The story and legends of The Forty-First

The article is devoted to B. Lavrenyov’s story The Forty-First [Sorok perviy]. The author sets out to identify the prototypes of the main character, the White officer V. Govorukha-Otrok. Among these, she names a famous critic from the late 1800s, Y. Govorukha-Otrok. All previous studies of this story were limited to its general aspects, with only the works of B. Geronimus, and to some extent, E. Semyonova, N. Titova, and G. Ratmanova, touching on the subject.

The article begins by analyzing the legends around the character, including those inspired by the ‘Cannes echo’ phenomenon: the artistic response of several writers to G. Chukhray’s film adaptation of the story. Bakhova proceeds to point out a close connection of The Forty-First with Lavrenyov’s other works, e. g. Wormwood Herb [Polyn’-trava], noting the latter’s polemical stance towards the ideology of the 1920s. In the latter story, Lavrenyov chooses to pursue an unconventional parallel with the epoch of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign [Slovo o polku Igoreve]. Finally, she points out the close affinity of The Forty-First with Russian folk tales. Consequently, she concludes that Lavrenyov’s inner defiance of certain postulates of the Bolshevik revolution and its newly-established culture is hardwired in the story.

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