О_relationships_between_Russian_and_English_culture—are—a_long_and_complex_roman.In_it_there_were_and_fervent_involvement_and_deep_influence_and_periods_of_cooling.English_motifs_penetrated_into_Russian_literature_poetry_and_philosophy_so_deeply_that_sometimes_it_is_difficult_to_separate_them_from_the_native. However_they_never_were_simple_copying.Russian_thought_took_English_ideas_melted_them_in_its_kettle_and_produced_something_new_recognizable_and_at_the_same_time_original.From_Pushkin_to_Berdyaev_England_was_not_just_a_geographical_point_but_an_important_conversationalist_in_the_Russian_cultural_dialogue.

Poetic_conquest_Byron_Shakespeare_and_the_Russian_romanticism

In_the_beginning_of_the_19th_century_Russian_poetry_was_basically_charmed_by_English_romanticism.Lord_Byron_became_the_idol_of_the_generation.His_rebellious_personality_his_disappointment_his_worldly_sorrow_found_a_resonance_in_the_souls_of_Russian_poets.Pushkin_in_his_youth_wrote_Bayronic_poems(The_Caucasian_Prisoner_The_Bakhchisarai_Fountain),_but_quickly_grew_beyond_direct_imitation_creating_Eugene_Onegin—a_poetic_novel_where_Bayronism_was_overcome.Lermontov_was_more_direct_his_Demon_and_Mtsyri—are_the_Russian_response_to_the_Bayronic_challenge.English_motifs_in_Lermontov—are_not_only_form_but_also_topic:_aloneness_rebellion_disobedience.Shakespeare_in_Russia_became_nearly_native.His_translations_and_reinterpretations_Pastersky_Marshak_Lozinski—their_translations_of_Shakespeare_made_him_a_part_of_Russian_poetic_speech.Brodsky—the_English_motif_in_Russian_poetry_of_the_20th_century_is_especially_notable.Emigration_thoughts_about_the_northern_character_comparisons_of_Petersburg_with_London—all_this_binds_him_to_the_English_tradition.Brodsky_even_wrote_poetry_in_English_although_he_considered_Russian_his_main_language.

Prose_Dickens_Tekkeray_and_the_English_world_in_Russian_literature

Dickens_was_probably_the_most_loved_English_prose_writer_in_Russia.His_sentimentality_his_attention_to_the_fate_of_the_small_person_his_belief_in_good_and_justice_were_closely_related_to_the_Russian_literary_tradition.Dostoevsky_called_Dickens_his_teacher.In_The_Underground_and_the_Oppressed_there_is_a_Dickensian_prophecy.Even_the_heroes_of_Dostoevsky_speak_of_Dickens_as_a_source_of_moral_education.Tekkeray_with_his_irony_and_skepticism_also_found_his_readers_although_he_did_not_become_the_idol_of_the_masses.The_Marketplace_of_Vanity—is_English_realism_which_in_Russia_was_understood_in_its_own_way.In_the_20th_century_the_influence_of_English_prose_did_not_weaken.London_James_Joyce_Virginia_Wolf_Graham_Green—all_this_came_into_Russian_literature_through_translations_and_emigrant_culture.Especially_strong_English_motifs_in_Nabokov's_prose(although_he_wrote_in_English).His_Lolita_and_Bright_Fire—are_already_English_prose_written_by_Russian_consciousness.

Philosophy_empiricism_utilitarianism_and_Russian_disputes_about_England

Russian_philosophy_could_not_pass_by_English_empiricism.Locke_Hume_Bentham_their_ideas_about_knowledge_ethics_and_law_were_well_known_in_Russia.However_the_reaction_was_ambiguous.On_the_one_hand_Gerzen_and_Chernyshevsky_interest_in_utilitarianism_and_even_tried_to_apply_it_to_Russian_life.On_the_other_hand_Slavophiles_Khomjakov_Kireevsky_saw_in_English_rationalism_a_threat_to_Russian_spirituality_They_disputed:England—is_a_country_of_heartless_calculation,while_Russia—is_a_country_of_soul.In_the_19th_century_this_dispute_became_very_acute.In_the_20th_century_Berdyaev_often_turned_to_English_thinkers_although_he_critical_of_their_positivism.For_him_England_was_a_symbol_of_freedom_but_also_a_symbol_of_merchant_classness.Nevertheless_English_philosophy_became_for_Russian_thinkers_not_so_much_a_source_of_answers_as_a_stimulus_for_their_own_questions.

The_image_of_England_in_Russian_poetry_as_a_symbol

In_Blok_England—is_the_misty_Albion,a_country_of_secrets_and_myths.In_Mandelstam_the_English_landscapes_become_a_metaphor_of_a_strange_but_attractive_world.In_the_poetry_of_the_Silver_Age_England_is_often_presented_as_a_symbol_of_stability_tradition_but_at_the_same_time—as_a_world_foreign_to_Russian_wide_openness_This_duality_was_captured_by_the_poets_emigrants.For_them_England_was_at_the_same_time_a_shelter_and_a_reminder_of_lost_hometown.

The_influence_of_English_poetry_on_Russian_form

Shakespearean_sonnet_became_a_popular_form_in_Russian_poetry_of_the_19th_and_20th_centuries.Pushkin_Lermontov_Fet_Bryusov_wrote_sonnets_following_the_English_canon.But_Russian_poetry_reinterpreted_this_form_making_it_more_free_and_liberal.Also_important_is_the_influence_of_English_ballad_tradition.Zhukovsky_translated_poems_by_Walter_Scott_and_Southey_adapting_them_to_Russian_taste.This_affected_the_development_of_Russian_romantic_poetry.

Conclusion_English_in_Russian—is_a_dialogue_not_subjugation

English_motifs_in_Russian_culture_have_neverBeen_simple_loaning_They_always_passed_through_the_filter_of_Russian_language_Russian_soul_Russian_history.Russian_culture_took_English_and_transformed_it_into_something_else_that_could_not_be_recognized_as_foreign.Therefore_speaking_about_influence_is_incorrect_This_was_a_dialogue.Occasionally_acute_sometimes_ironic_butt_always_profound.If_we_read_Shakespeare_in_Pastersky's_translation_we_hear_Pastersky.As_we_study_Bentham_we_see_Russian_ethics.This_dialogue_continues_today_and_probably_will_continue_as_long_as_we_are_able_to_see_in_another_not_as_an_enemy_but_as_a_conversationalist.

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