“Using the similar outlines of events”: events of June 1918 in the image of Artyom Vesyoly, P. Dorokhov and A. Tolstoy

https://doi.org/10.20339/PhS.4-20.082 

Perepelkin Mikhail A.,

Doctor of Philology, Professor

of the Russian and Foreign Literature and Public Relations Department

Korolev Samara National Research University

e-mail: mperepelkin@mail.ru

The article considers several texts written on the same “historical canvas” (“canvas” here refers to the events of June 1918, when the troops of the Czechoslovak corps took Samara with battle), — P. Dorokhov “Because of the steppe ridges (From the Czechoslovak Socialist Revolution)” novel by A. Tolstoy’s “Eighteenth Year” and the Artyom Vesyoly’ sketch of “Brothers” (early version — “Charles and Arseny”). A comparative analysis of these works suggests that, talking about the “assault on Samara” by the troops of the Czechoslovak corps in June 1918, P. Dorokhov sought to understand these events rationally, that is mean to understand it’s causes, effects, etc.; artistic position A. Tolstoy was associated with the understanding of these same events with the help of the “abdomen”, which was understood as a sense of life, human psychology and physiology; the understanding sought by Artyom Vesyoly was the understanding of «the heart», with the blood of which Russia was washed, which the writer spoke about in the novel “Russia Washed with Blood” and in the sketch “Brothers” included in this novel.

Keywords: Artyom Vesyoly, P. Dorokhov, A. Tolstoy, comparative study, history, assault on Samara, the image of the city.

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