Veronika I. Abramova

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian language and literature of Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

Abstract. L. Tolstoy’s "Polikushka" is full of details, whose nominations are symbols of a boundary in the Russian linguoculture. These are a corner, a door, stairs, an attic, a road, a cradle, a tub, water. These symbols are supported and conveyed by the images of L. Tolstoy’s work: the title character (Polikushka), his wife Akulina, infant Syomka, nameless smith, crooked worker, recruits Ilyukha, who was redeemed by his uncle, and Alyokha, who replaced him. This row is supplemented by demonological characters introduced into the narration: a flying serpent, a walking deceased, a house spirit. It looks like the boundary, which is conceived in the folk culture as something dangerous. It leaves its tragic mark on the fates of the people related to it: Polikushka will hang himself, Syomka will drown, Akulina will go mad, Alyokha will become a recruit. Tolstoy’s realistic work becomes filled with a symbolic meaning. The author pushes the reader towards philosophic comprehension of life, in which the boundary between good and evil, life and death appears to be very uncertain.
Keywords: boundary, corner, door, stairs, attic, road, cradle, infant, recruit.

* The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 19-512-18008.

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For citation:Abramova, VI 2020, ‘Images and details of L. Tolstoy’s "Polikushka" which convey symbols of a boundary’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 3 (3), pp. 51–59, URL: http://tula-vestnik.ru/pdf/2020/vipusk_3_20_12_20.pdf (in Russ.)

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