Article

Name: Leo Tolstoy in the artistic consciousness of Sergei Yesenin: toward a history of the question

Authors: Svetlana A. Seregina

A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

Based on documentary evidence, the works of Leo Tolstoy are identified, which form an important context for the religious and philosophical ideas of S. A. Yesenin: these are primarily folk stories, the collection Circle of Reading and the treatise “What is my Faith?”. Based on a comparative analysis, it is concluded that Leo Tolstoy’s idea of the “universal brotherhood of man” became one of the sources of Yesenin’s “human brothers” image. It is proved that, among other things, thanks to his acquaintance with Tolstoy’s works, Yesenin turns to the search for a new and true Christianity with the opportunity to affirm “his faith.” The image of Christ the guest in Tolstoy’s folk stories is considered as the closest sources of the image of the “bright guest” in Yesenin’s poem “The Transfiguration”.

Keywords: Sergei Yesenin, Leo Tolstoy, literature, reading circle, source, image, context, Christianity

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