Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture

Snapshots of the Soul explores how photography has influenced Russian poetry from the early twentieth century to the present, focusing on the poets' fascination with the visual language, representational power, and metaphorical possibilities of the camera and the photographic image. It argues that these poets sought to demonstrate the superior ability of poetic language to capture and convey human experience.

Format: Hardback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 15 July 2021
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Snapshots of the Soul delves into the profound influence of photography on Russian poetry, spanning from the early twentieth century to the present day. Through a meticulous exploration of theories such as the lyric and the elegy, the social history of technology, and obscure archival materials, Molly Thomasy Blasing offers intricate close readings of poems by renowned poets like Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Joseph Brodsky, and Bella Akhmadulina, as well as the late and post-Soviet poets Andrei Sen-Senkov, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, and Kirill Medvedev. By examining their fascination with the visual language, representational power, and metaphorical possibilities offered by the camera and the photographic image, Blasing sheds light on the ways in which these poets embraced the affinities and tensions between the lyric or elegy and the snapshot.

In the realm of longstanding concerns about the potential threats posed by visual media to literary culture, Blasing uncovers that these poets were drawn to the interplay between the lyric or elegy and the snapshot. What emerges from Snapshots of the Soul is a profound revelation: at the heart of each poet's approach to writing the photograph lies an unwavering urge to showcase the unparalleled ability of poetic language to capture and convey the essence of human experience.

Through her meticulous analysis, Blasing unveils the profound ways in which photography has shaped the artistic expression of Russian poets, enabling them to delve into the depths of human emotions, capture fleeting moments of existence, and explore the complexities of the human condition with unparalleled precision and depth. This book is a testament to the enduring power of poetry and photography in capturing the essence of the human soul and illuminating the profound connections between the past and the present.

Weight: 28g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501753695