NOT (QUITE) ACMEISTIC TRAGEDY: LAODAMIA BY INNOKENTY ANNENSKY AND JUDITH BY NIKOLAI NEDOBROVO

This article analyzes the intertextuality and motifs of the tragedies Laodamia by Innokenty Annensky and Judith by Nikolai Nedobrovo. These works reflect the main trends of Russian modernism: the interpretation of the world and European cultural heritage through Greek mythology and the Bible. Laodamia and Judith illustrate two different ways a classical text was received in the culture of the Silver Age: Nedobrovo's reception is determined by the classicist tradition, Annensky's reception - by romanticism. The analyzed tragedies are united by a system of motifs and images. The siege of the biblical Bethulia recalls the siege of Troy, and the image of a widow meeting not her husband, but someone else, is central to both plots - while Judith meets the shadow of her husband (statue) or enemy, she, like Laodamia, spends the night not with him. Annensky and Nedobrovo did not formally belong to the acmeist movement, but they both influenced the acmeists' intertextual poetics. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Automated summary

This article analyzes the intertextuality and motifs of the tragedies Laodamia by Innokenty Annensky and Judith by Nikolai Nedobrovo. The works reflect the main trends of Russian modernism and the interpretation of Greek mythology and the Bible. The analyzed tragedies share common motifs and images, such as the siege of Bethulia and the widow meeting someone else. Annensky and Nedobrovo influenced the acmeists' intertextual poetics.