People and Nature of the Urals: Variants of Representation in the Wartime Literature

Abstract

The study is focused on identifying and analysis of the two conceptual blocks that literary represent the Urals in wartime: the Ural character and the Ural nature. The study material consists of works of different genres, from documentary essays to verse journalism. It is shown that the idea of the original Ural character is generally perceived by an independent view of journalists sent to the Urals to report labor feats at the home front (it is akin to the military feats), and writers stranded in the Urals as a result of the evacuation. Optical differences allowed the creation of a sophisticated image of the Ural people. On the one hand, these are soldiers of fabulous courage, and masters of high work culture, but on the other hand, these people are reserved, strict, and not always friendly. The representation of the Urals’ nature is just as ambiguous. The article describes two variants offered by the writers of wartime. The first one fully meets the socialist realism canons: the mighty people of the Urals were born of a majestic nature, and this place is cold and barely adjusted to life. It is emphasized that the conviction of the necessity of living and working under the circumstances in which people found themselves during the wartime, was dominant regarding all literature.