Axiological portrait of Russian hunters in the genre of obituary (based on the material of nature and hunting magazines)

Section: History of Journalism

For the first time, this article examines obituaries and other memorial essays (written for anniversaries of death and commemorative days) as a form of commemorative text aimed at preserving significant fragments of the past within the hunter community. The study is based on pre-revolutionary nature and hunting magazines, focusing on hunters-researchers, dog breeders, writers, and editorpublishers who faithfully served the Russian Diana, contributing to the development of hunting, specialized printing, and hunting literature. The analysis of the formal and substantive components of obituaries revealed the spiritual and moral principles on which members of the hunting community built their lives and careers — principles of unity, trust, camaraderie, brotherhood, and family cohesion. These values remain relevant for shaping future generations of hunters. The study aims to explore the obituary genre as a commemorative text that reinforces the values and behaviors significant to the hunter community within national memory. The axiological portrait of the Russian hunter is reconstructed based on biographical facts and information about their contributions to hunting development. The examination of obituaries published in pre-revolutionary nature and hunting journals through the lens of “perpetuation” theory demonstrates their alignment with a broader commemorative strategy—preserving names and deeds in the memory of future generations.

DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.1.2025.130148

References:

Chernyak M. A. (2015) Literaturnyy yubiley kak forma kul’turnoy pamyati v sovremennoy Rossii: sluchay Vsevoloda Ivanova [Literary anniversary as a form of cultural memory in modern Russia: The case of Vsevolod Ivanov]. Sibirskiy filologicheskiy zhurnal 3: 27–36. (In Russian)

Fowler B. (2007) The Obituaries as Collective Memory. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 295 p. DOI: 10.4324/9780203015964

Gordeeva E. Yu. (2022) Zhanr nekrologa v istorii russkoy zhurnalistiki (na primere bibliograficheskoy periodiki) [The genre of the obituary in the history of Russian journalism (by the example of bibliographic periodicals)]. In A. A. Malyshev (ed.) Media v sovremennom mire. Peterburgskie cheteniya [Media in the modern world. St. Petersburg Readings]: Proc. of the International Scientific Forum (April 21–22, 2022). St. Petersburg: Mediapapir. Pp. 17–18. (In Russian)

Lazarev Yu. V. (2012) Obraz prepodavatelya slovesnosti v nekrologakh kontsa XIX — nachala XX veka [The image of a literature teacher in the obituaries of the late XIX — early XX century]. Psikhologo-Pedagogicheskiy poisk 23: 110–121. (In Russian)

Lotman Yu. M. (1987) Pushkin 1999 goda. Kakim on budet? [Pushkin in 1999. What will he be like?]. Tallin 1: 58–62. (In Russian)

Lyapina A. V. (2021) Vozniknovenie i razvitie okhotnich’ey periodiki v dorevolyutsionnoy Rossii [Emergence and development of hunting periodicals in pre-revolutionary Russia]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 4: 85–113. (In Russian)

Morozova A. Yu. (2020) Novyy mir, novyy chelovek, novaya biografiya: revolyutsionnyy nekrolog kak zhanr agiograficheskoy literatury [A new world, a new man, a new biography: a revolutionary obituary as a genre of hagiographic literature]. Idei i idealy 12 (2): 333–350. (In Russian) DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2020-12.2.2-333-350

Nadtochiy E. E. (2021) K istorii stanovleniya zhanra nekrologa v russkoy literature: nekrologi N. M. Karamzina [On the history of the formation of the obituary genre in Russian literature: obituaries by N. M. Karamzin]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta 463: 42–45. (In Russian)

Nikulin P. P. (2019) Gazetnyy nekrolog kak sovremennyy publitsisticheskiy zhanr [Newspaper obituary as a modern journalistic genre]. Vestnik Rossiyskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Literaturovedenie, Yazykoznanie, Kul’turologiya 9: 47–51. (In Russian)

To cite this article: Lyapina A. V. (2025) Aksiologicheskiy portret russkogo okhotnika v zhanre nekrologa (na materiale zhurnalov o prirode i okhote) [Axiological portrait of Russian hunters in the genre of obituary (based on the material of nature and hunting magazines)]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 1: 130–148. DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.1.2025.130148