Color in the works of M. M. Prishvin and Yu. P. Kazakov about the North: "Behind the Magic Ball" and "The Northern Diary"

The subject of study in this article is the specificity of color designation in the works of Mikhail Prishvin and Yuri Kazakov, dedicated to the North. Although it is known from Kazakov's own words that Prishvin's work significantly influenced his decision to travel to the North and his manner of seeing and writing about the North, the prose of these writers has not yet been compared in any considerable depth, and consequently, the nature of the influence has not been assessed. The material for comparison is limited to the best-known, though not the only, work by Kazakov about the North ("The Northern Diary") and the book by Prishvin that Kazakov directly mentioned ("Behind the Magic Ball"). Both works are considered crucial for the "northern text" from the perspective of modern humanities. In this study, without fully addressing the issue of Prishvin's influence on Kazakov, we focus on one aspect of this issue — a comparative analysis of color designation. The methodological choice is determined by the significance of color in the poetics of the landscape in Prishvin's and Kazakov's works (there are scientific works dedicated to this, but they are not of a comparative nature). The comparison revealed both common features and differences. Among the common features are the abundance of references to color and the predominance of certain colors in the palette. Differences are demonstrated through references to the color green (one of the most important: in Prishvin's book, there are 69 instances of green designation, while in "The Northern Diary" there are 45). It is found that in Prishvin's works, the color green has a symbolic meaning, denoting the energy of life and the native middle Russian forest, which is even recalled by the waters of the northern seas; "green" colors childhood memories and is part of key images ("green joyful heart"). In Kazakov's works, references to the color green form part of an accurate description of objects (Kazakov's strive for accuracy in description is manifested, in particular, in the abundance of complex adjectives, including occasionalisms). The meanings and connotations of "green" in Kazakov's works are very diverse and cannot be reduced to a common symbolic core (ranging from the "bright green" of grass, which the author clearly delights in, to the greenish, that is, spoiled, flour).

Mikhail Prishvin, Yuri Kazakov, Russian North, The Northern Diary, After the Magic Boll, color depiction, travelogue, the northern text, landscape in literature, mythopoetics in modernist literature