and its role in the text structure
The paper examines the eschatological vision of Peter Artemiyev, the author who lived in the
second half of the seventeenth century, presented in the part of his letter to his father from Moscow
to Suzdal. The analysis was made of the letter duplicate preserved in the only copy in the
draft manuscript of the late seventeenth century from the Synodic collection of SHM, no. 393.
This letter is of a high scientific value as a source of biographical information about the writer and
his literary masterpieces, combining the traditions of Old Russian booklore and cultural innovations
of the second half of seventeenth century. In the letter structure, a special place takes the
story of his own visionary experience (hell vision) that is related to the early period of life. The
study deals with the content and system of characters of the vision, defines its structural specificity,
establishes the connection between the vision and letter context, and determines its function in
the compositional structure of the work. By its content, the vision described by Peter Artemiev is
close to the type of visionary genre where the otherworld themes were developed. The text of the
vision reflects the complex of author’s representations that were formed by the booklore influence,
especially the texts with eschatological content. Among the topoi of the visionary genre
used by the author, a special role plays the image of «paper scroll» where the sacred knowledge
about some part of the otherworld is imprinted. This image can be definitely correlated with the
Old Covenant storyline concerning the calling of prophet Ezekiel (Ez 2: 1–10; 3: 1–11). The connection
of vision with Bible theme might have defined the character and conceptual orientation
of its interpretation by the author himself. In total, the eschatological motifs and characters used
by Peter Artemiev, according to his interpretation, have highlighted in the letter context such aspects
of vision as pointing at chosenness and reminder of retribution for the sinner. The text analysis
shows that the vision of Peter Artemiev, the content of which is closely connected with the
letter context, had a significant influence on the author’s image and manner of self-expression.
It made the confessional basis of the essay stronger and expanded its semantic range. In the narration,
one can trace the individual features of the author, the elements of psychological self-analysis. Since Peter Artemiev vision is included in the letter structure, it helped him to disclose
his writer's talent, demonstrate the individuality and authors self-consciousness.
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and its role in the text structure // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2018. № 4. Pp. 37–46. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/65/4.