Bashlachev is the largest Russian rock poet, who died tragically at the age of 27. The key theme in the later poetry of Alexander Bashlachev is eschatology. However, the poet does not have too many explicit eschatological markers. To find the eschatological layer in the late poetry of Bashlachev, it is necessary to turn to mythology, religious sources, literary tradition. At the same time, Bashlachev’s eschatology is primarily associated with Christian apocalypticism. The poet expected an imminent universal renewal, which he expressed in many poetic formulas. The theme of the apocalypse also comes up periodically in interviews. Moreover, the system of eschatological references in Bashlachev’s poetry is strictly ordered. This system is a combination of the main Christian holidays (Resurrection, Christmas, Annunciation, Epiphany…). These biblical events are taking place here and now, opening the way to a new post-apocalyptic age. That is, the past, present and future are fused into a single chronotope, the world is on the verge of a new revelation from above. This “message” will be larger and more majestic than all previous revelations (Great Lent at Bashlachev is replaced by “Eternal Lent”). The main subject of the coming apocalypse is the Name of Names, who is both the religious leader — the messiah and the greatest poet. However, the Name of Names will not judge people at the end of the world. God is also not a judge in Bashlachev’s mythopoetic concept. On the contrary, man judges himself. And every person will eventually be saved. The idea of apocatastasis is found in songs and in Bashlachev’s interviews. Universal salvation occurs through preliminary suffering, which purifies each person, prepares him for paradise. Salvation comes through death. And life is a universal punishment that acts a priori — like a physical law.
In other words, the Last Judgment is a personal matter: everyone is “his own Balda”, that is, a judge. But salvation is a universal matter. Bashlachev believes that at the end of time, humanity ascends through the Tower of Babel to Heaven, which is a metaphor for the future paradise. Bashlachev’s insights surprisingly coincided with the history of the USSR. Chernobyl became the messenger of the “minor apocalypse”. The collapse of the USSR, the second Baptism of Rus after Soviet atheism, the death of Bashlachev turned out to be fulfilled prophecies predicted in the songs.
For citation:
Gavrikov V.A. The mythologeme of the last judgment in the idiolect of Alexander Bashlachev, Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2022, iss. 1, pp. 31—42.