“New positioning” of Mayakovsky
by Yue Fenglin in China

The paper is devoted to the work of the famous Chinese translator and researcher of Russian
literature Yue Fenglin. His monographs, still unknown to the Russian-speaking reader,
“Mayakovsky – the literary master of the 20th century” (2004) and “The study of the art
of Mayakovsky’s poetry” (2017), are considered in the context of the development of Chinese
literary studies. These works systematize and summarize not only the entire work of
Mayakovsky translated into Chinese to date but also the history of the Chinese reception of
the poet from 1921 to the present. Chinese literary scholars regard Yue Fenglin as an iconic
figure in the study of Mayakovsky. He brought a new understanding of Mayakovsky to the
perception of Chinese readers. He was the first to propose the concept of Mayakovsky as a
“poet of a new futuristic type,” one who put futuristic aesthetics in a new direction to reflect
the realities of the revolutionary time and socialist construction. The theme of Mayakovsky’s
influence on Chinese poetry is presented ambiguously, with a critical pathos towards literal
imitation. Chinese philologists state that the Kubofuturism of Mayakovsky corresponded to
the national conditions of China and the political needs of Chinese society. Attention is drawn
to the impact of Yue Fenlin’s work on the changing direction of Chinese studies of the poet.
Yue Fenglin should be recognized for his focus on futurist aesthetics, marking a turning point
for Chinese researchers: from studying the ideological component of creativity to examining
his poetics.