The limits of Central Russia in the perception of Russian writers
This article identifies localities situated at a certain distance from Moscow and described as glush', zakholust'e (backwoods, sticks, god-forsaken place) by many Russian writers. These areas form an annular structure about 700-800 km in diameter with its geometric center located in the Vladimir-Suzdal Opolye, the oldest Russian center and the integrator of the Volga-Oka interfluve. The position of the glush' ring in relation to Moscow is characterized by pronounced eccentricity. To the west of Moscow, the glush' lies as close as 150-200 km, while to the east, it is 500-550 km away. Equating the human and the natural realms (man and wolf, man and bear, man and natural disasters) serves as a typological literary characteristic of the glush' zone. In Russian literature, the inhabitants of the backwoods are portrayed as both gullible (as in “The Government Inspector” by Nikolai Gogol) and suspiciously incredulous (reminiscent of Grant Wood's painting “American Gothic”). The unresolved passions simmering within them can lead to excesses (as in e.g. “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District” by Nikolai Leskov). The glush' zone presents a rupture in the nationwide cultural and geographical fabric. Capital-based writers have been largely ironic about the glush'. At the turn of the 20th century, however, there emerged a tendency toward creating a positive image of the backwoods zone. It came to be viewed as a reserve of Russian traditions, as a geographical locus capable of teaching moral and aesthetic lessons to the capital, and of establishing a closer connection between Moscow and the rest of the country.