scholarly journals The Literary Portrait from Pushkin to Dostoevsky

2020 ◽  
pp. 86-104
Author(s):  
Elena V. Stepanian-Rumyantseva
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Human Personality ◽  
Literary Portraits ◽  
Existential Choice ◽  
Literary Portrait ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Physical Resemblance ◽  
As If

The article explores the peculiarities of literary portraits and studies the interconnections and contrasts between painted and written portraits. The recognizability of a portrait in pictorial art is attained not only through physical resemblance but also through “artistic deformations” that the author introduces to the appearance of the portrayed. In a literary portrait, identification is achieved both by verbal and plastic detailing and by addressing the reader’s inner experience and imagination. Traditionally, the literary portrait in the Russian literature of the 19th century is based mostly on plastic characteristics, comparisons, and color accents, and because of this, it is often defined as “pictorial”. However, portraits by Pushkin and Dostoevsky stand out as exceptionally original, as if created from a different material. Pushkin avoids detailing, instead, he presents a “suggestive” portrait, i.e., a dynamic outline of the personality. The reader’s imagination is influenced not by details, but rather by the dynamic nature of Pushkin’s characters. Dostoevsky does not inherit Pushkin’s methods, though he also turns to a dynamic principle in describing the heroes of his novels. When they first appear, he presents them as if from different angles of vision, and their features may often be in discord, which makes the reader sense a contradictory impact of their personalities, as well as of their portraits. This kind of portrait is a dynamic message, where the reader follows the hero along unexpected and contrasting paths that the author previously mapped for him. From the beginning to the very end of their works, these two classics of Russian literature present the human personality as a being in a state of life-long development, always changing and always free in its existential choice.

scholarly journals The Literary Portrait from Pushkin to Dostoevsky

2020 ◽  
pp. 86-104
Author(s):  
Elena V. Stepanian-Rumyantseva
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Human Personality ◽  
Literary Portraits ◽  
Existential Choice ◽  
Literary Portrait ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Physical Resemblance ◽  
As If

The article explores the peculiarities of literary portraits and studies the interconnections and contrasts between painted and written portraits. The recognizability of a portrait in pictorial art is attained not only through physical resemblance but also through “artistic deformations” that the author introduces to the appearance of the portrayed. In a literary portrait, identification is achieved both by verbal and plastic detailing and by addressing the reader’s inner experience and imagination. Traditionally, the literary portrait in the Russian literature of the 19th century is based mostly on plastic characteristics, comparisons, and color accents, and because of this, it is often defined as “pictorial”. However, portraits by Pushkin and Dostoevsky stand out as exceptionally original, as if created from a different material. Pushkin avoids detailing, instead, he presents a “suggestive” portrait, i.e., a dynamic outline of the personality. The reader’s imagination is influenced not by details, but rather by the dynamic nature of Pushkin’s characters. Dostoevsky does not inherit Pushkin’s methods, though he also turns to a dynamic principle in describing the heroes of his novels. When they first appear, he presents them as if from different angles of vision, and their features may often be in discord, which makes the reader sense a contradictory impact of their personalities, as well as of their portraits. This kind of portrait is a dynamic message, where the reader follows the hero along unexpected and contrasting paths that the author previously mapped for him. From the beginning to the very end of their works, these two classics of Russian literature present the human personality as a being in a state of life-long development, always changing and always free in its existential choice.

The Kore archetype and its implementation in the play by A.N. Ostrovsky “The Storm”

Neophilology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 521-529
Author(s):  
Kirill V. Smirnov
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Russian Woman ◽  
Interpretive Methods ◽  
To Come ◽  
The 19Th Century

We analyze the implementation specific of the Kore archetype, introduced by C.G. Jung and K. Kerenyi, in relation to the image of Katerina, the main heroine of the play “The storm” by A.N. Ostrovsky. The main focus is on the archetype of Katherine’s image. In the process of research, comparative typological, historical, biographical and interpretive methods are used. Due to the analysis of the works of V.V. Toporova, E.M. Meletinsky, N.A. Berdyaev, T. Eliot and others, Katerina’s involvement in the Kore archetype is revealed. We investigate the specific situation of Katerina’s life in the Kabanov family: dependence on circumstances forces the heroine to commit adultery in order to find female happiness. We prove that Katerina’s image created by A.N. Ostrovsky and actualizing the most pressing problems of the modern playwright of society, is typical for Russian literature of the Golden age in social and psychological terms. A detailed study of the main character’s image allows us to come to the conclusion that the illusory feeling and the subsequent doom to suffer reproduce the stable image of a Russian woman, ready for love, but receiving nothing in return. The results of this study may be interesting to everyone who is interested in the work of A.N. Ostrovsky and archetypes in Russian literature of the 19th century.

scholarly journals The Epigraph to ʽForest and Steppe’ by Ivan Turgenev: Conveying the ʽEmblematic’ Worldview in the Tradition of Translation

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-133
Author(s):  
Maria R. Nenarokova
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Difficulty ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Symbolic Images ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article focuses on the reception of Russian classical literature translations in the English-speaking culture. The research was carried out on the material of three existing translations of ‘Forest and Steppe’ by both Russian and English translators published in 1895, 1955 and 1967. The main objective of the research is to determine the difficulties translators of Russian literature of the 19th century could face in the case of Turgenev's epigraph to ‘Forest and Steppe’. The tasks of the study were to define and describe the peculiarities of conveying the epigraph’s vocabulary, to outline the group of the most important keywords of the text, to recognize and describe discrepancies in their translation, to indicate why the chosen option is possible or impossible in the translation of Turgenev’s text. The study showed that Turgenev's worldview was formed under the influence of the culture of ‘rhetorical word’, and the epigraph to ‘Forest and Steppe’ proves it. The epigraph consists of a chain of symbolic images that add up to a single picture. The writer's worldview determined the style of the epigraph, the choice of vocabulary, and the composition of the text. For translators, the main difficulty at the lexical level lies in the fact that they often choose words that carry a greater emotional load than Turgenev’s vocabulary, and also introduce tropes, absent in the original, into translations. On the one hand, the translations create a realistic picture, in contrast to Turgenev’s symbolic landscape, on the other hand, the atmosphere of the text, reflecting the personality of the writer, is destroyed. The translations mirror profound changes that took place in the 19th–20th centuries in the European worldview.

scholarly journals Raphael’s Genius as Reflected in V. A. Zhukovsky’s and A. S. Pushkin’s Works: to the Issue of W. H. Wackenroder’s Influence on Russian Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
К.А. Поташова
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Moral Atmosphere ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Aesthetic Preferences

Новизна исследования связана с раскрытием уникальности синтеза вербального и визуального начал в художественном мышлении В. А. Жуковского и А. С. Пушкина посредством анализа механизмов встраивания живописного произведения в словесный образ. С опорой на анализ стихотворений «Недоконченная картина» А. С. Пушкина, «Преображение» С. П. Шевырёва, очерка В. А. Жуковского «Рафаэлева Мадонна» в сопоставлении с очерком В.-Г. Вакенродера «Видение Рафаэля» рассмотрено влияние эстетической системы Рафаэля на романтическую концепцию творчества художника, природы его вдохновения, заключающейся в ощущении Божественном присутствии. В статье определяется место эстетического очерка Жуковского «Рафаэлева Мадонна» в контексте развития романтического типа экфрасиса, основанного на замене описания визуального образа ассоциативным рядом, возникшим в процессе созерцания картины. Доказывается, что внимание романтиков к личности Рафаэля Санти обусловлено как общей духовно-нравственной атмосферой первой трети XIX века, так и глубоко личностным восприятием живописи В. А. Жуковским и А. С. Пушкиным. The theoretical novelty of the article consists in the investigation of the unique synthesis of verbal and visual aspects of V. A. Zhukovsky’s and A. S. Pushkin’s works. The comparative analysis of A. S. Pushkin’s “Unfinished Painting”, S. P. Shevyrev’s “Transfiguration”, V. A. Zhukovsky’s “The Sistine Madonna” and W. H. Wackenroder’s “Raphael’s Vision” focuses on the impact Raphael’s aesthetics produced on the romantic concept of a painter’s work, and spiritual inspiration. The article investigates Zhukovsky’s aesthetic essay “The Sistine Madonna” through the prism of ekphrastic works, association-based descriptions of a visual work of art. The article maintains that the romantic poets’ infatuation with Raphael Santi can be explained both by the spiritual and moral atmosphere of the first third of the 19th century and by V. A. Zhukovsky’s and A. S. Pushkin’s personal aesthetic preferences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document