Altai in the Biography and Literary Works of Vyacheslav Shishkov (Scarlet Snowdrifts)

The article gives an overview of the Altai episodes of the biography of Vyacheslav Shishkov, as well as an overview of the writer's opinions about the role of Altai in his life and creative destiny. They were expressed in egodocuments. Shishkov was in Altai in the summers of 1909 and 1910. He headed an expedition to explore the travel potential of the Biya River. His second expedition to Altai was in the summers of 1913 and 1914. It was devoted to the exploration of an optimal route for the Chuya Highway. Shishkov combined ngineering work and writing. The story “On the Biya” (1914), a cycle of essays Along the Chuya Highway (1914), a cycle True Tales of Chuisk (1918), the stories “Fearsome Kam” (1919), “Scarlet Snowdrifts” (1925) were based on diary notes. The short stay in Altai played almost a key role in the development of the personality of a novice writer. Shishkov wrote about this in his letters and autobiographies. The story “Scarlet Snowdrifts” was written after the writer's departure to Petrograd, in 1925. The article reconstructs the image of Altai created in the story with the support of the closest pretext, the novel Belovodie by A.E. Novoselov. Both works are two-centered: two main characters (the righteous and the hero), two images of Belovodie (the agricultural “peasant paradise” and the sacred, righteous land). The end is similar, too. Belovodie is thought to be found in delirium, and is also replaced by a real, close to ideal, yet not perfect space. The image of Altai is concealed in the titles of the both works. In Novoselov, Altai is Belovodie. Shishkov's phrase “scarlet snowdrifts” is an equivalent of the toponym. The main emphasis in the titles is on the color dominant and the water element of the space. The analysis showed that both white and red colors and a change in the aggregative state of water (turning into snow) represent the semantics of the ambivalent unity of life and death. Elements of the landscape open to wanderers not just as natural objects, but as a manifestation of the supernatural. The character's experience of the landscape is a numinous one because it opens up the essence of the desired Belovodie, a mysterious, alluring, deadly and sweet dream, in the waterfall. The general cultural symbolism of the scarlet is blood, the center of vitality, the flame of fire, sunset or dawn sunlight. The sun is the main reference point in the search for the wonderland. The topic of blood is revealed in connection with Stephan and develops from murder through suicide to self-sacrifice. The space of Altai turns out to be a place where physical trials transform the character's soul and create conditions for an existential choice. The salvation comes neither from nature, nor from the mighty otherworldly forces. It comes from a little man who is ready to perish because of his love and pity for his neighbor. The title “Scarlet Snowdrifts” evokes associations with Alexander Green's story “Scarlet Sails” (1922), which also tells about achieving a certain dream thanks to the love and will of man. The historical context (the 1920s), the social strategy of the state (building a utopian state), the political meaning of color (the scarlet flag, the Red and White Armies) make it possible to read the phrase “scarlet snowdrifts” not only as an image of Altai, but also as a symbol of Russia. The path to the ideal Belovodie, filled with hunger, suffering, pain, death, feat, is metaphorically related to the difficult path that young Soviet Russia has taken.

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