Estabilizaci´ on ´ Optima

OCTBJICa npO(J)HJIL (KGM-TO OÔBGJÏGHHBIÈ Ha Ô G JI0C H G 3Œ 0É H3B6CTH CTGHBl),

He a cen cK H H , ne M y x c K o è , h o h g j i h b i h T a è n B i.

( 1 9 4 3 ) (1,194)

HHTHaADiaTB JICT - naTHaji;niaTBK) BCKaMH FpaHHTHBIMH KaK ÔyflTO npHTBOpHJIHCB, Ho H caMa ÔBUia n KaK rpaHHT. ( 1 9 4 2 ) (i, 256)

One o f the ways in which Akhmatova was able to adapt to the Symbolists' perspective of women as passive objects of inspiration was to portray her persona as an actual work of art. This approach is related to the themes of the 'sensitive' and 'detached' persona discussed in Chapter 4. Akhmatova tends to portray her persona as a vehicle for art as opposed to an actual artist. Her body is the instrument through which each poem finds coherent expression. Her role as a poet is essentially passive; she has little or no control over the process of artistic creation.

This chapter will consider two artistic media in which Akhmatova identified with the work o f art as opposed to the artist - statues and portraits. It is important to note at the outset, however, that it is not only Akhmatova's statue and portrait poems that demonstrate a tendency to relate to the work of art as opposed to the artist. In most of Akhmatova's poems which concern a work of art - whether painting, music or ballet - her persona is not the artist, composer, or choreographer, but at the centre of the work itself.

The variety of art forms which Akhmatova depicts reflects her relatively generous regard for forms other than poetry. Rather than adopt the stance that the role o f the poet supersedes that o f all other artists, Akhmatova embraced various forms of art. For example, in the following poem, she compares various means by which different types o f 'artists' express themselves: H e m C B C x c e c T b c j i o b h q y B C T B a n p o c T O T y X e p H T L H e TO JIB, HTO X C H BO H H C U y - S p e H B C Hj i h E K x e p y - r o j i o c h « B E D K e n B e , A x e H i i H i H e n p e K p a c H O H - x p a c o x y ? (1915) (i, 84) Statue Poems

The most common manifestation of this theme is the portrayal o f the persona as a statue. This motif is related to the general dilemma discussed earlier of portraying a female poetic persona as a creative figure, as opposed to the object of inspiration which Symbolism demanded. As a woman, Akhmatova was effectively excluded from the dominant image of the poet as active sculptor/artist. She responded to this dilemma by adopting a separate, but complementary image - that of the poet whose body is art or is 'created' by others.^

Akhmatova's statue imagery is normally considered in terms of a general Acmeist

^ According to Susan Gubar, a similar strategy was commonly used in the writings of privileged Western women: 'Certainly women's limited options...have shaped the art they create. Unable to train themselves as painters, unable to obtain the space or income to become sculptors, gifted women in these areas have had to work in private, using the only materials at hand - their bodies, their selves. ' (Susan Gubar, "'The Blank Page" and Female Creativity', in Writing and Sexual Difference, ed. Elizabeth Abel, Brighton, Sussex, 1982, pp. 73-109, p. 79).

predisposition for words suggesting concreteness, weight and mass. Sam Driver, for example, links the theme of the persona turning to stone with the Acmeists' 'love of architectonic mass'.^ This tendency is particularly pronounced in the works of Osip Mandel'shtam who often used the image of the poet as 'sculptor'. His aim, of course, differed from that of the Symbolists; Mandel'shtam and his Acmeist contemporaries were more interested in the 'craftsmanship' o f the sculptor than his ability to animate lifeless stone. For example, in 'Razgovor o Dante', Mandel'shtam writes:

P a c c y a c a a io T x a x , x a x ecjiH 6 t i fI,aHT h m c ji n e p e a x jiaaaM H e m e H a v a n a p a d o x t i c o B e p m e H H O r o x o B o e n e j i o e h sa H H M a jica x e x H H x o H MyjiÆaca: c n a q a j i a h3 r n n c a , n o x o M B 6 p o H 3 y . B J iy n m e M c j i y q a e eM y q a i o x b p y x H p e 3 e n ; h n oB B O Jiaiox c x y jiL in y p H H q a x L h jih, x a x jh oôhx B t i p a x a x b c a , « B a a x t » . H p n 3x o m a a Ô L iB aïox o flH y M a jie H L x y io n o A p o ô n o c x L : p e a e n ; x o jil x o C H HM aex J i n m n e e , h H ep n o B H X c x y j m n x o p a n e o c x a B J ix e x M axep n ajiL H L ix cjicflO B (h x o o q e n L n p a B H X c a n y ô J iH x e ) - c a M a cxaflHaJiLHOCxL p a ô o x B i c x y j i L n x o p a c o o x B e x c x B y e x c e p H H HepHOBHHXOB.^

However, in his poem actually depicting Akhmatova, Mandel'shtam does not use a stone image to glorify her abilities as poet-craftsman but, rather, describes her partial transformation into stone:

B noji-o6opoxa, o nenajit, Ha paBHojo^msBix norjiHAejia.

C n a f la n c h j ic h, o x a M e n e j i a J lo H C H o -x J ia ccH H ecx a H m a jit.'^

Thus, one of Akhmatova's contemporaries who exerted enormous influence over her associated Akhmatova not with the 'creator', but with the 'creation'.

^ Sam Driver, Anna Akhmatova, New York, 1972, p. 108.

^ Osip Mandel'shtam, 'Razgovor o Dante', Sobranie sochinenii, II, pp. 363-424, p. 384. Osip Mandel'shtam, 'Akhmatova', Sobranie sochinenii. I, p. 37.

This motif of the petrified persona is, perhaps, best illustrated by the famous poem "Lotova zhena' (a poem which will also be discussed in Chapter 6 on Akhmatova's doubles). Akhmatova's inscription to the poem is taken from the Bible and emphasises the critical moment: 'xena ace JloxoBa orjianyjiacL noaa^H ero h crajia coJiaHLiM CTOJinoM.' In the rest

of the poem, Akhmatova elaborates upon the Biblical story: H n p a B e flH H K m e j i a a n o c jia H H H K O M b o r a ,

OrpOMHLIH H CBeTJIBIH, HO HCpHGH FOpe.

Ho rpoMKO acene roBopHJia xpeBora:

He n o a ^ H O , x b i M o a c e m t e m e n o c M o x p e x L Ha K p a c H B ie b a m n n p o # H o r o C o A O M a , Ha HJiomaAb, FAe nejia, na ABop, FAe npajia, Ha O K H a nycxbie b l i c o k o f o A O M a ,

Ta c M H J i o M y M y a c y A e x e è p o A H J i a .

Barjianyjia - h, cKOBanbi CMepxHoio bojibio,

Tjiaaa ee bojibm e CMOxpexb He mofjih;

H cAejiajiocb xejio npoapannoio cojibio,

H ôbicxpbie HOFH K aeMJie npHpocjiH.

Kxo aceHHmny xy OHJiaKHBaxb byAex?

He MeHbmeè jihmhhxchona na yxpax?

Jlnmb c e p A U e M o e HHKOFAa H e a a b y A e x

OxAaBmyio acnanb aa eAHHCXBeHHbm BaxjiaA. (1 9 2 2 -2 4 ) (i, 147-48)

In becoming a pillar of salt. Lot's wife is recast into a kind of statue or memorial. Her physical body is transformed into something permanent; she literally becomes rooted to the earth. Thus, her personal memories, as well as the actual action of looking back, are preserved for eternity. Her body serves as a kind of artistic medium.^

^ Akhmatova's link with Lot's wife is reinforced in another poem written in 1946, 'Vtoraia godovshchina', which marks the second anniversary of Akhmatova's return to Leningrad (quoted in full in Chapter 6).

Another example of Akhmatova's use of her statue imagery is Rekviem. The disciple who stands at the foot of the Cross in 'Raspiatie', for example, reacts by 'turning into stone'

('y n eH H K jiioÔ H M L iô K B M eH eji) (I, 368). Similarly, she describes her son's 'terrible eyes' as

'suffering turned to stone' ('KaMeHejioe cTpa^aHLe'), and in 'Prigovor', she writes, y M e n a c e r o f l n a M H o r o a e j i a :

Haflo uaMaTL go Konua yÔHTB, Haa;o, axob flyma OKaMenejia, H a a ;o CHOBa n a y a H T t c a x c h t l . (i, 365)

In the last poem of this cycle, the reader is especially encouraged to identify the speaker/persona as Akhmatova, herself. She describes her transformation into a 'monument' that will ensure the preservation of her memory, even beyond death:

A e c j iH K o r fla -H H Ô y flb b 3 t o h c x p a n e B oajT B H X H yxb a a a y M a i o x n a M a x H H K M n e ,

Coxjiacbe na 3xo flaio xopacecxBo, Ho x o J iL K o c ycjiO B L C M - H e cxaB H X L e r o

Hh o k o j i o Mopa, r«e a pojïHJiacb: Hocjieflnaa c MopeM pasopBana cBasL,

Hh b u a p c K O M c a w y a a B e x n o r o n n a , T f le x e H L ô e s y x e m n a a n n r e x M e n a , A 3^tecL, r^e c x o a j i a a x p n c x a a a c o B H r^e * a a Mena ne o x k p l i j i h s a c o B . 3 a x e M , H x o h b c M e p x H Ô J ia a c en H O H 6o k)c l S aÔM XB r p o M B ix a H H e a e p n t i x M a p y c t . 3 a 6 t i x t , K aK n o c x t u i a a x j i o n a j i a # B e p b H B B iJia c x a p y x a K aK p a n e n t i H 3 B ep i> .

H nycxL c nenoABirjKHLix h 6p o h3 0b l i x BeK KaK cjieati cxpynxca noflxaaBmnn cner,

H r o j iy Ô B T io p e M H b iH n y c T B r y jiH T B ^ a j in , H THXO i m y x n o Hese K O paÔ JiH . (i, 370 )

This image fulfils the prophecy which Akhmatova recalls in her memoirs:

Kor«a MHe 61.1J10 15 j i c t, h m l i x q i j i h na %ane b Jlycxqopche, npoeaxcaa xax-TO

MHMO 3Toro Mecxa, MaMa npejDpioxŒJia Mne c o h x h h nocMoxpexL na aany

CapaKHHH, Koxopyio a npexfle ne BH^ejia. Y Bxo#a b Hsôymxy a cKaaajia:

« 3 « e c L Koxfla-HHÔyflit ôyaex MGMopHaabnaa fljocxa». YL ne ômaa XEnecaaBna.

3x0 ÔLUia npocxo xjiynaa myxxa. MaMa oropanaacb. « B o x e , xax a naoxo xe6a

BOCHHxaaa», - cxaaaaa ona.^

These images differ fi’om that in Lotova zhena' in that Akhmatova relies upon others to erect such a monument. This distinction is significant: it reflects Akhmatova's progression from a poet of essentially private themes to that of civic poet. Whereas Lot's wife, as a pillar of salt, preserves her personal experience of singing, spinning and bearing children, Akhmatova's monument will embody the experience of all the suffering people of Russia. As Michael Basker notes, '...instead of looking upon and praying for the suffering and sundered narod, the poet now merges completely with them as the instrument of their expression....'^

In other poems, this motif of the persona's body as a statue is only indirectly apparent. In the poem 'Uedinenie', for example, Catriona Kelly suggests that the adjective 'slender' (cxponnan) may render the 'tower' a metaphor for Akhmatova's own body:*

^Anna Akhmatova, 'Korotko o sebe', Sochineniia, II, p. 240.

^ Michael Basker, 'Dislocation and Relocation in Akhmatova's "Rekviem"', in The Speech o f Unknown Eyes, I, pp. 5-26, p. 21.

T a x MHoro xaMnen ô p o m e n o b mchh, H to hh ofliHH H3 HHX y x e He CTpamen,

H CTpoHHOH ôaniHGH cTajia aanaana,

Bbicokok) cpe^H bmcokhx ôamcH.

CxpoHTejieH e e ÔJiaro^apio,

IlycTL Hx 3a6oT a h nenajiL MHHyex.