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Two centuries of Russian classics

Philological journal
A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the
 Russian Academy of Sciences

Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1,
121069 Moscow, Russia

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  • Funding Sources:

    This work was carried out with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 24-28-01431 “Representation of the Ukraine Space in the Russian Culture of the Late 18th–19th Century (Based on Russian Travelogues): Discourses, Narratives, Topoi” (https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-01431/).

  • For citation:

    Zhdanov, S. S. “Natural and Urban Spaces of Little Russia and Novorossiya in the Travelogue On the Glorified River by N. S. Filippov.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 7, no. 4, 2025, pp. 136–169. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2025-7-4-136-169

  • Abstract:

    The paper examines the representation of natural and urban spaces of Little Russia and Novorossiya in the travelogue On the Glorified River by N. S. Filippov. The research reveals the author’s reliance on the ideas of the idyllic and natural Little Russian topos in Russian literature of the 19th century. It gighlights intertextuality of Filippov’s travelogue, in particular, the influence of Gogol’s text on it. Sky and river topoi are attributed to the natural spaces of the work. The image of the Dnieper River is of key importance and cross-cutting, connecting descriptions of particular urban spaces into a single whole. The idyllic image is associated with the motif of the “wonderful Dnieper.” The Dnieper anti-idyll is defined by the motifs of unattractiveness, boredom, danger, and human intervention, which, in turn, actualizes the desecrated paradise motif. Finally, the third hypostasis of the Dnieper is represented by the locus of rapids, marked by motifs of both beauty, courage, and danger, chaos, mortality, and infernality. Urban space representations are associated with contrasting idyllic and sacred Kyiv with images of other cities.

  • Keywords: N. S. Filippov, N. V. Gogol, Ukraine, Little Russia, Novorossiya, Kyiv, Kremenchug, Ekaterinoslav, space, city image.
  • Author: Sergey S. Zhdanov
  • Information about the author:

    Sergey S. Zhdanov, DSc in Philology, Associate Professor, Novosibirsk State Technical University, K. Marks Ave., 20, 630073 Novosibirsk, Russia; Siberian State University of Geosystems and Technologies, Plakhotnogo St., 10, 630108 Novosibirsk, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8898-6497

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • Received: May 05, 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: July 10, 2025
  • Published: December 25, 2025
  • Issue: 2025 Volume 7 No. 4
  • Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
  • Pages: 136-169
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/PVFQOI

  • UDK: 821.161.1.09"19"
  • Publication Type: Research Article

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