“And I did... I’m a who... I’m Carrying a Heavy...”: Pushkin’s Image of the “Monument not Made by Hands” in Russian Poetry of the Early 21st Century

The Pushkin image of the “monument not made by hands” (“pamyatnik nerukotvornyy”) is analyzed as a traditional symbol of artistic creation in demand by the modern literary process. The material for the article is journal publications in which poets consciously turn to the Pushkin image, putting into it both traditional meanings and original ones that arose in the socio-cultural conditions of the early 21st century. The methodological basis of the research consists of the continuous sampling method, textual and comparative analysis, historical-cultural, socio-cultural and phenomenological approach. In some poems by modern poets, Pushkin becomes a lyrical hero. In O. Levitan’s text, the hidden opposition of the statue of the monument and the poet himself, which mummifies the poet’s personality, acquires additional meanings related to the demonstration of Pushkin’s attitude to modern poetry and his place in it, and with the author’s ironic perception of the text of his own work. E. Kulbush reconstructs the process of writing the poem I have erected to myself a monument not made by hands..., semantically bringing the living being a poet with mental strain. Through the images of Pushkin’s poem, modern poets convey their attitude to Russian culture, the poet’s personality, and his creative legacy, trying on his fate either hopefully, bitterly, or ironically and parodically. The “Word” becomes a tool for changing reality and a guide to the immortality of art. Canonical and travestical conceptualization of precedent images continues to exist in the dialogue, creating space for new interpretations. Pushkin’s image of a “non-overgrown path” in a poem by E. Erastov, it becomes an occasion for author’s associations and discussions about modernity, about the “motherland in smoke”. A poet does not lead people, and a generation burdened with the experience of historical tragedies is pessimistic and unable to follow high examples. The leveled image of the poet in the perception of modern man is also created in M. Schwartzman’s poem by creating a simulation of the once high image of the “non-growing path”. The study revealed that Pushkin’s poem I have erected to myself a monument not made by hands… has become a benchmark, embodying spiritual values and passing them on to new generations, while conveying a sense of monumental grandeur and the enduring significance of its underlying messages. But at the same time, the appeal of young modern poets to the images and motives of the precedent text has different reasons and goals: from an attempt to “grow up” to an ideal, to measure their own creative significance to a polemical rethinking in the context of modern realities.