Analogs of Vysotsky

[Svitlana Kobets]

It has been a very interesting discussion. thank you all! it was interesting to learn about the Western peers of Vysotsky and I was thrilled to discover for myself Tom Waits, about whom I was previously unaware. Lots of good points have been made about different aspects of Vysotsky’s genius and uniqueness. But I still believe that there can not possibly be an American /Western equivalent of Vladimir Vysonsky. To truly see his uniqueness we have to look at the context (the Soviet state, the time of stagnation) and recall that Vysotsky was a voice of non-conformity, subversion and protest. None of the American or any Western singers/poets/bards had to deal with anything comparable to the Soviet censorship. Vysotsky’s topics and images were truly unique. Just recall his songs “The One Who did not Shoot” (tot, kotoryi ne strelial), Penal Batallions (Shtrafnye batal’ony), Bathhouse (Ban’ka). No one else would dare talk or sing about such things openly. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union did the post-soviet artists start to bring forth imagery and issues of the taboo Soviet reality, which was all along present in Vysotsky’s songs. There were, of course, dissidents, underground, tamizdat and sumisdat, but they were mostly heard by /available to the intellectuals, whereas Vysotsky’s voice was heard everywhere from the communal flats to the villas of the Soviet officials. In the country where there was no freedom of speech, where there were enforced norms of social realism and where there was one of the most oppressive censorship systems in human history, he was the voice of truth. His thematic scope was also unprecedented, (comparable only to Chekhov’s comprehensive coverage of pre-revolutionary Russia). Drunks, wood demons, soldiers, peasants, political prisoners, gangsters, workers, athletes (even animals), to mention just some of his characters, were in his repertoire. They were not only his themes but also were masterfully impersonated. There was a unique diverse poetic persona presented by Vysotsky that catered to all of Russia. When I explain to my students who is Vysotsky, this is what I emphasize.

 

With best wishes,

Svitlana



Svitlana Kobets, PhD, LMS
Literature Instructor
Continuing Education Division
St. Michael's College 
University of Toronto 
81 St. Mary Street 
Toronto, ON   M5S 1J4
Phone: 647-924-8435
Fax: (416) 926-7287
www.slavdom.com




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