“Poetry can be sometimes ambiguous...” (A. A. Blok in the reception of A. A. Izmailov)

This paper is devoted to the critical evaluation of the works of Alexander Blok in the satires and reviews of the leading critic of his time, novelist, parodist A. Izmailov. The work deals with the relationship of two contemporaries and clarifies the aesthetic position of Izmailov. His skeptical attitude toward the work of modernist writers is studied. His response to the work of the Bloc “Iz gazet” (“Vstala v siyan’i. Krestila detey…”), published in the “Yezhemesyachniy zhurnal dlya vsekh” (1904, no. 4, p. 196) is considered to be the example of such an attitude to the works of representatives of the “new art.” Izmailov’s reaction involves a categorical rejection of the metric composition of the work, deliberate repetition, the negation of the hyperrealism of the poem. Consideration is given to the evolution of Izmailov’s general views on the work of modern writers A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, M. Kuzmin, D. Merezhkovsky. The critical responses of Izmailov to Blok’s works are studied. The analysis is made of the unknown interpretation of Blok’s poem “Devushka pela v tserkovnom khore…”, proposed during the life of the poet by Izmailov and supplemented by the prose writer and editor of the magazine “Niva” Tikhonov-Lugov. Also, the article “Tsvety novoy romantiki” about the creativity of Block in the 1910s, placed by of Izmailov in his book about modern writers “Pestryye znamena: Literaturnyye portrety bezvremen’ya” is considered. The work analyzes the correspondence of two contemporaries. The Block’s correspondence can help trace the critic’s appeals to the poet. In 1918, Izmailov’s last comment on Blok was published in the “Petrogradskiy listok.” This response to the poem “Dvenadtsat’” is analyzed in the context of time and connection with other responses to Blok’s famous work. This paper is based on the rarely quoted and archival materials.

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