The culture of the Semeiskys Old Believers of Transbaikalia in O. Sheypak's novel “Tarbagatai”

The article analyses the nature of reflection of traditional culture of Old Believers of Transbaikalia (“Semeiskys”) in the novel “Tarbagatai” by O. Sheypak. A general description of the creation's atmosphere and the resulting orientations of the author, who undertook the artistic reconstruction of the socio-cultural context of the lives of the protagonists described, is given. Both the strengths of the work and the contradictions that inevitably arise when the scholarly literature on the topic is ignored are dealt with step by step. Particular attention is paid to the cultivated stereotype associated with the problem of “defilement” (and related issues of “cupism” and “deconsecration”) through interactions with members of other faiths. The attracted scientific data of researchers engaged in the study of the Transbaikalia Old Believers show the inconsistency of the absolutization of this phenomenon. Nevertheless, such hyperbole takes place in fiction and leads to an untenable mythologization of the image of the Old Believer culture. Consequently, it is concluded that the reconstruction (including artistic reconstruction) of the history of representatives of any ethno-confessional group should take into account the data of cultural studies to a greater extent.