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

poets. For Ivanov, whose following and reputation in emigration were based more on his
philosophical and literary essays than on his poetry, the discovery that his early verse
was read and translated in England must have come as a very welcome surprise. It was
in fact somewhat astonishing that Bowra should have included three poems by this
largely forgotten poet in his anthology. What prompted his choice? Was it really just the
result of a chance discovery while browsing along the Russian literature shelves of the
London Library, as his letter to Ivanov would seem to suggest? Or had his attention
already been drawn to Ivanov by other sources? He might well have come across the
thought-provoking discussion of Ivanov’s verse in D.S. Mirsky's pioneering study,
Contemporary Russian Literature: 1881-1925 (published in 1926, this was the first
account of Ivanov's work to appear in English in a book). 7 He is even more likely to
have read about Ivanov in Vladimir Pozner’s Panomara de la littérature russe
contemporaine (1929), as he owned a copy of this book; Pozner’s account emphasizes
Ivanov’s background as a scholar of classical antiquity, the dry, academic side of his
poetic universe, and his bookish use of Greek mythology. 8 Bowra’s personal library,
preserved in Wadham College, also contains a beautifully bound copy of Russkii
Parnass (Russian Parnassus), an anthology of Russian verse published in Leipzig
around 1920, including eleven poems by Ivanov; the last of these poems, ‘Put’ v
Emmaus’ (The Road to Emmaus), is marked by hand with a dash in the table of contents
and was chosen by Bowra for translation and inclusion in his book of Russian verse. 9
Bowra may also have sampled Ivanov's poetry in English translation from some
7 D.S. Mirsky, Contemporary Russian Literature: 1881-1925 (New York: Knopf, 1926), 205-9, 353-4.
Mirsky also published a few earlier articles on Ivanov in The London Mercury in the 1920s. For a
chronological account of criticism of Ivanov, see Davidson, Viacheslav Ivanov: A Reference Guide.
8 Vladimir Pozner, Panorama de la littérature russe contemporaine (Paris: Editions KRA, 1929), 184-9.
The copy in Wadham College library from Bowra’s library, numbered B2928, was purchased in Oxford
from B.H. Blackwell.
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