The cultural paradox of the sub‐imperial intellectual: Trauma, capital, and the reconstruction of authority in Joseph Brodsky's “On the Independence of Ukraine”

Abstract This article examines Joseph Brodsky's controversial 1992 poem “On the Independence of Ukraine” to reveal the complex cultural paradox of what this study terms the “sub‐imperial intellectual.” Drawing on Dominick LaCapra's trauma theory, Pierre Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, and Viatcheslav Morozov's “sub‐empire” concept, this literary analysis demonstrates how Brodsky represents a unique intellectual type emerging from empires that occupy subordinate positions in global cultural hierarchies while maintaining dominance over peripheral regions. Through systematic textual close reading combined with theoretical analysis, the study traces Brodsky's identity transformation from Leningrad poet to American Nobel laureate, revealing how his cross‐cultural trajectory reinforced a profound cultural paradox characterized by simultaneous identification desire toward Western civilization, critical stance toward the Soviet political system, and insistence on Russian cultural superiority. The analysis demonstrates that Ukraine's independence triggered deep imperial trauma for Brodsky, threatening his position as cultural mediator between Russian and Western civilizations. His violent poetic response represents an attempt to reconstruct cultural authority through purely linguistic means, re‐demarcating cultural boundaries in the post‐imperial era. This study contributes new theoretical frameworks for understanding postcolonial intellectual identity and provides insights into the historical roots of contemporary Russian‐Ukrainian cultural conflicts.