Symbolic-Semantic Originality Components of the Artistic World Model of the Story “Pilgrim” by Ivan S. Shmelev

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal the originality of the figurative and motivic structure of the story by Russian emigre writer of the first wave, Ivan S. Shmelev. Images and motifs are considered as significant components of the artistic model of the text, allowing to identify the author’s value systems and the specifics of the linguistic organization of the work. The novelty of the study lies in the consideration of the text from the point of view of its world-modeling specificity. To achieve the stated goal, comparative historical, biographical methods, and the method of descriptive poetics were used. The results obtained during the study showed that the figurative-motive system of the story is included in the Christian context. Significant worldmodeling components of the work are the Easter motif, motifs of “childhood”, joy, holiness, righteousness, crying, miracle, fabulousness, abundance, spiritual purity, simplicity, spiritual kinship, silence, death, trinity, the image of light. Special attention is paid to the image of the child, who is the leading world-modeling category in the text. The artistic model of the world of “Bogomolye” (“Pilgrimage”) is structured from the point of view of the characteristics of child’s worldview. The chronotope of the garden-paradise and the “holy road” become important world-modeling universals in the story. In “Bogomolye” (“Pilgrimage”) the reader is presented with an image of a “golden” happy childhood, an idyllic world filled with love and a feeling of spiritual kinship of everyone with everyone. Particular attention is paid to identifying the specific color scheme of the figurative system of the story, full of deep symbolism. Along with the image of the hero, the narrative structure of the work contains the image of the author, which brings a nostalgic tone to the text. At the end, the author’s understanding of the motive of death, which reflected the intensity of the writer’s spiritual quest, is substantiated. Keywords: Ivan S. Shmelev, story “Bogomolye” (“Pilgrimage”), artistic world model, image, motive, symbol, semantics.