The Story of the Beating of a Horse in V. Nekrasov’s Story “In the Trenches of Stalingrad”

In the article, the genesis, structure and semantics of the plot about a beaten horse are outlined. The research methodology is based on the techniques and methods of structuralsemiotic and intertextual approaches, as well as motive analysis. Traditionally, a horse is associated with a suffering person / peasantry / people / humanity. The principle of psychological parallelism underlies the metaphorical implementation of the plot in the works of Russian and foreign writers of the 19th and 20th centuries (N. A. Nekrasov, N V. Uspensky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, V. P. Astafyev, L. M. Leonov and others; V. Hugo, Ch. Baudelaire). The plot is first examined on the material of the story “In the Trenches of Stalingrad” by V. Nekrasov. The model for the plot under the study is the episode of Raskolnikov’s dream in F.M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”. The other intertextual echoes connect the story with the poems by V. V. Mayakovsky “Good Treatment of Horses” and S. A. Esenin’s “Mares’ Ships”, and R. E. Raspe’s book “The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen” (“Half a Horse”). In the story, the plot of the beaten horse becomes a statement about the victory achieved by sweat, blood, pain, suffering, and death of the people. The book’s reality, realistic and fantastically absurd, is tested by the personal life experience of the authorized narrator. The bravura-boastful description of Baron Munchhausen’s battles and victories is similar to the official narrative of the Great Patriotic War, and V. Nekrasov’s “trench truth” argues with it.