Alexei Kulakovsky’s poem “The Shaman’s Dream”: an analysis focusing on textual criticism aspects

In the study of classical works, one of the pressing issues pertains to textual criticism which  related to the objects of literary source studies such as variants of basic texts, lists, autographs.  This aspect provides an opportunity for a more in-depth analysis of the creative history  of a specific work and the author’s function in the artistic text as the basis of the plot-mythological dualism, particularly characteristic of early 20th century literature. The article identifies specific issues of textual criticism to the study of Yakut poet Alexei Kulakovsky’s works. The aim is to outline the textual parameters for analyzing the poem “The Shaman’s Dream” and to introduce previously underutilized sources from Kulakovsky’s heritage, including an early version of the main text and publications from 1946, 1978, and 2002. The methodological basis is grounded in research from the A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature, Russian Academy of Sciences, representing significant textual discoveries based on the analytical systematization of literary sources. It also draws on the works of Yury Lotman, Valery Tiupa, and Larisa Lun’kova, focusing on structural and semiotic analysis and exploration of literary time and artistic space within  literary work. The article is structured in three directions: the main character’s image in the  contexts of the “emotional-volitional attitude” (Mikhail Bakhtin) of the author’s principle; an analysis of the poem’s early version; the presentation of observations on editing the poet’s text in publishing his poetry. The study of the presented materials revealed certain aspects of the creative history caused by the author’s editing, specifically a significant change in the main character’s function; and clarified several occurrences of various violations in the logical relationships  of the poem’s fragments in the three indicated editions. It is proved that the poem “The Shaman’s Dream” by Alexei Kulakovsky is original not only in its theme and problems, but also in the poet’s talent in finding a significant approach to form and material, in determining within the boundaries of a figurative word the artistic regularity of their elements and the logical interrelation of parts.

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