Volume 23, 2025 year

The article discusses the current status of historical poetics. The priority of the discovery of this discipline belongs to A. N. Veselovsky (1838-1906). He named the new scientific discipline, formulated its concept, introduced new categories of poetics, and justified the research program. Despite the unconditional authority of the scientist, Veselovsky's discovery was not immediately recognized. In the 1910s and 1920s, academic positivism was replaced by formal and sociological schools of poetics, which not only argued with each other, but simultaneously denied and developed the concepts of historical poetics. As a result of this controversy, prerequisites arose for the transition to the historical poetics of the "formalists" V. M. Zhirmunsky and V. Ya. Propp, "sociologists" M. M. Bakhtin and P. N. Medvedev. Until now, the role of the philosopher A. F. Losev in the development of historical poetics has been underestimated. Losev consistently developed divisions of poetics in his multi-volume historical aesthetics ("The History of Ancient Aesthetics", etc.). In the 1950s and 1980s, the legacy of A. N. Veselovsky was rehabilitated, and the renaissance of historical poetics began. Since that time, the evolution of historical poetics can be represented as a history of discoveries in the works of D. S. Likhachev, M. M. Bakhtin, S. S. Averintsev, M. L. Gasparov, A. V. Mikhailov, and many others. In the 1980s and 1990s, universal historical poetics almost became the "display" theme of the Language and Literature Department of the Academy of Sciences. There is more research in the field of historical poetics than one can imagine. Thanks to Veselovsky, historical poetics has not become a teaching in our country, it was not merely a set of rules and techniques, it appeared as a free field of research. Its development requires initiative and discoveries. Of course, materials on historical poetics predominate. Original ideas, concepts, and interpretations are needed. The retrospective review and the evolution of historical poetics are encouraging. 

Keywords: poetics, historical poetics, ethnopoetics, historicism, term, concept, A. N. Veselovsky, D. S. Likhachev, A. F. Losev, P. N. Medvedev, M. M. Bakhtin

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Alexander Pushkin’s poem “He lived among us…” (1834), dedicated to Adam Mickiewicz, contains a retelling of the Polish poet’s speeches about humanity striving for unity. The article offers an answer to the question of how adequate their transmission is and whether there are appropriate formulations in Mickiewicz’s own poems. Pushkin’s paraphrase of Mickiewicz’s statements allows us to draw conclusions about the peculiarities of Russian and Polish poets’ work, the similarities and differences between their artistic worlds. The poetic dialogue between Mickiewicz and Pushkin about the future of nations began before this poem was written. The Russian poet is more traditional in his work and is not inclined to ideological utopias. However, when he turns to the image of Mickiewicz, he uses his characteristic train of thought. What in Mickiewicz are words without additional shades of meaning, in Pushkin acquires a universal conciliar meaning. The genius of the Russian poet lies in the fact that he does not object to Mickiewicz’s words about the unity of nations, but continues and elevates them.

Keywords: Pushkin, Mickiewicz, Russian-Polish literary relations, utopia, futurology, romanticism, paraphrase

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The article analyzes the image of the “cursed wanderer” Aleko in his typological connection with Byron’s Cain. Such common motives as lack of inner peace, exile to the desert, secret sorrow, infernal influence on the hero, etc. are revealed. Comparing the two characters, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that despite the common motives, the images of the “cursed wanderer” in the works of Byron and Pushkin are essentially different. Unlike the “ruler of minds,” the Russian writer not only refrains from romanticizing passions, but also celebrates truly Christian ideals. These ideals are embodied in the text largely through the images of the “bird of God” and the wounded crane, to which Aleko is likened. Based on the intertextual connections of “The Gypsies” with A. N. Radishchev’s fable “Cranes”, the author of the study concludes that the non-condemnation of the sinner is the principal lesson that Pushkin wanted to impart using the image of his “homeless wanderer.” Certain provisions from the 19th-century criticism, specifically, the assessments of Aleko by V. G. Belinsky and V. N. Olin, are reviewed and reconsidered. As a result, the author concludes that in “The Gypsies” Pushkin debunks the titanism of the Byronic hero, transforming it into a motif of suffering loneliness of a passionate persona. At the same time, the motif of peace, which the old gypsy, representing the author’s will, wishes for the hero, dominates in the poem about Aleko. Thus, Pushkin once again remained faithful to his lyre and “called for mercy to the fallen.”

Keywords: Pushkin, Byron, type, hero, Byronic hero, cursed wanderer, Christianity, paganism

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The article provides an analytical review of literary criticism speeches in the weekly “Grazhdanin” (“The Citizen”) in 1872. In the course of the conducted attribution, the contribution of N. N. Strakhov, P. K. Shchebalsky and B. M. Markevich to the formation of the publication’s literary policy was revealed. A number of their articles were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. “Literary letters” by N. N. Strakhov restarted the formation of the pochvennichestvo foundation of aesthetic criticism, which A. A. Grigoriev and F. M. Dostoevsky began in “Vremya” and “Epocha”, and he continued in the “Zarya” magazine. According to Strakhov, the chaos in modern criticism had philosophical roots, namely, an unbridled faith in progress, when everything new seems to be a complete replacement for the old. In his articles, P. K. Shchebalsky developed the foundations of M. N. Katkov’s aesthetic positivism, so an intra-editorial polemic with the “metaphysician” Strakhov was inevitable on his part. B. M. Markevich’s articles, in turn, were aimed at overcoming the hostility of “advanced” society to “aestheticism”. In general, through the efforts of these critics and despite all the intra-party disagreements, “Grazhdanin” contributed to the transition of Russian aesthetic criticism from the liberal to the conservative camp, which took place in the 1860s and 1870s. The weekly turned out to be a target for both radical and liberal journalists, and the unity of the criticism department of “Grazhdanin” in 1872 in this struggle lasted only six months. The following year the new editor F. M. Dostoevsky restored this department and continued the transformation of aesthetic criticism towards conservative principles. The revealed circumstances do not confirm the established scientific idea of the “short days of Russian aestheticism”. The history of aesthetic criticism in the 19th century should be written with regard to all its twists and turns, starting from Karamzin and Zhukovsky to Vl. Solovyov and K. Leontiev.

Keywords: Grazhdanin, The Citizen, journalism, editorial policy, criticism, aesthetics, conservatism, polemics, attribution

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The article discusses the problems and symbolism of light and darkness in V. F. Odoevsky’s “Russian Nights.” The title and the beginning of the novel bring up the issues of darkness and gloom, both physical and spiritual. The core motif of the “Russian Nights” is the incessant striving for light. It is directly related to the problems of enlightenment. The Russian word “enlightenment” has various meanings. They refer to both Western European and Orthodox Church traditions: this is both the “light of reason” and the “Light of Christ.” Both meanings should be taken into account when interpreting Odoevsky’s fictional and journalistic works (as well as Russian classics in general). Odoevsky advocated the development of science and technology, but warned that the exclusive fascination with material interests and rationalism will lead humanity to moral ruin. Odoevsky considered the path to the truth to be fundamentally important. According to him, it had to synthesize intelligence and “instinctual” power, be irrational and based on an inner feeling. The highest source of “instinctual” power is God’s revelation. The main text of the novel (namely, the “nights”) contains more doubts and questions than answers. Only in the Epilogue does the writer show the way out of the darkness and towards true enlightenment. Odoevsky believed that it was Russia that is destined to save the European world since it retained its true faith and youthful strength. Odoevsky saw the source of genuine enlightenment in religion. It is the light of faith that can lead humanity out of the dark impasse of rationalism.

Keywords: V. F. Odoevsky, Russian Nights, enlightenment, cognition, religion, axiology, rationalism, instinct

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The article offers an understanding of F. M. Dostoevsky’s first novel in the context of a new aesthetic created by the writer, the essence of which is expressed in the deliberate de-aestheticization of the narrative, producing the illusion of artlessness and tongue-tie. The subject of Dostoevsky’s artistic play in “Poor People” also turns out to be fine literature in its sentimental and romantic interpretation, the axiology of which is being decanonized. The long-standing “maidenhood,” daydreaming that is divorced from the fundamental foundations of the life of the novel’s main character are the author’s evaluative metaphor of the once influential style. Rataziev’s “delicious” literature, the commercial product of a clever cynical writer represents even greater degradation of the romantic, satirically depicted in Dostoevsky’s novel. Dostoevsky conducts his dialogue with Pushkin and Gogol in the framework of artistic rivalry. The author combines the worlds of Gogol and Pushkin in “Poor Folk,” balancing the illusory and the real. The humane and philanthropic tendency or the social theme, which the writer’s lifetime critics saw in the novel, is transformed by Dostoevsky into a metaphysical issue, which will contribute to the development of Christian realism in the writer’s future work. In the context of socialist utopias, “Poor folk” appear as their artistic negation: paradise on earth is impossible, and Dostoevsky is only searching for ways to find it in the human heart. A saving thought arises: man is the Light for man.

Keywords: F. M. Dostoevsky, new aesthetics, dialogue, de-aestheticization, sacralization, syllable, style, ontology

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The article states that F. M. Dostoevsky had never been to Crimea, yet the motifs associated with the peninsula were explicated in his artistic and journalistic heritage as a result of secondary reflection. Focusing on the idyllic images of Taurida captured in the poetry of A. S. Pushkin and N. A. Nekrasov, travel magazines and canvases by Russian marine artists F. M. Dostoevsky enriched the poetics of his later works with a comparison of the Southern Coast of Crimea with paradise on earth. The article suggests that the fantasy of the hero of “A Gentle Creature” (1876) about the blissful expectation of the call of eternity in the Crimean south is consonant with Dostoevsky’s own dream. It is specified that the external similarity of the Russian Black Sea region and the European Mediterranean could become a generalized prototype of the “happy land” from the “Dream of a Funny Man” (1877). At the same time, it is emphasized that, according to F. M. Dostoevsky, the historical role of Crimea is unique, because the peninsula, which became the baptismal font of Russia in 988, accepted the lot of Russia’s “great altar” in 1853–1856. The events of the Crimean campaign and the defense of Sevastopol were deeply felt by F. M. Dostoevsky. The weekly “Grazhdanin” (“The Citizen”), which he edited, often published notes on the battles of Sevastopol. It is proved that the asceticism of the Russian sisters of mercy was reflected in the images of self-sacrificing and empathetic heroines of the novels “Demons” (1871–1872) and “The Adolescent” (1875). Ultimately, the introduction of Crimean motifs into F. M. Dostoevsky’s texts contributed to the revelation of the semantic facets of the Russian idea, which is dominant in his work.

Keywords: Crimea, motif, Dostoevsky, Crimean war, Sevastopol, paradise on earth, Southern coast of Crimea, hero, characterology

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The article examines the fairy tale by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “Chizhikov’s Grief.” Up until now, researchers have not taken into account certain significant circumstances when interpreting “Chizhikov’s Grief.” First of all, it is the unusual love and family theme of the tale, which is not characteristic of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s work (moreover, it was repeatedly criticized by him as ‘outdated’); and, secondly, the publication of the tale in the Christmas issue of “Russkie Vedomosti,” which provides reason to consider its text within the “Christmas story” tradition. The theme of love and family and the peculiarities of the poetics of “Chizhikov’s Grief” suggest that the fairy tale contains elements of intertextuality: it “refers” the reader, on the one hand, to the tradition of the naturalistic novel popular in the 1870s — 1880s, and on the other hand — to the Christmas stories by Ch. Dickens. M. E. Saltykov was critical of naturalist writers, opposing them to Ch. Dickens and N. V. Gogol. This contradiction is reflected in the structure of “Chizhikov’s Grief,” where the first part of the tale contains elements of parody of the naturalistic novel’s poetics (i.e., in E. Zola’s work), and the second part resembles the plot model of Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” (the transformation of the “misanthropic hero” who travels the path with “guilt-correction-redemption” as the key milestones). Analyzing the poetics of “Chizhikov’s Grief” allows to understand the author’s concept of the fairy tale: critically comparing the “earthiness” of the naturalist writers and the “idealism” of Ch. Dickens and N. V. Gogol, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes the importance of the ideal component of private life. The problem of love and marriage is resolved in “Chizhikov’s Grief” in the style of the Christmas (Easter) tradition: sublime love revives the dead soul of the hero, while in the tale’s open ending the only positive variant of conflict resolution is the heroes’ acquisition of Christian values: forgiveness and love. Thus, behind the numerous literary contexts, irony and satire, the tale conceals a moral absolute that’s distinctive to the national consciousness; and this absolute was the personal position of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.

Keywords: Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, fairy tale, French naturalism, Emile Zola, Christmas Story, Easter Story, Nikolai Gogol, Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol

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The article examines the character system in Leo Tolstoy’s short story “How much land does a man need?”, analyzing the transformations of fairy-tale images, space, time, and audiovisual details. Based on archival materials (autograph and authorized copies of the story’s manuscripts), the author traces the gradual introduction of the main motives and images. Thus, the story of a minor character, Semyon the peasant, appears only in the third edition of the story. It is this antagonist who establishes the image of Pahom as a negative protagonist. The story combines the poetics of a fairy tale and that of a realistic work. The main character’s static nature in the climactic scene of “circumambulation of the earth,” characteristic of folklore, is complemented by the image of his psychological state. This episode is also endowed with the features of an oneiric text, that is, a description of a dream. The spiritual delusion of Pakhom, who pursues the false goal of seizing as much land as possible, is especially evident in the finale of the story — in his distorted perception of space. The results of the study confirm the significance of Tolstoy’s “folk stories” as a unique experiment that has not only moral, but also aesthetic value.

Keywords: L. N. Tolstoy, chronotope, time, artistic space, poetics, folk stories, image system, oneiric text, folklorism, psychologism

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The reading of the sacred text is considered in the article as a formalized action (reading the sexton in the prison church in the novel “Resurrection”), as an event that radically changes the lives of the characters (Chuev and Pelageyushkin in the story “The Fake Coupon”), as a process of gradual approach of the characters to higher truths (Nekhludoff in the final part of the novel “Resurrection, Svetlogub and the old man-bespopovets in the story “Divine and Human”). The traditional form of reading, characterized by the comprehension of the sacred word by the reader and listener, is presented in the story “Where Love Is, God Os” and in the story “The Fake Coupon”. In the first work, this type of reading is given by the pretext — the story of the pastor, Protestant Evangelist R. Silence, “Father Martin.” In the light of the hagiographic tradition, Tolstoy highlights the acceptance of evangelical truths and the spiritual upheaval in Pelageyushkin, the hero of the story “The Fake Coupon”. In connection with the traditional type of reading, Tolstoy emphasized the reader (listener) from the common people. The “personal” type of reading is correlated with intermediary characters (Kieseweter, the English missionary in The Resurrection, the old man in the Resurrection and in the Divine and Human), who refer listeners to the sacred text and interpret it in their own way. Tolstoy shows that such a preachy approach to the sacred text leads to further separation of people. Understanding the sacred text, which overcomes the temptation of a purely personal interpretation in a person, transforms not only the hero-reader himself, but also determines the possibility of a beneficial effect of the words of Scripture on others. Another variant of the “personal” type of reading is depicted in the final scene of the novel “Resurrection” and in the story “Divine and Human”: rationally thinking characters (Nekhludoff, Svetlogub), who had no trust in the sacred text, independently come to understand and experience it. In the process of reading, the nature of their interpretation of the sacred text is transformed (skepticism is replaced by agreement), and the difference between traditional and “personal” reading is gradually minimized.

Keywords: L. N. Tolstoy, literature, philosophy, religion, type of religiosity, sacred text, Gospel, reading, understanding, interpretation

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The authors analyze the Shakespeare studies by Yu. N. Govorukha-Otrok (1850–1896), an underrated literary and theater critic of the late 19th century. The article examines the principles of Govorukha-Otrok’s approach to Shakespeare’s legacy, defines the ideological principles of his criticism, highlights the main theses of his assessment of Shakespeare in the context of European and world literature, and recognizes his interpretation of Hamlet as a tragedy of the Christian era. Govorukha-Otrok characterized Shakespeare as a representative of the noble European culture inspired by Catholicism; he saw the consequences of this culture’s decline in modern times. The critic claimed that Shakespeare invented a new, Christian type of tragedy: the invincible fate is replaced by a conflict between skepticism and faith, which makes the hero, previously dependent on circumstances, independent and active. An important characteristic of Shakespeare’s work for the critic was the high Christian pessimism that provokes an endless search for the ideal, the type of pessimism opposed to Byron’s pessimism of despair and Chekhov’s everyday pessimism. For Govorukha-Otrok, Hamlet is the most striking example of Christian tragedy: the critic evaluates the key role of the appearance of the ghost, examines Hamlet as an active and conscientious character, a true philosopher who sincerely loves Ophelia and sends her to a monastery in all earnest because of his concern for her. Govorukha-Otrok’s interpretation presents an original view of Shakespeare’s work from the standpoint of Christian criticism.

Keywords: Shakespeare, Govorukha-Otrok, Shakespeareanism, tragedies, reception, literary criticism, Shakespeare studies, Hamlet, Ophelia, Christian pessimism

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In the screenplay “The First Russians” (“Pervorossiyane,” 1965), Bergholz reinterpreted the history of the creation of the first Russian agricultural commune in Altai by St. Petersburg workers, which she first creatively mastered in the poem “Pervorossiysk” (1950). She filled the text with biblical symbols, mythopoetic images and new characters. The place where the relocated workers choose to create a commune is described in the text as a “legendary valley” with “biblical cedars?” which in the Psalter are associated with the righteous. Biblical allusions can be traced in the image of Uncle Lesha the cannon founder, who escorted the migrant communards on their way: according to the description, the worker resembles the god of Нosts (Sabaoth), who sends his heavenly messengers into the world. Obsessed with the idea of social justice, the First Russians die as martyrs for it: the scenario is permeated by the metaphor of the bonfire, which establishes a connection with the figure of the Old Believer-schismatic Protopope Avvakum. The spiritual make-up of the communards is reflected as in a mirror in the “iconographic face” of Efimiya, the daughter of the Old Believer Theodosius, who opposes the First Russians. The idea of the commune as an ideal social structure is comprehended by Bergholz through the Kitezh concept. St. Petersburg workers, drawing a plan of the future settlement of Novorossiysk, see it “through the water.” Novorossiysk, set on fire by the Cossacks, appears to the communard Vasily Gremyakin submerging into a reservoir, just as the mythical Kitezh-grad descends into the waters of Svetloyar Lake. The text illustrates the integration of the author’s religious and mythological consciousness with the communist worldview. Bergholz builds a national image of the world built around the Christian worldview and the Soviet model of social justice. The analysis is carried out using Bergholz’s diary entries and the transcript of the script discussion meeting at the “Lenfilm” Studio. Bergholz’s informative notes from the period of her work on the script and a transcript containing a polemic about biblical allusions in the text allowed to place more precise accents in the interpretation of the work.

Keywords: O. F. Bergholz, screenplay, The First Russians, Pervorossiyane, poetics of the title, commune, poetics of space, biblical cedar, Sabaoth, Efimiya, name semantics, Kitezhsky concept, Avvakum

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The article examines the semantics of religious, spiritual and moral motives in the work of the modern Tatar poet Renat Kharis (b. 1941) in the context of Russian classical poetry (G. R. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov). The study of R. Kharis’s translation reception in the translation of the ode “God” into Tatar (2016) demonstrates the difficulty of adequate literary translation of works of Russian sacred poetry based on Orthodox Christian culture into Tatar. In the poems “Reanimation” (2020), “Maryam Anasi Kazan” (“Kazan Icon of the Mother of God,” 2023, translated into Russian by N. Pereyaslov), R. Haris, in search of spiritual and moral values in a contradictory modern society, turns not only to Muslim, but also to Christian discourse, thus enriching Tatar literature and culture and conducting a poetic dialogue with Russian classics (A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, etc.). In the poem “Reanimation,” the poet, actualizing Lermontov’s concept of the soul, recreates the motifs of Russian classical literature. In the poem “Maryam Anasi Kazan” the artistic embodiment of the image of the “Kazan Icon of the Mother of God” allows us to raise religious and moral issues in historical retrospect — through a comparison of Russian and Tatar national images of the world. The methodology of ethnopoetics allows us to examine the reception of Russian classics as “other, different” in the translations and original poems of R. Kharis in the Tatar language, taking into account the spiritual and moral views of the poet that were formed in the context of Muslim culture and classical Tatar literature.

Keywords: reception, motif, dialogue, Tatar literature, Russian literature, tradition, ethnopoetics, translation, interpretation, Renat Kharis, G. R. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov

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The purpose of the article is to consider the laws of the formation and development of literary tradition in the poetics of V. G. Rasputin and V. I. Belov. The author aimed to study the development of the hagiographic tradition from the Middle Ages to the 20th century through refraction in the 19th-centuryRussian classics, who modernized the old models and endowed them with their own contents. Special attention is heeded to the transformation of the medieval hagiographic canon in “The Last Term” and “Live and Remember” by V. G. Rasputin, “Prince Alexander Nevsky” and “Such a War” by V. I. Belov. The author concludes that the poetics of village prose revives the medieval and classical genre traditions. However, while in Belov’s poetics the hagiographic tradition is dissolved in folk life and its internal philosophy, in Rasputin’s works, literary reclamation of hagiographic patterns is more essential. The analysis of the updated hagiographic model proves that the cathartic effect of purification and spiritual transformation, experienced by the reader through empathy and compassion for the saint and righteous hero, is of key importance in the implementation of this tradition and in the genre itself. In general, the study proves that the renewal of literary tradition involves periods of trial, depending on the socio-historical circumstances and the readers’ collective mindset.

Keywords: literary tradition, poetics, medieval hagiography, genre canon, genre naming tradition, catharsis, Russian classics, V. G. Rasputin, V. I. Belov

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