Decembrists in the novel “Journey of dilettantes” in the context of Bulat Okudzhava’s work and contemporaneity
- Pages
- 80-91
Abstract
The relevance of the topic is determined by the request of modern literary study to revise the Soviet ideological interpretations of Decembrism, as well as by the task of thorough analysis of Bulat Okudzhava’s novel “Journey of Dilettantes” (1971–1977), an iconic book of the late Soviet era. The most important artistic statement of the writer is considered in the context of the “Decembrism myth” of the Soviet intelligentsia, which achieved the peak of its popularity in the 1970s. The purpose of the study is to clarify the originality of the author’s concept of Decembrism at the background of two versions of the idealizing myth about the heroes of the past (official and oppositional). The hypothesis of the research is based on the ideas of Galina Belaya: it is challenging “indisputable” historical values in the work of Okudzhava and the close connection of historical issues with the present. The article addresses the continuity of the Decembrism theme in three Okudzhava’s novels (“Poor Avrosimov”, “Journey of Dilettantes”, “A Date with Bonaparte”), analyses the metaphor that characterizes the tragedy of idealists in the harsh historical reality.