No 2 (22) (2024)

This article considers a translation of an ancient Russian text of the tsar's prayer in Alexander Pushkin’s drama "Boris Godunov". Poetic text from Pushkin's tragedy is compared with an ancient Russian source and a retelling of a prayer in Nikolai Karamzin's work "The History of the Russian State". Godunov introduced the prayer with a political purpose of strengthening and sacralizing his power, a fact that is emphasized by the playwright. Analysis of a prayer's binary structure reveals a relation "the king of the earth – the King of Heaven". Likewise, we consider the place of a prayer for the tsar in the context of the scene "Moscow. The House of Shuisky", the internal development of which anticipates the development of the main conflict and the finale of the drama. Intertextual connections of the scene with the tsar’s prayer in the Shuisky house and other episodes with prayers (prayer for the sovereign in Pimen's monologue in scene "Night. The cell in the Chudov Monastery", a story about a miracle after a prayer at the grave of the tsarevich in "The Tsar's Duma" and Boris' dialogue with fool Nikolka in the scene "The Square in front of the Cathedral in Moscow") is understood in accordance with the religious meaning and purpose, and significance of these scenes for the images of Boris Godunov and Prince Vasily Shuisky is identified. Image of Vasily Shuisky in these scenes is revealed in the light of further historical incidents that were not included in the direct stage action, but included in the content of the tragedy through provisions referring to further events and contextual connection with a final remark. Finally, the prayer for the tsar is examined in the context of the culture of 19th century and the parallels between Boris Godunov and Russian Emperor Alexander I. This analysis of the tsar’s prayer in the structure of the play deepens the understanding of the religious and historical content of Pushkin's work.

The article offers to consider the Valery Gavrilin's (1939–1999) symphony-action "Chimes" as a unity of musical and verbal text, as well as variations of the performance of the work by different Russian collectives. The article raises the question about the composition and meaning of the work, the unity and sequence of its parts, their nature depending on the position in the general cycle. The analysis of the text of the symphony-action is carried out, the idea of the adequacy of understanding the author's idea is confirmed only in the case of a full-fledged reception of the verbal text of the work. A connoisseur and passionate admirer of folk art, Valery Gavrilin refused to literally reproduce folklore texts and melodies and created an original work in which folklore became the basis and source of inspiration for the composer. The inclusion of the symphony in the literary field is set by the author himself: the name of Vasily Shukshin appears on the title page of the score of "Chimes", and the breadth of the presented realities and impressions of the Russian picture of the world correlates with the artistic world of the works of the writer – contemporary and like-minded composer.

The poetics of G. Markosyan-Kasper involves several cultural layers at once: firstly, the author's "Armenian world", secondly, the Russian language, in which all the novels are written, and finally, European, including Russian culture, to which the writer constantly refers. Exploring the intertextual connections of Markosyan-Kasper’s novels with works of world literature, we will discover a palimpsest of intertextuality, the layers of which most often work only for the "initiated", those familiar with certain local plots. The work of G. Markosyan-Kasper, saturated with national-cultural concepts and archetypes that concentrate the experience of the nation, nevertheless developed and absorbed, on the one hand, echoes of the first wave of Russian postmodernist literature, on the other hand, imbued with pathos, allusions and reminiscences of world classical literature, expanded the idea of "own" and "foreign", shifting the emphasis from the national to the extra-national. The present article gives a general picture of the quoted European authors in the novel "Penelope" by G. Markosyan-Kasper, separately identifying and commenting on Shakespearean allusions in the context of the "Shakespearean text" of Russian literature.