Mythology in the poetry of Maksimilian Volosin: The metaphor of consciousness
Roklina, Natalie
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/20559
Description
Title
Mythology in the poetry of Maksimilian Volosin: The metaphor of consciousness
Author(s)
Roklina, Natalie
Issue Date
1989
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Pachmuss, Temira A.
Department of Study
Slavic Languages and Literature
Discipline
Slavic Languages and Literature
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, Modern
Literature, Slavic and East European
Language
eng
Abstract
In this dissertation the poetry of Maksimilian Volosin is analyzed in terms of its mythological implications. Volosin deviates from Russian Symbolism due to his emphasis on human consciousness which he regards in Hegelian terms as an unindividualized quality, as the capacity of the mind to embrace the Absolute. The evolution of human consciousness is traced in mythological terms: its stages are personified chronologically by Orpheus, Laocoon, Oedipus, Odysseus, Icarus, and Zeus. These references to Greek mythology allow us to trace the path of Volosin's poetic persona: acceptance of the limitations of the human predicament, quest for self-knowledge, departure from the native land, wanderings, and return to the source of origin. The scientific phenomenon of the defraction of the ray of light receives in Volosin's poetry a metaphoric orchestration, which allows him to use the image of light as the symbol for the origin of all things. Like the divine messenger in the Theosophical myth of the Fall, Volosin's protagonist accepts the fragmentation of the world of matter in order to uplift it in his own elevation as he returns to the domain of light. In Volosin's poetry the mind, as the reflection of divine reason, perceives the unified source of all things, and thus, in Hegelian terms, the Absolute Idea comes to self-awareness through man.
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