Article

Name: “Dark Shukshin”: contexts and subtexts of the story “Shire shag, maestro!”

Authors: Alexandr I. Kulyapin

Altai State Pedagogical University, Barnaul, Russian Federation Russian Christian Academy for Humanities named after Fyodor Dostoevsky, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The study aims to identify the key issues of debates between traditionalist writers and youth prose representatives. Vasily Aksyonov, a recognized leader of youth prose, believed it necessary to erase the boundary between city and village. Thus, one character in his story “Kollegi” speaks enthusiastically about the upcoming transformation of the Kruglogorsk settlement into a city. Furthermore, his story “Zatovarennaya bochkotara” quotes a phrase from the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” by Marx and Engels about the “idiocy of village life.” Traditionalist writers had the opposite position on these issues. Vasily Shukshin argued against the Party’s guidelines in the manuscript version of the article “Vopros samomu sebe” by insisting that there was not and still is not such a thing as the “idiocy of village life.” The analysis of Shukshin’s story “Shire shag, maestro!” has proved that the main plot of the story and several small details refer to Aksyonov’s story “ Kollegi.” For the first time, this study has revealed the parodic-polemical layer of Shukshin’s work. In addition, hidden references to some facts of Aksenov’s biography were found. Shukshin is seen to highlight the inconsistency of Aksenov’s worldview principles by indicating the gap between his words and deeds. Pathetically calling for “great deeds in the rural field,” Aksenov prefers to abandon medicine for the sake of fiction. So does the protagonist of the story “Shire shag, maestro!”

Keywords: V. Shukshin, V. Aksenov, context, subtext, plot, parody, reminiscence

Bibliography:

Bykov D. L. Shestidesyatniki: Literaturnyye portrety [The men of the sixties: Literary portraits]. Moscow, Molodaya gvardiya, 2019, 375 p.

Chernykh P. Ya. Istoriko-etimologicheskiy slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Historical and etymological dictionary of the Russian language]. Moscow, Rus. yaz., 1994, vol. 1, 623 p.

Gundarin M. Solntse vskhodit i zakhodit: Zhizn’ i udivitel’nyye priklyucheniya Yevgeniya Popova, sibiryaka, p’yanitsy, skandalista i znamenitogo pisatelya [The sun rises and sets: The life and amazing adventures of Evgeny Popov, a Siberian, drunkard, brawler and famous writer]. St. Petersburg, Moscow, RUGRAM_Pal’mira, 2021, 460 p.

Kabakov A. A., Popov Ye. A. Aksonov [Aksenov]. Moscow, Astrel’, 2011, 512 p.

Marx Κ., Engels F. Manifest Kommunisticheskoy partii [Manifesto of the Communist Party]. Moscow, Politizdat, 1950, 72 p.

Marx K., Engels F. Nemetskaya ideologiya [German ideology]. In: K. Marx and F. Engels. Sochineniya [Works]. 2nd ed. Moscow, Politizdat, 1955, vol. 3, pp. 7–544.

Nefagina E. L. Lyudi zemli poymut drug druga: V. M. Shukshin v pol’skikh nauchnykh issledovaniyakh i kritike [People of the earth will understand each other: V. M. Shukshin in Polish scientific research and criticism]. In: Khudozhestvennoye proizvedeniye: struktura, diskurs, media [Work of art: structure, discourse, media]. Barnaul, AltSU, 2016, pp. 495–509.

Programma Kommunisticheskoy partii Sovetskogo Soyuza [Program of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]. In: KPSS v rezolyutsiyakh i resheniyakh s’’yezdov, konferentsiy i plenumov TSK [CPSU in resolutions and decisions of congresses, conferences and plenums of the Central Committee]. Moscow, Politizdat, 1986, vol. 10: 1961–1965, pp. 81–185.

Razuvalova A. Svoy sredi chuzhikh, chuzhoy sredi svoikh [A friend among strangers, a stranger among friends]. In: Vospominaniya o Shukshine [Memories of Shukshin]. Moscow, Fond “Formula uspekha” imeni V. M. Shukshina, 2017, pp. 184–193.

Slezkin Yu. L. Dom pravitel’stva. Saga o russkoy revolyutsii [Government House. Saga of the Russian Revolution]. Moscow, ACT: CORPUS, 2019, 976 p.

Uvarova E. D. Arkadiy Raykin [Arkady Raikin]. Moscow, Molodaya gvardiya, 2011, 383 p.: il.

Vertlib E. Vasiliy Shukshin i russkoye dukhovnoye vozrozhdeniye [Vasily Shukshin and the Russian spiritual revival]. New York, Effekt Publishing, 1990, 269 p.