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Abstract:

This article consists of two parts. The first one is theoretical and examines the problem of commenting on O.E. Mandelstam’s texts: it analyzes previous experiences, compares different commentarial approaches realized in former editions, discusses possibilities and shortcomings of intertextual and biographical commentary. Specific examples illustrate problems concerning the choice of data for commentary. The second part of the article fully examines three passages that underlies commentary. The allusion to Tyutchev’s “Two Voices” in Mandelstam’s “Let’s Celebrate the Dusk of Freedom, Brethren” (1918) is commented in the context of the wider problem of Mandelstam’s perception of Tyutchev. The author shows that the quote from Tyutcnev is fully motivated by the fact that the general idea of the poem comes from the historiosophy of Tyutchev, “the giver of a strong and logical view of life”. However, Mandelstam accentuates the idea of individuality and “the ideal of perfect virility” demanded by the revolution. The second commented passage is the image of “dense curbs” in the poem “Keep My Voice Forever…” (1931). Firstly, the article gives some available interpretations of the image (Gasparov, Ronen); then compares Mandelstam’s motive with the real dungeons (“porub”) described in the Russian chronicles since the 9th century and well known to Mandelstam through some later examples (Avvakum Petrov, Daria Saltykova). The image of the “dense curbs” is compared to the relevant for that time theme of “relegating execution”, that was practiced by the Bolsheviks during the Revolution. Finally, the article examines the phrase “stolen air” (from The Fourth Prose, 1930) and proves that it goes back to Paul Verlaine’s poem “Art Poetique”.