Provincial Text of Russian Literature: Steel City and a Person (on Works of Lipetsk Writers)

Abstract

The problem of the modern provincial local text on the example of the works of Lipetsk authors is considered. The phenomenon of the Lipetsk text consists in the fact that it has both a long tradition (A. A. Shakhovsky, the author of the comedy “Lesson to Coquettes, or Lipetsk Waters”, stood at its origins), and the newest, born when Lipetsk became the regional center, and the Novolipetsk iron and steel plant (or the Plant as the image of modern texts) became the city-forming enterprise. Attention is paid to modern Lipetsk prose, presented by stories and novels of Lipetsk writers T. Shcheglova and T. Skrundz, in whose works the city for the first time becomes the subject of artistic reflection. The study of the texts by T. Shcheglova and T. Skrundz leads the author to the conclusion that the Lipetsk provincial text not only represents the peculiarities of the local mentality, but also comes to universal issues due to specific poetics. It is noted that the symbolism of the city text is built on the contrast of narrow local space and eternal. It is shown that a person trapped in a “steel” city loses his / her identity, and attempts to acquire it lead to a difficult, almost insoluble situation of choice.