A multi-scale image of Russia in Lermontov’s poem “Th e Village”: from picture-image to map-image

Abstract

M.Y. Lermontov’s poem “The Village”, published in 1841, presents two conceptually different geographical images — the image of a small Homeland (a picture-image) and the image of greater Russia (a map-image). However, a number of researchers of the poet’s work overlooked this distinction, assuming that the second image is merely a generalization of the first.

The article discusses the problem of figurative dichotomy, its origins and the fundamental difference between the two types of geographical images of the country conceived by the writer.

A picture-image, or a literary landscape, presupposes a vertical type of perception by the artist of the surrounding world (perception of a person standing on the ground). A literary landscape, unlike a painted landscape, is not a separate genre, although individual works of the so-called “nature lyrics” may have independent significance. An important spatial characteristic of the literary landscape is its pronounced locality: as a rule, it encompasses a range of several kilometers from the observer’s vantage point.

The map-image suggests a different type of perception of the surrounding world. This is an image of the world from above, from a bird’s-eye view. Therefore, this geographical image is bounded not by the limits of sight, but by the author’s thought.

While the landscape image represents the nearby world, the small homeland, the spatial image — or map-image — represents the vast expanse of greater Russia.

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