| In "An Unorthodox Beauty: The Uses of Orthodox Rite in Russian Modernist Literature and Culture (1895-1965)," the author examines the intersections of secular poetry, liturgical rite and theology, suggesting that comparing texts from these distinct discourses leads to a more accurate picture of how poets imagined their role in society in this period. The study centers its inquiry on the ways that four Russian modernist poets---Aleksandr Blok, Mikhail Kuzmin, Anna Akhmatova, and Boris Pasternak---employed the Orthodox liturgy in their attempts to present poetry as a means to knowledge that rational thought alone cannot access. In particular, the work traces their varied use of the Orthodox liturgical narrative of creation, fall and new creation, with its unique emphasis on the loss and ultimate restoration of beautiful form. For instance, Akhmatova shapes her monumental poetic history, Poem Without a Hero (Poema bez geroia) around the liturgical trope of Holy Saturday, when Christ lies in the tomb; the poet borrows and refocuses this trope, emphasizing the bleak suspense in which life and historical meaning hang. While liturgical elements---icons, incense, oblation---mark the landscape of many of their works, a reimagining of the liturgical narrative itself lies at the heart of their project. |
