Przegląd Rusycystyczny 2025 nr 2

PR 2025 nr 4 tytuł

PR 2025 nr 2 strona redakcyjna

PR 2025 nr 2 spis treści

Borders — civilizational, national, ethnic, regional, religious, phantom, ideological, spiritual, and others — and various understandings of transgression are a subject of interest across many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. They have inspired the formation of numerous research teams and academic projects exploring these themes, as well as conferences that have resulted in monographs offering diverse interpretations of the topic. On October 3–4, 2024, the 4th International Conference “The Great World Religions in Language and Culture: Borders” was organized by the Institute of Russian and Eastern Studies, the Institute of German Philology and the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of Gdańsk. In this issue of Przegląd Rusycystyczny (Russian Studies Review), one will find selected papers presented at the conference by literary scholars and linguists representing various academic institutions, primarily from Poland and abroad. This publication aims to present a multifaceted and contemporary approach to the subject of borders through the lenses of linguistic, literary, and cultural studies. Researchers addressed the concept of the border not only in its literal sense — as a place or area near a boundary, across it, or in between — but also in a metaphorical sense: as a transitional or liminal state, between historical periods, religions, cultures, worlds, life and death, or even beyond the boundaries of known space-time. Furthermore, the border is also interpreted as the periphery concerning the centre.

Throughout the centuries, Kiev has traditionally been regarded as the East Slavic cradle of Orthodoxy, and later, it was even referred to as the spiritual capital of the Russian Empire. This status is emphasized by terms such as “the mother of Russian cities” and “Russian Jerusalem.” The entrenched image of Kiev in culture cannot be interpreted without considering its churches as key elements. The Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, St. Sophia Cathedral, and St. Andrew’s Church have become an integral part of the Kiev text in Russian (and Russian-speaking) literature. This article addresses the literary representations of Kiev’s churches and their role in shaping the city’s textual identity. It also highlights certain trends in the portrayal of Kiev’s churches, including their transnational, inclusive character. The research material for this article consists of works (including autobiographical and memoirist ones) from 19th and 20th-century Russian literature by authors such as Nikolay Gogol, Nikolay Leskov, Alexandr Kuprin, Konstantin Paustovsky, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Victor Nekrasov.

Currently, Eastern Orthodoxy is the second confession in the Czech Republic. This situation is new, having developed only in the 21st century. Before that, Orthodoxy played only a secondary role in the history of the Czechia. The purpose of this article is to ask the question of how much the presence and gradual growth of the number of Orthodox believers in the Czech Republic is connected with the Russian diaspora in the country.

The article is based on dystopian and anti-utopian texts from the 20th and 21st centuries, describing the Orthodox societal organisation model from various social, political, and religious perspectives. The interdisciplinary methodology employs tools of comparative-historical, phenomenological and semiotic analysis. In the history of 20th–21st century Russian literature, utopian/dystopian works have gained popularity and influenced the literary process both in the diaspora and the metropolis. Orthodox societal models radicalize utopian projects. Starting from the 20th century, they transform these projects into aggressive chauvinistic programs, at times echoing Nazi slogans. Initially emerging as depictions of idealized, folk-art-style visions of the desired future and as manifestations of chauvinistic societal blueprints, Orthodox utopias aim to become a positive program for the Russian people. From a religious declaration, Russian utopias evolve into programs of isolation and segregation. The main characters of Orthodox utopias are political figures: the Tsar, military commanders, and church hierarchs. In various dystopias, these projects are viewed through the eyes of a single individual—the protagonist or narrator. Such Orthodox monarchies are either refuted or, at the very least, ridiculed. They turn out to be forms of preserving time, customs, rituals, and traditions. Orthodox utopias become nationalist and shift from religious to totalitarian.

This paper examines the issue of the existence of God in the future society. The primary source is a dystopia by the relatively young but highly acclaimed Russian author, Anna Starobinets, The Living (Живущий, 2011). In this novel, the author presents a world almost entirely dominated by cyberspace, where humans are essentially an extension of technology—still necessary, but no longer treated as subjects. Therefore, one could argue that this novel is a materialization of the fears held by internet skeptics, as it explores the question: what will happen if a post-biological organism comes into existence? Starobinets effectively deconstructs both God the Father and the Son of God. The true deity in this world is the information conveyed by the System. This information is the most valuable element of reality, as it enables progress, which in turn becomes the source of money and practically unlimited power. The people of the future, as the author predicts, will be permanently dependent on technology, will cease to think independently, and will become weak—just as every computer system is ultimately vulnerable. If the pessimistic forecasts of Jean Baudrillard come to pass, sooner or later humanity will disappear, as in its desire to improve life, it will unknowingly strive toward self-annihilation

The article examines the features of the Khanty and Mansi peoples’ Christianisation on the example of Alexei Ivanov’s two-part novel Tobol. The transition from pagan beliefs to Orthodoxy is shown from different angles: from the point of view of the indigenous population of Siberia and non-local missionaries. The adoption of Christianity took place in several stages; it had both voluntary and violent character, which found its reflection in the duology. The article analyses the four Orthodox missions of Metropolitan Philotheus (Leshchinsky) and characterizes the selected personages involved in the confessional conflict. The problem of reconstructing the images of historical characters is also discussed. In addition, special attention is paid to the motif of otherness of autochthons and the ways in which it is embodied in the text.     

The article focuses on the Ivan Kupala Festival within the Russian-language social media discourse based on publications on YouTube and TikTok. The study encompasses entertainment-oriented posts showcasing festive celebrations, secular informational content, and publications from Orthodox organizations and neopagans, which contribute to the religious discourse. Three main portrayals of the festival are evident: as a joyful bonfire-centered celebration, as a significant date in neopagan religious practices, and as a pagan tradition contrasted with Christian commemorations of John the Baptist’s birth. An interesting feature is the combination of superstitions with Christian prayers in some content. The most popular posts are short-form videos on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, emphasizing visual appeal with spectacular bonfires and Slavic women in flower crowns. The study also highlights the algorithm-driven segmentation of social media, where users tend to engage with ideologically similar content.

The aim of the article entitled The Image of Hell in Polish and Russian Proverbs is to present the vision of hell that emerges from paremiological and phraseological units recorded in Polish and Russian paremiological dictionaries. The analysis of the linguistic material led to the following conclusions. The depiction of hell outlined in lexicographical sources primarily corresponds to folk and religious visions of hell. This confirms the dualism of belief characteristic of both Russians and Poles. Proverbs differ not only quantitatively but also qualitatively, with qualitative differences reflected in the topics addressed by the proverbs. For instance, Russian proverbs rooted in the realities of past centuries reflect the Orthodox understanding of the afterlife.

The traditional folk festival of the Slavs, celebrated during the summer solstice, is Midsummer Night, also called Kupala Night, sobótka, palinocka, kupalnocka, etc. in various areas of Slavic lands. Researchers maintain that it was originally a pagan festival, which over time was adapted through inculturation by Christianity and linked to the figure of St John the Baptist. According to Slavic mythology, the celebration of this unusual night was accompanied by folk rites and rituals, combining pagan and Christian elements and linked to the natural world. Plants, especially herbs, were an inseparable element of these, which was reflected in the linguistic nomination. The topic is presented on the example of folk names of selected herbal plant species in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian.

This article addresses the topic of patronymics in the Russian language. It considers the trends that are affecting the increasingly impoverished use of patronymics in everyday communication, mass media and business communication. Some grassroots movements are attempting to replace it in certain instances with matronym. Those who advocate for the continued use of patronymics cite the Russian government and the Orthodox Church as defenders of this practice. They argue that patronymics reflect the distinct identity of the Russian people and their unique cultural and religious heritage. The use of patronymics is seen as a manifestation of the Russian national and religious social consciousness.

The particular experience of the death-sentenced protagonist of Dmitry Danilov's anti-utopia is the subject of consideration. While waiting for the sentence to be carried out, both he and his relatives are in a state of uncertainty and suspension of identity, thus occupying a liminal position associated with the alienation of their previous social status. The alienation presented in the novel, which the protagonist is unable to overcome, gives him the characteristics of a liminal identity and testifies to the destruction of the novel's reality, which can be seen as a warning against the loss of control over the shaping of society.

The main thesis of the article assumes that it is incorrect to talk about Russia as a mental and moral monolith, a uniform mass of people unanimously supporting Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine. On the contrary, there are at least three Russias: the first pro-Putin, the second dissent (mainly in exile), and the third silent. The article's author uses the diary of the first year of war by Grzegorz Przebinda Putin’s Last War as a permanent reference point. The philologist deals with Russia.

The renaissance of the popularity of the "red tsar" in contemporary Russia has been noticed by some dramaturgical and theatre creators. Kirill Serebrennikov directed the documentary play "Stalin's Funeral", based on the memories of witnesses of history who remember March 1953, and on the statements of cultural activists who warned against admiring dictatorship. Artur Solomonov presents the image of the cult of the general secretary through metatheatrical means. His tragicomedy "How We Buried Joseph Stalin" tells the story of a director who, by staging a play about a dictator, becomes one himself. While Serebrennikov and Solomonov performed a metaphorical "funeral" of the Soviet tyrant, Valery Fokin, trying to understand the nature of totalitarianism, staged a play about the "birth" of Stalin. The character of "Young Soso" on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre refers to the heroes of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's work.

The paper elaborates on the problem of foregrounding strategies in lyrical discourse. One of them consists in that first some linguistic canon (which may be syntactic, lexical, or pragmatic, and which may be both general, genre-specific or even text-specific) is notoriously violated, but at some later point of the text it still becomes operative; the fragment where such a ‘restitution’ occurs tends to be construed as the foreground. It is argued that this general tendency shows up in the building of information structure of relevant sentences: sometimes the backgrounded parts of the poem contain non-prototypical themes or rhemes, while prototypical ones become articulators of the foreground. Some thought is given to the notion of prototypicality of themes and rhemes; the most salient properties of ‘model’ theme are assumed to be its discourse givenness, explicitness, semantic specificity, high morphosyntactic rank, reference to the first or second person, and the ‘model’ rheme is assumed to display discourse-newness and shortness. Four case studies are offered; those are analyzes of the poems by Georgiy Ivanov. In conclusion, reasons are adduced supporting the claim that the above described ‘rheme redressment’ lies at the core of the whole discourse-building strategy in question, while other relevant devices could be viewed

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of syntactic enantiosemy, which consists in the opposition between the primary and secondary (derivative) meanings of an utterance. The authors note that the degree of antonymity of meanings can be greater or lesser, and from a pragmatic point of view, enantiosemic utterances function as indirect speech acts: their speech pragmatic function does not correspond to their grammatical structure and lexical composition. The authors pay special attention to the description of pragmatic modifications of enantiosemic utterances, the primary illocutionary function has an assertive, interrogative or directive character. The conclusions note that syntactic enantiosemy is ambivalent from the point of view of the norms of communicative culture: on the one hand, most of such utterances implement a negative assessment, i.e. reflects the aversive communicative attitude of the speaker, on the other hand, it is realized in an indirect form, which indicates an attitude toward compromise. On the one hand, most enantiosemic statements indicate a negative emotion, i.e. irritation, on the other hand, the indirect form of the statement indicates a language game.

The article presents the aims and progress of the research project (E)migration — Cultural Identity — Cultural Memory, carried out in 2023–2024 at the Institute of Literary Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The project focuses on the history of Polish and Russian émigré literature and culture — a key area of the Institute’s academic and educational activities.

The Разговоры по душам script by M. Kossakowska-Maras and M. Woś is for people learning Russian at levels B1 and B2, especially for students of Russian philology. It is designed for adult learners and combines language learning with cultural topics. Students learn about everyday life, customs, and traditions in Russia, such as appearance, character, health, housing, and cuisine. The script focuses on developing communication and intercultural skills. It includes different exercises that involve students and help them improve their ability to communicate effectively. The script uses materials from literature, newspapers, and the internet, allowing students to learn language skills in a cultural context.

PR 2025 nr 2 noty o autorach