‘Eternal’ Sonechka: An attempt to discover an archetype

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
L. Y. Korotkova
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Female Authors ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The World ◽  
The Stability

The article discusses the transformation of the image of ‘eternal’ Sonechka, originating in F. Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment [Prestuplenie i nakazanie] and undergoing subsequent changes while preserving the stability of an archetype and acquiring new meanings in M. Tsvetaeva’s The Tale of Sonechka [Povest o Sonechke] (1938), T. Tolstaya’s short story Sonya (1984) and L. Ulitskaya’s novel Sonechka (1992). In following the logic of the heroine’s development, the author finds that all Sonechkas share such features as femininity, loyalty, and an inherent ability to ‘radiate passionate enthusiasm and give warmth:’ this talent for self-sacrifice can be realized in a family, in one’s attitude towards art or a lover, or just by mistake (as in the case of T. Tolstaya’s Sonya). It is easy to see that all female authors in focus of L. Korotkova’s article, while polemicizing with Dostoevsky in that they exaggerate the heroine’s traits to absurd proportions, fall under the spell of the charming ‘eternal Sonechka as long as the world lasts.’ The undying interest of Russian literature in this character only confirms its archetypal status in Russian culture.

"The transfomation of the novel Crime and punishment in the V. Pietzuch’s remake The new Moskow philosophy (axiologisation of Russian classics) "

Lyuboslovie ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 151-163
Author(s):  
Dehka Chavdarova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cultural Consciousness ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
The World ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Impact

The idea of literariness of Russian culture, of the impact of literature on Russian life, is an axiom of Russian cultural consciousness, which however doesn’t cease to draw the attention of researchers. Russian literature itself, from the 19th century on to this day, manifests this idea, altering the semantics of the life-literature relationship. In Pietzuch’s story the attention is drawn to the metatextual commentary about the role and value of Russian classics (and literature in general), and about the literariness of Russian consciousness – a commentary close to scientific discourse. The writer conceptualises literature as an invariant embodying the spiritual experience of humanity, and reality as an imitation of literature, deprived of structure and meaning. He creates an image of contemporary Soviet reality, which is a travestied variant of the world of Dostoevsky in the novel “Crime and punishment”. The conclusion refers to the development of similar axiologisation of Russian classics in the post-modernist remakes from the 1990s to this day.

scholarly journals THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE IN THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE OF PIERRE BEZUKHOV IN WAR AND PEACE BY L. N. TOLSTOY

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-208
Author(s):  
Alexander Kondratiev ◽  
Kirill Merinov
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Moral Choice ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Spiritual Tradition

The problem of understanding Russian literature implies a grasp of the author’s concept of a human being, rooted in the spiritual tradition of Russian culture. Scientific analysis of the artistic refraction of the religious and philosophical opposition between Law and Grace, the divine power that saves from sin, in the formation of the character expands the idea of the semantic depths of the work, which open up new meanings in the “big time”. The idea of War and Peace was conditioned by the challenges of the cultural and historical turning point in the spiritual experience of the Russian people. In assessing events and people, Tolstoy is guided by the Christian tradition of the Russian culture. The previously undisputed assessment of the blessed results of Pierre Bezukhov’s spiritual biography needs to be clarified based on the conclusions and provisions of the Christian basis of Russian literature. Prince Andrey and Bezukhov were not accepted by the high society, but managed to find common ground. However, Bolkonsky’s interest in lawmaking faded after meeting Natasha, and when the war began, he refused Kutuzov’s proposal, felt responsibility for the doomed soldiers, forgave Kuragin in a Christian way and asked for the Gospel before dying, while Bezukhov never became Peter Kirillovich and was focused on self-determination in the subordinate spheres of earthly life, actualizing the importance of human efforts for the transformation of society. Bezukhov had never made a moral choice between Law and Grace, unlike Bolkonsky, who blessed his son. Thus, the title of the book appeals to the eternal Christian opposition of Law, or war, and Grace that is peace.

scholarly journals Ironia i nihilizm. Figura bibliotekarza w Posłuchaniu u Lucypera Józefa Sękowskiego

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Jarosław Ławski
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Absolute Power ◽  
Polish Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The subject matter of the present article is the image of library and librarian in a forgotten short story by a Polish-Russian writer Józef Julian Sękowski (1800−1858). Sękowski is known in Polish literature as a multi-talented orientalist and polyglot, who changed his national identity in 1832 and began to write only in Russian. In the history of Russian literature he is famous for Library for Reading and Fantastic Voyages of Baron Brambeus, an ironic-grotesque work, which was precursory in Russian prose. Until 1832 Sękowski was, however, a Polish writer. His last significant work was An Audience with Lucypher published in a Polish magazine Bałamut Petersburski (Petersburgian Philanderer) in 1832 and immediately translated into Russian by Sękowski himself under the title Bolszoj wychod u Satany (1833). The library and librarian presented by the author in this piece are a caricature illustration proving his nihilistic worldview. Sękowski is a master of irony and grotesquery, yet the world he creates is deprived of freedom and justice and a book in this world is merely a threat to absolute power.

scholarly journals The Non-Humanist Vector in 20th-Century Russian Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Maria Rubins ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The World

The article focuses on a corpus of narratives written in various cultural and historical contexts both within metropolitan Russia and in diaspora, which engaged with the process of dehumanization of the world and mankind and the inadequacy of Russian literature’s traditional arsenal to represent the anthropological experience of the 20th century. These texts revised the humanist pathos of Russian culture, the European legacy and Eurocentric discourse, and created an alternative conceptual and aesthetic language that became particularly relevant for contemporary Russian literature.

scholarly journals Dialogue of arts in the novel “The Artist is Unknown” by V. Kaverin

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Natal'ya Zinov'evna Kol'tsova ◽  
Liu Miaowen
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Literary Style ◽  
Narrative Perspective ◽  
Special Place ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Techniques

Prose about the artist is fairly popular in the world and Russian culture, but the novel “The Artist is Unknown” by V. Kaverin holds a special place within the Russian literature, and the title itself is precedent for the philologists – it is mentioned each time when it comes to genre of the novel about artist. Kaverin not only creates a vivid image of the artist-painter, but also restores his manner via literary style. The pictorial beginning is prevalent in the text; however, orientation towards other types of art, namely sculpture and theatre, are also noticeable sculpture and theater, which is reflected in the character sphere and in the composition itself. In the novel “The Artist is Unknown”, theater and painting are deeply intertwined – and not only scenes of the play engage painting, but also the authorial “painting” involves theatrical aesthetics. However, namely the art of painting, is in the center of Kaverin’s attention, while the ekphrasis technique becomes the fundamental principle for arranging artistic material. It should be noted that the focus of attention of the audience falls onto imaginary ekphrasis, description of the image that exists only in the author's imagination, which allows revealing the features of Kaverin's original idiostyle that correlates certain literary techniques with the painter's technique (the author thinks in the categories of color, painting, texture, and perspective). In such way, painting becomes a metalanguage, the way of understanding the laws of art as such, and thus, the laws of literature, including such categories as narrative perspective and composition. The boundary between genres of the novel about artist and the novel about the novel in Kaverin's text is quite lucid: the fate of the artist is inseparable from the fate of his creation, and the questions of skill, purpose and designation of works comprise the very essence of conflicts of the novel.

scholarly journals Artistic Space in the Prose of Ivan Bunin

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Elena Maksimova
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Horror Story

Ivan Bunin occupies a unique place in the context of Russian literature. The following article demonstrates the relevance of Juri Lotman’s work on defining semiotic artistic space by examining Bunin’s modeling of the world and his construction of artistic space in his prose works. Special attention is paid to the semiosphere, its central mechanisms, and their realization in several of Bunin’s works, and especially the short story entitled “Horror Story”.

scholarly journals Women in Nabokov’s Russian novels

2014 ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Nailya Garipova Castellano
Keyword(s):  
Russian Literature ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Art And Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Techniques

This article examines the presence of female characters in the Nabokov’s novels of the Russian period (1925-1939). There is a pattern in the use of female characters that illuminates the novels studied. It clarifies our understanding of Nabokov’s literary techniques and contributes to the comprehension of two major themes seen in all his works: the passionate yearning for his beloved Russia and the satiric perception of an imperfect world. Thus, two categories of Nabokov’s women can be distinguished: the bearers of the Russian culture and the unfaithful vamps. The so called bearers of the Russian culture, presented and described in a positive way, function as guiding stars for their lovers: they help them to survive in the hostile surroundings of their exile. These characters represent the nature of the Russian womanhood; they are kind, tender, pure and supportive, and at the same time they are strong and powerful. Their descriptions allude to the heroines of the Russian literature and they share the author’s passion for the Russian literature and culture. The so called unfaithful vamps represent the world of the poshlost’, vulgarity and deceit. These female characters have common characteristics that make them unpleasant: they are ignorant in the world of art and literature, and they are greedy owners representing passion and lust. After this classification of Nabokov’s women we see that his two main modes of presenting female characters reflect his two major themes: they function as the personification of the lost paradise of the past Russia and as an embodiment of human fallibility and weakness.

The Demonolexis in Yu. Andrukhovych’s Long Short Story “Recreatsii” (“Recreations”)

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (27) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Nina Bosak
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Semantic Group ◽  
Lexical Semantic ◽  
The World

The demonolexis in Yu. Andrukhovych’s long short story “Recreatsii” (“Recreations”) has been analyzed in the article. In the course of the research there have been outlined the following lexical-semantic groups of demonomens: toponymic and onomastic names, modified lexemes, names of the rituals, genuine Ukrainian demonomens, obscene words and expressions, demonomens of Biblical origin, names from the world mythology and general demonolexis. The special lexical-semantic group has been formed by non personificated demonomens, which serve to convey the peculiarities of the contemporary Ukrainian writers’ mentality, their habits through speech. Such nomens help to reveal the protagonist’s soul, show the positive and negative sides of his personal ego, demonstrate the duality of the human perception of the world, indicate the causes of phobias, emotions, sensations. Key words: demonolexis, demonomen, lexical-semantic group, non personificated demonomen.

Unveiling the Theoretical Mistakes in the World Bank Formation and its Implication on Survival of Africa Monetary Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Olatunji Abdul Shobande ◽  
Kingsley Chinonso Mark
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Monetary Union ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
World Bank Group ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Bank Group ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Developed Nations

Abstract The quest for urgent solution to resolve the world liquidity problem has continued to generate enthusiastic debates among political economists, policy makers and the academia. The argument has focused on whether the World Bank Group was established to enhance the stability of international financial system or meant to enrich the developed nations. This study argues that the existing political interest of the World Bank Group in Africa may serve as lesson learned to other ambitious African Monetary Union.

What If It Wasn’t Kato Who Raped Diana? Representing the Yearning for Justice in As I Stood Dead Before the World: Creative Writing from Luzira Prison (2018)

Imbizo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danson Sylvester Kahyana
Keyword(s):  
Creative Writing ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Innocent People ◽  
Creative Writers ◽  
The World

The article examines how selected works in Uganda’s first anthology of prison-authored work, As I Stood Dead before the World: Creative Writing from Luzira Prison (2018), handle one of the issues of paramount importance to inmates and their families: the possibility that convictions in courts of law are not foolproof since judicial officers are human beings and therefore susceptible to error. Drawing from four examples: two poems (Jackson O’s “Letter to Aber” and Sebuuma Gadafi’s “Twenty-Years”), one short story (Rachael Pearl Orishaba’s “A Secret”), and one short play (Jennifer Janette’s “What If It Wasn’t Kato?”), I show how different inmates imagine situations where judicial officers (prosecutors and magistrates/judges) make errors of judgement that see innocent people convicted of crimes they did not commit. The article closely reads the four selected pieces with the objective of investigating how creative writers can help judicial officers realise how important it is to turn every proverbial stone before a conviction is made.

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