"The Tale of Dracula the Voievode" is presumed to have been written by a Duma deacon Fedor Vasilʹevič Kuricyn around 1484 in Akkerman (Principality of Moldova). Fedor Kuricyn met with Stephen the Great on a diplomatic visit in Suceava and with Matthias Corvinus in Buda. In Moscow, where a significant Moldavian diaspora existed at the time, he was one of the supporters of Stephen's daughter, Elena Voloshanka, and her son Dmitrij, in their struggle for the Moscow throne. Despite being authored less than ten years after Dracula's death, the “Tale” does not assume a biographical character. Instead, it represents a utopia (or dystopia, depending on one's perspective) with elements of anti-conduct, addressing the image of an ideal ruler. This article analyzes the work from the perspective of the peculiarities of medieval consciousness and worldview, primarily focusing on religious beliefs and attitudes toward cruelty and explores the poetics of "The Tale". The uniqueness of the work lies in the fact that "The Tale" is the first known record of original Russian fiction, a narrative that did not enter into chronicle compilations and was dedicated to a hero who lacked significance as a historical figure. The author was well-informed about the circumstances of the real Vlad Dracula's life, but not only did he not strive to describe well-known events consciously, but deliberately avoided such an opportunity. The author clearly saw the distinction between the negative portrayal of Vlad Dracula from the "German pamphlets", the real voievode Vlad III Basarab, and his own fictional character. The author did not adhere to medieval biographical templates; he did not mention the hero's name, did not recount his origin and childhood years, and avoided describing details of the prototype's life. The character of the hero was contradictory and ambiguous, not conforming to any of the conventional archetypes in medieval Russian literature—be it the ideal prince, the clergyman, the boyar, the warrior, the saint, or the holy fool. The author refrained from moralizing and expressing an explicit stance toward the hero, a departure uncommon for the late 15^th century. "The Tale of Dracula the Voievode" represents a utopia, and the land of "Muntenia" serves as an anti-world, a fantastical realm where the impossible becomes possible in the conventional world. The narrative did not belong to the genre of contemporary church-moralistic literature and did not align with any of the recognized genres and styles of Old Russian literature. The parable of the two monks constitutes the central episode in "The Tale of Dracula the Voievode" The monks' judgments anticipatorily echo the polemics between Ivan the Terrible and Andrej Kurbskij, as well as the discussion on the role of the Orthodox Sovereign that unfolded in the second half of the 16^thcentury in the works of Russian scribes. The reader is invited to choose the side of one of the monks, and the key to the parable lies within the framework of Russian providential doctrines.

Keywords:

Dracula, Fedor Kuricyn, the parable of the two monks, cruelty, the image of the ideal ruler, martyrdom and tyranny, the Third Rome, the Middle Ages, Russian literature, utopia

Pages:

15-30

Full text

in PDF

Type:

Research Paper

Field:

Literary Semiotics, Literary Science

Topic:

(Literary) language and social conditioning

UDC:

821.161.

DOI:

10.5281/zenodo.10410564

Research Paper

Citations

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