Christmas tales and legends by D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak: a comparative analysis

The present paper endeavors to compare the genres of the Christmas tale and the literary legend in Russian literature of the fin du siecle. The aim of the research is to establish their nuclear features and ascertain the type of relations between them. The choice of the genres is accounted for by the shift of the genres from the margins to the centre of the generic system, which they experienced at the end of the 19th century, and the lack of research on their relations. The analysis is conducted on the material of two cycles by D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak -Christmas Tales (1898) and Legends (1898), which are also compared to the genre canon as described in academic literature. The features which are under consideration comprise the setting, the plot, the composition and the narrative system. Mamin-Sibiryak's Christmas tale significantly transforms the genre canon established in the literature of the period. The writer substitutes Christmastide with the time of expecting a holiday, festival or some important event, emphasizing its cyclic and recurrent nature through allusions to the Bible. The location is frequently an enclosed space which limits the freedom and communication of the protagonist. The setting determines the composition of the Christmas tale, which is built as an isolated expectation of a holiday or a guest and the protagonist's inclusion into the humankind through the holiday, perceived as a Christmas miracle and a blessing. The Christmas tale involves several points of view upon the same event. The dialogue between these perspectives forms the plot of the tale and results in a new look on the familiar events or phenomena. Mamin-Sibiryak's literary legend deploys an exotic setting, constructed upon the opposition of the domestic and the alien space. The protagonist has to leave the domestic space involuntarily, due to some extraordinary circumstances, which induces him/her to search for the answer to eternal questions. The time in the legend is not cyclic but unique, since the described events play a vital role in the lives of the characters and predetermine their choice. As a result of the trial and the quest, the protagonist realizes a universal truth, typically expressed as a denial of egoistic and individualistic values. The narrative system in the legend is consistent and is built not as a dialogue but as way of assessing the personages' correspondence to the universal set of values. It follows from the comparative analysis that the Christmas tale and the legend in Mamin-Sibiryak's genre system are two distinct and independent genres with different messages conveyed through different sets of constituent features.

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