Leonid Borodin in search of the third truth

Abstract

The article is devoted to the semantic structure and poetics of Leonid Borodin’s Novella The Third Truth. The author attempts a holistic reading of the work through the use of current methods of mythopoetic analysis. Attention is focused on the meaning of the name, on key artistic concepts and character series Riabinin — Selivanov — Obolenskie. The artistic concept of taiga, which is ontologically important for Siberian writers and makes it possible to convey a characteristic attitude towards the world, is called the basic idea. Borodin managed to fix the approaching end of the heroic stage of national history in the relationships of key characters; he managed to show in Selivanov’s fate the reflection of the tragedy of the new, “urban” reality, which suppresses national-historical instincts, deforming the axiological foundations of existence. The author believes that the most important thing for a writer in the tragic fates of Riabinin, Selivanov, Obolenskii is the denial of the possibility of finding a man in new social and historical conditions, the degree of freedom, which gives the “son of heaven and earth” the possibility to build life in accordance with the “third”, namely, the real and only truth, implying a combination of “God’s will, the beginning of natural-space and natural-historical principles” (Iurii Davydov). None of the heroes of The Third Truth are able to overcome civilizational pressure. The way out of the civilizational conflict is seen only in the choice of the author’s life strategy, which is determined by the understanding of truth as an ethical choice in favor of justice.