Poetic features in S. Dovlatov’s prose

Abstract

In the article the influence of Sergey Dovlatov’s poetic experience on his prose is studied. The research includes an analysis of poems from the collection ‘‘Army Letters to my Father’’ and an analysis of the author’s early prose, which allows us to identify common features of his poetics in different periods. It is important that the article is partially based on revealing the presence of ‘‘signs of lyrical features’’ identified by M.L. Gasparov. The article reveals Dovlatov’s gradual transition from poetry to prose. The changes can be traced in terms of the rhythm and genre: the author’s early prose texts are more rhythmic than the later ones. The intensified rhythmization of Dovlatov’s early prose is an echo of his poetic experience. At first, the form changes (poetic to prose), but the rhythm stays. Later, Dovlatov uses it less – the strong rhythmization of the text is replaced by new, special writing rules (the author begins all the words of the same sentence with different letters). Thus, Sergey Dovlatov is gradually changing the way to achieve the ‘‘capacity’’ of the text from a more ‘‘lyrical’’ to a more ‘‘prosaic’’ one.