The figure of woman warrior in the poetic dialogue of Valerii Briusov and Nadezhda Lvova

Abstract

The article considers the development of the story of a duel between a woman warrior and a chosen hero in the poetic dialogue of Valerii Briusov and Nadezhda Lvova. The analysis of the poems constituting this dialogue (“Combat” by Briusov and “Your Helmet Rolled…” by Lvova) is made with reference to three aspects: gender aspect, life-building which was typical for the Symbolists and the topics of Briusov’s and Lvova’s works in general. “Combat”, based on the Eddic plot of Sigurd and Brunhild and submitting to the dominant idea of Briusov’s work (the idea of a hopeless struggle against Fate), gets transformed and the poem’s motifs are included in another plot which is central in Lvova’s work — that of lovers engaged in a fight against each other and fate whilst living and reuniting in the afterlife. The heroine is deprived of her status of half-goddess and becomes an earthly mortal woman. Although Briusov is not afraid to partly “feminize” his lyrical hero by showing him defeated in the combat against woman and Fate, and Lvova gives agency and initiative to the heroine, the gender roles in this male-female dialogue ultimately turn out to be rather traditional. Briusov’s hero dreams of a duel of equals against destiny, while Lvova’s heroine dreams of eternal love, which corresponds to gender stereotypes.