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Legacy of Ancient Rome in the Russian Silver

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Legacy of Ancient Rome in the Russian Silver THE LEGACY OF ANCIEN T ROME IN T HE RUSSIAN SI L VE R AGE ST UDIES IN SL AVIC LI T E R A T U R E AND POE T ICS VO L UME XLVIII Edited by J.J. van Baak R. Grübel A.G.F. van Holk W.G. Weststeijn THE LEGACY OF ANCIEN T ROME IN T HE RUSSIAN SI L VE R AGE Anna Frajlich Amsterdam - New York, NY 2007 Cover design: Aart Jan Bergshoeff The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents - Requirements for permanence”. ISBN-13: 978-90-420-2251-5 ©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2007 Printed in the Netherlands To Władysław and Paul Zajac Contents Acknowledgments 7 Note on Transliteration 13 Introduction Off to Rome… 15 I. Departing from Stylization Apollon Maikov 27 II. The Forum of Forgotten Thoughts Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov 31 III. And a Fourth Shall Never Be… Vladimir Solovyov 37 IV. The Contradictions of the Northern Pilgrim Dmitry Merezhkovsky 49 V. Julius Caesar, Antony and Sulla Valery Bryusov 61 VI. The God-Loving Roman Vyacheslav Ivanov 97 VII. From Prophecy to Transubstantiation Maksimilian Voloshin 125 VIII. The Quest for Pax Romana as a Quest for Peace of Mind Vasily Komarovsky 145 IX. The Distant Eternal City Mikhail Kuzmin 165 X. Conclusion «Как сделан Рим»? (How Is Rome Made?) 188 Bibliography 195 Index 207 Acknowledgments o my professor, mentor and friend, the late Zoya Yurieff, I owe what I have become in this country. She urged me to resume T my graduate studies at the Department of Slavic Languages at New York University, where she made me measure up to her highest standards. Knowing that I had spent the first several months of my exile in Rome, she suggested that I conduct my research on the image of the Eternal City in the poetry of the Russian Symbolists. Researching the topic, which had scarcely been explored at the time, launched me on an arduous journey in time, as well as cultural, mythical and geographical space. Professor Yurieff’s expertise in and passion for the Silver Age guided me at every step of my work. I am enormously in her debt. At the early stages of shaping this text I benefited from the editorial and spiritual support of my friends Rochelle Diogenes and Professor Marlene Barsoum. Ruth and Thomas Mathewson were also involved in the initial editorial reworking of the manuscript from the original dissertation. It was not, however, until I met Ronald Meyer, on the strong recommendation of the late Professor Robert Maguire, that serious work on my manuscript began. Dr. Meyer, Publications Editor of the Harriman Institute, offered me not only his editorial expertise, but also his professional advice, and his support, both personal and institutional. My gratitude and debt to him are like Rome itself— eternal. The late Professor Maguire, for many years the Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages at Columbia University, took an avid interest in this book and helped me with his encouragement to the very 10 Acknowledgments end. Just a few weeks before his untimely death he asked me whether I had heard from my publisher. Who I am today I owe to my parents Amalia and Psachie Frajlich. They were my models of integrity, open-mindedness, and dedication. Avid readers themselves, they never discouraged me from my seemingly endless studies and research. Together with my sister, Felicia Bromberg, they always took pride in my books and writings. On more than one occasion, my mother helped me organize the bibliography and fact-finding. I owe thanks to many others who helped me in the process of preparing the manuscript for publication: Mr. Si Sperber shared his expertise in German. I remember with gratitude Jamie Bennett for typing the initial manuscript, and Professor Frank Miller for being helpful in that process. I wish to thank Krystyna Ostrowska of Warsaw for supplying me with copies of texts unavailable in American libraries. I also wish to thank those who provided me with technical assistance: Marysia Dzieduszycka edited the bibliography, Joseph Evans provided technical assistance with the endnotes, and Natalya Novikova typed the Cyrillic citations. I wish to acknowledge the short-term grant from the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which helped me to expedite my research in the Library of Congress. The generous grants from the Harriman Institute were essential on my journey of turning my dissertation into a book. Publication of this book was made possible, in part, with grants from the Harriman Institute, Columbia University. I am indebted to the Harriman Institute for its longstanding interest, support and generosity. My long association with the Department of Slavic Languages of Columbia University has had a tremendous impact on my academic standards and on the standard of this work. It was here that I had the opportunity to meet the late Professor Mikhail Gasparov, the international expert on the period, who was gracious enough to read my entire manuscript and share with me his comments. I also wish to thank my colleague Professor Carol Ueland for her comments on my work. The manuscript benefited greatly from their insightful recommendations. Any faults that remain are mine, and mine alone. Acknowledgments 11 Throughout those long years I had my husband Władysław Zajac and my son Paul with me and behind me. Their support, their love, and their dedication were essential in the completion of this task. I dedicate this book to them to let them know how much I cherish their place in my life. Note on Transliteration For the sake of readers who do not know Russian, in the text I have adopted a modified Library of Congress system of transliteration in the case of proper names. Thus Dostoyevsky, rather than Dostoevskii, Solovyov, instead of Solov’ev. All other transliteration in the text (e.g., titles of works), as well as in the Notes and Bibliography, however, follows the Library of Congress system, without diacritics. Introduction Off to Rome… Only in Rome can one educate oneself for Rome. —Goethe, Letters from Italy ohann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, the last and youngest of a Hessian family of artists, traveled with Goethe to Italy. His most J famous picture is that of Goethe in the Campagna, but his most telling is Goethe at the Window of his Apartment in Rome. Here Goethe is shown with his back turned to the painter, and to the viewer for that matter, looking spellbound out the window, totally absorbed by what he sees on the streets of Rome. That picture tells it all: intoxicated with the Eternal City, Goethe virtually “turned his back” on his northern past and began to look at the world through his new Italian experience. Goethe’s trip to Italy in 1787-88 and his stay in Rome constitute a milestone in the literary perception of Rome. It was there that the main part of Goethe’s process of self-discovery took place and, notwithstanding the many prominent European writers who traveled there and found in Rome their inspiration, Goethe’s position remains unique. In the rich European tradition of admiratio Romae, Goethe set the modern standard and an unsurpassed ideal. Rome has been a source of inspiration for poets since ancient times. Virgil is considered the originator of what is called the “Roman text,” but every poet of antiquity contributed to it, and numerous poets in modern times have been inspired by their ancient predecessors— Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Catullus, Ovid, Ausonius and others. In his comprehensive work Europäische Romdichtung, Walter Rehm points out that the modern “Roman text” or “Roman poetry” was created exclusively by writers from other countries, primarily by those located north of the Apennine Peninsula. Rehm goes so far as to say that Europäische Romdichtung lasted only until the second half of the 16 Introduction nineteenth century, when Italy regained its independence. Although this theory is attractive, it is not entirely valid. Many European poets are still enchanted by the greatness of Rome and continue to sing admiratio Romae poems. Moreover, one cannot ignore the contributions of Petrarch, Machiavelli, and the entire Italian Renaissance in renewing the vision of the past and the development of the modern admiratio Romae tradition.1 Among attempts to evaluate the phenomenon of the European “Roman text,” four works are the most comprehensive: the early two books by Camillo von Klenze,2 and the more recent studies by Walter Rehm and Paul Requadt. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century travelers considered Rome solely as the home of ancient civilization, of ancient writers and art. Only later did Italy as a country and other periods and cities become subjects worthy of reflection and admiration. Thus, originally Rome was more an intellectual stimulus than an artistic one. Not until the eighteenth century, with such great talents as Winckelmann, Mengs and David, did Rome become the metropolis of beaux esprits and belles ames.3 Goethe’s Italy was bound to transcend. His Italian Journey introduced into German culture that southern influence without which no northern culture is complete. However, in order to transform his Roman experiences into a mythic reality in the Roman Elegies, Goethe needed love.4 The poet states this in his first elegy: “Rome, though you are a whole world, yet a world without love would be no world; and if there were no love, Rome would not even be Rome.”5 Thus, unlike DuBellay and Spenser, Goethe makes the identification of Rome with the World conditional, and love is the necessary condition.
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