Mikhail Yu. Osokin, PhD in Philology, Independent Researcher, Thailand. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3054-280X
The role of Aleksandr Sumarokov in the elaginomachia has not yet been fully researched due to methodological and textological errors. Sumarokov wrote the first ‘invective epigram’ against the ‘Letter on the Rules of Russian Versification’ with the Chotin Ode (1739) and repeatedly criticized Lomonosov’s odes for their lack of clarity in the 1740 s. This criticism can be seen in the epigram ‘O loud, presses…’, which is directed against Lomonosov’s ode ‘On the day of Empress Elisabeth Petrovna’s accession to the throne’ from 1746 (‘On the beautiful summit of Parnassus’), as well as in the handwritten critical analysis of the ode of the same name from 1747 (‘The bliss of earthly kings and kingdoms…’). Between 1748 to 1751 Ivan Elagin served as Sumarokov’s copyist and Sumarokov supported him in the polemic of 1753. The ‘Verses to Elagin’s Epistle’ and the anti-Lomonosov epigram ‘On Telelui’ are anonymous compositions by A.P. Sumarokov in defense of his disciple. These are the only clearly pro-Elagin contributions in this polemic. ‘Balaban’ is characterized by classism and an ad hominem counterargumentation of insulting sharpness, a tone that none of the new young authors dared to use against Lomonosov. In the article, after rejecting the invented myth of the Satire on a Fop and Coquettes as satire on I. Shuvalov dissects the main accusations leveled against Elagin by his contemporaries: the discrepancy between morality and life practice (fop exposes fops), the plagiarism of Boileau’s second satire (verses about rhymes originally addressed to Molière), the inadequacy of the means to the satirical goals (classicism versus rococo), the inappropriateness of attacks on fops and unfitting titles of Sumarokov: iz mozgu rozhdshisya bogini mudroi syn (‘Son born from the brain of the wise goddess’), napersnik Boalov (‘Boileau’s confidant’), zashitnik istiny (‘Defender of verity’). Elagin may have borrowed these titles from Christian Gellert’s classicist poetic epistle ‘To Baron G.F. von S. from Silesia’ on the role of the mind in poetry. Gellert argues that poets become classics because of their wisdom. He uses the paraphrase ‘goddess born of Jupiter’s brain’ to refer to Minerva as another patroness of poets alongside Apollo and claims that a poet must possess ‘taste and verity’. Boileau is mentioned as the only wise poet of modern times worthy of eternity, and Elagin transfers these qualities to Sumarokov as uncreatively as he transfers Boileau’s praise of Molière’s ability to rhyme to him.
Aleksandr Sumarokov; Ivan Elagin; Lomonosov; Christian Fürchtegott Gellert; epigram.
10.05.2024
06.06.2024
Osokin, M. Yu. “Madness of Writers and Brain’s Grandson. Sumarokov’s Role in the Elaginomachia and the Origin of his Titles”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 3(65), 2024, pp. 176–201. (In Russ.)
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