ALL-CONQUERING LOVE: STRUCTURAL AND ARTISTIC FEATURES OF THE TALE OF THE SECOND MARRIAGE OF BASIL THE THIRD

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 24
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Abstract:

Abstract:

The Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil the Third was written in the second half of the 20s of the 16th century. If we look at the work from the point of view of the content of the monument, the historical reality that it sets out is absolutely biased. This work, according to historians, is biased and aimed at justifying Grand Duke Basil III in his moral iniquities, an attempt to glorify him as an ideal autocrat, etc. At the same time, The Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil the Third was written in an extremely realistic manner. Even though it diverges from the historical reality, it still corresponds to the author’s ideas about the world, and those realities, the truth in it, which is not rejected when reading as something fantastic, but strictly corresponds to the reader’s life experience and expectations. In the process of researching the artistic form of comprehension and presentation of material by the author of this work, a completely unexpected image of the Grand Duke is revealed — very natural and lively, warm and human, and, at the same time, so unusual. The literary portrait of Basil III fits surprisingly harmoniously into the author’s conception of reality. Equally perfect is the way of presenting it to the reader. The artistic value of the work is great and indisputable.
Keywords: old Russian literature, imagology, character study, image, praise, epic, tradition, Iona, composition, Basil the Third, poetics, self-fashioning, holiness, literary portrait.
Author: Mikhail V. Pervushin
Information about the author:

Mikhail V. Pervushin, PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, А.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25А, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1104-946X

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Pervushin, M.V. “All-Conquering Love: Structural and Artistic Features of ‘The Tale of the Second Marriage of Basil the Third’.” Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 24. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova, sci. ed. M.V. Kaplun. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 439–450. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-439-450
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/EYVZXJ
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-439-450
Received: 21.02.2025
Approved after reviewing: 13.04.2025
Date of publication: 13.07.2025

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