Volume 14, 2016 year

The article examines some episodes of the debates between Russian critics and writers on the question whether there was literature in Russia in the 1820s–1830s, if it had a poor or abundant content in the 1860s–1880s, and if Russian literature has a future (1990s–2010s). The disputes between A. S. Pushkin and I.V. Kireevsky, V. G. Belinsky and Russian writers, F. M. Dostoevsky and the adherents of utilitarianism, Westernizers and Slavophiles brought to light different meanings of concepts literature and slovesnost’ (i.e. literature that preaches the Word/Logos). These polemics provided new ideas and conceptions: literature should be slovesnost’ expressing the national spirit, Russian literature should become national and European. In 1880, in his speech dedicated to Pushkin, Dostoevsky declared that Russian literature had become world literature. The crisis in contemporary literature has fueled the old debates on literature and slovesnost’, their future, ideas and ideal. Russian literature has a safety margin — its past; its honourable future is also possible.

Keywords: literature, slovesnost’, criticism, crisis, denial, poverty of content, future of Russian slovesnost’

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The article is devoted to the problem of the genre of commentaries on the translation of “The Epistles” of Horace made by A. D. Cantemir. In particular, a genre structure of remarks is studied in the article. In preparation of the translation and commentaries on it Cantemir used West-European editions of Horace’s works, prevalently A. Dacier’s edition. But compared to West-European editors he wrote notes not on the Latin text but on his own translation. Therefore, his commentaries do not copy Dacier’s notes. He cut some of them and extended others. His comments are divided into historical that contain a variety of details on the ancient world among others the names of Roman dishes, explanations of the philosophic ideas of the Antiquity, and philological ones that comprise the interpretation of Horatian images and complicated expressions of the Latin text. The notes on Russian historical reality and various encyclopedic data constitute a separate category of the commentaries. Thus, Cantemir’s commentaries on his translation form a kind of encyclopedia both of the Ancient world and of contemporary knowledge and ideas.

Keywords: A. D. Cantemir, poetic translation, Ancient poetry, 18th century, genre, notes, commentaries

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The article proposes a new understanding of the most famous Russian ode (and the most famous work of the 18th century in Russia). Given the structural peculiarities of the text, its constructive unity, as well as some insufficiently studied nuances of the author’s (and publishers’) orthography and punctuation, our work reconsiders the interpretations of the ode “God” established in the literature study, according to which the semantic core of the work is the relation between the faith and the science (the Enlightenment). According to the understanding we propose, one may consider that the semantic dominant is the complex and dramatic relations between “You” of God and “I” of a man that change from verse to verse. While the rhetorical and logical ending of the work is the tenth verse with its Easter finale counterbalancing and harmonizing both the self-deprecation and the exorbitant exaltation of the human “I” in the verse IX, which has as a result the statement “I — (am) God!”, the true literary ending is the tender emotion in the last, the eleventh, verse, which has a super-logical and super-rhetorical tone. The gift of tears, appearing in the last verse, is both one of the most important characteristics of Derzhavin’s poetics and one of the manifestations of the Orthodox spiritual tradition.

Keywords: understanding, analysis, interpretation, Derzhavin, Christian tradition, poetics

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The article studies artistic functioning of the Biblical plot of a proud / sinful tsar in the tragedies “Herod and Mariamne” (1807), “Eupraxia” (1808), “The dark one” (1808) by G. R. Derzhavin. The plot is considered in the context of historical and Old Testament sources as well as in the author’s biographical context. The plot about a proud / sinful tsar consists of a complex of motives: infidelity, lack of faith or another faith; pride, excessive self-esteem; boasting of strength, wisdom, wealth; absolute priority given to one’s power; hardness of heart, neglect of the duty of a ruler and of moral liability to God; punishment by virtue of disobedience and death of children; penitence of one’s crimes; sinful death. The peculiarity of the plot structure in the Derzhavin’s tragedies and of the interpretation of the events dating back to the History of Ancient Judea and Russian Middle Ages, are defined by the poet’s understanding of state authority and God’s law, which was formed in his late years. Derzhavin’s philosophic and religious concept applies to the Old Testament statement concerning the sinfulness of the crown deviating from Divine Providence.

Keywords: G. R. Derzhavin, tragedy, legendary and historical sources, Biblical plot of a proud / sinful tsar, philosophic and religious concept of authority

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The article is dedicated to one of Derzhavin’s later works, “A Lyrical and Epic Hymn about Forcing the French away from Our Motherland in 1812”. The author himself considered this gigantic (646 lines!) poetic essay, where Napoleon’s intervention was associated with the arrival of the Antichrist, to be essential in the context of his works. However, the younger poetic generation saw it as the sign of his “senile imbecility” crowned by his creative glory. Hymn’s structure was indeed original: Derzhavin metaphorically retold the revelation of St. John in verse and corrected it just the same time in 51 prosaic comments where he referred to the current events taken from the media and anecdotes. All that, as a whole, created a particular unity that had a certain impact on the reader. Derzhavin conducted a sort of experiment of elaborating essential literary instruments such as: poetics of improving an “exalted” lyrical statement by means of the remarks in a “business style”; poetics of excitement through the poetical understanding of an event; poetics of correlation of an “up-to-the-minute” author’s text with the Eternal text of Gospel. Later, these literary instruments became popular and were used in Silver age of Russian poetry.

Keywords: hymn, Patriotic war, beast, Michael the Archangel, patriotic motives

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In the 18th–19th centuries, there were attempts of literary appropriation of folklore heroes and genres. One of the literary characters was the epic and fairy hero Alyosha Popovich. N. A. Radishchev used this name as the title for his poem (1801). Imitating folkloric and literary genres, the unfledged writer created an original work, which comprised a synthesis of bylina (heroic epic song), fairy and bogatyr tale, heroic and sentimental poem. It is difficult to consider Radishchev’s hero as a bogatyr who vanquishes his rivals by force of his sword and strength of his mind. He uses magic items and transcendent capacities in his fight with wicked and hostile enemies. Having become the hero of a fairy tale the epic hero ceases to be a bogatyr; the poetics of the fairy tale disrupts the poetics of the bylina. In the fantasy world, there live and act heroes of another age who deliver sentimental speeches in accordance with the literary fashion, chop logic exaltedly, weep and suffer, in spite of reflection they accomplish their feats of love and create family happiness: Alyosha comes back to Kiev with his found wife, and the bogatyr becomes sexton again. In defence of these genre experiments and transformations, it is possible to showcase the success of another poet — “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by A. S. Pushkin who was inspired by Radishchev’s poetic fairy tale.

Keywords: folkloric fairy tale, literary fairy tale, long short story, poem, sentimentalism, bogatyr, literary hero, genre transformations

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The article examines the Ancient and Christian traditions in Pushkin’s poem “Elegy” of 1830 by means of etymological analysis of the word “trevolnen’e”, which is traditionally interpreted as a characteristic of the emotional state of a lyrical character that is “strong excitement”, “anxiety”. The article expands the knowledge concerning the etymology of the word “trevolnen’e” which literally means “third wave” from the Greek “τρικυμία”. The history of evolution of the word from the Ancient times to the modern poetic tradition and acquisition of its new metaphorical meanings is of interest. There are examples of the use of the word “trevolnen’e” and other sea images in the texts of Ancient authors, the works of the early Christian writers and teachers of the Church. Russian verbal culture was the successor of the Ancient World and Christianity. The article gives the examples of the perception of the Greek word “τρικυμία” in the liturgical texts of the Russian Orthodox Church. Pushkin took into consideration the variety of meanings of the word “trevolnen’e” and joined together the Ancient and Christian traditions in his poem “Elegy”.

Keywords: Pushkin, “Elegy”, ancient and Christian traditions, marine images, etymology, semantics

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A careful study of the author’s manuscripts, new discoveries, always contribute to a better understanding of the classical heritage. However, it happens sometimes that a success of the authors’ textual researches enables them to make their conclusions more acute and assertive. This substantially concerns the history of the study of Pushkin’s poem, published under the title “To N***” after the poet’s death (“You spent a long time talking to Homer face to face…”). Who was an addressee of “Iliad” — the translator Nikolai Gnedich or Emperor Nicholas I? Gogol insisted that Pushkin’s poem had a sublime, “educative” sense. Thanks to the latest findings of the textual critics they have managed to find more evidence of “gnedich” origins. Who is right? It turns out that the truth resides somewhere in the middle, and that hypercriticism in studying Pushkin’s poetry, as in many other areas, may pose a challenge to understanding the complex nature of the phenomenon under study. The article studied in detail the problem of destinees and genre affiliation of Pushkin’s poem, traced the history of provenance of Gogol’s two different statements about this literary work.

Keywords: biography, art work, world outlook, interpretation, textual criticism, genre, spiritual heritage

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Gogol’s poetical world is traced back to the folk culture. Only thorough research of the traditions of Russian and Ukrainian folklore (Slavic folklore, as a whole) and their interaction with literary culture enables us to get to the heart of the poetical world of this “genius exponent of Russian people’s consciousness” (Mikhail Bakhtin). However, Gogol not only drew information from folklore, but his works themselves became an integral part of the folk culture. In this regard, his versified prayer “To Thee, o Most Holy Mother”, wide-spread in the manuscript copies as “Gogol’s prayer”, which is perhaps his most famous work in Slavic (and not only) countries, has the most astonishing destiny. The article covers the story of publishing Gogol’s prayer. Until now, the only source of all its known publications is hieromonk Isidor (Kozin-Gruzinsky), a spiritual teacher of the Gethsemane Skete of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. It is known that one of his brothers was the Tolstoys’ valet and witnessed Gogol’s death. In a certain sense, his final “Prayerful Chant to the Blessed Virgin Marie the Theotokos” became the author’s fulfillment of his duty, upon which he had written in the letter to Vasily Zhukovsky (on July 15, 1848): “To Die singing is a poet’s imperative duty, just as a warrior’s duty to die armed”.

Keywords: Gogol, hieromonk Isidor (Kozin-Gruzinsky), prayer, literary tradition, folk culture, Slavic folklore

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The article is devoted to the study of the journal “Moscow Observer”. Reflections on the present and the future of Russia, the ways of its development were an integral part of it. Disputes between Westerners and Slavophiles are already incipient there. This controversy partly resonated with the opposition of the old and new capitals — patriarchal Moscow and business Saint Petersburg. The journal hotly debated issues related to the problems of the philosophy of history and religion, political system of the State, relationship between Russia and Europe, the evaluation of the reforms of Peter I, reconsideration of the role of scientific and technological progress in the development of society. The review of the writings of A. S. Khomyakov, S. P. Shevyrev, V. F. Odoevsky, N. F. Pavlov, V. P. Androsov, E. A. Boratynsky shows that the viewpoints of the authors of “Moscow Observer” were various, independent and original, always focused on spiritual values and orthodox traditions considered to be authentically Russian.

Keywords: cultural opposition, myth, dispute, “Moscow Observer”, Slavophiles, Westerners, philosophy of history

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Letters of the Optina Elders bring us to the great spiritual heritage combining spiritual traditions of Russian monasticism beginning from the first centuries of Christianization of Russian lands with those of monasticism of Mount Athos brought to Russia by the disciples of St. Paisios Velichkovsky. The letters of monk Makary of Optina contain many gospel images, by means of which the Elder instructs his spiritual children.  The Gospel images of “grainfields”, “pastures”, “ewe lamb of Christ”, “bride of Christ” and “milk” are not casual in the letters of Makary of Optina to nuns. The patristic literature distinguishes the sins committed by men and women. Therefore, the ways of reaching salvation for men and women, although the human nature is unique, have their particularities. The collection of letters of monk Makary of Optina provides us with the evidence of the Elder’s way to teach his spiritual daughters, to nurture in the nuns a sense of mother love able to save people from troubles and cure dangerous diseases, to work wonders and bring people back to life.

Keywords: epistolary heritage, autograph, Church-slavonicisms, Optina Hermitage, Macary of Optina, "grainfield", "pasture"

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Among the sources that inspired F. M. Dostoevsky to create the novel “Demons” the New Testament was of high priority, as this article puts it. It also uncovers the importance of the author’s interpretation of the Gospels of the Church Fathers. The purpose of the article is to determine the text of patristic literature that in all probability encouraged Dostoevsky to picture the forces of Evil in his novel “Demons”. This refers to the Life of St. Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. There are no references to this work either in the novel itself or in the commentaries to the Complete works of Dostoevsky. However, the novel “Demons” contains some arguments justifying such a supposition. The present article investigates them. The article also highlights that both European and Russian Art, particularly painting and literature, developed the theme of temptation of Anthony the Great. One of the best-known examples of this representation is the picture “Temptation of St. Anthony” attributed to Brueghel the Younger. In the 19th century this panting was a part of the famous collection of Balbi and was kept in the Royal Palace of Genoa — Balbi Senarega, inspiring Flaubert in 1845 to write the play “Temptation of St. Anthony” (“La Tentation de Saint Antoine”).

Keywords: Jesus Christ, St. Anthony, Dostoevsky, new man, Demons, pride, faith, cross

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The article is devoted to such a phenomenon of Russian spiritual life as pilgrimage, that became a popular theme of the 19th century literature and one of the basic motifs in P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s works. The possibility to use a variety of modifications of the concept in P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s works resulted from polysemy of the lexemes “pilgrim”, “pilgrimage” in the 19th century language, caused by the evolution of pilgrimage/wandering as a historical and cultural phenomenon. The analysis of different forms of manifestation of pilgrimage, conducted in the article basing on the material of the story “Poyarkov” (1857) and the short novel “Grisha” (1861), makes it possible to reconstruct the content-related meaning of “pilgrimage” / “wandering” in P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s early works. Various socio-cultural and historical meanings assigned by the writer to the concept of "pilgrimage" are identified through the analysis of images of pilgrims/wanderers in his works. The motif of pilgrimage is considered in interrelation with the emotional experience of the main characters (Poyarkov and Grisha). The article concludes that the motif of pilgrimage/wandering in P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky’s works, no matter which meaning it implicates, is a driving force for disclosing images of the main characters of the stories and goes hand in hand with their spiritual quests.

Keywords: P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, Russian Old Belief, pilgrim/wanderer, pilgrimage/wandering, "Wanderers" (stranniki), "Priestless" (bezpopovtsy), motif, image

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The article considers an artistic detail as the most important structure-forming element of the poetics of one of the early literary works of P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky by the example of his story “Grisha” (1861). The fact that the basic principles of literary creativity of Melnikov-Pechersky were developed under the influence of his long-term office activity connected with studying of Old Belief and its history, and substantially under the influence of V. Dahl, is noted in the article. Certain examples from the story show that the artistic detail in the text of Melnikov-Pechersky based on authentic Old Belief materials has a special substantial meaning and carries a semantic distinguishing function. The author of article emphasises the priority of cultural and household details in Melnikov-Pechersky’s story. The article demonstrates that lack of the detailed, enlarged descriptions of Old Belief life is compensated in the story by precisely chosen artistic details giving an idea of the subject (phenomenon or image) in general. Moreover, it is remarkable for Melnikov-Pechersky's story that the clear characteristic of the whole (subject, phenomenon or image) gives a chance to restore, taking into consideration the knowledge we have, lots of details of the described subject.

Keywords: P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, Russian Old Belief, story “Grisha”, artistic detail, poetics

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The article’s theme is the conception of Byzantism by K. N. Leontiev. The purpose of the study is analysis of the key concept of Leontiev’s program article “Byzantism and Slavdom” (1871). The line of the research determines the choice of a cultural and historic approach to analysis of literary phenomena. The tradition of comprehension of the image of Byzantium in the world culture is important for understanding this conception. A biased image of Byzantium, appeared in the sources of Leontiev’s article (Schlosser, Thiery, Guizot), proves the common viewpoint of the role of the Eastern Roman Empire in the world cultural sphere which is hardly ever corresponds to historical facts. Negative evaluation of Byzantism appears in lifetime criticism of the writer, in reviews of the article and collection of articles “The East, Russia and Slavdom” (1886). Opposing the accepted opinion Leontiev used the notion “byzantism” intentionally as an authentic ideologeme. Such comprehension of Byzantine heritage may indicate at a new approach to the study of traditional writers and journalists.

Keywords: Byzantism, Byzantium, K. N. Leontiev, image, concept, ideologeme

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The article is devoted to the analysis of V. Garshyn’s tales “Four days” and “Artists” in the context of an “Easter archetype” of Russian literature, formed in Christian tradition. The fundamental imperative of this archetype is comprehension of all life events as a sort of moral deeds, that is of “Moral Golgotha”. The latter takes a drastic form through death experience. According to V. S. Garshyn and European existentialism, consciousness of death is such a strong and deep commotion that it may provoke an existential crisis in a person’s soul, while in Christian tradition death is seen as pure beingness, that is not a tragedy but a sublime and indispensable purpose of Man’s earthly life on the way to the immortality of the soul. Indeed, death reveals the final meaning of earthly life, that is salvation of the soul. Garshyn brightly demonstrated it as no one else, thus manifesting a particular trait of a Russian artistic man of genius.

Keywords: Easter archetype, V. Garshyn, personality, death

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Evgeny Nikolaevich Opochinin (1858—1928) is an archaeographer, historian, journalist, specialist in drama study, collector, author of memoirs about F. M. Dostoevsky, Ya. P. Polonsky, A. N. Maykov, etc. He is not well known as a writer. Most of his life the writer spent in Yaroslavl region, in the estate in the environs of Rybinsk. Hunter’s stories by E. N. Opochinin resemble documentary, philosophical and psychological prose. The author tries to achieve accuracy in description of nature and life, to juxtapose the image of a biographic author and that one of a story-teller. At the same time, according to the author, hunting symbolizes search for truth that goes back to the philosophy of Platon. In E. N. Opochinin’s stories, the situation during hunting becomes an ordeal for the hero wherethrough his individual and intrinsic principles manifest themselves. The author often uses the method of paradox, an unexpected twist in the plot. Sometimes his metaphors and comparisons look like symbols. As E. N. Opochinin puts it, hunting reveals such traits of Russian national character as compassion, sense of justice, humility, aspiration for strenuous activity, and for perception of God’s will. Simultaneously, by the example of hunting E. N. Opochinin demonstrates a spontaneous, destructive aspect of Russian character if he is motivated by greed for gain and envy. The writer creates different types of hunters: wildlife lovers, conventionalists, “imitators” and predators-consumers.

Keywords: E. N. Opochinin, Platon, A. F. Losev, hunting, national character, paradox, metaphor, comparison, symbol

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I. Shmelev began his literary career as a children's writer. His first literary works were published in such еditions for young people as “Spring” and “Young Russia”. The poorly studied writer’s early works for children and the youth, published in 1906—1910 became analytical material for the article. The story line motifs in Shmelev’s early prose are often repeated, aligned with each other. Among these recurring motifs, the basic one is the motif of a “cherished meeting” between a child and an adult who becomes the mentor for the former. The images of the adults helping children decide on their path of life, reveal the features of the essential image of a mentor and nurse of souls in Shmelev’s works, embodied in the image of the carpenter Gorkin in the novel “Summer of the Lord”. The motif of being of service to people, along with the motif of self-sacrifice, is the keynote of his works of 1906—1910. One of the main images of the writer’s early prose is the image of the book. A reader is portrayed as a carrier of high intellectual culture transmitting it to others. The semantics of the image is varied. One of the characteristic metaphorical meanings is comparison of the book with life itself. That is why the writer often calls precious childhood memories of the heroes “bright pages”. Empathy, the ability of internal, spiritual sight, simple cordiality, purity are the important features of the artistic world of childhood. Highlighting a complex and multifaceted process of formation of the human soul, searching for meaning, comprehension of the laws of life, the ratio of good and evil from the standpoint of spirituality, can be traced even in the early works of Shmelev that makes the writer one of the founders of the tradition of spiritual understanding of childhood.

Keywords: I. S. Shmelev, early works, image of the child, transparent images, motif, spiritual understanding of childhood

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Ivan Sergeyevich Shmelev began his career in literature as a children’s writer. In his early works addressed to children one of the most frequent images was the image of the book. Throughout the pages of children’s books the writer once and again talks about the necessity of introducing children to the world of fiction, about its ability to influence the formation and evolution both of a young hero’s worldview and of an adult’s attitude, about an ability of the book not only to expand the boundaries of knowledge, but also to become a stage in spiritual development of a person. The origins of Shmelev’s belief in the moral force of an artistic word and its positive influence on child development are seen in the writer’s biography, accustomed to reading since his childhood. A sacred tie between a person and books in the artistic world of the writer becomes a kind of criterion of “spirituality” or “spiritual impoverishment” of the characters. A symbolic content of the image of the book in the works of Shmelev dates back to Biblical and Christian figurativeness. A reading man is depicted as a carrier of high spiritual culture, transmitting it to others. The image of the book in writer’s early works mainly implements its direct mission, accompanied with its symbolic meaning of “life as a book”. That is why the heroes’ most cherished memories are repeatedly called “bright pages” by the author. The focus of the author on Christian understanding of a book as the Word, largely embodied in his later works, is manifested in his first works for children.

Keywords: Shmelev, image of the book, artistic expression, reading, the young hero, life as a book

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The article examines the poetic and prosaic works of I. A. Bunin which were written in 1916, the period of his artistic maturity. Poetry and prose are interpreted in terms of the writer’s presentiments of the “Russian cataclysm of 1917”, outlined in his literary works. Bunin’s Christian intuition allowed him to understand the year of 1916 in the context of the history and metahistory at the same time, as the eve and the outcome of the apocalyptic tension of Russian life. The Dantesque motif of the “half of mortal life” conceptually significant for the poet, and developed later in an ideological aspect as well as in the poetological paradigm, is presented for the first time in the article.Bunin declared “love and joy of being” as an immutable basis of his attitude, independent on time, with its historic upheavals. This article substantially clarifies the basics of the idea of the artistic memory thanks to the introduction of the concept of “adamism” which is very significant for Bunin in anthropological and poetological aspects. “Adamism” by Bunin is a product of the poet’s feeling to resuscitate a paradisaical attitude, giving a person happiness and the unity of being, biding the past, the present and the future and engaging him into eternity. It makes the poet avoid Modernism, and become a successor of the Christian spiritual tradition.In his prose the characters named Adam become a symbol of human moral and family degradation. The writer was aware that the tragedy of human existence is predetermined by an existential, rather than social, “sense of homelessness”, aloofness, loneliness, and, what is more important, by the absence of genuine love for God and people in a person’s heart.

Keywords: I. A. Bunin, prose and poetry of 1916, history and metahistory, Christian anthropology, “adamism”, poetology

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The article presents the results of the research of temporal composition of the novel of Ivan A. Bunin “The Life of Arseniev”; it reveals the types of artistic time continuum and characterizes their interrelation and role in the novel. The article defines the temporal composition of Ivan A. Bunin’s novel as a complicated multilevel and top-down structure, which produces different types of artistic time: sociohistorical, family and household, natural-cyclic and biographical. The above-mentioned chronotopical levels are of different volume and importance in the artistic world of the novel. Along with the temporal levels listed above, the author of the article has determined and investigated the time structure of Eternity, which plays a significant role in the novel and involves Christian Eternity of God and of an Immortal Human Soul. Two spatial and temporal models, the 'time of human life' and 'Eternity', contain the crucial coordinates for comprehension of specificity of the artistic time of the novel and of Bunin’s human being concept: the fact of the birth of a person and time of his life get projected onto Eternity. The performed study of the types of the artistic time and of their interrelation and role in the novel “The Life of Arseniev” allows us to make a conclusion that the life of the central character is shown not in one, but in different spatiotemporal formats at the same time: through sociohistorical, family and household, natural-cyclic and biographical chronotopes — and simultaneously the life of Arseniev is put in the time structure of Eternity. This key element of the novel's spatiotemporal structure is very important for understanding of the novel and witnesses as follows — the story of Arseniev is not just a narration about mundane desires of a human being, but also about his immortal soul.

Keywords: Ivan Bunin, novel “The Life of Arseniev”, temporal organization of the novel, Chronotope, types of artistic time continuum, eternity, christian conception, immortal, soul

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The article deals with the motive of comparison of the image of the forest with that one of a temple. This motive became crosscutting for all Pasternak’s works and formed the basis of his philosophical notion of Nature as a temple, comprising mythological and biblical traditions. There are temple allusions in the description of the forest contained in many Pasternak’s literary works: “cathedral darkness” reigns in the forest, forest sounds resemble temple singing, tree trunks look like “the ranks of worshipers” or saints. An ascending image of the forest and the cathedral gives a figurative idea of the Supreme law of the Universe: Nature is permeated by the Divine plan and exists in full harmony with it. This idea of Nature as a temple is best represented in the final book of poems “When it clears up” and in the novel “Doctor Zhivago”. A universal locus of the forest embraces all the “outside world” in the child's conscious of Yuriy Zhivago, and God is compared with a forester who supervises the things happening here below. Later, as an adult, Zhivago sticks to this prototype and, it is in the forest where he appreciates the gift of a living spirit and tries to live by the laws of the forest-temple in the city.

Keywords: Pasternak, poetics, motive, the image of the forest, the image of a temple

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The article studies the problem of genre in the literary works of A. Platonov. The viewpoint on the author’s manner of thinking as “genre busting” that is very popular in Platonov Studies is argued here. The article analyzes the main genres of his creative work: verses, a publicistic and literary-critical article, a story, a short novel, a novel, a play, a script, a fairy tale. The diversity of genres used by the author represents a certain way of self-expression chosen by the author strategically. As it is shown in the article, because of the problems with censorship A. Platonov modified the same ideas trying to introduce them in different genres for the purpose of applying to his readers. In the artistic heritage of A. Platonov it is possible to detect a genre system that allows us to outline the periods of his creative work, according to his genre preferences at a particular point in time. Genre diversity in the presence of a certain range of recurrent ideas confirms the viewpoint of the writer’s works as one text.

Keywords: A. Platonov, genre, genre thinking, genre strategy, novel, short story, story, article, fairy tale, poem

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The great Leonov’s novels were preceded by his early stories of the 1920s. This article analyzes the principles of artistic design of the world in one of Leonov’s early stories “Ham’s Departure”. In this story the artist resorts to a biblical myth of the Great Flood, and creatively reconsiders it. The writer exposes to inversion the logic of the biblical narration, presenting Noah as a false holy man and Ham, as the most decent of his sons. This inversion allowed the author to show the logic of history, approaching its “last days”. As a result, the genre foundation of the story is related to two opposite types of images - idyllic and apocalyptic. The lost of peace occurs due to both a social and political upheaval in Post-revolutionary Russia, and Epiphany of young Leonov regarding the destiny of the modern civilization. Ham, being a hero-justice seeker, enters into an argument with the existing order and, therefore, is doomed to exile, that becomes a harbinger of future disasters.

Keywords: Leonov, biblical motif, genre, idyll, apocalypse

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The image of Babylon was popular in historical writings and fiction of the late 19^th and early 20th centuries. Alexander V. Chayanov’s book “My brother Alexei’s journey into the land of peasant utopia” (1920) contains a lot of allusions to the Tower of Babel, such as numerous references to the works of Peter Breugel the Elder, author of paintings of the Tower of Babel whose works are appreciated by the peasants. His utopian governers, the “augurs of spirit”, who changed the course of history and restored the State, considered their deeds theurgic, and it was no coincidence that the state anthem in this utopia was Alexander Skriabin’s “Prometheus”. In the country of peasant utopia, an artificial selection is put in practice, the so-called “therapy of failed lives”, and all the aspirations are not to waste a single talent. Thus, a man sees himself the centre of the world. The conception of collaboration with God is depreciated. Having embodied in the novel his futurologic, scientific and economic, artistic ideas Chayanov warned against the idea of Man as a God whose symbol is the Tower of Ancient Babel.

Keywords: A. V. Chayanov, “My brother Alexei’s journey into the land of peasant utopia”, The Tower of Babel

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One of the modern spiritual fiction works is analyzed in this article. The following article shows how the author follows the criteria dividing the emotional and spiritual parts of a Christian’ life, basing on the Orthodox traditions. The Holy Father’s doctrine is shown in relation with multistep “heart purification” experience. The author refers to Tolstoy’s soul dialectics which is connected to ascetic practice of self-knowledge. The text brings us back to the subject of man fighting his sins and passions. This tradition was exchanged by the hagiographic canon that shows only the external feat of the saint. The deep understanding of the patristical principle of perceiving everything as a God’s sign, becomes the conceptual point organizing the process of knowledge and self-knowledge. The process of creation and the nature of talent are comprehended in a completely new way. Autobiography, documentary and the reference to the gospel teaching, masterly combined with the figured word and writer’s knowledge about the imaginative fiction.

Keywords: spiritual prose, patristic tradition, Orthodox asceticism, spiritual journey, documentary, autobiographical, based, plot, imagery

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