Information about the author:

Abstract:

The article deals with three short stories by Z.N. Gippius: “Vanya and Marie” (1924), “Marina and Katerina (Parallels)” (1931), “Vanya Pugachev and Vanya Rumyantsev” (1933). The stories, which reflect the relationship between Russia and Europe, demonstrate, according to the author’s intention, not just separate “cases” of human destinies and individualities, but the deeplying foundations of the national character and the Russian revolution of 1917. The objectives of the article are to study the constants and evolution of Gippius’ ideas on “the change of times, the deep difference of cultures, countries and peoples” “against the background of the ‛eternal’,” i. e. love, as she puts it in the story “Marina and Katerina”. Narrative structure, motive and thematic echoes, mental stereotypes and artistic topoi of these short stories are revealed. The commonality of problems and structure allows to consider the selected texts as a single semantic series, reflecting Gippius’ views on the relationship between Russia and Europe, and the “rewriting” of the story “Vanya and Marie” in the story “Vanya Pugachev and Vanya Rumyantsev” especially helps to identify the evolutionary vector of these views. The stories are also compared with the journalism and criticism of Gippius, in which similar ideas are expressed.