Decembrists

The article deals with the transformation of Pushkin and Derzhavin myth in two poems by A. M. Gorodnizky; an attempt is made to explain the author’s individual interpretation of the myth (controversial to that established in the mass cultural consciousness) by means of analyzing the autobiographical and autopsychological components of the works under investigation. It is also undertaken to enter those poems in the wider context of the bard’s reflections on the Russian history problems, presented in poetic and memoir texts.

The relevance of the topic is determined by the interest of modern humanities to the myth-making aspects of the Soviet culture, including the interpretation of Decembrism. The purpose of the article is to review the main stages and patterns of the literary realization of Decembrism from the beginning of the Soviet era to the moment of the final separation of the two versions of the Decembrism myth (official and oppositional).

This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of two interpretations of Pavel Pestel’s personality and fate in the literature of the late Khrushchev thaw. The contribution of the peer writers to the liberation of cultural and historical memory from offi cial dictatorship is discussed, the basis of their ideological similarity is shown: this is the awareness of the fatal problem of morality and revolution (Zorin).