The town and the heroine at the lyrical cycle “From the Karaganda laptop” by Elena Zejfert

About the author:

Alexander G. Stepanov, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor at the Department of Theory of Literature, Tver State University, Lecturer at the Institute of Foreign Languages and Literature, Lanzhou University (China), poetics@yandex.ru

Abstract:

The article deals with the dynamics of relations between the lyrical heroine and the city which, notwithstanding its name containing the grammatical characteristics of the feminine gender, manifests itself in the cycle as belonging to the masculine one. The generic nomination (city) is preferred to the specifying one (Karaganda) by Elena Zejfert. Being a woman-poet, Elena Zejfert’s world outlook is inseparable from gender, which semantically motivates the differentiation of specific and generic nomination in her verse. In case of Marina Tsvetayeva (the lyrical cycle “The Table”) the relations between the Thing and the lyrical heroine are marked on the basis of gender differentiation, and this is made possible due to the resolving capacity of the grammatical meaning: “the table” belongs to the masculine gender, while “I” denotes the lyrical heroine, a female. Zeifert acts in a different way — she subdues the grammar of gender, showing in her lyrical cycle a specifically female (even on the corporeal level) perception of the home city. The grammatical gender of a toponym for her is less important than the city’s being a male hero. Such gender ambivalence helps show complex and manifold relations between a woman-poet and her genius loci.

References:

1. Akhmetova M. V. Goroda kak rodstvenniki (ob odnom tipe metaforicheskogo upotreblenija terminov rodstva v russkom jazyke) [Cities as Relatives (on One Type of Metaphoric Use of Kinship Terms in Russian)] // Algebra rodstva: Rodstvo. Sistemy rodstva. Sistemy terminov rodstva [Algebra of Kinship: Kinship. Systems of Kinship]. SPb, 2012. Vol. 13. Pp. 111-147. (In Russian)
2. Belskaya L. L. Pojema sud'by [The Poem of Destiny] // Pesennoe slovo: Pojeticheskoe masterstvo Sergeja Esenina [A Word in a Song: Poetic Craftsmanship of Sergey Yesenin]. M., 1990. Pp. 123-131. (In Russian)
3. Galich A. Sochinenija: v 2 t. [Works: in 2 vols.]. T. 1: Stihotvorenija i pojemy [Vol. 1: Poems and Verses]. M.: Lockid, 1999. 527 p. (In Russian)
4. Zeyfert E. Iz karagandinskogo noutbuka [From Karaganda Laptop] // Oktjabr' [October], 2013. No 12. Pp. 26-27. (In Russian)
5. Zeyfert E. Mezhdu pomyslom i promyslom dushi [Between the Design and the Craft of Soul] // Lovec smyslov, ili Kul'turnye sloi: kn. Kritiki [A Catcher of Senses, or Cultural Layers: a Book of Criticism]. M., 2010. Pp. 14-18. (In Russian)
6. Kabysh I. Babochka na liste: stihi [A Butterfly on a Leaf: poems] // Druzhba narodov [Friendship of the Peoples], 2012. No 5. Pp. 39-41. (In Russian)
7. Lisnyanskaya I. Gimn [Anthem] // Ptich'i prava [Feeble Rights]. M., 2008. Pp. 188-203. (In Russian)
8. Mukhambetova A. Muzykal'nye instrumenty v kazahskoj kul'ture [Musical Instruments in Kazakhstan Culture] // Kazahskie muzykal'nye instrument [Kazakhstan Musical Instruments]. Almaty: DIDAR, 1998. 79 p. (In Russian)
9. Neklyudov S. Y. “Baba idet — krasivaja, kak gorod…” [“A Woman comes — as Beautiful as the City…” // Zhivaja starina [Antiquity Alive], 1994. No 4. Pp. 8. (In Russian)
10. Neklyudov S. Y. Telo Moskvy: k voprosu ob obraze “zhenshhiny-goroda” v russkoj literature [The Body of Moscow: On the Image of the “Woman-City” in Russian Literature] // Telo v russkoj kul'ture [The Body in Russian Culture: a Collection of Articles]. M., 2005. Pp. 361-385. (In Russian)
11. Pesni o tebe, Karaganda: stihi [Songs about Thee, Karaganda: poems] / J. Bekhturov, Y. Neterov (Eds. & Pref.). Almaty: Zhazushy, 1985. 190 p. (In Russian)
12. Slapovsky A. Rod gorodov: roscherk ocherka [The Cities’ Gender: an Essay in a Form of an Essay]. M., 2005. Pp. 298-300. (In Russian)
13. Frank-Kamenetsky I. G. Zhenshhina-gorod v biblejskoj jeshatologii [A Woman-City in the Biblical Eschatology] // Kolesnica Iegovy: tr. po bibl. Mifologii [The Chariot of Jehovah: Works on the Mythology of the Bible]. M., 2004. Pp. 224-236. (In Russian)
14. Khersonsky B. Missa in tempore belli [Mass in the Times of War]. SPb: Ivan Lymbakh’s Publ., 2014. 96 p. (In Russian)
15. Shapir M. I. Gekzametr i pentametr v pojezii Katenina (O formal'no-semanticheskoj derivacii stihotvornyh razmerov) [Hexameter and Pentameter in Katenin’s Poetry (on Formal and Semantic Derivation of Verse Forms)] // Philologica, 1994. No 1/2. Pp. 43-87. (In Russian)