"IT WAS UNDER BONAPARTE". A CONVERSATION ABOUT BONAPARTE'S DEATH IN THE FAIRY TALE BY M.E. SALTYKOV-SHCHEDRIN "THE EAGLE-MAECENAS" |
| 3 | |
| 2026 |
| scientific article | 821.161.1.0+82.0 | ||
| 42-60 | М.Е. Салтыков-Щедрин, авторские сказки, «Орел-меценат», наполеоновский миф, «Отечественные записки», Наполеон I, Наполеон III, Наполеон IV, Александр III, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, author, ', s fairy tales, ", The Eagle-Maecenas, ", the Napoleonic myth, ", Otechestvennye Zapiski, ", Napoleon I, Napoleon III, Napoleon IV, Alexander III |
| This article analyzes the Napoleonic myth in M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin's little-studied fairy tale "The Eagle-Maecenas", written by the satirist in 1884 (several months before the closure of the journal "Otechestvennye Zapiski" he edited) and first published in the Geneva newspaper of Russian ?migr?s, "Obshchee Delo", in 1886. This work represents the first dedicated study in Shchedrin studies devoted entirely to this work. Particular attention is paid to the strange conversation between the eagle and the falcon in the tale, concerning the death of Bonaparte. The article presents a hypothesis on which Bonaparte the falcon is referring to. The overall connection between the eagle-maecenas and the Napoleonic myth is explained. It is argued that History in "The Eagle-Maecenas" and three other Shchedrin tales from 1884 is presented not as an objective, impersonal process, but as a subject of life. The real commentary on the tale is expanded and supplemented. The notion that the eagle-maecenas directly correlates with Emperor Alexander III of Russia, and his attendants with political figures of the so-called "counter-reform" era, is critically assessed. It is demonstrated that despite some common features, it is impossible to completely and entirely equate fairy-tale characters with real-life figures of the first half of the 1880s. |
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