Volume 19, 2021 year

The article presents the results of a study of hagiographic folk legends about St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker as surety (AaTh 849*, SUS 849*), comparing them to the book versions of similar narratives.  Categorized by the folklore prose indexes as the indicated plot type, these stories are not homogeneous in content, but include several forms of the plot that differ in their origin and nature of relations with the book. The narratives in the first two variants of the plot are relatively few in number. The first entails a merchant borrowing money, with a cross or an icon guarantor; money is thrown into the water in a barrel and floats to the lender by itself, and the second speaks about the icon of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker being entrusted with the protection of a house and property; and the icon being punished if the request addressed to it is not fulfilled. These plots demonstrate their dependence on book source, namely The Tale of Fyodor the Merchant and The Miracle of the Icon of St. Nicholas. The third variant of plot type 849* involves a poor man who uses an icon of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker as surety, borrows money, and cannot repay the debt. The lender punishes the guarantor icon, while the person who bought the icon attains happiness with the help of the saint. There are many both published and archival versions of this plot variant in the Eastern Slavic oral tradition, and it derives from a non-book origin. The folk narratives of this plot variety influenced the development of 17^th-century Russian manuscript writing, when figurative means, themes and plots were consciously transferred to literature from folklore. The oral hagiographic legend about St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker was edited in accordance with the book tradition and transformed into the Tale of a certain wretched young man, contiguous with the non-book versions of the miracles of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker.

Keywords: Slavic folklore, legends, folk hagiography, handwritten book writing, St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker

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The article offers a comparative analysis of two hagiographic works — the ancient Russian Life of Alexander Oshevensky (XVI century) and the Byzantine Life of Alexis the Man of God, known in ancient Russia since the pre-Mongol era. The author attempts to substantiate the hypothesis that Alexis the Man of God served as one of the hagiographic prototypes of Alexander Oshevensky. The connection between these saints was initially pointed out by the famous Russian hagiologist Nikodim (Kononov), who included in his akathist to Alexander Oshevensky (1897) the likening of Saint Alexander to Alexis the Man of God. The association with Alexis the Man of God is instigated by the worldly name of Alexander Oshevensky — Alexis, or Alexey (the Saint was born on March 17, on the day of memory of ‘the Man of God’). The two Lives share common hagiographic topoi, the textual proximity of mothers’ cries, and so on. The fates of hagiographic characters who had left their relatives, but subsequently returned to them (one as a fool, the other as a monk), are also similar. At the same time, the family theme is resolved in two Lives in different ways: while the ‘Man of God’ remains indifferent to the grief of his relatives, Alexander Oshevensky is portrayed both as a perfect monk and as a loving son. The article also considers the Life of Alexander Oshevensky in the context of other ancient Russian literature works.

Keywords: hagiography, poetics of likeness, Alexander Oshevensky, Alexis the Man of God, monasticism, family

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The subject of article is the history of the musical and poetic composition of the Christmas sticheron “Σήμερον ὁ Χριστός” by Johann Damascene with the Gospel quotation “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men” (Lk. 2:14), as well as the circle of associated stichera in Byzantine, Old Russian and Kiev-Lithuanian traditions. The musical text of the hymns is represented in Greek manuscripts by Chartres, Coislin and middle-Byzantine neumes; Old Russian chant books were analyzed using znamenny neumes and singer notation; and Kiev manuscripts — using Kievan five-line notation records. The melody of the Christmas sticheron emphasizes the importance of the Gospel quotation with long melismatic musical fragments of the quotation itself and the previous sentence. This sticheron became a model for several hymns to Epiphany, Purification of the Most Holy Mother of God, Annunciation and Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Mother of God, the majority of which were excluded from liturgical use. There are various ways of creating a new sticheron based on the model: prosomoion may be a calque or an independent composition with certain elements of model tune. The latter case of the sticheron to the Entry into the Temple “Σήμερον τῷ ναῷ προσάγεται” has its own musical text history in three traditions, independent from that of the model. Chants of Old Russian manuscripts of 11th—14th centuries are similar to those of a Byzantine origin, but in the 15th—17th centuries the music of these two traditions has developed in different ways. The Kievan chant tradition, similar to both Old Russian and Byzantine ones, is a point of intersection of chant cultures.

Keywords: historical poetics, hymnography, podoben of the second level, comparative analysis, Greek sing, Kievan sing, Old Russian singing art

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Peter the Great is one of the most popular characters in the folk prose of the Russian North. His sojourns in thinly populated and inaccessible places had left a noticeable mark in the people's memory. The first tales about him were written in the mid-18th century. Researchers define the genre of these works in different ways. They are classified as folklore, legends, fairy tales, anecdotes, stories about royal favors. The main motifs they contain are release from work, communication with ordinary people, treats, presenting with a caftan, coat, cloth, money, infliction and compensation for losses. They often contain the motif of Peter the Great's recognition of the enemy's superiority over himself in strength, ingenuity, resourcefulness, navigation, carpentry, making bast shoes, etc. As a rule, the plots of folklore stories are a convoluted mix of motifs from works of different genres. Some of them have magical significance: a miraculous dream, signs, the fulfillment of a prediction, the uncovering of relics, magical punishment, the petrification of Peter the Great in the monument (The Bronze Horseman), etc. A feature characteristic of folklore history is the multiplicity and ambiguity of their genre manifestations. Oral stories about Peter the Great are historically unreliable: the narrator knows a fact in the most general sense, and it is subsequently comprehended in accordance with popular ideas about power. The Tsar is recognizable as a historical person, but he acts in the genre paradigm of a cultural hero. Historical legends about Peter the Great characterize the formation and development of the folk poetic myth of a just tsar who values the common people, lives in the interests of the state, and is concerned about the future of Russia.

Keywords: Peter the Great, plot, motif, genre, folklore history, fairy tale, anecdote, legend

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The article examines the artistic logic of the development of the Kamennoostrovsky Cycle by Alexander Pushkin, arguing for the presence of an Easter narrative in it. The fact that the author did not complete his last cycle, and the difficulty in determining the composition of the cycle leads to a variety of interpretations. Nonetheless, the work proves the need to limit arbitrary interpretations to the indication of the numbering of poems within the cycle, which was provided by the author himself. It is methodologically correct for a researcher to proceed from the following sequence of texts recognized by all Pushkin scholars: II. “Desert fathers and women are blameless” — III. “(Imitation of Italian)” — IV. “Worldly Power”. Since the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian is paraphrased in text II, referring the reader to Great Lent and Holy Week, in text III Pushkin refers to the betrayal of Judas, in text IV — to the crucifixion of Christ, the surviving author's “backbone” of the cycle is strictly correlated with the middle of Holy Week. The artistic logic of the cycle is substantiated, leading to the correct reading of the superscript over the poem “(From Pindemonti),” namely, No. I. The missing (not numbered by Pushkin) links of the author's poetic construction are reconstructed: “In vain I run to the Zion heights”, “When outside the city, thoughtful, I wander” and “I erected a monument to myself not made by hands”. Using the categories of mimesis, paraphrasis and catharsis, presented here as a single system of concepts in their interconnection, the poetics of both Pushkin's individual poems and the unity of the cycle are described. The first article offers a new understanding of the first five poems of the Kamennoostrovsky Cycle. The second part of the work is devoted to Pushkin's “Monument.”

Keywords: Pushkin's lyrics, poetics, cyclization, Kamennoostrovsky Cycle, Easter nature, mimesis, paraphrasis, catharsis, Christian tradition

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The article discusses the formation of the poetics of the 1841 poem by M. Yu. Lermontov’s Svidanie (Rendez-vous) from first to final draft. The reconstruction of the creative history of the text allows us to imagine the peculiarities of M. Yu. Lermontov’s reasoning, his path to the creation of artistic reality in its spatial and objective design. Landscape details, visual plans, and the image of the lyrical hero change in the creative process. The novelty of research has a factual (for the first time the process of creating a poem is presented in as much detail as possible) and interpretative character, associated with the clarification of Lermontov’s poetics and worldview. The poem is interpreted as a contamination of reality, dream and transitional states, with particular attention paid to the poetics of dreams. The incompleteness of the text is presented as an aesthetic device for the reliable portrayal of the sleep phenomenon. The poem is understood as an aesthetically and metaphysically integral text, in which the author manifests himself as a person with knowledge and experience of spiritual life.

Keywords: M. Yu. Lermontov, final version, draft, creative lab, sleep, reality, spiritual reality

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The article focuses on the unsolved mystery of the novel by I. S. Turgenev Fathers and Children — the Italian-style al fresco painting The Resurrection of Christ, located above the entrance to the church at the entrance to the Odintsova estate. None of the researchers and commentators of Turgenev’s novel were puzzled by the question: what does “Italian-style” mean in the Easter image? Meanwhile, Turgenev directly points out that, instead of the gateway Orthodox icon, there is a religious painting The Resurrection of Christ (al fresco painting) in the church, where both the sacrament itself and the outsider witness (“a swarthy warrior in a spiked helmet in the foreground”) are presented. In the Orthodox Easter iconography, however, an outside figure is an unacceptable detail, and the sacrament of the Resurrection as the highest sacred reality in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Gospel was not depicted. The Easter sacrament was replaced by the scene of the Descent into Hell, but such an icon was still called Resurrection. Meanwhile, canonically, the procession of Christ is captured, when the Savior does not descend into hell, but rises from there on the icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell: he leads Adam and other biblical heroes out of the underworld by “grabbing of the wrist.” In this way, the Resurrection of Christ begins with the salvation of man, with co-resurrection. In the value and semantic space of the novel, the Orthodox icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell is concealed behind the “Italian” fresco-veil. If Turgenev knows the “Italian” semantics of the Resurrection, then it is quite natural that the author is more familiar with the semantics of the Orthodox icon from liturgical recollection and makes it covertly actual. The behind-the-scenes presence of the icon of the Resurrection of Christ/Descent into Hell and everything that is liturgically and theologically associated with it and experienced transubs the structure of Fathers and Children. The Easter hierotopy of the novel, outlined by the Orthodox icon and supported by the prayerful hopes of the finale 1) creates a very special, breathtaking and enlightening value space, correlated with eternity, the infinity of the spiritual, which affirms, elevating all present to endless life through participation; 2) sets up the supertext dimension, gives rise to the motive of transcendental hope: “You will not leave my soul in hell”; 3) and also strengthens the Russian word as the Christocentric foundation of Russian culture.

Keywords: Ivan Turgenev, “Fathers and Children”, Resurrection of Christ, Italian style, desacralization, Orthodoxy, Descent into Hell, sacrament, theology of three days, liturgical remembrance, hierotopy

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The article analyzes the searches conducted by F. M. Dostoevsky and V. F. Odoevsky for a “positively excellent” hero. It compares the images of Prince Myshkin from The Idiot and the hero of the dramatic excerpt Segeliel, or Don Quixote of the XIX century. The similarity between these two characters is reflected as early as in the history of their creation. The authors hypothesize that in both cases an Easter archetype emerges behind the conscious or unconscious desire to substitute a grim and sinful character with a “positively excelent” one. Myshkin and Segeliel love the world with a compassionate, selfless and active love, but they are alien to other people, differ by their very nature and are aware of this otherness. The heroes do not accept the “earthly” hierarchy in relation to people, they are incomprehensible to others and are laughable from the point of view of “common sense.” At the same time, there are numerous differences between them. Segeliel is a spirit, but he is rational, he believes in laws and in science. Myshkin strives for a mystical experience of life. Failures lead Myshkin to humility, and Segeliel to rebellion. Dostoevsky’s hero seeks to flee from the world. Odoevsky’s hero wants to intervene in earthly affairs. Segeliel wants to remake the world without God. He does not believe in the Creator and repines against him. Segeliel’s throwings are reminiscent of the complex dialectic of good and evil, construed by rebels from Dostoevsky’s novels. At the same time, it is important to distinguish the positions of Segeliel and Odoevsky himself, who is not in complete agreement with his hero. Certain common motifs, i.e., those of childhood and foolishness for Christ, create parallels between Myshkin and Odoevsky, the character and the writer. The many intersections between the image of Segeliel, his author and the image of Prince Myshkin allow us to identify the cultural code that appears in the works of Russian writers who sought to find the earthly embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty in a rough physical shell, inevitably hindered by original sin.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, V. F. Odoevsky, “positively excellent” hero, tradition, cultural unconscious, archetype, literary roll calls

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The problem of understanding Russian literature implies a grasp of the author’s concept of a human being, rooted in the spiritual tradition of Russian culture. Scientific analysis of the artistic refraction of the religious and philosophical opposition between Law and Grace, the divine power that saves from sin, in the formation of the character expands the idea of the semantic depths of the work, which open up new meanings in the “big time”. The idea of War and Peace was conditioned by the challenges of the cultural and historical turning point in the spiritual experience of the Russian people. In assessing events and people, Tolstoy is guided by the Christian tradition of the Russian culture. The previously undisputed assessment of the blessed results of Pierre Bezukhov’s spiritual biography needs to be clarified based on the conclusions and provisions of the Christian basis of Russian literature. Prince Andrey and Bezukhov were not accepted by the high society, but managed to find common ground. However, Bolkonsky’s interest in lawmaking faded after meeting Natasha, and when the war began, he refused Kutuzov’s proposal, felt responsibility for the doomed soldiers, forgave Kuragin in a Christian way and asked for the Gospel before dying, while Bezukhov never became Peter Kirillovich and was focused on self-determination in the subordinate spheres of earthly life, actualizing the importance of human efforts for the transformation of society. Bezukhov had never made a moral choice between Law and Grace, unlike Bolkonsky, who blessed his son. Thus, the title of the book appeals to the eternal Christian opposition of Law, or war, and Grace that is peace.

Keywords: Leo Tolstoy, Law, Grace, Andrey Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, moral choice, spiritual biography of the hero

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The article deals with the anthropological aspects of Dostoevsky’s creative work. Its study requires researchers to take into account the classic’s pronounced Christian orientation of the artistic system. In the center of this system is the ideal of Christ, in whose light Dostoevsky’s concept of man is formed and the typology of characters is determined. The dominant type is the hero-ideologist, however, in addition to the underground type, he is also represented by the heroes of the “positive idea”. The latter preach the idea of salvation through the transformation of the person in Christ, rather than the idea of forcibly changing the world to achieve universal happiness. However, Dostoevsky’s anthropological discovery was not only the idea of compassion for a person fallen in sin, but also the concept of human transience in earthly existence, and hence the assertion of the idea of immortality, in which man will achieve his fullness and harmony. The quintessence of Dostoevsky’s anthropological concept is the idea of “all-humanity” (“vsechelovechnost”) and “universal responsiveness”, capable of uniting people on the basis of spiritual brotherhood and acceptance of the alien as one’s own.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, anthropology, typology of a literary hero, heroideologist, underground, Orthodox epistemology, panhuman, vsechelovek

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Within the framework of Pavel Medvedev’s sociological poetics, the article identifies and studies the features of the narrative in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from a Dead House, and examines the role of these features in expressing the key idea of this novel, namely the desire of convicts for freedom, for “resurrection from the dead”. From this point of view, the author examines the significance of the narrator’s duality (Goryanchikov and GoryanchikovDostoevsky) and the juxtaposition of the characters in the narrative (positive and negative). He also analyzes the compositional function of the XI chapter of the first part of Notes from a Dead House, “Presentation”, in the plot. The Christian faith plays the vital role in the expression of the essential idea of the work. An open-minded attitude to people, a friendly, Christian approach towards them is a distinctive feature of Goryanchikov-Dostoevsky and all the positive characters in the book. Inspired by the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, the convicts staged a theatrical performance, which alters the moral state of both the actors and the audience, fortifies their sense of self-esteem required to resist the prison orders that “deaden” people, and strengthens the prisoners’ desire for freedom, for “resurrection from the dead”. The article concludes that Notes from a Dead House is the beginning of aesthetic and artistic changes that manifested themselves in Dostoevsky’s post-prison works.

Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, “Notes from a Dead House”, Pavel Medvedev, Christianity, genre, hero, narrator, storyteller

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The article studies the topic of excessive drinking in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky in the light of the tradition of the ancient feast, or symposium. The wine offered at a symposium did not merely incline people to philosophical conversations and discussions about eternal questions, but also revealed the inner human essence, thoughts and intentions. There is ancient understanding of wine as a means of forgetting sorrows and attaining temporary joys. Excessive drinking is associated with the ancient Dionysian idea — excessive drinking at the festival of Dionysus, and the concept of metamorphosis — people lose their human essence and begin to resemble animals. In the fates of the heroes of Dostoevsky’s Poor Folk, Humiliated and Insulted, Notes from Underground, Crime and Punishment, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov, the ancient tradition is combined with the Christian understanding of a feast as reveling, and amusements at a feast, and excessive drinking as a moral transgression. On the pages of Dostoevsky’s magazine Citizen excessive drinking is equated to a serious illness, a flood, a fire, an enemy invasion, that is, to a catastrophe that affects the Russian people. The ancient tradition allows to reveal additional meanings in Dostoevsky’s interpretation of the topic of excessive drinking.

Keywords: Dostoevsky, excessive drinking, reveling, ancient and Christian traditions, Plato, the Gospel

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F. M. Dostoevsky's novel The Raw Youth (1874-1875) and A Writer's Diary (1876) were created in the tradition of Christian calendar prose, which is aligned with sacred time. The two works are united by the idea of the religious transformation of personality, the salvation of the soul and unification around the Gospel Truth, the search for ideal foundations in the Russian people, and reflections on their purpose. Dostoevsky introduces Easter narratives into the novel and into A Writer's Diary in 1876: the story of Makar Dolgoruky about the merchant Skotoboinikov, the opera by Trishatov, the story The Peasant Marey. The plot and storyline motives of these works and the novel go back to the parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job. They share the motives of suffering, redemption and resurrection. A Writer's Diary of 1876, which utilizes a system of references to the novel, starts from January and contains a reference to the celebration of the Nativity (the Christmas story The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree, quotes from a Christmas worship service), and ends in December, at the beginning of advent. A Writer's Diary contains an appeal to Christmas and Easter as the most significant dates of the church calendar and the writer's personal biographical time. In the chapter More on a simple but tricky case (December), Dostoevsky recalls how he survived the December 22 execution on the Semyonovsky parade ground and a revival on Christmas Eve; in the Easter story The Peasant Marey (February), he tells the story of how he acquired faith in the Russian people in penal servitude during Easter. The author's position in the novel The Raw Youth and A Writer's Diary of 1876 can’t be comprehended without referring to the gospel and liturgical text. The Gospel parable of the Prodigal Son and the Book of Job, which are referenced in the novel and A Writer's Diary, are read in church before and during Great Lent.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, historiosophy, the Gospel, Holy Scripture, church calendar, plot, motive, precedent text

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The article analyzes the semantic functions of the Old Testament and New Testament texts in the story Polosa (Stripe), a landmark for the literature of the final stage of Russian classical realism, written by Lydia Nelidova, whose work has not yet been the subject of special study. The relevance of the research is defined by the rather high role of Nelidova’s creative activity in the literary process of the last decades of the 19th century. Biblical references, quotations, reminiscences, allusions and paraphrases, which determine the sequence of the text that creates the semantic field of the work, perform the dominant ideological and aesthetic function in creating the story as a “non-trivial new text.” Nelidova’s innovation is based on the active use of Dostoevsky’s literary traditions (orientation toward the idea of “finding a person in a person” and the “living life” constant). As a “semantic whole,” Nelidova’s story is organized by the internal dialogue of three concepts of “life.” One of them is based on the Christian teaching, the other on an appeal to science, and the third – on the idea of life as an all-dominating objective force. The author's moral and aesthetic position, which confirms the biblical concept of life, is objectified in the logic of semantic actualization of the gospel truths associated with the interpretations of the eternal theme of the struggle between good and evil, ways of human salvation, overcoming the sin of thoughts, pride and selfishness. The artistic historicism of the story, manifested in the coverage of the social contradictions of the post-reform Russia, sanctions the author’s intentionality associated with the assertion of universal human spiritual, moral and humanistic ideals. Formation of meaning at the level of the author’s intentionality and at the level of meaning generation is carried out by activating the intertextual, hypertextual and contextual functionality of biblical pretexts and traditions of Orthodox Christian culture. It is implemented in the process of illuminating conflicts of time and characters' psychological disclosure. Intertextual reminiscences and quotes from biblical texts, the works of Christian ascetic writers and patristic sources aim to form the semantic core of the main character’s narrative and implement the principle of intersemantization of meanings enshrined in sacred texts. Thanks to these texts, they manifest in the thoughts of a character seeking a way out of spiritual and moral impasse. The author's artistic experience stimulated the formation of the Dostoevsky school in the literature of the last decades of the 19th century. The author's quote-based thinking anticipates the narrative strategies that will become characteristic of the artistic discourse of subsequent historical and literary eras.

Keywords: Nelidova, generation of meaning, understanding the meaning, biblical text, Orthodox Christian context, intertextuality, pretext, quotation thinking, meaning-forming factors, author

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The article offers an interpretation of Innokenty Annensky's poem Magdalene written in 1885, but published only in 1997. This early work of the poet differs significantly from his poetry, known from published collections (Quiet Songs and Cypress Box), which are not characterized by an appeal to biblical images and motifs. In the poem Magdalene Annensky offers his interpretation of the Gospel story, depicting the conflict and struggle between human feelings (Mary Magdalene) and divine vocation (Jesus) in the dialogues between Magdalene and Jesus. Analysis of the structure of the poem allows us to determine the presence of three literary traditions in it: 1) ancient Greek tragedy and the chorus as one of its main actors; 2) a romantic poem about unrequited love (first of all, The Demon by Mikhail Lermontov) and the concept of romantic duality; 3) Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. The combination of antique concepts (fate, destiny, metamorphosis) with the ideas of Christianity, as well as allusions to the works of Russian romantics, allowed the author to combine three aspects in the image of Mary Magdalene: ancient fate (destiny), Christian (Orthodox) holiness and romantic alienation from the world. The combination of these three aspects in the poem by I. Annensky forms a new quality: the romantic poem did not provide for the chorus as a character, and the ancient Greek tragedy did not allow for such lyrical digressions typical for a romantic poem. The Gospel text in the poem by I. Annensky is transformed in line with the three mentioned traditions, and thus the theme “grows” into a dramatic poem.

Keywords: Maria Magdalene, Bible, symbol, semantic transformation of image, literary tradition

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The article discusses the issues of studying and interpreting number symbolism in a literary work and characteristics of gospel number symbolism in the Christian context. In 20th-century Russian literature, the Christian tradition had a decisive impact on shaping the meaning of number symbolism. An important feature of the Christian symbolism of numbers is the correlation of number symbolism with two spheres, which can be designated as “positive” (sacral) and “negative” (sinful). The author proposes a methodology for interpreting number symbolism, which comprises three stages: 1) a description of the numbers in a literary text, 2) the correlation of these numbers with the tradition of number symbolism, 3) the interpretation of the meaning of number symbolism, which is an integral part of literary work. The article also distinguishes between two concepts — that of the number image and of the image of number, and substantiates the differences in interpretation of such images. Theoretical notions are supported by the interpretation of number symbolism in the poems of Boris Pasternak, Zinaida Gippius and Alexander Blok, where it is presented explicitly. Other images, motifs and concepts presented in the literary works augmented and added complexity to the tradition of gospel number symbolism in the poems of these authors.

Keywords: number symbolism, image of number, number image, New Testament, Christian number symbolism, Alexander Blok, twentieth-century Russian poetry

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The article analyzes the stages of development of A. M. Remizov’s “theory of Russian literary style” (“teoriya russkogo lada”) in the 1930s–1950s. In the 1930s, the opportunities for the writer to present his aesthetic views in an open journalistic form narrowed down significantly. Remizov was forced to popularize his theory and the name of its “founder” — protopope Avvakum in works devoted to other topics (Knigopisets i shtanba, Po sledam protopopa Avvakuma v SSSR, etc.). In these years, the conceptual apparatus of the theory has taken shape, the semantics of the term “theory of Russian literary style” was detailed. In 1946, Remizov made the last, unsuccessful attempt to publish an introduction to his theory in the form of a manifesto (Na russkiy lad, 1946). The exposition of this theory’s postulates was an indispensable part of most of Remizov’s works of the late 1940s-1950s. Plyashuschiy Demon (The Dancing Demon), an avant-garde book, reveals the ongoing confrontation between the supporters and opponents of the “theory of Russian literary style” up to the 20^th century through a historical kaleidoscope of characters from different periods of Russian history. Related novels. i. e. Uchitel muzyki (The Music Teacher) and Podstrizhennymi glazami (By Cropped Eyes) are devoted to examining the mystery of the formation of a writer's personality, and reflect the Russian art life in the 19^th-20^th centuries and in the first wave of Russian emigration. The writer's emerging personality, the formation of its aesthetic foundation is historically and culturally justified in both books. The writer in question is a follower of “theory of Russian literary style.” This very theme is one of the central topics in Remizov's latest work — his book about himself Litso pisatelya (The Face of a Writer).

Keywords: Aleksei Remizov, teoriya russkogo lada, theory of Russian literary style, style, prose of the twentieth century

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The purpose of this article was to consider the movement of literature through the genre metamorphoses as a category that transforms in its immutability. Consequently, the author’s task was to study the modifications of the genre of love idyll using the example of Modern Pastoral ву V. P. Astafiev’s (The Shepherd and the Shepherdess) in the context of works about love that had emerged in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. This task is carried out using the example of the initial samples of the love idyll genre in prose, as well as a theoretical justification of the unity of love idyll and pastoral as its main type (M. M. Bakhtin), which make up a single line of genre tradition. The article demonstrates the productivity of genre splices, i. e. the initial actualization of the love idyll genre in combination with the novel (Daphnis and Chloe, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult) and the story (The Tale of Peter and Fevronia, The Shepherd and the Shepherdess). The correlation between the ancient pastoral and Astafiev’s Modern Pastoral was noted in literary studies, albeit poorly justified, while the implementation of the traditions of the love idyll set by the above-mentioned medieval models remained beyond the scope of research. The study tested the typological resemblance of genre models, their similarities in themes, plot, and imagery, which allowed to include characters in the range of enamoured couples that have largely determined the development of world literature. The article focused on the debated question of the validity of the writer’s definition: Modern Pastoral. As a result, the study tested the productivity of Astafiev’s update to the genre canon; the validity of the genre naming by the writer, with regard to the modification made by him.

Keywords: V. P. Astafiev, pastoral, love idyll, genre, genre tradition, "Daphnis and Chloe", "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia", "The Romance of Tristan and Iseult", Modern Pastoral, modification

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