Petrarch and his “Canzoniere” in the Russian culture of the 20th century

Abstract

The subject and material of research is the lyrical heritage of Petrarch in Russian culture of the 20th century, from the late 1890s to the early 1990s. While the pre-revolutionary Petrarch has been researched extensively, the Soviet, despite the significance of the achieved results, remains almost unexamined. Despite the ideological an aesthetic discrepancy between the poets of the Russian Silver Age and those of the Soviet school of translation, there is a clear continuity between the pre revolutionary and Soviet images of Petrarch. If we consider translations of Petrarch not in isolation, but as part of the general process of the culture’s appeal to his name, we should admit: throughout the 20th century, Petrarch’s reception in Russia is subordinated to one principle which is science popularization. Translations of Vyach. Ivanov demonstrate the search by Russian modernism for its historical origins, their inclusion in the debate about the “new art”. Ivanov’s translations, taken as part of Gershenzon’s edition of Petrarch and in the context of the preceding scientific publications, go beyond the actual literary pursuits, become part of the educational trend. At the same time, throughout the 20th century Petrarch in Russia acts not only as an object of educational aspirations, but also as an object of selfknowledge. According to the internal processes of the Russian society development, Petrarch was interpreted, firstly, as an individualist, deepened in himself and in introspection; then, as a writer breaking off with the old in the name of the new; finally, as a humanist-intellectual who realizes the wealth of his inner world. These three interpretations corresponded with the scientific approaches to Petrarch in different periods of the 20th century, they also determined three images of the Russian Petrarch in the 20th century.

Keywords:

Petrarch in Russian culture, Russian literature of the 20th century, Russian translations of “Canzoniere”, Petrarch in the USSR, Boris I. Purishev