Aleksandr Blok: The Journey To Italy

ALEKSANDR BLOK The Journey to Italy Aleksandr Blok. (Tass from Sovfoto.) ALEKSANDR BLOK The Journey to Italy with English Translations of the Poems and Prose Sketches on Italy by LUCY E. VOGEL Cornell University Press ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright © 1973 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except book, or parts thereof, must permission in writing from Cornell University Press, 124 for brief quotations in a review, this not be reproduced in any form without the publisher. For information address Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1973 by Cornell University Press. Published in the United Kingdom by Cornell University Press Ltd., 2-4 Brook Street, London WiY iAA. International Standard Book Number 0-8014-0756-7 Library of Congress Catalog Number 72-12286 Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou Press, Inc. Librarians: Library of Congress cataloging information appears on the last page of the book. To my children, Patricia and Richard, with love Acknowledgments I should like to express my gratitude to Leonid Rzhevsky of New York University for his patient guidance and con­ tinuing encouragement during the preparation of this book, and to Zoya Yurieff, also of New York University, for sug­ gesting its theme and giving me valuable insights into Blok’s poetry as well as into the Symbolist period as a whole in Russian literature. I am also deeply grateful to the late Rob­ ert Magidoff and to William Rowe, of George Washington University, for sensitive advice and criticism. My sincere thanks go to James E. A. Woodbury for his in­ telligent and conscientious assistance in the task of editing Blok’s poetry and essays, to Betty Rosshandler and Pat O’Brien for typing the manuscript, and to the graduate school of the State University of New York at Stony Brook for the grant that enabled me to visit all the places in Italy mentioned by Blok in his writings. On my most recent trip to the Soviet Union, in the sum­ mer of 1968, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with the well-known literary scholars and critics D. F. Maksimov and V. M. Zhirmunskii. I am deeply grateful to them for sharing with me some of their judgments and reminiscences of Blok’s life and art. I am also much indebted to the library staff of the Pushkin Museum in Leningrad for allowing me access to Blok’s Ital­ ian albums and for their courteous help, and I deeply appre- viii Acknowledgments ciate the assistance of Norman Jung and his efficient staff at the reference library of the State University of New York at Stony Brook in locating rare reprints and books. L. E. V. Contents Biographical Sketch Introduction I II III IV V VI VII Before 1909 Ideological Influences Before the Journey Venice: The Dreamer’s Stance Ravenna: A Gleam of “New Life” Florence: The Smoldering Iris Additional Perspectives Conclusion xi i 16 26 38 81 98 142 160 PROSE SKETCHES AND POEMS A Note on the Translations Lightning Flashes of Art Thè Italian Poems 177 181 215 Bibliography Index 265 277 Illustrations Aleksandr Blok Frontispiece 1. Venice: Piazzetta di San Marco 39 2. “Salome with the Head of John the Baptist” by Carlo Dolci 66 3. Ravenna: Palace of Theodoric the Ostrogoth on the Corso Garibaldi 82 4. Florence: The Venerable Company of the Misericordia 99 5. Spoleto: Monument to Fra Filippo Lippi 172 6. Florence: Piazza del Duomo 187 7. Perugia: Urn in the Hypogeum of the Volumni 190 8. Siena: Detail from the floor of the Cathedral 198 9. Portrait of a young woman painted on wood 202 Biographical Sketch Born in 1880 of aristocratic and talented parents, and en­ dowed with good looks and health, Aleksandr Blok enjoyed the benefits of a