Article

Name: THE DEATH OF AN ELEPHANT IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY

Authors: V. V. Maroshi

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract: In the article author analyses three options for the death of an elephant in the Russian literature of the twentieth century. In A. Kuprin's story «Elephant walk» (1912) in the center of the plot is a conflict between the elephant and the people, the juxtaposition of freedom and lack of freedom, nature and civilization, animal and man. But the hero metaphorically likened to the king. In the literal works on a historical theme, the death of the elephant localized in the middle ages and is associated with authoritarianism or itʼs crisis, so the elephants here the companions of emperors and kings. In a historical tale of A. Segen «Abul-Abbas – favorite elephant of Charlemagne » (1998) elephant, presented to Charlemagne by Harun al-Rashid, dies suddenly. Inconsolable Emperor stopped the war and made a big funeral. In the story of Yury Buida «Elephantʼ Death» (2014) the execution of an elephant, donated to Ivan the Terrible, acquires significant other mortal events – the death of the black elephant? double of the hero, the murder of False Dmitry, his wife, his infant son, the executioner. Buida rewrites history, creating a new legend about the elephant as the outcast, the martyr, the wanderer. His death is depicted hyperbolic and expressive. Modern Russian authors obviously prefer the narrative settled in history wich developed around the legendary historical characters. However, the story with the elephant is part of a political discourse about the role of the authoritarian personality, the justification of violence, the fundamental differences of government of Russia and the West. Fate of elephants in Russia during the Trouble and in medieval Europe confirms this difference.

Keywords: elepant, the middle ages, the death penalty, the story, the king

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