TABLE TALKS IN A.S. PUSHKIN’S STORY "THE STATION-MASTER": BETWEEN TEA AND PUNSCH |
| 3 | |
| 2026 |
| scientific article | 821.161.1 | ||
| 61-71 | А. С. Пушкин, «Станционный смотритель», мотив чаепития, гастрономический дискурс, поэтика, A.S. Pushkin, ", The Stationmaster, ", motif of tea drinking, culinary discourse, poetics |
| This article analyzes the narrative functions of the motifs of tea and punsch in A.S. Pushkin’s story "The Stationmaster". The methodological framework of the study is based on works on the poetics of motif (I.V. Silantyev) and gastronomic discourse (V.V. Pokhlebkin, M.B. Nizovtseva). The aim of the study is to identify how the motifs of tea and punsch, in the context of table talk, participate in the organization of the narrative structure of the work and in the revelation of the characters’ inner world. The narrative plot is built around the narrator’s account of three visits to the post station. Two of these visits are associated with the motif of table talks between the narrator and the stationmaster Samson Vyrin. The results of the study show that the motifs of tea and punsch are involved in the organization of the narrative structure of the story. First, they function as narrative catalysts and help bring about a shift in narrative perspective. Second, the pictures on the biblical theme of the Prodigal Son with German verses, introduced during a plot pause before the tea-drinking episode, become a semantic key to the characters’ fates. Third, the scenes of tea drinking and punsch drinking help reveal the psychological states of the participants in the table talk. The motifs of tea and punsch in "The Stationmaster" form a stable narrative complex that participates in plot construction. |
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