Title of the article:

THE IMAGE OF LIGHT: POETICS OF THE OLD RUSSIAN LITERATURE IN RUSSIAN LITERARY TEXTS OF THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY DECADES (M. TSVETAEVA, O. MANDELSTAM, A. AKHMATOVA, B. PASTERNAK) 

Author(s):

Tatiana I. Radomskaya 

Information about the author/authors

Tatiana I. Radomskaya — DSc in Philology, Professor, Institute of Slavic Culture, A. N. Kosygin Russian State University, Khibinsky proezd, 6, 129137 Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9442-7643. E-mail: radomtatig@gmail.com

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2021

Volume

Vol. 62

Pages

pp. 174–183

Received

September 10, 2021

Date of publication

December 28, 2021

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2021-62-174-183

Index UDK

821.161.1.0

Index BBK

83.3(2 Рос=Рус)6

Abstract

The topic of the present paper is the process of transformation of old Russian poetics in Russian literature in the beginning of the 20th c. and particularly the concept of light. The concept of light is very specific in Old Russian literature and can be perceived as phenomenological image and associated with sacral world. The concept of light may be transformed and manifested in different images such as protective veil or as a boundary between light and dark (which is explored through the example of old Russian literature). The literature of the early 20 c. proves that the concept of light is similar to one of the Old Russian literature and plays special role in works by M. Tsvetaeva, B. Pasternak, O. Mandelshtam, A. Akhmatova. It is due to transcendental vector of their works. In Tsvetaeva`s works light is shown through opposition “colour – light” that reveals sacral nature of it and white color. The works by Mandelshtam and Akhmatova demonstrate that light also can be white (similar to Tsvetaeva) but also connected with red color as it is associated with death of millions. In the Christian tradition it symbolizes martyrdom. The novel “Doktor Zhivago” by B. Pasternak illustrates that the source of light is inside material life. Thus, the concept of light in the works of postrevolutionary years reveals 2 types of consciousness (according to S. Frank) — immanent presence of common in nature and in human soul and strong feeling of transcendency.

Keywords

Noumenon, phenomenon, concept of Light, sacral, immanent, transcendent, “colour — light”, earth, heaven. 

References

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