Oral Tsvetaeva. About the transmission of authors texts

Abstract

The paper examines specific features of the dissemination of Marina Tsvetaeva’s poems and comments on them in Soviet and post-Soviet times. The readers stories of knowledge and reading of the poetry, the social contacts and the transmitted meanings are reconstructed on the base of interviews and reader’s essays. Authors argue that, in spite of the written and published sources, the texts transmission was oral. The access to printed sources was limited and conditioned by personal trust and the formation of friendly groups. As a result, the knowledge about the texts was transmitted along with the reader’s and human fascination with them, a sense of cultural belonging and inclusion in the network of ingroup. The situation has changed with the spread of knowledge about the poet and the inclusion of her poetry in the school curriculum. Tsvetaeva becomes one of the classic writers who may not evoke a personal connection. However, sometimes schoolchildren’s love for poetry and the image of the poet comes not through school, but through their mother, grandmother or other significant adults, and it serves as a connection between generations. The oral transmission of written texts determines the reader’s special respect for them.