Author’s name:
Dmitry A. Tyulin – Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
Abstract:
The article discusses the Messianic features of the poetic “persona” of the British poet D. Bowie: the Martian rocker Ziggy Stardust who is the main character of the album cycle “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” (1972). “Persona” in Bowie’s work is a conceptual fictional mask that expands possibilities for the realization of the character, while albums with “personas” in their center may be seen as poetic cycles. The article proves the influence of the plot and the system of images and motifs of R. Heinlein’s novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” on the characteristic features of this “persona.” Bowie’s and Heinlein’s main characters, Ziggy Stardust and Valentine Michael Smith respectively, display signs of Messianism, positioning themselves as spiritual leaders who bring deliverance from the coming global catastrophe. The teaching of love, professed by both characters, echoes the Christian concept of “agape,” which displays certain contradictions with conservative Christianity of the 1960s 1970s. The importance of Heinlein’s novel to the hippie culture of the 1960s can hardly be overestimated, and the article proves that Bowie was influenced by Heinlein’s prose, even though he rarely spoke favorably of the author and his famous novel. The article outlines parallels between the stories of Heinlein’s and Bowie’s characters with the story lines and motifs of the Old and the New Testament. The image of the Messiah underwent a number of transformations in the English counter culture of the 1960s and 1970s, and it is reflected in of Heinlein and Bowie’s protagonists.
| Section | CROSS-CULTURAL ASPECTS OF LITERARY DISCOURSE |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072 3490/lunn2023-63-3-136-151 |
| Downloads | 177 |
| Key words | rock poetry; poetic “persona”; David Bowie; Robert Heinlein; Messianic figure; science fiction |