The Poetics of Afanasy Fet

Based on the systematic analaysis of Fet's verse and prose writings, including translations, and on both recent scholarly research and previously untapped archival sources, this is the first full-length study of Fet's oeuvre in the context of its author's German heritage, also showing how his understanding and exploitation of that heritage changed across the half-century (1840-92) of his career. The poet's native bilingualism, reinforced and shaped in his early education by Moravian pastors, served as an impetus to his well-known flight from language, and yet it also enabled him to draw both formally and aesthetically on the wealth of two literary cultures. The study examines Fet's poetics with special attention to the relationship between his verse and his autobiographical techniques. It also discusses the connections between Fet's writings and his knowledge of the scientific and literary culture of his time. It is shown how Fet's unusual background contributed to his poetic achievement and, at the same time, to his isolation from contemporary Russian readers.