The Crimean Text and the National Image of the World in I.S. Shmelev’s Story “The Sun of the Dead”

Abstract

The article discusses the concept of the Crimean text in relation to the autobiographical story of I.S. Shmelev “The Sun of the Dead” (1923). Attention is paid to the image of the multinational space of Crimea; the description of the peoples represented in the story (Russians, Tatars, Greeks, Ukrainians) is correlated with the concept of “national image of the world”. Shmelev’s interpretation of the mentality of the Crimean Tatars is analyzed in the context of religious priorities, details of the landscape, life, food, and external portrait. Interethnic parallels are drawn at the level of the storylines of the characters, points of intersection of cultures of different peoples are found. The conclusion is made about the similarity of the fates of characters of different nationalities, their opposition to the Red Army punishers, whose characteristics are non-national.