scholarly journals Orientalism poetics: story by Leonid Solovyov “The Nomad”

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-656
Author(s):  
Eleonora F. Shafranskaya ◽  
Tatyana V. Volokhova

The article deals with the problem of orientalism in literature, narrowed to the question of Russian orientalism and its Soviet derivation. The names of Nikolai Karazin and Andrey Platonov are mentioned among Russian literary Orientalists. The researchers identify the differences between Soviet Orientalism and the Orientalism of the XIX century. The analytical paradigm presented in the article outlines the prospects for the scientific study of Uzbek impressions. Salir-Gul (1933) by Sigismund Krzyzanowski and Pavel Zaltzman's novel Central Asia in the Middle Ages (1930s). For the first time, the novel The nomad (Kochevye) by the Russian writer of the twentieth century Leonid Solovyov written in 1929 and published in 1932 is analyzed in detail. Appeal to the folklore, ceremonial, and ritual life of the peoples of Central Asia becomes one of the main techniques of Leonid Solovyov's Oriental poetics. Solovyov's narrator is not a traditional orientalist observer of an alien, and therefore exotic, picture of the world. In Solovyov's poetics, the subject of the story merges with its object and represents a single whole: Russian literature spoke in the voice of a stranger. The material of the article corresponds to the intentions outlined in modern postcolonial studies.

Author(s):  
Eleonora F. Shafranskaya ◽  

The article presents a mythopoetic analysis of Pavel Saltzman’s novel “Central Asia in the Middle Ages (or the Middle Ages in Central Asia)” (1930–1950), published for the first time in 2018. The content of the article is aimed at practical educational discourse related to a number of literary problems: the study of the work of a previously unknown, but very significant for the history of literature writer; the study of Russian literature as the text devoted to the different ethnic culture (the existential myth by Saltzman is considered as binary opposition personified in the images of the bird Simurg and the giant Zakhak which is actualized in the literature of the XXI century — in the novels by G. Yakhina “Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes” and V. Medvedev “Zahhok”, unexpectedly rendering new overtones to modern literature); the orientalist and postorientalist studies (comparing prose Saltzman with the work of his contemporaries — A. Platonov, L. Solovyov, S. Krzhyzhanovsky. The author comes to the conclusion that Salzman’s text, despite the theme and title of the novel, is an example of neorientalist prose: all the patterns of traditional orientalism are given by Salzman differently, not from the standard point of view of a Western person.


Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 64-70
Author(s):  
Kseniya Aleksandrovna Kropacheva

This article discusses formation of the concept of “genre” in France of the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, as well as codification of the corresponding term in literary language. The subject of this research is denominations of the category of genre used by the authors of theoretical treatises of the XV – XVI centuries, and the concept of “genre”, which was gradually introduced into the French theory of poetry. The goal is to determine the stages of development of the category of genre within the framework of French theoretical texts of the XV – XVI centuries, as well as denominations for the genre forms employed by the theoreticians, their similarities and differences. An attempt is made to identify at which point in French theory appears the interpretation of the term “genre” similar to the modern one. The novelty of consists in analysis of the concept of genre in diachrony based on the material of French treatises of the XV – XVI centuries. Majority of the texts considered in the article did not receive due attention within the Russian literary studies, which substantiates the relevance of studying French literary theory of the Renaissance Era. It is demonstrated that the authors of French treatises of the XV century denoted the concept of genre as “rithme”, “taille”, “manière”, “façade”, “espèce”, using them as synonyms within the framework of a single text. However, by the early XVI century, the genre form is viewed as a separate category; therefore, the number of denominations s is gradually reduced. For the first time, the term “genre” was used in the literary context in Pierre Fabre’s treatise of 1521; although at that time it partially keeps the meaning borrowed from Latin. The terms was codified later, in 1555, in Jacques Peletier’s “Art Poétique”; and from this point on it was applied by literary theoreticians for denoting different types of genre forms.


Author(s):  
S.A. Sherstyukov

This article examines the narratives of Muslim women in Central Asia about their experience of their emancipation. Gender issues occupy an important place in postcolonial studies which have progressed rapidly in recent decades. Can the analytical language and approaches develop within the framework of postcolonial studies be applied to the study of Soviet history? This issue continues to be the subject of discussion among Russian and Western authors. However, it is obvious that when studying some aspects of the life of Soviet society, it is impossible to ignore the experience of studying colonial and postcolonial societies. The author, repeating the question posed by postcolonial researchers about whether the Subaltern can speak, tries to answer it by focusing on the narratives of Muslim women in Central Asia about “liberation”. These narratives were an important part of the Soviet discourse on the emancipation of women. Muslim women's gaining a voice (individual and collective) was seen as an important indicator of the success of policies aimed at "liberating" women. Analysis of Muslim women's narratives about "liberation" provided an opportunity to see the similarity of their structure, as well as how the structure of narratives changed in the 1930s.


Author(s):  
Olga Anatol'evna Bychkova ◽  
Aleksandra Valer'evna Nikitina

The subject of this research is the images of game and gamers. In the space of literary work, they are arrayed in metaphorical and often demonic raiment, receiving moral-ethical interpretation in one or another way. The problem of game and gamer in criticism was regarded by Y. Mann (“On the Concept of Game as a Literary Image”), V. V. Vinogradov (“Style of the Queen of Spades”), E. Dobin (“Ace and Queen”, A. Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades”), R. Caillois (“Games and People”), British writer and researcher of online games R, Bartle, American scientist Nick Yee, and many others. However, juxtaposition of literature sources on the topic to the research in the field of computer games is conducted for the first time. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive examination of the psychological game of the gamer based on the material of Russian literature (A. S. Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, V. V. Nabokov The Luzhin Defense”) , as well as the modern computer games practice, in which psychological type of the gamer found its realization and development in accordance with genre diversity. Even the Russian classical literature depict game as an autonomous space that encompasses the gamer, and often has devastating effect on their personality. The author also observes an important characterological trait of the gamer: the conceptual, “literal” perception of the world, which is based on the reception of visual images of the world against verbal. Therefore, the Russian literature alongside the research practice of modern videogames from different angles approach examination of the images of “game and gamer”, cognize the factors and consequences of the problems that emerge in this object field, as well as seek for their solution. The data acquired in the course of the conducted comparative analysis is mutually enriching.


Author(s):  
Nichole Perera

The 5th century CE was a period of intense theological controversy concerning the relationship between the human and divine in Christ. This dispute led to the permanent separation of the Egyptian Coptic church from Imperial Orthodoxy. The events of the 5th century, previously confined to academic scholarship, have recently become the subject of popularizing works like Agora (2009), The Jesus Wars (2010), and 428 AD (2009). The Arabic novel Azazeel (2009), written by the Egyptian Islamic scholar Youseff Ziedan, is a significant addition to these other works. Like The Da Vinci Code in its use of “actual” historical evidence, Azazeel purports to be a compilation of newly discovered Syriac scrolls written by the Coptic monk Hypa, which detail his spiritual trials between 411 and 437 CE. The novel sparked great controversy in Egypt among Coptic Christians for creating a misleading picture of important figures and events in their early history. Copts felt that a Muslim scholar was appropriating the voice of a Coptic monk without clearly signalling it was a work of fiction in order to produce a false account of Coptic origins. Though published before the Arab Spring, it soon became further evidence of the oppressive intentions of the Muslim majority against a Coptic minority in Egypt. Azazeel is different from other similar works in English because the events of the 5th century are still part of the living identity of Copts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 164-177
Author(s):  
A. M. Podoksenov ◽  
V. A. Telkova

The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the subject of the article is the question of the influence of L. D. Trotsky [Bronstein], who was one of the key leaders of Bolshevism, who headed the October Revolution, on the worldview and creativity of M. M. Prishvin, which has not yet been considered in the European studies. It is shown that in Russian art it is difficult to find an artist of the word, whose work would be to the same extent conditioned by the influence of the ideological and political context. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt was made to show how, through individual characters in his works, Prishvin in an artistic and figurative form reflected the characteristic features of behavior, everyday habits, the style of thinking and speech of Trotsky. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of previously unpublished due to censorship restrictions of the writer’s works: the story “The World Cup”, journalism of the revolutionary years and the 18-volume Diary, which became available to the reader only in the post-Soviet period. It is shown that, depicting Trotsky as a “pharmacist” who, according to his recipes, is trying to create the future of a huge country, Prishvin seeks not only to artistically reflect his moral appearance and personality traits, but also to convey the features of the ideological and political struggle in Soviet society.


Litera ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Vurgun Georgievich Mekhtiev

The subject of this research is the negative-axiological, satirical layers of the novel “The Islanders”, associated with the image of the demonic character, which M. Y. Lermontov turned into the archetype and poetic myth in the Russian literature. The object of this research is the stylistic techniques and ideological motifs of N. S. Leskov underlying “desacralization” of the romantic myth. The author meticulously examines the following aspects: 1) role of Lermontov's poem “The Demon” and romantic poetry of the 1840s in creation of the myth of the demonic character; 2) semantic deformations that led Leskov to wander from the conventional meanings of the myth ; 3) satirical modus used as the key technique in creation of the the image of Istomin. Particular attention is given to Leskov’s satire in its function of “recoding” of the myth. The conclusion is made that the image of the painter Istomin is appointed with the task to dispel the romantic myth. Therefore, the axiological-emotional lexis, as well as elements of satire that reflect the point of view of the “subjective” narrative are arrayed around him. All of that imparts semantic transparency to the character, which contradicts the “mysterious code” of the myth of romanticism. The author’s special contribution consists in the establishment of correlation between the myth of about the demon and the myth of Prometheus, which is important for assessing the complexity and multifacetedness of the semantic core of the phenomenon under review. The novelty of this research lies in revelation of underlying motif of the satirical style of N. S. Leskov. Its point is not to create a “myth about the myth” or an “anti-myth”; the novel forms the “non-myth” to achieve complete elimination of the literary myth of the demonic character. The writer uses satire for typification, rather than individualization of the character.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Hoan ◽  
Galina G. Yermilova

The article for the first time explores the translation of the ‟evangelical text” of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel ‟Crime and Punishment” into Vietnamese. The ‟evangelical text” refers to the New Testament quotations, for the first time both in the writer’s work and in the Russian literature of the 19th century as a whole, widely used by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Threeauthoritative translations by Trương Định Cư (1972), Lý Quốc Sinh (1973), Cao Xuân Hạo (1982-1983) are involved. The translation of the Bible into Vietnamese used by translators and involved in the liturgical practice of the Vietnamese Orthodox Church, has been revealed. On the basis of a continuous text sample of the «evangelical text» three translations were compared with the original and reverse translations, followed by an analytical commentary. The subject of the article is a monologue of «drunken» Semyon Marmeladov in the tavern (p. 1, ch. 2), saturated with New Testament quotations, and an evangelical scene about raised Lazarus (p. 4, ch. 4). It is concluded that when translating the «evangelical text» of the novel, the Vietnamese translators experienced serious difficulties due to ignorance of Russian Orthodoxy, which is still perceived in Vietnam to this day as a kind of exotic. Some specific refinements to existing translations are proposed.


Author(s):  
G.M. Rebel

The article is a comparative structural, thematic and genre analysis of the works by Lev Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev and Ivan Goncharov. The study had the following objectives: to give the genre definitions of “Family Happiness”, “Oblomov” and “A House of Gentlefolk” on the basis of structural, ideological and thematic features of the works; to compare the novels of Turgenev and Goncharov as different genre modifications; to justify the ideological character of the novel “A House of Gentlefolk”; to analyze the ideological controversy of the characters of Turgenev’s novel. As a result, the following conclusions were made. Tolstoy's “Family Happiness:, which is traditionally identified as a novel, in this case should be qualified as a novella: it has the predominant point of view which belongs to the narrator; the subject of the description are the episodes of private life presented outside of the socio-historical context of the era. Goncharov's “Oblomov” and Turgenev's “A House of Gentlefolk” present a multi-faceted, epically voluminous, large-scale picture of reality in two fundamentally different versions of the genre novel modifications. Despite the fact that in both novels the main characters are out of time, both works recreate the pre-reform atmosphere of the late 1850s, but perform it in fundamentally different ways. A mythologically-generalized, elegiac image of the past serfdom of Russia is presented in “Oblomov”. In “A House of Gentlefolk” the socio-historical specificity appears in close connection with real historical events, the lyrical beginning is organically combined with the polemical acuteness of the problem. The plot and the destinies of the characters in Turgenev's novel are determined by the ideological controversy, in which not only the main but also the secondary characters are subjectively or objectively involved, which ultimately determines the ideological character of the work. The proposed genre differentiation of the works of the three leading writers of the era allows us to give a dynamic cross-section of the literary process of the second half of the XIX century in the defining 1859 year of this period.


Author(s):  
Joanna Dobrowolska

My paper is a proposal for a non-standard reading of Mother by Maxim Gorky, often perceived as a piece of propaganda with low artistic value, a novel overfilling with ideology, subjugated to the doctrine of social realism. I would like to step beyond these stereotypes and show some contexts that have hardly been identified in the Polish reception of Russian literature from the early 20th century. I distinguish three main issues in the content of the novel: the image of the mother (novel about a mother), socialism as the “new religion” and the utopia of the “new man”. I see the current of Marxism called God-Building as a very important ideological context. I refer to research by Polish and Russian literary scholars and to my own findings.


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