A. Blok in the Poetic World of V. Shalamov

Shalamov repeatedly noted the significant role of A. Blok in the formation of his own poetic system. The work of the outstanding artist of the Silver Age is discussed in Shalamov’s essays (in more than twenty works), as well as in “Kolyma Tales” and unpublished notes about Blok (The Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts). Shalamov emphasizes that Blok is a great poet, at the same time very little studied. It is precisely taken poetic lines of Blok that serve as the epigraph for “Kolyma notebooks”. The article analyzes parallels in the worldview of the two poets (a feeling of the closest relationship of personal fate with the turning points in Russian history); in the imagery (in particular, various levels of interpretation of the snowstorm motif, which has special significance in the work of both poets, are discussed in detail. Shalamov’s succession in relation to Blok in comprehension of this image is shown, as well as cardinal differences in its explication in the lyrics of the two poets). The unanimity in understanding the challenges of art is analyzed (Blok’s idea of combining “beauty and benefit” in artistic work is close to Shalamov’s thinking); in verse technique (special significance of phonetic component). Not only published texts are involved in the study, but also materials stored in Shalamov’s archive at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts.