The theme of Palestine in the creative dialogue of V. A. Zhukovsky and A. N. Muravyov

The paper presents the first attempt to study the creative dialogue of V. A. Zhukovsky and A. N. Muravyov on the subject of Palestine. The study clarifies the peculiarities of the poetics and genre-stylistic system of creativity of both writers, their spiritual, religious and aesthetic searches due to the originality of individual worldview and the general atmosphere of the era. The author reveals an unknown chapter in the history of cultural contacts of Palestine and Russia in the 19th century. The dialogue begins with the enthusiastic response of Zhukovsky to the tragedy of Muravyov «The Battle of Tiberias, or the fall of the crusaders in Palestine» (1827). Zhukovsky was also immersed in a chivalry theme. Like Muravyov, he unites the image of the knight with the mythologeme of fate. However, unlike Muravyov, Zhukovsky increasingly focuses not so much on religious as on philosophical interpretation of chivalry. The paper also considers the interpretations of the Palestine theme in prose and lyric-epic works of Zhukovsky of 1800- 1840s and spiritual prose of Muravyov of 1830-1840s The typological nature of their convergence and divergence in the area of meaningful reception of the theme and search for forms of interaction between religious and artistic principles in its implementation is stated. The meaning of the works of Zhukovsky is concentrated around the question of freedom of moral choice of the first inhabitants of the Promised Land, painted with educational author’s intentions. Whereas Muravyov focuses on superpersonal reality - the «great destiny» of Palestine and Jerusalem. In this regard, the emphasis is placed on the position of the author-narrator in the writings of Muravyov - position of «humble Christian». At the same time, attention is drawn to the fact that Muravyov combines in his works the image of mental and spiritual religious life of the author-narrator, taking place in the situation of execution of a vow to the Lord in Holy places, and historical-cultural, ethnographic, geographic and socio-political material. Paying tribute to, like Muravyov, the interest in ethnography, culture, history of Palestine in the early translations of «Journey to Jerusalem» by R. Chateaubriand, Zhukovsky is to show interest in the sociopolitical aspect of the Palestine theme, largely literally echoing the pathos of Muravyov. It is to be reflected in religious-philosophical prose, correspondence of Zhukovsky in the 1840s and the so-called Jerusalem project. The poem «Wandering Jew», the central image of which along with Ahasver is Jerusalem, located in the centre of the spiritual Muravyov’s prose of 1830-1840s, will present the version of the synthesis of religious and artistic principles in the understanding of the Palestine theme, its substantive nature and forms of its embodiment.

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