“The ancient duel of Mstislav…”: the story of “The Russian Primary Chronicle” in a V. Sosnora’s poem “The battle of Mstislav with Rededya” (1959)

This paper deals with the poem by V. Sosnora, “The Battle of Mstislav Rededya” (1959). The is based on story Russian Primary Chronicl” under 6530 (1022) devoted to event mentioned in title. According poet, when writing his “historical” poems, he “re-imagines” material ancient monuments and brings it closer modern reader. poet’s creative method was often misunderstood critics satirists who referred “irreverent” treatment history. In terms literary criticism, “re-imagining” implies using a rich palette poetic means allusions associations, deliberate mixture modern, others. Addressing named Chronicl,” as well other chronicle stories Song Igor’s Campaign,” Sosnora creates poetical plot. plot emphasizes dynamics duel characters, marks individual features their appearance, hides default an important detail for narrative (knife), introduces dialogue (an expressive squabble before battle title characters), reworking give scene “visual”, “cinematic” effect. could not be case Old narration subordinated etiquette. By arranging semantic rhythmic accents idea, poet seems offer fantastic reconstruction one Boyan’s songs.