No 1 (2024)

Russian Romanticism was not a transitional link between Classicism (Sentimentalism) and Realism. Following in the footsteps of A. Schlegel and J. de Stael, many Russian authors treated the concepts of Classicism and Romanticism as the two all-encompassing notions that describe the entire historical space of the European culture: Classicism was an offspring of pagan antiquity, while Romanticism emerged from the Christian Middle Ages. The same two universal principles were evolving, closely linked together, in the works of the Russian writers of the first third of the 19^th century, and they left the historical stage simultaneously.

The article is an attempt to modify the established image of Ya. A. Galinkovsky’s short and unfortunate literary biography as an evolution from a karamzinist into an anti-karamzinist and finally into a shishkovist. We re-consider Galinkovsky within a different, less salient circle of learned translators and critics of «archaic-enlightened» orientation.

The article publishes an unknown versified epistle To a Young Man (1846) from the Aksakov archive, which is attributed to N. M. Yazykov. The poetic dialogue between I. S. Aksakov and Yazykov, aimed at exposing the ideology of Georgesandism, is analyzed. Using the data from the unpublished family correspondence, the available information on the initial period of the relationship between Aksakov and A. O. Smirnova-Rosset is clarified.

The correspondence between the two prominent social and political figures of the 1860−1880s, I. S. Aksakov and R. A. Fadeev, is introduced into the academic circulation. The letters are most valuable both for understanding the obscure nuances of the social atmosphere of the post-reform period, and for the more in-depth studies of the ideological disputes among the political journalists who have contributed to the emergence of an arguably feasible program for the further development of Russia.

The article outlines the history of the Department of Russian Literature, St. Petersburg State University — one of the most prominent 20^th-century departments in Russia/USSR. Three periods of its evolvement are described, life stories of many scholars are traced, and a detailed bibliography is offered.

Contesting the latest biography (compiled by A. V. Belyakov) of the Tatar Prince Simeon Bekbulatovich, who, at the request of Ivan the Terrible, had occupied the Moscow throne for a whole year, the author of the article discusses the famous petition addressed by the Tsar to his «substitute». The petition is generally considered to be a sample of the Tsar’s «buffoonish» manner of verbal manipulations, that are also traceable in quite a number of his epistles. The author of the article suggests that Ivan the Terrible’s game technique should be understood as a sequence of actions and statements stimulated by his religious experience. This is in better agreement with the cultural context of the 16^th century than the standard references to the sophisticated cruelty of the tyrant, who pretended to be a holy fool.

In the first half of the 17^th century, when Smolensk was conquered by the Poles, the Vita of the Saint Mercurius of Smolensk was translated into Polish. Following the reconquest of the city by the Russians in 1654, a reverse translation was made in 1656. The discovered abridged version of the Polish translation of the Vita is introduced into the academic circulation, showing that certain semantic accents in the story of the Saint have been shifted. The article also traces the subsequent history of the representation of Mercurius in the Polish literature and religion, up to the mid-20^th century; the text of the Vita in Polish is published in the Appendix.

The article considers N. V. Gogol’s allusions to the history of the initial period of the First Carlist War in Spain in his story Diary of a Madman. The information about Spain that the author might have possessed while writing the story is analyzed. The ties between certain dates mentioned in the text and the real events of 1833–1834 are outlined. Poprishchin, the protagonist of the book, is compared to the pretender to the Spanish throne Don Carlos.

The article outlines the history of the acquaintance between the literary historian and critic F. D. Batyushkov and the French translator of Russian literature M. Denis Roche. The letters of Denis Roche show that Batyushkov facilitated his contacts with Russian writers, advised him on the translations of M. Gorky, A. P. Chekhov, V. G. Korolenko.

It has been noted long ago that Modernist writings often mimic some methods of a detective story. An investigation of the works by Bely, Proust, Joyce, Platonov and Nabokov reveals a conscientious pattern of playing with riddles, which is common for all of these quite dissimilar authors; this is the basis of a particular mode of narration which we call a detective story modified, or a quasi detective story. Their devices for creating riddles are also similar and often identical, such as lack of openness, passing of the important for unimportant, narrative inversion, obscure answers and invisible questions. Also common are ways of providing keys, namely, incongruities between elements of the text give the reader a hint that he has been fooled. Those are greatly diverse, from a simple incompatibility of statements to a hidden contradiction between various dimensions of depicting the same subject (e. g. a general view is in conflict with details).

The article outlines the story of the relationship between M. M. Prishvin and S. T. Grigoryev (based on their correspondence). S. T. Grigoryev was published a lot, until the Rapp critic S. Gavrilov made a public statement that S. T. Grigoriev’s artistic pursuits were hostile to the Marxist-Leninist theory. Gorky helped the writer to make a literary comeback. Grigoriev resumed his correspondence with him through the mediation of Prishvin. The friendship between the two writers continued until S. T. Grigoriev’s death in 1953. The data presented in the article offer new insights into the personality of M. M. Prishvin.

This article examines the previously unreported issue of the Russian translators’ perception of Cao Zhi’s poem The Sighs. Analyzing the works of L. E. Cherkassky, V. A. Zhuravlev, M. E. Kravtsova, one can draw the following conclusions: all the translators stayed very faithful to the original text. All the three translations represent the translation school founded by V. M. Alekseev, where the main goal was to convey the meanings, emotionality and imagery of the original. At the same time, three stages of the evolution of translation skills can be traced. V. A. Zhuravlev’s translation is focused on adapting Chinese poetry to the artistic perception of the mass Russian reader. L. E. Cherkassky’s translation is a step towards uniting the artistic embodiment of the original text and its original formal and lexical features. The translation by M. Ye. Kravtsova is an attempt to show the reader the originality of Chinese poetry.

The article analyzes the reviews of Konstantin Timkovsky’s (1814–1881) translations from Spanish; he was a translator and a champion of Spanish literature in Russia. Neither the reviews of his contemporaries, nor the works of the Soviet scholars mention that Timkovsky’s translations of verse drama texts were done in prose. His translation experiments remained aside from the main pathways, from the mainstream Russian tradition of translating classical Spanish drama.

[Review:] Gogol’ N. V. Poln. sobr. soch. i pisem: V 23 t. M.: Nauka, 2023. T. 5. 1126 s.

Review:] Tezaurus istoricheskoi narratologii (na materiale russkoi literatury): Eksperimental’nyi slovar’ / Pod red. V. I. Tiupy. M.: Editus, 2022. 316 s.