К ВОПРОСУ О МЕЖТЕКСТОВЫХ СВЯЗЯХ: АЛЛЮЗИЯ В ПУБЛИЦИСТИКЕ ЛЕОНИДА ЛЕОНОВА
COMMENT ON INTERTEXTUALITY: ALLUSION IN LEONID LEONOV’S PUBLICISTIC WRITINGS

Summary/Abstract: Among numerous studies devoted to the output of Leonid Leonov, only a few concern his publicistic writings. Apart from that, scholars did not always have access to his complete output (the writer died in 1994, whereas studies come mostly from the 1960s and 1970s). Some scholars treated the material selectively taking into consideration only certain periods – from 1916 to 1945 (Yakovlev), 1945 (Kovalov), the 1940s and 1950s (Yaschenko); others considered articles about some precisely defined topics: literary criticism (Isayev), “war” articles (Kovalov). The critics usually focused their attention on the content of Leonov’s articles, their subject matter, whereas the problem of form was sporadically discussed. The latter concerned the phenomenon of verbal metaphorisation (Gorbunov), specificity of artistic image (Simonov), symbolism of folklore landscapes (Stanislavleva). These issues are connected in some way with allusiveness but they have not been associated with this phenomenon by critics. The aim of this article is to analyse Leonov’s publicistic writings from the point of view of form and the function of allusion. This topic is important for the research of the writer’s output due to the considerable saturation of his texts with “quotes”. Allusion functions as a means of transfer of the future of historical, Biblical, mythological and literary characters and events from a source text to those which appear in Leonov’s texts. In Leonov’s publicistic writings, it occurs most often in the form of proper names, implicit or explicit quotes. The latter are most often subject to transformation and modification. The degree of difficulty in decoding allusions depends not only on the reader’s competence but also on the form in which an allusion occurs. The relatively easiest allusions to understand are those in the form of proper names due to the symbolic character and commentary which is a semantic repetition of the proper name. A difficulty arises in a situation when we have to do with an allusion which refers to a less known literary work, or when it becomes understandable just in presence of other allusions. In Leonov’s publicistic writings, allusion is often used as a character drawing means where the author chooses one, most representative feature from a borrowed element. Allusion is also used by the author as a means of emphasising expression. It also performs an ideological function, helps the author to present his position in a picturesque and expressive way. KEY WORDS: allusion, symbolism, Bible, ancient mythology, folklore, source text, proper name, quotation, ideologem.

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