Literary Connections Research Articles

Influence of Fedor Dostoevsky on Anna Seghers’ Novel “Dead Stay Young”

This article examines the literary connections between Anna Seghers’ “The Dead Stay Young” and Fedor Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov.” It is established that Dostoevsky’s works provoke both positive and negative characters in Seghers’ narrative to engage in profound reflections, thereby reshaping their worldview. Similarities are identified between the characters Ernst von Liven and Ivan Karamazov, including their education, disdain for humanity, demonic traits, and the promotion of the idea of moral permissiveness. The evolution of Ivan’s story unfolds within the context of his family’s history, while Liven’s narrative is set against the backdrop of the rise of Nazism in early 20th-century Germany. Whereas the Russian character is marked by constant reflection on fundamental existential questions, the German protagonist exhibits a demeanor of self-satisfaction and a pursuit of personal gain. Ivan is capable of internal moral judgment, while Liven is devoid of remorse. The character from the Russian classic is ambivalent, whereas Seghers’ character is unequivocally negative. Seghers aligns with Dostoevsky’s idea that individuals must face consequences for their wrongdoings. She engages with Dostoevsky’s traditions concerning moral issues, which are reflected on both character and thematic levels in her novel, while simultaneously maintaining her unique artistic approach as a critic of Nazi ideology and its adherents.

‘Ed: Agberowe’, Seventeenth-Century Collector of Restoration Playbooks

Abstract A number of seventeenth-century books-almost exclusively Restoration playbooks-bear the ownership inscription ‘Ed: Agberowe’ on their title pages (and often a second signature on a subsequent page). This article provides an overview of the books known to have been in Agberowe’s collection and supplies a brief biographical sketch, revealing some impressive literary connections to Butler, Milton, and Marvell. Recovery of Agberowe’s life and library has intrinsic interest in terms of his colourful biography and his literary tastes, which, it is suggested, may have developed in relation to his employment throughout the 1660s and via the family of his wife, Theophila Cornewall. Perhaps more significant, though, is that the recovery of Agberowe’s story provides a new example of a seventeenth-century book-collector who seems to have been interested primarily in acquiring playbooks.

UZBEK LITERATURE IN GERMANY (BASED ON THE EXAMPLES OF WRITERS ABDULLA KADIRI AND ABDULLA KAHHAR)

A unique history and intriguing contemporary aspects characterize the literary connections between Germany and Uzbekistan. The most significant phase is the period during which the works of renowned Uzbek writers, including Navoi, Babur, A.Kadyri, A.Kahhar, Aybek, G.Gulyam, Zulfiya, U.Khashimov, and H.Tukhtabaev, came to be translated into numerous languages, including German.

The living memory of South Russian Slavophilism

Olga Leonidovna Fetisenko is a famous researcher of Russian conservative thought of the second half of the 19th century, publisher of the complete works of K.N. Leontiev and a number of epistolary complexes associated with him. Her new monograph is dedicated to the forgotten Russian writer N.S. Sokhanskaya (Kokhanovskaya). At first glance, this book is intended primarily for philologists and literary scholars. However, it will certainly be useful to historians studying the social life of Russia in the mid-19th century. After all, the main attention in it is paid to the study of Kokhanovskaya’s literary connections and her journalism. In the writer’s work, Fetisenko identifies “two main directions”: a kind of “archeology” of southern Russian “antiquity” and “a response to current events in their “small details”.”

“Floral Ornament of Reality”: Flowers in Worldview of E. T. A. Hoffmann and N. A. Polevoy

The relevance of this study is grounded in the scholarly significance of the issue of Russian-German literary connections as a crucial factor in intercultural interaction. This article analyzes works in which the authors articulate a mystical sense of nature, based on the natural philosophical ideas of F. Schelling. The focus of the investigation is the national distinctiveness of Romanticism, manifested in the peculiarities of nature perception, particularly floral imagery. It is demonstrated that the Romantic writers of Germany and Russia perceived love, within the value-emotional framework of the Romantic universe, as a mystical feeling that enables one to penetrate the mysterious forces of nature. The floral motifs within the works contribute an additional allegorical meaning to the artistic worlds of E. T. A. Hoffmann and N. A. Polevoy. The “floral background” of the characters in the analyzed texts (the tulip Gamachea, the thistle Pepush, the bride Tis — Little Rose; Emma — cornflower; Italy — “poor forget-me-not,” among others) establishes a symbolic language of nature. Attention is also given to motifs traditional to German literature: yearning, soul affinity, reminiscence of a “different world,” and the union of lovers in death, which are reflected in the examined works of Russian literature. The novelty of this research lies in its consideration of N. A. Polevoy’s dialogue with the German literary tradition represented by E. T. A. Hoffmann as a result of his philosophical and poetic explorations.

Dionysus and His Discontents

Abstract The essay presents a comparative analysis of three modernist novellas—Heart of Darkness, Death in Venice, and The Turn of the Screw—focusing on their use of Dionysian motifs, whereby “Dionysian” is intended in its Nietzschean context. Alongside the thematic literary connections it draws, the essay also reflects on the motives and implications of Nietzsche’s Dionysism for modernist aesthetics: Nietzsche’s eventual subsumption of the Apollonian under the Dionysian ushers in modernity’s espousal of irrationality, disease, darkness, and concealment as its privileged moments of expression. However, this new Dionysism is also symptomatic of the anxiety experienced in the aftermath of the death of God (and the concomitant death of the soul), and the essay demonstrates that the figure of the irrational in all three novellas is conveyed in terms of the struggle of a soul.

The poetry of Maria Konopnicka in the context of belarusian-polish literary connections.

The purpose of the article is to study the artistic features of the lyrics of Maria Konopnicka, analyze the ideological and aesthetic foundations of her creative method and poetic style, as well as scientific understanding of the place and role of this bright representative of Polish positivism literature within the Belarusian cultural and historical paradigm. The introduction substantiates the novelty and relevance of the study of the poetic heritage of M. Konopnicka in the context of Belarusian-Polish literary ties. In the main part, on the example of individual poems, the ways of artistic comprehension by the poetess of a number of aesthetic, philosophical and socio-political ideas that are relevant both among the Polish and Belarusian creative intelligentsia are shown. This fact led to the emergence of literary followers, translators and interpreters of M. Konopnicka’s work, one of which is Yanka Kupala, the first national poet of Belarus. Also, the genuine interest of Belarusians in the Polish writer is explained by common cultural and historical values and traditions, a similar orientation towards representatives of the previous era (Adam Mitskevich, Juliush Slovatsky and some other Polish-Litvinian romantics). In summary, conclusions are formulated about the ideological and aesthetic searches of M. Konopnicka, as well as about the place of her poetry in the system of realism and the context of Belarusian-Polish literary ties.

Magomed Akhmedov's Artistic Reflections on Russian Poetry (on the Development of Dagestan-Russian Literary Relations)

The subject of this research is M. Akhmedov's literary reflections and his poetic works dedicated to Russian writers and Russian poetry. The purpose of this article is to present a picture of the development of artistic reflections on Russian poetry in the works of M. Akhmedov. The concept of the article is based on the material of works related to Russian literature and Dagestan-Russian literary relations. Introducing into the study a part of artistic reflections related to Russian poetry, we set ourselves the task of defining and identifying the principles and techniques of artistic expressiveness and figurativeness of M. Akhmedov, serving to embody the national and international character of his artistic thinking. The methodological basis of this research is based on the analysis of artistic works and is designed to determine the following research methods: comparative-historical, through which the nature of M. Akhmedov's literary connections is interpreted as an artistic phenomenon that has passed certain historical stages and is developing to the modern stage; comparative, which allowed to compare the ideological and artistic significance of Russian writers in the person of his predecessors and like-minded people; a method of holistic analysis of a literary work, which made it possible to determine the specifics of the evolution of M. Akhmedov's artistic thinking and its connection with the history of national and Russian literature. The results of the study can serve as a promising support for further study of Dagestan-Russian literary relations, as well as M. Akhmedov's artistic creativity in the context of the national and international literary process. Russian poetry and poets The scientific novelty of the study is due to the fact that the analysis of the works of M. Akhmedov devoted to Russian poetry and Russian poets was undertaken for the first time. The obtained results have shown that M. Akhmedov's artistic reflections on Russian poetry make it possible to highlight the role and significance of Dagestan-Russian literary ties.

WORLD LITERARY STUDIES AS A FIELD OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE: TRADITIONS AND TRENDS

Literature and art are continuously in search of new means of expression, and communication. In the process of renewal, artistic culture acquires new aesthetic principles, an artistic fusion of the objective and the subjective. The idea of a work in a realistic narrative sounds gradually, naturally. The plot develops around a fact that reveals the meaning of the work. The aesthetic assimilation of reality proceeds in several directions, in different genres of prose and poetry, drama and journalism, in a diverse creative manner, which is unique for each author of a work of art. The relevance of this article lies in the fact that it traces the evolution of the basic concepts of world literary criticism, which has its own scientific principles, systems of methods and terminology. Literary criticism and critical thought create a special associative field, confirming the importance of the transition in the literary process from ideology to issues of personal existence. Domestic and world literary studies are included in the research field of the humanities, but there are frequent attempts to absorb them into intensively developing interdisciplinary research. The scientific novelty of this research is seen in the generalization of the theoretical views on modern world literary criticism of major literary scholars and critics in Europe, the USA, the CIS countries, authors of sections of collective monographs of the Auezov Institute of Literature and Art «The latest foreign literature», «The world literary process of the 21st century», «Kazakh-American literary connections: current state and prospects», the textbook «The world literary process: content, directions, trends». The basis for the research is the scientific concepts of literary text analysis, theories of critical discourse analysis of literary works, existential criticism and others. Based on the analysis, review of the current state of the leading theoretical schools of world literary criticism (with cultural studies, literary criticism, structural poetics, the concept of semiosphere, theory of cultural transfer and others). It has been established that the science of literature has its own object of study, a special essence, which distinguishes it from the exact and natural sciences.

“Über dies eigene Ich wieder hinaus”: Stefan Zweig and Adlerian Psychology

AbstractThis article examines the biographical and literary connections between Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and psychologist Alfred Adler. While Zweig's reception of Freudian psychoanalysis has been widely documented by scholarship, the impact of Adler's Individual Psychology on Zweig's works has so far received little attention. The article will first establish the nature and extent of their personal relationship and Zweig's engagement with and reception of Individual Psychology. It will then draw on Zweig's posthumously published novella War er es? (1942) and provide an Adlerian reading of the text. It will be argued that Zweig's focus on Adler in his exile works owes much to his concept of Finalität, which Zweig adopts as a fundamental future‐oriented outlook in much of his later fiction and nonfiction.

I Всесоюзный съезд советских писателей в истории коми литературы

the article is devoted to the problem of the formation and functioning of the Komi writers’ organization in the period 1920–50s. A significant stage in its history is the holding of the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers (Moscow, 1934) and the participation of the Komi delegation in it. The article examines the forms and degree of influence of the results of the congress on the work of the Komi Writers’ Union, the development of national literature and journalism. Objective: determination of the main trends in the development of the Komi literary process as a result of the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers. Research materials: archive documents, articles in periodical press, verbatim report of the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers. Results and novelty of the research: the delegates to the I All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers with the casting vote from the Komi Writers Union were M. P. Doronin and V. T. Chistalev. The article is the first to study in detail the fact of their participation in this event. It has been established that the event influenced the further work of the Komi Writers Union and the process of development of literature. It is concluded that the results of the congress of the Communist Party of Bolsheviks, as well as establishing external literary connections, attracting writers’ attention to national folklore, and organizing work with novice authors.

Literary Chains Frozen in Tile? Proposed Literary Connections between Salmān Sāvajī and Aḥmedī as Observed in the Persian Epigraphic Programme of the Green Zāviye in Bursa (821–827/1419–1424)

The layers of Arabic and Persian epigraphy in the Green Complex (821–827/1419–1424) in the Western Anatolian town of Bursa, built for Meḥmed I (r. 816–824/1413–1421), are indicative of the literary horizon at this time. I argue that the extensive epigraphic programme is a contemporary source frozen in ‘tile’ and time, connecting the buildings to the concurrent developments in Anatolian literature. For the first time, I discuss the appearance of Persian poetry by the Jalāyirid court poet Salmān Sāvajī (d. 777/1376) on early Ottoman architecture, which ties in with the contemporary works of Tāceddīn Aḥmedī (734–815/1334–1413), poet laureate of Meḥmed I (r. 816–824/1413–1421). The preserved texts in the Green Complex allow us to obtain a new perspective on the transregional connections between the post-Mongol Turkmen world and the Ottoman sphere of influence.

The Azerbaijani-Uzbek Literary Connections in the Middle Ages: The Literary Influence and Common Themes

Makalede genel olarak Azerbaycan ve Özbek halklarının sanatsal ilişkilerinin tarihinden bahsedilmektedir. Orta Çağ Azerbaycan şiirinin Özbek edebiyatındaki rolü, bu doğrultuda Özbek şiirinin gelişimi, sanatsal etki, anane ve temayüller gibi edebî meseleler araştırmamızın konusu olarak belirlenmiştir. Klasik Azerbaycan şairi Nizâmî Gencevî `nin ve İmadeddin Nesimî`nin Özbek klasikleri Alî-Şir Nevâyî`nin, Mevlana Lütfi`nin, Sekkaki, Mukimi ve diger Özbek şairlerinin sanatına gösterdiyi etki, esinlenme, ortak konularda kaleme alınan eserler ve bu hususta genel Türk edebiyatının gelişimi makalemizin temel konuları olarak belirlenmiştir.

The Church music of Stanisław Moniuszko: Genre, Typology, Function, Axiology

Works of church music symbolically open and close Moniuszko’s creative path. Yet this species of music – by no means marginal, present during all the decades of compositional work (1839–1872) – is the least researched and not precisely ordered. This article represents the continuation of the author’s research interest in Moniuszko’s church music and covers the methodological issues relating to the genre. The four components listed in the title form the key generic ordo. Together they make up a thematically coherent complex, not previously dealt with in Polish scholarship. The aim of this article is to precisely order the composer’s church music in a scientific way. Since church music of this period is characterised by numerous literary (poetic) connections, which also applies to Moniuszko's work, scholars’ statements concerning religious themes in Polish literature and Romantic music have also been taken into account. The most general ordering of Moniuszko’s works of church music is made possible by a sort of standard musical typology (employed for music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), with scoring as a chief criterion. Axiology – the question of value – is the most difficult aspect of research into creative work, and it is of fundamental importance. Not all scholars take account of the philosophy of value. In the article, axiological issues are only signalled. Given the important connections between music and literature during the Romantic era (including in Moniuszko’s works of church music), the general theory of the axiology of the literary work is taken into account. The value of a work cannot be determined solely by its axiology in reception. Seen from the perspective of a ‘spiritual diary’, and also of a liturgical typology, the strands and types of piety, and literary connections, Moniuszko’s church music can be understood as ‘music of confidence and trust’, in the broader sense referring not only to individual experience, but also to collective, national experience.

Intertextual Criticism: Unveiling Literary Connections in Elif Shafak's Works

This paper explores the concept of intertextual criticism and its application in the works of renowned Turkish-British author Elif Shafak. By examining the intricate web of literary connections in Shafak's writings, this study aims at uncovering the intertextual tapestry woven within her narratives. The methodology involves close reading and analysis of selected works and a comprehensive survey of intertextual sources. The critical approach utilised is a comparative study, which examines the influences, allusions, and references to other literary works in Shafak's novels. The discussion highlights intertextuality's thematic, structural, and cultural implications in Shafak's works. Ultimately, this article concludes by emphasising the significance of intertextual criticism in enhancing our understanding of Shafak's unique literary contributions.

Contributions to the subspontaneous occurrences of Malva moschata (Malvaceae) in Hungary

Malva moschata is an alien species in Hungary, seldom cultivated as garden ornamental plant. Although considered as occasional escapee from cultivation, Hungarian literature has only cited Budapest as an example of such cases thus far. During a revision of the Malva collection in BP herbarium, several specimens were traced (mostly erroneously labelled as Malva alcea) which demonstrate subspontaneous occurrences of the species, primarily from the Transdanubian region (Hungary). The vouchers are hereby listed, arranged in alphabetical order of localities (settlements). Literary connections, if relevant, are briefly discussed.

RUSSIANS IN FRANCE, AMERICANS IN RUSSIA. NEW BOOKS OF THE SCHOLARLY SERIES ROSSICA. RUSSIA AND THE WEST. LITERARY CONTACTS & CONNECTIONS ALEXANDRE STROEV. DESTINS LITTÉRAIRES DES ÉCRIVAINS RUSSES EN FRANCE. MOSCOW, LITFAKT PUBL., 2023. 320 P.GALINA LAPINA. AMERICANS IN MOSCOW, 1930-1940. МOSCOW, LITFAKT, 2022. 206 P.

New monographs of the scholarly series ROSSICA. Russia and the West. Literary Connections and Contacts of the Litfact publishing house examine Russian-French and Soviet-American literary and cultural connections of the first half of the 20th century. Book by Alexandre Stroev is dedicated to the Russian writers (I. Bunin, Dm. Merezhkovsky, A. Bely, E. Zamyatin, M. Voloshin) in France, their literary and public reputation and the reception of their works. Galina Lapina considers American-Soviet contacts and joint projects (theatrical, cinematic, educational) of the 1930s and early 1940s. The heroes of her book are American writers, journalists, diplomats, artists, and students. Both monographs are based on archival documents, letters, memoirs, fictional texts, materials from the Soviet/Russian and foreign (French or American) press. The study of an impressive source array made it possible to reveal unexplored episodes in the life of Russian writers in France and unknown part of their legacy, to reconstruct the history of Soviet-American joint ventures in the fields of culture, education, literature, theater and cinema.

The Types of Allusions: Unlocking Literary Connections and Enhancing Meaning

This article is presented as an example of research on the study of the allusions in the English language. Allusion serves as a powerful rhetorical device that enriches communication by adding layers of meaning, establishing connections, evoking emotions, and developing characters or themes. Its functions range from enhancing depth and complexity to providing cultural and historical context, and from engaging the audience to showcasing the writer's skill and craftsmanship.

Who’s Afraid of Italo Svevo? Routes of European Modernism between Trieste and Virginia Woolf’s London

Abstract The Triestine author Italo Svevo spent a considerable amount of time in London and its environs between 1901 and 1926. His experiences there influenced his modernist writing, including Zeno’s Conscience, his most famous novel. Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press was the first to publish Svevo’s work in English. His story “The Hoax” marked their first translation from Italian and his short story collection The Nice Old Man and the Pretty Girl and Other Stories their second, helping shape the press’s international modernist program. Despite residing in the same quickly changing city in the same period and despite their literary connections, Svevo and Virginia Woolf have rarely been compared. They have been difficult to envision together in part because their gender, backgrounds, and nationalities separate them. By exploring Woolf’s and Svevo’s shared modernist networks, including London’s influence and Hogarth Press, this article reveals Svevo’s significance as an author who has not easily fit Anglophone paradigms of modernist fiction and whose associations with Woolf contribute to the growing challenges to nation-based literary histories.

Motifs of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘Notes from Dead House’ in Hans Fallada’s Novel ‘Wer einmal aus dem Blechnapf frißt…’

The novels ‘Notes from the Dead House’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky and ‘Wer einmal aus dem Blechnapf frißt…’ (‘Who Once Drinks from the Prison Chalice’) by Hans Fallada are analyzed in terms of literary connections. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a comprehensive and multifaceted examination of Hans Fallada’s literary dialogue with Fyodor Dostoevsky. A number of similar motifs are identified, as well as the fact that there are allusive “cross-references” between the characters of the novels. It is noted that both authors show the destructive influence of imprisonment on the criminal’s personality. It is emphasized that in both novels, the criminal is deprived of the ability for spiritual revival, and the writers criticize the unjust social system that pushes the “little” person to break the law. Drawing on the traditions of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hans Fallada shows in his novel that life for prisoners, both in prison and after release, is akin to being in a “dead house”, as it deprives the “humiliated and insulted” heroes of the opportunity to change their fate. It is concluded that comparing the novels “Notes from the Dead House” and “Who Once Drinks from the Prison Chalice” allows for identifying similarities in their ideas and outlining perspectives for further research on the reception of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s artistic experience in Hans Fallada’s work.