Russian Writers Research Articles

„Być albo nie być” − transhumanistyczna wizja przyszłości według Wiktora Pielewina (na materiale utworu "Transhumanism Inc.")

Victor Pelevin has established a reputation as one of the most interesting, controversial, and mysterious contemporary Russian writers. He is recognized as one of the leading representatives of Russian postmodernism. Pelevin is also known as an attentive and critical observer of the surrounding reality. He is sometimes described as a deep thinker, a prophet, and a visionary. Pelevin’s literary work entitled Transhumanism Inc. (2021) is the subject of the analysis in this paper. The purpose of the article is to show and discuss Pelevin’s transhumanist vision of the future in which an isolated brain (removed from its host) will be able to survive indefinitely in a specialized container (‘a jar’) and human consciousness will exist within a virtual reality. However, access to this ‘jar dimension’ will be exclusive, limited only to the wealthy, leaders, and world oligarchs. However, it is the vampires, as supernatural creatures, who will be the real architects of the world order. This paper focuses on the analysis of the selected aspects of Pelevin’s literary work − mainly those which can be viewed in connection with the assumptions of the transhumanist project. Special attention is paid to the idea of cyber immortality, the concept of morphological freedom, and mind uploading.

«Защита Лужина» В. Набокова в контексте традиций романа воспитания

The aim of the study is to justify the concept of the world-modeling strategy of V. Nabokov as a novelist during the Berlin period of his creative development. The paper proceeds from the obvious fact that the Russian writer utilized narratives widely used in the preceding literary practice, which the author elaborates to create his world picture enriched with new content. The first two of his novels, “Mary” and “King, Queen, Knave”, are constructed this way: one can easily recognize plots based on the motifs of unrequited love and adultery. However, regarding the subsequent novel “The Luzhin Defense”, a similar connection with the preceding literary tradition is not established. The proposed concept of the genre identity of this novel, coupled with its narrative features, adds some clarifications to its understanding. The study is original in that it is the first to reveal the causal and semantic correlation of V. Nabokov’s third novel with the European Bildungsroman. The underlying world model proved historically exceptionally productive. It is this model that the first-wave Russian émigré writer builds on. The result of the study amounts to the identification of the principles of artistic world-modeling underlying the literary strategy of V. Nabokov as a novelist during the Berlin period of his creative evolution.

The place and role of Chinese themes in Russian literature of the XIX – early XX centuries

The article presents the artistic perception of Chinese culture in the Russian literature of the XIX – early XX centuries. The author sets out to show a generalized image of China in the works of Russian prose writers and poets in a given historical period of time. The relevance of the research lies in the increased interest of modern linguistic science in the problems of intercultural dialogue. It is noted that the study of Chinese subjects in Russian literature is of indisputable interest for understanding the peculiarities of intercultural communication between Russia and China. The multifaceted Chinese culture is revealed through the eyes of Russian writers of the past centuries, who were attracted by Chinese images, plots, and motives. The history of Russian-Chinese relations is traced in the mirror of advanced Russian culture of the XIX – early XX centuries. The tendency to understand China as a unique civilization distinct from the European one, which had already emerged at that time, stands out. It is stated that the substantial development of ideas about China in Russian literature, at the time interval of interest to the researcher, is directly related to the emerging socio-political situation in the Russian Empire, the emergence of alternatives, both in terms of determining the further vector of social development, taking into account the problem of "West – Russia – East", i.e. the emerging situation of internal choice, self–determination and awareness by the ruling circles of the urgent need to work out a further path for the development of Russian statehood, taking into account the borrowing, on the one hand, of the Western, on the other – of the eastern model. This, in the author's opinion, explains the interest of representatives of Russian literature in the culture of the East, spiritual and moral values, philosophical reflections on the nature of goodness and justice, which had a centuries-old tradition in China.

Dostoevsky in the Literary Life of Armenia

The article examines the path of Armenian Dostoevsky studies — starting from the 80s of the 19th century. It was then that interest in Dostoevsky’s work arose in Armenian literary circles — in particular, in the periodicals of Tiflis, K. Polis, Petersburg, Paris. At the origins of Armenian studies of the Russian writer are the editors of Armenian newspapers and magazines Arpiar Arpiaryan, Levon Bashalyan, and Arshak Chopanyan. For the first time to Dostoevsky’s work contacted the editor of Tiflis newspaper “Mshak” Grigor Artsruni in 1880; he tried to consider the work of the novelist in the context of mysticism and religious views. And the first work of the Russian writer in the Armenian language was the story “Notes from the Dead House,” which was printed in 1885 in the weekly “Araks” published in Petersburg. The first work of the Russian writer translated into Armenian was the story “The Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree,” published in 1886 in the Constantinople newspaper “Masis.” The translation was not signed. In 1892, in the St. Petersburg bulletin “Araks” were published “Notes from the House of the Dead.” The unknown translator left the work unfinished. The new translation of the story was done by Yervand Otyan. In subsequent years, the works of Dostoevsky were translated by K. Mirianyan, Shirvanzade, S. Shalchyan, G. Lerentz, K. Surenyan, A. Mazmanyan, A. Mekhakyan, A. Hovhannisyan and others. The writer’s death became an occasion for new reflections on his life and work. At the next stage of Armenian history, at the beginning of the 20th century, discussions about the novelist’s work became more often, lectures and discussions were organized at the literary evenings of the Caucasian Society of Armenian Writers. Many Armenian writers and critics recognized the influence of Dostoevsky not only on their creativity, but also on world perception (A. Oshakan, K. Surenyan, Nar-Dos, Shirvanzade). Some of them became translators of Dostoevsky (Surenyan, Shirvanzade), and some initiated new translations (Arpiaryan, Chopanyan). In the second half of the 20th century, Karpis Surenyan, Levon Mkrtchyan and Karen Stepanyan became the most important actors of the Armenian Dostoevsky studies. Remarkable typological and comparative parallels were drawn between Dostoevsky and Mickiewicz, Narekatsi, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Schiller, Cervantes and other authors.

Fictional worlds of fantasy and "magical" prose as a space for generating supertext

In this paper, the author addresses the features of the supertexts based on the modern Russian novels, namely postmodern works, the genre of which can be defined as fantasy. One of the areas of research is the interpretation of the author's myth, as well as understanding the role of myth in literature. The subject of the study is an end-to-end code that unites the prosaic macrocycles of modern authors as a supertext unity. The object of the study is the macrotext as a format of a literary work in the literature of modern Russian writers. The authors consider in detail such aspects of the topic as the cross-cutting theme of an alien / adopted / unrecognized / illegitimate child and its connection with the genus and family, and the implementation of this theme in novels combined into trilogies or macrocycles. Both general scientific research methods and specialized philological ones were used in the article, namely: the method of qualitative content analysis and the narrative method, the methods of idealization and deduction are secondary methods of working with the material. The leading method was the interpretation of literary texts, which were the source of the parktic research material. The main function of the myth is to reflect a certain image of reality, being an add-on above it, containing specific semantic models and roles distributed among the characters, and also an expression of the author's position. The author's myth can be described as a playful, mosaic, inverse construct. The conclusions presented in the article can be used in further analysis of the work of modern writers, as well as when working with the concept of "author's myth" and studying the transformation of myth (both archaic and social, cultural, etc.) in modern postmodern literature. A special contribution of the authors to the research of the topic is the consideration of this motif in its diversified interpretation in various works and the connection of this motif with the onomastic code of works as one of the principles of the formation of a supertext.

Teaching method reading and comprehension of the text “Waves” (Sóng) by Xuân Quỳnh in the high school

Literature is an important subject in school education. Maxim Gorky, a famous Russian writer, once said that "Literature is human science." Studying literature is learning how to be human. Literature provides learners with knowledge about life and the hidden things in the human soul. Moreover, literature today also directly affects human emotions, making people's lives more meaningful, optimistic, and loving. Each essay, poem, and literary work in the general education program is a moral education lesson for students. It contributes to the development and perfection of students' personalities. In order to achieve effective teaching of Literature for students, teachers need to proactively change their teaching methods and mindset. With the topic of "Teaching method for reading and comprehension of the text Waves by Xuân Quỳnh in the high school" (Literature for class 11), we want to introduce a scientific and appropriate teaching method for students to receive and memorize knowledge. At the same time, we also hope that the topic will contribute a small part to the study of lyric texts as a useful reference material for teachers and students.

Российская правовая действительность на страницах произведений Н.С. Лескова

The article analyzes the works of the Russian writer N.S. Leskov, which reflects the Russian legal reality. In sharply satirical tones, the author draws a corrupt pre-reform court (“Waster”), images of embezzling government officials — the police chief and the quarterly (“Robbery”), images of nihilist criminals (“On knives”) and gives an example of true service to the Fatherland in the person of the quarterly Ryzhov (“Odnodum”).

Публицистика А.И. Солженицына как средство культурфилософской коммуникации

Journalism is traditionally considered as one of the means of effective communication. At the same time, writers often use a journalistic word to broadcast their ideological position regarding socio-cultural phenomena, respectively expressing original judgments of a cultural-philosophical nature. Among such authors is undoubtedly the outstanding Russian writer, thinker, historian, researcher of cultural and philosophical aspects of Russian history, public figure Alexander Solzhenitsyn (11.12.1918–03.08.2009), whose 105 th birthday is celebrated this year. The purpose of this article is to consider what cultural philosophical ideas this writer communicated to contemporaries and future generations in his journalistic works. The methodological basis of the research was made up of general scientific and interdisciplinary methods, as well as cultural analysis and cultural and philosophical tradition. According to the results of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that A. I. Solzhenitsyn actively used his journalistic works for cultural and philosophical communication with readers, which was expressed in philosophical and cultural reflection on such phenomena as, for example, freedom, nation, truth and lies, morality, morality, spirituality.

Dostoevsky’s Ethical and Aesthetical Conception and the Problem of Russian National Identity in A. Ponizovsky’s novel <i>Turning into a Listening Ear</i>

Purpose. The aim of the article is to investigate the influence of the F. M. Dostoevsky's creative heritage on the ideological and artistic originality of A. Ponizovsky's novel Turning into a Listening Ear (2013).Results. Ponizovsky's interpretation of Dostoevsky related to the theme of the Russian world and Russian identity. Two plotlines, social (ordinary Russians’ stories) and philosophical (controversy around them), create a conflict field typical for Dostoevsky's works: meaning of life and absurdity of existence, cruelty and compassion, Russian people and Russia. Dostoevsky's intertext is found at all levels of text organization. A deep philosophical understanding of the Russian life’s problems is achieved due to a set of Dostoevsky's intertexts, which have acquired the status of metanarratives in Russian culture (Grushenka's legend about the saving onion, devil's anecdote about a quadrillion kilometers on the way to paradise, Svidrigailov's image of eternity as a bathhouse with spiders). Following Dostoevsky's stylistic strategies includes the usage of a polyphonic novel resources, and reproducing individual techniques of the writer's poetics (anachronism, coexistence of fiction and non-fiction, using of Holy Scripture's text). The very person of Dostoevsky becomes an object of controversy for Ponizovsky. Colliding two concepts of the classic’s image – Freudian and Christian-oriented, the modern author creates a portrait of Dostoevsky’s conflicting personality.Conclusion. The perception of F. M. Dostoevsky's work by A. Ponizovsky is not only reminiscent, but also “genetic” by its nature due to the worldview commonality of these Russian writers.

Перевод творчества Солженицына в режиме «внутреннего распространения» в Китае (1960–1980 гг.)

In China, the interest to the work of A. I. Solzhenitsyn arose soon after the publication of his story One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in the journal New World with the permission of N. S. Khrushchev in 1962, which immediately attracted the attention of Chinese literary circles. However, the initial interest in Solzhenitsyn was connected with the political situation in China at that time. The period from the 1960s to the 1980s can be considered the initial stage of the translation of the writer’s work. Almost all the works translated during these years were marked by “internal distribution”. The purpose of this paper is to identify the features of the history of translation and publication of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s work in the “internal distribution” mode with Chinese characteristics. In the course of the research, for the first time, a connection is established between the system of production of printed materials in the 1960–1980s in China and the process of translating the works of the Russian writer, which determines the scientific novelty of this work. The author of the article pays special attention to the analysis of the historical background of the implementation of the “internal distribution” regime in China. The implementation of such a regime in the 1960–1980s was inseparable from the social, political and cultural context of the time. Knowledge of the context and historical background of this phenomenon will help not only to understand the historical conditions for the translation of Solzhenitsyn’s works during this period, but also to clarify the general picture of the acceptance of the writer in China. The study reveals that the label “internal distribution” for a long time influenced the perception of Solzhenitsyn’s work by the Chinese audience, giving rise to a critical, negative attitude towards the writer himself and his works. However, with the disappearance of ideological pressure in the 1990s, a rational study of the work of A.I. Solzhenitsyn begins in the Chinese scientific community and it is evaluated precisely from the point of view of the literary heritage.

العلاقة بين الشعر الفني والصور المرئية في فيلم مرآة لأرسيني أليكساندروفيتش تاركوفسكي وأندري تاركوفسكي

هذا العمل مخصص إلى مواضيع نظرية مطبقة على فلم المرآة للمخرج والكاتب الروسي تاركوفيسكي، فعمله يعدُّ نموذجًا جيدًا لدراسة العلاقات الفنية بين الفنون بشكل عام والثقافة المرئية للسينما الأدبية والتعبيرية بشكل خاص؛ لانَّ هذا العمل يجمع تقريبا كل الفنون (الموسيقى, الرسم, الشعر والصورة). الدراسة تشمل عرض عام لمشاهد الفلم، فضلًا عن تحليل البنائي لبعض الظواهر النظرية التي تظهر العلاقة بين الفنون سواء كانت الفنون هذه طريق عن ثقدمالتعبيرية (الصورة الشعرية) أو الصورة مرئية ( الصورة التصورية المرسومة او الصورة الفلمية) وكيف يتمالتنسيق فيما بينها من خلال وسائط للغويه وفنيه وتقنيه تشير بطريقة أو بأخرى الىاكيفراسس, ميتافورا,سينستسيا, متا ايماخن الى اخره.... التي تهدف إلى تهيئة الجمهور للفيلم، والتي تثيرحالة معينه من الحماس أو بعض المشاعر الحقيقة

Why Russia has botched diplomacy with Japan: comparisons of 2013–23 and the late 1980s

The prevailing narrative from the Brezhnev era to the present holds that Moscow’s relations with Tokyo failed to achieve a breakthrough due to a territorial dispute lingering from 1956. Japan had demanded the return of all four islands seized by the Soviet Union after Japan had announced its surrender, but Moscow had insisted on no islands or hinted at two. A different argument is made here: The primary culprit in the two periods when diplomacy took off was Moscow’s skewed thinking about Japan. Rejecting arguments for complementarity, historical parallelism, and balance of power, Russian writings in the late 1980s and 2013–2023 saw little value in Japan. Regardless of Gorbachev’s ‘New Thinking’ and Putin’s ‘Turn to the East’, the intellectual groundwork for rapprochement never materialized. This was a harbinger of other negativity about Japanese history, the Japan-U.S. alliance, and Japan’s ‘disrespect’. Failure to assess Tokyo accurately, including its many reasons for pursuing Moscow, testifies to a warped understanding of geopolitics as well as geo-economics owing to a distorted national identity. Misjudging Japan in each period paved the way to greater hostility to the West that followed.

A.S Pushkin Influence in Russian Literary Literature

This paper discusses the influence of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in the development of Russian Classical Literature. A.S. Pushkin, a great Russian writer in the 1800s. His contribution to the development of Russian literature cannot be seen as an eye. A.S. Pushkin was not only a poet, but also the greatest Russian writer. Alexander Pushkin's work is not only favored by literary activists, but his works are able to make changes to Russian literature. The development of Russian language literature until now has never fallen away from a Pushkin. Great Russian writer who has been recognized all over the world until now.

On Illustrating Dostoevsky’s Works

The article addresses several problematic aspects related to the illustration of F. M. Dostoevsky's literary works. Illustration in particular is one of the major ways to create an “artistic aura” surrounding a literary text. Owing to the visual interpretation of verbal imagery, a new associative layer and a possibility of reinterpretations of the text are able to emerge. The author argues that illustrating novels of one of the greatest Russian writers is a task of special complexity. First of all, this is due to the fact that Dostoevsky's literary portrait is based on different principles than his own. It is primarily linked to the fact that Dostoevsky's literary portrait is based on principles that differ from those of his contemporaries, such as Turgenev, Goncharov, and Tolstoy. External descriptiveness and detailed portrayal of the character retreat in the texts of Dostoevsky before the “energy of contradictions” inherent in the initial portrait of his heroes. As a result, the task of an artist illustrating novels by the Russian literary genius proves arduous: he must convey, first and foremost, the dynamics of personality formation of Raskolnikov, Myshkin, or Dmitri Karamazov, rather than stable recognizability and their physiological individuality. This perspective is applied in order to analyze the work of a variety of prominent illustrators in the light of Dostoevsky's ideas and anthropology. The author of the present study reveals the discrepancies between the writer's world and the embodiment of the characters' images in the illustration. Likewise, he identifies the ways in which, from his point of view, the most striking matches between verbal and visual images appear possible.

Twórczość Vladimira Nabokova – krajobrazy w zwierciadle synestezji

The text presented below contains an analysis of selected stories written by the famous Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov from the perspective of the phenomenon of synesthesia that he experienced throughout his life. Nabokov’s prose radiates colors, showing the writer’s extraordinary sensitivity to the often-complex effects of the influence of light on various surfaces. The intention of the authors of the article is primarily to direct the reader’s attention to the synesthetic moments of Nabokov’s prose and to scientific sources describing and explaining their dynamics, function and origin. Like a boomerang, returns the question about the state of mind of artists who create a unique reality, previously unknown and difficult to grasp for many people. The article is also a form of dialogue between literature and psychology, which in the case of such a complicated mind as Nabokov had, may be valuable.

Научная рецензия на монографию А. Г. Головачевой «А. П. Чехов и Крым». Изд-е 2-е, испр. и доп. М.: Театральный музей им. А. А. Бахрушина, 2022. 200 с.: ил.

The book under review is based on extensive factual and archival material and offers the history of the last years of A. P. Chekhov’s life and creative work in Crimea. The book introduces the writer’s contradictory impressions of Crimea, the literary tradition in the depiction of the southern coast of Crimea by Russian writers and the reflection of Crimean places in the works by Chekhov himself.

Getting out of history: Levitation and paralysis in Sebald and Nabokov

Abstract Nabokov and Sebald confronted the dark sides of their national histories and tried to exempt themselves from them. Nabokov liberated himself from its burden by escaping into levitation, whereas Sebald’s willing exposure to its consequences ended in paralysis. Nabokov appears in his Emigrants as the equivocal figure of the ‘butterfly man’ who is simultaneously mobilizing and immobilizing. This is like the Russian writer himself, who used to adopt butterflies’ metamorphoses as a writer and paralyze them as a lepidopterist. Contrary to him, Sebald was horrified by their immobilization and sincerely empathized with them. Eluding the detached position of an ultimate authority and making his author deeply attached to all kinds of ‘nocturnal’ creatures, he created an unreliable but indispensable narrative agency. If Nabokov was at pains to deaden the uneasy memories of his past in order to relieve the present of their contamination, Sebald took the other way around, adhering to the most painful of them in order to enlighten their subterranean existence. He was committed to manifest these deeply buried remnants via his protagonists and narrators, however this amounted to the expulsion of those among them that had no other choice but to stick to life in darkness.

«Zapiski ohotnika» I.S. Turgeneva v kitajskoj perevodcheskoj i issledovatel'skoj recepcii

Historically, there has been close cultural interaction between Russia and China, which was largely influenced by Russian literature. Russian classics translations in China occupy a special place, and it is generally recognized that many Russian writers have had and continue to have an impact on the attitude of Chinese society towards Russia. Creativity I.S. Turgenev shaped the worldview of more than one generation of Russians, and with the advent of translations of his works into Chinese, it continued its influence on Chinese society. Interest in the prose of I. S. Turgenev in China has been going on for decades, but today there is an intensification of research into his work. The article reveals the influence of China's political course on the literary process in the country, traces the line of historical development of attention to Russian literature and, in particular, the attention of Chinese translators to the cycle of stories “Notes of a Hunter”.

И. С. Тургенев – читатель поэмы Овидия «Метаморфозы»

This paper is the first attempt to address the problem of the perception of the Ovid’s creative work by Ivan Turgenev. The analysis and interpretation covers the reader’s notes left by the Russian writer on the pages of the original edition of the poem Metamorphoses from his personal library. The largest number of notes is found in the first book, which is the starting point of the entire poem presenting the formation of the world. In the epic picture of overcoming the chaos and the emergence of the cosmos, it is man who is of exclusive interest to Turgenev. Ovid explores man and his existence in constant movement and transition. This issue becomes more tangible when intertwined with the themes of love and nature. Turgenev directs his attention to the portrayals of Daphne being chased by Phoebus and Syringa burdened by Pan’s affection. It is the problem of the defining greatness of the gods and the metamorphosis of man taken as punishment that Turgenev emphasizes in the sixth book. He dwells on the episode of the contest between Pallas and Arachne. The theme of man’s punishment for a crime specifically captured Turgenev’s interest through the example of individual stories in the second and eighth books. Of particular interest to Turgenev was nature. He considered its intricate relationship with the realm of emotions and personal experiences rather than focused only on its landscape form. The subject of nature, as depicted in Orpheus’ singing, is also of interest to Turgenev.

What is in a Name? Russian Writers in Internet Statistics

What is in a Name? Russian Writers in Internet Statistics