B. L. Pasternak’s Five Tales about art: towards the interpretation of the cycle

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Abstract

The article offers an interpretation of the cycle Five Tales, that opens B. L. Pasternak’s fourth book of poetry, Themes and Variations. Through textual analysis, the instantiation of the book’s main «themes» (inspiration, art, love, nature, temptation) in the cycle is outlined, as well as their mergence into a unified composition. Furthermore, the article explores the mechanisms of transposition and variation of the «themes» borrowed by the author from his predecessors: Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin, and Blok. Five Tales is showcased as a «system-forming» cycle that defines the foundational motifs of Themes and Variations as a whole and the logic of the book’s unfolding.

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About the authors

Georgii Vladimirovich Kunitsyn

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Author for correspondence.
Email: georg2399@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6542-0503

Assistant, Postgraduate Student

Russian Federation

Daria Konstantinovna Polivanova

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Email: dasha.polivanova@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0185-5361

Docent

Russian Federation

Konstantin Mikhailovich Polivanov

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Email: polivanovnew@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0647-3162

Professor

Russian Federation

References

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