Comprehension of the literary environment of Berlin and Prague in M.I. Tsvetaeva’s poem “The Moon to a Sleepwalker”: subject-image plan

INTRODUCTION: The poem “The Moon to a Sleepwalker” is considered in the context of the historical and literary phenomenon of the Russian diaspora abroad and the artistic selfidentification of M.I. Tsvetaeva during the emigration period. The purpose of the study is to discover signs of ideological differences among Russian–speaking emigrant lyricists in the motives of life and creative isolation. The relevance is due to the emergence of a cultural and historical conflict in the literature of the metropolis and abroad and M.I. Tsvetaeva’s attitude towards it.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. Additional historical, biographical and literary sources are involved in the consideration of the poem: diary entries from different years, epistolary correspondence of the poet, including with B.L. Pasternak, the article “Downpour of Light”. The comprehensive analysis is based on contextual, comparative, motivic, semiotic, and semantic-stylistic methods.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The reconstruction of historical realities helps to identify the prerequisites for the creation of a poem. The compositional, motif-figurative originality of the plot dynamics and the peculiarities of its subject-image plan indicate the divergence of the artistic principles of the emigrant poets and M.I. Tsvetaeva, who asserts the existence of a unified literature on the scale of Russia and the West.

CONCLUSION. The work demonstrates the poet’s going beyond the narrow concept of national identity. The subject-image plan of the poem, stated by the title ellipsis, contributes to the emergence of a syncretic connection between the author and the character, scaling and unifying the creative process. The prospects of the research relate to the study of literature of the Russian diaspora abroad in general and the work of M.I. Tsvetaeva in particular, since the interpretation of the poet’s emigration lyrics causes significant difficulties.