“No way! You can’t crush them, you can’t disperse them!”: Reconstruction of the creative history of the author S.A. Yesenin’s cycle “Moscow Kabatskaya”

UDC 821.161.1-03
DOI 10.20339/PhS.4-26.082

Guseva (Shubnikova-Guseva) Natalia I.,

Doctor of Philology,

Chief Research Fellow

Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

e-mail: shubnikova-gus@mail.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3753-2935

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the creative history of the poetic cycle “Moscow of the Taverns”, which was created during S.A. Esenin’s trip abroad with A. Duncan in 1922–1923. The research is based on a comprehensive analysis of the manuscripts and documents included in the Complete Works of S.A. Esenin, as well as new data obtained after its publication. Attention is paid to the author’s intention, composition, structure, and poetics of the cycles created in Berlin (the Berlin cycle, which was included in the book “Poems of a Scandalist”, 1923), and in Paris (the Paris cycle). The analysis of the text of the Paris cycle “Moscow of the Taverns” (1923), which could not be published in Paris or Moscow, is presented. The article reveals the author’s intention and the integrity of this work, which embodied the social and political tragedy of post-revolutionary and post-war Russia and the Russian diaspora.

Keywords: S.A. Esenin, “Poems of a Scandalist”, “Moscow Kabatskaya”,  the Berlin cycle, the Paris cycle, composition, creative history

References

1. Alekseeva, A.A. «Moskva kabatskaia» S.A. Esenina kak khudozhestvennoe edinstvo // Vestnik Kostromskogo gosudarstvennogo un-ta im. N.A. Nekrasova. 2015. No. 3. S. 103–106.
2. Bazanov, V.V. Sergei Esenin i knigoizdatel’stvo «Moskovskaia trudovaia artel’ khudozhnikov slova» (1918–1920) // Literatura i sovremennost’ / pod red. V.G. Bazanova i Yu. Prokusheva. Moscow: Sovremennik. 1975. S. 120–141. 
3. Belousov, V.G. Sergei Esenin. Literaturnaia khronika. Ch. 2. Moscow: Sovetskaia Rossiia, 1970. 446 s.
4. Belskaia, L.L. Pesennoe slovo. O poeticheskom masterstve S.A. Esenina. Moscow: Prosveshchenie, 1990. 144 s.
5. Voronova, O.E. Sergei Esenin i russkaia dukhovnaia kul’tura. Riazan’: Uzoroch’e, 2002. S. 458–469.
6. Evdokimov, I.V. [Primech. i var. k t. 1–4] // Esenin, S. Sobranie stikhotvorenii. Stikhi i proza. T. 4 / sost. I.V. Evdokimov. Moscow, 1927. S. 323–376.
7. Esenin, S.A. Poln. sobr. soch.: v 7 t. (9 kn.) / gl. red. Iu.L. Prokushev; sost. i komment. A.A. Kozlovskii, S.I. Subbotin, N.I. Shubnikova-Guseva i dr. Moscow: Nauka: Golos, 1995–2001.
8. Karpov, E.L. Dramaticheskoe svoeobrazie lirizma Esenina v tsikle «Moskva kabatskaia» iz knigi «Stikhi skandalista» // Slavianskaia filologiia. Tvorchestvo S.A. Esenina: Traditsii i novatorstvo. Riga, 1990. S. 56–64.
9. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva S.A. Esenina: v 5 t. (7 kn.) / gl. red. Iu.L. Prokushev, N.I. Shubnikova-Guseva; sost. M.V. Skorokhodov, S.I. Subbotin, N.I. Shubnikova-Guseva i  dr. Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2003–2018.
10. Marchenko, A. Poeticheskii mir Esenina. Moscow: Sovetskii pisatel’, 1972. 304 s.
11. Meksh, E.B. Siuzhetno-kompozitsionnaia sistema knigi stikhov S. Esenina «Moskva kabatskaia» // Siuzhetoslozhenie v russkoi literature. Daugavpils: Izd-vo Daugavpilsskogo gosudarstvennogo in-ta, 1980. S. 105–113.
12. Nekrasova, E.A. Sergei Esenin // Ocherki istorii iazyka russkoi poezii KhKh veka: Opyty opisaniia idiostilei. Moscow: Nasledie, 1995. S. 396–448.
13. Russkoe zarubezh’e o Sergee Esenine: Vospominaniia, esse, ocherki, retsenzii, stat’i / vstup. st., sost., komment. i imen ukazat. N.I. Shubnikova-Guseva. Moscow: TERRA, 2007. 544 s.
14. S.A. Esenin v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov / sost., vstup. st., komment., imen. ukazat. A.A. Kozlovskii. Moscow: Khudozh. lit., 1986.
15. Savchenko, T.K. Poeticheskii tsikl S.A. Esenina i ego otsenka v kritike 20-kh godov // Vestnik slavianskikh kul’tur. 2024. T. 72. S. 198–211.
16. Semenova, S. Poliusa russkoi dushi i russkoi idei v poezii Sergeia Esenina // Metafizika russkoi literatury: v 2 t. Moscow, 2004. T. 1. S. 359–389.
17. Chagin, A.I. Neskonchaemyi dialog (Esenin segodnia) // Izdaniia Esenina i o Esenine: Itogi, otkrytiia, perspektivy. Vyp. IV / otv. red. Iu.L. Prokushev; red.-sost. A.N. Zakharov. Moscow: Nasledie, 2001. S. 25–40.
18. Iusov, N.G. Prizhiznennye izdaniia S.A. Esenina. Bibliograficheskii spravochnik. Berlin: Zlatotsvet, 1994. 142 s.
19. Piotrowski, W. Sergiusz Jesienin w polskej literaturze międzywojennej. Wrocław; Warszawa; Kraków, 1967. 184 p.