“We are all in the gutter...”: the motif of the guiding/fateful star in Ossetian poetry of the early 20th century (based on poems by D. A. Gatuev, G. G. Maliev)

The paper aims to identify the peculiarities of poetic embodiment and symbolic content of the image of the star in Ossetian literature of the early 20th century (D. A. Gatuev, G. G. Maliev). The article focuses on the transformation of the traditional semantic field of the STAR concept (the phraseological units “guiding star”, “to be born under a lucky star”) due to the active variation of the semantic component of the studied image, the individual worldview of the poets, and the influence of cultural traditions of biblical texts, Ossetian folklore, and the aesthetics of modernism. The scientific novelty of the paper lies in the chosen aspect of studying the figurative symbolism of Gatuev’s and Maliev’s poems with a focus on the evolution of ethno-cultural traditions and the convergence of the neo-mythological and modernist worldview. For the first time in the history of Ossetian scientific thought, the selected works of Gatuev and Maliev are highlighted in the context of artistic research of modernism. As a result of the study, it was established that choosing the traditional semantics as a basis (the guiding star – the Polar Star, the Star of Bethlehem, the fateful star), the poets expanded its interpretative depth due to the processing of philosophical ideas of the early 20th century. That is why in Gatuev’s work, the persona’s path following the star is associated with an existential movement towards death under the false radiance of the celestial body; while the fruitless search for the star-fate in the sky in Maliev’s poem is associated with expressionist alienation from one’s own life, under the oppression of existence without the light of truth.