Article

Name: “To Khvoshchinskoye”: Onomastic Allusion in “The Grammar of Love” by Ivan Bunin

Authors: Alexey E. Kozlov

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract:

The article examines the onomastics of the story “The Grammar of Love” by I. A. Bunin, focusing on the recurring name “Khvoshchinsky”. It is shown that these multiple mentions allude to Nadezhda Dmitrievna Khvoshchinskaya, a writer active in the second half of the 19th century. The article provides a brief overview of memoir sources and scientific literature related to N. D. Khvoshchinskaya’s writing activity.

The proposed reading demonstrates the specificity of the plot dynamics, conditioned by the receptive capabilities of the addressee. On the one hand, an immanent reading of the text might limit the significance of the name Khvoshchinsky to the meaning derived solely from the verbal-associative context of the story. On the other hand, expanding the interpretative field to include the author Khvoshchinskaya highlights themes of alienation and miserability potentially intended by the author, where the exchange of Khvoshchinsky / Khvoshchinskaya prefigures the game Anna Bunina / Ivan Bunin.

Keywords: Russian literature of the 20th century, Khvoshchinskaya, symbolic capital, name and plot

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