Book Review: Domanskiy, V.A. & Kafanova, O.B. (2018) Khudozhestvennye Miry Ivana Turgeneva [Ivan Turgenev's Artistic Worlds]. Moscow: Flinta. 432 P.

The review of V.A. Domanskiy and O.B. Kafanova's research monograph appreciates the authors' contribution to modern Turgenev studies. It describes the sections of the book with the identification of the core aims and objectives the authors reach. The creative method and the dominant creative achievements of the Russian writer are analysed. The main themes and features of Ivan Turgenev's poetics, as well as the image of the “Russian European” previously never studied in such detail, are reviewed. The study of Russian estate culture in the first part of the monograph reveals new aspects in the estate topos and in the figure of the Turgenev heroine of the stories and novels of the writer, which shows his aesthetics, poetics and philosophy. The review notes interesting observations in the book on the meta-plot and the motifs of Turgenev's estate texts. The conclusions are particularly emphasized that the authors of the monograph made in connection with Turgenev's concept of chronotope and with the distinction between the writer's estate stories and novels. The authors made valuable achievements in the study of estate dramas. Their thoughtful analysis reveals the metaphorical correlation of the garden, the estate culture and female images. The book also pays special attention to floral semantics. Innovation in the study of Turgenev's works in synthesis with music and painting in the second part of the monograph is shown. The review emphasizes the originality of the writer's intermediality the authors of the monograph revealed, as well as their thorough study of the “internal” musicality of Turgenev's works. The author of the review expresses her interest in the poetic analysis, along with the historical and literary one, of musical “micro-plots” in particular. The value of the analysis of multi-level transcoding and interaction of arts in the study of the relationship between Turgenev and the singer Pauline Viardot is noted. The comparative aspect of the analysis of different poetic levels of the texts stands out as brilliantly performed by the authors of the monograph. The poetic approach allows revealing the roots of the lyric prose of the writer. A significant part of the book is devoted to Turgenev's verbal art presented in terms of fine art. In the third part of the monograph, the authors present Turgenev's works in a broad French context, which convinces the reviewer of the multiculturalism of the writer, who knows how to express himself in different creative forms. This issue cannot be reduced to influence; interaction on both sides is necessary. In this context, the review notes a detailed study of both the history of biographical relations and the public background, the similarities and differences in the poetics of writers given in the book. The national characterological aspect of the analysis is also revealed, which also allows the authors to say a new word in modern Turgenev studies. The reviewer indicates the potential circle of readers of the book, evaluating its subject, language and structure.

Keywords

Authors

References