The article examines Gorky’s avant-garde legacy. The author compares thewriter’s metaphors with the imagery of futurists and discovers aSuprematist flavour of descriptions in Gorky’s works. Examined in detail is the use of defamiliarisation ( ostranenie). In Gorky’s earlier works, its effect is diminished by the author’s comments on the technique. In the novel The Life of Klim Samgin [ Zhizn Klima Samgina], defamiliarisation features at its most accomplished level and becomes the organising principle of the narration. Theparticular relevance of defamiliarisation follows from Gorky’s natural tendency towards allegory. Defamiliarisation is analysed as a special case ofallegory (termed ‘a negative allegory’ by D. Chizhevsky). Gorky’s differences with the avant-garde movement were spiritual as much as artistic: a negative meaning of the ‘black square’ in his works proves it. The article shows how the image, unrelated to the famous painting but representing the philosophy favoured by Malevich, can be found in the collections Through Russia [Po Rusi] and Tales of Italy [ Skazki ob Italii], the autobiographic installment In the World [V lyudyakh], and in The Life of Klim Samgin.

The perception of A. Vvedensky’s work is prone to controversy: he is considered a precursor to absurdist literature; at the same time, his close friend, the poet Y. Druskin, insisted that Vvedensky was religious, and believed his absurdity, instead of representing a lack of meaning, points to a different kind of meaning. The article suggests an approach to the hermeneutic reading of the poet’s private symbolic language that helps to revise certain traditional assessments. The author argues that Vvedensky’s mature oeuvre consists of religious and philosophical allegories written in a most extremely absurdist form. At the core of the poet’s brilliant art of the cryptic portrayal of his innermost beliefs is the aesthetics of the absurd. Hence the alogical nature of his poetic dialogues and plays, semantic inversions and contaminations, paradoxes, allusions, aposiopeses, extended metaphors, etc. Subjected to ‘sweeping incomprehension’ are stereotypes of thinking and everyday language practices – from substandard vernacular and colloquialisms to philosophical discourse. Vvedensky’s ‘star of absurdity’ is seen as a symbol of revelation.

The article examines an incident in the history of Russo-German literary relations — the lectures delivered by a LEF (Leſt Front for Arts) leader Sergey Tretiakov in Germany (1930–1931) and their reception by German literary circles. Along with ecstatic feedback from leſtist writers, Tretiakov’s appearance provoked criticism from a more conservative public. It is to the criticism of the lecture from the viewpoint of ‘art for art’s sake’ that Gottfried Benn devotes his radio broadcast of ‘The New Literary Season’ (1931), subjected to a detailed analysis in this article. Although contesting Tretiakov’s views of the relationship between literature and politics, as well as offering their slightly cartoonish depiction, Benn provides a fairly detailed description of thetheses; it becomes an important source of information about the contents of Tretiakov’s lectures since one of them was never published. Comparing Benn’s rendering of Tretiakov’s ideas with other publications by Tretiakov, the author discovers that Benn presents an accurate summary of Tretiakov’s critical views on Russian classics and the role of a writer in a Socialist society.

The article considers A. Chudakov’s idea about the significance ofanunfinished fabula in Chekhov’s works with regard to the theatrical practice of the Hungarian director Á. Schilling. According to Chudakov, Chekhov’s works without an unfinished fabula resemble an extract from the character’s life, selected at random. This randomness convinces the reader that the storyline is virtually unembellished poetically. The fabula and the plot of a short story or a play are carefully extracted from the ‘stream of existence,’ which is endless. Chudakov’s assessments of Chekhov’s poetics suggest that a theatrical specialist’s desire to remove the barriers between the stage of Chekhov’s plays and their audience represents a suitable approach to the playwright’s textual world. An appropriate example can be found in a staging of The Seagull [ Chayka] in Hungary in the early 21st c., namely, ÁrpádSchilling’s version in the Krétakör theatre. The author focuses especially on those artistic solutions found by Schilling that enable the aforementioned phenomenon of the vanishing boundaries, art’s expansion into life and, conversely, life’s expansion into art, to be realised during the performance.

The genre-specific nature of L. Petrushevskaya’s The Time: Night [Vremya noch] and its intertextual aspect are examined in the context of ideas about the folk character of art. The paper especially focuses on drawing parallels with A.Akhmatova’s works. The authors pose a question: how does the story interpret the topic that is paramount for Russian literature — public consciousness? Petrushevskaya’s works typically evoke the drama of antiquity, Russian folklore and the Narodnichestvo ideology. Her prose brings back the images of the classical tragedy (fate, retribution, the chorus), common Russian folk mythologemes (an orphaned child, a frisky steed, and sister Alyonushka), as well as Pochvenniks’ theses about popular wisdom. The article suggests that The Time: Night both subverts and pays homage to it. The novelet parodies but also celebrates folk epos and its creators.

The article analyses Bulat Okudzhava’s ‘The Main Song’ [‘Glavnaya pesenka’] (1962). The poem’s metapoetic leitmotif and expressive structure are examined in a broader context of corresponding common literary motifs, Okudzhava’s poetic invariants, and immediately contemporary subtexts, including in song lyrics. The intertextual field comprises poems of the same metric structure, namely, three-foot amphibrachs. M. Gasparov specified
themetre’s appropriate halos: suggestions of a drinking song ( ‘zazdravnaya,’ sung to toast someone’s health); a ballad; an allusion to Heine’s manner (memory, dreams, daily life); a Romantic intonation; and, lastly, a ceremonial verse, including metapoetic works, i.e., written by poets about poetry (namely, V. Bryusov’s, A. Akhmatova’s, and V. Khodasevich’s poems). Okudzhava’s ‘The Main Song’ belongs with the aforementioned series, as well as with poems united by the leitmotif of walking (departing), rejection and the actual process of poetry writing. A detailed analysis of Okudzhava’s intertext and method helps reveal the originality of the poet’s take on a traditional topic.

The article analyses the publication problem of A. Tarkovsky’s so-called ‘small cycles’ — poems sharing a common storyline and theme, which were not, however, published as poetic cycles in Tarkovsky’s lifetime, even though he had planned them as such and leſt respective handwritten collections. According to the critic, Tarkovsky created these poetic compilations irrespective of the actual possibility (or impossibility) of their publication. His entire experience of ‘living in literature,’ long years of failed attempts to publish abook of original poetry, the type of forbidding censorship policy prevailing at the time — everything indicated that one should better give up attempts toget published in the heavily supervised literary sector. Bak concludes that a publisher of Tarkovsky’s works should focus on reconstruction of the corpus that was not meant for censors, as the two compilations of his lyric oeuvre— the one prepared for publication and the other preserved in manuscripts only— exist in a sort of ‘alternative complementation,’ as if in parallel to each other, and should both be considered for preparation of scholarly publications.

E. Berkovich writes about the polemic around one of the most famous poems about the Great Patriotic War — ‘Felt boots’ [‘Valenki’], more recognisable by its first line (‘My comrade, in death throes…’ [‘Moy tovarishch, v smertelnoy agonii…’]). Krasikov published a posthumous collection of poems Black diamond. Poems [ Chyorniy almaz. Stikhotvoreniya] by the war veteran and poet A. Korenev in 1994, including the poem ‘Blizzard. Night…’ [‘Viuga. Noch…’], which had never been published in Korenev’s lifetime and which echoes almost completely ‘Felt boots,’ penned by I. Degen. Ever since then, a number of people, including Korenev’s daughters, have argued that the poem is authored by Korenev alone and was misattributed to Degen, whereas in reality it was Korenev who happened on a handwritten copy of ‘Felt boots,’ passed from hand to hand during the war, and decided to appropriate what hethought an unclaimed poem. Berkovich retraces the history of the argument around ‘Felt boots,’ incorporating into his article extracts from publications by L. Lazarev, who knew Degen well, and his own correspondence with the author of the mystification Krasikov and the journalist Rakhlin, and confirms the poem’s attribution to Degen.

The article aims to explain the significance of Shakespeare’s transformations of the fairy image (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), which represent a shiſt in English mentality in early modern times and establish astill relevant tradition. The author follows the evolution of the perception of thesupernatural in popular consciousness, contemporary documents (bestiaries, treatises, and court proceedings), as well as literature (Spenser, Chaucer, and Milton). N. Zelezinskaya proceeds to identify the factors influencing the image of fairies in a religious, cultural, and philosophical context: opinions of d’Abano, Buridan, and Pomponazzi; the division into divine and false miracles, the Protestant crusade against the belief in spirits, the association of fairies with Papism, Elizabethan masquerades, and fears of James I and others. The article mentions the two traditions in thedepiction of fairies and explores the unique quality of Shakespearean images: agglutination of the two traditions in the same play, transformed appearance of fairies, distancing from the witchcraſt discourse, enhancement of positive connotations, and downgrading of the fairy queen’s image.

The article is devoted to the memory of an outstanding scholar — physicist, philosopher, theologian and translator — S. Khoruzhy (1941–2020), with whom the author maintained active communication for three decades. This communication included various human and scholarly encounters: meetings in person, correspondence, participation in projects and conferences, book presentations, and shared accommodations in Sofia and Moscow. The article reveals a number of hitherto unknown facts of the scholar’s biography. Also published are his thoughts on topics he found most relevant, based on an interview in Sofia in June 1997, transcribed by the author. Khoruzhy’s philosophical studies ran in parallel with his major subject (theoretical physics), but it was not until 1989 that his theological and philosophical works reached a wider audience. The article emphasises Khoruzhy’s versatile giſt: an original philosopher, author of the concept of synergetic anthropology and successor of the traditions of Russian religious philosophy, he is also atranslator of Ulysses, a scholar of J. Joyce, and a prominent figure of 20th- and 21st-c. Russian culture.

There are compelling similarities between Afanasy Fet’s lyric poetry and classical Chinese lyric poetry. This connection is traced in the article with specific examples. Fet, carried away by the ideas of Schopenhauer, argued that thepoetic feeling lives in every person and can be called the sixth and highest feeling. In classical Chinese poetry, the Confucian concept of ‘the sense of things,’ the Taoist formula ‘words and forms’ and the idea of the unity of man and nature played an important role. With characteristic fixation of subtle changes of light and shadow, with the transmission of flushed feelings, Fet’s oeuvre reminds the readers of the ancient Chinese lyric poetry. Like classic Chinese texts, Fet’s poems are textbooks where the idea of the unity of man and nature is developed. In both Chinese poetry and Fet’s works, human life goes into natural life, gaining eternity in the nature. As a result, although Fet was not familiar with Chinese culture, the intuitions that fed his work surprisingly coincided with pictorial techniques as a way of conveying emotion in classical Chinese poetry, separated from him by many centuries.

The article discusses the versatile talent of Dmitry Smirnov (Sadovsky), a composer and translator, who lived in the UK and died there in 2020. The article addresses the following topics: analysis of Smirnov’s work as William Blake’s translator; examination of the guiding principles behind D. Smirnov’s biography of Blake the artist; and analysis of Smirnov’s part in the adaptation of Blake’s oeuvre to symphonic music. In his lifetime, Smirnov completed and partially published his unique collection of William Blake’s translations into Russian; he authored and published the first scholarly biography of Blake in Russian; and composed a great many musical pieces, In a variety of genres, on Blake’s verse. A notable accomplishment of Smirnov’s as a co-creator of a ‘Russian Blake’ is his translation of two monumental prophecies penned by the poet of English Romanticism: Jerusalem and Milton. Regrettably, Smirnov’s work as a translator and biographer is little known in Russia — undeservedly so — although it merits serious attention; therefore, the article seems more than timely.

The article is devoted to the mystical manifesto The Last Day (1963) of the Lebanese novelist, playwright and journalist Mikhail Naimy (1889–1988). The author suggests that Naimy, under the spell of classical Russian literature, attempted an audacious experiment: by successfully combining the totality of concepts of Dostoevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man [ Son smeshnogo cheloveka] with the traditional mythologemes of Sufi poetry, this graduate of the Poltava theological seminary overcomes mystical imagery, and in doing so postulates human impotence in the face of the Nietzschean ‘eternal recurrence’ and the ineffable nature of true the ophanies. The article demonstrates the innovative character of The Last Day, a novel that stands apart from the works of other Pen League members: while Gibran’s The Prophet seeks to infantilise a religious myth, Naimy’s objective is to bring mythology back into the 20th-c. Middle Eastern literary discourse and reimagine it using the categories of contemporary existential philosophy. The study opens with a short biography, covering Naimy’s Russian and American periods.

The article sets out to reconstruct the famous comment made by a Soviet intellectual Vladimir Turbin with regard to the cultural space of the city of Yelets. The literary critic’s reference to an ‘enchanted city,’ which appeared in the Ogonyok magazine aſter his trip to Yelets in 1967, had far-reaching consequences for the people of Yelets; it equipped them with an idea that became foundational for the city’s urban identity in the era of Russia’s democratisation. In the early 1990s, Turbin’s comment was quoted by the city’s intellectuals and rulers, who used the high praise of the city to achieve political legitimacy. Commemoration of Turbin becomes integrated into the city’s politics of memory, as illustrated by a few specific incidents. At the same time, the history of the comment that defines the place of Yelets in Russian culture remains largely unexplained. The author hypothesises about the reasons for Turbin’s fascination with Yelets. Along with connections to Rozanov and Bunin, it is likely that Yelets appealed to Turbin as an opportunity to expand the geography of his guest seminars, as well as to research his own ancestry.

V. Essipov’s monograph is alandmark product of Pushkin studies. It follows the relationship between Pushkin and Benckendorff over a ten-year period (1826– 1836). Benckendorff’s character is shown in an entirely new light. Unlike the one-sided depiction promoted by Soviet literary criticism, the author creates a controversial portrait, greatly aided by substantial details found in documents. Essipov treats this historical figure not only as a functionary, but also a human being. He demonstrates that Benckendorff was not nearly as narrow-minded and primitive as his traditional image in literature. The reviewer finds that the book will be of interest not only to Pushkin scholars, but also historians and anyone who would like to learn about the unconventional approach to Pushkin’s relationship with Benckendorff. The monograph can also be useful for playwrights and directors who are fascinated with that particular period in Russian history and literature.

A review of the first scholarly edition of The Malachite Box [ Malakhitovaya shkatulka], a famous collection of tales (skazy) by the Russian writer Pavel Bazhov. Bazhov created his distinctive artistic world, which provided the basis for the subsequent emergence of the unique mythology of the Urals. Bazhov’s skazy are an example of stylised folklore, yet the stylisation is itself rooted in folklore tradition. This scholarly edition of The Malachite Box includes a comprehensive historical, literary and philological commentary. The editors examine the differences between all nine editions of The Malachite Box published in Bazhov’s lifetime and the first publications of the tales and their holographs and discover a number of minor textual discrepancies across all publications in question. The book has the tales arranged chronologically, which offers a chance to follow Bazhov’s creative evolution and get a better understanding of his connection with his time.

The collection prepared by IMLI RAN contains letters of the eminent specialist in local history N. Antsiferov and focuses on the biography of this St. Petersburg Imperial University alumnus, who, despite many arrests by the Soviet regime on trumped-up charges, incarceration in prisons and guarded camps and exile, preserved his inner freedom and, therefore, his scholarly potential. The book details the political context that brought about the outrageous persecution of this highly skilled and staunchly apolitical scholar aswell as the abrupt clearance of charges. Also included is a summary of his scholarly output in literary history, local history and cultural studies. The book lists the scholar’s acquaintances and correspondents, e. g., M. Bakhtin, V. Vernadsky, M. Lozinsky, A. Meyer, K. Chukovsky, B. Eichenbaum, and many other members of the intellectual elite. The book is celebrated as a landmark scholarly publication; highly praised are the text preparation efforts and explanatory notes.

The review deals with a book of reminiscences by Dalila Portnova, a niece of the writer Yury Dombrovsky (1909–1978), a preeminent master of prison camp prose who wrote extensively about Stalin-era repressions. The chapters devoted to the author’s family include Portnova’s memories of her late uncle that were first printed in the Noviy Mir journal in 2017; a sensation at the time, they also provoked a mixed reaction of surviving family members and people who knew Dombrovsky well. Yet no coherent attempts were made to disprove the publication (other than comments on Facebook), even though Portnova’s account is not without flaws and inaccuracies. In his review, Igor Duardovich points out the valid new facts recounted in Portnova’s memoir as well as its discrepancies and explains why the book is relevant for a complete reconstruction of Dombrovsky’s biography: a project as yet unaccomplished, either in the form of separate publications or as a monograph.