Ethnographic and mythopoetic space of the novel “Big Argish” by Mikhail Osharov

Abstract

The problem of studying the traditional cultures of the peoples of Russia is relevant in the modern social science and humanities research. A significant role in this process is played by literature that reveals the peculiarities of ethnopoetics, worldview, and perception of the world. In fiction writing, the ethnic specificities are reflected in depiction in the natural world, everyday life, mentality, as well ethnographic features of lifestyle of a certain community. Based on the novel by Mikhail Osharov (1894-1937), the article examines the ethnographic peculiarities of depicting the world and man. Analysis is conducted on images of the characters through the specificity of their ethnopsychological consciousness and traditional worldview. The research employs semantic and axiological methods. The scientific novelty consists in the analysis of the national concept of the world through ethnographic peculiarities of depicting literary mages in the novel “Big Argish” by Mikhail Osharov. The novel was written in the Russian language, describing the unique culture, traditions and customs of the Evenki people of the early 1930s. During the political repressions, Mikhail Osharov was shot, and his artistic heritage was eliminated from the sociocultural space of the Soviet literature and literary studies. In the context of returning the names and heritage of the repressed writers, develops a new perspective of the literary works. In his novel, Mikhail Osharov preserved the peculiarities of traditional culture and everyday life of the Evenki people of the early XX century.