The Pushkin celebrations of 1949 and Konstantin Paustovsky’s "Our Contemporary"
Authors: Semenova Natalia V. ,   Saint Petersburg State University
Published: May 2023

The article tends to grasp the Pushkin Myth in Konstantin Paustovsky’s works. The author explores the influence of the official commemorative discourse of the Pushkin celebrations of 1949 (the 150th anniversary of Pushkin’s 26 birth) on the play “Our Contemporary”. She also examines Paustovsky’s essays which depict the writer’s visits to Pushkinskye Gory, where the poet’s estate was located. The article enlightens the historical and cultural context of “Our Contemporary”. The method of discourse analysis was applied to the speeches of Konstantin Simonov and Sergey Vavilov. The analysis is based on the conception of Pierre Nora’s lieu de mémoire as well. The first part of the article describes the key components of the commemorative discourse of the 1937 and 1949 anniversary celebrations. During the postwar period, a certain allusiveness emerges in the texts on Pushkin, which could be explained as a consequence of manipulation with linear time that resulted in definite historical parallels between the 1812 War and the Great Patriotic War. At that time, the Pushkin celebrations were focused on regional lieux de mémoire. Thus, Tsarskoye Selo and Pushkinskye Gory were quickly restored after the war to demonstrate the power and growth of the USSR. The second part of the article pinpoints on an inner opposition of Paustovsky’s works to the solemn anniversary rhetoric of Pushkin’s celebrations of the 1930s–1940s. In his essays, Paustovsky decreases ritual pathos that official speeches about Pushkin and Pushkin’s places contain. He emphasizes the metaphors of devastation and abandonment unusual in Pushkin commemorative discourse. The prevalent image of monumental Pushkin is replaced by a depiction of a real man who was transformed after his death into the genius loci of Mikhailovskoye estate. The third part of the article is the analysis of the architectonics of “Our Contemporary”. The opposition of two locations – Odessa and Mikhailovskoye – constitutes the composition of the play. However, scenes that occur in Odessa and Pskov Governorate include hidden parallels that materialize in common motifs, locations, and personage’s functions. The issue that is explored in the concluding part of the research is how Paustovsky’s play refers to a campaign against “cosmopolitanism”. The blending of Pushkin’s poems and ideological implications produces a complicated interaction between authenticity and artificiality. Paustovsky applies the rhetoric of the Cold War period in a broad context (e.g., use of the adjective “rootless”). He provides a different interpretation of the Pushkin myth as an object of people’s love and worship. Personages referred to the people are regarded as witnesses who give testimony on the poet’s life. They also positively appraise the poet’s “words”. The author concludes that “Our Contemporary” reflects the pivotal issues and motifs of Soviet commemorative discourse of the Pushkin celebrations. Nonetheless, Paustovsky describes the poet not as a monument but as a genius loci. Focus on everyday life and the incorporation of Pushkin’s poems reinforce the image of the poet as a private person. Other characters give testimonies that constitute Pushkin’s biography.