“Twisting the glory of both halves of this time...”: on the spatio-temporal and mythological manifestation in “The Lay of Igor’s Host”

• Main Author: Olga A. Porol
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2020-12-01
• Series: RUDN Journal of Studies in Literature and Journalism
• Subjects: the lay of igor’s host; slava; pagan; christian; space; time; dark place; church slavonic vocabulary; old russian text; images; symbols
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/literary-criticism/article/viewFile/25447/18988

The article puts forward a hypothesis about the existence of the goddess of the ancient Slavs Slava in the Lay of Igors Host. Some dark places have been translated. When analyzing the work, a search for text parallels was used. Revealed and substantiated the relationship between separate Old Russian and Church Slavonic vocabulary. The semantic shades of the words mind, heart, time, path, contained in dark places are considered. An attempt was made to understand the peculiarities of the manifestation of space-time forms in the Lay of Igors Host. The coexistence of the present and the past tense in The Lay of Igors Campaign is explained by the timeless forms of being, the recognition by the ancient Russian scribe of two spaces. The duality in The Lay of Igors Host is manifested in the use of ancient pagan images, old words and epics of this time. The Church Slavonic word, dating back to the text of the Bible, contains many semantic shades, the explanation of which can reveal the depth and richness of the Old Russian text. The expressions that go back to the theme of Christianity are analyzed. At the end of the work, the emerging joyful attitude of the author of The Lay of Igors Host to the hero who destroyed his army and escaped from captivity is regarded as Christian. Willfulness and the fulfillment of Gods will are present in the character of Prince Igor, in his actions. Christian images in The Lay of Igors Host and the authors kind attitude to the defeated prince tell the reader about the new established Christian world, which, however, is in a difficult relationship with the world of former words, ancient pagan Slavic images.