The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir
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The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir
69.99 €
"The Tale of Tsarevich Svetomir" is the last major work of the Symbolist poet and thinker Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866–1949), his magnum opus, created during his period of Italian exile (1928–1949). Stylized as a medieval tale or hagiography and imbued with fairy-tale and legendary motifs, the work is considered one of the outstanding works of 20th-century Russian literature.
"The Tale" draws on such ancient genres as chronicle, non-canonical legend, apocrypha, and, in part, Western chivalric romance. The story is told from the perspective of an "elder monk"; as befits medieval literature, this elder is anonymous and subject to a strictly defined verbal etiquette. Before us is a kind of ancient Russian monument, but at the same time, a translation of this monument into a more modern language. It's difficult to approach, partly because its verbal uniqueness obscures the semantic laws of its construction from direct observation. The "Novella" is multilayered. Depending on the reader's perspective, it can be understood as a fairy tale, an adventure epic, a quasi-historical novel, or a theological treatise. It can be considered a characteristic example of neo-mythological art of our time; however, it is more comparable not to the "anti-myths" of Joyce and Kafka than to Thomas Mann's "Joseph and His Brothers" or Hermann Hesse's "Pilgrimage to the East"—that is, to books of a postmodern, constructive, and synthesizing nature. At the same time, the "Novella" is unfinished. Ivanov considered myth-making—transitioning to theurgy—the foundation and goal of all great art. He turned to mythological models more consistently than other Russian Symbolists: in the first half of his life, clearly influenced by Nietzsche, to the classical mythologem of the suffering god, and later to what can be called Christian mythology (as distinct from Christian theology). The limit of his quest was a kind of synthetic worldview, in which pagan myths proved to be vague and approximate, but in their own way profound and effective, premonitions of Christian dogmas. The story is published based on manuscripts preserved in the Roman archive of Vyacheslav Ivanov. Early drafts and plans, as well as versions from rough drafts, are published for the first time. As is customary in the "Literary Monuments" series, the volume includes detailed articles, exhaustive scholarly commentary, and "Key Dates in the Life and Work of Vyacheslav Ivanov." The articles reconstruct the story's creative history, its literary context, and its artistic nature. The commentary reveals the work's complex subtexts, particularly its layer of esoteric, Kabbalistic, and Gnostic symbolism. The publication includes numerous unique visual materials from Vyacheslav Ivanov's Roman archive.
"The Tale" draws on such ancient genres as chronicle, non-canonical legend, apocrypha, and, in part, Western chivalric romance. The story is told from the perspective of an "elder monk"; as befits medieval literature, this elder is anonymous and subject to a strictly defined verbal etiquette. Before us is a kind of ancient Russian monument, but at the same time, a translation of this monument into a more modern language. It's difficult to approach, partly because its verbal uniqueness obscures the semantic laws of its construction from direct observation. The "Novella" is multilayered. Depending on the reader's perspective, it can be understood as a fairy tale, an adventure epic, a quasi-historical novel, or a theological treatise. It can be considered a characteristic example of neo-mythological art of our time; however, it is more comparable not to the "anti-myths" of Joyce and Kafka than to Thomas Mann's "Joseph and His Brothers" or Hermann Hesse's "Pilgrimage to the East"—that is, to books of a postmodern, constructive, and synthesizing nature. At the same time, the "Novella" is unfinished. Ivanov considered myth-making—transitioning to theurgy—the foundation and goal of all great art. He turned to mythological models more consistently than other Russian Symbolists: in the first half of his life, clearly influenced by Nietzsche, to the classical mythologem of the suffering god, and later to what can be called Christian mythology (as distinct from Christian theology). The limit of his quest was a kind of synthetic worldview, in which pagan myths proved to be vague and approximate, but in their own way profound and effective, premonitions of Christian dogmas. The story is published based on manuscripts preserved in the Roman archive of Vyacheslav Ivanov. Early drafts and plans, as well as versions from rough drafts, are published for the first time. As is customary in the "Literary Monuments" series, the volume includes detailed articles, exhaustive scholarly commentary, and "Key Dates in the Life and Work of Vyacheslav Ivanov." The articles reconstruct the story's creative history, its literary context, and its artistic nature. The commentary reveals the work's complex subtexts, particularly its layer of esoteric, Kabbalistic, and Gnostic symbolism. The publication includes numerous unique visual materials from Vyacheslav Ivanov's Roman archive.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Literary monuments