Образ России в сборнике стихов ирландского поэта Пола Дёркана «Возвращаясь домой в Россию»

Новый филологический вестник. 2021. Т. 58. № 3. С. 394–408.

Tsvetkova M. V.

The article is devoted to the reception of Russia in the poetry book «Going Home to Russia» written by an Irish poet Paul Durcan. Interest in the Russian culture and literature has been increasingly growing since the first decades of the 20th century. This phenomenon is a result of a series of factors, the major of which, perhaps, is that by comparing «their own» and «the other’s» Irish authors can easier pin down «their own» as reflected in a kind of «negative mirror». In the article, on the bases of “close reading”, features specific of representation of our country in Durcan’s “Russian poems” are singled out and described. The major specificity is that the image of Russia in Durcan’s poetry is represented antithetically to the existing stereotypes of this country. The book of poetry was published in 1987 when Russia was seen in the World as a totalitarian state, where people are deprived of rights and freedoms. In the book under analyses, it is Ireland which is shown as the country with no rights and freedoms. Russia was the country of militant atheism but Durcan shows that god is alive in the hearts of people there, while in Ireland with all its army of priests god has long been dead. The parallels between Ireland and Russia become the key motif of the book. In a number of poems, Russia is depicted in an idyllic way as a place where people are open, pure, and close to nature. At the same time, the author’s vision is ambivalent. He constantly keeps an eye on the Russia of Stalin’s purges and «the party yeti», as well as the tragic destinies of the Russian artists.

Keywords: рецепция, reception, Paul Durcan, image of Russia, Irish poetry, Irish-Russian literary relations, Russia in Western eyes, “Coming Back to Russia”, Пол Дёркан, "Возвращаясь домой в Россию", ирландская поэзия, Россия глазами Запада, ирландско-русские литературные связи