Nekhludov’s journey to Siberia: the problem of initiation

This paper considers the role of the concept «Siberia» and its function in the Russian literature of the 19th century. The author of this paper believes that in the consciousness of Tolstoy’s contemporaries the space of Siberia was perceived as «alien» to the European part of the Empire. That is why the journey beyond the Ural was regarded as a definite mode of cleansing and changing important parameters of spiritual existence coinciding in the main signs with the ceremony of initiation. Such a mythopoetics is also characteristic of the novel «Resurrection» by Leo Tolstoy During his journey the main hero passes through the main stages of initiation, coinciding with the scheme of V. Ya. Proppa - K. Levi - Strossa: absence, ordeal, limination, transformation. In the opinion of the author of the paper the finale of the «Resurrection» is conditioned sooner by the general logic of the initiation ceremony rather than by reading the evangelical text.

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