Summer School on the Russian Literature. 2013.
Vol. 9

Alexey Balakin

Updated text „<Satires on modern poets>“ Orest Somov

The publication introduces into scholarship a previously unknown version of O. M. Somov’s satirical poem, ridiculing the writers affiliated with the Free Society of the Lovers of Russian Letters, as well as their predecessors. The text, previously available only in an unedited / uncorrected variant, is for the first time published with consultation of the manuscript.

Keywords: O. M. Somov, A. E. Izmailov, V. A. Zhukovsky, Free Society of the Lovers of Russian Letters, Free Soviety for Letters, Sciences and the Arts, satire.

Alexander Bobrov

The bathhouse in medieval Russian literature

The article explores the significance of bathing in bathhouses in medieval Rus’ tradition. Based on the materials gathered from chronicles, anti-pagan instructions, and other medieval Russian texts, as well as modern ethnographic and folkloric evidence, the article demonstrates that the bathhouse held the status of a household sanctuary. Ceremonies taking place in the bathhouse functioned as a pagan analogue of church mysteries.

Keywords: Medieval Rus literature, chronicle, paganism, passage rituals.

Alexander Dolinin

The art of the executioner: notes on the topic of the death penalty by Nabokov

The article follows the development of the capital punishment theme in Nabokov’s writings, from early poems to „Speak, Memory“, focusing on a concept of the executioner as a despicable actor, the main figure in the low taste histrionics of totalitarian and revolutionary states. It pinpoints some hitherto unknown historical and literary sources of the concept and discusses its symbolism, in particular sartorial and ritualistic images.

Keywords: V. V. Nabokov, V. D. Nabokov, Pushkin, death penalty, executioner, masquerade, suit, platitude.

Anton Dyachkov

Proper names in Andrey Bely's „The Silver Dove“

The onomastics of the symbolist Andrei Bely’s first large work appear, on one hand, transparent; on the other hand, however, they contain elements of the novel’s ideological layer, which can be simplified greatly through a study of the names of characters in „The Silver Dove“. The article points out certain naming mechanisms and principles, a thorough analysis of which allows for a sharpening and a clarification of the conceptions surreptitiously introduced by the author, thereby bringing about a better understanding of the specifics of mythopoesis taking place both in Bely’s prose, as well as in the works of other 20th century symbolists.

Keywords: Onomastics, ideologeme East — West, prototypicality, subtext.

Alexander Zholkovsky

Barbarians at the gate

The essay focuses on the artistic use of foreign borrowings, or barbarisms by looking at the texts of historical anecdotes, contemporary jokes, erotic folklore, as well as prose fiction by Sir Walter Scott and Count Leo Tolstoy. Special attention is paid to the paradoxical status of the term „barabrism“ itself.

Keywords: barbarism, anecdote, joke, theme, social class, Tolstoy, Scott.

Alexander Kobrinsky

Myths about Kharms: some notes on memoiristics and quasi-memoiristics

The article analyzes the personal accounts of Daniil Kharms given by various people, published by Svetozar Shishman. Through a series of sources, the analysis demonstrates the significant gaps in the validity of these accounts and points to the reasons behind these gaps.

Keywords: Memoirs, diary, validity, analysis.

Anna Polyanina

Film text, screenplay and film actor

This article is devoted to the specific kind of visualization — the imitation of a movie screening in the narrative. Elements of Despair’spoetics of the cinema are analyzed in the aspects of character, plot and composition.

Keywords: filmscript, visualisaton, Nabokov, narrative, „kinopoetika“ (cinema poetics), movie literature, narrative strategy.

Anastasia Fisun

Interpretation of the archetype of the Mother in A. Platonov's novel „Happy Moscow“

The article explores the plot line and the character nature of the leading personages of A. Platonov's novel „Happy Moscow“, from the point of view of the archetype of the Mother. The image of the protagonist turns out to be directly related to this archetype, which allows for the possibility of salvation and the overcoming of death by the novel’s other characters by means of their bodily connection with Moskva Chestnova.

Keywords: Andrei Platonov, archetype of the Mother, drive towards salvation, overcoming of death, „material-corporeal substratum“.

Alexandra Chaban

Acmeism in Provincial Criticism

The article investigates the reception of acmeists in the provincial periodicals before the revolution: Moscow, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Petropavlovsk etc. There is made a conclusion about inhomogeneous perception of acmeists and low degree of familiarity with that literary movement.

Keywords: Acmeism, periodicals, magazine, review, manifesto, context, outlook, poetics.

Anna Shkapa

„The Passion of Christ“ and the Western European literary tradition (to pose the problem)

The apocryphal text „Passions of Christ“, appearing in the 17th century, is among the least researched creations of late medieval Rus literature. The history of this text, as well as the literary tradition associated with it, have not yet been sufficiently studied. Our work discusses the Western European tradition of passion texts, in relation to the literary work „Passions of Christ“. The Continuing the Western European tradition of epic-didactical passion / paschal literature, „Passions of Christ“ is a properly Russian creation, which, having been created on Russian grounds and on the basis of various literary sources, retains its „Eastern“, „Byzantine“ character.

Keywords: Passion of the Christ, New Testament Apocrypha, Evangelium Nicodemi (Gospel of Nicodemus), literary tradition, Middle Ages, Western Europe.

Victoria Palesheva

„... Wrote about the dog“. The transposition of the object in V. Sosnora's poem „About Anna Akhmatova"

In this work can be traced the interrelation between subjects and structure of the poem by V. Sosnora „About Anna Akhmatova“. It this being proved that the leading principle of structural organization to the text is transposition of the object from the plot’s level into the level of the language, also techniques which accompany this transposition are analyzed (the phenomenon of negation, intertextuality, anagramming).

Keywords: transposition, plot, negation, intertextuality, anagram.

Daria Glebova

„Marble“ as „The New Jules Verne“

Тhe article is dedicated to one of the elements of the science fiction layer in the play by Joseph Brodsky „Marble“: the subtext of Jules Verne’s novel „Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea“. The main key to the subtext is Brodsky’s poem „The New Jules Verne“ (1976). Parallels between the novel and the play are considered at several levels (plot, images, etc.), a hypothesis about their function in the play is stated as well.

Keywords: Joseph Brodsky, „Marble“, „New Jules Verne“, „Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea“, the subtext, science fiction, time / space.

Дмитрий Бреслер

„Futs Culture“: On the problem of the intertext of the „Sunset of Europe“ in the novels of K. Vaginov

The present paper attempts to describe the peculiarities of the polycitational structure of K. K. Vaginov’s prose texts, particularly their intertextual references to O. Spengler’s conceptions of the „Sunset of Europe“, and the Russian idea. The paper argues for a principal debunking of the significance of direct references to the German philosopher’s name, which appear merely as a cultural cliché, a 1920s „trend“. Furthermore, at first glance, Spengler’s conceptions also appear in Vaginov’s texts as empty, philistine formulae. Nevertheless, after this initial intervention, the paper describes a multifaceted parallelism between the problem of the „Sunset of Europe“ and the poetic world of Vaginov’s novels. The experience of the crumbling of cultural civilization actualizes the metafictional peculiarities of the novels’ composition, as well as the self-descriptive character of their narration.

Keywords: Intertext, Vaginov, Spengler, the Russian idea.

Diana Matveeva

The functions of cinematic techniques in Yu. N. Tynyanov's novella „The Wax Person“

The paper devoted to explain such compositional feature of Yu. Tynianov’s prose as cinematography by means of consideration of created by formalist writer theory.

Keywords: fiction and scientific literature of Yu. Tynianov, composition, cinematography and prose, caricature in the literature.

Elena Glukhovskaya

The autobiographical myth in Ellis's poem „Maria“

The paper analyzes the poem „Maria“, at the end of Ellis’ second book of poetry, Argo, exploring its structure and plot, and pointing out its connections to medieval literature and romantic poetry. Based on personal correspondence and accounts of Ellis’ contemporaries, the paper assembles numerous pieces of evidence, which allow the poem to be seen as a reflection of the autobiographical myth of the author.

Keywords: Ellis, poem, Mother of God, Middle Ages, knighthood, autobiographical myth.

Evgeny Koshin

The letter of Captain Tatarinov: on the question of fiction in V. A. Kaverin's novel „Two Captains“

The article is devoted to the relationship between fiction and reality in the novel „Two Captains“ by Veniamin Kaverin. The investigation is based on the modern integrationist outlook on fictionality. The analyzes of Captain Tatarinov`s letter discovers metaphorical and metonymical fiction-making strategies that demonstrate relations between certain fictional object and its referents both fictional and non-fictional leading to the definition of ontological status of fictional object.

Keywords: fictionality, ontology of literature, possible-worlds theory, make-believe game, socialist realism, Veniamin Kaverin.

Elena Shkapa

The influence of „The Book of Job“ on the concept of human existence in the Christmas stories of N. S. Leskov

The article has been focused on the contents of the Leskov’s pocketbooks actually preserved in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. Some of the citations from „The Book of Job“, originally transcribed by Leskov, has been referred; attention has been kept to the characters reinterpretation, personification of Christian ideals, themes of humility and obedience to God.

Keywords: Leskov, „The Book of Job“, the Christmas story, humility, Christ.

Vladimir Emel'yanov

The Goddess Ishtar in Russian poetry of the early 20th century

The purpose of this paper is an overview of Russian poems of the early 20th century, which is referred to the Assyrian-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, and identification of historical and literary sources of these poems.

Keywords: Russian poetry, the Silver Age, religion of Ancient Mesopotamia, Ishtar.

Igor Kravchuk

„The process with all our literature“: the idea of the novel „Netochka Nezvanova“ in the light of the writing strategies of the young Dostoevsky

The article deals with the creative history of unfinished Dostoevsky’s novel „Netochka Nezvanova“. On the basis of the author’s epistolary heritage, related to the period of work on the novel, his biographical data and his later return to the incomplete plot it is suggested that it was extremely important for Dostoevsky. This hypothesis in turn permits to revise stable opinion maintained by most of literary critics that „Netochka Nezvanova“ is just an abortive piece which has rather historical than aesthetic significance. One of the crucial arguments for this notion is that novel wasn’t just an unfinished piece — it doesn’t display any signs of internal wholeness, unity of the plot. This article has an endeavor to find the background for this presumption and also to demonstrate a system of „imperceptible concatenations“ which form the very gist of the text by Dostoevsky. The importance of the main characters’ debates about the nature of creation, about gift and mediocrity, about the destination of artist, along with features of actual public and aesthetic polemics of 1840s, allows concluding that „Netochka Nezvanova“ is a valuable illustration of new trends in the professional self-consciousness of Dostoevsky as a writer at the end of 1840s marked by experiments in the domain of the poetics.

Keywords: Dostoevsky, „Netochka Nezvanova“, Belinsky, Valerian Maykov, professional strategies, Druzhinin, Feuerbach, Kluchevsky, field of literature.

Ksenia Egorova

Echoes of N. P. Kondakov's historical seminar in the work of Marina Tsvetaeva („the Scythian“ cycle)

The article deals with the impact of N. P. Kondakov's ideas on the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva. Main attention is paid to the cycle „Skythian“ (1923). Kondakov's lectures were rather popular among Russian students in Prague and had a great influence on philosofic ideas and social movements of Russian émigré society.

Keywords: Russian émigré literature, Czechoslovakia, comparative literary studies, Marina Tsvetaeva.

Lada Panova

Portrait of a numerologist in „The Strolls that Never Were“, or Khlebnikov through Kuzmin's eyes

Mikhail Kuzmin’s „The Strolls that Never Were“, a so far unaccounted gem of Russian literature’s Petersburg text, correlates the main protagonist, an odd-ball in love, with a numerologist, an acquaintance of the narrator. The paper claims that the portrait of the numerologist was devised as a jab at Velimir Khlebnikov, who invented for himself the „art-into-life“ persona of a mathematician prophetically calculating the destinies of some outstanding men and the entire mankind. This real-life reference shows the affinity of „The Strolls that Never Were“ with Kuzmin’s prose à clef, — his satirical / comic sketches of the writers and occultists of the Silver age famous for their „life-as-art“ (zhiznetvorcheskie) projects.

Keywords: Mikhail Kuzmin, Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian Silver age, life-as-art strategies, parody, short story à clef, Petersburg text.

Maria Krivosheina

„Sometimes it seems that there are two Big Theaters in Moscow...“ (From a comment on one Bulgakov fragment)

This paper attempts to provide a historical and cultural commentary to a fragment from „Sorok sorokov“ („Forty forties“), a sketch by Mikhail Bulgakov, and to analyze the sketch in a general context of Bulgakov’s „Moscow chronicles“ and his biography of early 20s. The study is toreveal a certain invariant in Bulgakov’s perception of post-revolutionary Moscow.

Keywords: Bulgakov, „Sorok sorokov“, the Bolshoi Theatre, „Moscow chronicles“, „Nakanune“ newspaper.

Mikhail Ljustrov

„Another Olga has been preserved for centuries...“: the image of Catherine II in the Swedish literature of the XVIII century

The article explores the panagyric compositions of 18th-century Swedish authors, which contain appraisals of the contemporary state of the Russian Empire and the activities of the Russian women monarchs. The paper points out the historical prototypes of Catherine II discoverd by the Scandinavian panegyrists, explains their choices and carries out a comparative analysis of Swedish and Russian compositions containing similar analogies.

Keywords: 18th century Russian literature, 18th century Swedish literature, Catherine II, Gustav III, L. Holberg.

Natalia Sidorova

A. I. Kuprin's story „Emerald“: the experience of historical commentary

In the article the short story „Emerald“ by A. Kuprin is analyzed with the reference to its historical context. Such a perspective allows offering another interpretation of the text, which has usually been considered as the one belonging to an animalistic tradition. Besides, paying attention to the historical background gives an opportunity to reconstruct the plot of the story, which used to be non-obvious. The genre of the story may also be defined: there are reflections both of a feature store and a moral parable in the „Emerald“.

Keywords: trotting, orlovsky / American trotter, ostranenye, animalism, comparative psychology.

Natalia Sochneva

On the problem of genre specificity of the chronicle stories of 1185 about Igor Svyatoslavich's campaign against the Polovtsians as part of the Laurentian and Ipatiev Chronicles

The article offers up a consideration of the possibility of distinguishing the presence of a third genre-type of the historical chronicle tale, intermediary between the military tale and the tale of princely crime. The tales of this intermediary genre-type narrate the internecine wars among the Rus princes. In them, just as in military tales, there appears a compositional element of battle description; however, they are also marked by their pathos. The chronicle tales of the 1185 campaign of Igor Sviatoslavich against the Cumans, contained in the Laurentian and the Hypatian Chronicles, should be seen as characteristic examples of the third, intermediary genre-type of the historical tale.

Keywords: genre, the Old Russian literature, chronicle, the chronicle narrative, military story, the novel about the crime of a prince.

Oleg Lekmanov

The motif of snow in the films by A. Kurosawa „The Idiot“ and L. Visconti „White Nights“

The article analyzes the motifs of snow and steppe blizzards (buran) in A. Kurosawa’s film „Idiot“, with relation to F. Dostoevsky’s novel. L. Visconti’s film, „White Nights“ is also used as analytical material.

Keywords: Kurosawa, Dostoevsky, Visconti, snow, steppe blizzard (buran), translation.

Olga Makarevich

Rethinking the axiology and poetics of „The Book of Isaiah“ in the work of N. S. Leskov

The article analyzes the perception of „The Book of Isaiah“ by N. S. Leskov on the basis of the notes the writer made as he was reading „The Old Testament“ as well as his fiction and journalism of the 1870-1880s. A hypothesis is developed that it is not only the genre model of hagiography but also the axiology and poetics of prophetic texts that constitute the basis of the poetics of his short stories cycle „The Saints“. This hypothesis is examined in the context of the idea of intelligent reading and following the Bible that was shared by the writer.

Keywords: prophetic text, „The Book of Isaiah“, works by N. S. Leskov.

Oksana Hutter

The Inner East in the Poetry of Russian Modernism

The article is devoted to the analysis of Oriental motifs and their rendering in Russian modernist poetry.

Keywords: Hafiz, Viacheslav Ivanov, M. Kuz’min, L. Lipskerov, Orient, ghazal.

Philip Lekmanov

Sergey Dovlatov: Soviet journalist and non-Soviet writer (based on articles by S. Dovlatov in the newspaper „Soviet Estonia“ 1972-1975)

The article offers up reasons for the study of S. Dovlatov’s newspaper texts, published in „Soviet Estonia“ between 1972 to 1975 In Dovlatov the journalist’s early sketches it is already possible to discover instances of the genesis of Dovlatov’s prose language, as well as the presence of a dual readerly orientation, aimed at both the naive Soviet reader and the dissenting intellectual.

Keywords: Dovlatov, L. Tolstoy, „Soviet Estonia“, „The Dogs and the Cook“, subtext.