Middle Eastern Chronotope in the prose of S. S. Kondurushkin of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries: to articulation of the problem

Abstract

The object of this research is the early prose of S. S. Kondurushkin (1874-1919), journalist and writer, who served five years as a teacher in the schools of the Middle East, an active participant in Russia’s literary-social life, an employee of the newspaper “Rech”, war correspondent, author of several compilations dedicated to the Middle East, Russian Volga Region, Novaya Zemlya, and Siberia. The subject of this research is the techniques and approaches of creating the Middle East in the essays and stories, which were published for the first time in the journals “Russian Wealth”, “Russian Thought”, and “History Herald”. Reference of the Russian writer to the problems of the Middle East at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, development of artistic techniques, reconstruction of the flavor and the corresponding elements of the narrative require indicating the methodology used in the article. Along with the traditional for academic literary studies comparative-historical, historical-cultural, imageological and biographical methods, the author turns to the colonial/postcolonial, as well as imperial/post-imperial formats of research, micro-history approach, “deliberate” and "distant” reading, as well as holistic analysis. The article is first to examine the artistic peculiarities of the early prose of S. S. Kondurushkin in the context of his interest in problems of the Middle East. Special attention is given to analysis of the essay “Damascus” (1903) that demonstrates that everyday life of the religion serves for the writer as a part of the Middle Eastern chronotope, within the structure of which there are not only historical time with its transformations, not only historical space and its modern modifications, but also the current events. Such articulation of the problem defines the novelty of this research and outlines its  prospects in further examination of the Middle Eastern chronotope of Russian literature of the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, and academic pursuits dedicated to the creative path of S. S. Kondurushkin