DRAMATIC DILOGY IVAN THE TERRIBLE BY A.N. TOLSTOY IN THE CONTEXT OF OLD RUSSIAN PUBLICISTIC WRITING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY: TO THE POETICS ISSUES

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

The article examines the issue of Old Russian publicistic sources of dramatic dilogy Ivan the Terrible by A.N. Tolstoy (1940s). The article examines the elements of the publicistic literary thought of Old Russia in relation to the context of drama in the artistic sound, which has so far remained outside the scope of studies devoted to Tolstoy’s dilogy. Consideration of Tolstoy’s drama dedicated to the first Russian tsar in the context of Russian publicism (journalism) of the 16th century makes it possible to speak about Tolstoy’s significant contribution to the artistic construction of the image of Ivan the Terrible in the 20th century. Tolstoy’s attempt to come closer to revealing the image of the first Russian tsar Ivan Vasilyevich in all its diversity and justified contradiction was achieved by a correct understanding of the tsar’s role in history, to some extent the “werewolf shape”, “playful” nature of the Russian ruler. In the play, Ivan appears in different roles: a humble ruler, a powerful tsar, a skilled diplomat, a subtle military strategist, a man in love. The writer’s possible appeal to the publicistic legacy of Ivan Peresvetov (writings-appeals to the sovereign), Andrey Kurbsky (The History of the Grand Duke of Moscow), Ivan IV himself (diplomatic messages) allowed him to build a special literary model of Old Russia in the play due to the precise and expressive transmission of the poetics of medieval artistic text in dialogues.
Keywords: A.N. Tolstoy, Ivan the Terrible, dramatic dilogy, Old Russian publicistic writing of the 16th century, poetics, artistry, expressiveness, image.
Author: Marianna V. Kaplun
Information about the author:

Marianna V. Kaplun, 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/0000-0003-2427-2855

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

Kaplun, M.V. “Dramatic Dilogy ‘Ivan the Terrible’ by A.N. Tolstoy in the Context of Old Russian Publicistic Writing of the Sixteenth Century: to the Poetics Issues.” 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. 738–752. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-738-752 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/IUJIWO
UDC: 821.161.1.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2025-24-738-752
Received: 28.01.2025
Approved after reviewing: 12.03.2025
Date of publication: 13.07.2025

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