Philosophical constants in the creative self-determination of song poets

The article compares the views of foreign philosophers on the nature of creativity, their reception in the Russian literary criticism and the creative implementation of some points in the Russian songwriting. The works of W. Benjamin (1892–1940) The Task of the Translator (1923), M. Blanchot (1907–2003) The Space of Literature (1955), P. Valery (1871–1945) Poetry and Abstract Thought (19390, S. Mallarme (1842–1898) The Crisis of Verse (1896), M. Heidegger (1889–1976) Hölderlin and the Essence of Poetry (1936), K. G. Jung (1875–1961) Archetype and Symbol (1934–1961) are used as a theoretical basis. Song texts of the representatives of the author’s song tradition A. Galich, A. Bashlachev, whose work is usually attributed to bard rock, and E. Letov, one of the main representatives of Russian punk rock, are used as research material. The choice of the authors is determined by the concept of the work, which seeks to show the universality of the constants identified in the process of research for various song and poetic traditions and philosophical systems. As such constants, the utopian concepts of “a single discourse”, a single “conversation” of poetry, and “pure art”, which is a “goal-in-itself”, stand out. Other constants relate to the inner state of the poet, techniques aimed at achieving inspiration – we are talking about the concepts of “removal”, or, according to Shklovsky, “estrangement”, as well as “silence”. The central constant is the concept of the “inexpressible”, “elusive”, which is the essential goal of every poet, clearly seen, but always unattainable. In thinking about each of the constants of philosophical thoughts about creativity, we find confirmation or discrepancies in the creative practice of song poets. It leads us to the conclusion that song poetry, following traditional poetry, accepts and transmits the experience of the Russian and Western philosophical and poetic thoughts about the essence of creativity. Typological overlaps are of a supranational, cosmopolitan nature, which indicates the universality of the constants we have identified. The work contributes to the study of song poetry, which confirms its status as the next stage in the existence of poetic discourse, which proves the legitimacy and necessity of studying song texts from a philological standpoint.   

song poetry, author’s song, rock poetry, inexpressible, estrangement, Jung, Heidegger, Letov, Bashlachev, Galich