a case of subtext

7/27/2019 A Case of Subtext

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American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages

Annenskij and Mallarm: A Case of SubtextAuthor(s): David BorkerSource: The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 1977), pp. 46-55Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European LanguagesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/306733 .

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ANNENSKIJ AND MALLARMiE:A CASE OF SUBTEXTDavid Borker,The Ohio StateUniversity

The term ubtexts familiar omostSlavists s one used byKirilTaranov-sky n "PNely osyv pobziiMandel'"tama" nd other tudies.1Although omyknowledgenowhere laborated n rigorous etail,a generalnotionofthe termcan be posited.A subtextwould seem to consistof a generalreference r allusionwithin givenwork to a priorexistingiteraryext,theknowledge f which s presumablymportanto the meaningof theworkcontaininghe allusion. n addition o referringo the actual occur-rence of such an allusionwithin ne text, he term s also used to indicatethe dentityf the text lludedto,viewed as the sourceor referent orthatallusion.Hence, forexample, poembyTjutiev alluded to in a poem byBlok wouldbe identifieds a subtext ftheBlok poem.Taranovskywould seem to consider certain criteriaas crucial inestablishinghe existence f a subtext. he subtextmustof courseprecedethe textchronologically,nd the authorof the main textmust,at leastconceivably, ave been familiarwiththeearlierwork. t would seem alsothattheworkalludedto must to some degreebe known or knowable, fnotpopularwithin given iteraryulture r subculture,lthough herela-tivedegreeof tsavailability ouldpresumably arywith heexclusivityfthe intended udience.As to the surface videncewhichmayindicate hepresenceof an allusion to an outside text,Taranovskyprovides n theMandel'"tam rticle nd other tudiesvariousexamplesofcorrespondenceson differentevels of poetic structure. hese include lexical overlappingwitha priortextof one or morekeywordsor phrases,markedthematicparallelismor paraphrase,and even the directcitationof one or moreverses. n addition,f we take ntoaccountTaranovsky's ioneeringtudiesofmetrical onventions,t s clearthat ven theoccurrence fa particularlymarkedmetrical r other formalpatternwithin he poem may similarlyserveas either rimaryr secondary videnceof a subtext.2On theultimate uestion fhow the ubtextual llusionfunctions ithinthemeaning nd structure fthework n which t appears, t is somewhatmore difficulto elaborateTaranovsky's ointofview. He wouldappearto46 SEEJ, Vol. 21, No. 1 (1977)

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Annenskij nd Mallarm6 47acceptthegeneral ssumption hatthesubtext ontributes o themeaningof the maintext.One ofhis suggested ormulationsf thisassumption sthat theintrusionf the outsideartistic ontext ncreases n principle hetotal information"onveyed ythework 1974). In practiceTaranovsky'sinterpretationsf subtextual llusionssuggestthat the term "subtext" sused to refer o a rangeof textualphenomena.This can be seen in hisarticle Piely i osyv poezii Mandel'"tama"whenone considers he diverseterminologyehasusedtointerpretctualsubtexts. ome of hisdescriptiveterms, uch as "poetic polemic,"clearly ssume the existence f an inter-active dialogue-like)relationshipetween extand subtext, lthought isnot specifiedwhetherhis s based on parodyor otherdynamicforms finteractions well (1974). Similarly,he subtext s referredo as a con-textual background" gainstwhichthepoem's totalsignificances modi-fied (1974). Otherterms,however, uch as "pastiche" and "montage,"emphasizethe notionof subtexts s fragmentaryuildingblocks of themain poem's composition sed more to echo or evoke a generalpoeticstyle r typeof textrather hantheexistence f any particular ext 1982,1977-78). Still other of Taranovsky'sreadings ppear to place primaryemphasison the factof "borrowing"mages-that is, following notherpoet'smodel-as an adequateassessment ffunctionn and ofitself.Thislast tendency,with ts exclusivefocuson the questionof origin,reflectsperhaps he critic's quallygreat nterestn reconstructinghe writer's wncreative iographythe "genesis"of thework), in addition o his concernfor iterarynalysis rinterpretation1984).A final ermwhichmight e mentioneds theword"za'ifrovannyj"r"coded," used throughout aranovsky's rticle o characterize heway inwhichsubtexts omplicatethe process of understandingr decipheringMandel"tam'spoetry.Although enerally uggestive fthewaysubtextualreferencesddto a work's omplexity,twould seemthat he mplied pera-tionofdecodings often sedprimarilyodesignate hedifficultyf ocatingand identifyingossible subtextual eferences, ather han to address aswell the subsequent nd morefundamentalroblemof decipheringheirmeaningwithin hepoem.Such a notion f thevalue ofdecipheringor tsown sake, while elitist, s no doubt a legitimate iterary bjective (thewritings f Nabokov and others ndicateto what degree this value candominate work),yetonewonderswhetherhe roleofsubtextual llusionscan everentirelye limited o thefunctionfidentificationiddles.These problems f the basic function r functionsf the subtext reimportant or the future irection nd qualityof work in this area. Thetendencyo place primarymphasison thediscoverynd identificationfpoetic subtexts ncouragesresearchers o seek ever more obscure andchallengingources whichdemandgreaterheights f detectivevirtuosity.



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48 Slavic and East EuropeanJournalUltimatelyuchan approachcan becomeprimarily iographical r geneticin nature,no longerdealingwith hestructural otionof subtextual unc-tion.Furthermore,herelative eemphasis finterpretivenalysis n favorof intensifiedleuthing ould encourage ratherhalf-hearted,implisticattemptst interpretingubtextual eferences ithout xploringll possibleconnections etween hetext nd subtext.Within heterminologyfpragmatic nglishcriticism,he term llu-sionprovides modelwhichmoreor less correspondso aspectsof Tara-novsky'sgeneralnotionof subtext.The processor occurrence f literaryallusion assumes,accordingto E. Miner in the Encyclopediaof Poetryand Poetics:1) The existence of "an established iterary radition s a sourcevalue,"2) the existence f "an audience haringhat radition ith hepoet,"3) thepresence n the textof "an echo of sufficientlyamiliaryetdistinctivend meaningfullements," nd4) "a fusion ftheechowith lements f thenewcontext."Such criteriadeem as less likely highly bscure sourceswhich have notgenerallyeft markon literaryradition. aturally, ne mustavoid toorigid position n thispoint n view of thevery private ssociations hathavebeen discoveredn the worksof somepoets.As to the natureof thefusionof textand echo, which s essentiallyhe problemof interpretingfunction,Minerdistinguishesetweena clearly parodisticrelationshipothetextalludedto and a "metaphorical llusion"entailing n even morecomplex and richer semantic nteraction. o Taranovsky'scatalogue oftypesof surface ndicators f subtexthe adds the notionof "structuralallusion," he existence fparallelorganizationr composition.A dynamicunderstandingf subtextual unctions suggestedwithinthe frameworkfmodern tructuralistoetics.Fromthe structuralistiew-pointofJurij otman,virtuallyll elements f thepoetictexthave to somedegreebothan internal extual spect as partofthe closedorganizationfthepoem) and an extratextualspect reflecting kinship o elements ndsystems utsidethetext.Just s the internal lan of the text s complexandmulti-leveled,o do the material uilding locks of the textreflecthecomplexityf the worldoutsideofthe text.Essential extratextualonnec-tions nclude spectsofthesystemsnd subsystemsf natural anguage, llimpingingocio-culturalystems,ncluding hesubsystemsf the artsandliterature,s well as other haredphysiological nd environmentalivens.Within hiscomplexnetwork f extratextualomplexity,n awarenessofwhich s shared o somedegreebyall authors nd readers, hecultural ub-system fliteraturend literaryonventions peratesas an essential ub-stratum f iteraryommunication. or thepoetthepossibilityfdialogue



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Annenskij nd Mallarm6 49and self-comparisonith hegreatworks ndnorms f traditions essentialforpersonalgrowth s an artist. or thereader,who participatesn theliteraryommunication,heknowledge f thissystem, ained by exposureto literaryexts longwith omeformal ducation,s essential n ordertoacquirethe literary ompetencenecessary o read and enjoy an aesthetictext.4Within he iterary ystem he subtext oexistswithother xtratextualreferences: llusions o a general tyle, hematic r ideational ystem har-acteristic f a given uthor, eriod,genre, r literary roup.These maybeevokedby theuse of characteristic ords,phrases, mages,or any otherelement f thepoem'sstructure.otman subsumes uch iteraryonnectionsalongwith ubtexts nder hegeneral erm 'uioe slovo" (or alienword).Lotmancharacterizes heimportance f thisnotionfor textual nalysis nthefollowingmetaphoricalnalogy:Such is thestructuralignificancef the "alien word."Just s a foreign ody ntro-duced nto a hypersaturatedolution rings bout theformationf crystals,hat s,brings ut the nherenttructuref the material nder olution,o the"alien word"by itsincompatibilityiththestructuref the text ctivates hat structure. . . Astructures not perceivable ntil t is juxtaposed o another tructurer violated.These two meansof activizationonstitutehevery ifeof the esthetic ext. 107.)Fromsuch a viewpointhestudy f extratextualiteraryonnectionss seenas somethingmoredynamichan mereexercise n cultural ndbiographi-cal footnoting.t is,rather,n essential actor obe weighed ntheanalysisand evaluation f thepoetictext.Within hisbroader and moregeneralnotion of literaryonnectionsonemay question heneed to singleoutthesubtext s sucha special phe-nomenon.The subtexts a unique and important ypeofreferenceo theliteraryystemnthat t mplies nprinciplehe uxtaposition ftwoequiv-alent losed aesthetictructures.hat is to say,the uxtapositionf text ndsubtext s a situation fferingmaximum otential or hemeaningfulnter-actionof structures,nd itmaythusgenerate hegreatest ensity f newpoetic information.n such terms, he degree of subtextualityf a pro-posedsubtextmaybe defined unctionallys thedensity fpoetic nforma-tiongenerated ya comparison fthetwopoeticstructures.y usingsuchcriteriawe mayfind hat nother ext,whichon the basis of surface orre-spondences eemsextremelyromisings a subtext o a givenwork,mayproveuponfurthernalysis o be relativelynimportanto themeaning fthework. Whatmay actuallybe happeningn such situations s thatthepoethas employed fragmentrfragmentsf another extnot so much asa meansofevoking hewholeof theother oem (subtextual llusion) in itsfullest ense,butrather s a moregeneral ortofliteraryllusion,perhapsto an aspectof the author's tyle, r of a particular enreor poeticsystem



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50 Slavic and East EuropeanJournalcharacterizingmanywriters. urthermore, e may findthat subtextualallusionsneed notalwaysbe limited o the most surface nd immediatelydiscernibleonnectionsetween exts, ut ikeother spectsofpoeticmean-ingmay onlybe realized forthe reader aftermuch reflection.The present tudyconsistsof an interpretivenalysisof a specificoccurrence f subtextual llusion nwhich, s ithappens, nterpretiveatherthanobvious urface riteria laya crucialroleinestablishing connectionbetween ext nd subtext. he twotextsare InnokentijAnnenskij'spoem"Ledjanaja Tjur'ma" "Ice Prison,"firstublishedn 1909) and anuntitledsonnetby StephaneMallarm6beginning Le vierge, e vivace et le belaujourd'hui" first ublished n 1885). In orderto concentratemore on adiscussion f textual nterrelationship,he results fa ratherengthytruc-turalanalysisof the Annenskijpoem, excludingthe issue of subtextualreference,regiven highlyondensednterpretiveeading.Before nteringinto themain analysis, shallbrieflyddress the problemof Annenskij'sfamiliarityith renchSymbolism,nd specificallyhepoetry fMallarm6.It is clear thatAnnenskij ad a good generalknowledge f FrenchParnas-sian andSymbolist oetryntheoriginal.Out ofseventy-six oetictransla-tionsappearingnthemostrecent dition fAnnenskij'sworks, full ixtyare takenfromFrench iterature,hemajority rom he Parnassians andSymbolists.t shouldbe noted thatAnnenskij ompleted nlytwo transla-tions of Mallarm6poemsas comparedwith seven of Baudelaire,fourteenof Verlaine,twelve of Leconte de Lisle, and nine of Sully Prudhomme.Although hesefiguresmight eem to suggest relative oolness towardMallarm6'spoetry,t shouldbe kept n mindthatpoets oftenhesitate otranslatehemasters hey everemost.The twoMallarm6poemstranslatedare "Le Tombeaud'EdgarPoe," a monument o a poet Annenskij everedalongwith heFrench, nd "Don du Poeme," thefairly reetranslationfwhich, s Setchkarev otes,playsup the themeof thehopelessness f theartist's inished reation ven moreso than does Mallarme.5To judgefrom iswritings,nnenskij elt great ffinityor heformalemphasis f theParnassian chool, s well as formuchofSymbolist oetics,a factwhich s corroboratedyhistranslation ork. n the ntroductionoa series of articleshe wroteon contemporary ussian poetry n 1909shortlyeforehisunexpected eath,Annenskijndicates heunity etweenthe greatFrench Symbolist radition nd earlyRussian Symbolism-asessentially ne literary ulturefor the Russians.6 In this early period,Annenskij ingles ut Mallarm6 ndMaeterlincks thetwo Western uro-pean poets representativefthe movement. he only foreign oems citedarebyMallarm6.One ofthese s "Don dupoeme."Another assageis fromtheearlypoem "L'azur," offereds a statementymptomaticf a generalSymbolist ttitudeoward rt. The appearanceof such a citation uggests,



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Annenskij nd Mallarm6 51perhaps,Annenskij's eneralfamiliarityithMallarm6'spoems,as well asan awareness f thepoet'spronouncedmetapoetic hemes.The poem "Ledjanaja tjur'ma" appeared in the same numberofApollonas Annenskij's rticle n contemporary oetry No. 1, 1909, firstissue). The poem was published longwithtwo otherpoems composingthe"trislistnikedjanoj,"the astpoemspublished yAnnenskij uringhislifetime. he poemis incorrectlyeproducedn Fedorov's 1959 editionofAnnenskij'sworks,where n line 13 "svidetelem" instrumentalingular)appearsas "svideteljam" dativeplural):

IIaITHo sepaa creHolo orl6as,MIIHyTHO e TyMaHHbIHi Hos3jameH...MeITa BecimI, IorAa-To rojy6afa,TBoeRiTIOpMOi rop neii R cMymeH.HJCTo0eHa BepRaHHeManpacHMM,SHJaiaem TMI, pBse0rbcapenenea,HoAJIJye nBabIy Hno.yAHpacHOycoJIHAhaeTno6eAHoro Iyxa.TI HOMHHIIIIbIHIKBeTHIa, HOHHOrO,B Te6HHe TOeaejHC I ABeTbI,H TBOI OHeIHacepOge 60JIbHOrO,Ioia noHeA ae nHeaAOXHeMHICHM.Ho He 6eaaii CBHAeTeaeIMe3MOJiBHlIMAo ap BecMi 6epenr,BOI HHfI IHieH...TaI He MOexTa, Tbi6ygembTOJIaO TJIeHPacKEOBaHHlmrpoMO3ByIHHOjIHaM.7

VjadeslavIvanov, n an articlewritten boutAnnenskij hortlyfterhisdeath,describedAnnenskij's oeticmethod s beinga form f"associ-ativesymbolism,"ike thatofMallarm6,nwhich hepoettakes as a start-ing pointsomething hysically r psychologicallyoncrete, nd withoutdirectly efiningt, producesa range of associationsconnectedwithit,which once understoodproperly, llows one to realize the multifacetedspiritualmeaningof thepoet's experience.8 uch an underlyingoncretesituationrsettingan beuncoveredordeciphered)n"Ledjanaja tjur'ma."The settings a hole in theice over water ("pjatno ierla") momentarilyilluminatedythe sun. The poet-speakerpparentlyazes intotheopeningwhile tandingver t. Therippling atchofwaterhence"rvetsja repeisa")perhapsreflectshe face ofthepoet,who is perturbedo see himself,ikethe water,encircledby the enclosing ce ("tvoej tjur'mojgorja'sej jasmuven"). It is already lear n the first tanza ofthepoemthat he statusof thepoet'saddressee s a central roblem fthepoemandthebasis of thepoem'smulti-leveledignificance.he addressee, mectavesny,"unifiesvariety fvalues,ranging rom, n the evel of concrete etting,heopen



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52 Slavic and East EuropeanJournalwater tself, hich nce reflectedhespringkies, o thespiritualonging fthepoet-speakerwhose face is reflectedn thewater.The object of thislongings expressedn terms fthe concrete ettings the iberation f thewaterfrom he ce prisonbythespring haw. Stanzasone and twocan beseen as depicting hewater'sfigurativeormentnd frustrationver themomentarylluminationf the winter unwhich will not accomplish his.Continuing n this level, stanza threebegins by contrastinghe springflowers hatwere once reflectedn the water with the snow flowers rcrystals f winter.The personificationf the ce hole settinguggests hespeaker'sgrow-ing feeling f identificationiththeopen water.This can be seen in theanguish ndlonging or iberation e shareswith he addressee.As a doublefor hepoet's spiritualelf, s well as his creativenspiration,headdressee'slonging or iberation rom he ce prisoncan be seen on various evels asescape from aralysis nd death n theencroachingce, spiritualiberationfrom hysical onds ngeneral, r theunfettered,nfinitexpansionof thepoet'screative onsciousness.n the final tanza thepoetforesees heactualcomingof spring s a destructive elugewhichsymbolicallyhreatens oobliterate he verydefinition f the self. Thus the dream-addressee srejected s a false onging "ty ne meEta"), while thepoet's spiritual ndcreative elfare seen as incapableof transcendence,nd thusperishable("tlen"). The final ontrastn stanzafourof theroaring nleashedwaveswith hesilent ddressee, lready een as much as a creature f the ce asofthewater, sserts he muteness fthepoet'sownlonging orexpressionin the faceof thefury f the natural ycle.Althoughhedominantheme fthis ather essimisticoem sperhapsa rejection fthehopeless strugglefthespiritualelfagainst he materialforces fdeath, hepoemcan also be taken s dealing npartwith heprob-lem ofpoetic elf xpression. hisis evidenced ythe traditionalesonancesof"meita" inRussianand FrenchSymbolist oetry, s well as Annenskij'suse of the significantuditory ontrastwhichcloses the poem. Even thepoet's contradictoryegationof "meita" in the finalstanza introducesmetapoeticbservationbout thepoem's precedingmetaphoricssociations,in thesense that tcomments n thepoem's structure.The symbolic elf-portrayalf thepoet as a creature rapped n thewinterce and strugglingo free tself s reminiscent f Mallarm6'scele-brated onnet Le vierge,e vivaceetle bel aujourd'hui":Le vierge,e vivaceet le bel aujourd'huiVa-t-ilnous d6chirervec un coup d'aile ivreCe lac dur oubli6que hantesous le givreLe transparent lacierdes vols qui n'ontpas fui!



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Annenskij nd Mallarm6 53Un cygne 'autrefois e souvient ue c'est uiMagnifiquemais qui sans espoirse d1livrePour n'avoirpas chant6a region uivivreQuanddu st6rile iver resplendi'ennui.Tout soncol secouera cetteblancheagoniePar 1'espace nfligee l'oiseau qui le nie,Mais nonl'horreur u sol oui e plumageestpris.Fant6me qu'a ce lieu sonpur6clatassigne,Il s'immobilise u songefroid e m6prisQue vetparmi 'exil inutilee Cygne.9As inAnnenskij's oem,thevictims trappednthe surface fthe ce. Theice itself s described s painfullynd oppressivelyright". . . du st6rilehiver resplendi 'ennui./Tout son col secoueracette blancheagonie"),likethehopelessgleaming fthe ce prisonwhich s a sourceofanguish orthespeakerand addressee n the Russianpoem. Thoughobviouslyhighlydivergent rotagonists,Mallarm6'sswan and Annenskij's"meita vesny"arebothdepicted s creatures rom happierpast in which heywere free

from he ce's confinement.Compare "Un cygned'autrefois"with Meitavesnykogda-togolubaja.") Both are consciousof their ast. The encircledwaterrememberstsformernboundedness,hewarm un,and the flowersofspring,whileMallarm6's wan wouldseemto recallpastflightsnd thefact hathe should haveflown wayto thesouth "la r6gion iuvivre") atthe firstignsofcoldweather. he swan, ikeAnnenskij's ddressee, trug-gles helplessly nd vainly,althoughperhapsmore energetically,o freeitself rom tsentrapment:. . . sans espoirse d6livre . . Tout son colsecouera cette blanche agonie." Escape, however,proves impossibleforboth.The swanwillno morebreaktheholdof the ce "avec uncoup d'aileivre" than hewinter unwillmiraculouslymeltthewater's ce prison.Theplight f the earthboundwan, ikethatoftheaddressee, s to freeze anddie: "Mais nonl'horreur u sol oP le plumageestpris .. I s'immobiliseau songefroid. . ."A thoughtfulomparison fAnnenskij's oemwith he Mallarm6 extshowssignificanthematic ifferenceshich re revealingn distinguishingthetwopoets' divergentiews of thepoet.One ofthe moststrikingiffer-encescan be found n thecontrastingttitudes f thetwoimprisoned ro-tagonists.Mallarm6's swan is depicted as a noble, independent igure,magnificentlyroudand scornfuln thefaceof its fate.Annenskij's ream,onthe otherhand, s, n spiteof tsstruggling,ortrayeds a morepassive,femininereature laintivelyiningndanguishingver tsfate.Annenskij'saddressee has no past or present ontrolover its condition.All hope of



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54 Slavic and East EuropeanJournalliberation s seen in the sunand the forces fspring.ts sole emotion s itsdesperatehopefor pringndsalvation.Mallarme's wan on theotherhandis byno meansa passivevictim f winter. n thepoem'smost iteral evelcaptivitys viewedas the resultof choosingnot to migrate outh in thewinter s swansnormally o. Even whereit givesup active struggle,tmaintainsn attitude fprouddignity,howing corn nd contempt orthespace thatbinds t. As itgrows tilluponthe ce, itsfreezings figurativelyportrayeds the"cold dream" ofcontemptt "dons" in exile.To be sure,theswan and the "dream of spring" re intrinsicallywoverydifferentoetic mages.The selection nddevelopmentf each as thecentralmagereflects rofound ifferencesn symbolic ontent.Mallarm6'spoemtreats he themeof thepoet'sinabilityo create,representedy theallegory fa swan ocked nthe ce. The elegant wansymbolizeshepoet,while heactofflights equatedwithwriting,nd soaring fpoetic nspira-tion. The sterilewinter,n whose ice the swan is trapped, ymbolizes hepoet's ownimpotence o createand his resultantennui."Within hisalle-gory ts struggle gainstthepainfulwhitespace is a struggle gainsttheemptiness f theblankpage and a challenge o fill hecreativevoid. Al-thoughhe truggleeems oend ndefeat,toffersn tsmagnificencenewvalue in place of thepoeticflight. he proudspiritual trugglewithin hepoet,hisproudnegation fthespace thatwouldnegatehim, s offeredsa spiritual alue in itself,hepreeminencefthe nnervalue ofpoeticcon-sciousnessover the outer value of the finishedwork. In his "dream ofscorn" n thefinal ercet,hepoet affirmsimselfs a self-containedalue,the radianceofwhichfigurativelylluminateshe ce around t.Thus, n thefinal ine of thepoemtheprotagonist,le Cygne,"nowcapitalized omarkitstranscendence,ccupiestheweighty inal hyme osition.Annenskij onstructsn entirely ifferentet of associations roundthe mageofthe ce hole.The personifiedatchofwater ncircledn a wallof ce suggestsn amorphousreature,haped bythe cy space that ontainsit and dependent or tspattern nd coloron theobjectsreflected,r per-hapsrefracted,pon t.UnlikeMallarm6's wan,which ssigns tsownpurebrightnesso the surrounding etting,Annenskij's"dream of spring" sitself efined y the values around t.For Annenskij hesoul of thepoet,like the ce hole, s a sort of empty ontainer f reflectedmageswhich sitself ontainedwithin hephysical odysymbolized ythe ce prison.Theamorphousmageof thepoet's selfor consciousness s a bare containersa recurringmage patternnAnnenskij's oetry.1'The Annenskij ext,when viewed in juxtaposition o the Mallarmdsubtext,an be seento takeonadditional hematic alues. ts significancesa statementboutart, s a metaphorical ortrayal fthepoet's inabilityoachievetranscendentxpression, themewithin hepoem whichcoexists



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Annenskij nd Mallarm6 55with and complementsheexistential heme of the futilityf survival, sintensifiedy such a comparison.Both Annenskij nd Mallarm6portraythroughhemetaphor fentrapmenthepoet's inabilityo achieveartisticexpression, etfrom iverse erspectives. he absence nAnnenskij's oemof the centralprotagonistf the Mallarm6poem, the swan,underscoresprofound ifferencesn eachwriter's oeticconcept fself.All thatremainsof the settings a hole in the ice. The emptiness f Annenskij's etting,devoid of the directportrayal f animate ife, s indicative f Annenskij'sgeneralsystemof imagery n which the poet expresses greatest ffinitybetween elf nd the nanimateworldofobjects.

The abovediscussion f the nterrelationshipf thesetwopoeticstruc-turesbynomeansexhausts hemanydimensionsfcomparison pento thereader.Further,t shouldnotbe assumedthatthe mageryn Annenskij'spoem (or even inMallarm6's onnet) cannotbe fruitfullyomparedwithstill other iteraryworks." Such considerations re merely beyond thescope of thepresent tudy.Hopefully, hisanalysisdemonstrateshatcon-vincingndmeaningfulonnections etween ext nd subtext an be estab-lished nthebasisofpredominantlynterpretiveatherhan urface riteria.NOTES1 K. Taranovsky,Piely i osy v pobziiMandel',tama," n To Honor RomanJakobson3 vols.;TheHague: Mouton, 967), III, 1973-1975.2 See especiallyO zaimootno'eniitixotvornogoitma tematiki,"merican on-tributions o the FifthInternationalCongress of Slavists, I: Linguistic Contribu-tions The Hague: Mouton,1963), 287-322,and Ruski dvodelni itmoviBel-grade:Posebna zdanjasrbska kademijanauka, 1953).3 Encyclopedia of Poetryand Poetics, ed. Alex Preminger Princeton,N. J.: Prince-

tonUniv. Press, 1965), 18.4 See Ju.Lotman, naliz poetic'eskogotekstaL.: Prosvelienie, 972), 106-26.5 Vsevolod Setschkarev, Studies in the Life and Works of Innokentij Annenskij(TheHague: Mouton, 963), 148.6 I. F. Annenskij,O sovremennomirizme," pollon (1909), 12-42.7 I. F. Annenskij,tixotvorenija,ragedii,d. A. V. Fedorov (Bibliotekapoeta,Bol'saja serija;L.: Sov.Pisatel', 959), 125-26.8 Vja'eslav Ivanov, O poezii nnokentija nnenskogo,"pollon, V (1910), 16.9 S. Mallarm6, Poesies (Paris: Gallimard, 1952), 90.10 Another trikingxample f theuse of such mageryan be found n theprosepoem"Moja dusa" from hecollection osmertnyetixi,where hepoet'ssoul isexplicitly quatedwith an empty ack. For othersimilarexamplesof suchimageryee also thepoems n "Toska mimo etnosti" nd "Li' tomu, ej pokojtaim"fromKiparisovyj larec.11 WithinheFrench raditionhetheme f theentrappedwanhas richresonancesbefore nd afterMallarm6,notablyn Baudelaire's le Cygne."Relatedthemescan no doubtbe detecteds well nsubsequent ussianpoetry.

a case of subtext

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