Issue 3 (92)

THE INDUSTRIAL MAN IMAGE IN B. A. RUCHYOV’S LYRICAL COLLECTION “SECOND HOMELAND”
Year 2026 Number 3 (92)
Pages 102-110 Type scientific article
UDC 82:94(470.5) BBK 83+63.3(235.55)
Authors Larkovich Dmitry V.
Topic AT THE TURNINIG POINT OF THE AGES. 20TH CENTURY RUSSIAN LITERATURE
Summary This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the artistic image of industrial man (man of the industrialization era), drawing upon the lyric collection “Second Homeland” (1933) by the Ural poet Boris Ruchyov (Krivoshchyokov). It is noted that the very type of “new man” — an active worker, a reformer, a creator — developed under conditions of socialist construction and was widely reflected in the 1930s Soviet art. In the poetry of Ruchyov, who was involved in the construction of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works in the first half of the 1930s, this type of man became the central subject of depiction. In the poems from the “Second Homeland” collection, the image of a contemporary — an ordinary Magnitka construction worker — is presented within a production context and is composed of both collective and individual character modifications, each imbued with a high degree of verbal agency. For the poet, it is important to capture the moment of ideological transformation in his lyrical characters and trace the development of their self-awareness. At the same time, the idealization of the revolutionary transformation of man and the world, typical for the “Second Homeland” collection, did not prevent Ruchyov from artistically reflecting the “problematic” realities of Magnitka’s construction. Having experienced these firsthand, the poet concluded that it is precisely through overcoming life’s difficulties that self-awareness is formed, the personality is developed, and the “new man” is born. The article concludes that, through the portrayal of his characters and the lyrical hero, the author of the collection has not only recreated an artistic chronicle of the difficult daily life at Magnitostroy, but has also himself completed a mental journey towards finding a “second homeland”, convincing both himself and his readers of the historical inevitability of this path.
Keywords industrialization, Soviet art, 20th century Russian poetry, B. A. Ruchyov, Magnitostroy, lyrical character, role-playing lyrics
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