This thesis examines the role of holy fool in society in the Russian novels Maidenhair [Venerin Volos] and The Master and Margarita [Masteri Margarita] by using Platonic philosophy from The Republic. This study relies heavily on the book Holy Foolishness in Russia: New Perspectives, edited by Priscilla Hunt and Svitlana Kobets, for its definition and background of the Eastern Orthodox holy fool. The point most discussed about the holy fool is the concept of the figure as a selfless, eccentric, and vagrant messenger between two groups of contrasting ideas and cultures. In addition, this thesis also looks at the journey of a figure towards becoming a holy fool and his or her effect on other individuals. In Maidenhair and The Master and Margarita, the holy fool serves as a guide for society and reveals the light and dark sides of the citizenry. Socratic dialectic assists in examining the purpose of the holy foolish characters in Maidenhair and The Master and Margarita by highlighting the importance of integrating one’s unique understanding of truth as the individual sees it in his or her own image, after one emerges from the dark cave as it is described in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. After leaving the cave of illusory reality and confronting ones past, patterns, and shadows, the characters in Maidenhair and The Master and Margarita can achieve a calmer and more peaceful state of being. Thus, they attain the ability to help others by pointing to the light and dark traits within humanity, so that society can realize its individual truths. These two very different writers, Mikhail Bulgakov and Mikhail Shishkin, describe similar ideas on the examination of historical patterns and the preservation of words, thereby demonstrating the importance and timelessness of the enlightenment aspect of Russian literature through manuscripts. / text

Ph. D.--Teol.--Roma--Pontificia università lateranense, Facoltà di teologia, 1999. / Bibliogr. p. 477-497. Index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgetown University. / Xerox reprint of the original. Bibliography: p. 136-137.

Thesis--Georgetown University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-295).

The scholarly purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the position occupied by Mikhail Afqnasyevich Bulgakov (1891-1940) in Soviet satire particularly and in Russian literature as a whole, since the dilemma in which the author under analysis found himself, was shared by Soviet authors of diverse backgrounds and literary ideas. Early princedom Russia, the Kievan State and the entire pre-Petrine epoch with its archaic structure, enrooted convervatism and primitivism did not regard literature, grammar and education as valuable assets to the Russian citizen. Of greater importance was defence against invading hordes of nomads, the search for food for daily life and the observance of ancient orders, social customs, superstitions and firm belief in the old faith. It was Peter the Great's responsibility by means of enormous efforts and the introduction of vigorous, often drastic laws and methods, to smash through the century-old crust of ancient "ice" covering the Russian land, the Russian soul and mentality. When he began to trim the boyar’s beards, some preferred suicide to humiliation, and others death beneath the axe of the state executioner. It seems that similarly Russian literature has always led and leads a path of suffering in a difficult defense of its literary principles against oppressive odds and very likely will continue to do so in the future. Such a beginning, this virus in the body of Russian literature - the pushing of various impeding stakes in between the spokes of creativity, never was cured by the application of any effective antidotes. Thus was the fate of Russian literature decreed, so that within it may always be juxtaposed the Pushkins with the Dantes, the Lermontovs with Martynovs, Bulgakovs and Tarsis’ with the Khrushchevs, Brezhnevs and their party successors . In the works of each of Russia's literary giants -prose writers and poets alike, each paragraph, line and word fought with a Herculeon will and might its way towards life in the hearts and minds of the people. For this reason tyrants, regardless of bloodlines, fear the growth, significance and active role of literature. For this reason Russian literature, developing and refining itself always remained very caustic in tone, very heavy in theme and had many enemies everywhere - among the strong of the world, in the darkest kingdoms of egoists, bureaucrats, secret services and other organs of suspicion, censorship and enslavement. Were not all the persons sincerely connected with literature condemned as rioters, rebel-rousers and revolutionaries? And how many special rules governed and still regulate the printing presses? Where else but in Russia did the shameful employment of "zits-editors" exist, whose duty it was to sit out jail terms for their employers - editors and publishers of newspapers and journals - who were sentenced by rule of other men, not law? Finally, what mountains of literary works were censored and what number of their authors defamed? It may be deduced, that over twenty-five percent of all literary workers in Russian literature perished either physically or morally and died one of these deaths. Such "attention" paid to literature by its oppressors could not help but leave a trace on its history. It is unlikely that our evaluation of Russian literature as one baptized in storm and fire is incorrect. These very elements continue to temper it today. Why else would the characteristic genres like "laughter through tears", "notes from penal and mental institutions" (imaginary and factual) and "dreams” prevail in it? What indeed did the Russian literary figure characteristically represent? He was the object of suppression, criticism, censorship, and other extreme measures. What had the writer to be on alert for? Dangerous intrigue in the case of Pushkin, ill-fame for Bulgakov and death for Pasternak. In Soviet times, all of these "pleasures" awaited each writer and poet if he could not reconcile himself with and "thank" from the bottom of his heart his hateful overlords, the rulers of the bodies and souls of the Russian people. In completing a major thesis on M.Bulgakov, it was necessary first of all to keep in mind a great Russian literature, whose image may be likened to a Sorrowful Beauty, who presents before the peoples of the world her magnificent exterior and mature personality, while mourning for the people of her own land. I wish to call her by the ancient yet appropriate apellation - "a mourner of the Russian soul". In contrast to French literature - a coquettish being, and German literature - a home economist, Russian literature despite the presence of Krylov, Chekhov, Gorbunov and later Zoschenko - always bore the stamp of "laughter through tears". Mikhail Bulgakov in the history of Russian literature was at one and the same time a part of its heritage and an educational, scandalous embarrassment for the Soviet government. But for Russia itself, Mikhail Bulgakov was one of those rare people who give impetus and vitality to a national literature that will live forever. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate

Köln, University, Diss., 2006.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation focuses on the literary and media texts pertaining to the calendar reform introduced by the Bolshevik government after the October Revolution in 1917, and the establishment of specifically Soviet calendar in 1917-1929. The careful examination of the texts reveals a particularly salient feature of the new calendar, namely, its chaotic nature. Drawing on Paul Recoeurs theory of narrative as an exclusively human method of comprehending reality, this study investigates the phenomenon of calendrical narrative in its social and private aspects. Chapter 1 reconstructs the political and ideological context of the historical period employing materials from the two leading Soviet newspapers, Pravda and Izvestiia, and, more specifically, those articles which promote the new Soviet vision of holidays and the ritual calendar as a whole. Chapter 2 deals with Vladimir Mayakovskys vision of time as mans enemy and his construction of a perfect calendar for the future. Chapter 3 examines Mikhail Bulgakovs interpretation of the Christian ritual calendar as a message to ordinary people explaining the moral virtues of Christ, as well as those literary devices he employed highlighting the importance of this message to society and the individual. / Slavic Languages and Literatures