RUSSIAN (SOVIET) WRITERS ABOUT THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR IN THE “PRAVDA” AND “RED STAR” 1941–1942: UNIVERSAL AND NATIONAL

Abstract

In the paper based on the materials of the “Pravda” and “Red Star” during 1941–1942 the researcher reveals problems of the universal and national in the works of Russian (Soviet) writers about the Great Patriotic War. In this war, the greatest masters of words actively used mythological constructions in their articles, prose and poetry, with the help of which they brought up patriotism among Soviet readers, and countered the false propaganda of the Nazis with great human truth. The results of this article provide an opportunity to enrich ideas about the essence of the universal and national in culture and to more deeply comprehend the functions of mythologization in literature. Based on the above, the researcher concludes that the works of prominent Russian (Soviet) writers about the Great Patriotic War in the “Pravda” and “Red Star” during 1941–1942 caused hatred for the invaders, awakened patriotism, thereby mobilizing the people to defeat the enemy. Myth-making allowed the writers of the war years to create their own Universe, in which the ratio of the national and the universal was explained through the national character of the Russian people (in such qualities as resilience, heroism, patriotism and invincibility) and the universal qualities of anti-fascists around the world.