The Discourse of Impressionism in Beta’s (B. V. Butkevich) Poetics

The article analyzes the impressionistic poetics of Boris Butkevich, a literary figure of the first wave of Russian emigration, a representative of the Harbin literary school. Like most impressionists, the composition of the poetic text by Boris Butkevich lacks a clearly defined beginning and end. The described lyrical situation can theoretically be continued in both directions. The reference points of impressions turn out to be significant, and not their poetic analysis. A similar principle is also found in the author’s prose, which largely repeats and develops the poetics of his lyric poems. Along with repeated melodic tricks in Butkevich’s prose, cross-cutting motives play an important role, passing from one text to another and organizing the unity of the cycle. At the same time, the author maintains the basic principle of impressionistic discourse – the paradoxical inconsistency of the scale of values. The value of an event is determined not by the accuracy of coincidences with the accepted doxes, but by the fact of a random incident of an event in the author’s field of vision.