THREE RUSSIAN VERSIONS OF THE “CAGLIOSTRO’S MYTH” (ALEXEY TOLSTOY, IVAN LUKASH, GRIGORY GORIN)
Mysterious figure of the Enlightenment famous adventurer Count Cagliostro (real name Giuseppe Balsamo) left mark in European culture, and became the basis for the “Cagliostro’s myth”. Reflections of this myth in Russian literature usually assigned to Count Cagliostro’s visit to Russia (1780). The article examines three works of Russian literature of the XX century, which connected the image of Cagliostro with a fable about a sorcerer and an enchanted beauty. In Russian tradition of this plot, which started by Pushkin's “Poltava” and N. V. Gogol’s “A Terrible Vengeance”, the heroine for the soul of whom are fighting the forces of good and evil, often becomes the personification of Russia. Comparison of stories of A.N. Tolstoy and I. S. Lukash (both are named after the famous adventurer and written in exile) with “comic fantasy” of G. I. Gorin “Formula of Love” reveals the originality of authors’ interpretations of the fable and their continuity.
Keywords: Russian literature, mystical story, screenplay, international plots, national myths, intertextes relations
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Issue: 11, 2014
Series of issue: Issue 11
Rubric: HISTORICAL POTENTIALS AND MANIFESTATIONS OF CONVENTIONALITY
Pages: 72 — 77
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