In the modern socio-cultural environment, the relevance of interdisciplinary research in the field of history, philology and literary criticism is increasing due to the need for joint scientific efforts to create a holistic understanding of the interactions of different types of cultures, constantly in the conditions of trade and political communications. One of the problematic aspects of this study is the mechanism of intertextuality, which works differently in the socio-political (Russian, written) and natural (mythopoetic, traditional culture of the aboriginal population of the Russian Arctic) spheres of existence. The work of this mechanism was studied by the methods of comparative historical-cultural and literary-interpretative analysis using the example of one of the most symbolically loaded artifacts ̶ a mirror-shaped bronze medal (hereinafter referred to as MBM) of the 17th century, accidentally discovered on the island of Faddey Severny in the Laptev Sea in the fall of 1940 by topographers of the East Taimyr Hydrographic Expedition. The subject of the study was the phenomenon of intertextuality implemented by aboriginal masters in Siberia and the Russian Arctic as metamorphoses of the image of Kitovras based on Russian invariants of the MBM. The purpose of the study was to trace the iconographic metamorphoses that destroyed the image of Kitovras as a biblical king-sage and teacher, turning him into a spirit-helper of shamans, in order to find out how and why the formats of the aesthetic canons of the Russian cultural world were adapted / rethought by the aboriginal population of these regions of Eurasia. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that for the first time, using the example of the analysis of the literary, mythopoetic and iconographic multi-aspect nature of the image of Kitovras imprinted on the reverse side of the MBM, an attempt was made to study different forms of understanding the social (Russian tradition) and natural (shamanic tradition of the indigenous population of the Russian Arctic) existence by people of different cultural worlds of the late Middle Ages. Metamorphoses of the image of Kitovras in the culture of the indigenous population of Siberia and the Russian Arctic, on the one hand, highlighted forms of latent protest against the invasion of an incomprehensible and alien Christian cultural world, the rejection by the indigenous population of its spiritual and symbolic values. On the other hand, the study noted the adaptation of the achievements of the material side of Russian culture, brought into their lives through the bridges of trade contacts, namely: the values of the “yellow” metal (copper, bronze), the formal features of this type of artifacts (the round shape was associated with solar symbolism in the indigenous mythopoetic views).
In the modern socio-cultural environment, the relevance of interdisciplinary research in the field of history, philology and literary criticism is increasing due to the need for joint scientific efforts to create a holistic understanding of the interactions of different types of cultures, constantly in the conditions of trade and political communications. One of the problematic aspects of this study is the mechanism of intertextuality, which works differently in the socio-political (Russian, written) and natural (mythopoetic, traditional culture of the aboriginal population of the Russian Arctic) spheres of existence. The work of this mechanism was studied by the methods of comparative historical-cultural and literary-interpretative analysis using the example of one of the most symbolically loaded artifacts ̶ a mirror-shaped bronze medal (hereinafter referred to as MBM) of the 17th century, accidentally discovered on the island of Faddey Severny in the Laptev Sea in the fall of 1940 by topographers of the East Taimyr Hydrographic Expedition. The subject of the study was the phenomenon of intertextuality implemented by aboriginal masters in Siberia and the Russian Arctic as metamorphoses of the image of Kitovras based on Russian invariants of the MBM. The purpose of the study was to trace the iconographic metamorphoses that destroyed the image of Kitovras as a biblical king-sage and teacher, turning him into a spirit-helper of shamans, in order to find out how and why the formats of the aesthetic canons of the Russian cultural world were adapted / rethought by the aboriginal population of these regions of Eurasia. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that for the first time, using the example of the analysis of the literary, mythopoetic and iconographic multi-aspect nature of the image of Kitovras imprinted on the reverse side of the MBM, an attempt was made to study different forms of understanding the social (Russian tradition) and natural (shamanic tradition of the indigenous population of the Russian Arctic) existence by people of different cultural worlds of the late Middle Ages. Metamorphoses of the image of Kitovras in the culture of the indigenous population of Siberia and the Russian Arctic, on the one hand, highlighted forms of latent protest against the invasion of an incomprehensible and alien Christian cultural world, the rejection by the indigenous population of its spiritual and symbolic values. On the other hand, the study noted the adaptation of the achievements of the material side of Russian culture, brought into their lives through the bridges of trade contacts, namely: the values of the “yellow” metal (copper, bronze), the formal features of this type of artifacts (the round shape was associated with solar symbolism in the indigenous mythopoetic views).
The study was carried out within the framework of an internal grant from the Herzen State Pedagogical Univ. of Russia (project No. 61-VG).