[Soviet Russia in The Cantos by E. Pound

Abstract

The article provides the overview of the references to the events of the Russian revolutions of 1917, as well as the personalities of Soviet leaders – Trotsky, Stalin, Lenin – in the cantos of various cycles of the poem The Cantos ("A Draft of 16 Cantos", " A Draft of the Cantos 17-27", "The Pisan Cantos", "Thrones"). E. Pound's appeal to the realities of Soviet Russia is analyzed in the context of his peculiar concept of world history, in which this state is assigned the role of one of the alternatives to the usurious civilization of Modern times. The special role of Lenin is noted, whose work, quoted in Canto LXXIV and Canto C, turns out to be consonant with the reflections of the lyrical hero of the poem. The conclusion is made about the ambiguity of the images of Soviet leaders mentioned in the poem, and about the uniqueness of the interpretation of the Soviet experience of building a new economic system.