Features of “alpine text” in the poem of N. P. Gronsky Belladonne

The article studies the theoretical basis of the concept of alpine text and its functioning in the poem of a representative of the first wave of the Russian émigré N. P. Gronsky “Belladonne”. This term, recently introduced into scientific usage, is studied on the basis of theoretical works by T. Scheidegger, L. Lyubimova, N. Mednis. The article introduces major principles that characterize alpine text in connection with the aesthetics of Swiss and German Art Nouveau, the mountainscape and mountain philosophy of the Russian literature. Features of alpine text are researched in the poem “Belladonne”, dedicated to the conquest of the peak of the same name in the Dauphine Alps. N. Gronsky follows both the traditions of European Art Nouveau and Russian classical literature. The conflict of the hero-conqueror and the element, and motives of death correlated with it, wild and pristine nature, danger and eroticism are characteristic for the alpine text of the world literature. At the same time religious motives and images are central, and the motive of a snowy dessert, often appearing in the mountain texts of the Russian classics, has connotations of spiritual loneliness, traditional for the poets of the Russian émigré in connection with the loss of their Motherland and forced residence in a “foreign” world. Religious symbolism connected with the images of the mountain Virgin Mother and granite Christ is studied. In these images the fusion of pagan and Christian principles, typical of Gronsky’s poetry, is manifested. Three parallel storylines are analyzed, correlating with the three heroes-alpinists who conquer a dangerous peak; the plot of the climbing is comprehended by the poet with the Christian themes of sin and retribution, purity of spiritual thoughts and finding happiness, religious integrity and salvation, chaos and harmony.

alpine text, mountainscape, poetry of the Russian émigré, N. P. Gronsky, poem Belladonne, space, poems