Real and Exotic Siberia
in Vsevolod Ivanov’s Story “The Return of the Buddha”

The article examines two opposing images of Siberia, created in the story of Vsevolod Ivanov
“The Return of the Buddha”. It is noted that the main feature of the writer’s works of the early
1920s critics both at home and abroad called it “the discovery of Siberia”, while emphasizing
that “East and Asia prevail in Vsevolod Ivanov’s Siberia” (A. Voronsky). In the story “The
Return of the Buddha” in the description of Siberia during the Civil War the terrible realities
are emphasized: destruction, insurrections, famine, cruelty both on the part of the white
guards and on the part of the Reds, against the background of which the representatives of the Soviet power are very ironically given. Exotic Siberia has different, extended spatio-temporal
boundaries and includes the legend of the 300 th awakening of the Buddha, told to the hero of
the story by the Mongol Dava-Dorzhchi, as well as the verses of Chinese poets given in epigraphs to its chapters. The real sources of the legend texts (“Encyclopedic Dictionary” by
F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron) and poems of ancient Chinese poets – the scientific work
of V. M. Alekseeva “Chinese poem about a poet. Stansi Sykun Tu (837–908). Translation and
research with attachment of Chinese texts” (Petrograd, 1916). The author of the article shows
that, despite the formal remoteness of the spatial coordinates of this exotic world from Siberia, their inextricable connection is affirmed in the story. Exotic Siberia, as the author of the
article proves, is a part of the vast, mysterious East – the world of high spirit, selfless devotion, faith and freedom acquired by man. Ivanov’s idea that the East, and not the West, is the
focus of spirituality and culture is considered in the article in the historical, political and bio-
graphical contexts of the early 1920s. In the policy of Soviet Russia, it was at this time that
a turn to the East was taking place – the preparation of elements of the Asian orientation
of the world revolution. However, for Ivanov, as the author of the article shows, the East is by
no means an oasis of the future communist society. His understanding of the East and West is
much closer to the concepts of philosophers, authors of the books “Exodus to the East. Premonitions and accomplishments. Approval of the Eurasians” (1921) and “Oswald Spengler”
and “The Decline of Europe” (1922). The biographical realities of the life of the writer, who
in 1921 came from his native Siberian East to the West – to Petrograd, could also contribute
to the creation of a spiritualized and attractive image of Siberia in the story “The Return of the
Buddha”.