The Unfinished Verse Novel "The First Third" by P. Kogan: Context, Poetics, Tradition

This study represents the view on the unfinished verse novel Pervaya Tret’ (The First Third) by Pavel Kogan in terms of historical and genre perspectives. The analysis of the historical context shows how the historical circumstances of the 1930s–1940s, in which Pervaya Tret’ was planned and written, are reflected in the novel. What is more, the outlook of the “generation of the 40s”, ready to die for the ideas of the 1917 revolution, is of high importance here. Regarding the genre context, Pervaya Tret’ is compared with the two verse novels which influenced it the most – Evgeniy Onegin by A. Pushkin and Spektorskiy by B. Pasternak. This comparison emphasizes the peculiarities of the outlook of the “generation of the 40s”. The commentary of Pervaya Tret’ not only clarifies the message of the novel but also allows to examine this text as a complex combination of various literary influences (by Pushkin, Pasternak, Mayakovskiy, Gumilyov, etc.).