Reading Between the Lines: '...A ia molchu', Akhmatova's Silent-Speaking Elegy

Harrington, Alex

doi:10.2307/20467435

Reading Between the Lines: '...A ia molchu', Akhmatova's Silent-Speaking Elegy

Harrington, Alex

Authors

Professor Alexandra Harrington a.k.harrington@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

This article is concerned with the spatial, visual dimension of Akhmatova's poetry and the ways in which she draws attention to the aesthetics of the material text or uses space on the page in order to convey her ideas graphically and to amplify the discursive meaning. The discussion considers the role this visual dimension plays in postmodernist poetics, and culminates in a reading of the last, apparently incomplete, elegy in Akhmatova's cycle of `Severnye elegii', `. . . A ia molchu'. It argues that Akhmatova deliberately gives this text a fragmentary, unfinished appearance, in order to provide a visual analogue for the threatened status of her poetry and to reflect upon her own marginal status in Soviet culture.

Citation

Harrington, A. (2007). Reading Between the Lines: '...A ia molchu', Akhmatova's Silent-Speaking Elegy. Modern Language Review, 102(3), 793-809. https://doi.org/10.2307/20467435

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jul 1, 2007
Deposit Date	May 30, 2008
Publicly Available Date	May 30, 2008
Journal	Modern Language Review
Print ISSN	0026-7937
Publisher	Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA)
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	102
Issue	3
Pages	793-809
DOI	https://doi.org/10.2307/20467435
Keywords	Spatial, Visual, Akhatova, Postmodernist poetics.
Publisher URL	http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mhra/mlr/2007/00000102/00000003/art00012