Discursive and Poetological Elements of Reconstructing the Value Order in the Nine Volumes of Fables by I. A. Krylov

About the authors:

Sergey O. Shipov, Postgraduate Student, Department of Russian and Foreign Literature, University of Tyumen; s.o.shipov@yandex.ru

Sergey A. Komarov, Dr. Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; vitmark14@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4506-4027

Abstract:

This article examines the conjugation of discursive formations in the nine books of fables by I. A. Krylov as structural elements of the final design of the author. This study mainly analyzes the texts related to the vertical or celestial sphere of the fable world. Since spherical segmentation in a fable is constitutive due to a number of reasons: a significant difference in approaches to reconstructing the value order; sacralization of the heavenly sphere; a shift in the logic of events, predetermined by mythological and religious views of a person; as well as the folklore tradition — the analysis of texts through it is justified and productive. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe the discursiveness as one of the meaning-generating elements of Krylov’s nine books of fables, correlated with his axiology and worldview. This allows recording shifts in the architectonics of Krylov’s fables to indicate his connections with the spiritual dynamics of the literary life in Russia and Europe in the first half of the 19^th century, as well as to more clearly clarify his place in the transition from the traditionalist phase of literature to the individual-creative phase.

The authors prove their conclusions including more than two dozen fables by I. A. Krylov in this article’s text. The contemporary academic apparatus gives their analysis a new scale and scope of vision regarding the entire creative heritage of the great Russian fabulist. This apparatus helps in reconstructing the complexity and diversity of the so-called broad educational foundations of the experience of the aged poet, who survived three literary generations that followed him and was inspired by their art searches.

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