The feast of Easter as a socio-cultural text in the story “Figura” (“The Figure”) of N. S. Leskov

The article implements a socio-cultural approach to the study of a work of art. The text containing information for reconstruction by the reader of social and cultural space, contemporary to the writer, is emphasized in the work of fiction. The content of the story “The Figure” by N. S. Leskov is determined by the socio-cultural conflict that develops during Easter days, which contradicts the atmosphere of joy, harmony and triumph of faith typical of Easter. This situation allows the writer to show the originality of socio-cultural relations in society. Easter, like other religious holidays, expresses Christian cultural universals, archetypes and values that determine (though not limit) the content of the “cultural core” of society. One of the universals is the idea of forgiveness, manifested in the text in the motif of forgiveness. However, this cultural dominant is contrary to the idea of “officer’s honor” and “noble pride”, which is centric for the army and noble subcultures, and is responsible for the behavior of their representatives. Leskov shows that as a result of the conflict, the main character, carrying out into practice the idea of forgiveness day-to-day, becomes a maverick, creating his own social niche, which also becomes a refuge for an outcast Christy and her illegitimate daughter. The marginal group formed by the characters becomes the guardian of the basic Christian values (“cultural core”), designed to unite Russian society. An image of the Figure is an image of a righteous man. All Leskov’s men of God are marginalized in the context of their social status. The analysis of the socio-cultural text in the story “The Figure” makes it possible to understand the deep reasons for the contradictory attitude of society (social classes and groups) to the phenomenon of righteousness, to the righteous as people who implement the Christian commandments in worldly life and aspire to God. The use of a socio-cultural approach to the analysis of a literary text allows us to conclude about a large scale of the author’s picture of the world: even in the works, the plot of which is based on an anecdote or a curious case from the life of the character, the writer creates “conditions” for their understanding in the socio-cultural context.