Мифология дальневосточного фронтира в книге С. В. Максимова «На Востоке. Поездка на Амур (в 1860-1861 гг.)»

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of the frontier discourse of S. V. Maksimov’s book “In the East. A Trip to the Amur (in 1860-1861)”. The paper describes the main mythologemes of the “frontier mythology” about the Far East outlined by S. V. Maksimov in the book “In the East. A Trip to the Amur (in 1860-1861)”, which became the basis for the subsequent literary tradition in presenting the image of the Eastern frontier territories. The aim of the study is to determine the features of the creative transformation of the mythopoetic complex (images, motifs, archaic-mythological elements) that forms the “Far Eastern myth” in S. V. Maksimov’s book “In the East. A Trip to the Amur (in 1860-1861)”. The scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying “frontier mythology” motifs in S. V. Maksimov’s book “In the East. A Trip to the Amur (in 1860-1861)”, which seems relevant when studying the proto-textual basis of the Far Eastern local supertext in the prose of the second half of the XIX century. As a result, it has been proved that the frontier discourse of S. V. Maksimov’s book “In the East. A Trip to the Amur (in 1860-1861)” is organised around a demiurgical myth. The mythologeme “heaven/hell” and the opposition “friend – foe” also have a meaning-generating significance in S. V. Maksimov’s representation of the image of the Far East as a frontier territory.