The image of Soviet Russia in the work of Xu Zhimo

https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2022.6.3.301-312

Abstract

This article is devoted to the perception of the image of Soviet Russia in the creative consciousness of the Chinese poet and essayist Xu Zhimo (1897–1931). The material for the study is his “Notes from a Journey in Europe” (first of all, essays “Siberia” and “Moscow”), poems “Siberia” and “Reed Song (Remembering Sikhu on the Siberian Way)”. The following conclusions were drawn as a result of the work on the material. The image of Soviet Russia in the works of the Chinese poet is presented multifaceted and contradictory. In building Xu Zhimo traditional for the Russian philosophical thought concept of “Moscow – the Third Rome” Russia must be a country-messiah. To create such an image, the Chinese poet and essayist uses descriptions of landscapes of boundless Siberia and urban locales (Moscow, Irkutsk) A special place in “Notes from a Journey to Europe” is taken by the depiction of Russian churches. However, discovering the social, cultural and moral changes that occurred as a result of the 1917 revolution (poverty of people, shortages of food and necessities, high prices), Xu Zhimo created an image of the Soviet state, which is in a borderline social and political state. As a patriot, the Chinese poet is concerned that if a wave of revolutionary events were to break out in China as well, all the negative consequences of the revolution that Xu Zhimo saw in Russia would also affect his home country.