ARTICLE BY F.I. BUSLAEV “IMAGE OF THE LAST JUDGMENT ACCORDING TO THE RUSSIAN ORIGINAL OF THE 17TH CENTURY” IN THE CONTEXT OF TWO “THUNDERSTORMS” BY A.N. OSTROVSKY

Abstract

In the article, for the first time in the history of studying the drama “Thunderstormˮ and the libretto of the same name by A.N. Ostrovsky, a new source is introduced: the article by F.I. Buslaev “The image of the Last Judgment according to the Russian original of the 17th centuryˮ (1857). It is argued that Buslaev’s article played an important role in the process of creating the drama “Thunderstormˮ by Ostrovsky. It is proved that the original manuscript of the 17th century, published in Buslaev’s article, served as the basis for understanding and recreating in the drama the scale of the changes that took place in Russia in the middle of the 19th century. The special significance of the comparisons carried out by Buslaev between Byzantine, European and ancient Russian images of the Last Judgment is emphasized for the creator of the drama The Thunderstorm, who comprehends the phenomenon of transitional epochs in the centuries-old history of Russia. It is shown that in the problem-thematic structure of the libretto “Thunderstormˮ the event of the Last Judgment appears as a dominant. It is indicated that since the playwright’s acquaintance with Buslaev’s article and work on the drama “Thunderstormˮ, the seventeenth century has been in the center of Ostrovsky’s attention as a historiosophist.