Abstract:
The article considers the concept of “Moscow text” on the material of fiction works by S. V. Engelhardt. The analysis of the novellas and short stories of the writer allows to determine the place that they occupy among other “Moscow texts” of Russian classical literature written in the 18th–19th centuries. The work of Engelhardt is considered within the framework of women’s prose of the 19th century, in accordance with the tasks that her representatives set themselves. As a result of the study, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that the image of Moscow in the works of the writer is of decisive importance and receives different interpretations. Moscow in the work of Engelhardt is presented in three main spatial and temporal plans: as a secular city (party receptions, balls, receptions), as an Orthodox city (churches, monasteries) and as a city-symbol of Russia (Time of Troubles, the reign of Catherine II, the Patriotic War of 1812). The motifs of gossip, rumors and money are connected with secular Moscow, the motifs of sin, repentance, prayer, pilgrimage are connected with Orthodox Moscow, the motif of the struggle for power and war are connected with Moscow as a symbol of Russia. Motifs of mystery, mysticism, and legends are associated with the image of Moscow, which help to present the city in an unrealistic, distorted perspective.
References
Belova, P. E. “Mify i motivy moskovskogo teksta v russkoi lingvokul’ture XXI veka” [“Myths and Motifs of the Moscow Text in the Russian Linguoculture of the 21st Century”]. Zhurnal filologicheskikh issledovanii, vol. 7, no. 3, 2022, pp. 87–91. (In Russ).
Vasil’eva, Iu. A. “ʽMoskovskii tekst’ v knige V. A. Giliarovskogo ʽMoskva i moskvichi’.” [“ʽMoscow Text’ in V. A. Gilyarovsky’s book ʽMoscow and Muscovites’.”]. Nauka v Megapolise, vol. 6 (22), 2020. Available at: https://mgpu-media.ru/issues/issue-22/russian-literature/moscow-text.html (Accessed 22 May 2023). (In Russ).
Isupov, K. G. “Dialog stolits v istoricheskom dvizhenii” [“Dialogue of Capitals in Historical Movement”]. Moscow − Petersburg: pro et contra dialog kul’tur v istorii natsional’nogo samosoznaniia: antologiia [Moscow – Petersburg: Pro et contra Dialogue of Cultures in the History of National Self-Consciousness: An Anthology]. St Petersburg, Russian Christian Institute for the Humanities Publ., 2000, pp. 6−78. (In Russ).
“Pis’ma S. V. Engel’gardt k A. A. Fetu. Chast’ I (1858−1873)” [“S. V. Engelhardt’s Letters to A. A. Fet. Part I (1858−1873)”], publ. by N. P. Generalova. Ezhegodnik Rukopisnogo otdela Pushkinskogo doma na 1994 g [Yearbook of the Manuscript Department of the Pushkin House for 1994]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskii proekt Publ., 1998, pp. 43−147. (In Russ).
“Pis’ma S. V. Engel’gardt k A. A. Fetu. Chast’ II (1874−1884)” [“S. V. Engelhardt’s Letters to A. A. Fet. Part II (1874−1884)”], publ. by N. P. Generalova. Ezhegodnik Rukopisnogo otdela Pushkinskogo doma na 1995 g. [Yearbook of the Manuscript Department of the Pushkin House for 1995]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskii proekt Publ., 1999, pp. 70−120. (In Russ).
Prokof’eva, V. Iu. “Kategoria prostranstvo v hudozhestvennom prelomlenii: lokusy i toposy” [“The Category of Space in Artistic Refraction: Loci and Topoi”]. Vestnik Orenburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 11, 2005, pp. 87–94. (In Russ).
Savkina, I. L. Provintsialki russkoi literatury (zhenskaia proza 30−40-kh godov XIX veka) [Provincial Women of Russian Literature (Women’s Prose of the 30–40s of the 19th Century]. Wilhelmshorst, Verlag F. K. Gopfert Publ., 1998. 223 p.
Lotman, Iu. M. “Simvolika Peterburga i problemy semiotiki goroda” [“The Symbolism of St. Petersburg and the Problems of Semiotics of the City”]. Semiotika goroda i gorodskoi kul’tury. Peterburg. Trudy po znakovym sistemam. XVIII. [Semiotics of the City and City Culture. Petersburg. Works on Sign Systems. XVIII]. Tartu, Tartu Riiklik Ulikool Publ., 1984, pp. 30–46. (In Russ).
Mel’gunov, N. A. “Neskol’ko slov o Moskve i Peterburge” [“Some Words about Moscow and St. Petersburg”]. Moskva – Peterburg: pro et contra [Moscow – St. Petersburg: pro et contra]. St. Petersburg, Russian Christian Institute for the Humanities Publ., 2000. Available at: http://az.lib.ru/m/melxgunow_n_a/text_1847_neskolko_slov.shtml (Accessed 22 May 2023). (In Russ).
Miakinchenko, M. A. Moskva v literaturnoi pamiati F. M. Dostoevskogo: genezis, mesto i rol’ v khudozhestvennoi sisteme [Moscow in the Literary Memory of F. M. Dostoevsky: Genesis, Place and Role in the Art System: PhD Dissertation]. Moscow, 2021. 234 p. (In Russ).
Nechaeva, V. S. Zhurnal M. M. i F. M. Dostoevskikh “Epokha.” 1864−1865 [M. M. and F. М. Dostoevsky’s “Epoch.” 1864–1865]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1975. 305 p. (In Russ).
Subbotina, T. V. “Lokus, topos, urbonim, mikrotoponim: k voprosu o soderzhanii prostranstvennykh poniatii” [“Locus, Topos, Urbonim, Microtoponym: On the Content of Spatial Concepts”]. Vestnik Cheliabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 24, 2011, pp. 111–113. (In Russ).
Sukhikh, I. N. Struktura i smysl: Teoriia literatury dlia vsekh [Structure and Meaning. Literary Theory for Everybody]. St. Petersburg, Azbuka, Azbuka−Attikus Publ., 2018. 544 p. (In Russ).
Toporov, V. N. Mif. Ritual. Simvol. Obraz: Issledovaniia v oblasti mifopoeticheskogo [Myth. Ritual. Symbol. Image: Studies in the Field of Mythopoetic]. Moscow, Progress-Kul’tura Publ., 1995. 621 p. (In Russ).
Shurupova, O. S. Konceptosfera peterburgskogo i moskovskogo tekstov russkoi literatury: sopostavitel’nyi analiz [The Conceptosphere of St. Petersburg and Moscow Texts of Russian Literature: PhD Thesis, Summary]. Yelets, 2011. 24 p. (In Russ).
Shurupova, O. S. “Moskovskii tekst russkoi literatury i ego geroi” [“The Moscow Text of Russian Literature and its Characters”]. Russkaia rech’, no. 1, 2011, pp. 97–102. (In Russ).
