The Image of Russia in Wallace Stevens' poems "Mountains Covered with Cats" and "Dish of Peaches in Russia" / report by Daria Chikhacheva

On March 14, 2025, at the seminar "Dialogue between Russia and Europe: the View of Young Researchers," a first-year graduate student of the Germanic Languages department, a teacher of U.S. history and culture at the School of Foreign Languages, Daria Chikhacheva, made a presentation.

In the work of Wallace Stevens, a poet known for his abstract style and attention to the role of imagination in perception, the image of Russia is presented not as a historical or political reality, but rather as a construct created from subjective associations. This paper will analyze two of his poems, "Mountains Covered with Cats" and "A Dish of Peaches in Russia", to explore how Stevens uses images of Russia to examine themes such as imagination, perception, and the interplay between reality and fiction.In "Mountains Covered with Cats", Russia is presented as a space of fantastical transformation, where the familiar (mountains) are absurdly combined with the unexpected (cats), creating a surreal image that challenges traditional ideas about the world.On the other hand, "Dish of Peaches in Russia" focuses on a more specific, but no less exotic, element - peaches, which symbolize sensuality, wealth, and perhaps the ephemerality of beauty in distant and "mysterious" Russia.The paper analyzes how Stevens uses various poetic techniques to create a distinctive "Russian" atmosphere, which serves as a backdrop for exploring universal themes of human perception and imagination. It is demonstrated that for Stevens, Russia is not the goal, but rather a means - a metaphorical tool that allows him to expand the boundaries of his poetry and delve into philosophical reflections on the nature of reality.In conclusion, an interpretation of the role of Russia in Stevens' poetry is proposed. The function of creating a different reality is emphasized - an exotic and stimulating reality that challenges the reader's imagination and pushes them to rethink familiar concepts.

You can watch the recording of the speech on the laboratory's YouTube channel.