Topographical Imagination in Marina Cvetaeva’s «Pis'mo», «O Germanii», and «Natal'ja Gončarova»

Abstract

In a substantial number of her texts – poetry as well as prose – Marina Ivanovna Cvetaeva (1892–1941) constructs contrasting dimensionalities: one-dimensional lines, two-dimensional planes, and three-dimensional objects are set in contrast to one another. She juxtaposes squares and flat surfaces with open landscapes, towers, and cathedrals. These images are frequently articulated through geometric imagery, yet they have thus far received little analysis or commentary in the scholarly literature. My hypothesis is that they are metaphorical ways of structuring and categorizing the world, and that they are significant across several of her writings, beginning with her debut collection Вечернiй альбомъ. In my opinion they merit closer scrutiny.

My secondary claim is that Cvetaeva's planar surfaces, on the one hand, and objects with hight and depth on the other, can be read as a highly personal engagement with features of contemporary artistic movements, such as Cubism. Of particular relevance in this regard is her 1929 essay on the artist Natal'ja Sergeevna Gončarova (1881–1962).