Motif of Madness and Death in B. M. Yulsky’s works (on Problem of Own and Alien in Creativity of Russian Eastern Emigration Writer)

Abstract

The article continues the studies dedicated to the study of literature of Russian Far Eastern emigration, on the example of B. M. Yulsky’s works (1911-1950?), whose life and fate were linked with Far Eastern emigration. The research urgency is caused by the fact that B. Yulsky appears to be poorly known prose writer of the Russian Diaspora in the Far East, and the analysis of his creativity contributes to the restoration of an objective picture of the Far Eastern literary life in the first third of the 20th century. The object of study in the article is the art works from the only book by the author “Green Legion,” which was first published in the homeland of the writer, in Vladivostok in 2012. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that this collection of short stories includes collected in the pages of Russian periodicals of China (mostly in Harbin journal “Rubezh”) artworks by Yulsky. It is proved that the merit of the writer was the appeal to the regional material that gave “Far Eastern” flavour to the prose. The article presents the results of attempts to found out a special type of hero and motifs related to it in the works by Yulsky. The stories are considered, which reveal an interaction of Oriental and Western cultures in the works of Russian writer. The study continues the previous developments on this topic by the author. The comparison is made on the example of the motif of madness and death.