Bies na dnie butelki… Myśli i konteksty do relektury poematu Jerofiejewa

• Authors: Anna Legeżyńska
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

In different European cultures a word „devil” implies universal association with a conceptof evil, sin and punishment. In my essay it is a metaphor of modern subject division. Thedevil in the form of alcohol steals consciousness from a person, a fight with evil ends infailure. The most prominent example of „alcohol prose” in Russian literature is VenedictYerofeyev’s book Moscow-Petushki. For the first time it was available in Poland in 1976thanks to “emigrant translation” (no censorship), then reprinted as an allegory of Soviet totalitarianism.Nowadays it requires new interpretation, therefore I choose new contexts andexamples: a poem by Jerzy Liebert, pieces of prose by Malcolm Lowry (Under the Volcano),Marek Hłasko (Loop) and other Polish newest literary works. Analysing Russian narrativepoem I pay attention to the problem of individual freedom in a desacralized world, wherethere are no moral values. I show a route of life-peregrination as a vicious circle that may bebroken only by death. Character created by Yerofeyev is a person, who gave his “soul” (i.e.his identity) to the “devil”, but he did not made any choice, because he had been predestinedto existence without consciousness.

Keywords

PL

Venedikt Erofeev; Moskva-Petushki; interpretation

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycystyczne; Uniwersytet Śląski
• Journal: Przegląd Rusycystyczny
• Year: 2012
• Issue: 1/2

Dates

published

2020-03-22

Contributors

author

Anna Legeżyńska