• Unpacking Viazemskii's Khalat: The Technologies of Dilettantism in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literary Culture

    Author(s):
    Katherine Bowers (see profile)
    Date:
    2016
    Subject(s):
    Russian literature, Nineteenth century, Romanticism, Poetry, Russian poetry, Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich, 1799-1837
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Golden Age poetry, Viazemskii, information technologies, memetic transfer, Arzamas, 19th-century Russian literature, Romantic period poetry, Pushkin
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6Z877
    Abstract:
    This article explores the image of the khalat, or dressing gown, in and around Petr Viazemskii's 1817 poem “Proshchanie s khalatom” (Farewell to My Dressing Gown). As the poem circulated during the period between its creation and printing, its central image—the khalat—became enshrined as a symbol for early nineteenth-century literary culture around and within the Arzamas circle, emphasizing a creative inner life and an informal approach to writing. The poem mediates between friendship, honor, authenticity, and authorship and the formalities, duties, and expectations of society life. The khalat image appears in later poems, correspondence, and occasional writings by Anton Del'vig, Aleksandr Pushkin, and Vasilii Zhukovskii, among others. Tracing the image through its intertextual influences, extratextual impact, and memetic evolution, I examine the way it contributed to the development of an intellectual network through information transfer during the early nineteenth century and beyond.
    Notes:
    As per Slavic Review's green open access policy, the version deposited here is not the final version, but the post-print. Please click here for the published version: https://doi.org/10.5612/slavicreview.74.3.529.
    Metadata:
    Published as:
    Journal article    
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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