“Moscow” as Ideal Topos in Prose by Apollon Grigoryev

Abstract

The image of Moscow as the Arcadia is considered in the early prose and memoirs by Apollon Grigoryev. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that the image of Arcadia in Apollon Grigoryev’s prose did not become a subject of study of scholars, while it is undoubtedly unique: the writer moved Arkadia from rural space to urban. It is shown that the description of Zamoskvorechye as ideal space Grigoryev used images of the old house and garden, typical for manor of Arcadia, located usually in rural areas. In accordance with Grigoryev’s own classification in his memoirs there are “generic” and “dreamy” Arcadia, indicating the elements of an ideal topos, which can be found in early prose. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the “dreamy” Arcadia, which acquires a double dimension: personal, biographical, and ideological associated with pochvennichestvo beliefs of the writer. It is proved that Grigoryev’s aim was to present Zamoskvorechye, and with it the whole Moscow as “the Russian soil.” This conclusion the author makes based on the fact that Grigoryev at the level of poetics appeals to the categories central to pochvennichestvo. In the image of Arcadia there is also convergence of romantic and realist poetics.