Ranchin Andrey Mikhailovich – DS in Philology, Leading Researcher of the Department of Literary Studies, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The article examines the concept of tyranny presented in two works by Joseph Brodsky – in the poem To One Tyrant (Odnomu tiranu) and in the essay On Tyranny. Brodsky’s poem To One Tyrant is a wonderful example of the artistic embodiment of ideas describing tyranny. Brodsky’s characterization of tyranny is built not with the help of judgments, but on the connotative meanings of lexemes, on metonymies. In terms of content, Brodsky’s concept, not fully expressed in his texts explicitly, in the form of logical conclusions, is comparable to the constructions of political philosophers. The similarity of this concept with Hannah Arendt’s theory of totalitarianism is demonstrated. The poet’s view of tyranny and tyrant is filled with absolute irony, which corresponds to the author’s idea of the relationship between literature and any state, expressed in his Nobel lecture.
To one tyrant and On Tyranny by Joseph Brodsky; tyranny; concept; totalitarianism; George Orwell; Hannah Arendt.