“Forest Kings” by George Grebenschikov: towards the problem of the plot origin

In the 1910s, G. D. Grebenshikov made active attempts to enter the metropolitan literary sphere and to take a high position in the hierarchy of writers. That was the reason for his efforts to establish connections with modern literature. Of note in this regard is the story “Forest Kings.” The contextualization of Grebenschikov’s plot revealed several motif parallels that could be in the author’s field of vision. On the one hand, the pretext of the plot could be a popular “Fisher and Hunter’s Wife” folklore ballade, with its core narrative involving wife’s conspired adultery, discovery, and murder of her lover. Also, the ballade has a similar motif of a lifestyle with forest harvesting, the youth of a wife, the prediction of a hero death. On the other hand, there is a series of parallels to A. A. Akhmatova’s “Grey-eyed King” poem that could be familiar to Grebenschikov, who visited the capital and sought to establish connections with writers and publishers in Saint-Petersburg. In this case, the following motif intersections draw attention: usage of “king” word in the title, presence of the heroine’s child from a lover, conspiracy, lover’s death during hunting. Grebenschikov followed the precedent of metropolitan literature, thus elaborating common topics while trying to enhance his status and professional reputation in the literary field. The story presents a plot pattern peculiar to a novel based on the confrontation of a man “from nature” and a man “from culture,” with mediation provided by a woman. In this respect, “Forest Kings” can be considered as a specific draft of the first volume of “Churaevy” the epic novel, with similar love triangle conflict in the plot basis.

Keywords

Authors

References