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Abstract:

The article analyzes the lyrics of three songs by A.N. Vertinsky related to the Great Patriotic War: “In the Snows of Russia” (1943), “Kitezh” (1943), “Before the Face of the Motherland” (1946). In the analysis, special attention is paid to the quotation basis, literary reminiscences and literary tradition, which are clearly manifested in the mentioned texts. In the course of the article, the author discovers close connections between Vertinsky’s poems and the works of M.Yu. Lermontov, V.S. Solovyov, A.S. Khomyakov. Vertinsky, who lived in exile for several decades, tried to preserve the image of the Motherland and the connection with it through following the literary tradition, which is manifested in epigraphs, quotations and images, through which an obvious connection between his texts and the works of Russian literature is established. The author comes to the conclusion that, in understanding the path of Russia and its role in the world history as a path of sacrifice and global service, Vertinsky is ideologically and figuratively close to the Slavophile tradition and the ideas of Russian messianism, clearly manifested in the works of Khomyakov and Dostoevsky.

Keywords: the Great Patriotic War, A.N. Vertinsky, M.Yu. Lermontov, literary tradition, reminiscences.