Motive echoes in the poetry of B. Pasternak and Wang Jiaxin

The article considers the work of the Chinese poet Wang Jiaxin (based on the works not translated into Russian), called by critics «Chinese Pasternak», as a characteristic example of the spiritual and artistic influence of Pasternak's work on modern Chinese poetry. Comparing the works of Boris Pasternak and Wang Jiaxin we discover a lot of motifs and images that are significant for the poets' artistic world (motifs of burning candle, snow and snowstorm, garden, thunderstorm, sea, rain), but one of the most powerful images Pasternak and Jiaxin share is that of the wind. The article reveals symbolic connotations of this image common for both poets: anthropomorphization of the wind; wind as a mediator between the human body and the world; wind as a universal omnipresent entity, pantheistically dissolved in the universe, a unifying force that facilitates the merging of particularities into a single cosmos; the guardian of cultural memory, creating the link between times and generations; wind as the language of art, the element in search of means of verbalization; wind as a symbol of the transformative power of art, the symbol of historical upheavals; wind as a universal metaphysical force that governs the world, etc. This article examines the intertextual links of Wang Jiaxin's work with the «wind text» of Chinese poetry, using the poetry of the Tang era and the lyrics of the poets of the 20–40s of the XX century as examples. The article concludes that Pasternak's wind is the most important component of his poetic natural cosmos, the embodiment of spontaneous playful, joyful, life-affirming creativity, while Wang Jiaxin's wind is a more severe, mysterious and irresistible element; it is not only a reflection of some values significant for the poet, but also a kind of «literary wind» that accumulates multiple cultural connotations and reflects both «wind songs» of classical Chinese poetry and the «windiness» of Pasternak's poetic universe, and the creative dialogue between Wang Jiaxin and Pasternak not only demonstrates a profound connection of Chinese and Russian poetic traditions, but also allows us to take a new look at Pasternak's poetry, seeing its brilliant reflection in Wang Jiaxin's lyrical mirror.