Pavel Vasiliev — A Poet of the Asian Frontier: Specifics of Orientalist Motifs Revisited

Russian Orientalism is distinguished by its territorial proximity to Asian countries and the shaping of Russia-Asia frontier in bordering areas where peoples blended and cultures synthesized to form a multicultural environment. Goals. The study aims to identify the specifics of Orientalist motifs in works of the Soviet Russian poet Pavel Nikolaevich Vasiliev. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes works of P. Vasiliev with the aid of the historical/literary and comparative methods. The methodology is based on theses of Orientalism and transcultural literature. Results. The literary mainstream of that time was implementing the trend toward a class orientation with the dichotomy of US —  the proletariat, the poor, and THEM — kulaks, merchants, aristocrats, beys, biys, begs, coupled with the proclaimed civilizing role of Russians in the life of indigenous peoples, which was dictated by the early Soviet ideology. Pavel Vasiliev also depicted the civilizing mission of Russian engineers, builders, railroad men; industrialization in Kazakh steppes; the images of ‘civilized’ Kazakh savages — fighters for Soviet power, builders of a new life. He draws typical negative images of mullahs, which was prompted by the Bolshevik struggle against religion and its influence on the masses. At the same time, he is aware of his spiritual kinship with the Kazakhs and does not portray the latter as THEM, for him they are US, relatives. In early Soviet literature, the image of ‘sleeping’ Asia was widespread enough, and the region was thus to be awakened with bayonets and machine guns — to turn into the ‘red’ East as part of an ideologically unified Soviet state. In this regard, Vasiliev was standing away from the mainstream, since he never viewed Asia as a backward or dormant territory. That was rather an ancient, millennia-old, mysterious country, his homeland. Orientalist poems by Pavel Vasiliev (Hunting with Golden Eagles, Jut, Melon Field near Semipalatinsk, Camel, etc.) also deviate from the mainstream, since they emphasize ethnic and cultural specificities of the Kazakhs — an indigenous people of the Asian frontier — and this somewhat contradicted the Soviet policy of depreciating indigenous cultures of Asia. Conclusions. The insight into Orientalist motifs of Vasiliev’s poetry attests to the latter were influenced by transcultural nature of the poet’s artistic worldview, since his creative mind was shaped within the Kazakh-Russian frontier.

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