Pasternak & potatoes

[Irina Shevelenko]

> Any chance that Pasternak, when he grumbled about "potatoes,"  on the
> subconscious level might have been thinking  not only about the imposed
> renaissance of Maiakovskii,  but also that of Gor'kii...?

No. Why?

Neither attitudes of P. to each of the authors (and those attitudes are well
documented), nor the two 'renaissances' of which you are talking have
anything significant in common (and I strongly doubt that the parallel you
draw between M's and G's reputations in the mid-1930s is justified; do you
mean G's 'renaissance' before or after his death?). How could the words P.
says refer to G., who was one of the most widely read Russian authors,
without any help from Stalin. Most importantly, G. is not a poet, while P's
quote has a lot to do with his reflection on his place (niche) as a poet
vis-a-vis that of M.

I. Sh.

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