ON THE QUESTION OF INTERPRETATION OF THE ANCIENT RUSSIAN TALE OF DRACULA

Ranchin A.M.

Andrei M. Ranchin, DSc in Philology, Leading Researcher, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Avenue, 51/21, 117418, Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0414-5106

Abstract

The subject of analysis in this article is the interpretation of the ancient Russian “Tale of Dracula”. The focus is on recent articles by A.A. Isakov and V. Yu. Neupokoeva and O.N. Talmazan, the authors of which believe that the compiler of “The Tale” approves of the repressive practices of the hero, although they have different understandings of the relationship of the work with the ancient Russian tradition. If A.A. Isakov and V. Yu. Neupokoeva argue that the concept of “The Tale” is innovative, Renaissance, close to the theory of N. Machiavelli, then O.N. Talmazan considers the idea of “The Tale” to be fundamentally traditional. This article proves that Dracula in the “Tale” is an accomplice of the devil, obsessed with pride and claiming to be the Lord. The image of Dracula is typologically correlated not with the Renaissance idea of a sovereign power, but with the idea of a tyrant ruler. The originality of the “Tale” is not in its idea, but in the absence of a direct author’s assessment of the specific actions of the hero. The reader must understand for himself how the character’s negative qualities manifested themselves in his actions.

Keywords

“Tale of Dracula”; ideological context; problem of interpretation; author’s position; ideas about power of sovereign.

Recieved

15.01.2024

Accepted

10.02.2024

For citation

Ranchin, A.M. “On the Question of Interpretation of the Ancient Russian Tale of Dracula”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 2(64), 2024, pp. 70–93. (In Russ.)

DOI: 10.31249/litzhur/2024.64.04

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