Two centuries of the Russian classics Two centuries of the Russian classics 2686-7494 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-3-196-213 Research Article Articles Biographical Myth and the Problem of the Emblematic Image of L. N. Tolstoy in Russian Literature Borisova Ludmila M. red@rusklassika.ru Kuryanova Valeria V. red@rusklassika.ru 25 09 2026 8 3 196 213 biographical myth emblematization Leo Tolstoy reception artistic image cultural code Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article investigates the process of emblematization as a key stage in the evolution of a writer’s biographical myth. Using representations of the image of L. N. Tolstoy in 20th-century Russian literature (A. Blok, V. Mayakovsky, M. Bulgakov, I. Ilf, and E. Petrov), the authors trace the mechanism of artistic reduction: the multi-layered narrative of the myth is condensed into a static, easily transmissible, and unambiguously perceived sign-emblem. The paper identifies the constitutive properties of such an emblem (visual clarity, didacticism, “transferability”) and demonstrates how a visual or verbal image, detached from biographical specifics and explicit naming of the hero, begins to function as an independent semantic code in the national cultural space. It is argued that emblematization does not abolish the myth but, on the contrary, testifies to its deep assimilation by the collective consciousness, ensuring instant recognizability and the actualization of connotations associated with the writer’s persona. Bart, R. Mifologii [Mythologies], trans. from French, introd. and comm. by S. Zenkin. Moscow, Akademicheskii Proekt Publ., 2008. 351 p. (In Russ.) Ginzburg, S. Kinematografiia dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii [Cinematography of Pre- Revolutionary Russia]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1963. 406 p. (In Russ.) Grigor’eva, E. G. Emblema: Ocherki po teorii i pragmatike reguliarnykh mekhanizmov kul’tury [Emblem: Essays on the Theory and Pragmatics of Regular Cultural Mechanisms]. Moscow, Vodolei Publ., 2005. 232 p. (In Russ.) Kozlov, A. E. “Literator natural’noi shkoly v karikaturakh i fel’etonakh (k issledovaniiu reputatsii D. V. Grigorovicha)” [“The Natural School Writer in Caricatures and Feuilletons (Toward a Study of D. V. Grigorovich’s Reputation)]”. Kommunikativnaia kul’tura: istoriia i sovremennost’ [Communicative Culture: History and Modernity]. Novosibirsk, Publishing and Printing Center of Novosibirsk State University Publ., 2021, pp. 46–49. (In Russ.) Kur’ianova, V. V. “Tolstovskii tekst v poeme D. Burliuka ʽVelikii krotkii bol’shevik’.” [“The Tolstoyan Text in D. Burliuk’s Poem ʽThe Great Meek Bolshevik’.”]. Nauka i shkola, no. 3, 2021, pp. 11–22. https://doi.org/10.31862/1819-463X-2021-3-11-22 (In Russ.) Losev, A. F. Dialektika mifa. Dopolnenie k “Dialektike mifa” [Dialectics of Myth. Addition to “Dialectics of Myth”]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 2001. 559 p. (In Russ.) Losev, A. F. Problema simvola i realisticheskoe iskusstvo [The Problem of the Symbol and Realistic Art]. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1976. 370 p. (In Russ.) Lotman, Iu. M. “Literaturnaia biografiia v istoriko-kul’turnom kontekste” [“Literary Biography in Historical and Cultural Context]”. Lotman, Iu. M. O russkoi literature. Stat’i i issledovaniia (1958–1993) [On Russian Literature. Articles and Studies (1958–1993)]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo Publ., 1997, pp. 804–817. (In Russ.) Lotman, Iu. M. “Mezhdu emblemoi i simvolom” [“Between Emblem and Symbol”]. Lotman, Iu. M. Istoriia i tipologiia russkoi kul’tury [History and Typology of Russian Culture]. St. Petersburg, Iskusstvo Publ., 2002a, pp. 362–368. (In Russ.) Lotman, Iu. M. “Natiurmort v perspektive semiotiki” [“Still Life in the Perspective of Semiotics”]. Lotman, Iu. M. Stat’i po semiotike kul’tury i iskusstva [Articles on the Semiotics of Culture and Art]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskii proekt Publ., 2002b, pp. 340–348. (In Russ.) Makhov, A. E. Emblematika. Makrokosm [Emblematics. Macrocosm]. Moscow, Intrada Publ., 2014. 600 p. (In Russ.) Tanasheva, M. Z. “Priemy sozdaniia komicheskogo effekta v russkoi satiricheskoi proze nachala XX veka (I. Il’f i E. Petrov ʽDvenadtsat’ stul’ev’)” [“Techniques for Creating a Comic Effect in Russian Satirical Prose of the Early 20th Century (I. Ilf and E. Petrov ʽThe Twelve Chairs’)”]. Iazyk i kul’tura, no. 16, 2015, pp. 120–125. (In Russ.) Iuferova, E. I. Ontopoetika prozy Borisa Evseeva [Ontopoetics of Boris Evseev’s Prose: PhD Dissertation]. Barnaul, 2019. 224 p. (In Russ.)