Pushkin’s artistic iconography in small prose by T. Tolstoy

UDC 821.161.1-32

DOI  10.20339/PhS.1-24.141  

Kovtun Natalia V.,

Doctor of Philology, Professor

Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev;

Professor

F.M. Dostoevsky Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy

ORCID: 0000-0001-6799-4685

e-mail: nkovtun@mail.ru

The Pushkin myth in the works of Tatiana Tolstoy has been studied in sufficient detail in criticism and literary criticism, the analysis of the author’s stories in this context becomes the subject of scientific reflection much less often. Meanwhile, the concept of Pushkin’s myth in the key novel “Kys” (2000) is based on the artistic discoveries made by the author in the stories. The key place in this paradigm is occupied by the “Plot” and “Limpopo”, which presents the cartoon iconography of the poet, including the main points of his biography: birth, duel, death and an attempt (re)incarnation in the reality of the twentieth century. With all the historical and biographical, ironic and tragic elements of the poet’s image, he retains elusiveness, mystery, he is read as a force capable of freeing Russia from the curse of the revolution, returning to the original, archaic meanings of poetic utterance as such. Pushkin’s narrative is included as the most important component in the narrative manner of T. Tolstoy herself: from direct quotations, reminiscences, allusions, travesties, palimpsest to understanding.

Keywords: Pushkin’s myth, T. Tolstaya, “Plot, “Limpopo”.

References

1.         Shemetova T.G. Tri tendentsii v sovremennoi literaturnoi «pushkinomanii» // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Ser. 9: Filologiia. 2009. No. 4. S. 55–66.

2.         Nepomnyashchiy V. Fenomen Pushkina i istoricheskii zhrebii Rossii // Pushkin i sovremennaia kul’tura: sb. st. Moscow: Nasledie, 1996. S. 6–61.

3.         Goshchilo E. Vzryvoopasnyi mir T. Tolstoi / per. s angl. D. Gantseva, A. Ilenkova. Ekaterinburg: Izd-vo Ural’skogo gos. un-ta, 2000. 200 s.

4.         Vorobyova S. Filologicheskaia refleksiia kak sredstvo esteticheskoi samoidentifikatsii avtora v proze T. Tolstoi // Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. 8: Literaturovedenie. Zhurnalistika. 2012. No. 1. S. 53–57.

5.         Vaikum L. Rol’ pushkinskogo diskursa v proze T. Tolstoi (na materiale romana “Kys’” i sbornika rasskazov “Ne kys’ ”) // Vestnik Severo-Vostochnogo federal’nogo universiteta. 2020. No. 4 (78). S. 31–41.

6.         Shemetova T.G. Biograficheskii mif o Pushkine v russkoi literature sovetskogo i postsovetskogo periodov: avtoref. dis. … d-ra filol. nauk. Moscow, 2011. 48 s.

7.         Kovtun N. Rus’ “postkvadratnoi” epokhi: (k voprosu o poetike romana “Kys’” T. Tolstoi) // Respectus Philologicus. 2009. No. 15 (20). P. 85–98.

8.         Tolstaya T. Reka Okkervil’: rasskazy. Moscow: Eksmo, 2006. 464 s.

9.         Baevsky V.S. Vstupitel’noe slovo // “Poka v Rossii Pushkin dlitsia, meteliam ne zadut’ svechu”: trudy seminara “Tvorchestvo A.S. Pushkina v istoriko-kul’turnom kontekste”, Smolensk, 10–12 fevralia 1998 g. / sost. i red.: V.S. Baevsky, N.V. Kuzina. Smolensk: SGPU, 1998. 179 s.

10.       Virolainen M. Rech’ i molchanie: siuzhety i mify russkoi slovesnosti. St. Petersburg: Pal’mira, 2016. 503 s.

11.       Borev Yu.B. “Pushkin — nashe vse”: (teoretiko-literaturnye uroki Pushkina) // Vestnik Rossiiskogo gumanitarnogo nauchnogo fonda. 1999. No. 1. S. 12–24.

12.       Tolstaya T. Kys’. Moscow: Eksmo: Olimp, 2007. 348 s.