The Problems of Historical Poetics

7-21

Authors: Игорь Алексеевич Виноградов

В начале XX в. — ровно полвека спустя после кончины Н. В. Гоголя — среди мемуарных свидетельств о последних днях его жизни в текущей периодике появился рассказ о том, как духовник писателя, известный проповедник, ржевский протоиерей Матфей Константиновский, будто бы требовал от писателя «отречения от Пушкина». Тема эта тут же стала одной из актуальных для публицистов разных направлений — и таким образом гоголевское наследие вновь оказалось в центре идейных споров и конфликтов. Однако при тогдашнем довольно бурном обсуждении этого вопроса незатронутой оказалась загадка происхождения самогó «эффектного» свидетельства о якобы неуемной, «неразумной» ревности ржевского пастыря. Будучи принято на веру, это свидетельство стало впоследствии «хрестоматийным» при освещении последних дней жизни Гоголя — с непременным упреком в адрес о. Матфея (либо, напротив, с попыткой «оправдать» священника). Между тем детальное исследование этого вопроса показывает, что автором пресловутой фразы был отнюдь не протоиерей Матфей Константиновский, а один из главных представителей новой, предреволюционной эпохи Д. С. Мережковский. Мистифицированное «свидетельство», положенное в 1902 г. Мережковским в основу его известного сочинения о Гоголе, впервые было озвучено им на первом заседании Религиозно-философских собраний, открытых в Петербурге 29 ноября 1901 г.

38-58

Authors: Наталья Николаевна Старыгина

Предметом исследования является мотив дарения, объектом изучения — цикл «Святочные рассказы» Н. С. Лескова: характеризуются содержание, функции, варианты проявления мотива дарения в евангельской истории Рождества Христова, в святочной культурной традиции, систематизируются варианты этого мотива в святочных рассказах писателя, виды дарения, подарки и дары. Мотив дарения выполняет различные художественные функции: сюжетообразующую, характерологическую, типологизирующую и др. Он является сквозным мотивом, имеющим циклообразующую функцию. Мотив дарения выступает как важный для Лескова способ изображения социокультурного пространства, в том числе бытовой культуры и повседневной жизни героев. Важнейшей функцией этого мотива является формирование рождественского контекстуального содержания в святочных рассказах Лескова, характеризующихся воспроизведением бытовых (житейских) ситуаций, отсутствием и / или разоблачением мистики, зачастую анекдотичностью и т. п. Мотив дарения становится средством представления рождественской семантики, обогащающей лесковские тексты христианскими мотивами, образами, символами, концептами.

76-90

Authors: Дарья Александровна Завельская

Исторически мотив Благовествования (радостной вести о спасении человечества) присутствовал в различных жанрах христианской литературы. Сегодня в литературоведении актуальным становится изучение не только текстовых параллелей с Евангелием, но и модели мира, воплощенной в художественном тексте. Предмет данного исследования — мотив Благовествования и художественные средства его воплощения в корпусе произведений Н. С. Гумилева. При анализе творческого наследия Гумилева (поэмы «Блудный сын», поэтической драмы «Гондла», стихотворений «Канцона вторая» и «Городок») учитывается полемика между представителями русского модернизма. Освоив школу символистской поэтики, Гумилев в своих произведениях воплощает иную концепцию земного бытия — не противопоставленного духовности. «Поэтическая проповедь» Гумилева о просветленном земном бытии проанализирована в контексте его полемики с философией Ф. Ницше. В статье показано, что мотив Благовествования уже с 1911 г. становится одним из ключевых в творчестве Гумилева, влияет на выбор сюжетов и образов, объединяет произведения разных жанров, воплощает в их эстетике христианскую картину мира, ценности и этику. В поэтике произведений прослеживается концептуальный смысл вновь обретенного Эдема как элемента картины мира.

107-121

Authors: Марина Анатольевна Жиркова

В данной статье рассматриваются особенности развития пасхальной темы в поэзии Саши Черного. В ранний период его творчества (1904—1918) она представлена в сатирическом ключе: поэт отмечает утрату сакрального значения празднования Пасхи (стихотворения «Пасхальный перезвон», «Праздник» («Генерал от водки...»), «Праздник» («Гиацинты ярки, гиацинты пряны...»), «Легенда»). Во время эмиграции (1920—1932) на первый план в творчестве Саши Черного выходит проза, появляется жанр пасхального рассказа. Пасхальная тема продолжает развиваться в поэзии, тональность которой сочетает в себе радость и грусть («Пасха в Гатчине», «Маленькому другу»). Грусть вызвана тоской по родине. Боль разлуки автору и его лирическим героям помогают преодолеть воспоминания о прошлом и маленькие друзья — дети. Светлую радость несет сам праздник, он приносит утешение и душевное преображение, надежду на возможность чуда, главное из которых — возвращение на родину.

135-148

Authors: Наталья Викторовна Пращерук

В статье анализируются функции и символика снов в одном из произведений современной духовной прозы — повести Е. Домбровской «Весна души. Страницы жизни рабы Божией Анны». Опираясь на традиции православия, автор последовательно выдерживает критерий, разделяющий душевный и духовный аспекты жизни христианина, раскрывает опыт поэтапного «очищения сердца». Сны, в трактовке которых писатель следует также святоотеческому учению, выполняют роль образно-символического аналога того, что переживает в своих духовных исканиях героиня. Они есть откровения о смыслах пережитого. Сны носят системный характер, они объединены сквозной темой крестного пути православного человека, сюжетно и структурно включены в аскетическую практику Анны, ее путь поступенного («ступень») стяжания смирения и «даров духовных». Автор избегает «уклонений» в аспекты собственно человеческой душевности: сны лишь отчасти отражают психологическое состояние героини, они становятся знаками Божественного водительства, соотнесены с судьбами православия в России. Все сны пронизаны глубокой христианской символикой: в них фигурируют крест, лестница в воздухе, Чаша для Причастия и чаша скорбей, храм, иконы и оклады для икон, образ Спасителя и Богородицы, св. Сергий Радонежский и св. князь Владимир. Ключевое значение имеют лейтмотивные образы креста, сердца, пролитой крови. Они читаются как главные ориентиры пути христианина и как залоги, противоядия от «закваски фарисейской». Сны, являясь вестниками «мира невидимого», напрямую связаны с эпифаническим принципом изображения.

7-19

Authors: Вера Николаевна Аношкина-Касаткина

Известны два великих вопроса, поставленные в русской литературе XIX века, — «Кто виноват?» А. И. Герцена и «Что делать?» Н. Г. Чернышевского. В данной статье впервые обращено внимание на третий великий духовно-нравственный вопрос русской литературы – «чем люди живы?». Этот вопрос поставил и дал на него ответ Л. Н. Толстой в рассказе «Чем люди живы» (1881). Религиозный кризис, который гениальный писатель переживал во время написания рассказа, не помешал ему раскрыть обретение истины падшим ангелом Михаилом: «есть в людях любовь», человеку не дано знать, что с ним будет, «жив всякий человек не заботой о себе, а любовью». Личное благо открывается в благе всеобщем. В анализе морально-этической проблематики рассказа-притчи утверждается реальность сверхъестественного и сакрального в жизни человеческого рода, возможность его молитвенного спасения, описывается своеобразие реализма, психологизма, «диалектики» человеческой души, жанровых особенностей рассказа-притчи позднего Толстого.

38-54

Authors: Владимир Дмитриевич Денисов

В статье дана характеристика антропонимов из четырех гоголевских повестей цикла «Миргород» (1835). Она обоснована толкованием распространенных славянских христианских имен в их украинском и русском вариантах (по словарям и списку «Имен, даемых при Крещении» в записной «Книге всякой всячины» юного Гоголя). Исследование позволяет сделать вывод о том, что система мужских и женских имен в каждой повести отражала взгляды автора на характеры и типы своих героев, на их общество и эпоху, а также на их связи с библейским, античным и средневековым временем, с окружающей природой. Называя персонаж тем или иным именем, автор учитывал фонетическую и семантическую структуру антропонима, его прямое и коннотативное значения (и противоречия между ними), его смысловые связи, распространенность, принадлежность определенному сословию и/или человеческому типу, историческому или мифологическому герою.

68-79

Authors: Екатерина Александровна Михеичева

Данная статья посвящена проблеме воскрешения, получившей широкое распространение в философии и в литературе Серебряного века. Опираясь на Евангельский текст, русские философы Н. Федоров, В. Соловьев процесс воскрешения связывают с усовершенствованием природы и сплочением человечества. В ином ключе последствия возвращения из небытия в реальный мир видит Леонид Андреев. Попытки воскрешения (Василий Фивейский) и само воскрешение (Елеазар) представлены им как трагедия личности. Фивейскому, поверившему в собственное избранничество, не удается повторить подвиг Христа — воскресить Семена Мосягина, и это становится причиной сумасшествия и смерти героя. Воскресение Лазаря, видевшего смерть и ее преодолевшего, представлено Андреевым как трагедия и самого воскресшего, и всех тех, с кем он соприкоснулся после возвращения из небытия. Понимание конечности времени помогает человеку сохранять свежесть чувства и мысли, жить в рамках морально-нравственных категорий, наслаждаться каждым мгновением земной жизни.

92-104

Authors: Татьяна Николаевна Воронина

Автор статьи анализирует интерпретацию евангельского эпизода распятия Христа в рассказе А. А. Кондратьева «Последнее искушение». В работе утверждается, что писатель руководствуется вариантами изложения новозаветной истории от Луки и Иоанна и рассматривает исходные события как христианский миф, который можно пересоздать в искусстве. Кондратьев изменяет угол зрения на происходящее: оно показано глазами духа из армии дьявола. Эпизод крестных мук Иисуса представлен как решающая битва добра и зла, которые персонифицированы в Сына Человеческого и Избранника (Сатану). Исход сражения связан с присутствием третьей силы — загадочного преступника-араба, от позиции которого зависит результат схватки. Писатель по-своему трактует легенду о благоразумном и безумном разбойниках, превращает этих второстепенных персонажей в ключевых действующих лиц. В рассказе присутствуют аллюзии на апокрифические «Евангелие от Никодима», «Арабское Евангелие детства Спасителя», используется прямое цитирование новозаветных текстов. Кондратьев добавляет в новозаветную историю мотив космической битвы Света и тьмы, смещает точку зрения на благоразумного разбойника, образ которого создает главную интригу повествования: подчеркивается значимость этой фигуры в сражении добра и зла, его загадка (кто он такой и какие цели преследует) создает в финале рассказа эффект недосказанности − неразгаданной тайны библейской истории.

119-133

Authors: Валентина Ивановна Габдуллина, Евгения Васильевна Изранова

В статье представлен опыт реинтерпретации повести В. Я. Шишкова как явления «духовного реализма», с точки зрения выявления роли и функций в ее художественной системе библейской символики и образности. Библейская символика пронизывает все повествование, проявляясь как на уровне семантики названия и образной системы, так и в трехчастном композиционном строе повести, передающем логику авторского замысла — движение героев от тьмы преисподней к свету. Жизнь беспризорников изображается автором как «кромешный мир», «антимир», в котором искаженными оказываются все онтологически значимые для человека понятия. Идея соборности подменяется воровским братством, жизнь беспризорников под перевернутой баржей оборачивается безобразной пародией на монастырскую жизнь. Место Богородицы в этом мире занимает девочка-блудница Машка по прозвищу Майский Цветок. В сюжете повести параллельно разворачиваются мотивы Апокалипсиса (гибели старого мира) и мотив блудного сына в жизненных историях героев повествования, переживающих процесс преображения. Интерпретация библейской символики, которой насыщена повесть Шишкова «Странники», вносит новые, не прочитанные до сих пор литературоведением смыслы, заключающиеся в содержании этого произведения.

8

Authors: Vladimir N. Zakharov

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

7-70

Authors: Tatyana G. Malchukova

The article analyzes the plot of husband’s return to his wife’s wedding embodied both in the millenary Ancient epic literature represented by the “Odyssey” of Homer, and in the Russian and Slavic epic. The study of Homer’s epic heritage, conducted over the years, includes a huge number of works of scientists around the world. Comparative-historical, comparativegenetic and comparative-typological studies found a link between oral folk tradition and epic poetry written by an author. The current international science is developing the hypothesis that professionally individual Homeric poems, which are at least 850 years old, were created in the ancient, oral poetry improvisation in a precise format of hexameter. The study of the Russian epic has less history, but the researches in this field have revealed the presence of Late Antiquity elements in the Slavic environment. These elements along with paganism and Christianity became the source of the people’s spiritual culture. The plot “the return of her husband”, which is analyzed in the article, is widely-spread in folklore of many nations, and appeared rudimentarily in “The Odyssey”. The western and eastern variants of this theme are diverse in genre structure and stylistic features. In Russian tradition the plot is presented in a large thematic variety “Dobrynya and Alyosha”, which evolves into the epic genre due to contamination, small inserts in the epic genre. As a result, the great volume brings together the olden time and the ancient epic, creating intermediate forms comparable with the author’s imitations.

87-97

Authors: Olga V. Zakharova

In the 18th century, Russian literature was actively exploring folklore genres and characters. The bylina was one of the forms of interaction between folklore and literary genres. Some bogatyrs became literary characters. The 18th century epic tradition is known due to  the collection of Kirsha Danilov (1804) and the publication of “Byliny v  zapisiakh i pereskazakh XVII–XVIII vekov” (Bylinas in the Records and Retellings of the 17th–18th centuries) edited by A. M. Astakhova (1960). This fact gives an opportunity for raising the issue of the correlation of written and printed texts with the oral tradition recorded by collectors and folklorists. The article presents a comparative analysis of oral and written prosaic adaptations of the “Chernigov” version of the plot “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” that remained similar to the oral tradition. Handwritten and printed publications of the records of the 18th century bylinas show that there was an active appropriation of epic plots, characters, themes, topics, formulas and concepts in Russian literature. This became apparent in the genre transformations of the bylina, development of its genre content in short novels, folk tales, fairy tales, operas and poems as well as in written and oral prosaic retellings and adaptations.

108-121

Authors: Yulia A. Rostovtseva

The article studies the utopia of Prince M. M. Shcherbatov “Journey to the land of Ophir” (1784) in a new literary-historical way. The author explores the pedagogical ideal, represented by Ophir schools. In the centre of the study there are the “small books” containing moral and civil “catechisms”, which are taught in school along with other subjects and illustrate the essence of the Ophirian educational system. There are no special works on “catechisms” despite the fact that they often have been mentioned in academic literature. “Catechisms” are of a particular interest to the history of literature. They reflect not only the fragments of the writer’s biography, his view of modern pedagogical theories, but also describe the image of a man and citizen, the true “Son of the Motherland”. The author analyzes literary sources of “catechisms”, among which there are the works of S. Pufendorf, an Augustinian monk I. Felbiger, “Instruction” of Catherine the Great and writer’s own pedagogical texts. As a result, the author concludes that for Shcherbatov the ideal of school education was strongly connected with the truth of the Christian law.

146-160

Authors: Olga V. Zakharova

The bylina is a Russian epic song about the bogatyrs. Different genre transformations of bylinas are known in folklore: prosaic narrations [pobyval’shchiny], bogatyr tales, legends about the bogatyrs, lubok tales about the feats of the bogatyrs and knights. In the early 19th century, Russian literature was actively absorbing epic images and motives: the bogatyrs were turning into characters of novellas, literary tales, poems, novels, operas. Some poets and writers were attempting to develop the bylina as a literary genre. Their genre search was a creative imitation of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign [“Slovo o polku Igoreve”] published in 1800 and in some cases of the Collection of Kirsha Danilov (1804). One of the first attempts was Gavrila R. Derzhavin’s work Dobrynya, Dramatic Musical Performance in Five Acts [“Dobrynya, teatral’noe predstavlenie s muzykoyu, v pyati deystviyakh”, 1804]. Glorifying the idea of the state, the poet composes a work where epic and literary characters act and the plot is derived not only from bylinas and tales, but also from chivalric novels. In Stepan S. Andreev’s poem Levsil, a Russian Bogatyr [“Levsil, russkiy bogatyr’”, 1807] the hero is not only a folkloric (epic and fabulous) character, but also a literary one. Alexander F. Veltman’s novel Koshchei the Immortal. A Bylina of the Old Times [“Koshchey bessmertnyy. Bylina starogo vremeni”, 1833] was an ingenious genre experiment. The word ‘bylina’ was used in its title in the literary genre meaning for the first time ever. The genre of Easter novella Ilya Muromets. A Tale from the Rus’ of the Bogatyrs [“Il’ya Muromets. Skazka Rusi bogatyrskyi”, 1836] by Vladimir I. Dahl emerged from a complicated interaction of the tale, the bylina, the Old Russian novella and the hagiography. The literary transformations of folkloric genre stemmed from the authors’ imaginative need to create a national and historical myth, conjecture the ‘fabulous’ history and imagine what happened in the old preliterate times.

174-197

Authors: Sergey V. Syzranov

The article seeks to elaborate a methodological approach to the creative work of Fyodor Dostoevsky, corresponding to dialectical nature of the writer’s artistic world perception. Dostoevsky’s formula “the whole emerges as a hero” is regarded as an architectonic model of his poetics. The author reveals the dialectical and mythological content of various aspects of this model, discovers the moments of community of Dostoevsky’s “realism in the best sense of the term” and Losev’s absolute dialectics. In the light of Losev’s teaching Dostoevsky’s formula is modified according to the dialectical model of a tragic myth. In the structure of the formula there are consistently explicated cosmological, anthropological, Christological, ecclesiological, and pneumatological aspects. These aspects trace back to a number of works of the writer (the novel “Poor People”, the tale “A Faint Heart”, the story “A Little Hero”, the novel “The Idiot”). There is demonstrated the dialectical unity of the intuitions of faith and knowledge in Dostoevsky’s artistic experience.

234-252

Authors: Valentina I. Gabdullina

The article analyzes Dostoevsky’s novel “The Insulted and Humiliated” in terms of functioning of the prodigal daughter motif in its narrative structure, dating back to the Gospel text and Pushkin’s pretext. The author finds several interpretative variants of the prodigal daughter motif, each one represented by different narrators in various genre models: from a sentimental melodrama (Ivan Petrovich) and a romantic story with a tragic ending (Nelly) to “a charming anecdote” (duke Valkovsky) and an adventure story, stylized of “skomoroshina” (Masloboev). In addition, the text of the novel contains a lyrical story “Bell” by Ya. P. Polonsky, which presents a poetic (romance) version of the traditional motif. In the novel, opening a new period of his works, Dostoevsky appraises the possibilities of a polyphonic art system, using the “eternal story” of the prodigal daughter for that purpose. Analysis of the narrative structure of the novel makes it possible to observe how the author matches different narrative strategies, making the text of the work a kind of “a test area” for creating a new novelistic form.

271-286

Authors: Olga V. Zakharova

Dostoevsky’s role in Russian folklore studies has been a research subject both for folklorists and literary scholars for a long time: in criticism, they have determined the range of folklore sources, ideas, genres, plots, motives, topics the writer conveyed in his works. Among his creative inventions we should mention his original conception of the bylina as a folklore and literary genre. In his assimilation of folklore, Dostoevsky exceeded the bounds of the traditional interpretation of folklorism. He was the only one who pointed out such a characteristic of the bylina as contiguity “with the supreme beauty, with the beauty of the ideal”. The bylina expresses “the whole world view of the nation”, “its ideals of heroes, tsars, people’s defenders and patrons, images of valour, humility, love and sacrifice”. Relying on the folklore conception, Dostoevsky developed his conception of the bylina as a literary genre that could express the meaning of Russian history, the Russian outlook on life, the Russian idea. There are no bogatyrs in his bylinas, but there are feats of ordinary people. They comprise the pivotal moments and landmark events of Russian and world history when Christianity was changing and the Russian futurity was emerging. In his opinion, such bylinas from Russian history “could be a great national book”, “could favour the revival of the Russian man’s self-consciousness”. Dostoevsky did not attain his aim; he only developed the conception of the genre and gave its literary example having enunciated the content of one of the bylinas in details. He passed his conception onto poet Maykov who could not implement their general creative idea. Despite the fact that there was no creative result, critics and poets should pay attention to the Dostoevsky’s conception of the bylina as a genre invention of the writer.

304-316

Authors: Elena A. Fedorova

The article identifies the reasons for Fyodor Dostoevsky’s appeal to the traditions of Old Russian literature in “A Writer’s Diary” during the Russian-Turkish war. One of the main reasons is seeking for national foundations of Russian spirituality. The writer learned the world of medieval literacy getting acquainted with hagiography, walking, spiritual eloquence. Later Dostoevsky reverted to the Old Russian monuments in the course of his work on the novel “The Brothers Karamazov” (in particular on the chapter “The Russian Monk”). As follows from the comparison of the texts the dominant qualities of the ideal image of a Russian saint are repentance, humility and suffering, desire for purification, spiritual ability to resist the evil. The ideal form of existence of Russian people becomes conciliarism. The type of historicism is the movement to the Last Judgment. Gospel allusions and metaphors reinforce the author’s interpretation. Thus, Dostoevsky carries on the dialogue with the evangelical word at an ideological, imaginative, genre, motive and narrative level of the text. The hallmark of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky who followed the evangelical tradition, becomes a dialogical word.

331-350

Authors: Klavdiya V. Sizyukhina

Documentary texts describe not only the facts, but also favour their creative interpretation. It is the main stylistic feature of the so-called “documental”, non-fiction literature. Diaries and memoirs can be called one of the popular genres of non-fictional literature. Despite the artistic diversity of the memoirs, diaries are also stylistically intertextual. They contain examples of different genres: letters, chronicles, biographical portraits, fragments of recollections, writing experiences, some quotations from other literary texts and soon. The “Memoirs” and the diaries of Andrew Dostoevsky are original literary texts and they correspond to each other. Firstly, they correlate with one another chronologically. The diaries contain lots of textual references that imply the author’s work on the “Memoirs”. Secondly, both literary sources expand the narrative characteristics of the documentary genre and reveal A. M. Dostoevsky’s love to family traditions and values. “Family”, “home” are the key images both of the “Memoirs” and of the diaries. In the “Memoirs” the artistic chronotope develops from the public life towards the author’s private life (life as the change of apartments). In another way the diaries bring together family’s everyday narrations with the social life of the epoch.

368-386

Authors: Vyacheslav M. Golovko

The article studies the functional role of biblical reminiscence in Ivan S. Turgenev’s short novel “A Strange Story” (1870). A pretextual function of the Bible and interpretations of certain biblical theses, sayings and maxims are revealed through the artistic analysis of moral choice of Sophie and the embodiment of the existential motif. In the ethics of selfexpression the main character of the short novel relies on the Old Testament dogmas and evangelical preaching as well as asserts her own understanding of the necessity of self-renunciation in the name of implementation of the moral ideal. Sophie’s moral views despite being formed under the influence of religious ethics are not limited by the very ethics. Her faith in Christ is accompanied with the consciousness of her duty to people. The biblical ethics of self-dedication is based on antinomy of self-obsession and renunciation of one’s own self. The personal is sacrificed for the sake of the public. This unites Sophie with the selfless girls, participants of the populist movement, and describes the world perception of a new person of the watershed times in the “national history”.

401-420

Authors: Inna N. Mineeva

Thе article, for the first time, provides a detailed textual commentary on N. S. Leskov’s notebook with extracts from “Prologue”. The extant literary materials include extracts and abstracts from the early printed Prologue, fiction and historical literature of the 19th century, letters of European and Russian scholars and authors (Pushkin A., Tolstoy L., Pigault-Lebrun, Sher I.), devoted to doctrine matters and religious aspects, description and analysis of anthropologic categories. The autograph is the evidence of spiritual search and creative experiments of the writer. In the books the writer found endorsement of both his own ideas, and those ones that require further inner understanding, questioning and emotional upheaval. Meanwhile, studying the history, structure and contents of Prologue in the 1880s, Leskov found an exceptional existential and creative experience. The most part of the notebook shows the writer’s learning process of various examples of repentance, atonement, a sudden rebirth of a sinner, active love, the benefits of obedience, the miracle of movement of a saint in space, the phenomenon of manifestation of supernatural power and its intervention in life of a man (God, the Holy Spirit, Angels), etc. While working with Prologue texts Leskov enunciated some principles of their artistic processing (quoting “crisis”, “turning”, unusual fragments in the Church Slavonic language, emphasizing key situations by changing the name, specifying the narration, acronyms, graphic intonation). General trends in understanding of the Prologue source (ideological, imaginative, plot-compositional, stylistic), identified in the notebook, are subsequently transformed by the author in a series of “Byzantine Legends” where they receive additional semantic and functional load.

436-450

Authors: Oksana A. Sosnovskaya

The development of belles-lettres at the turn of the 19th—20th centuries is characterized by a persistent search for new spiritual and moral foundations and artistic images required for revealing the world perception typical of the epoch. One of those was the image of a scientist, that appeared in literature of that period as an artistic whole. The present work is an attempt to explore this image based on the writings of two authors — the story “Toward a new life” by I. S. Shmelev and the story “On both sides” by V. Korolenko. The works selected for analysis call to one another at different artistic levels. What they have in common is a real prototype of the image of the scientist, that was a famous botanist Timiryazev. In both works the main character is a scientist and mentor of young heroes, helping them to find their path of life. The heroes-scientists of Shmelev and Korolenko represent a new vision of the image of a man of science in literature.

477-491

Authors: Oksana A. Sosnovskaya

I. S. Shmelev began his literary career as a children’s writer, his works were published in such publications for young people as “Spring” and “Young Russia”. The article deals with Shmelev’s short novel “Toward a new life”, one of his earliest works. Scene motives of early writer’s prose are often repeated, aligned with each other. The motif of a “cherished meeting” of the a child with an adult, who becomes a mentor and assistant of the latter in choosing his way of life, is one of those recurring motifs. The article is devoted to comparative analysis of one of the central images of the story “Toward a new life” — Professor V. V. Fryazin, who became a mentor of the main character, and his real prototype K. A. Timiryazev. Comparative analysis is conducted both at the level of biographical data, and at the level of textual echoes with the writings and ideas of Timiryazev. The analytical material for the article was the short novel “Toward a new life” published in 1907. The study of its manuscripts kept in the Research Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library allows us to show better the relationship between the artistic image and its prototype.

507-526

Authors: Tatyana N. Kovalyova

Ivan Bunin created his “Travel Poems” — “The Bird’s Shadow” — based on the impressions of his wanderings, between 1903 and 1909, across the Middle East countries including Turkey, Judaea, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Greece. Modern researchers present the East of Bunin’s “Travel Poems” as a certain generalized image of a “culturological aspect” which comprises the historical and cultures features of different countries of the Levant. Meanwhile, Bunin emphasized that he took his journeys to Judaea and Palestine as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, not as mere leisure travels. The importance of the Bible East in the “Travel Poems” is also determined by the fact that the largest part of his routes and most of his essays (7 essays of 11) are related to the Holy Land. This article examines the artistic space-time of the Palestinian Essays by Bunin and reveals and characterizes the biblical chronotope and the role of the key topos of the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, the author emphasizes a special meaning of some biblical topos. These are the places associated with the key biblical events and with intentionality of author’s consciousness, which generate a broad range of the keynotes of the cycle of stories: the Valley of Josaphat as the place of the upcoming Last Judgement; the Dead Sea as the symbol of visitation of God for the people’s sins; the Judean Desert where Jesus was tempted by devil; Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Gennisaret as the cities of ancient Palestine related to the events of the Terrestrial Life of Jesus Christ. The hero’s perception of the holy places, domination of the biblical space-time in the “Travel Poems” devoted to the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, aspiration for being projected to the biblical times, unity of the hero’s chronotope with the biblical chronotope — all this indicates the extreme importance of the biblical events for the author and for the storyteller. The research of the artistic space-time continuum in the “Travel Poems” by Bunin — “The Bird’s Shadow” — helps to determine the biblical chronotope as the main space-time structure of the Palestinian Essays and of the whole cycle of stories.

537-553

Authors: Anton V. Khramykh

The first literary experiments of A. Platonov, like among many novelists of the twenties, are connected with poems, which occupy a significant place in his early works. Poems are the texts where was formed a unique style of the writer. This article analyzes the musical images and motifs from Platonov`s two books of poetry: “Blue Depth” (1922) and “The Singing Thoughts” (1926—1927). The leitmotif of the first part of the book of poems “Blue depth” is music of machines. The presence of this motive is caused by the influence of Proletkult poetry. In a number of poems in this section the music of machines is a part of the characteristics of the utopian New Town, which is being built by the proletarians. At the end of the first part of “Blue depth” appears the image of unsung songs. This image indicates to the ways of knowing of the world, which are rational-technocratic alternative ways. In the plot of the second part of this book of poetry the motif of music machines is transformed into the image of music of thought. Analysis of the cycle of poems “The Singing Thoughts” has shown that in comparison with the “Blue depth” this book has a plot where a new interaction between musical motifs and themes takes place. The development of this plot is based on the principle of a counterpoint.

570-588

Authors: Marina V. Zavarkina

A. Platonov’s artistic creation of the 1930s is called the “ordeal of utopia”. During this period, Platonov writes the short novels “The Foundation Pit” [“Kotlovan”], “For future use” [“Vprok”], “Bread and reading” [“Hleb i chtenie”], “Juvenile sea” [“Uvenil’noe more”], “Dzhan”. “The second nature” of the genre of these works in research interpretations has different names: utopia, anti-utopia, metautopia, dystopia. The article is devoted to the analysis of the genre of Andrey Platonov’s short novel “Juvenile sea” defined as quazi-utopia. Quazi-utopia is implemented through the transformation of the genre of the production novel; through struggle and conciliation of two kinds of utopia used as the guiding principle for the conflict and system of characters: utopia of “escape” and utopia of “reconstruction” (L. Mumford). This goal is achieved with the help of using traditional for Platonov’s poetics principle of conjunction (the contradistinction and comparison). It allows us to study “Juvenile sea” within the context of the novel “Bread and reading”. Moreover, both writings were conceived by the author as part of the so-called trilogy “Technical novel”. The principle of conjunction has become leading in the dialogue utopia/dystopia: in this regard Platonov’s short novels complement each other.

613-628

Authors: Anna A. Skoropadskaya

The article studies the image of the garden in the novel “Doctor Zhivago” that demonstrates the influence of the Ancient and Christian cultures on Boris Pasternak’s artistic and philosophical views. In classical literary tradition the garden served as a mythological and idyllic locus of happy life. In Christianity the most significant milestones of the biblical history are associated with the garden — the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gethsemane. In Russian literature the garden plays an important role too, beginning from the era of baroque and classicism and ending with symbolism. Pasternak undoubtedly considers all these earlier traditions, and in his novel “Doctor Zhivago” the garden, comprising the natural and cultural meanings, becomes a symbolic embodiment of history, creativity and faith.

647-661

Authors: Marina V. Zavarkina, Anton V. Khramykh

B. Zaytsev is one of the most significant figures of Russian emigration, the emigrant of the first wave, whose prose has left a noticeable trace in Russian literature. One of the favorite genres of the writer was the genre of the story. The subject of this article is the story “Autumn Light”, which was first published in 1919. The story belongs to the transitional period in the writer’s creative process, when his style changed significantly. Light symbolism occupies an important place in B. Zaytsev’s works. So does it in the story “Autumn Light”, that is stated in the title of the story. The article concludes that in the story the motif of light is semantically close to the image of the Moon, which is genetically traced both to romantic aesthetics, and to Russian religious and philosophical traditions. In this story this motive is a symbol of the perfect world, passing into the past. This motif is also included in the structure of the hero’s image. Sunlight in the artistic space of the text does not reach the ground, it is surrounded by damp haze. The hero’s thoughts are hazed too and he is full of doubts. The fragility of life and temporality of existence are emphasized in the story by the moonlight, ghostly and lifeless.

7-17

Authors: Ivan Andreevich Esaulov

The article substantiates the necessity of a new interpretation of Lermontov's works in terms of the categories of Russian philology which emerged over the last decades. In one way or another, all of them go back to the notion of the unity of the Russian culture and actualize various aspects of this culture. The mental model of a preference for the "above the law" freedom to the "legalistic" necessity dominates Lermontov's art world. The ideal, which Lermontov, as well as a number of his characters, would like to put into practice, is unattainable not only in Russia or any other country, but also in general on earth. Relations above the law are inherent in the ideal space of Holy Russia rather than the historical Russia. However, these very above the law relations were recognized both by Russian writers and their readers as a spiritual, ethical and aesthetical reference point of a kind. Through the collision of "the ideal" and "the reality", which researchers mostly trace back to the romantic paradigm, shines the fundamental opposition of Law and Grace that penetrates the whole space from medieval to modern Russian literature.

33-46

Authors: Vyacheslav Anatolievich Koshelev

Lermontov’s contemporaries were against the judgments about the poet’s “amorality” and “lack of religious belief”, who was, in fact, a truly devoted Orthodox Christian. This is reflected in his poetry: four works out of a short list of his poems are entitled The Prayer, in other words, aspire to “raise the heart and mind to God” directly. The article analyzes these poems that present different possibilities of implementation of this devotion. Lermontov is extremely diverse: from an “invoking” prayer and a direct “request” he comes to the revelation of the Holy Mother icon and to the understanding of a special influence of a prayer on a human’s soul. Joint review of these prayers forms an idea of a “full cycle” of the Divine’s poetical discovery: from romantic appeal to the Almighty together with perception of the darkness of a chosen way, to ironical “pleading” to the “Heavenly King” to liberate him from the ties of Junkerdom; from a passionate monologue to the Holy Virgin with prayers for the miserable beloved, to understanding of a prayers’ special meaning for a Christian, to creation of an overall wide and whole image of a prayer. A prayer without an “invoking” or a “request” is joyful and blessing at the same time; it is intended for a difficult and sad moments of life.

62-72

Authors: Mariya Konstantinovna Kuzmina

The article concerns the realization of famous paradigm Imitatio Christi, comparing the lives and acts of saints with those of Christ in ancient russian hagiography in general and in the Legend describing the death of Pafnutiy of Borovsk in particular. Traditionally injected in the narration by biblical quotations and reminiscences, the paradigm equalizes the days preceding the decease of Pafnutiy with premortal sufferings of Christ. Thus, Pafnuty is surrounded with negligent discipes, which are not able, as well as the apostles in the Gethsemane garden, to bear the high level of prayful effort the ascetic experiences. Pafnutiy stays silent, when monks address to him, as well as Christ, when Pilate asks Him. Innokentiy, the hagiographer of the saint utilizes quotations without the attribution as well as the compositional quotations. Consequently the impression of stenography in the description of last days of Pafnutiy is to be illusory, and the text of the “Legend” is constructed with sophisticated laws of hagiographical poetics.

92-111

Authors: Tatyana Fedorovna Volkova

The paper offers a survey of manuscripts of a peasant, Old Believer and knizhnik I. S. Miandin (1823–1894, Ust’-Tsilma, Komi Republic) from the Old Manuscript Division of the IRLI (Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Science or Pushkinskiy Dom). Knizhnik, in the Russian tradition, is a scribe, who also can recite from memory the Scripture texts and the patristic tradition. Miandin left his recapitulations of the Old Believers literary tradition. He left few compilations, transcribed a number of Old Russian texts of various genres. In four convolutes, he collected Biblical stories taken from chronographs. Most of Miandin’s stories recapitulate the Old Testament texts, but there are also legends from the early Christian history (e. g., The Story of Emperor Constantine and His Mother Helen). His major source was, in all probability, the copy of the Chronograph from the Old Believers tradition which he had in his possession (he lent it to a writer S. V. Maksimov and never received it back). The whereabouts of the Chronographer are not known. Some of the stories were significantly reworked by Miandin in comparison with the chronographic version. Among those the are the stories of Joseph the Beautiful, King Solomon and Judith. The study of Miandin’s manuscripts demosntrates that the first stage of his work is reflected in the IRLI reduction (Ust’-Tsil’ma collection #267), the second – idem, #66, the third – RNB NSRK О.100. The Biblical protagonists were interpreted according to the understanding of life by Pechora peasants. The peripeteias were taken with empathy as if they were concerned people next-door. This attitude compelled the narrator to seek, from one version to another, the most convincing motivations for the action of the heroes.

124-136

Authors: Evgeniy Mikhaylovich Neyolov

The Tale of the Priest and his Worker Balda seems the most simple of all the Pushkin’s fairy tales. However, this is a very specific simplicity, which can be called ‘the simplicity of complexity’. The story contains different levels, which are not apparent immediately. Traditionally, The Tale of Balda has been interpreted as an acute socio-political satire; another approach refers to the peculiarities of folk tales poetics and its literary transformation, determined by the difficulties of combining the folk fairy-tale function of the character with the nature of a literary tale hero. Both of these approaches raise a number of questioins, the main of which is why the Priest was punished, after all. The third interpretation, which is presented in the second part of the article and considers Pushkin’s fairy tale in the Christian context, allows us to reveal the deeper connotations of Pushkin's intention, giving the opportunity to comment differently some parts of the text, usually overlooked by researchers that are focused only on a "superficial layer" of the meaning of the text.

153-169

Authors: Marina Anatolyevna Zhirkova

In his story V. A. Zhukovsky reviews the power of faith that can change people. A protagonist of the poetic story Bopp is the captain of the ship, an evil and depraved person, an offender and a blasphemer, hated by his crew that are ready to kill him. The main character gets a possibility of salvation through the gospel of repentance and a prayer. Inner transfiguration occurred to the captain became possible due to his sophisticated internal spiritual work, the power of aspiration to God, his self reflection and total devotion to God. This way is seen by the author as the only possible, but the main thing here is the fact that it is possible. The culmination of the story is the image of the crucified Christ that the captain sees. Since then the hero is not afraid to die, because it becomes clear that he has been forgiven. In the story, on the one hand, the death of a man is presented, but on the other hand it is not death that becomes important, but a new mind that enables the hero to find peace. For Zhukovsky mortal (temporal) life is a time for preparation for eternal life. The story gives hope to everyone and admits the possibility of salvation.

189-198

Authors: Yuliya Nikolaevna Sytina

The life and work of Vladimir Odoyevsky as a writer, a statesman and a scientist were dedicated to his Motherland, its culture, science and society. The Bible, especially the Gospel and the works of the Orthodox Fathers published in Dobrotolyubiye determined the writer’s view of the world. The Parable of the Talents was one of the most important and key parables of the New Testament for Odoyevsky. This importance is attested by the writer’s life which was full of selfless and relentless hard work for the good of Russia, as well as his diaries, works and letters. Odoyevsky was multitalanted person who was deeply concerned by the question of the essence of true service to God and people. Existence for Odoyevsky was the battleground where distresses, uncertainty, self-deception and self-delusion lie in wait for an individual. Sometimes in Odoevsky’s works appeared sad reflections about the vanity of carnal existence that deeply contrasted with his opinion about the necessity of active work and fulfillment of one’s talents. However, the only firm support for him was always the faith in God and Providence.

220-232

Authors: Vladimir Dmitrievich Denisov

Modern readers often do not know or do not understand literal and connotative meanings of personal names (anthroponyms) in Russian classical literature, which reflect the culture of that time and play an important role in the books’ stylistic harmony: these names provided certain framework for the writers and readers who knew at least some elementary Latin and Greek, as well as some basic ancient Slavic mythology. Thus, one of the ways to provide correct philological commentary on a text can be to define the semantics of personal names and its correlation with the characteristics of the heroes, with the ideological and artistic aspects of the text. And analyzing the structure of the artistic image, you need to consider the importance of the various forms of personal names, as well as their possible external and internal dialogism. We characterize onims in the early works of Gogol devoted to Little Russia: A Chapter of the Historical novel, Two chapters of Little Russia’s Story, the first book Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1831). It is based on the interpretation of common Slavic names in their Ukrainian and Russian versions generally accepted at the time, as well as the list of Names Given at Baptism from Gogol’s The Book of Bits and Pieces (1827–1831). Given analysis leads to the conclusion that choosing a certain Christian name for his hero, Gogol took into account the phonetic and semantic structure of the onims and its direct and connotative meanings, their contradictions, semantic links, and less often – their popularity, belonging to a particular caste, and paronymic harmonies.

243-251

Authors: Olga Vladimirovna Zakharova

The article analyzes the programme of the weekly journal Grazhdanin (The Citizen) as “a body of Russian people who are not members of any party”. It was revealed in editorial announcements about the subscription by G.K. Gradovsky in 1872. The author notes the commonality of the ideological programmes of Grazhdanin and the journals Vremia (Time) and Epokha (The Epoch) published by the Dostoyevsky brothers. As an editor, Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky made some amendments and clarifications to the conception of Grazhdanin. He included the studies of the issues of church, everyday public and family life of Russia, district council (zemstvo), peasant world and new phenomena in literature into the blueprint of the journal. This blueprint was accomplished by Dostoyevsky in A Writer’s Diary that became the personal Diary of The Citizen and editorial diary of the weekly journal Grazhdanin. In feuilletons and articles, which modified this column into a new genre of Dostoyevsky, he elucidated the standpoints of the journal regarding a lot of a lot of social, political and state issues of those times.

265-274

Authors: Denis Vladimirovich Vasilev

The article deals with the meaning of a penitential confession in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov. It is noted that the penitential confession in the novel exempts from the burden of guilt, allowing the confessor to get rid of spiritual sufferings through the compassion of the person who accepts the confession and shares the guilt with the sinner. It is emphasized that repentance is inseparably linked with overcoming the sense of shame before public exposure and self-obsession with one’s reputation. The attention is paid to mutual confessions in the novel after which the heroes step on the path towards transformation. It is concluded that penitential confessions of heroes result in their revival and spiritual renewal, as each of them is given a chance to endure spiritual revolution, to overcome the "hell" and to confirm the validity of Zosima’s idea about common guilt and responsibility.

296-314

Authors: Klavdiya Valerevna Sizyukhina

The article analyzes the key genre characteristics of A. M. Dostoyevsky’s diaries: the context, the image type, the stylistic originality. Though the diaries have their own art history, they are also the literary part of the similar memoir document «Memories». The age of the diarist plays an important role in the comprehension process of the diary text functionality. A. M. Dostoyevsky began writing his diaries at the end of his life. Probably the disease of his wife invoked the writing activity. Dostoyevsky made his diary writings in a strictly chronological order. The writer just once was to interrupt the chronological order of his writings because of his wife's death. Dostoyevsky suspended writing his diaries for almost two years. The first time Dostoyevsky initiated himself into the similar form of diary writing was his regular epistolary correspondence with the sister V. M. Dostoyevskaya. That time the writer was in St. Petersburg and described his everyday impressions in letters. The topics of A. M. Dostoyevsky's diaries refer to family and domestic questions. Along with the domestic topic, art materials of the diaries include a wide range of the historical portraits and the descriptions of the meaningful epochal personalities and events. The travel writings and the dates to be comprehended in the spirit of the Christian calendar occupy an important place in A. M. Dostoyevsky's diaries. These art components sacralize the chronotope and the art style of the diaries. The stylistic experiments of the diaries are highly various: dreams, poetic improvisations, official work documents, drawings, plans.

328-348

Authors: Lyubov Viktorovna Alekseeva

The article is devoted to studying Komarovsky skete monastery, the oldest Nizhny Novgorod Old Believer skete monasteries, in Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky's dilogy “In the woods” and “On the hills”. This dilogy is an artistic reflection of Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky’s experience of studying historical reality. In this article Komarovsky skete monastery is considered as the category of artistic space. Komarovsky skete monastery is a distinctly dominating spatial image in the dilogy. In modern literary criticism the concept of “locus” is often used to identify spatial images. The text of the dilogy allows considering Komarovsky skete monastery as locus, since it has some essential characteristics of this concept: identity with the real world object, cultural importance for a certain society, discretisation and anthropological conditionality. The article analyses the text on the basis of locus defining characteristics applicable to a spatial image of Komarovsky skete monastery.

371-379

Authors: Svetlana Olegovna Zakharchenko

This article presents the first analysis of tropes in the letters of the first Elder Lev (Nagolkin) of Optina Pustyn Monastery (Opta’s hermitage) – i. e. proverbs, allusions, allegories periphrasis and metaphors. Elder Lev most frequently used such tropes as "the storm of temptations", "the heart field", "happy harvest", "rags of the passions", "the marriage of the soul", "verbal sheep", "soldier of Christ", "spiritual milk", "the mind’s wolf", "a log of pride". One special thing about these tropes is that they blend together several biblical quotations and the Gospel images. Both simple and extended metaphors are used, and all the metaphors in the letters of St. Lev of Optina have a special function: they actualize biblical events, describe symbolically the inner world of a person and show the way to the salvation of the soul. It is typical of the Elder to use his own unique tropes, which are very different from the traditional poetic images of the Russian literature of the 19th century.

399-415

Authors: Irina Fedorovna Gnyusova

The article analyzes characters of clergymen and the process of creating a specific type of a preacher in Leo Tolstoy’s works. The researcher tries to prove that this process was strongly influenced by Tolstoy’s close attention to the preacher characters in George Eliot’s works. This can be proved by Tolstoy’s letters, diary and notes in the books from the writer’s personal library. The main features of Tolstoy’s preacher character are demonstrated by the example of Prince Nekhlyudov (Resurrection). Proclaiming evangelical truth, he is not a member of any confession; he does not promulgate his views, but he proves his case by his actions and his way of life. He rejects earthly comfort and goods and voluntarily becomes integrated into people’s life. Having walked his way of repentance of former sins, he cultivates the ability to forgive and have mercy. George Eliot also accents these features in the key characters of her books, analyzed in this article (Janet’s repentance, Adam Bede and Felix Holt, the Radical). Eliot’s version of preaching becomes a certain guide for Tolstoy in the process of shaping a new type of character in his late works.

432-454

Authors: Mariya Aleksandrovna Solovyeva

The article discusses the features of the poetics of Yesenin lyrics of 1918–1919. Poems of this period form a single metatekst about the end of the time, and the coming of the Day of Judgment. The research shows that the disclosure of eschatology theme by the poet exhibits characteristic features of the artistic world of S. A. Yesenin. The most important source of Yesenin's poetic imagery is the experience of Orthodox worship gained by him in childhood and adolescence. Liturgical foundations of Yesenin's artistic thinking implemented in different planes of the content of poetics throughout the career of the poet. In the "little poems" and poems of 1918–1919 the structure and symbolism of the liturgical text is presented. Yesenin uses quotes and paraphrases hymns and texts of Scripture; liturgical symbols and actions of church utensils, iconographic images are reflected in his poetry. The content and the relationship of poetic images and symbols, the interplay of these images are in compliance with the poetics of liturgical texts. A complex semiotic structure of worship is reflected in the poetry in the form of correlations of the New Testament and the Old Testament prophecies, combined with various biblical images and motifs. A theme of Old Testament prophecy is reproduced in liturgical discourse. In the development of eschatological themes the characters of prophets also form an additional scope of meanings associated with the spirit of the revolutionary events: the prophets becomes representatives of the common people, the spokesmen of the national spiritual experience. The poetic text had borne the additional connotations with biblical stories on the ministry of the prophets.

471-480

Authors: Nina Viktorovna Popova

This article contemplates the system of moral and aesthetic values which predetermined the main characteristics of Pavel Vasilyev’s artistic system, and traces the main stages of his creative biography. The main attention is paid to his key works – poems The Song about Death of Cossack Army, Salt Revolt, Khristolyubovskiye Printed Cottons, Summer, and August, as well as the poems written during the period of 1930–1937 (Farewell to Friends, Stonemason, Old Moscow, Serafim Dagaev’s Town, Horse, Camel, Injured Song, Oath on Chalice). The article raises the question about the most important role of the concept of “generic origin”, Christian values and Christian symbolism in Vasilyev’s poetics and studies the problem of using various forms of verbal folk art in the art structure of his poems for the reflection of Russian orthodox traditions. The axiological approach and methods of historical typological and structural semiotic methods for studying art texts are used.

490-498

Authors: Nikolay Ivanovich Sobolev

The article considers one of the aspects of artistic adaptation of an original source in the art works by Ivan Shmelev. The material of article is the story of the Abbot Damaskin, and the poetic text in the essays On the Rocks of Valaam and The Old Valaam, and folklore text in the tale Inexhaustible Cap. The analysis of the genesis of the formal structure of the quotes of different levels at different stages of the history of essays reveals the author's intention to recreate the Russian Orthodox world, to show examples of prime examples of ascetic life. To this end, the author transforms the text of the Early edition, leaving only those fragments that create images of Holiness. In the Later edition of the concise description, the author uses a reportage style. He accurately reproduces the discoerse of the monks. Analysis of the specificity of adaptation wedding ritual songs in the narrative structure of the novel shows that the author changes the value of the folklore text. Creates a parallel of the ecclesiastical and the folk, reflecting the ethno-religious attitude of the main character. Author`s intention is to see and understand the Christian soul of the Russian people.

512-531

Authors: Marina Vladimirovna Zavarkina

Analyzing the manuscript of Andrei Platonov’s tale The Foundation Pit and his early journalism the author traces the evolution of Platonov’s views on the problem of the search for the truth. Analysis of the dynamic transcription of the The Foundation Pit manuscript enabled to show that by the end of the 1920s Platonov had abandoned rationalistic interpretations of the concept of «truth», including in its "Bogdanov’s edition". Platonov increasingly questioned the capabilities of socialist science, based on materialism, to find out the truth about the world, and changed his views on work as the only method of learning the truth. He departed from the materialistic concept of learning and shifted towards the religious and philosophical tradition: in the end the formula of P. Florensky "truth-estina (to be in existence)" is getting more and more essential and it is outlined a shift of the concept of “truth” from a cognitive-materialistic category (“invent” / “to do” truth) to an ontological and moral category.

556-571

Authors: Evgeniya Alexandrovna Korshunova

The article presents the investigation of creative connections between Sergei Durylin and Ivan Shmelyov, two émigré writers of the first half of the 20th century. They were brought together not only by common religious values, but also by their tragic destiny. That is why we believe the comparison of their artistic principles — through the example of Durylin’s Ancient Triptych (1919–1923) and Shmelyov’s How did it all happen? (1944) to be very productive, especially considering that no serious comparative analyze of these works has been done before. The comparison of two texts clearly shows that their problematic and poetics are quite closely connected. Both writers depict the final period of life of outwardly successful, but spiritually devastated personalities (professor of ancient history and general Patrikiy Patrikiyevich Drevlyaninov). Durylin and Shmelyov tried to help their heroes to overcome the spiritual deadlock, senselessness of existence and their personal obsessions (for the professor it is the idea of scientific labour corrupting the society, for the general it is gambling). Both the professor and the general travel their road of purification, their ‘way of the Cross’, their Golgotha and their Resurrection. Durylin directly connects his character’s road with the liturgical cycle, because ‘fighting with the devil’ takes place during the Great Lent, while the grandfather sees his life-changing dream on the eve of Easter and the Passion Week. The hero’s pilgrimage to Easter forms the plot of this story, actualizing the importance of Easter archetype for Russian literature. The methods used by both authors to free their characters from spiritual emptiness (introduction of a ‘spirit character’ as a reference to the devil from Dostoyevsky’s novel The Karamazov Brothers) are also similar. Stylistic features of Durylin’s and Shmelyov’s poetics — plotlessness, prevailing of metaphysical problematic, Easter archetype and intertextual references to classical literature — are also related. All these facts enable us to classify the works of Sergei Durylin and Ivan Shmelyov those of Christian realism, distinguished by its own artistic principles and the world view.

587-598

Authors: Yulia Yuryevna Danilenko

Article is devoted to the study of the transformation of the genre of the Christmas story in modern literature. The article analyzes the influence of the classic Christmas story by Hans Christian Andersen The Little Match Girl on the structure of modern texts of mass and elite literature. (D. Bykov The Little Match Girl gives a light, L. Petrushevskaya Black Coat). The subject of the study is a strategy of rethinking, recoding the source of the original content in the fabric of a new product. The structural and semiotic analysis of the texts revealed some tricks to updates-the-genre: filling-up with the new semantics, complicating a genre model of a Christmas story. Analysis showed that referring to the genre of a Christmas story, modern authors have different purposes, using different artistic strategies and methods. Some of them tend to reproduce the canon, appealing to the reader's memory (D. Bykov). Others develop the genre of a Christmas story, enriching it with new structural elements, interlacing it with other genres (L. Petrushevskaya).