Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature

1607-6192 2713-2226

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-189-217

Research Article and Publication of Archival Documents

Articles

CHRONICLE STORY OF PRINCE OLEG’S DEATH IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PROBLEM OF “DEVIANT” TEXTS

Tufanova

Olga A.

old-rus@imli.ru

2025

24 189 217

2026

The article focuses on the mini-dialogues as one of the most important artistic method of early “deviant” texts, based on an internal conflict of perception of the situation. Based on the analysis of the story of Oleg’s death from a horse in the Tale of Bygone Years, it is concluded that speeches are not always accompanied by an adequate reaction, sometimes they determine further conflict interaction, destructive assessments, actions and statements of the hero. Of particular interest are “speeches ‘into nowhere’,” contributing to the creation of hermeneutic “zones of silence.” A comparison of the plot from the Tale of Bygone Years with its versions in other chronicle collections showed that the reduction of plot gaps occurs either by introducing details that change the perception of what is heard or explaining the strange behavior of the hero (Russian Chronograph of 1512, Mazurin Chronicle, Vologda-Perm Chronicle), or by reducing the text to the level of a weather record, in which unquestionable information remains (Rogozhsky Chronicle, Yermolinsky Chronicle, Novgorod I Chronicle of Jun. Edition), or by developing a motif implied in the early text (Ustyug Chronicle according to the Matsievich list, Arkhangelsk Chronicle). Depending on the preferences of the scribe, this motif either completely destroys the signs of deviance in the text and removes the aura of destructiveness from the hero’s behavior, or, on the contrary, strengthens them, which leads to a simplification and flattening of the original hermeneutic multi-layeredness of the text (“Synopsis” from the collection of V.M. Undolsky, f. 310, no. 1110).

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