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Two centuries of Russian classics

Philological journal
A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the
 Russian Academy of Sciences

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    Kocheshkova, L. Ye. “ʽHomeric’ in The Cossacks by L. N. Tolstoy.” Dva veka russkoi klassiki, vol. 7, no. 2, 2025, pp. 176–199. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2025-7-2-176-199

  • Abstract:

    The article examines the influence of the Homeric tradition on Tolstoy’s artistic method in the 1860s. The author of the article comprehends the role of the “Homeric” in the novel The Cossacks, analyzing various aspects of Tolstoy’s work, its ideological structure, type of description, and plot and fabula level. The article examines the episode of the Iliad describing the Shield of Achilles, which is associated with the key oppositions in the novel The Cossacks, the relations between the elements of the oppositions, the structure of comparisons, and the method of constructing interconnected images and descriptions. Tolstoy, relying on the Homeric epic, more accurately defined the subject of the image in the novel The Cossacks and identified a set of essential, fundamental situations of human life, which together create the image of a holistic being.

  • Keywords: L. N. Tolstoy, Homer, Homeric, Achilles’ shield, The Cossacks, artistic method, realism, oppositions.
  • Author: Lyubov Ye. Kocheshkova
  • Information about the author:

    Lyubov Ye. Kocheshkova, PhD in Philology, The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Moika River Emb., 48, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3841-7899

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • Received: December 21, 2024
  • Approved after reviewing: March 23, 2025
  • Published: June 25, 2025
  • Issue: 2025 Volume 7 No. 2
  • Department: Russian Literature of the 18th–19th Centuries
  • Pages: 176-199
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/CCOEVB

  • UDK: 821.161.1.09"19"
  • Publication Type: Research Article

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