Volume 21, 2023 year

Aristotle’s “Poetics” had a decisive influence on the subsequent development of European literary theory. Translation and interpretation of its thesaurus still remains one of the most difficult literary problems due to the depth and capacity of the terms and the complexity of the conceptual apparatus. The term μῦθοϛ was translated into Latin as fabula and in this translation entered the terminology of European literary criticism. However, such a translation does not fully convey the meaning of the term. In addition, the assignment of the meaning of an implausible narrative to the term “fabula”in Latin rhetoric, adopted by the medieval rhetorical tradition, completely distorts the Aristotelian understanding of not only myth, but also mimesis. Russian classicist poets adopted the European tradition of rendering the term μῦθοϛ as a plot, but 19th-century theorists and translators began to look for new equivalents to convey this term. N. F. Ostolopov uses the term “fable”, which turns out to be unsuccessful due to its ambiguity and the presence of an evaluative meaning. S. P. Shevyrev conveys μῦθοϛ as a myth and shows that such an interpretation adequately conveys the depth of the Aristotelian term. However, his experience was eagerly used by the translators of Poetics. B. I. Ordynsky in his translation uses the term “fiction,” which conveys the content of the term μῦθοϛ more adequately than fabula, but does not take into account all the shades of its meaning. V. I. Zakharov renders the term μῦθοϛ as plot and myth, but their use in translation is not regulated. V. G. Appelrot, like V. I. Zakharov, uses two terms to convey Aristotle’s term — myth and plot, but Appelrot’s use of them is more consistent. In cases where Aristotle talks about myth as a common cultural property, Appelroth uses the term “myth,” and in those cases when Aristotle talks about the individual author’s interpretation of a common cultural heritage or an original structural-narrative complex, he uses the term “fabula.” The research conducted by 19th-century theorists and translators demonstrated the complexity of Aristotle’s term and prepared discussions about conveying its meaning in the 20th century.

Keywords: Aristotle, Poetics, terminology, literary criticism, μῦθοϛ, myth, fabula, plot, fiction, verisimilitude, imitation, translation

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The article poses the question of Russian folk epics’ Christian dimension, arguing that this question should be resolved primarily through an axiological approach. The mentioned approach involves an analysis of the protagonist’s motivational values, his act, and its consequences. Depending on the consequences (either positive or negative) caused by the main hero’s act, his motivational axiological category emerges as strengthened or, vice versa, rendered negatively, being in the end devalued or discredited by artistic means. Given that in the vast majority of cases Russian folk epics obviously tend to challenge, the generally pagan values of the pre-Christian “old man,” it could be justifiably argued that bylinas presupposed a Christianizing influence on their audience as their extra-aesthetical genre function. This feature makes it possible to establish the unique nature of Russian folk epics when compared with other monuments of heroic poetry (first of all, the Western European epics that actually have no Christian values and meanings at the deeper levels of their artistic structure), to describe them as originally devoid of any archaic or mythological motifs and images (and employing such elements only because of later reverse influences exerted by different folk and literally genres), and, finally, as playing a specific value-identifying role in the Russian spiritual culture, characterized by a consistent denial of the secular worldview.

Keywords: bylinas, axiological analysis, values, new man, old man, Christianizing influence

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The paper considers the Holy Names (agionyms) that occur in the texts of wedding speeches. The reasons and mechanisms of inclusion of these nominations in the text of wedding rites are analyzed, the key and frequent onyms related to sanctity are highlighted. The work uses a wide range of sources — archival and published materials of the 19th — early 21st centuries. Аghioanthroponyms, aghiotoponyms, eortonyms, templeonyms, and icononyms are recorded in wedding speeches. The group of agioanthroponyms consisting of the names of characters of the Christian pantheon, the Old and New Testaments, famous Christian saints is multifarious. The frequent agioanthroponyms are Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, and Nicholas the Wonderworker, the use of which in some texts in pairs (Spas — Nicholas / Spas — the Mother of God / Nicholas — the Mother of God) indicates that they are endowed with an equal degree of holiness in popular beliefs. The names of biblical characters Adam and Eve are next in frequency of use: their mentioning in the wedding text is connected with the perception of these characters as the progenitors of the human race. The rest of the agioanthroponyms are fixed in single variant, their appearance in the text is sporadic and irregular. Each name has certain meanings in the biblical cultural tradition, and the situation associated with it refers to a certain biblical story. The knowledge of these stories and their articulation by both sides of the wedding rite makes it possible to clarify the cultural orientations and value attitudes of those who came for the bride, as well as the similarity of these attitudes to the perceptions of the bride’s family. Other varieties of agionyms (agiotoponyms, eortonyms, templeonyms) are represented in speeches by one or two examples; their appearance in folklore texts is not a systematic occurrence.

Keywords: Russian wedding rite, wedding speeches, Holy Names, agionyms, aghioanthroponyms

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The article is devoted to the reflection of the Trinitarian dogma in The Life of Joseph Volotsky, in which triple repetitions are found at the lexical, syntactic and plot levels of the text. The significance of the Trinitarian dogma in the biography of Joseph Volotsky is related to the controversy that erupted at the turn of the 15th—16th centuries between the Orthodox Church and the Judaizer heresy, whose adherents questioned the dogma of the Trinitarian nature of God. Joseph Volotsky became the most active participant in anti-heretical activities. The Life compiled by Bishop Savva Cherny of Krutitsky in the 1740s aligns itself with the Life of Sergius of Radonezh, in which numerous triple repetitions are present. The connection between The Life of Joseph of Volotsky and the Life of Sergius of Radonezh is evidenced by the textual connection of the introductory parts of the texts; indirect proof of the importance of the figure of Sergius of Radonezh for Joseph Volotsky is also apparent in the genetic connection between the saints, based on belonging to the same line of monastic tradition: Joseph took the tonsure from Paphnutius Borovsky, whose mentor Nikita Borovsky was a novice of Sergius. Analysis of the Life for triple repetitions at the structural and event levels of the text not only indicates that the Life of Sergius of Radonezh became a literary source for the biography of the Volotsk hegumen and that the author of The Life reflected in the monument a polemic that was relevant at the time of the saint’s life, but also complements the ideas of philological medieval studies about the biography of Joseph Volotsky. Today we have to state with regret that the Life of Joseph Volotsky, with rare exceptions, has not become an object of interest for philologists; this article intends to shed light on one of the aspects of the poetics of the monument.

Keywords: The Life of Joseph Volotsky, the heresy of the Jews, Josephism, The Life of Sergius of Radonezh, triple repetitions, Trinitarianism, the Joseph-Volotsky Monastery, Ancient Russian hagiography, The Great Menaion Reader, The Enlightener of Joseph Volotsky

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The article attempts to reconstruct the historical thinking of M. Yu. Lermontov and his contemporaries. Political, religious, and socio-psychological aspects of the relationship between the socio-cultural systems of Russia and the North Caucasus are revealed through the comparison of the poet’s notebooks and notes from the Journal of Military Operations, historical journalism, official documents of the 1830s. The article presents rare materials from the archives of the Russian National Library, the Russian State Library, the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The manuscripts directly related to Lermontov’s military service in the Caucasus, official documents prepared on special instructions of the General Staff of the Russian Imperial Army, diaries and reflections of Lermontov’s contemporaries containing records of his stay in Caucasian expeditions are considered. Based on the figurative and stylistic analysis of individual entries of the Journal of Military Operations, their belonging to Lermontov is postulated. The emphasis is placed on the integration of the knowledge of a professional military man, a participant in the Caucasian events and the artist’s exploration of the world with his special perception of reality in Lermontov’s style. The systematization of archival sources and the analysis of the opinions expressed in them about the relationship between Russia and the Caucasus made it possible to recreate the context in which Lermontov’s historiosophy was formed, to determine the influence of public sentiment on the formation of the poet’s historical thinking. As a result, the leading ideological constants in the assessment of historical events correlating with Lermontov’s Caucasian historiosophy are revealed in handwritten essays of the 1830s.

Keywords: Russia, the Caucasus, the Caucasian War, M. Yu. Lermontov, Christianity, Islam, imperial idea, Journal of Military Operations, attribution

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The novels “The Captain’s Daughter” by Pushkin and “War and Peace” by Tolstoy are in the article as works with a teleological plot, which includes the motifs of the test, the choice of the hero and his movement towards salvation. During the choice, the dominant of the hero or people is revealed, based on self-affirmation or self-sacrifice (the “ugliness” vs. “goodness” opposition). In the novels of Pushkin and Tolstoy, the “family thought,” associated with the national-heroic theme, is affirmed, the people appear in them as a conciliar personality. The doctrine of A. A. Ukhtomsky (1875–1942) about the dominant, which he created based on the works of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, allows us to reveal the ethical perspective of the analyzed novels. Zurin and Shvabrin become Grinev’s “doubles” at the first stage of his life’s journey, Napoleon and Dolokhov — become Pierre Bezukhov’s counterparts. Freeing himself from the “double,” the hero who makes a moral choice, according to Ukhtomsky’s teachings, takes the path of the “interlocutor” and returns to the previous moral dominant, which was formed in the family. An example is Masha Mironova and Pyotr Grinev, Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova. Pierre Bezukhov does not have a moral guideline in his family; Andrei Bolkonsky, Platon Karataev and Natasha Rostova help him embark the path of “decency.” The greatness of Kutuzov, according to Tolstoy, is that he has a conciliar consciousness and brings “simplicity, goodness and truth.” It is not by chance that the Battle of Borodino and the connection of the destinies of the main characters take place between the Orthodox holidays of the Assumption and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: in Orthodoxy, the abode of the Blessed Virgin Mary is Russia. The Pushkin’s and Tolstoy’s novels trace the traditions of ancient Russian military short novels and hagiographic literature (symmetrical composition, symbolism of light), and affirm the ideal of the world as a family turned to the Gospel Truth, and a conciliar personality walking the path of salvation and helping others find this path.

Keywords: A. A. Ukhtomsky, A. S. Pushkin, L. N. Tolstoy, novel, teleological plot, motif, dominant, chronotope, military short novel, tradition

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In the article, the poetics of Dostoevsky’s novel “The Adolescent” is examined from the standpoint of an axiological approach, developed on the basis of the works of such Russian religious thinkers as D. Chizhevsky and A. Ukhtomsky. Thus, Chizhevsky’s concept of the comparative history of Slavic literatures as a “history of spirit” presupposes the study of an idea, a concept,  an image in a specific historical form, first and foremost, that of a symbol. In his “history of the spirit” Chizhevsky considered artistic techniques and means as the embodiment of the spiritual life of the people in a certain historical era. Ukhtomsky, relying on the works of Dostoevsky, formulated the principle of dominance as the dominant vector of activity of an individual or a people, and proposed a path for moral improvement of the individual as the formation of a spiritual dominant in oneself. The study analyzes the artistic means of embodying the theme of the Russian world in the poetics of the work. In his opinion, the role of tradition and Christian symbols in the spiritual growth of an individual is decisive. As a result of the study, the spiritual dominants of the Russian people (humility, firmness, strength, broadness and vitality, ingenuity, self-esteem and the ability to remain oneself), the Russian nobility (service to Russia and “universal concern for everyone”) were identified. The “Petersburg text” of the novel is revealed through the literary type of the Miserly Knight, Pushkin’s Hermann, motifs of suicide and madness, the image of a mirror as a symbol of reflection, the “The Bronze Horseman” (“Mednyy Vsadnik”) as an apocalyptic image. The “Moscow text” correlates with old Moscow churches, the ringing of bells, the sacred symbol — the dove and the symbolism — the dove and the symbolism of light. At the same time, “local” texts are not only opposed, they interact intensely, forming a synthetic unity. Thus, Arkady’s “Russian idea” absorbs the idea of the European traveler Versilov and the Russian wanderer Makar Dolgoruky. Trishatov’s opera combines references to European literary texts and Orthodox worship. Literary allusions (Pushkin’s text) also become part of the “Russian text”. The novel shows the path of development of the future writer, the bearer of the “Russian idea”. The research also indicates an article by N. Strakhov and the memoirs of F. Solntsev as sources for the novel.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, D. I. Chizhevsky, A. A. Ukhtomsky, novel The Adolescent, Russian idea, Petersburg text, Moscow text, national character, symbol, N. N. Strakhov, F. G. Solntsev

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The topic of the article is the history of the text of style of Tolstoy’s folk short stories “Candle” (1886). For the first time, the article presents in full the draft manuscripts of the short story (autograph, two copies and proofreading without author’s edits), which were arranged in accordance with the chronology of the writer’s work on them. The textological analysis led to the conclusion that the plot, the system of images, and the composition of the short story were already formed at the stage of the autograph, and the author’s corrections were not so much stylistic as semantic and, above all, took into account the new addressee of Tolstoy’s work — the reader from the common people. The writer’s main focus in the course of creative work was to make the central idea of the short story — non-resistance to evil by violence — understandable and accessible to the reader, who is not experienced in understanding the artistic subtleties of the work. This determined the introduction of a more detailed description of the serf morals into the short story, the persistent aggravation of the conflict between the peasants and the clerk, and the strengthening of didactic pathos through the introduction of gospel quotations and the moral maxim of the narrator that completes the short story. At the same time, Tolstoy wrote a literary text in which the idea was embodied by various means of figurative expression, not a journalistic treatise or a teaching of a religious nature.

Keywords: L. N. Tolstoy, folk literature, textual studies, creative history of the text, autograph, manuscript, archive, aesthetics, short story, categories of poetics

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The article is based on the material of the first major prose work of A. P. Chekhov — his “newspaper” detective novel “Drama on the Hunt” (1884–1885). The novel is a parody stylization not only for Western European and Russian detective literature of that time, but also for Russian literary classics. One of the objects of this stylization is the dramaturgic works of A. N. Ostrovsky. The article contains an analysis of specific textual representations of Chekhov’s stylization of Ostrovsky’s most famous plays, such as “Without a Dowry” and partly “The Thunderstorm.” The main character of the “Drama on the Hunt,” Sergei Kamyshev, can be discerned as a hybrid based on the features, on the one hand, of the hero of Dostoevsky’s novel “Demons” by Nikolai Stavrogin (and partly Rodion Raskolnikov from “Crime and Punishment”), and on the other hand, the character of “Without a Dowry” — Sergei Paratov. The main heroine of Chekhov’s novel, Olga, is primarily correlated with the heroine of “Without a Dowry” Larisa. Thus, the article examines the correlation of elements of parody and stylization in these images and in Chekhov’s novel in general, as well as the place held by Ostrovsky’s plays and some other works of Russian classical literature in the intertextual sphere of “Drama on the Hunt.”

Keywords: A. P. Chekhov, Alexander Ostrovsky, Drama on the Hunt, Without a Dowry, Thundertorm, hybrid hypertext, stylization, parody, parody stylization, polemical interpretation

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The article discusses the features of the interpretation of the gospel text by the philosopher N. F. Fedorov. It demonstrates that for the philosopher, the Gospel is not only the “eternal book” of humanity that influenced the development of literary and artistic creativity, but also a life-transforming project accomplished in the unity of human effort and God’s grace. According to Fedorov’s historiosophical model, evangelical images and plots mark the transition from “history as a fact,” based on fratricidal strife and struggle, to “history as a project,” in which the human race consciously and freely chooses the path of following Christ, accepts the ideal of love and sacrifice as the basis of thought and action, and then to “history as an act,” which becomes the realization of the “good news” about the Kingdom of God, the “work of salvation,” the work of resurrection and regulation. The fate of the prodigal son, the prudent robber, the centurion, Zacchaeus, etc. in Fedorov’s interpretation, they symbolize the turn of humanity from the “fallen state” to the divine-human service. The projective approach to evangelical images and plots echoes the philosopher’s projective approach to literary texts and is aligned with the philosopher’s interpretation of the world literary types — Hamlet, Manfred, Faust Don Juan, who, like the characters of a gospel story, act as carriers of certain ideals and images of action. However, unlike the latter, they remain within the framework of the “minor” choice. Fedorov asserts the ideal of “universal realism,” which sets the prospect of the world’s transformation. The philosopher considers the adult choice of literature, its missionary role in the liturgization of creativity, part of which may be a new development of gospel themes and plots. Just as in the analysis of literary works Fedorov builds on the plots of “Faust,” “Dead Souls,” he builds the stories of the prudent robber, Lazarus, etc., stretches the threads of interaction between the gospel plots, reconstructs the links of the gospel story, creating projects of future novels that the masters of the word should embody.

Keywords: N. F. Fedorov, Gospel, Christianity, projective approach, image, plot, ideal, transfiguration, world realism, liturgization of art, way of action

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The article studies the philosophical context of Russian prose, including the Russian folk legend of Belovodye and devoted to the problem of the social ideal. In the works of Russian cosmist philosophers, followers of N. F. Fedorov, V. N. Muravyev, N. A. Setnitsky and A. K. Gorsky, the post-revolutionary ideal of socialism and communism is presented as imperfect, limited, although connected with the true, theocratic ideal of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Not only the social order will be changed in the process of its implementation, but the whole world, including human nature, will also be improved. The writers M. P. Plotnikov, Vs. Ivanov, Vyach. Shishkov and A. P. Platonov, in their works of the mid-1920s considered the problem of the ideal in a similar way. Embodied in the popular utopian legend, the image of Belovodye as the true ideal, the earthly kingdom of piety, justice and righteous faith, was opposed in their works to a limited ideal, a false ideal. This ideal was marked by imperfection in terms of the goal of development — material well-being, or in terms of means — vio- lence. Writers, as well as cosmist philosophers, saw one of the reasons for the impossibility of achieving the true ideal in the imperfection of human nature. The comparative analysis allowed to conclude that, although the writers con- sidered the problem of the social ideal in their own way, they are united with cosmist philosophers by the idea of the need to expand the imperfect ideal of socialism and communism into a true, absolute ideal.

Keywords: Russian prose, Belovodye, philosophy, context, utopian ideal, socialism, communism, theocratic ideal, imperfection of human nature

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The subject of the authors’ reflection is the image of the Muslim East in the emigrant poetry of Nadezhda Teffi. The analysis revealed the semantic structure of the Oriental motif and the ways of its linguistic representation. A detailed analysis of oriental themes in Teffi’s lyrics is presented in the article. This part of the writer’s creative work has not been introduced into scientific circulation. Moreover, it has not been sufficiently discussed in criticism and still remains little known. The lexical material was extracted on the basis of the analysis of poems included in “Shamram: Songs of the East” by Teffi (Berlin 1923). All contexts containing direct nominations of oriental images and motifs were used as the research material. Analyzing the content and various interpretations of oriental themes, the authors of the article considered the nature of the literary text, its meaning and connotations from both linguistic and literary points of view. The methodology of the work is rooted in the theory of a systemic holistic approach, which made it possible to consider individual poems of Teffi as an example of oriental poetry with pronounced oriental imagery. Comparative-historical, biographical, structural and formal methods were used. The multifaceted study of the image of the East in Teffi’s lyrics revealed a close connection with universal categories that shape not only a person’s psychological sphere, but, more importantly, the spiritual domain. As a result, the relationship between the universal and the individual divulged the nature of the emigrant period of Teffi’s work, largely determined by the tragedy of exile and the loss of the motherland.

Keywords: Teffi, Shamram, poetry, the East, orientalism, émigré literature, oriental motifs, lyrical cycle

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The article examines the peculiarity of the functioning of the star image in the “Christmas” chapters in the first and second parts of the novel “The Summer of the Lord” by I. S. Shmelev. The relevance of the research is determined by the unrelenting interest of modern literary criticism in the study of the writer’s creative work. The features of the artistic embodiment of the image of a star in the poetics of the novel “The Summer of the Lord” have not yet become the subject of a separate study. Star imagery in the textual space of the novel echoes the motifs of dynamics, movement, light, sacredness, deification, spiritualization and beauty of the world created by the Lord. The motif of the “playing creature,” which resounds through the work, symbolizes the joy of the whole world experienced on the night of the birth of the Infant Christ. The motif of dynamic stars is emphasized by their anthropomorphic properties. Of particular importance in the “Christmas” chapters is the author’s use of the color and sound characteristics of the star image associated with the theme of the deification of the world and the motif of beauty. The artistic device of antithesis is the basis of the chronotopic structure of the Christmas chapters of “The Summer of the Lord.” The time preceding the main Christmas event is contrasted with the night of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, the image of the star performs an important symbolic function, separating the ordinary and sacred time. The appearance of the first star in the sky delimits ordinary reality from the deified, spiritualized existence of a person, when everyday life is replaced by being. The spiritual realism method in the Christmas chapters of “The Summer of the Lord” is based on the image of the gradually emerging spiritual principle in the earthly life of the characters. The star in the work of I. S. Shmelev symbolically reflects the idea of Christ the Star, which goes back to biblical imagery. The author’s artistic concept presented in the work is aimed at designating the sacredness of the Christmas holiday and the image of the star, correlated with the inevitability of their salvatory repetition. The accentuation of the motif of the star’s spirituality expresses the author’s understanding of the Christocentricity of the world.

Keywords: image of a star, Ivan Sergeevich Shmelev, Summer of the Lord, Christmas, sacred image, motif, symbolism, Russian abroad

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The article examines the story of I. S. Shmelev “Why it happened,” in which the writer reveals the deep causes of the Russian revolution, which was an extraordinary disaster for Russia, and indicates possible ways out of the crisis. Artistically, it is a multifaceted and rich text with literary allusions, quotations and reminiscences. The article shows that already in the choice of books for reading, Shmelev’s “rootedness” in the “Christian tradition” is manifested (I. A. Yesaulov). It is important that it was the Psalter that was included in the author’s reading circle at that difficult time. Starting from the poem A. S. Pushkin’s “Memory,” which is read by the hero of the story, as well as from the evaluation of this poem by V. V. Rozanov (in particular, from his indication of the connection of Pushkin’s poem with the 50th psalm), the author of the article revealed new meaningful parallels. The coincidence of the interpretation of the 50th psalm with the main idea of the text of Shmelev in the article is considered for the first time. Plot and ideologically, the story also goes back to the novel by F. M. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov.” The article focuses on the work of M. M. Bakhtin on Dostoevsky’s poetics (exploring genre and plot-compositional features of the writer’s works, Bakhtin emphasized the dialogic genre of “menippov satire,” or “menippea”) and it is shown that genre features inherent in menippea are present in Shmelev’s story. Russian Russian concepts such as conscience, transgression, and repentance are considered, reflecting the uniqueness of Russian culture and included in the cultural code of the Russian language and literature, which corresponds to the ideas of ethnopoetics. It is concluded that the biblical interpretations of the psalm mentioned in the story correlate with the penitential content of the story.

Keywords: poetics, psalm, menippea, Shmelev, Pushkin, Rozanov, Dostoevsky, denunciation, repentance

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The article examines the poems of I. A. Bunin, whose title contains evangelical motifs and images. Special attention is paid to the title as a strong textual position. The fact that at least two versions of the title are relevant for most of the selected works was the reason for this study. The variability of titles is explained by various textual principles that underlie the publication of collected works and collections of poems by the author. I. A. Bunin attached great importance to titles: when republishing, he could change them several times for the same text, then make changes to the text itself, he could completely remove the title or, conversely, title a poem that had no title before. The author’s work on the text became known in detail thanks to the two-volume collection of poems published in 2014 at the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House), edited by T. M. Dvinyatina (the series “The Poet’s New Library”), which contained the texts selected according to the main lifetime publication principle. At the same time, most of the post-mortem editions were published according to the last will of the author. As a result of a comparative analysis of different publications, the peculiarities of the interaction of the text and the title were studied. In some cases, it is the title that allows us to see the theological component of the text. The key semantic dichotomies of the poems are revealed, indicating the poet’s Christian worldview.

Keywords: I. A. Bunin, poetry, title, Gospel motif, Christianity, title’s variation, poetics

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The article analyzes the motif of temptation, which goes back to the texts of the Holy Scriptures, in the early novels of L. M. Leonov, representing the combination of the symbolic aesthetics and the completion of social realistic discourse. The components of the biblical story plot about the Temptation of Christ in the desert were identified, analyzed and compared with their version in L. M. Leonov’s texts using the structural-typological method and the method of motif analysis. The emphasis is on the allomotives of temptation by pride and power and on the related motives of falling/flight, the images of the abyss and the demon-tempter. In the process of analysis, the internal connections of the motif in question with other biblical stories (e.g., the Tower of Babel, christening, the prodigal son) were revealed, which allows us to assess the specifics of the artistic concept. As a result, despite the writer’s obvious reliance on the biblical story through indirect and partial quoting and repetition of actions, the author largely deviates from the very tone of religious discourse, replacing it with an ironic one, which is carried out using travesty, hyperbolization and grotesque.However, a number of the author’s artistic innovations in the treatment of the Holy Scripture plots still retains a connection with the original source, as a result of which the text is read and recognized by a knowledgeable reader through allusions, reminiscences and variations on the theme of the pretext. All of the above becomes a guide to one of the key ideas in Leonov’s work — the idea of cognition.

Keywords: L. M. Leonov, biblical text, parable, self-sacrifice, motif, motif of temptation, motif of test of faith, motif of abundance, motif of dream, motif of construction, image of hero-tempter, irony

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The article is devoted to the study of the Gospel metaphor in L. M. Leonov’s novel “The Pyramid” (1940–1994). The theme of associative and symbolic nature, religious, mysterial, and metaphorical context of the writer’s works is at the initial stage of research. The study material comprised the sea and fire metaphors, as well as other metaphorical images taken from the three synoptic Gospels of the Russian Synodal Bible, as well as the Revelation of John the Theologian with their abundance, miracles, visions and prophecies. Certain features of metaphorization in the “Pyramid” related to the philosophical and artistic essence of Leonov’s creative persona, ontologically sharpened vision of man and the world are studied. The proposed observations are of a preliminary and fragmentary nature. The task of the work is to reveal the metaphors that have become the most important element of Leonov’s artistic thinking and style. The methodology of the article is integrated with the Christian tradition of interpretation of the Old and New Testaments, patristic hermeneutics, and modern ideas about metaphor. The author uses cognitive and linguistic tools, as well as the modern studies of metaphor, to comment on the metaphorical images of the Gospel. The unity of the writer’s spiritual and aesthetic experience is revealed in the suprastructural figurative system generated by the craving for symbolization of events and characters. The metaphoric images of the novel serves as a bridge between the content of the Gospel canon and the author’s artistic logic, materialized in a chain of transformed biblical allegories, parables, and prophecies. In the text of the novel, they are replaced by metaphorical idioms that have a syncretical synthesized integrity. Leonov’s accretion metaphors form a new metaphorical field. Without losing their original spiritual and moral semantics, they become self-sufficient. Leonov’s philosophical and aesthetic intuition, which integrates different levels of reality and generates additional meanings. We can talk about the combination of metaphors, the double metaphor, the mixed, non-contradictory metaphor that unfolds in the novel and forms the basis of the narrative system. The result of the semantic explication of the direct Gospel metaphor was the assimilation of the meanings given by the Gospel text. With the help of extended metaphors and paraphrases, Leonov signifies the key ideas of the Pyramid. The main one is the tragic shifts in national destiny caused by the apostasy from Orthodoxy, from the foundations of Russian cultural identity. The metaphors considered in the article are graphically highlighted in the text of the “Pyramid.” Graphic accents in phrase metaphors are essential for the reader’s perception of the work. Metamorphic image archetypes of the Way, the Ship, and the Truth highlight the ideological and philosophical depths of Leonov’s last work.

Keywords: Pyramid, L. Leonov, hermeneutics, gospel metaphor, New Testament, philosophical and symbolic thinking, accretion metaphors of the sea and fire

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The article examines the semantics of the image of a book in the short stories of V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin and his short novel “The Road Staff.” The author, as the bearer of the Orthodox worldview, relies on the tradition of ancient Russian literature, whose ideological foundation was the Holy Scripture. The book appears in the works of the writer precisely as a sacred image: the Bible or its part — the Gospel — a collection of liturgical texts, a patristic creation. Readings from these books are included in the context of episodes related to the divine service or the pious home life of the characters of V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin. The book also acts as a source of comprehension of the beauty of the Church Slavonic word. In addition, in the artistic consciousness of the prose writer, the image of a book is embodied in a metaphorical way (the short story “Love is the Book of God”) as a sign of the character’s introduction to the spiritual world, his inner transformation. In the short story “The Ancient Book,” the spiritual history of both an individual family and an entire country is transmitted through notes left in the Bible: from former piety to neglect and blasphemy (in Soviet times). In the rosary texts of V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin, who describe the life already in post-revolutionary Russia, there is hope for its coming spiritual revival, which is associated, in particular, with the image of the Gospel. It and other items required for the performance of divine services and Sacraments are carried by priests traveling along Russian roads. The Gospel word in the short story “The Sun is playing” turns an atheist into a believing Christian in the process of reading the sacred text. In the works of V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin a book is one of the ways to God, giving comfort to the heart.

Keywords: V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin, prose of the Russian abroad, The Bible, Gospel, book, reading, motif, semantics, Orthodoxy

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The article presents an analysis of Vladislav Krapivin's children's prose in the aspect of spiritual realism, examines the main scientific publications highlighting Christian motives in the works of V.P. Krapivin and the features of describing religious culture, church life in fiction for children. The article describes the spiritual formation of the "Krapivinsky boy", his consistent progress from the first acquaintance with religious attributes (sometimes accidental) to conscious church formation, rapprochement with God through sincere faith and prayer, while it is shown that the spiritual evolution of the Krapivinsky protagonist reflects the spiritual quest and experiences of the writer himself. The image of the Krapivinsky protagonist, by virtue of his moral purity, is compared with the image of the boy Jesus, an angel; Christian values are organically embedded in the moral basis and the "code of honor" of the "Krapivinsky boy". The presence of cult Christian images, direct and hidden references to the gospel texts testifies to the preservation in V.P. Krapivin's prose of the spiritual traditions of Russian children's and adolescent literature. V.P. Krapivin's prose is characterized by posing deep spiritual questions to the heroes, striving for the search for truth, evaluating the actions of the heroes from the standpoint of Christian morality. The miracle inherent in the fantastic works of V.P. Krapivin often appears, according to the writer's plan, as a Divine miracle.

Keywords: V. P. Krapivin, children’s literature, spiritual realism, motif, plot, rebirth, children’s prayer, Krapivin’s boy, the image of the Christ Child, miracle

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The category of conciliarity is one of the most important in the Russian national identity. The purpose of this article is to study the originality of artistic understanding of the category of conciliarity in the works of I. A. Bunin, I. S. Shmelev, B. K. Zaitsev, L. F. Zurov, V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin, dedicated to the events of pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary years in Russia, when the thousand-year-old foundations of national spiritual identity were rapidly and dramatically destroyed. The analysis made it possible to discover a wide variety of distinctive individual features in the poetics of each artist’s works that allow to introduce these texts into the “big time” chronotope. The artistic consciousness of I. S. Shmelev is characterized by an explicit expression of feelings and emotional states of the characters; plot situations in which the direct actions and statements of the characters reveal the essence of the phenomena being comprehended are significant. In I. A. Bunin’s and B. K. Zaitsev’s works, plot circumstances often have a subtextual, associative, symbolic meaning, expressing a sense of personal involvement in ancient spiritual traditions. It was not for nothing that L. F. Zurov was considered a student of I. A. Bunin: his poetics has similar features. However, at the same time, the author’s “open” intonations are inherent in it. In V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin, the originality of artistic thinking in comprehending the problem of the existence of the conciliarity tradition in Russian life, despite the most severe vicissitudes, is often articulated in expressively colored dramatic plot situations. However, the leitmotiv basis of his texts makes itself felt along with the parable manner of understanding reality. Thus, using the works of famous writers of the first-wave Russian emigration as examples, the “living life” of the natural conciliar self-awareness of the Russian people is revealed, helping them to preserve their faith and survive despite difficult trials.

Keywords: conciliarity category, Russian Diaspora, I. S. Shmelev, I. A. Bunin, B. K. Zaitsev, L. F. Zurov, V. A. Nikiforov-Volgin, poetics, artistic consciousness

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