Works of J.R. Kipling in the reception of Russian writers and critics of the first half of the 20th century

The article considers the reception of J.R. Kipling's works in Russian literature of the 1890s-1950s. Critical and translatable reception of the poetry and prose of the English author proved to be in the centre of attention. The first Russian Kipling's translators: O.N. Chumina, E.M. Studenskaya, N.P. Azbelev, A.I. Onoshkovich-Yaztyna, laid the foundation of comprehension of his life and creative work in the Russian cultural consciousness of the first half of the 20th century. Song intonation, "a poem with a plot" of the English poet, turn to Christian motifs and images, dialogic structure of poetic texts, their "suitability for the theatre", use of conversational speech, folk basis of poems, and use of ballad and song genres seemed to have inner harmony with Russian literature of the frontier of the centuries. Critical publications and scientific research of S.F. Oldenburg, A.I. Kuprin, S.L. Vel'tman, D.P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky, R.Z. Miller-Budniztkaya, T.L. Motyleva formed the Russian myth about Kipling as "a singer of the exotic East", revealed connections of his creative work with the subject matter of multiculturalism and nation formation, with poetics of Romanticism. They described peculiarities of forming national world images through a synchronous "focus" of English and Indian vision. The attitude to Kipling as a representative of "imperialistic literature" is confirmed in the Russian criticism of the 1930s-1950s. This attitude was closely linked with the history of Russian literary criticism and practice of the empire and nation formation both in Great Britain and in Russia. Kipling's works were also considered in comparison with the works by R.L. Stevenson, J. Conrad, E. Seton-Tompson, P. Mill and others. In the article special attention is paid to Kipling's works for children: The Jungle Book and Just So Stories. In these works, the consciousness of the author is organic to the mind of a child: the hero and the reader of these works. Description of nature, fantastic narration, romance of human courage and deed are accompanied with a bright lyric intonation. Critical reception of Kipling's poetry and prose exposes the process of forming his author's manner and the image of English literature in the Russian cultural consciousness of the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries.

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