A poet of oxymora. Sergey Gandlevsky

Abstract

The article is concerned with the works of S. Gandlevsky and analyzes his selected poems collection Rust and Yellowness [Rzhavchina i zheltizna] (2017). Quoting and conducting an ‘image-by-image’ and ‘plot-by-plot’ examination of Gandlevsky’s best known poems (including ‘To find a job at a motor pool’ [‘Ustroitsya na avtobazu…’], ‘On the Death of I. B.’ [‘Na smert’ I. B.’], ‘Something about the jail and separation…’ [‘Chto-nibud’ o tyurme i razluke…’], etc.), the author summarizes the basis of his poetics: the generous use of cento, oxymoron, a plot that centres around a lyrical hero, a ballad-like quality, as well as a combination of the highbrow and the vulgar, and of the classical and the profane in vocabulary and semantics. Without claiming to have discovered something new about the poet, the article provides a valuable summary, a digest of the main reviews of his work and a critical essence of the key motifs of Gandlevsky’s prose and poetry contributing to Moscow text in Russian literature. In addition, Safronova tries to establish the place occupied by the poetics of the Moscow Time [Moskovskoe Vremya] group in general, and its star member Gandlevsky in particular, with today’s readership.