Intellectual hands. I. Lisnyanskaya’s narrative poem The Circle [Krug] as a variant of autofiction

Abstract

The article discusses the autobiographical narrative poem The Circle [Krug], often referred to by critics as the crowning glory of I. Lisnyanskaya’s oeuvre. The poem consists of fifteen parts: a classic crown of sonnets written in keeping with the English tradition, with a cathartic final mastersonnet. Each sonnet consists of fourteen lines with a crossed and plain rhyme. In her reconstruction of the poem’s plot and its mentions in Lisnyanskaya’s interviews and reminiscences, G. Kalinkina considers The Circle to be an example of autofiction that paints a faithful portrait of the author, a ‘defiled time,’ and history, of which the protagonist is a part. The critic also examines the poem’s allusions, including implicit references to pivotal events in Lisnyanskaya’s personal life (work as a hospital aide during World War II, interrogations by NKVD, and time at a psychiatric hospital) and fellow poets of an older generation: A. Akhmatova, M. Petrovykh, and S. Lipkin, who each ‘taught’ her a valuable ‘lesson.’ The Circle shows how well.