K.F. Ryleyev's epistles to A.A. Bestuzjev as a reader's cycle

The centrepiece of the article is the notion of the “reader's cycle”, introduced by M.N. Darwin. The reader's cycle is understood as a set of poems assembled into a single whole not by the author or editor, but by the reader, thanks to the peculiarities of his reception, based on the common features of certain poems -for example, the figure of a single addressee. This article considers the poems dedicated by K.F. Ryleev to his friend A.A. Bestuzhev as such a reader's cycle: “” (1822), a dedication to the poem “Voynarovsky” (1823-1824), “Stanzas” (1824), and “To Bestuzhev” (1825). Written at different times and in different genres (a friendship epistle, a dedication, a “graveyard” elegy), they are quite autonomous and can be considered separately, but at the same time, their combination of works exhibits universal cyclical links: the name of Bestuzhev in the title section, targeting, similar features of metrical-rhythmical and spatio-temporal organisation, lexical repetitions, common motifs and themes (poetry, civil courage, friendship, loneliness). Moreover, the cycle has a common lyrical plot, which can be labelled as the self-definition of the lyrical subject as a poet. If we add to these four works also a poem dedicated by Bestuzhev to Ryleev and containing the same key features, then we can also speak of a polyauthored reader's poetry cycle.