Three “blizzards” in Russian literature of the 19th–21st centuries: (Pushkin, Tolstoy, V. Sorokin)

The article presents a comparative analysis of three works in Russian literature that share the same title, The Blizzard, each embodying one of the traditional images in Russian literature - the blizzard as a metaphor for fate. A comparison of the classic texts by A. S. Pushkin and L. N. Tolstoy with Vladimir Sorokin's novella, conceived and written in 2010, allows us to trace the transformation of the blizzard motif in the work of a contemporary writer who continues the traditions of Russian literature. In addition to Pushkin's The Blizzard from The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin (1830) and Tolstoy's early short story The Blizzard (1856), the analysis also considers Tolstoy's later work Master and Man (1895) and stories by Chekhov. Sorokin's novella is marked by a playful approach to the plot-forming role of the traditional motif, as well as to themes of death, the intelligentsia, and the “little man”. The article concludes that Sorokin's treatment of Russia's historical path carries a tone of skepticism, reflecting his contemporaries' experience of a transitional period's crisis while also emphasizing the existential dimensions of human history and fate.