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Abstract: The article studies the novel by V. F. Odoevsky “The Year 4338: Petersburg Letters”. The aim of the work is to show that the artistic form of this novel is intended to present the author’s philosophical idea of creating a new art and a new science through their synthesis. The idea of such synthesis can be traced in a number of Odoevsky’s works, but the novel “The Year 4338” has never been included in this list before, since researchers saw it only as the author’s reflections on the theme of scientific and technological progress. The study exploits the method of intermedial analysis aimed at studying the process of adaptation of visual and audial communication channels within verbal media forms. The analysis has made it possible to trace how the author achieves the effect of documentary authenticity: he transforms the epistolary form, removing some of its mandatory elements and introducing the features of ordinary fiction. To simplify the visualization of unfamiliar images to the readers, Odoevsky places them in the artistic world of the novel next to well-known objects of the real world and uses an intermedial mechanism of partial reproduction. The article has also revealed that the motif of synthesis is recurrent in the novel and has obvious similarities with Odoevsky’s later work, “Russian Nights”. This motif emphasizes the inseparable connection between scientific and artistic creativity, which finds expression in the utopian image of the Cabinet of Curiosities. The idea of synthesis is revealed as fully as possible in the episode with the play of the main character’s companion on the hydrophone: the author creates an image of a person-creator who had created science and art in order to bring pleasure to themselves and others with their help. At the end of the article, it is argued that the novel fully fits into the artistic world of the author; however, the question of a possible creative failure is raised – a supposition is put forward that Odoevsky was not satisfied with the resulting form of his work and that is why he left it unfinished.

About the author(s) :

Ilya A. Kachkov
Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg, Russia)
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3344-0083

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 03.06.2022; date of publication: 31.10.2022.

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