L.I. Strakhovsky: Between Symbolism and Acmeism (Based on Foreign Publications)

The article is devoted to L.I. Strakhovsky (alias Leonid Chatsky; 1898—1963), a Russian writer and poet of the first wave of emigration, and his poetry and prose reflected in foreign publications of his works in Russian. Returning to our culture the name of this author, now half-forgotten in his homeland, and introducing this name into literary studies, the article tries to reveal the thematic and stylistic diversity of L.I. Strakhovsky’s poetry and prose. The research’s object is foreign publications of L.I. Strakhovsky’s artistic works in separate books, almanacs and periodicals published in Belgium, Germany, Canada and identified through collection catalogues of leading Russian libraries (the Russian State library, the Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russia Abroad) and library resources that display foreign Russian-language publications by L.I. Strakhovsky. The article highlights and analyzes the main stylistic (symbolism, acmeism, “junior acmeism”) and thematic (autobiographical, English, mystical) components of L.I. Strakhovsky’s works, reveals the components’ individual features, the originality of their constancy and mutual influence. The main of these features is that L.I. Strakhovsky’s works can be stylistically periodized on the basis of the author’s increased propensity to cyclize his works though without creative evolution in the usual sense and with the stable nature of his working throughout his life. To review the publications and analyze the nature of L.I. Strakhovsky’s works, the article draws on the context of Russian and emigrant literature of his era, creatively associated with L.I. Strakhovsky and its main figures, and notes his literary and cultural influence.

L.I. Strakhovsky, poetry, prose, symbolism, acmeism, “junior acmeists”, autobiographical motives, English motives, mystical motives, thematic and stylistic diversity

1. Strakhovsky L.I. Lad’ya: sobranie stikhotvorenii [Shallop: collected poems]. Salamandra P.V.V. Publ., 2017, 117 p. Available at: https://vk.com/wall-70507703?offset=160&w=wall-70507703_557 (accessed 10.05.2020).

2. Strakhovsky L.I. In the Junior Year: (Memories of the Lyceum), Sovremennik: zhurnal russkoi kul’tury i natsional’noi mysli [The Contemporary: Journal of Russian Culture and National Thought]. Toronto, 1961, no. 4, pp. 77—80 (in Russ.).

3. Strakhovsky L.I. About Gumilyov. (1886—1921), Sovremennik: zhurnal russkoi kul’tury i natsional’noi mysli [The Contemporary: Journal of Russian Culture and National Thought], 1961, no. 4, pp. 60—61 (in Russ.).

4. Baza dannykh “Knigi na russkom yazyke, izdannye za rubezhom, 1927—1991” [“Books in Russian Published Abroad, 1927—1991” Database]. Available at: http://infoculture.rsl.ru/RSKD/asp/RUZ/uif_ruzar.htm (accessed 10.05.2020).

5. Chatsky L. Lad’ya: stikhi [Shallop: poems]. Berlin, E.A. Gutnova v Berline Publ., 1922, 58 p.

6. Strakhovsky L.I. From the “Dark Pierrot” Cycle: “The Smell of your Facepowder Is Spicy and Sweet...”, Mednyi Vsadnik: al’manakh [The Bronze Horseman: almanac]. Berlin, Mednyi Vsadnik Publ., book 1, 300 p. (in Russ.).

7. Strakhovsky L.I. U antikvara: stikhi [At the Antique Dealer: poems]. Brussels, Russkikh Pisatelei v Bel’gii “Edinorog” Publ., 1927, 17 p.

8. Gumilyov N.S. Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism, Ot simvolizma do “Oktyabrya” [From Symbolism to “The October”]. Moscow, Novaya Moskva Publ., 1924, 303 p. (in Russ.).

9. Strakhovsky L.I. Dolg zhizni: Tret’ya kniga stikhov [The Debt of Life: The Third Book of Poems], 1953, 60 p.

10. Scheffauer H.G. Korabl’ shampanskogo [Champagne Ship]. Berlin, Gutnov Publ., 1922, 115 p.

11. Mandelstam O.E. The Morning of Acmeism, Literaturnye manifesty: ot simvolizma k Oktyabryu: sbornik materialov [Literary Manifests: From Symbolism to the October: collected materials]. Moscow, Federatsiya Publ., 1929, 300 p. (in Russ.).

12. Strakhovsky L.I. From the “War” Cycle: “The Northern Sky is Burning with the Dawn...”, Spolokhi: literaturno-khudozhestvennyi i obshchestvennyi ezhemesyachnyi zhurnal [The Flashes: Literary, Artistic and Social Monthly Journal]. Berlin, E.A. Gutnov Publ., 1922, no. 13, 48 p. (in Russ.).

13. Strakhovsky L.I. About Modern English Literature, Spolokhi: literaturno-khudozhestvennyi i obshchestvennyi literaturnyi zhurnal [The Flashes: Literary, Artistic and Social Monthly Journal], E.A. Gutnov Publ., 1922, no. 12, 57 p. (in Russ.).

14. Strakhovsky L.I. Fantazii lorda Genri [Lord Henry’s Airy Dreams]. Berlin, E.A. Gutnov Publ., 1922, 113 p.

15. Strakhovsky L.I. Misteriya v vos’mi rasskazakh [A Mystery in Eight Stories]. Brussels, Edinorog Publ., 1926, 73 p.

16. Strakhovsky L.I. The Birth of Satan: romantic poem, Sovremennik: zhurnal russkoi kul’tury i natsional’noi mysli [The Contemporary: Journal of Russian Culture and National Thought]. Toronto, 1961, no. 3, 64 p. (in Russ.).