Issue 3 (92)
| THE TURNING POINT OF EPOCHS IN THE LIFE AND LITERARY FATE OF F. N. ILYIN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2026 | Number | 3 (92) |
| Pages | 84-92 | Type | scientific article |
| UDC | 82-3 | BBK | 83.3(2) |
| Authors | Mikhailova Maria V. Prozorov Valery V. |
Topic | AT THE TURNINIG POINT OF THE AGES. 20TH CENTURY RUSSIAN LITERATURE |
| Summary | The article is devoted to the oeuvre of Fyodor Nikolaevich Ilyin (1873–1959), a distinguished physician and virtually unknown writer who, in the mid-1920s, published the dystopia “The Valley of New Life”. Its prognostic message is comparable to that of E.I.Zamyatin’s famous novel “We” and anticipates the ideas of A. Huxley’s “Brave New World.” The main themes and images of “The Valley...” are analyzed in the first part of this work. However, the primary focus is on the large-scale epic “On the Edge of Two Centuries” (written in the 1940s), preserved in the archives of the K. A. Fedin Literary Museum (Saratov). Its publication is yet to be completed (it is currently being published in the online journal “NATE”). Drawing on memoirs, the authors of the article reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the work on the manuscript and analyze the reasons that prevented its publication during Ilyin’s lifetime. The article pro-vides an insight into the grand design of the work, which perhaps for the first time reconstructs with documentary accuracy the situation in the Far East before the Russo-Japanese War. Ilyin’s goal was to convey the moods of virtually all segments of the Russian population on the eve of the tragic events that radically changed the country’s fate. The authors of the article traced the main plot lines of the novel, examined the fates of the main characters, and highlighted the autobiographical nature of some of the characters. They focused on the poetic features that combined tragic and satirical elements, particularly emphasizing the significance of the open ending, which seemed to hint at the continuation of tragic events in the lives of the characters beyond the borders of their homeland, in exile, where, according to Ilyin, the lives of the most honest Russian people, true patriots of their homeland, ended. | ||
| Keywords | F. N. Ilyin, novel “The Valley of New Life”, epic novel “On the Edge of Two Centuries”, Russian-Japanese War, historicism, documentary evidence | ||
| References |
Levitskaya T. V. [The Russo-Japanese War as Depicted by a Russian Writer (N.A.Lukhmanova’s Diary and Articles)]. Vestnik Ryazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. S. A. Esenina [The Bulletin of the Ryazan State University named for S. A. Yesenin], 2018, no. 2 (59), pp. 167–173. (in Russ.). Lukod’yanov I. [Books about New Life. F. N. Ilyin “The Valley of New Life”. Baku, “Gyandzhlik”, 1967]. Literaturnyy Azerbaydzhan [Literary Azerbaijan], 1968, no. 3, pp.146–148. (in Russ.). Lukod’yanov I. [He Became a Legend...]. Literaturnyy Azerbaydzhan [Literary Azerbaijan], 1973, no. 7, p. 103. (in Russ.). Mikhaylova M. V., Levitskaya T. V. [Japanese Mentality in the Interpretation of a Russian Authoress (N. A. Lukhman-ova’s Articles on Japan)]. Voprosy izucheniya russkogo yazyka, istorii i kul’tury Rossii [Issues of Studying the Russian Language, History and Culture of Russia], 2021, no. 31, pp. 69–86. (in Russ.). Prozorov V. V. [Poet and Scientist (On the Correspondence between S. Ya. Marshak and F. N. Il’yin)]. Volga [Volga], 1968, no. 11, pp. 190–191. (in Russ.). |
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