Bogdanova, O. and Vlasova, E. (2022). Andrey Sinyavsky’s ‘philological prose.’ St. Petersburg: Aleteya. (In Russ.)

Abstract

The reviewed study of A. Sinyavsky’s Strolls with Pushkin [Progulki s Pukhkinym] and In Gogol’s Shadow [V teni Gogolya] sets out to identify the principal narration strategies employed by the philologist and experimenter Sinyavsky, who in an unrestrained manner tackled the issues of the Russian studies of Pushkin and Gogol, as well as art and its functions. The book pays tribute to the writer’s unconventional philological studies: awarded a PhD at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sinyavsky was a staff researcher at the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Gorky Institute of World Literature and a lecturer at MSU and the Moscow Art Theatre School. Sinyavsky’s narration owes its character to the use of ‘philological prose’ devices. The book’s authors successfully argue that analytical discursiveness reveals itself through the characteristics of a scholarly study: the setting of research goals, the overview of the problem’s background, the analytical method, the structural makeup of a study, and the introduction of references and footnotes. The reviewer notes that the authors’ well-argued acknowledgement of the relevance of Sinyavsky’s findings sets their book apart from other studies of the subject.