Output details
27 - Area Studies
University College London
'"Pesn' est' forma lingvisticheskogo nepovinoveniia": o nekotorykh sluchaiakh nenormativnogo slovoupotrebleniia v poezii Iosifa Brodskogo' (‘The song is a form of linguistic disobedience’ : on substandard word usage in Joseph Brodsky’s verse)
Within a more general enquiry into the topic of ‘Brodsky and language,’ this chapter deals with specific contexts of Brodsky’s usage of substandard vocabulary, colloquialisms and grammatically incorrect forms and offers a detailed classification. Brodsky always denied any political engagement. Yet, as this research demonstrates, challenging the authoritarian academic grammar was his way of resisting any form of totalitarianism and asserting his freedom of expression. The analysis of the full range of substandard word usage in Brodsky reveals the ‘performative,’ postmodernist aspect of his poetics and contributes to our understanding of his evolving linguistic strategies.