THE BOOK OF POEMS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY ... - TopReferat

быть мудрым в веке сем, будь безумным. 199
The list of epigraphs which follows can
be read as a highly personalized, "mad" set of guidelines or instructions for the book.
In typical fashion, perhaps true to her autodidactic background, Shvarts takes the
epigraphs from a variety of different sources and traditions: two from the bible (#1 and
#4), two from apocryphal works (#2 and #3), one from a Rilke short story (#5), two
apparently from Buddhist texts (#6 and #7), and the final three from poetry by her
Russian contemporaries. They are not linked in any obvious way—in fact, when read in
succession they seem more confusing than enlightening. In many cases the sources are
not widely known (the religious poet Burikhin, the obscure Безумный Линь 200 ) and
appear to be Shvarts's personal muses. She cites them with little or no context, often
eliding critical information that would make them more accessible. For example, the
second epigraph, "Да раздражу глубину сердечную" is cited from the "Lives of the
Fathers" (из Патерика), but it is not clear to which Paterik it refers, who is speaking, or
what is being discussed. It does, however, help prepare the reader for the disconcerting
poetry which will follow—poetry which will agitate the reader's heart as well as
strengthen it, both potential meanings of the verb раздражать. Again, Shvarts
emphasizes the heart as the center of spiritual and physical torment and growth.
The third epigraph is in the form of a riddle and solution: Иоанн рече: Что есть
гроб хождаше, а в нем мертвец пояше? Василий рече: Кит в море хождаше, а Иона
в чреве песнь Богу пояше. In the following epigraphs, no such resolution is provided.
The fifth epigraph, like the third, begins with a question, «Но с чем же может
199 The notion that madness can lead to spiritual wisdom recalls the tradition of holy fools in Russia.
200 I have not been able to find a definitive source for the seventh epigraph attributed to "Безумный Линь."
When asked via email, Shvarts wrote that Lin' was apparently a Daoist poet and thinker, but she could no
longer recall where the citation came from (private email correspondence, August 16, 2002).
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