Vladislav Chodasevič's ‘Before the Mirror’: The Italian Amalgam

This essay is a monographic analysis of Vladislav Khodasevich's famous poem ‘Before the Mirror’ (1924). It focuses on the work's biographical context; its meaning (midlife crisis superimposed on the poet's self-portrait in a mirror); its Italian intertexts blended with Russian ones; the metatextual message (the poet ushers himself into the pantheon of great writers such as Dante, Petrarch and Pushkin); and literary craftsmanship (various “mirror” effects).