A passion of influence: Joseph Brodsky’s poetics in Andrei Dragunov’s book "Monologica" (2002)

Abstract

The article deals with the absorption of another writer’s poetics in Andrei Dragunov’s poetry. In Dragunov’s Monologica elements of Joseph Brodsky’s poetical method manifest themselves on various textual levels (rhythm, syntax, vocabulary, motifs, topoi). While the author may not consider it a form of borrowing, the reader is well aware of the other poet’s rhythmical, stylistic and ideological influence here. The younger poet seems to have directly appropriated the “alien discourse”, and another’s voice is not presupposed “in the imitator’s plan” (Mikhail Bakhtin, based on C. Emerson’s translation – Ed.). By comparing the two poets’ verses, the author comes to the conclusion that for Dragunov the borrowed form has become the sole and universal vehicle of expression, preserving the characteristics of the aesthetic norm and stylistic model.