Применение геокритики Бертрана Вестфаля в изучении городского пространства в русской прозе: на примере Невы
Applying Bertrand Westphal’s Geocriticism to the Study of Urban Space in Russian Prose: The Case of the Neva

Summary/Abstract: The article demonstrates how to apply Bertrand Westphal's geocriticism to analyze urban space as an active force in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russian prose. The Neva River is taken as the unit of analysis. Methodologically, the study relies on a compact toolkit — multifocalization, stratigraphic verticality, liminality, polisensoriality, and referentiality — together with a working formula: "Neva = [function] under [categories/mediators]." On Andrei Bely's Petersburg, the analysis shows the locus's functional switching; it then illustrates how the same geocritical procedure can be carried out in other works. The method proves effective without cartographic procedures or recourse to overarching metanarratives: rather than positing a fixed "meaning" of the river, it captures the modes of its operation in specific scenes, enabling comparisons across genres and periods. In this view, the city in literature is not a background but a working mechanism that initiates actions and reconfigures visibility.

• Details
• Contents