Axiological status of myth in O. Mandelstam's philosophical and aesthetic program

The paper considers the category of myth in O.E. Mandelstam’s artistic consciousness and describes his mythopoetic strategy. It is argued that the myth, unlike the symbol, was not perceived by acmeists as a negative feature of the symbolist poetics, despite the close connection between these two categories, justified in V.I. Ivanov’s works. Based on the analysis of the theoretical and literary texts of Mandelstam, the author proves that in the understanding of the myth the poet follows I.F. Annensky’s mythopoetic conception, opposite to Ivanov’s ideas. Annensky becomes for Mandelstam the standard of a poet who accumulates in his works the values of the world culture, but at the same time preserves originality and communication with modernity. It is concluded that Mandelstam expands the concept of myth as a phenomenon associated with tradition and provides with axiological meaning. It includes not only the heritage of archaic cultures, but also any work of art that has received the status of value in the world culture. The poet finds an example of such mythologization in “The Commander`s Footsteps” by A.A. Blok and adheres to it in his own works, shifting the emphasis from the mythical space to the realities of his time (“Petersburg stanzas”). This is confirmed in the analysis of poems referring to the Orphic myth and the mythologem of underworld. Using various anachronistic images, Mandelstam combines myth and modernity in his lyrics, allowing himself to transform and contaminate various traditional narratives, without destroying their genetic connection with the source.