaugurates an investigation predicated on tracing correspondences
between Axmatova and Blok in the main part, Axmatova and Belyj, Axmatova and E.TA.
Hoffman in two supplements. The author begins with the concept of an "open text" in
Axmatova, a device which allows the absorption of new material in time thereby enabling
the reader to deepen an image. Moreover, he singles out as devices Axmatova's usage of
what he terms secondary cyclization (the formation of poems into cycles at a later date),
re-cyclization (formation into new cycles), secondary dating of poems, re-dating of poems
and the introduction of new epigraphs. Next, Toporov advances the theory that through
Axmatova's protestations against any love interest between herself and Blok, she deliber-

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484 Slavic and East European Journal

ately augmented the "legend" through repeated refutation and ambivalent introduction
of secrets. Her objective was to flesh out the "legend" with seemingly autobiographical
details which transformed it into poetry utilizing the cryptography discerned in PuSkin. It
is not surprising, then, that he argues to prove that Axmatova's "Vospominanija ob
Aleksandre Bloke" consist mainly of quotations from Blok's entries on meetings with her
in his "Zapisnye kni&ki." Intentionally eschewing mention of their unrecorded meetings
which could not have possibly escaped her mind, Axmatova concedes to Blok her right to
reminisce. She installs herself in the literary role of the quoter who, nonetheless, uses
creatively her sensitive understanding of a fellow poet.
Following this terse theoretical introduction the author sets forth allusions, corres-
pondences and quotations from Blok in Axmatova. The first to be treated, "bez lica i
nazvan'ja" in Poema bez geroja, has its provenance in Blok's "Arfy i skripki." Its mutations
are traced for several pages. Put simply, the principal approach to the correspondences is
movement from the most obvious source to its transmutations. The starting point for an
image is frequently the Poema.
There are several excellent discoveries. Foremost among them is the correction to
Zirmunskij's assumption concerning the inappropriateness for Blok in his role of the
demonic lover the line from the Poema "Kak sopernik ego rumjan." Toporov explains it as
a quote from Blok as well as the true rosiness of his youthful face. The author is innovative
in his treatment of the Spanish theme. Furthermore, he finds that in Axmatova poems
connected with Blok are crafted on the basis of a "Blokian" vocabulary or of unobtrusive
reminiscences. Toporov shows the constant variations on the work of Blok convincingly.
Among the study's successes can be listed the explanation of the place in Axmatova's line
"I pod arkoj na Galernoj" not only as a favorite site for trysts but, more importantly, as
Blok's residence of three years. The investigator traces the privotal image ofptica-toska to
Blok. Also felicitously identified is Axmatova's introduction in her poem "Milomu" as
stemming from Blok.
The study shows that the "Blokian" text in Axmatova was presented before the
"personal relations" between the poets became significant and that the text did not
disappear upon Blok's death. It remains unclear whether Toporov is intimating the
possibility of closer ties than admitted by Axmatova. Be that as it may, to the end of her
life Axmatova pursued her poetic conversation by dialoguing, as it were, Blok's and her
own early poems and converting facts of the external world into the elements of an artistic
text. Correspondingly, from the conviction that this dialog represents the highest reality
ensues the acknowledgement of the "Blokian" text's presence in her poetry and its
verifiability as well as the acceptance of a reconstruction based on this text of poetic
biography, more profound than a so-called "intimate" one. Subsequently, Toporov explores
common features between the two poets that do not constitute poetic dialog or a complex of
motifs; they assume the form of seven pages of side-by-side correspondences which would
have best been relegated to a footnote.
The book concludes with two supplements continuing the mode of investigation and
finding unity through the neglect of their topics in scholarship. The short piece
"Axmatova i Belyj: neskol'ko parallelej" in referring to Blok ties it sufficiently with the
principal study; namely, an earlier parallel from Blok in Poema turns out to be a montage
of motifs and imagery of Belyj in Blok. Although Toporov identifies the device in
Axmatova as "citata citat" and later as "podtekst podteksta," it has been more aptly
termed a double subtext by American scholars of Axmatova. Of particular interest are the
discussions on shades, masks, mirrors and reflections in the poets and the conjecture that
the theme of ":ertva veternjaja" stems from Blok. Thus the first supplement extends the
main topic of the study by yet another author and draws cogent parallels between the
three poets.

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 Reviews 485

The supplement "Axmatova i Gofman: k postanovke voprosa" is mo

the preceding studies in topic. Toporov treats parallels in the cycles o
Poema as well as a few poems prefiguring it. Next, in what is apparent
entitled "Primetanie," the author connects some imagery in Axmatova
via Bulgakov. Additionally, he sheds light on the Romantic influenc
wonders why this particularly good investigation was not extende
publication.
This solid book could have benefited from sophisticated editing for
the placing of the parenthetic words vo-pervyx, vo-vtoryx at the end
clauses is acceptable only in oral speech (cf. the first sentence, page 64
Toporov inserts a long indented poetic quote into the middle of a s
belongs to the quote of fifteen lines on pages 152-53. An oversight is n
using the Italian form for the word f'jaba which is used more than onc
the Russian 17 volume dictionary, the word "fiaba" in Italian deno
children's play, a fairy tale play.
These minor drawbacks aside, Toporov's book marks yet another va
the study of Axmatova.

Sonia Ketchian, Russian Research Center, Harvard

Boris Pasternak, 1890-1960. (Bibliothbque russe de l'Institut d'6tud

Institut d'6tudes slaves, 1979. 553 pp. (paper.)

In 1975 Michel Aucouturier organized a four-day conference on Bo

proceedings of which are contained in this rather robust volume. N
should be recorded; this one deserves all of the advantages of the printed
when scholars like Bayara Aroutunova, Alfreda and Michel Aucout
Barnes, Milan Djurtinov, Johanna Renate Doring, Victor Erlich,
Fleischmann, Lazar Fleishman, Peter France, Olga Hughes, George K
Angela Livingstone, Guy de Mallac, Nils Ake Nilsson, Georges Niva
Jacqueline de Proyart, Dmitri Segal, Andrej Sinjavskij, Gleb Struve,
and Hl16ne Zamoyska gather in Paris or in any other city to sh
Pasternak. It is indeed rare when twenty-five well-known scholars
javskij calls, "papers of intrinsic likeness" (vnutrennjaja perekliCka
the daily discussions which follow the papers there is an abiding warp
a sustained reverence and accord regarding the measure of Pasternak
A number of contributions in this volume echo familiar themes, fo
nak's connection with futurism, his understanding of realism and
depiction of nature, his affinity with Rilke, his integration of histor
fusion of sound and meaning, and his theory and practice as a translato
categoriestin Pasternak scholarship are left unattended. Among the f
fresh approaches, new critical insights, and a healthy amount of specu
course, departures into new territories such as the function of dreams
disappointment, time and space, as well as the question of"influence"

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