Ivan Chemnitzer’s Fable «The Student of Metaphysics»: Makings of the Plot

Russkaia literatura. 2021. № 1

DOI: 10.31860/0131-6095-2021-1-70-73

Lev Arkad’evich Trakhtenberg
Docent, Lomonosov Moscow State University

lev_a_t@inbox.ru

IVAN CHEMNITZER’S FABLE «THE STUDENT OF METAPHYSICS»: MAKINGS OF THE PLOT

The article traces the sources of Ivan Chemnitzer’s fable «The Student of Metaphysics». Its plot is based on Aesop’s fable «The Astrologer» (Perry 40) and the folk anecdote «The Learned Son» (AT 1628). C. F. Gellert’s fable «The Peasant and his Son» (Perry 707) might have provided the pat-tern for the plot synthesis. Combining Aesop’s plot with the personae of the anecdote, Chemnitzer formulates the problem of false enlightenment, considered important in the 18th century, in the lan-guage of literary and folklore archetypes.

Key words: Ivan Chemnitzer, Aesop, fable, folk anecdote, satire, Russian 18th-century litera-ture, comparative literature.

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