«Поденщик просвещения»: вопросы литературного творчества и печати в публицистике Инала Канукова

Abstract

The article examines the journalistic legacy of the largest representative of the Ossetian enlightenment, the first Ossetian Russian-speaking writer and journalist I.D. Kanukov (1851–1899) in terms of literary work, the literary process, the socio-historical significance of fiction and the press and literary-critical constructions. The basic ideological principles of the heritage, it’s thematic, genre and methodological priorities, the circle of Russian writers especially authoritative for I.D. Kanukov, intertextual connections of his works of the corresponding kind are revealed, taking into account historical, biographical and cultural circumstances. The study finds out that the dominant place in the writer’s views on the historical significance of literature and the press is occupied by the educational and literary-centrist idea of “sacrificial service” to the truth and the people, through the prism of which I.D. Kanukov examines the works of Russian writers and interprets particular theoretical issues: the social status of a writer and a journalist, the relationship between a writer and a reader, creative direction, psychology of creativity, typification of character, etc.; that along with an unconditionally progressive, democratic understanding of the social functions of fiction and the press, I.D. Kanukov has some elements of didacticism and “orientation”. The place and significance of I.D. Kanukov’s journalism in the context of Ossetian and Russian literature and public thought is indicated.