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
The article examines the motif of historical retribution in the ode “Liberty” and in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin “Boris Godunov”. In “Liberty” it is represented by a series of events such as the execution of Louis XVI, who was paying for the “mistakes” of his ancestors (according to the interpretation of Yu. M. Lotman, developed by D.P. Ivinsky, for the execution of the Templars by Philip the Handsome) and the tyranny of Napoleon – punishment for lawless assassination of the monarch. In “Boris Godunov”, these are the murder of Tsarevich Dimitry by Boris Godunov, mentioned in the text – Godunov’s defeat from the Pretender and the death of Boris’s son and wife, deprived of life by False Dimitry and located outside his plot, but memorable to educated readers, the fall and murder of the Pretender (a hint of this is contained in dream of Grigory Otrepyev) – the overthrow and capture of Vasily Shuisky, who betrayed first Godunov and then False Dimitry. In all these cases, the wages of sin is itself a crime. The motive presented in the tragedy “Boris Godunov” is considered in comparison with Karamzin’s historical concept and with the idea of Christian providentialism.
A.S. Pushkin; “Liberty”; “Boris Godunov”; N.M. Karamzin; motif of historical retribution; Christian providentialism.
26.06.2024
30.08.2024
Ranchin, A.M. “The Motif of Historical Retribution in the Works of A.S. Pushkin: From ‘Liberty’ to ‘Boris Godunov’ˮ. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 1(67), 2025, pp. 105–122. (In Russ.)
1. Alekseev, M.P. “Remarka Pushkina ‘Narod bezmolvstvuet’” [“Pushkin’s Remark ‘The people are silent’”]. Alekseev, M.P. Pushkin. Sravnitel’no-istoricheskie issledovaniya [Pushkin. Comparative Historical Studies]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1972, pp. 208–239. (In Russ.)
2. Amusin, I.D. “Pushkin i Tatsit” [“Pushkin and Tacitus”]. Pushkin. Vremennik Pushkinskoi komissii. Moscow; Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR Publ., 1941, [issue] 6, pp. 160–180. (In Russ.)
3. Ivinskii, D.P. Pushkin i ego vremya [Pushkin and His Time]. Moscow, R. Valent Publ., 2019, 320 p. (In Russ.)
4. Karamzin, N.M. Istoriya gosudarstva Rossiiskogo [History of the Russian State]: [in 12 vols.]. Moscow, V tipografii N.I. Grecha Publ., 1816–1829. (In Russ.)
5. Knabe, G.S. “Tatsit i Pushkin” [“Tacitus and Pushkin”]. Vremennik Pushkinskoi komissii. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1986, issue 20, pp. 48–64. (In Russ.)
6. Letopis’ zhizni i tvorchestva A.S. Pushkina [Chronicle of the Life and Work of A.S. Pushkin, 1799–1826], comp. M.A. Tsyavloskii, ed. Ya. L. Levkovich, 2 nd ed., rev. and add. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1991, 785 p. (In Russ.)
7. Lotman, Yu. M. “Primechaniya” [“Notes”]. Karamzin, N.M. Pis’ma russkogo puteshestvennika [Letters of a Russian Traveler], ed. and prepared Yu. M. Lotman,
N.A. Marchenko, B.A. Uspenskii. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1984, pp. 613–694. (Series “Literary monuments”). (In Russ.)
8. Pushkin,
9. Reizov, B.G. Iz istorii evropeiskikh literatur [From the History of European Literatures]. Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo Leningradskogo universiteta Publ., 1970, 373 p. (In Russ.)
10. Slovar’ yazyka Pushkina [Dictionary of Pushkin’s Language]: in 4 vols, resp. ed. V.V. Vinogradov, 2 nd ed., add. Moscow, Azbukovnik Publ., 2000. (In Russ.)
11. Tomashevskii, B.V. “Pushkin i frantsuzskaya revolyutsionnaya oda (Ehkushar Lebren)” [“Pushkin and the French Revolutionary Ode (Ekuchar Lebrun)”]. Izvestiya Akademii nauk SSSR. Otdelenie literatury i yazyka, 1940, [vol. I], no. 2, pp. 25–55. (In Russ.)
12. Tomashevskii, B. Pushkin [Pushkin]: [in 2 books], ed. V.G. Bazanov. Moscow; Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR Publ., 1956–1961. (In Russ.)
13. Ehidel’man, N. Ya. Pushkin. Istoriya i sovremennost’ v khudozhestvennom soznanii poehta [Pushkin. History and Modernity in the Artistic Consciousness of the Poet]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ, 1984, 368 p. (In Russ.)
14. Yakubovich, D.I. “Antichnost’ v tvorchestve Pushkina” [“Antiquity in the Works of Pushkin”]. Pushkin. Vremennik pushkinskoi komissii. Moscow; Leningrad,
Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR Publ., 1941, [issue] 6, pp. 92–157. (In Russ.)