Tjutchev: Euphony and Beyond

Preface

      Preface       This   book   examines   the   work   of   the   most   euphonious   poet   of   nineteenth-­‐‑ century   Russia,   Fedor   Ivanovich   Tjutchev.   The   research   explores   analytical   methods  of  poetics  and  lingua-­‐‑poetics  in  combination  with  music  theory.  The   author’s  background  includes  contemporary  music  (Kandidat  iskusstvovede-­‐‑ nija,  Moscow  Conservatory,  1993)  and  Russian  literature  (Ph.D.,  University  of   Chicago,  2000).  Although  the  title  of  the  book  implies  euphony  to  be  the  main   subject,   it   is   not   the   musicality   of   verse   in   the   traditional   sense.   Music   (as   opposed  to  the  musicality  of  verse  as  a  metaphor)  becomes  one  of  the  major   leitmotifs  within  this  study.     Another   leitmotif   is   the   vowel   sound   itself.   Sound   repetition   is   the   key   aspect  of  all  analyses,  both  within  formal,  quantitative  examination  and  in  the   complex  study  of  poetic  examples.     The  data  gained  on  vowel  repetition  (in  iambs  by  Tjutchev,  Fet,  Pushkin,   and   Derzhavin)   allow   one   to   propose   that   in   Russian   poetry   there   are   two   main   sound   models   of   the   stanza:   the   dynamic   model   (found   in   Tjutchev,   Pushkin,  and  Derzhavin)  and  the  static  model  (found  in  Fet).     Quantitative   data   turn   out   to   be   capable   of   supporting   the   notion   of   anagrammatization,  and  of  providing  objective  criteria  for  sound  consistency   in  Tjutchev’s  anagrams.  The  revealed  anagrams,  in  their  turn,  help  to  fill  out   blank   areas   in   Tjutchev’s   biography   (Dinesman   2003,   120).   Overall,   under-­‐‑ standing  the  poet’s  intentions  regarding  sound  development  is  shown  to  be   beneficial  for  the  wider  purposes  of  literary  study.   The   book   is   designed   in   two   complementary   parts,   five   chapters,   with   praeludium,   interludium,   and   postludium,   followed   by   Jerome   H.   Katsell’s   lyrical  translations,  bibliography,  and  indexes.           ...