The Caucasus as the topos of Russian literature: typology of literary journeys (through the pages of Russian poetry and fiction of the 19th - 20th centuries)

The review of poetry and fiction of the 19-th - 20-th centuries made it possible to point out main typological models of literary journeys to the Caucasus and define specification to each of them: “excursion”, “pilgrimage”, “escape”. The Caucasus is the main romantic topos of Russian literature, a place of metaphysical registration of poets. It determines the necessity of returning there, self-substitution of the author or a character of a classical Caucasian plot, a nostalgic reader`s journey to “the country of memories”.