scholarly journals Virgo-Death: from The Little Show-Booth by Alexander Blok to The Mistress of Death and The Lover of Death by Boris Akunin

Literatūra ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-156
Author(s):  
Olga Fedunina

The image of Death, embodied in the image of a beautiful maiden, is considered in the article through the analysis of references in the novel diptych by B. Akunin The Mistress of Death and The Lover of Death (the Erast Fandorin series) to one of the most important primary sources, the drama by A. Blok The Little Show-Booth. The study shows that Akunin's method of deformation was replaced by a postmodern deconstruction with a splitting into two images, of Columbine and of Maiden-Death, each of which is dominated by one of the hypostases of the heroine of The Little Show-Booth. These transformations appeal in their development to the opposition in Akunin’s novels of two points of view on fate, dialectically interacting, which correlate with the adventurous exposition and with the inevitability of personal destiny idea, oriented towards the “classical” tradition. The result of the analysis is a new formula of the genre of Akunin's novels, since their poetics goes out of the ordinary framework of criminal literature, as a transgressive phenomenon in the field of mass literature, as postmodern novel, in which the uncertain intertextuality accentuates, align with plot details, the problem of heroes’ self-identity.

The late 1990s – early 2000s was a time of numerous projects dedicated to the Victorian age and the Victorian novel as a specific phenomenon that inspires the modern novel development. The English postmodern novel with its typical narrative, time transferal to Victorian England, weaving of time layers, invokes current research interest. The relevance of this study is caused by considerable interest of researchers in the Victorian era heritage and by need of a comprehensive study of Victorian linguoculture and its implementation in the modern English novel. The Victorian text influences a new genre of the novel that reflects the gravity of modern English prose to the traditional literature of Victorian era, assumed to be particularly important in this context. The analysis of A. S. Byatt’s “Possession” in the Russian literary criticism was made only by O. A. Tolstykh; in the Ukrainian science, this work was investigated by O. Boynitska in the context of searching the past, so this subject is not investigated enough, and in our opinion is new and relevant, especially from the perspective of the “Victorian era” concept embodied in the novel. The aim of the paper is to analyze the “Victorian era” concept peculiarities in the intercultural context, on the basis of A. S. Byatt’s “Possession” as a Victorian novel. The paper takes into account the reproduction of concepts of Marriage, Home, Family, Freedom, Life, as components of “Victorian era.” The Victorian family is often represented through the place of their dwelling; therefore, the great Victorians’ works are overwhelmed by interior descriptions (Dombey’s house, Miss Havisham’s home, Mr. Rochester’s Castle). However, in “Possession,” there is an obvious contrast of Victorian buildings to the same structures in the XX century: the past prime – the modern decline. All the secrets and delusions hidden behind the facades of supposedly respectable buildings result in distorting facts and, to some extent, to violating the rights of ownership to the memories of the past. This gives another meaning to the title of the novel – “possession,” that is ownership, possession of letters, memory, truth.


Author(s):  
María Djurdjevic

El artículo aborda la revolucionaria lectura de la novela Tristram Shandy (1767) de L. Sterne por los formalistas rusos (Shklovski), que subrayó la importancia de los aspectos formal y paródico de esa obra, calificada también como la primera novela postmoderna. No obstante, la parodia como herramienta de reflexión metaliteraria está en uso desde la antigüedad griega. Se aborda paralelamente el hito principal de la teoría literaria y cultural rusa –la reconexión con la tradición filosófica premoderna– que ilustra que toda labor hermenéutica depende de las normas estéticas de la tradición cultural desde la cual se estudia.The article tackles a revolutionary reading of the Laurence Sterne’s novel Tristram Shandy (1767) by Russian Formalism (V. Shklovsky, 1921), focused on the importance of its formal and parodic aspects. The novel has also been assessed as the first postmodern novel in history. But the parody is being used as a tool for metaliterary thinking from the times of the Ancient Greece. Thus, this text also tackles the principal milestone of the Russian Literature and Cultural Theory –its reconnecting with the pre- Modern philosophical tradition– illustrating how our hermeneutic work depends on the aesthetic norms of the cultural tradition we belong to.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 90-94
Author(s):  
N. Telegina ◽  
T. Butsyak

For the purpose of defining Iris Murdoch’s artistic method a complex investigation of the problems and style of her famous novel “The Black Prince” was made. Special attention was given to the philosophical problems of Good and Evil, Contingency and Necessity in human life, absurdity, choice, aloofness, to the philosophical aspect of the novel, which is revealed with the help of the flash-back technique. The problems raised in the novel, its sensitive main character absorbed in psychoanalysis and looking for the sense of existence, naturalistic details & the postscripts, revealing different subjective points of view on the same events, prove that the novel should be regarded as existentialist


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina Mahlamäki ◽  
Tomas Mansikka

This article discusses the relationship between Western esotericism and literature. As an example of a secular author who uses and benefits from esoteric texts, ideas and thoughts as resources in creating a literary artwork, the article analyses Laura Lindstedt’s novel Oneiron. A Fantasy About the Seconds After Death (2015). It contextualises the novel within the frames of Western esotericism and literature, focusing on Emanuel Swedenborg’s impact on discourses of the afterlife in literature. Laura Lindstedt’s postmodern novel indicates various ways that esoteric ideas, themes, and texts can work as resources for authors of fiction in twenty-first century Finland. Since the late eighteenth century Swedenborg’s influence has been evident in literature and among artists, especially in providing resources for other-worldly imagery. Oneiron proves that the ideas of Swedenborg are still part of the memory of Western culture and literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-95
Author(s):  
Ivan V. Kuzin

The article offers an interpretation and analysis of the novel My Name Be Gantenbein, allowing to find an explanation to the genre uncertainty of the work of the Swiss writer M. Frisch. Due to the non-linear stylistics of the narrative, the image of Gantenbein eludes an unambiguous classification in terms of moral and ethical problematics lying on the surface. The hero of the novel turns into a methodological principle that clarifies the fundamental existences of life. In classical tradition, these included the concepts of freedom and law, truth and lies, truth and deception, game and life. The complicated plot makes Gantenbein a functional representative of both freedom and blind law. They create semantic space of self-organizing life. As a result, the character is endowed with properties of a trickster, because he accepts the complexity of such a life at the level of his existence. The investigation reveals that the game, roles and masks create the ideological basis of the story. This framework directs the reader to perceive life in its everyday manifestations, contributing to the development of an antidote to escapism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
S. Shobana

The paper aims to research the search for self-identity and feminism in Manju Kapur's Home. Home is a masterful novel of the acts of kindness, compromise, and secrecy that lies at the center of each family. The novel, narrate of Indian family life spans three generations whose destiny and dreams are pasted to the Banwarilal cloth shop.  Nisha the protagonist has got to struggle for establishing her identity and to survive during this male-dominated world.  In Indian society, women have never been acknowledged as a person outside their              pre-destined roles of a woman, daughter, and mother.  The female hero of Home tries to free herself of ‘dependence syndrome' thrust upon her by the agents of social organization. The paper focuses on the journey of the feminine protagonist, Nisha towards individuality and self-identity and don't wish to be seen as a self-sacrificing rubber-doll. She had to struggle for her existence as, like different heroines of Manju Kapur, she is within the transformation to innovate the search of autonomy and feminine identity.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 01-10
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nasir

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study demonstrated how Armenian Massacres as crime fiction developed in response to finding their identity by tracing the ethnic criminal or heritage against their descendants. Besides, by looking at this genocide against the Armenian racial, I found it increasingly difficult to ignore the link between self-identity and the race criminalization conducted by the authority Methodology: In this study, the writer implemented New Historicism theory by looking at the historical background, and combined with Horney Psychoanalysis of Personality, through the activities conducted by the characters. Then, through analyzing the plot and the whole story, the writer found that self-awareness of those characters could be seen in different forms and cultures. Based on those theories that people who know themselves will know what they think, feel, and believe; they will be able to take responsibility for themselves and be able to determine their values by reflecting their personality Main Findings: Self-identity and Armenian descendants could be portrayed significantly, and they were very appropriate with the identity of the characters shown in the texts. Here, the writer also found that a novelist like Tom Frist (2015) used the backdrop of massacres to write about the inner lives of Turkish criminals. He focused directly on the narrative dilemmas posed by American Armenian. His work attempted to uncouple race from crime, and this writer showed us how massacres fiction became a necessary identity form for American Armenian who lived as migration and diaspora. Applications of this study: So, the study of Armenian descendants was not only useful for a literary critic but also presented the history and ethnic cleansing in Turkey. And through this analysis, we learned more about the bitter experiences faced by deportees as shown in the setting places and the author’s perspective. Novelty/Originality of this study: Finally, I believed that tracing the Armenian descendants and self-identity was fascinating by identifying the characters shown in the novel.


2020 ◽  
pp. 56-67
Author(s):  
E.V. Somova ◽  
E.B. Schemeleva

The article focuses on the novel “Pompeii” by Robert Dennis Harris which has been little studied in Russia and presents a new material for further research. The purpose of the research is to identify the originality of spatial images in the novel of the British writer. Basing on the comparative historical and analytical methods, the authors of the article explore the main principles of creating historical narration and the specifics of R.D. Harris’s work with historiographical sources while creating a historical epoch; they identify the features of W. Scott and E.G. Bulver-Lytton. Within the context of the study of the originality of spatial topoi in “Pompeii” the authors use extensively the concept of “topoekphrasis”, introduced by O.A. Kling. It distinguishes the place setting as a protagonist who influences greatly the course of events. While analyzing, the authors make the following conclusions about the national condition of the scene given by using ekphrasis and the correlation of the myth with the actual realities in the modern cultural system which indicate the stereotypical thinking of a person in the postmodern society: the myth of Adam and Eve who found themselves in Paradise, associated in the mind of a European with Capri which represents “unearthly” life; the expansion of the semantic fields after reading the myth of Sodom and Gomorrah which describes the destruction of two biblical cities and is brought closer in the novel to the events associated with the real tragedy in Pompeii, undoubtedly show the similarity of its plot resolution with the modern eschatological myth of the Apocalypse, which tells us about the inevitable death of civilization. The analysis of the mythological paradigm of R.D. Harris’s novel "Pompeii", organized by combination of ekphrasis and topoi, discloses the transformation of the postmodernist writer’s worldview, creating a new metaphysical reality in the historical novel. In addition to the real spatial topoi of the ancient world (forum, aqueduct, temple), the postmodern novel reveals mythological images: a labyrinth associated with the ancient Greek story of Theseus; the underground world of the dead, linked to the myth of Charon. The artistic understanding of the historical process by R.D. Harris allows us to identify the originality of the writer’s historical concept in the context of postmodern literature.


2010 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 474-478
Author(s):  
J.W. Luo ◽  
K. Yu

As the other creation of material culture, clothes have concrete forms, and reflect the wearer’s taste and appreciation of beauty while provide certain social significance. This paper attempts to analyze the connection between the costume of the hero Elmer Gantry in the novel Elmer Gantry and his self-identity, then to discover how the novelist, Sinclair Lewis ,the first Nobel Prize winner in the USA, by describing the costume of the character, explores the different inner self-identities of one man.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Extra-B) ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Rezeda Mukhametshina ◽  
Kadisha Nurgali ◽  
Svetlana Ananyeva

In the context of the new bi- and polylingual picture of the world, the novel continues to hold leading positions as the leading genre of prose. The Kazakh novel generalizes the aesthetically immanent factors of identity and is created in the Kazakh and Russian languages. Ethno-national identity is important for both the author and the characters. The modern phenomenology of perception actualizes not only the role of the anthropological turn, but also the role of the subjective factor - the reader. Comparative analysis allows you to look at the novel from different conceptual points of view. Transnational tendencies are intensely manifested in the work of prose writers. The search for answers to the most important questions of our time, the challenges of globalization contributes to the disclosure of the ethnocultural world. Opposition one's own/other, one's/another's allows to convey the national attitude and reveal the national image.    


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