Journal archive

Abstract: Pushkin and his friends’ confrontation of the militant commerce was of an active, practical character, both in the magazine, publishing and artistic spheres. The aim of this article is to carry out a comparative analysis of a number of poems by the poets of Pushkin's circle in order to see the common in the understanding of the conflict and the differences in the nature of its presentation and prospects of resolution. The conflict between poetry and the century is revealed in Delvig’s idyll as a tragic premonition of the death of harmony and the light, moral essence of life. In the poem by Viazemsky, the poet voluntarily surrenders to the power of demons, but the conflict between Poetry and market literature stays. Baratynsky gives the conflict between the poet and the century a metaphysical character. Rising above time, the poet-philosopher generalizes his hesitations and makes them universal. Pushkin's «Conversation of the bookseller with the poet» presents a thorough and efficient investigation of the artistic problem of relationship between the poet and the new century. A new sense of reality, understanding of variability, travel of time, a new attitude to the historical and literary process, and, finally, a new type of character whose depiction needs both psychological and material concreteness typical of the romantic literature of Pushkin’s time found their reflection in this poem. Confrontation of commerce in the spiritual realm is a prerequisite for maintaining the level of morality in literature at all times.