Pushkin and Poland (response to Robert Chandler)

[Anna Dranova]

There is an article by Robert Mann in a 1991 issue of Russian Language Journal about rebellion in several works by Pushkin. The connection between Mednyi vsadnik, Adam Mickiewicz, and the Polish Uprising was pointed out long ago, but Mann shows that the symbols used by Pushkin have nevertheless been muddled and confused. He argues that the two lions, on one of which Yevgenii sits during the peak of the flooding, are (with their upraised paw) intended to be associated with the wild forces of anarchy and rebellion ("the jungle"). The scheme is: Yevgenii atop the lion versus Peter atop the stallion. The Polish uprising figured foremost among the rebellions to which the image alludes. Mann climbed up onto the back of the marble lion on which Yevgenii would have presumably sat (the one on the left when you are looking from the lions to the statue of Peter) and discovered the words "PAN POL'SHA" etched deep into the lion's back. He searched for records of
 restoration work that has been done on the statues to see if these very prominent grafitti have been noted, but he was told that there are no such records.


      

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