on the textual history of the legend “The Big Dipper (Bucket)”
The paper deals with the textual history of the legend “The Big Dipper (Bucket),” which is
part of Leo Tolstoy’s “The Circle of Reading” as one of the “weekly readings.” The study compares the original English text, discovered for the first time, with translation by Tolstoy. The analysis
of the legend in the cultural and biographical context shows the ways of Tolstoy’s transforming
other writers’ texts and the reasons for addressing them. It is revealed that Tolstoy’s intention
to translate this legend may have been due to his interest in John Ruskin’s works and in particular
his fairy tale “The king of the golden river,” that is very similar to the legend. While sharing many
Ruskin’s ideas, Tolstoy, nevertheless, criticizes his religious views. The paper traces how the
writer transformed the religious motifs of legend according to his religious ethics.
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on the textual history of the legend “The Big Dipper (Bucket)” // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2019. № 3. Pp. 97–110. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/68/9.