Dominant topos in the city cultural memory: Сhornoje ozero («Black Lake») in Kazan history, literature, and culture

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(2)-227-241

Liya Bushkanets

Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, L. N. Tolstoy Museum – branch of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Russia
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-3581-6320

ABSTRACT

The article studies the significant Kazan cultural topos – the public garden (now a park) Сhornoje Ozero (“Black Lake”) that has existed since the beginning of the 19th century. Even though the image of Ka-zan appears a lot in Russian literature, the author of the article believes that it would be an exaggeration to speak about the “Kazan city text” since the mythology of the city is not developed. The city is not perceived as a symbolic space. However, it is correct to state a “pre-text” that includes a sufficient number of dominant topoi, although they have not developed into something integral. Each of these topoi is associated with the historical and cultural memory of the city, recorded in Russian literature. The purpose of the article is to analyze the meanings that have been filling this space for almost two centuries, the semantic content of the image of Сhornoje Ozero (“Black Lake”) that has been changing in literature and culture, and hence the role which this space with an unusual name played in citizens’ lives. Being a free public space (unlike the neighboring garden with paid entrance), in the 19th – early 20th centuries Сhornoje Ozero (“Black Lake”) was formed as a space for students of a nearby university and still focuses on the youth of the city. It was reflected in the works of fiction by writers who studied at Kazan University. In the 20th century, the leading meanings of the space was about neighborhood to NKVD. It even gave rise to a specific urban folk-lore. Despite the fitting solutions for the reconstruction of the space and the return of young people, citizens, and tourists, there has been a loss of meanings associated with the topos “Black Lake”, the name is perceived as strange, the cultural memory of the past has gone. The policy of the Kazan city authorities as a whole is characterized by a tendency to destroy the cultural memory of the city, which seems to be a big mistake.

KEYWORDS: urban text, dominant topos, Russian literature, cultural memory of the city, Kazan

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Information about the author

Liya E. Bushkanets
Doctor of Sci. (Philology), Associate Professor
Professor of the Department
of Russian Literature and Methods of Teaching
Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University
2, Tatarstan St., Kazan, 420111,
Russian Federation
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3581-6320
Web of Science ResearcherID: E-2930-2015
Scopus AuthorID: 57190734068
e-mail: [email protected]

For citation:
Bushkanets, L. E. (2024). Dominant topos in the city cultural memory: Сhornoje ozero (“Black Lake”) in Kazan history, literature, and culture. Urbis et Orbis. Microhistory and Semiotics of the City, 4(2), 227–241. https://doi.org/10.34680/urbis-2024-4(2)-227-241