Information about the author:

This study was carried out at IWL RAS with a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 22-18-00051), https://rscf.ru/project/22-18-00051/

Abstract:

К.G. Paustovsky found Russian “estate culture” at the turn of the 19–20th centuries, when “noble nests” were in decline and at the same time attracted creators and researchers. In the early prose and poetry of the author reflected the influence of the “estate myth”, idealizing the former life in the “family nests”. For the mature Paustovsky estate was not a “relic of the past”, but a place associated with the memories of childhood, a place of historical memory, high cultural value. The author’s works reflect both the estates of the Silver Age (“A Tale of Life”, 1946–1963) and variants of transformation of the “estate topos” in the Soviet era: a museum-reserve (“Mikhailovsky Groves”, 1937; “The Wind of Speed”, 1954), a museum-house of rest (“The Tale of the Woods”, 1948). In “The Tale of the Woods” the writer reflected the dramatic history of the Russian estate: the “depletion” of manor estates at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries — the transformation of the “estate topos” in the Soviet era — the death of the former noble estate during the Great Patriotic War. The prototype of the estate depicted by Paustovsky, where P.I. Tchaikovsky lived and worked, as well as the neighboring landowner’s estate was, as it turned out, the Frolovskoye estate near Klin. Despite the tragic end of the history of the estate the story expresses the hope that the cultural and ethical values generated by the “estate culture” will be preserved in the future.