Dream of Gostomysl in Mikhail Karateev’s novel The charter of great khan

The purpose of this research article is to explore the symbolism of Gostomysl's dream (from the Joachim Chronicle), portrayed in Mikhail Karateev's historical novel The Charter of Great Khan (1958), as a form of political legend. The study sets out to analyze Gostomysl's dream within the context of political legends concerning the early Russian princes and their prophetic dreams regarding personal destiny and the future of the state. Additionally, the article aims to examine how Gostomysl's dream is incorporated into historical novels about the early Russian princes, and how its symbolic meaning is intertwined with the ideological layer of Karateev's novel about the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The significance of this research lies in the contemporary scientific interest in the images and plots of Russian history and their depiction in Russian literature. The episode of Gostomysl's dream in Karateev's novel has not been previously explored, making it a novel aspect of this study. Through the use of the comparative method, the author arrives at several conclusions. Gostomysl's dream, which includes the motif of a miraculous tree growing from a woman's body, can be seen as a variation of the political-dynastic myth prevalent in the XVI and the XVII centuries. This motif has been utilized in Russian historical novels of the second half of the XX and the early XXI centuries, often as an episode of the biography of Prince Rurik or as a cunning strategy for ascending to the throne. In Karateev's novel, the symbolism of Gostomysl's dream is multi-faceted, impacting the personal destiny of the main character, his family, and the state. As Prince Vasily of Karachev is unjustly stripped of his inheritance and becomes an outcast, the “program” of the kinship of Russian princes becomes a test for the beliefs of people from his immediate circle. The narrative delves into the complexities of kinship bonds being forsaken by the prince's relatives for personal gain, even at the risk of the principality being destroyed by the forces of the Khan of the Golden Horde. These themes resonate with larger issues of territorial integrity of Russian lands and the interests of the emerging unified Russian state.