“THE DEAD TSAR IS SITTING IN FURS.”: A GEOPOETICAL COMMENTARY ON NIKOLAI ZABOLOTSKII’S “LUTONIA’S CHILDHOOD”

This is a study of the geopoetics of Nikolai Alekseevich Zabolotskii’s poem “Lutonia’s Child- hood,” which scholarly works on Zabolotskii have so far overlooked. This poem, however, is especially interesting because it is the only work by Zabolotskii that echoes traditional imagery and genres of Russian folklore: children’s games and fairy tales, which used to be a part of peasants’ family life. The outcome of this study will surprise even the natives of St. Petersburg: very few of them know what hides behind the mysterious line “The dead tsar is sitting in furs.” This line in fact refers to an item that, along with other specific sculptural attributes used in the tsar’s portrait, has become a symbol of Russia’s state power.