The Image of the Perception of the Japanese and Japan in the Pre-Revolutionary Experience of Artistic Reflection: The Genre Aspect

Abstract

The relevance of the research is determined by the interest of modern literary criticism in the imagological aspects and the problem of developing a research strategy in relation to this kind of texts. The novelty of the work is defined by the genre approach to the study of the image of perception of Japan and the Japanese in Russian pre-revolutionary literature dedicated to the events of the Russian-Japanese war, the introduction of previously unknown texts into scientific circulation, a comparative analysis of narrative strategies that determine the genre specificity of each text. The purpose of the work is to explicate the genre originality of works on the RussianJapanese war, which determines the perspective of the pre-revolutionary artistic reception of the image of perception of Japan and the Japanese in Russia. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach that underpins the imagological paradigm of research. The authors rely on Russian and Chinese works on the history of Japan, Russian-Japanese relations, ethnography of Japan, ethnopsychology, religious studies, on the broad context of imagological research; apply historical-literary, comparative-historical, immanent analysis methods. The complex research is based on modern works concerning the problems of genre studies. The article traces the path of transformation of perceptions of Japan and the Japanese in Russian literature since the middle of the 19th century to the beginning of 20th century which is determined by the genre task of the works: from the first travelogues to the jingoistic notes in periodicals and further to “pacifist” fiction and post-war artistic experiences – the spy and detective text by A. I. Kuprin, the military diaries by V. V. Veresaev, a children’s ethnographic story by I. I. Mitropolsky. We conclude that the tragic and inglorious experience of the Russian-Japanese war pushed the horizons of not only the scientific comprehension of Japan and the Japanese by Russian scientists but also giving development to various genres of Russian literature opened the artistic possibilities of new ethnocultural and ethnopsychological experiences of self-knowledge of Russianness and Russians.