Volume 22, 2024 year

This article sets itself a twofold task. On the basis of recently published scholarship, it wishes to revisit the history of Bakhtin’s discovery in Russia and the West since the 1960s; but it also intends to offer a tentative answer to the question: ‘What did Bakhtin discover as a thinker’? The two dimensions, captured in the ambiguity of the genitive — ‘Bakhtin’s discovery’ — are closely interrelated. In a very significant sense, what we perceive to be Bakhtin’s discoveries as a thinker and a theorist is a dynamic target rather than a fixed apparatus. As I try to demonstrate through a plethora of examples, Bakhtin’s discoveries and the lessons we draw from them have been articulated differently at different historical junctures and in different cultural settings; the Bakhtin we see is a fluctuating image, resulting from superimposed perspectives involving growth, modification, loss, and a complex adjustment of meaning, as his body of writing travels across time and traditions and meets inherited patterns of reasoning. Bakhtin’s discoveries are thus not a reliable supply of knowledge or wisdom; they rather derive from the elusive, sometimes blurred, and never quite finished work of mediation and translation. Equally important, the optics we apply towards Bakhtin in discerning his contributions as a thinker is affected by the stories of his discovery at home and abroad. Processes that look as awkward time-lag or distortion are often marks of intense appropriation and a high impact factor in disguise. Over time, we realise that the very narratives employed in telling and re-enacting the story of Bakhtin’s discovery in Russia and the West are saturated with the cultural and ideological heteroglossia which he came to analyse in his writings. In tracing some of these narratives, I hope to arrive gradually at a Bakhtin, whose legacy is the function of multiple historical articulations, a thinker in transit, a theorist subject to dialogue.

Keywords: Bakhtin, Russia, the West, discovery, narrative, mediation, translation, dialogue

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There are several paired characters in “The Tale of the Battle of Mamai.” These are Dmitry Donskoy and Vladimir Serpukhovsky, brothers Andrey and Dmitry Olgerdovich, Peresvet and Oslyabya, as well as the heavenly helpers of the warriors — the first Russian saints Boris and Gleb. The poetic technique of depicting paired heroes is used in The Tale with a certain artistic aim. The comprehension of this aim allows to put a point in the dispute of researchers concerning the image of Dmitry Donskoy in this work. Some of them believed that the author of The Tale created a panegyric to the Grand Duke, approaching to hagiographic praises, according to others — it is a pamphlet directed against him, minimizing and distorting his role in the battle. The article suggests that the author uses the image of paired characters to divide military functions between the main characters. Thus the role of the heroic prince-warrior, the real winner on the battlefield is assigned by the author to Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky, and Dmitry Ivanovich acts as an ideal Christian, whose unwavering faith in God and diligent prayers ensured the victory of the Russian army. The article shows that the paired characters of The Tale go back to the binary images of the ancient and medieval heroic epic, the archetypal model of these imagesis the myth of the Dioscuri.

Keywords: pairing of characters, motif, artistic device, heroic epic, The Tale of the Battle with Mamai, Chronicle of the Battle of Kulikovo, Zadonshchina, Dmitry Donskoy, Vladimir Serpukhovsky, Olgerdovich brothers, Peresvet and Oslyabya, Boris and Gleb

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The author of the article examines the two earliest works by St. Dimitry Rostovsky — “The Miracles of the Most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary” (1677) and “The Bedewed Fleece” (first edition 1683), created on the basis of the first work. Both books, in terms of content and genre characteristics, represent a legend about the miraculous icon — the Ilya Icon of the Holy Mother of God. The icon was the main shrine of the Boldinsky Trinity Ilya Monastery. A historical and literary analysis of both books showed that both “The Miracles of the Most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary” and “The Bedewed Fleece” have a certain set of motifs about its miracles and deeds, which puts them on a par with the texts of other legends about miraculous icons. The heyday of this genre occurred in the 17th — early 18th century. The main miracle and the main motif of the legends created by Dimitry Rostovsky is the flow of tears from the icon, which occurred in 1662: the Ilya Icon of the Holy Mother began myrrh-streaming and praying to the Divine Son for the salvation of the entire human race. The remaining miracles describe healings from illnesses and ailments that occur through prayer in front of the icon. However, the composition and style of these books, which reflect new trends and a new style — the Baroque style, differ significantly from the works of this genre. The main difference is that Dimitry Rostovsky inserts additional narratives into the text. He adds moral teachings to the book “Miracles of the Most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary” and moral teachings, conversations and attachments to the book “The Bedewed Fleece.” They play an important role in the architectonics of the text and carry a significant semantic load, thereby creating a new literary form in the context of the genre of tales about miraculous icons.

Keywords: St. Dimitry Rostovsky, The Miracles of the Most Holy and Blessed Virgin Mary, The Bedewed Fleece, tales of miraculous icons, Ilya Icon of the Holy Mother, moral teaching, genre, narrative, baroque, composition, stylistics

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In the second period (after his expulsion from England), J. G. Byron created his most mature and most innovative works, which struck the imagination of his contemporaries and made the poet an iconic thinker for the European youth. The plots of the dramatic poem “Manfre” and the mystery “Cain” were based on the mythological structures of German folklore (the legend of Dr. Faust) and the biblical canon (Book of Genesis). However, in Byron’s imagination, they acquired a philosophical and social content that they had lacked before, exclusively characteristic of Romanticism and the period of disappointment in the Enlightenment ideals. This transformation resulted from the interaction of several contradictory influences in Byron’s poetic laboratory: the rebellious humanistic traditions of the Enlightenment, the declared Classicist doctrine, the apparent influence of the Gothic genre on mass consciousness, and the individualistic tendencies in public life (at least among the British aristocracy), up to a complete severance of old social ties. Unique archetypal models of the Modern times were born from this explosive mixture, including the “Byronic hero” and the “titanic images” of Manfred and Cain, around which a certain mystically tinted poetics of “formula literature,” such as the hermetic chronotope, was formed.

Keywords: Gothic novel, demonic villain, closed chronotope, Byronic hero, Byron, Manfred, Cain, world sorrow, skepticism, melancholy

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The article examines the problems of expression, understanding and dialogue in the works of V. Odoevsky. The writer emphasized the importance and originality of his thoughts about this in a letter to A. Kraevsky. Odoevsky understood language broadly, as a semiotic system. Natural sciences, history, art have their own languages. The writer gave preference to the language of art and emphasized the superiority of the microcosm over the macrocosm, and of intuitive, creative knowledge over rational knowledge. Being a lybomudr, Odoevsky dreamed of creating an “ideal” language common to all sciences, but he soon became disillusioned with this idea. In the 1830s, the writer moved away from philosophical abstractions to the individual and unique. At the same time, he noted the universality of the language of art and especially music. In the novel “Russian Nights” Odoevsky comes close to the problems of expression and awareness of the “inexpressible” in words. The form of the novel actualizes this issue, since it is largely structured as a dialogue between friends who express their innermost thoughts, but often encounter misunderstanding or cold irony from their rational interlocutors. According to Odoevsky, the path to a genuine statement, as well as to its understanding, lies in the realm of the spirit: only a pure heart and prayer will help a person fully express his thought and understand another. Odoevsky’s philosophy of language is rooted in German classical philosophy, medieval Western European mysticism and the Orthodox patristic tradition.

Keywords: V. F. Odoevsky, Russian Nights, expression, understanding, dialogue, aesthetics, worldview, romanticism

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The article substantiates the idea of Tyutchev as a recipient of the Orthodox ideals of East Slavic literature. Four of the eight attribute properties inherent in it, which are of particular importance for Tyutchev’s poetry, are considered in detail: knowledge of God, grace, religion, conciliarity. As in ancient Russian literature, Tyutchev’s author appears as an instrument of the Creator, which is manifested in the practical absence of a lyrical hero in Tyutchev’s works and the activity of an epic narrator. For Tyutchev, the poet is a student of the Russian poetry school. The highest authorities for Tyutchev are Pushkin, Karamzin, Zhukovsky and Lomonosov, who, like himself, are only an instrument in God’s hands. The property of the knowledge of God for Tyutchev is associated with the image of a secret-seer, a contemplator of elevated spectacles: natural, historical, spiritual. In this regard, Tyutchev’s poetry abounds with natural, airy, heavenly images. Tyutchev’s image of the temple is also connected with the property of God-knowledge, which comprises the whole complex of dogmatic, historical and liturgical meanings. The property of grace in Tyutchev is especially manifested in love lyrics, acting as poetry of spiritual and moral self-exposure. Wounds inflicted in a personal relationship can only be healed by the gift of divine grace. Suffering and sacrifice for Tyutchev are the means of acquiring godlike properties: patience, meekness, humility, love. In Tyutchev’s mature lyrics, the property of religion manifests itself to a special extent, visibly appearing in the cycle of poems about Slavs and in polemical poems directed against Catholicism and Protestantism. They also actualize the category of sobornost’, which reveals itself in Tyutchev’s address to a fellow poet, a Slav poet. Tyutchev’s poetry thus appears as the place of struggle for the Truth, for Orthodox ideals, for his native word, native faith, and for his soul. It is a decisive refutation of Western individualism and secessionism and the affirmation of the ideals of Orthodox sobornost’.

Keywords: F. I. Tyutchev, poetics, reception, Orthodox tradition, knowledge of God, grace, religion, sobornost’

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The article clarifies the value function of etiquette in the novel “Demons,” identifies communicative situations in which observance of etiquette or, conversely, departure from generally accepted norms of behavior affects the characters and beliefs of the characters. Noble, folk and folk-poetic (epic, fairy-tale) etiquette are considered. Various forms of his expression are analyzed — through the character’s speech, gestures, facial expressions, actions. The importance of moral attitudes that determine the ethics and the inner world of a person is demonstrated, reflecting to a greater extent in the external way of acting and relationships than the knowledge of the secular manners and communication culture. Despite the decent manners noted by the chronicler, Pyotr Verkhovensky regularly wanted to offend and insult his interlocutors; Stepan Trofimovich’s external untidiness appears along with his bad habits and inclinations; Verkhovensky’s “five” created a special behavioral narrative demonstrating their views and immoral appearance; the degraded and slovenly Lebyadkin begins to jauntily observe the etiquette when he sees a personal benefit in it. The different styles of the characters’ etiquette behavior allowed to identify a peculiar typology of heroes, in which, on the one side are the characters with elegant manners, but without a moral core, occupy diametric positions, on the other hand — heroes who are far removed from refined education, but not devoid of moral principles and virtues. Dostoevsky shows various functions of etiquette, many of which turned out to be a manifestation of the lack of the characters’ spirituality and served as a means to achieve their selfish goals. In addition to secular etiquette, elements of national consciousness are introduced into the poetics of the work. At its core are the Orthodox faith and love for Christ, which was a genuine ethical guideline for Dostoevsky. The convergence of the noble world with the folk world formed new value concepts of the novel’s characters, which was implemented in external behavior. The inclusion of folk culture in the cultural context introduced into the work complementary religious and ethical meanings inseparable from goodness and truth, which were significant for Dostoevsky.

Keywords: Dostoevsky, novel Demons, poetics, ethics, etiquette, culture, image, character, dialogue, society, axiology, value paradigm, folklore, epic

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Dostoevsky considered “restoration of a ruined person” to be “the key idea of all art of the nineteenth century.” This is exactly what makes up the inner plot of many of the writer’s works. Such a “restoration” is not so much actually happening as it is implicit in some of them. This is the case in “Crime and Punishment” and “The Brothers Karamazov.” At the same time, in both works it is not only not articulated, but is barely outlined. Meanwhile, there are researchers who believe that Dmitry Karamazov is not sent to hard labor, but flees to America — this is how open the novel’s ending is. At the same time, Dostoevsky has, on the contrary, “ruined heroes,” i. e., the “underground paradoxalist,” Alexey Ivanovich from “The Gambler,” Svidrigailov, Stavrogin. Sometimes the “resurrection of a new man” occurs in the most unlikely Dostoevsky’s characters. One of such characters in “Demons” is Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky. In such deeply interconnected works of Russian literary classics as Dostoevsky’s “Idiot” and Tolstoy’s “Resurrection”, attempts to save the “fallen woman” are in the center of attention. Tolstoy even included this theme, understood after Dostoevsky precisely as “the restoration of a ruined person,” in the title of his novel. In “Resurrection”, Tolstoy actually rewrote the storyline of Myshkin, Totsky and Nastasia Filippovna. At the same time, he remade the plot of the novel “Idiot” into a more realistic one. In Dostoevsky, one of the characters, Totsky, seduces and uses Nastasia Filippovna, while another, Prince Myshkin, tries to save her. In Tolstoy, Prince Nekhludoff pays for his own sin. The transformation in the “Resurrection” of the plot situations from the novel “Idiot” is aimed at their happy resolution; meanwhile it is not Nekhludoff's repentance for his actions, but Katyusha Maslova’s quiet self-sacrifice that leads to it. Unlike Myshkin and Nekhludoff, the hero of Chekhov’s novella “My Life” is by no means conceived as a “positively wonderful person,” much less Christ. However, in some incomprehensible way, unlike Myshkin and Nekhludoff, he achieves his goal. Apparently, such, according to Chekhov, is the power of not just a word, but a beneficent example. Misail tries to find a path consistent with his conscience, and thereby sets a beneficent example to his entire environment. Thus, in Chekhov’s mature works, there is a constant reliance on the aesthetics of the “transformation of man.” So, this theme turns out, mutatis mutandis, to be common to all Russian literary classics — from Pushkin to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov.

Keywords: restoration, the ruined person, Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, the Brothers Karamazov, Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Russian literary classics

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The previously unpublished notes by A. A. Ukhtomsky in the margins of the first volume of the Complete Works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1905–1906) are proposed to be interpreted as critical presentation material for the novel “The Golovlevs” and as a road map to expand the intertextual boundaries of this work. The marginalia by A. A. Ukhtomsky open up the prospect of reading the text of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in the context of literary and patristic traditions. First and foremost, the former is identified by the scientist with Gogol’s tradition. A. A. Ukhtomsky calls the parallel “Plyushkin — Golovlev” one of its manifestations, which is explained through the prism of the “things/persons” antinomy. The features of the second are revealed by an Orthodox thinker when comparing the novel by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin with the precepts of the ven. Isaac the Syrian: the marks record the echo of those most important semantic nuances in the final scene that the St. Father highlighted when comprehending the “Last Judgment” and “Repentance” categories. The study of the corpus of readers’ marginalia by A. A. Ukhtomsky to the novel “The Golovlevs” contributes, first of all, to clarifying the characterology of Judushka-Porfiry in general and the causes of his pre-death suffering in particular; and secondly, to recreating the features of the spiritual portrait of the author, explicated in the work.

Keywords: notes on the margins, marginalia, intertext, interpretation, axiological approach, Ukhtomsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Gogol

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The article analyzes Christian motifs and images, evangelical quotations and reminiscences that make up an important semantic layer of the work.In the center of the events is the fate of a six-year-old boy (the hero-narrator), who, after the death of his mother, experienced the “horror of loneliness” and is looking for a “soul mate.” It is established that such evangelical reminiscences as “separating sheep from goats” (Matthew 25:32), “helping others” (Matthew 25:33‒46), make it possible to identify the axiological coordinates of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian town where the protagonist’s family lives. It is shown that the behavior of the townspeople explicates such a phenomenon of religious life as Pharisaism, recalling the conversion of Christ to the Pharisees (Matthew 25:27‒28). The text includes an allusion to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 13:13) and parallels the situation to that in the small town in western Ukraine which exists only by virtue of three righteous people living there, one of whom is the narrator’s father. Also, the mention of the biblical prophet Jeremiah doesn’t seem accidental: he had to convert the people who had departed from the faith, knowing well that his calls to repentance would remain fruitless (Jer. 20:8). The events of the short story show that the boy’s personality is formed under the influence of beggars and vagabonds, as opposed to ordinary people who seek to observe the moral law. It has been determined that an important place in the plot structure is occupied by the good/evil, life/death and heart/stone oppositions, which outline the main differences in the characters’ ethical systems. According to the conclusions, in the imagined world of the short story, the inhabitants of Princetown, whose hearts have hardened, are the antithesis of the boy Vasya and his friends from the dungeon with merciful and sympathetic hearts. Their very existence seems to remind readers of the well-known words of the Savior: “…unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Keywords: Korolenko, Christianity, evangelical reminiscences, motif, image, plot, oppositions, good, evil, life, death, axiology

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The authors analyze the Shakespearean studies by Yuly Aykhenvald (1872–1928), a famous literary critic who substantiated the method of immanent criticism and is better known as the creator of Russian writers’ “portraits.” The purpose of the work was to consider and streamline the principles of analysis of Shakespearean images in Aykhenvald’s legacy. The objectives of the work included identifying the main images for the critic in Shakespeare’s tragedies; analysis of the principles of his criticism; identifying the ideological foundations of criticism. Results of the work: Aykhenvald considers Shakespeare’s tragedies a timeless phenomenon, telling us not so much even about the life of the human spirit, but about the laws of the development of the world. Aykhenvald interprets Shakespeare as a sage immersed in the truths of world dualism as a Neoplatonic teaching of the Gnostic persuasion. The critic sees in Caliban the embodiment of crude matter (which then makes it possible to liken him to the Bolsheviks with their materialistic philosophy), in Ariel he sees pure spirituality, and in Hamlet — the transitional period of human existence between them. Hamlet is understood by Aykhenvald as the central Shakespearean character, a kind of archetype of the Shakespearean hero, reflected in the others: Lear, Romeo, Macbeth. Hamlet is also considered by Aykhenvald to be an image of our contemporary, with his inherent dominance of reflection and inaction. However, Aykhenvald expresses the hope that beyond the Hamlet stage, humanity will reach a spiritual existence, which is symbolized by Ariel.

Keywords: Shakespeare, Yuly Aykhenvald, Shakespeareanism, Shakespeare’s tragedies, Shakespeare’s reception, literary criticism, immanent criticism, Shakespearean studies, literary archetypes, Hamlet, Caliban, Ariel

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The turn of the 20th century was marked by M. Gorky’s search for new artistic forms, genres, new aesthetics and a new hero. It was important for the writer to bring timeliness and usefulness of literature come to the fore. In the short novel “The Mother” Gorky attempted to present the result of his search: to act as an innovator in terms of genre; to acquaint readers with a new type of hero, his new truth and aesthetics, to demonstrate his goals and capabilities; as well as to resolve the long-standing conflict of “fathers and sons,”which concerned the writer at the very beginning of his career. Gorky offered his version of the solution to the conflict, which consisted of breaking the binding thread between generations of “fathers and children.” According to the writer’s observations, the generation of “fathers” turned out to be incapable of this, as well as incapable of resolving the existing contradictions and finding a compromise, therefore, he took the side of the younger generation in the overdue “confrontation.” Having taken the father, as the bearer of the traditions of the past that have become obsolete, out of the dispute, the writer provided the Son with the opportunity to assert his own new truth, the essence of which is the struggle for a better future for all mankind. The author entrusted this exalted and honorable mission to the younger generation. Gorky’s innovation was expressed in the fact that he made Mother the key assistant, friend and ally in this significant matter, thereby reminding society of the lofty purpose and role of a woman, as well as the sacred essence of motherhood in this world. The main conclusion of the study states that the spiritual revival of Pelageya Vlasova as an individual is the central leitmotif of this work.

Keywords: Gorky, short novel The Mother, searches, genre, new hero, aesthetics, father-son conflict, father, son, mother

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The purpose of the study is to identify the artistic features of socialist realism as a cultural phenomenon. The article examines the history of the emergence of the term and the concept behind it in connection with the socio-political situation in the USSR at the turn of the 1920s — 1930s. The definition of socialist realism, enshrined in the Charter of the Union of Soviet Writers, as “a truthful, historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development” in combination with “the task of ideological alteration and education of workers in the spirit of socialism,” is critically assessed. In the work, socialist realism is presented as a method, style, literary and artistic direction; this is done in order to understand to what extent it was a phenomenon of artistic culture, and to what extent it was a propaganda ideologeme. The features of pathos, typology of heroes, and the presence of a number of regulatory principles in the poetics of socialist realism are analyzed. It is shown that socialist realism has become an important tool for the formation of the socialist mythology. The theoretical aspect of socialist realism turned out to be in many ways an attempt to synthesize a number of features inherent in realism, romanticism and classicism, and from the point of view of historical and cultural, it was an attempt to implement in artistic creativity (primarily in the content of works) an ideologeme arising from the so-called triune task of building communism, which assumed, in particular, raising human beings of a new type. The article considers a wide range of opinions on the essence of socialist realism and realism as such, expressed in the materials of the Soviet period (M. Gorky, I. V. Stalin, I. M. Gronsky, N. I. Bukharin, A. I. Ovcharenko, A. D. Sinyavsky, V. V. Kozhinov, V. N. Turbin) and in the works of modern researchers in Russia and abroad (A. Y. Ovcharenko, Yevg. Dobrenko, L. A. Spiridonova, B. M. Gasparov, H. Gunther, K. Clark, et al.). The authors of the article come to the conclusion that it is possible to single out a special socialist realist trend and stage within the framework of the Soviet period of Russian literature as an expression of a cultural and ideological paradigm, while not finding anything specific in the poetics of socialist realism that would radically distinguish it from the poetics of realism and romanticism. The concept of critical realism, which was used by the theorists of socialist realism to justify a new method based on the principle of the opposite, is seen today as redundant from the point of view of literary theory.

Keywords: poetics, mythology, Soviet literature, socialist realism, critical realism, romanticism, classicism, pathos, creative method, positive hero, negative hero

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The work is devoted to the analysis of the onyms included in the Gospel code of A. Platonov’s literary texts. The relevance of the research is due to the absence of works revealing the peculiarities of using onyms as representatives of the Gospel code of Platonov’s literary texts. Continuous sampling, linguistic observation and description, textual analysis, and analysis of the cultural and historical background methods were used in the research. In the writer’s worldview, social, religious, philosophical and mythological components are closely intertwined, and the writer’s attitude to religion and God is ambiguous. This resulted in the unique implementation of the gospel code in Platonov’s artistic texts, which are represented by biblionyms (the writer uses the names of Orthodox holidays, icons, excerpts from prayers as the titles of his works) and chrononyms (the names of Orthodox holidays). With the help of onyms representing the gospel code, the author sacralizes the names of political figures. Allusions to the Old and New Testaments arise in A. Platonov’s literary texts: the author refers to parables and legends that are traditional in a believer’s representation of the world, but religious subjects in the writer’s works are reinterpreted, due to the existing attitude towards religion in society.

Keywords: A. Platonov, gospel code, onym, chrononym, biblionym, sacralization, chronotope

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V. S. Grossman’s dilogy “For a Just Cause” and “Life and Fate” may well be considered part of the Soviet literature corpus, but it can also be analyzed in the context of the “big time” of Russian culture, which is proposed in this work. The Battle of Stalingrad is reflected in the family history of Alexandra Vladimirovna Shaposhnikova. The novel “For a Just Cause” begins with a family celebration in her house before the attack of the enemy army and with the household’s plans for the alarming future. “Life and Fate” ends with a meeting of her loved ones before returning to a peaceful life, when it’s time to reflect on the losses and gains. Continuing Tolstoy’s tradition of emphasizing the spiritual evolvement of man in war, Grossman is guided by the national identity categories that date back to the opposition of Law and Grace. In the novel “For a Just Cause” the description of the military-historical trials of the Orthodox people comes to the fore, while “Life and Fate” is about the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit on the destinies of the world and man. In the “big time” of Russian culture, the actualization of the artistic installations of “socialist realism" in the first part does not matter, as does the reduction of the second book to military subjects or to the issue of freedom in the legalistic field, on the verge of lawlessness. The results of the heroes’ life quests are conditioned by the value orientations that dominate their minds: for the humble fulfillment of what fate has ordained and for a gracious personal evolvemen.

Keywords: V. S. Grossman, For a Just Cause, Life and Fate, spiritual tradition, Christian axiology, moral transformation, the Shaposhnikovs, Mostovskoy, great time

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The article considers an innovative modification of the classical stanza — the so-called hypersonet, which was used in his work by the outstanding master of Stefanism, the author of six hundred and fifty exceptional wreaths of sonnets, Petrozavodsk poet Yuri Vladimirovich Linnik. The term “hypersonet” was also used by other poets, but in their interpretation, it does not fit into the adopted system of traditional typology of either classical sonnets or their derivatives. Linnick applied this stanza predominantly in the beginnings of his many original almanacs and poetry collections, most often as a preamble to the wreaths of sonnets. The Linnik hypersonet structure combines three quatrains and three tercets: AbAb AbAb AbAb + CDe CDe CDe. In the main part of the article, the hypersonet “Bartholomew,” which opens the “Trinity” poetic collection, is subjected to a comprehensive analysis. The collection consists of 6 wreaths of sonnets and 19 poems. Three wreaths (“Cyril and Mary,” “Trinity” and “Sergius of Radonezh”) are dedicated to the great abbot of the Russian land who blessed Dmitry Donskoy for the victorious Battle of Kulikovo which became decisive for the liberation from the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The key to overcoming princely strife and national disunity was the most suitable cult of the Trinity as a “focus of higher harmony.” The most important conclusion that the author avidly asserts states: Trinitism, which harmoniously corresponds to the architectonics of the hypersonet, was also its generating factor.

Keywords: Yuri Linnik, hypersonet Bartholomew, Book Trinity, the Holy Trinity, wreath of sonnets, harmony, Sergius of Radonezh

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The article discusses the reception of Christian tradition in the works of Karelian poet A. P. Vasilyev. The book of poems “To Your Name…” reveals a deep interaction with Orthodox tradition in its lexis, motifs, images and topics. The title of the book of poems represents a direct quote from psalm 113. The psalm concentrates multiple semantic layers: fate and history of the nation that became God’s “possession” and “sanctity;” the Exodus from Egypt; unity of the Lord’s people; chanting the Lord’s name; reprimanding idol worship. The book of poems “To Your Name” reflects these main themes of the psalm. Consequently, the book focuses on such eternal issues as spiritual foundation of human existence, a human’s place in history and at the turn of centuries. Problems of national and personal fate, historical and eschatological questions are considered in the light of Christian tradition. The focus shifts from the historical topic in the first part of the book to the idea of soul resurrection in the second part: common human destiny is specified in the lyrical subject’s personal experience. The concept of “prayer” is comprehensively reflected and synthesized with poetry.

Keywords: Alexander Vasilyev, Russian literature, Christian images, Evangelic text, chronotope, motif, plot, composition, poetics

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