The Objective World as a Means to Manifest Allegorical Historiography in M. M. Kheraskov’s Novel “Numa, Or Prosperous Rome”

Aim. To examine the objective world in M. M. Kheraskov’s novel “Numa...”, allegorically presenting historiosophical concept of the fate of the “Golden Age” in the development of humanity, considering the philosophical and historical content and allegorical “plot” of the book.

Methodology. Elements of cultural-historical, historical-genetic, comparative-typological, phenomenological, hermeneutic, structural-semiotic methods are used in the analysis; it is carried out in the context of the development of Western European and Russian “state”, “political-utopian” novels of the 18th century, considering the uniqueness of novel poetics in the normative-traditionalist era.

Results. The result of the conducted research is a connection of the philosophical and historical concept of Kheraskov, based on the idea of the “Golden Age” and its fate in the development of mankind, and the main structural levels of the book, primarily its subject matter. The conducted analysis makes it possible to understand how the subject detail functions in the text, the genre assignment of which does not provide for pictoriality, and to clarify the ideas about the development of the Russian political and didactic, Masonic novel of the 18th century.

Research implications. The potential of the subject area in Russian didactic-allegorical prose of the 18th century, as well as the development paths of M. M. Kheraskov’s novel prose, has been shown. The results of the article can be used in further research developments of Masonic prose of that time, in courses of Russian literature of the 18th century, as well as special courses on related topics

1. Alpatova, T. A. (2012). N. M. Karamzin’s Prose: Poetics of Narration. Moscow: Moscow Region State University publ. (in Russ.).

2. Ivinsky, A. D. (2023). From M. N. Muravyov Letters in 1776: A. A. Barsov, V. I. Maikov, M. M. Kheraskov, and the “Free Russian Assembly.” In: Literary Fact, 2 (28), 25–51. DOI: 10.22455/2541-8297-2023-28-25-51 (in Russ.).

3. Ivinsky, D. P. (2018). M. M. Kheraskov and Russian Literature of the 18th – Early 19th Centuries. Moscow: R-Valent publ. (in Russ.).

4. Lyubzhin, A. I. (2024). Reminiscences of Classical Literature in M. M. Kheraskov’s Stories “Cadmus and Harmony” and “Polydorus, Son of Cadmus and Harmony.” In: Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology, 28-1, 1042–1055. DOI: 10.30842/ielcp2306901528064 (in Russ.).

5. Pashkurov, A. N. (2010). Late Russian Sentimentalism: Dialogue of the Idyllic and the Elegiac. Kazan: Kazan University publ. (in Russ.).

6. Pozhenin, B. V. (2024). The First Literary Circle in Russia: On the History of the Association under the “Land Gentry Cadet Corps.” In: The New Philological Bulletin, 3 (70), 88–98 (in Russ.).

7. Rostovtseva, Yu. A. (2014). “Numa Pompilius” by M. M. Kheraskov and “Nakaz” by Catherine the Great: Literary Utopia in Light of “Historical Mythology.” In: Philology: Scientific Researches, 4, 305–314. DOI: 10.7256/2305-6177.2014.4.13370. (in Russ.).

8. Alekseeva, N. Yu. (2005). Russian Ode. Development of Odic Form in the 17th–18th Centuries. St. Petersburg: Nauka publ. (in Russ.).

9. Sakharov, V. (2000). The Myth of the Golden Age in Russian Masonic Literature of the 18th Century. In: Voprosy Literatury, 6, 149–164. (in Russ.).