Muted Voices: Anna Akhmatova’s and Marina Tsvetaeva’s Classical Heroines

• In Event: Classical Memories, Modern Identities in Russian Literary Imaginations

Abstract

This talk focuses on the way two most prominent Russian women poets interpret the plight of heroines in classical mythology. Marina Tsvetaeva and Anna Akhmatova are interested primarily in the gender dichotomy inherent in the myths of Phaedra, Ariadne, and Dido. What concerns them most is the issue of female voice and agency and their unrealized potential only subtly explored in the ancient narratives. The binary juxtaposition between female and male perception of passion is analyzed as the cornerstone in the classical poetics of these two poets.

Author

• Zara Martirosova Torlone, Miami U of Ohio