文摘
This article presents an inquiry into the tradition of “genetic criticism” setting forth the principles that guide the transformation of an initial concept into the final text, based on the example of a poem by Aigi, ‘August: Nietzsche in Turin’. This is an illustrative example both in terms of the time spent for this work (February 1967–May 1968) and of the variety of drafts (of which there were about thirty). A comparative analysis of the drafts led to the following conclusions. In his work, Aigi proceeds from the fact that each return to the text means not the correction of particulars, but the rewriting of the text from scratch. In this case, the poet seeks to replace the direct nominations with indirect ones, and to move from lyrical expression to the neutrality of linguistic formulas, from the direct designation of cause and effect to a text-cipher, from focusing on the subject to creating objectified metaphysical formulas. The different directions that the poet's work on the discussed text took create a number of satellite poems around the central text. These satellite poems emphasise certain images or associations (‘Towards the Definition of Yahoos’, ‘A Morning in Ochakovo’).