Readers’ Responses to the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien in Russia at the Turn of XX–XXI Centuries through a Perspective of Aesthetics of Reception

https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2022.5.4.487-497

Abstract

This article is devoted to the analysis of written responses to the books of the English writer J.R.R. Tolkien by Russian readers who are not professionally engaged in and literary studies and criticism. Such texts often remain on the periphery of literary studies due to their inconsistency and insufficient reasoning of judgments. However, in the case of J.R.R. Tolkien, they not only exemplify a number of trends in his reception in Russia, but also complement scientific research and critical reflection on the author's works. Not being academic, readers' responses reflect the attitude of the general reader, give relevance to their intellectual and philosophical search, encourage new meanings and interpretations of J.R.R. Tolkien's writings to emerge. The specific character of reception of his books implies an active position of the reader, which means creative dialogue with source texts. The factors mentioned above, along with the importance of combining synchronic and diachronic approaches, determined the aesthetics of reception as the most appropriate methodological perspective having been chosen for this research. This perspective also considers temporal and cultural distance between the recipient and the object of reception and makes it possible to examine the functioning of a work of literature beyond literary analysis proper. This article identifies some of those categories of the fictional world of J.R.R. Tolkien, which appeared to be relevant to Russian general reader, as well as readers' discussions are analyzed, the main trends and dynamics of the readers’ reception of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium in Russia are traced.