The Color Symbolism in the Works of Saltykov-Shchedrin

Abstract

The article is devoted to the symbolism of color in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Color is a fundamental phenomenon of existence; various sciences, including literary criticism, study it. It is connected with the ideological conception of the work, with art space; it bears a visual function, emotionally colors the world depicted by a writer, enriches, makes it more complex. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s use of color is connected with the satirist’s talent to see the reality in the "concentration of evil". In the works of the writer, Russia appears to be ambivalent: it is a field of the rampage of the elements, energies, and the realm of deadness, of slumber, which is presented in the writer's palette by two achromatic colors. White and gray are distinguished by special semantic saturation. In Saltykov-Shchedrin’s works, their symbolism is seen in a negative aspect: white represents coldness, despair, insipidity; gray – poverty, sadness, rough weather. In the descriptions of the environment, these colors are accompanied by images of snow, rain, fog, which in turn are connected with the motifs of death, doom, and emptiness of life. Many of the satirist’s works starting from his early stories, Contradictions, Brusin, are emotionally charged in such a way. White and gray colors define the peculiarity of the artistic space of many works of Saltykov-Shchedrin. In the epilogue of the series Provincial Sketches, the ground appears covered with a white shroud. The tragedy of this image is compounded in the cycle of Well-Intentioned Speeches. Snow as a white shroud is the writer’s constant metaphor. Almost always when describing Russian expanses, monotonous, dull colors dominate in the works of the satirist. White color expands the space to the infinity overwhelming a man; gray increases the feeling of hopelessness. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s landscape correlates with the unclear fate of Russia, with mournful events in the national history, a fading aristocratic landlord class. These colors are associated with moral issues in the novel-chronicle The Golovlyov Family. In the tale Night of Christ, white and gray serve as the concentration of world evil. However, gray does not have only negative energy – the «gray tones» of the Motherland cause the writer to feel «love to the pain in the heart». Golden color in the idiomatic expression «Golden age», an age of harmony and prosperity, used by the socialists-utopians, to whose ideals Saltykov-Shchedrin always remained true, stand as the antagonist of white and gray. Color is one of the mental units forming the concept sphere of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s creative work; it reflects the diversity of the author's thinking, the philosophy of the artist-satirist, the worldview of a particular age, and the national picture of the world.