Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Published In

Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne

Abstract

The article outlines the cultural context of Russian women who contributed to the development of decadent poetry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most now forgotten or “occulted” (eclipsed, crowded out). Given the importance of gender theories and “feminine” discursive space in the Silver Age, this phenomenon must be examined; it is not just a typical example of women written out of literary history. The article suggests reasons why decadence may have appealed to women as well as why Russian women who adopted a specifically decadent position might not have been taken seriously. It ends by suggesting why more famous Russian poets (especially Axmatova and Cvetaeva, whose reputations have lasted and grown) achieved more lasting influence thanks to their occulted female predecessors.

Keywords

Russian Silver Age poetry, Women poets, decadent, feminist, gender, literary scholarship

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of PRESSto. It is also available on the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.14746/pss.2016.11.7

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