Belousov, A. (2023). Culture. Literature. Folklore: Selected articles. Ed. by E. Belousova. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.)

Abstract

This posthumous collection of A. Belousov’s articles throws light on his scholarly interests. He was always fascinated by self-contained cultures that challenged the preeminent conventions of the day: Old Ritualist Orthodoxy, subcultures of various educational institutions (including Russian school folklore), as well as the provinces (in opposition to the capital city: while residents of the capital seek to slight provincials, the latter remain internally self-sufficient; in focus are provincials, people socially disenfranchised as a result of the Bolshevik revolution, as well as children pushed to the margins of the developing socialist state in L. Dobychin’s books). A doctoral student of Y. Lotman, whose structuralist studies caused seismic shifts, Belousov published his works in collections on secondary modelling systems, yet remained preoccupied with a human personality rather than verbal text as such. In his monographs, Belousov would outline topics, leaving others to do the research. Accordingly, an article by S. Neklyudov prefacing the collection is entitled ‘A Pioneer’ [‘Pervoprokhodets’].