Appeals to Classic Literature in the Journalism of Vladimir Krutovsky as a Way of Broadcasting Sociopolitical Ideas

The aim of this article is to analyze the reception of works of metropolitan literature in the journalism of the Krasnoyarsk public figure Vladimir Krutovsky. The main material for the study was articles published in the journal Sibirskie Zapiski [Siberian Notes], which the “younger” regionalist Krutovsky founded in 1916, and which existed for about four years. The edition was conceived as a platform for uniting a part of the regionalism-minded Siberian intelligentsia. In this perspective, for Krutovsky, literature became a means of creating a “cultural field” beyond the Urals, and the publication of Sibirskie Zapiski in the period of sociocultural upheavals was actually equated with political action. The literary centrism of Krutovsky's consciousness was also manifested in the fact that references to the texts of classic Russian literature regularly appeared in his journalism. The main source of precedent texts was works by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. In addition to them, the publicist regularly appealed to works by A.S. Pushkin, G.I. Uspensky, and contemporary authors. As a rule, such references were explicated and put in quotation marks. Often they were mediated by the journalism of N.M. Yadrintsev - an important symbolic figure for the “younger” regionalist Krutovsky. Krutovsky appealed to Saltykov-Shchedrin's texts mainly to criticize the actions of officials, as well as to express his own sociopolitical views. This method of reception was most clearly expressed in the post-revolutionary years, when Krutovsky criticized the initiatives of both the Bolshevik and Kolchak authorities. As can be seen from the articles of this period, the border between the contemporary reality and Saltykov-Shchedrin's texts was practically blurred in Krutovsky's mind, so his social criticism was saturated with appeals to the literary context. Krutovsky directly compared statesmen and officials with Saltykov-Shchedrin's negative characters - the inhabitants of Poshekhonye (Old Years in Poshekhonye), Glupov (The History of a Town), and the provincial Krutogorsk (Provincial Sketches). This method of polemic made it possible to give Krutovsky's theses greater credibility and emotional tension. The result of this method of writing was the “revival” of Saltykov-Shchedrin's characters, who literally penetrated into the reality. In addition, Krutovsky regularly identified the circumstances of his own life with episodes from Saltykov-Shchedrin's works. Such a combination made it possible to “enrich” the reality and increase the symbolic significance of the specific circumstances of his own social and political activities.

Keywords

Authors

References