Byt in Russian Literature: the Primus stove as culturological realia in early Soviet times

The essay is devoted to the different connotations of the Primus stove in some literary works of early Soviet times (mainly of the 1920s and 1930s). This cooking device was so widely spread in Soviet kommunalki that it became a substantial element of everyday life (byt). As such it is thickly present in many literary texts of those times, especially in the work of writers like Il’f and Petrov, O. Mandel’štam, M. Zoščenko and M. Bulgakov. In their pages this common object is evoked as culturological realia, deeply imbued with ironic or allusive undertones. The present article analyzes its symbolic meanings on the cultural background of early Soviet lifestyle.