Viktor Shklovskii’s Marko Polo — Razvedchik: Medieval History vs. Geopoetic Representation of Imperial Space

Abstract

This article discusses Shklovskii’s children’s book about Marco Polo as both a historical narrative and a geographical one. The writer started working on Marko Polo during a time in Soviet history when the country was experiencing the creation of new Soviet geography with its radical reconfiguration of surrounding landscapes. In many ways, Shklovskii’s narrative reflected the Soviet fascination with geography and topography. Part historical biography, part adventure story, part travelogue, the Marko Polo story narrates the life of the Venetian traveler and explorer on the basis of Marco Polo’s own account. Adapted for Soviet children, the story of this medieval traveler successfully conveyed the new Soviet poetic discourse: the events of far removed history were filtered and filled with the new importance allotted to geography in the Soviet
school curriculum.

Keywords: Marko Polo, travelogue, adventure story, reconfiguration, geopolitics, medieval history