Publications
The paper makes an overview of the existing approaches towards variation in the medieval manuscript transmission and maps the differences between them. This heterogeneity of the current research paradigms calls for a comparative view on the medieval manuscript variation. Particular attention is given to the vernacular manuscript traditions using the examples of Old Russian chronicles and Old Icelandic sagas.
The transition from the Norwegian narrative to the Icelandic one in Bjarnar saga Hítdælakappa creates such a contrast that for a long time this saga has been seen as particularly odd or clumsily made. This article argues that the contrast is due to the saga’s bipartite structure where one part serves as an introduction and another becomes the main narrative. The transition from one part to the other is marked by the change in the narrator’s guidance. This change is illustrated by the analysis of the representation of subjectivity in the saga.
This study is an attempt to look at the episodes of the Khazar tribute and Princess Olga’s visit to Byzantium (955) in the Poviest’ vriemiennyh liet (Повести временных лет) from the point of view of their structure. Thus, a riddle, as a part of the battle of wits motive, is proposed as one of the main genres that influenced the narrative construction of the episodes. Traces of the riddle can be seen in the structure that is called here „a riddle situation” and that shows features of the „question-answer” form. Moreover, riddles are used as subtexts; it is suggested that the episode of the Olga’s visit to the Byzantine Emperor unfolds from the riddle that appears in one of the Olga’s speeches – the riddle that is known from the apocryphal question-answer text known as the Biesieda trioh sviatitieliey (Беседа трех святителей).
The paper is focuses on Andrey Platonov's screenplays and on screen versions of his prose. Platonov wrote both for silent cinema and for talkies. The thesis statement of the manuscript is that silent cinema aesthetics is closer to Platonov's sophisticated style. The most successful screenversions are strongly connected with it.