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Abstract:

The article analyses ideological and genre aspects of Joseph Brodsky’s work, associated with the imperial theme in Russian literature. By drawing on methods from comparative literature, historical poetics, and empire studies I claim that a concern with space is not only central to Brodsky’s work but also consistent with his imperial thinking. Brodsky’s verse maintains a direct dialogue with Classicist poetry and Acmeist poetry (particularly Osip Mandelstam), both of which dealt with the notion of empire through adoption of the “high” literary style. The Imperial theme in Brodsky's oeuvre also overlaps with the dismantlement of the Russian imperial subject at the end of the Cold War. Against this backdrop, I argue that he was, above all, the last Russian imperial poet.

October 2020: Rafi Tsirkin-Sadan received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include: Russian literature, Modern Hebrew literature, and Poetics of Space in East-European context. He serves as senior lecturer at the department of literature, arts and language at The Open University of Israel. Rafi is the author of two books: Jewish Letters at the Pushkin Library:  Yosef Haim Brenner's work and its connection to Russian Literature and Thought (Bialik Institute, 2013, in Hebrew), and Wandering Heroes, Committed Writers: Nihilists and Nihilism in Russian Literature (Van Leer/Hakibutz Hameuhad, 2015, in Hebrew). Together with Natasha Gorodinsky he edited a special issue of Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature dedicated to representations of European metropolis in Hebrew literature.

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