To the literary reputation of V. Vysotsky in the Soviet discourse context

The aim of the study is to establish some unaccounted-for patterns of formation of Vladimir Vysotsky's poetic reputation in the socio-cultural field of late socialism. Attention is drawn to Vysotsky's image paradox and its causes are analyzed. On the one hand, Vysotsky, as an author and performer of topical songs, was an extremely popular and even cult figure in the perception of all the Soviet community's strata. On the other hand, he was outside the “field of literature”, as he was not actually published. However, this detachment from official culture had its positive sides, because it lifted censorship prohibitions and gave new opportunities for self-expression. It is shown that the key to his nationwide success among millions of listeners correlates with the phenomenon of “vnenakhodimost' ”, which implies a departure from the binary principle of perception (acceptance / rejection) of authoritarian attitudes of the state. His discovery, which ensured his national success, consisted in a performative shift: by literally reproducing the rituals and genre patterns of the system, he grotesquely and ironically transformed their content. His absolute truthfulness and freedom of expression, sometimes hiding under the mask of arrogance, was perceived by compatriots as a kind of counterweight to authoritarianism, pharisaism, dull didacticism and official optimism of the stagnation era. As a result, it is proved that he became the tuning fork of the Soviet era's “collective consciousness”: his vnenakhodimost' turned into universal vsenakhodimost'. In dialogue songs, everyday scenes, meditative reflections, the poet, getting used to the “alien”, but not extraneous to him, worldview of his compatriots, comprehensively embodied the “substance of existence” of his time. Finding in each of his heroes (even in the most recent brawlers and drunks) a common “passionate” denominator, Vysotsky showed the national, and sometimes multinational charismatic intention of his people. And this naturally created the effect of co-presence and congeniality among the listeners, ensuring his highest posthumous literary reputation. In the final, it is concluded that the roots of literary reputation lie in textual strategies, without which the sociological aspect does not work.