Literary Impressionism in I. S. Shmelev’s Prose of Emigrant Period

Abstract

Aim. To identify specifics of literary impressionism in I. S. Shmelev’s prose of emigrant period with a focus on the Orthodox spirituality of the novella “The Pilgrimage” and the novel “Summer of the Lord”; to reveal how the writer rethinks the sensual nature of religious experience through the play of light and shadow, colour accents, and momentary perception, as well as to identify the unique contribution of this aesthetic practice to the process of modernization of Russian literature.
Methodology. Comparative historical analysis, combining elements of narratology, an intermediate approach, comparison with the techniques of Impressionist painting and a phenomenological study of 
religious experience are used.
Results. Shmelev’s synthesis of Orthodox imagery with impressionist poetics is revealed. Subjective 
impressions deconstruct objective reality, light-color tropes and synesthetic images visualize the sacred, using the principles of pictorial impressionism.
Research implications. The theoretical significance of the study is related to analysis modernist artistic techniques and traditional realism in Orthodox literature. The findings of the study are applicable in courses on literature of the Silver Age and on the history of literature of the Russian diaspora.