Vyacheslav Ivanov and C.M. Bowra: a ... - UCL Discovery

Bowra’s energy and generosity in promoting the work of this Russian Symbolist is
amply repaid today in Russia, where his works on classical antiquity and literature are still
read, remembered, and highly valued. When I gave a paper on Bowra and Ivanov at a recent
conference held in St. Petersburg at Pushkinskii Dom, Academy of Sciences, I was astonished
at the strength of enthusiasm exhibited by several members of the audience; the comments of
various classicists and literary scholars revealed a close knowledge of Bowra’s works on
Greek and Russian literature and deep regard for their relevance to the present as well as to
the past. In this climate of opinion it is perhaps not surprising that Bowra’s substantial study
Heroic Poetry (1952), now largely forgotten in England, was translated into Russian and
published in Moscow with a long introductory essay to great acclaim just a few years ago. 4
4 Sesil Moris Boura, Geroicheskaya poeziya, tr. with an introductory essay by N.P. Grintser and I.V. Ershova (M.:
Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2002).
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