Topos of Creativity in the Works of Paustovsky

Abstract

The paper explores the semantics and poetics of the literary estate of the 19th century in the process of its transformation into a literary cottage or house of creativity in the texts of K. G. Paustovsky (the book “Golden Rose”, the play “Our Contemporary Pushkin”, fragments of the “Tale of Life”, letters from Pushkin and Tarusa near Moscow, Riga Jurmala). The study shows that the context of the classical “manor culture” (contact with nature, peace and reflection, communication in the writer's circle) is seen by Paustovsky as the most favorable environment for creative work, creating of works of art. One can see how in the letters and in the literary texts of the writer, the image of solitary creativity arises in a village house, a seaside cottage, often in the cold season, which is a symbol of the greatest concentration, interaction with nature and at the same time detachment from the ordinary circle of occupations and immersion into artistic space. The writer's communication, the exchange of ideas, stories about new ideas, which took place in the house of creativity or when living together in the country, seems to be some invariant of the literary estate salon.