Critic V. Bryusov and Soviet literature (article “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of Russian Poetry”)

Abstract

The article analyzes the literary and critical activity of V. Bryusov in Soviet Russia. Bryusov’s article “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of Russian Poetry” (1922) is one of the most important articles of this period. The critic considers in detail the past, present and future of Russian poetry, namely, symbolism, futurism and proletarian art. At the same time, the composition of Bryusov’s article repeats the composition of Ellis’ book on Russian symbolism (1910). Ellis argued that in the history of symbolism, K. Balmont is the past, Bryusov is the present, Andrey Bely is the future. On the contrary, Bryusov hints that all symbolism (Balmont, Andrey Bely) is the past. However, critic Bryusov hints that the true future of literature is not proletarian art, but the poetry of Bryusov himself. Bryusov’s polemic with proletarian art coincided with V. Lenin’s struggle against proletarian art (A. Bogdanov’s theory).