Academic literature on the topic 'Russian Epistolary fiction'

Ever since its publication the success of Fedor Dostoevskii's first novel Poor Folk has been ascribed primarily to the characterization of its “naturalistic” hero, Makar Devushkin, not to its sentimental heroine, Varen'ka Dobroselova. Although critics have continued to discover new merits in Poor Folk, in the end it is Devushkin who dominates the novel and on whom, in one way or another, most of its virtues depend. Not only is Devushkin the protagonist, he is also at the center of the novel's important innovations in style, theme, and characterization. Dostoevskii took the poor copying clerk, a type that for a decade had been used as a stock device—and most often the butt—of Russian comic fiction, and transformed him into the hero of a tragi-comic sentimental novel. This transformation was much abetted by Dostoevskii's use of the epistolary form— a form common to the sentimental novel of the eighteenth century, but long outdated in Russia by the 1840s—for it permitted the hero to tell his own story and, by so doing, to reveal the sensitive human being behind the comic mask.

The article is dedicated to the study of the most significant and popular Old Russian scribe – “Alphabetical”, written in the late 16th – early 17th century according to researchers. The assumption is made that it was replenished and adjusted over several decades, quickly responding to the demands of the times and reflecting the main processes that took place in Russian literature of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The scribe reflected the central feature of this period: the interaction of the traditional and the new, with an emphasis on the new. It demonstrates such new aspects of Russian literature of the 17th century as secularization, democratization, fiction, and individualization. It is rather telling that the vast majority of sample messages are private letters written for relatives and friends. Particularly noteworthy are the samples of ‘anti-friendly’ letters, some of which are parodies of friendly letters. They make up an organic part of the 17th century parodies, namely such satirical texts as Kalyazinsky Petition, The Dowry Document, The Tale of Ersh Ershovich, The Service of the Tavern. As it is known, parodies play a crucial role in the turning periods of literary development, which was the 17th century. In this era, first of all, the most stable and therefore most recognizable genres were parodied: business (petitions, dowry, court documents, etc.) and church (hagiographies, prayers, akathists, church services, etc.) writing. Quite noteworthy is the appearance along with these parodies of the parody of the epistolary genre, indicating that it had fully developed, and occupied a proper place in the system of literature genres, and was unmistakably recognized by authors and readers. Moreover, a new, ‘secular’ version had developed and was recognized: friendly letters, which were by no means educational, unlike those popular in Ancient Russian literature of previous centuries.

The article is dedicated to the study of the most significant and popular Old Russian scribe – “Alphabetical”, written in the late 16th – early 17th century according to researchers. The assumption is made that it was replenished and adjusted over several decades, quickly responding to the demands of the times and reflecting the main processes that took place in Russian literature of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The scribe reflected the central feature of this period: the interaction of the traditional and the new, with an emphasis on the new. It demonstrates such new aspects of Russian literature of the 17th century as secularization, democratization, fiction, and individualization. It is rather telling that the vast majority of sample messages are private letters written for relatives and friends. Particularly noteworthy are the samples of ‘anti-friendly’ letters, some of which are parodies of friendly letters. They make up an organic part of the 17th century parodies, namely such satirical texts as Kalyazinsky Petition, The Dowry Document, The Tale of Ersh Ershovich, The Service of the Tavern. As it is known, parodies play a crucial role in the turning periods of literary development, which was the 17th century. In this era, first of all, the most stable and therefore most recognizable genres were parodied: business (petitions, dowry, court documents, etc.) and church (hagiographies, prayers, akathists, church services, etc.) writing. Quite noteworthy is the appearance along with these parodies of the parody of the epistolary genre, indicating that it had fully developed, and occupied a proper place in the system of literature genres, and was unmistakably recognized by authors and readers. Moreover, a new, ‘secular’ version had developed and was recognized: friendly letters, which were by no means educational, unlike those popular in Ancient Russian literature of previous centuries.

Introduction. The Kalmyks are one of the few peoples in Russia to have developed a script system of their own centuries ago. Spiritual culture of the ethnos can be traced in numerous original and translated texts of philosophical treatises, medical writings, historical chronicles, grammar essays, diaries of Buddhist pilgrims, fiction, recorded folklore materials, etc. The Kalmyk vertical script was also used for official writing. From the 17th century onwards, in the Lower Volga Kalmyks would expand their knowledge of Russian record keeping procedures (in diplomatic, military and economic contacts), however, adhering to their own writing traditions. Archival materials available attest to that the then genres of Kalmyk official writing were diverse enough, which makes it essential to reveal and investigate some authentic genre samples, classify the latter, identifying certain structural, stylistic, and language features. Goals. So, the paper seeks to essentially and structurally describe the revealed genres. Materials. The work analyzes documents stored by the National Archive of Kalmykia. Conclusions. Current research results indicate in the 17th-19th centuries the Kalmyks did possess a comprehensive official writing system characterized by genre diversity, which makes the introduction of the terms ‘Kalmyk official writing’ and ‘genre of Kalmyk official writing’ reasonable and necessary. The study delineates a number of functional genres, such as cāǰiyin bičiq, zarčim (Cyrillic цааҗин бичг) ‘codes, regulations’, amur yabuxu bičiq (Cyr. амр йовх бичг) ‘letter of discharge’, ayiladxal bičiq (Cyr. әәлдхл бичг) ‘report, dispatch’, erelge (Cyr. эрлһ) ‘petition’, andaγār (Cyr. андһар) ‘vow’, tō (Cyr. то) ‘register’, and the vastest one — bičiq (Cyr. бичг) ‘epistolary message’. However, there are still titles of documents to explore, e.g., bičiq tamaγa (Cyr. бичг тамһ) ‘letter-seal’, elči bičiq (Cyr. элч бичг) ‘letter (to be delivered by) a special messenger’, zarliq (Cyr. зәрлг) ‘order; decree’, etc. In this context, further research of Kalmyk official writing documents can be a priority focus of Mongolian studies. Archival sources are only being discovered, and have not been studied due to large numbers. Thus, the genre structure presented is incomplete and shall definitely be revised or extended.

Within the general array of the studies on the issues of immigration during the era of intensive migration processes induced by the Russian revolution of 1917, the approach of researching into cultural self-preservation and cultural identity of the immigrants is used to a considerably lesser extent. At the same time, such an approach, especially if supplied with evidence in the form of fictional and journalistic works, is extremely important for understanding the socio-cultural adaptation of an individual to the new environment and determining the specifics of cultural integration associated with the inevitable and dramatic clash of different cultural stereotypes. The emigrant generation of Russians of the “first wave”, who found themselves in Africa, had the ability to create literature. There were many women among them, for whom literary testimony, poetry, and journalism were important. Epistolary became one of the ways of cultural expression, recreating the history of communities whose existence for a long time remained little known. The use of these sources opens up new areas of life and history of Russian emigration. Life at the crossroads of different cultural traditions, tragic awareness of their isolation from the native culture, challenging experience of learning a foreign culture, as well as the existence within the space of different traditions of life – all these marks of the cultural composure of a Russian emigré of the first half of the 20th century can be found in their journalistic and fictional works. In the works of Russian emigrants, there is a special subtlety of psychological mood, a special insight into their own lives, their “I”, and a special piercing compassion for the world around them. Hence the special lyricism of the women’s prose and poetry, despite the dramas of life reflected in them, and the specialness of their position in this world. Their literary samples are a vivid evidence of a bygone era and represent fresh inclusions in the general literary process. Combining with the poetic and prose streams of Russian emigrant literature, they join together in the general world literary process that was experienced by the 20th century.

As a result of the latest findings in the archives of Russia and the United States, the correspondence between Mikhail Zenkevich and Orville Wright is published for the first time (the originals in English are supplemented with the Russian translations). This correspondence was conducted between 1932–1933, which correlates to the time period Zenkevich was working on the first biography of the pioneer aviators in Russian, Brat’ia Rait (The Wright Brothers, 1933). Also included are excerpts from the letters of foreign literati and colleagues, such as Michael Gold, Harold Heslop, Maurice Becker, Helen Black, as well as domestic correspondents, K. K. Kuraev among them. The article deliberates upon the direct influence of the materials provided by O. Wright on the book. A review of the holdings on the theme of aviation in Zenkevich’s fund (IRLI Pushkinskii Dom) is provided. The examination of the little- known biographical details, as well as the parts of the poet’s epistolary legacy and his prosaic works, adds to the analysis. Taken together, this all has allowed for substantiation of certain presumptions about other possible sources of the book. The article interprets some literary features of Brat’ia Rait by tracing the development of the theme of aviation in the earlier poems by this former Acmeist, and by drawing parallels with some of his later short and long poems, such as “Al’timetr. Tragorel’ef” (Altimeter. Tragic Relief) and “Torzhestvo aviatsii” (The Triumph of Aviation), and a short novel “Na strezhen’” (On the River Bend) and fictional memoirs Muzhitskii Sfinks (The Peasant Sphinx). Finally, some intertextual parallels between “The Triumph of Aviation” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” translated by Zenkevich, are revealed. The conclusion is made that the materials received from O. Wright have subsequently influenced the long poem “The Triumph of Aviation” and other works by Zenkevich. The publication is equipped with detailed notes, commentaries and illustrations.

Narcissism as a multifaceted problem is studied in contemporary Ukrainian literary studies, including in psychoanalytic works devoted to philology. In particular, it is a project of the psychohistory of the Ukrainian literature proposed by Nila Zborovska. But the problem of narcissistic perversion, which is becoming more and more relevant in modern times, has not yet been isolated in literary criticism. Instead, fiction is an example of a clear depiction of such a problem in the images of imitators, egocentric manipulators, the display of unhealthy (sick) relationships etc. The main features of the perverse narcissist are singled out in the article. At the same time, manifolds and greater breadth of this type were found in the example of fiction (as opposed to the regularities in accessible psychoanalytic studies). The examples of hysteria and hysteroidism in reliance on the heroines of Lessya Ukrainka are considered, compared with the image of Lisa Khokhlakova in the novel by F. Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov”. The paralyzed Ukrainianity and paralyzed Christianity in the feminine version are singled out. It is found that the absence of sublimation (in relation on Nerisa) leads to loss of moral qualities. The research emphasizes on the national identity (Nerisa vs Euphrosyne and Antaeus). The characters of Nerisa (“Orgy” by Lessya Ukrainka) and Salome (O. Wilde) are compared. The Lady Macbeth syndrome was identified as one of the signs of perverse narcissus. On the basis of the analyzed texts, there are extracted some binary oppositions, such as: sacred/profane, introvert/extravert, spiritual/fleshly, up(top)/low, creativity/imitation, Eros/Thanatos. Methods of research: comparative, Jungian (analytical psychology), translation studies, mythological, intermedial. For a clearer understanding of the clinical picture of feminine characters, the historical context is presented. The material of the analysis is artistic literature and opinion journalism (epistolary texts). Attention is paid to the texts of the Ukrainian, British, American, Austrian, Russian literatures, as well as folklore and mythology of different nations. Keywords: text, work, archetype, character, narcissistic perversion, narcissist, manipulation, aggressor, victim.

Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum on olnud teerajajaid digihumanitaaria valdkonnas juba 1990. aastatest, alates arvutikultuuri laiemast levikust. Väärtuslike andmekogude haldamisel on olnud missiooniks nende kättesaadavaks tegemine avalikkusele. Kultuuripärand avati laiemale kasutajale kahes suunas: sisupõhised otsitavad andmebaasid ning suhtepõhised andmekeskkonnad. Siinse artikli eesmärgiks on näidata arvutusliku kirjandusteaduse tänapäevaseid võimalusi ja nendega seotud kirjanduslike keeleressursside loomist koostöös korpuslingvistidega. Artiklis analüüsin kultuuripärandi sisukeskkondade ja andmekoguside kasutusvõimalusi masinloetava keeleressursina. Esimeste selliste katsetena on valminud kirjavahetuse ja kriitika märgendatud keelekorpused päringusüsteemis KORP. Käesolev uurimus toob on 20. sajandi alguse mõjukriitika probleemi näitel välja kirjanduslike keelekorpuste potentsiaali kultuuripärandi uurimisel. Estonia can soon expect an explosive growth in digital heritage and text resources due to the current project of mass digitisation of national cultural heritage (printed books, archival documents, photos, art, audiovisual, and ethnographic artifacts) (2019–2023). This will give new opportunities for different fields of digital humanities and make digitised heritage accessible to everyone in the form of open data. The project will focus on the usage of the heritage, on the needs of education, e-learning, and the creative industry, including digital creative arts. The aim of this article is to examine some research possibilities that opened up for literary history due to the digitisation of literary works and archival sources and to put them in the general context of digital humanities. Although the field of digital humanities is broad, the meaning of DH is often reduced to methods of computational language-centered analyses, mainly based on using different tools and software languages (R, Stylo, Phyton, Gephy, Top Modelling etc.). While the corpus-based research is already a professional standard in linguistics, literary scholars are still more used to working with traditional methods. This article introduces two digital literary history projects belonging to the field of digital humanities and analyses them as language resources for creating texts corpora, and introduces some results of the case study of Estonian criticism from the Young Estonia movement up to the 1920s, carried out using the literary texts corpora in the corpus query system KORP (https://korp.keeleressursid.ee) by the Centre of Estonian Language Resources. During the past twenty years, I have mainly focussed on developing large-scale implementation projects for digital representation of Estonian literary history. The objective of these experimental projects has been to develop principally new non-linear models of Estonian literary history for the digital environment. These activities were based on my research of the intertextual relations between authors, literary works, and critical texts using traditional methods. The first content-based literary history project “ERNI. Estonian Literary History in Texts 1924–1925” (www2.kirmus.ee/erni) was based on a hypertextual network of literary source texts and reviews. We re-conceptualised literary history as a non-linear narrative and a gallery with many entrances. The task of the project was also to ensure its usability in education: a significant number of study materials has been added in cooperation with schoolteachers. In 2004, we initiated our long-term and still running project “Kreutzwald’s Century: the Estonian Cultural History Web” (http://kreutzwald.kirmus.ee) at the Estonian Literary Museum. The objective of this project was to make literary sources of the period accessible as the dynamic, interactive information environment. This was a hybrid project which synthesised the classical study of Estonian literary history, the needs of the digital media user, and the expanding digital resources from different memory institutions; its underlying idea was to link together all the works of fiction of an author, as well as their biography, manuscripts, and photos and to make them visible for the user on five interactive time axes. The project uses a specially created platform. Today, this platform is extensively used by schoolteachers: in 2020 (Jan.–Dec.) it had about 8, 986.555 million clicks and during seven years (2013 Dec.–2020 Dec.) it has collected 64, 627.380 million clicks. To find out how we can fit such content-based models of literary heritage into the context of Digital Humanities we need to compare the previous modelling practices with our current experimental project in the corpus query system KORP. Our interdisciplinary project “Literary Studies Meet Corpus Linguistics” (2017–2020) concentrated on studying literary history sources with linguistic methods. As the result of the project two literary text corpora were created: “Epistolary text corpus of Estonian writers Johannes Semper and Johannes Vares-Barbarus” and “Corpus of the Estonian literary criticism, Noor-Eesti and the 1920s”. Both of them were pilot projects in the field, started with converting the digitalised archival and printed sources into machine-readable format before text and data mining for corpus creation. Query system KORP allows us to organise the language data by all the categories used in the corpus, for example, to learn who and in what context mentioned the name of the French writer André Gide. The second currently running project is the morphologically annotated corpus of literary criticism. This corpus contains texts of literary reviews and criticism in different genres, drawn from the projects ERNI and “Kreutzwald’s Century”. The first results in studying the dynamics of literary values can already be seen. A query in KORP about the word ‘mõju’ (‘influence’) revealed that the manifesto “More of European culture!”of the group Young Estonia, voiced in 1905, was during the independent Estonian Republic replaced by the valuing of a specific national character. Corpus query showed a change in the meaning of the word: in the criticism contemporary to Young Estonia, the word ‘mõju’ was only associated with the historical pressure from Russian and German cultures. The foundation for modern comparative linguistics at the University of Tartu was laid in the 1920s by the professorship in Estonian literature.

This essay explores the rich epistolary exchange between Katherine Mansfield and William Gerhardi, when she was at the height of her career and he was a student and aspiring novelist. It traces the essential intermediary presence of Chekhov in their letters, in terms of his biography, writerly ethics and characteristic voice. A mutual love of Chekhov provides the key to the writers’ fast-developing intimacy, as they model their own lives, literary aspirations and style around his. As the essay suggests, their persistent failure to meet, the thwarted projects they cherish, and the hapless personas they perform – in themselves Chekhovian trademarks – are later reconfigured in Gerhardi’s own fictional worlds and literary criticism, to the extent that his first two novels, ostensibly about the Russian Revolution and the immediately post-revolutionary era in Russia, as well as his essay on Chekhov, can themselves be read as a loving tribute to the first mentors, and the wistful pleasures of never quite meeting them.

The article is devoted to the functioning features of precedent texts in modern media discourse. Texts by F.M. Dostoevsky, namely, fiction, journalism and epistolary heritage, served as the research material. The relevance of the study is explained by the intertextual nature of the modern media space. The article shows that along with the use of Dostoevsky's precedent texts as signs of high culture, the modern media space also actively manifests the features of the postmodern cultural paradigm. The specifics of the latter include metatextuality, irony, various kinds of transformation, e.g., in headlines, which indicates their game foregrounding. Special attention is paid, firstly, to various types of intertextuality and ways of precedent phenomena foregrounding; secondly, to their use in various media areas (advertising, urban naming) and genres (interviews, internet blogs, etc.). The problem of recoding precedent phenomena is considered against the background of the use of signs of high culture as a form of reflection of modern mass consciousness in modern media communication, which is of research interest from an axiological point of view.