Заметки о дантовских подтекстах и параллелях в русской литературе первой половины XX века [Some Notes on Datean Quotations and Allusions in Russian Literature of the First Half of the 20th Century]

This is the initial part of a larger project consisting of several separate papers. This particular paper has two parts. 1. “No Crumbs on the Table-Cloth” (a line of Pasternak’s poem) claims that a crumb motive in an early version of the poem by Boris Pasternak “Piry” (1913) reflects the initial paragraph of Dante’s Convivio with its bread metaphor (Conv. I.i.7, 10–11). Some other examples of similar echoes are quoted. 2. “The Motherland’s Shoulders” discusses the metaphor shoulders of a mountain, which can be found in a couplet by Koncheyev—a fictional poet from Vladimir Nabokov’s Dar (The Gift, 1936—37 / 1952). This metaphor was previously treated as a quote from Mandelstam’s poem “Zverinets” (1915), but here both cases (and, probably, some additional examples) are seen to go back to the same metaphor in Inf. I, 16 (where it means summit rather than mountainside) and numerous translations of Inferno into English. Keywords: 20th-Century Russian Literature, Boris Pasternak (1890—1960), “Piry” (1913 / 1928), Vladimir Nabokov (1899—1977), Dar (1936—37 / 1952), Dante Alighieri (c. 1265—1321), Allusion, In memoriam: Larisa Georgievna Stepanova (1941—2009).

«Военные рассказы» М. Кузмина: Попытка реинтерпретации [Toward the Reinterpretation of Mikhail Kuzmin’s _War Stories_]

The article analyzes War Stories (Voennye rasskazy, 1915) by Mikhail Kuzmin and offers a new interpretation of the book’s pragmatics. Most students of War Stories have not treated this collection in much detail, mainly seeing it as Kuzmin’s unsuccessful attempt to become a part of the mainstream patriotic movement during WWI. Contrary to her predecessors, Alexandra Pakhomova argues this particular book has a definite and consciously motivated authorial strategy. What Kuzmin did in War Stories was an attempt to establish his new literary reputation, and also to create an entirely new genre of short fiction in Russian literature. KEYWORDS: 20th-Century Russian Literature, Mikhail Kuzmin (1972—1936), Voennye rasskazy (1915), Literary Reputation, History of Literature.

Ритм и смысл стихотворения Пушкина «Буря» [Pushkin’s “Buria”: The Meaning of Rhythm]

This article addresses the meaning of the verse form of Alexander Pushkin’s poem “Buria” (1825). The poem’s monotonous rhythm corresponds to the theme of waves hitting the seashore and the rock in the same monotonous manner. The rhythmic structure of the poem implies that it can be divided into four three-line sections, each of which alternates between two rhythmic forms of iambic tetrameter (IV—IV—I, IV—IV—I, etc.). The stanzaic structure of the poem, which is a monostrophe, helps one to sense that pattern. KEYWORDS: 19th-Century Russian Literature, Alexander Pushkin (1799—1837), Buria (1825), Russian Iambic Tetrameter, Semantics of Rhythm, Verse Theory.

«Мертвые Цари всегда должны по смерти своей быть судимы»: Посмертная судьба одного древнеегипетского обычая в русской и европейской словесности XVI – XIX вв. [“Dead Kings Must Always be Judged after Their Demise”: The Afterlife of an Ancient Egyptian Custom in the Russian and European Literature of the 16th to 19th Centuries]

In his Bibliotheca historica, Diodorus Siculus described a peculiar Egyptian custom of judging all the dead (including the pharaohs) before their burial. The Greek historian saw it as a guarantee of Egypt’s prosperity, since the fear of being deprived of the right to burial served as a moral imperative. This story of an Egyptian custom fascinated the early modern authors, from lawyers to novelists, who often retold it in their own manner. Their interpretations varied depending on the political context: from the traditional “lesson to sovereigns” to a reassessment of the role of the subject and the duties of the orator. This article traces several intellectual trajectories that show the use and misuse of this Egyptian custom from Montaigne to Bossuet and then to Rousseau—and finally its adaptation by Pushkin and Vyazemsky, who most likely became acquainted with it through the mediation of French literature. The article was written in the framework (and with the generous support) of the RANEPA (ШАГИ РАНХиГС) state assignment research program. KEYWORDS: 16th to 19th-Century European and Russian Literature, Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778), Alexander Pushkin (1799—1837), Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky (1792—1878), Egyptian Сourt, Locus communis, Political Rhetoric, Literary Criticism, Pantheonization, History of Ideas.

Ученики и учителя Тенишевского училища (по школьным журналам и архивным документам) [Tenishev School: Its Instructors, Students, School Magazines and Archives]

This article results from extensive archival research, and compares information found in Tenishev school magazines to the archival data concerning the school life of the corresponding period. The article’s major goal is to reconstruct life stories of Tenishev school students and the school’s instructors as meticulously as possible, and also to demonstrate the style of communication between the teachers and adolescents. It also reveals some previously unknown information concerning the life story of Tenishev School director Alexander Ostrogorskii (1868—1908). KEYWORDS: 20th-Century Russian History, Osip Mandel’shtam (1891—1938), Viktor Zhirmunskii (1891—1971), Alexander Ostrogorskii (1868—1908), Tenishev School, School Magazines, Soviet Terror, History of School Education in Russia.

«На земле еще много хороших вещей»: Рец. на кн.: «Человек эпохи: Ирина Белобровцева» [“Na zemle eshcho mnogo khoroshikh veshchei”: Review of _Chelovek epokhi: Irina Belobrovtseva_ by Aurika Meimre (ed.)]

This is a review of a recently published book Chelovek epokhi: Irina Belobrovtseva (2021). The book consists of three parts: the first and longest is Irina Belobrovtseva’s autobiography followed by a publication of the correspondence between the Belobrovtsev family, Yuri Lotman and Zara Mints (from 1967 to 1986), and finally by Prof. Belobrovtseva’s list of publications. KEYWORDS: Tallinn University, Irina Belobrovtseva (b. 1946), Book Review.

Из Именного указателя к «Записным книжкам» Ахматовой: Итальянцы [From an Index to Anna Akhmatova’s _Notebooks_: Italians]

This article is yet another installment in the series of Roman Timenchik’s annotations to Anna Akhmatova’s Notebooks (see also three previous volumes of Slavica Revalensia). This particular installment concerns two Italians mentioned in Akhmatova’s notes: Bruno Carnevali (1924—1990) and Carlo Riccio (1932—2011). Keywords: 20th-Century Russian Literature, Anna Akhmatova (1889—1966), Annotations, Notebooks (1958—1966), In memoriam: Larisa Georgievna Stepanova (1941—2009).

Из материалов для комментария к «Капитанской дочке»: 9–11 [Notes and Queries on _The Captain’s Daughter_ (9–11)]

There are three sections in this article, all concerning The Captains Daughter (Kapitanskaia dochka, 1836) by Alexander Pushkin. The first section reconstructs the hidden yet crucial train of thought launched by the elder Grinev’s reading of The Court Almanach for 1772, which comes to drive the novel’s plot in a surprising direction. The second section investigates the protagonist’s failed military career. The third section discusses Pushkin’s linguistic lapse (na son griadushchii instead of na son griadushchim), a distortion of a liturgical phrase well known to Orthodox Christians. Keywords: 19th-Century Russian Literature, Alexander Pushkin (1799—1837), Kapitanskaia dochka (1836), Russo-Turkish Wars (1736—1739, 1768—1774), Military Careers, The Orthodox Prayer Book, In memoriam: Larisa Georgievna Stepanova (1941—2009).

Эпистолярия как литературные беседы: Письма Г. В. Адамовича А. В. Бахраху [_Epistolaria_ as Literary Conversations: Letters of Georgy Adamovich to Alexander Bacherac]

This article is an attempt at close reading an extensive ego text (Georgy Adamovich’s letters to Alexander Bacherac of the 1940s – 1972) as a thirty-year-long literary conversation of two Russian émigré writers. Regarding the letters as a single cultural text, and relying on the hermeneutic and semiotic approaches, the article singles out three major layers of the text in question, and analyzes the textual body “inwardly,” i.e. starting from the purely existential-informational upper layer, proceeding to the layer of literary criticism, and finally reaching the layer of literary quotations and cultural allusions used as one of the basic devices forming Adamovich’s epistolary style. Comparing the letters with Adamovich’s famous Literary Conversations (Literaturnye besedy) of the 1920s, the author argues that in his correspondence with Bacherach Adamovich followed the tradition of the Russian friendly literary-philosophical discourse borrowed from the West in the 1800s and developed in the 1820s – 1830s by Alexander Pushkin and his circle. KEYWORDS: 20th-Century Russian Literature, Georgy Adamovich (1892—1972), Alexander Bacherac (1902—1985), Correspondence, History of Literature.

Еще раз об андерсеновском следе в романе В. Набокова «Король, дама, валет» [Once Again on Hans Christian Andersen’s Presence in Vladimir Nabokov’s Novel _Korol’, dama, valet_ (_King, Queen, Knave_)]

This article is an inquiry into the possible origin of the title of Vladimir Nabokov’s second Russian novel King, Queen, Knave (Korol’, dama, valet, 1928). It proves a long-forgotten hypothesis that the title’s likely source is a lesser-known fairy-tale by Hans Christian Andersen, published in several translations into Russian in Berlin and Riga émigré newspapers at the very end of the 1920s. KEYWORDS: 20th-Century Russian Literature, Vladimir Nabokov (1899—1977), Korol’, dama, valet (1928), Hans Christian Andersen (1805—1875), Russian émigré Press, History of Literature.