The body as the boundary between the hero and the world in non-classical lyrics

Rakhmatova Alisa Mukhamatovna PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Humanities, Moscow International University 125040, Russia, Moscow, Leningradsky ave., 17 laubernorbek7@mail.ru

This article is devoted to the identification and description of the specifics of the relationship of the lyrical subject/character with the external reality in the lyrics of the non-classical stage of the poetics of artistic modality ^{[1, pp. 221-334]}.  At the same time, the research focus is on bodily images that have a semantic meaning of the boundary between man and the world.

The relevance of this research is due, firstly, to the interest of modern humanities in the phenomenon of boundaries in art ^{[2, pp. 175-192, 3, 4, pp. 374-378]}, as well as to various forms of understanding and depicting the body in literature, art, culture ^{[5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}, and secondly, by actively studying the latest lyrics (let's note only some of the latest works on this topic: ^{[10, 11, 12]}).

The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the fact that, although the phenomenon of boundaries in lyrics is considered in separate works ^{[13, 14]}, the value-semantic parameters of bodily images acting as the boundary between the hero and the world in modern lyrics remain unexplored from a theoretical and literary standpoint.  

The purpose of the study is to identify and describe the value–semantic parameters of bodily images that perform the functions of the boundary between the hero and the world in the works of non-classical lyrics.

Such texts representative of this stage of poetics as poems by A. Rimbaud, M. Tsvetaeva, I. Brodsky, B. Akhmadulina, A. Tarkovsky are considered as material.

It should be noted at once that in this work we are not considering the external boundaries of the work (its "frame"), but the depicted boundaries, which are part of the world of the work. At the same time, the border itself is considered by us as a phenomenon that is ambivalent in terms of meaning: 1) on the one hand, it is carried out in the context of the life assessment of the hero (in the lyrics – the lyrical subject / character), his reflection, expresses his attitude to himself and the world; 2) on the other hand (and this aspect is the main one in our work) – the boundary (including the bodily boundary between the hero and the world) correlates with the intention of the author-creator, denotes the position of the hero in the depicted world as an expression of the author's artistic assessment.

The body can perform the semantic function of a boundary not only in lyrical works of the non-classical stage of poetics of artistic modality, but also in texts belonging to earlier stages of poetics.

So, in A.S. Pushkin's poem "The Commander", the bodily boundaries of the image of the lyrical character (Field Marshal General Barclay de Tolly) are clearly visible:

It is written in full length. The forehead is like a naked skull,

It is highly glossy, and, I think, it is lying down

There is great sadness there (...) ^{[15, p. 277]}

At the bodily level, the lyrical character is separated from the outside world ("Behind him is a military camp [highlighted by me – A. R.]" ^{[15, p. 277]}), and from other characters ("Impenetrable to the gaze of the wild rabble" ^{[15, p. 277]}). The distinctness of the bodily boundaries expresses the stability of the hero's position in the world of the work (with all the tragedy of his image presented in the poem). The bodily features of the hero are described in sufficient detail in the text, and the world external to the hero is characterized (both depicted in the painting by Doe and extending beyond it). However, there is no emphasis on the boundaries between the hero and the world (including bodily ones). This is due to the fact that in the classical artistic picture of the world, the boundaries of the human personality ("I"), on the one hand, and the world, on the other, are characterized by value certainty.    

Let's compare a similar image in B. Akhmadulina's poem "To ascend the stage":

Oh, I'm not used to it, it's not the first time, it's not new

to take into the skin, like a burn, the attention of your eyes. ^{[16, p. 204]}

The image of the lyrical heroine in this fragment, unlike the lyrical character of Pushkin, is characterized by permeability in relation to the outside world – the views of observers (viewers), and this permeability is represented precisely at the bodily level.

Something similar is found in M. Tsvetaeva's poem "The Cave" ("I could have taken ..."). ^{[17, p. 339.]}. In this poem, the external, natural world, represented primarily by the capital image of "caves", and the body are likened to each other: in the first line there is a phrase "Into the womb of the cave", and in the penultimate one – "Into the cave – wombs". The cave and the womb in the above poem are not compared with each other as value-autonomous elements: they are depicted in the horizons of the lyrical heroine as something consubstantial. The body loses the status of the value boundary between the hero and the world. Even if the emphasis is on the "borderline" element of the body, for example, on the skin, this bodily image indicates the heroine's involvement in the natural world: "She could — her own panther skin // I would take it off ... // — I would rent it to a slum — to study!" ^{[17, p. 339]}.

The image of the eyes, in classical lyrics associated primarily with penetration into the inner, autonomous world of the hero, into his "soul", in works of non-classical lyrics may be associated with a tendency to bodily familiarization of the hero with the outside world. So, in S. Yesenin's poem "The soul is sad about heaven ..." the hero's desire to join the higher, heavenly, sphere of being is conveyed by the following bodily image: "Oh, if only one could grow with eyes, // Like these leaves, into the depths" ^{[18, p. 138]}. The "strangeness" of this image (which characterizes the poem as a whole) lies in the fact that with the obvious opposition in the horizons of the lyrical hero of the bodily and spiritual, heavenly and earthly, external and internal sides of existence, they appear in the text "mirrored" likened to each other. The lyrical subject strives to "grow with his eyes" into the earth (which would be natural for roots), and, "like leaves", into the "depths" of heaven. The very image of "sprouting through the eyes" indicates the abolition of boundaries between the hero and the world transmitted by bodily images.

In B. Pasternak's poem "So they begin. In two years ..." the absence of boundaries between the hero and the world, their consubstantiality is already transmitted by the image of the "invasion" of the world into the hero's body: "So summer nights (...) // Threaten the dawn with your pupil" ^{[19, p. 117]}. In the above lines, there is not just a comparison of the pupil of the hero (the lyrical "I" in this text is given, including in the "you" mode) with the night (for example, based on the similarity of color: black), but an image of a part of the hero's body as an "instrument" of the activity of the external – natural – world.  

Thus, in the lyrics of the non-classical stage of the poetics of artistic modality, unlike the lyrics of the previous stages of the evolution of poetics, bodily images indicate the uncertainty of the position of the lyrical subject/character in the world order, the lack of clear boundaries between him and the world.

To consider bodily images with the semantics of boundaries, in our opinion, the concept of neosyncretism, introduced into literary usage by S.N. Broitman ^{[1, p. 258]} and developed, in particular, in the works of V.Ya. Malkina ^[20], is significant. This concept indicates some similarities between the poetics of the latest works and the texts of archaic epochs (including folklore). The main similarity is the indistinctness of the boundaries between "I" and "other", subject and object, hero and world, manifested at different levels of the work. If in the works of antiquity such indistinctness of differentiation of different (including opposite) aspects of being is explained by the specific fragmentation of archaic consciousness, then in the works of the newest stage of the evolution of poetics – the dialogic nature of personality, the introduction into the consciousness of the "I" of the positions (positions) of the other (others).  Neosyncretism as a concept characterizing the lyrics of the non-classical stage of artistic modality is developed primarily in the field of subjective structure. However, in a broad sense, it can be said that neosyncretism is a common property of non–classical lyrics.

The emphasis on the body as the boundary between the lyrical subject and the world is carried out in non-classical lyrics in various ways. Depending on which part of the body is associated with this accent, a special contextual meaning of the bodily boundary is manifested. It is worth noting that most of the poems feature body parts with border semantics belonging to different groups. But, one way or another, a certain area of the lyrical subject's body acquires special significance relative to the image of the world presented in the poem.

In a number of works of non-classical lyrics (poems by M. Tsvetaeva, P. Kogan, I. Brodsky, B. Akhmadulina, S. Plath, etc.), special emphasis is placed on bodily boundaries when depicting an objectified body, as well as a fragmented objectified body of a lyrical subject with semantic shades inherent in these images (rage, incompleteness).

For example, in M. Tsvetaeva's poem "Dream" (poem 1), the boundaries between the inner world of the heroine and the outer world are depicted by means of the body objectified by the consciousness of the lyrical heroine: "A body that has locked all its doors // – In vain! – the cores are singing along the veins" ^{[17, p. 244]}. In this poem, the lyrical heroine seems to be isolated from some part of herself. The image of bodily boundaries is presented here in the aspect of their violation and illustrates the motive of the incompleteness, fragmentation of the inner world of the heroine, which is complemented by the image of bodily objectification. The image of the lyrical heroine, separating herself from her body, also emphasizes her inner heterogeneity.

In some works (poems by I. Brodsky, A. Tarkovsky, etc.), the meaning of the boundary between the hero and the world is given to such parts of the lyrical subject's body as eyes, nose, ears (those parts of the body that are directly related to the physiological characteristics of a person responsible for the ability to perceive the outside world). These are just those parts of the body that are "conduits" between the inner world of the hero and the external reality.

Thus, in the poem by I. Brodsky "Venetian Stanzas (2)", penetration into the horizons of the hero of the phenomena of the outside world is presented as violent. Moreover, this penetration takes place through those parts that act as sensory organs. "The light opens your eye like a shell", "the rattle of bells fills your ear" ^{[21, p. 238]}. An image is formed that involves violating the boundaries between the lyrical hero and the world. The "violation" of the physical, bodily boundaries of the lyrical subject by the world is realized by the latter as an execution: "The lagoon splashes, the dim pupil is executed with a hundred // small highlights" ^{[21, p. 238]}. Thus, the parts of the body associated with the senses are depicted as the most transparent, unstable parts of the bodily boundary between the hero and the world. It is through them that the "expansion" of the world into the "territory" of the subject is carried out

A similar way of depicting the boundaries between the lyrical subject and the outside world (primarily the natural world) is found in I. Brodsky's poems "Odyssey of Telemachus", "December in Florence", as well as in the poems discussed above by S. Yesenina, B. Pasternak.

We refer to a separate group of lyrical texts (poems by B. Akhmadulina, M. Tsvetaeva, N. Zabolotsky, etc.), in which the actualization of the semantics of the body as a (violated) boundary is carried out through images of the chest, abdomen, etc. as receptacles of the soul and heart. We assume that these bodily images are associated with the emphasis in the works on sentimental values: on the emotional and sensual experiences of the lyrical subject associated with attachment, the depth of relationships, or on the sacred significance of phenomena that violate the boundary that actualizes the sentimental experiences of the lyrical subject (creativity, generic and cultural phenomena, love).

For example, in B. Akhmadulina's poem "Description of pain in the solar plexus", the title already specifies the localization of pain in the body of the lyrical heroine. Next, the image of the localization of pain develops:

Fitting into the back and stomach,

near the sciences, whose essence is healing,

The firmament was sick and delirious

in the insignificant body of the patient ^{[16, p. 170]}.

These lines depict the permeability of the heroine by external phenomena: "But it pleases the ailing forces of the universe to be in misery in me, their favorite place of suffering" ^{[16, p. 170]}.

The violation of the boundaries between her and the universe is associated with creative activity and concern for the whole world, both physically (illness) and mentally (the creation of poetry).

A similar type of images is found in M. Tsvetaeva's poems "Two suns are getting cold ...", "Ancient vanity flows through the veins", N. Zabolotsky's poem "Circassian" and a number of others.

Bodily images are also associated with an artistic understanding of the boundary between the hero and the world in those works of non-classical lyrics in which the experience of the lyrical subject is focused on likening the external (usually natural) world to the human body. In our opinion, such an endowment of the world with the features of physicality in the lyrics of the late XIX – XX centuries is not just a figure of "personification", characteristic of classical lyrics and indicating semantic parallels between the human and natural worlds, but reveals the special character of drawing the boundary between the lyrical subject / character and external reality, which needs special understanding.

Thus, the very title of Arthur Rimbaud's poem "The Sun and the Flesh" ("Soleil et Chair", 1870)actualizes the importance of bodily images in this work. Moreover, it should be noted that the attitude presented in the title is towards a certain closeness of a natural phenomenon and a body image.  The phenomena of nature in this work are depicted through images of the human body. "She [the earth – A. R.], as a woman, is made of flesh" ^{[22, p. 17]}.

The earth is not compared with the human body here (in the context of comparison, only the gender aspect is presented), it initially possesses a human body. Also, in the context of this image, the features of the life-giving principle appear: "Like God, she is full of love; and full of juices, // She conceals a swarm of embryos" ^{[22, p. 17]}. In the context of the experience of the lyrical subject of this poem, the pagan attitude towards the carnal principle as uniting man and the deified nature triumphs over the Christian one, in the context of which this connection is rejected.   

In this poem, representing the initial period of the non-classical stage of the poetics of artistic modality (the second half. XIX century.), the body is still depicted based on classical (antique) images. However, the material-bodily boundary between man and the world, for all their autonomy (nature and man in Rimbaud's poem still do not merge into a single whole), is presented as grotesque, mobile. The carnal principle in both man and nature is equally sacralized (hence the definition of the human body as a "temple of [my italics – A.R.] flesh") in the context of lyrical experience.

The blurring of the boundary between the lyrical self and the world can also be conveyed by endowing not only natural, but also man–made (in particular, urban) space with signs of the human body. Thus, in the poem by I. Brodsky "Along the dark yellow apartments", the lyrical subject, moving along the corridor to the exit, acquires the features of the surrounding space: he walks "Along the dark yellow apartments" ^{[23, p. 239]}, but at the same time "dark yellow blood is still running through his veins" ^{[23, p. 239]}. The space surrounding the lyrical subject acquires human features ("hangers look after, // light bulbs shine along" ^{[23, p. 239]}, and internally bodily sensations are characterized through external space ("pain will light its flashlight" ^{[23, p. 239]}. The inner, largely bodily, experiences of the lyrical subject seem to absorb the world, and the external world is endowed with the features of the bodily sensations and experiences of the hero. The boundary between man and the world is depicted as broken.

In the poem by I. Brodsky "On Via Giulia" spatially expressed phenomena (here acquiring the status of lyrical characters) they are associated with a value system opposed to a person. Thus, the city expresses "... a willingness to find fault with the skin tone, // ankles, hairstyle, wrist length" ^{[21, p. 143.]}. At the same time, the proximity of the city to a person is also confirmed, that the same way of thinking is peculiar to him: "Cities, Theodora, are also // characterized by superfluous thoughts, desires for happiness" ^{[21, p. 143]}. Also, despite the city's rejection of the human figure, a connection based on similarity is established between it: "Because you become what you look at, what you see closely" ^{[21, p. 143]}. Moreover, in addition to the unconscious similarity to a person, the city at the end of the work is presented in the context of a different point of view. Adopting human features, the city is able to contemplate it longer. This setting is complemented by a comparison of a reduced character (with the "dissolute knight"), referring to the topic of intimate and bodily, which reflects the peculiarities of the human image in this work, as the city adopts its features.

So, the lyrical subject realizes the reason why the city negatively evaluates a person. In his understanding, this is an unwillingness to discover the likeness of a person in himself. The city denies this similarity by rejecting the fragmentary depiction of the human body. But in the work he is depicted already initially similar to him:

(...) To know how big the desert is

behind the fence of the railway station that gathered the rails into a bundle!

And the stream literally chokes, visibly

because I haven't told you everything yet ^{[21, p. 143]}.

In these lines we see an implicit similarity of spatial phenomena to the human body (hair, throat). This image is not presented as a comparison, but as a given of the depicted reality.

In A. Tarkovsky's poem "The Greek Coffee House", the lyrical subject, describing the domino figures, calls them "bones", but in this context another meaning of this phrase is actualized – bones as a reference to the human image: "Bones rattled // Dominoes." ^{[24, p. 168.]}

Further, bodily images of a person's likeness to the world appear in the context of a female image and a related material and household item (dress):

     And Zoya was serving the cups,

     And something gentle and evil

     The slow speech hid it,

     It's like the sea is lacy

     It fell off these narrow shoulders ^{[24, p. 168]}.

Here, the sea is understood ambivalently, as it embodies the motive of the connection between the human plan and the natural, being both at the same time. And it is also significant that this connection manifests itself through a fragmentary image of the body – "narrow shoulders". The motif of the connection of the two planes is embodied here through bodily images. Regarding the meanings expressed by the key chain of images for the poem, the lace sea is associated with the image in the first quatrain: "... a white stone in wild splendor // Swallows the blue of the sea waters" ^{[24, p. 168]}. In these lines, the stone is personified, a humanized natural picture is given.

In the considered texts, the likening of the external space (natural or urban) to the human body and vice versa also indicates a violation of the boundary between man and the world, which, in our opinion, indicates the neosyncretic features of the poetics of non-classical lyrics.

Semantic similar bodily images are found in the poem by I. Brodsky "She puts on stockings, and autumn comes ...", "Na audiart" by E. Pound and in a number of others.

As a result of the conducted research, we come to the following conclusions.

1. In the works of non–classical lyrics (late XIX – early XXI centuries), through bodily images, the indistinctness is expressed - up to the destruction, abolition – of the material and/or semantic boundaries between the lyrical subject/ character and the world.   

2. Bodily images in the works of non-classical lyrics actualize the problematic relationship between the external and internal planes of existence of the characters.

3. The features of the image of the body as boundaries in the lyrics of the non-classical stage of the poetics of artistic modality are explained by the neosyncretic (S. N. Broitman, V. Ya. Malkina) features of its poetics.

4. In non-classical lyrics, three types of bodily images are distinguished with the semantics of the boundary between the lyrical subject and the world: a) associated with images of the body of an objectified and/or fragmented lyrical subject, actualizing the theme of its incompleteness and incompleteness (for example, "To Ascend the stage" by B. Akhmadulina, "Dream" by M. Tsvetaeva, etc.); b) associated with the image of the organs of perception (eyes, ears, mouth, nose) as the least stable sections of the physical boundary between the hero and the world ("Venetian Stanzas (2)" by I. Brodsky and a number of others); c) actualizing body parts associated with sentimental values (heart, chest, stomach), and expressing the motif of the connection between the lyrical subject and the world (for example, in B. Akhmadulina's poem "Description of pain in the solar plexus" and a number of others). 

5. The violation of the boundary between the hero and the world is also depicted by endowing the external space to the hero (natural or man-made) with the characteristics of the human body and vice versa ("Sun and Flesh" by A. Rimbaud, "The Beginning of Winter" by N. Zabolotsky, "Greek Coffee House" by A. Tarkovsky, "Na audiart" by E. Pound, "Like a finger sail got out ..." by A. Voznesensky and a number of others).

In all the mentioned cases, the bodily boundaries are indistinct or violated. Regardless of the nature of the assessment of the lyrical subject, the theme of the indistinctness of the boundaries between him and the world, their violation, represented by bodily images, expresses the violation of the classical ratio of external and internal, "I-for-myself" and "I-for-another" characteristic of the non-classical stage of poetics of artistic modality, the contradictory experience of a gap, but at the same time this is the connection between man and the world.

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