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CHILD AND CHILDISHNESS IN THE NOVEL BY P. V. KRUSANOV «THE AMERICAN HOLE» // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2019. Issue 1 (198). P. 74-80

Introduction. The image of a child in art is universal because it is associated with the widest range of problems: from socio-psychological to philosophical and cultural. The aesthetic complex of childishness turns out to be highly relevant for expressing the essence of the subject of the modern transition due to the specificity of the image of the child, which is associated not only with the ideas of naturalness and creative fantasy, but also infantilism and primitivism. Aim and objectives. The aim of this work is disclosure of the symbolic content of the motif and image complex of childishness in P. V. Krusanov’s novel “American hole” (2005). The objectives of the work are studying the role of the Child archetype (“Infant-Orphan”, “Divine Infant”) and the myth-folklore motifs associated with this archetype (“children in the forest”, “initiation”). Materials and research methods. The author of the article used the structural-semiotic method, the method of myth-restoration and the method of complex analysis based on the synthesis of literary theoretic, linguistic and philosophical-cultural approaches to the artistic text. Results and discussion. To express the essence of the subject of modern transition epoch, the aesthetic complex of the childishness is very relevant, because the child’s specific image means not only naturalness and imagination, but also infantilism and primitivism. In the novel “The American Hole” by P. Krusanov, the deep symbolism of the child’s image is created by play upon the Jung’s Child archetype (“Infant-Orphan”, “Divine Infant”) and the associated myth and folk motifs (“children in the forest”, “initiation”). Despite the prevailing in the text elements of the carnival, subjecting all its ideology and axiology to inversion, the mythological analysis of the plot allows us to reveal the serious meanings that constitute the author’s “message” to the reader. The plot of the transformation of reality in the game, organized by the extremely free artist Sergey Kuryokhin and the eternal boy Evgraf, cancels the idea of the inevitable elimination of childhood and childish in adult life. Conclusion. The author of the article comes to the following conclusions. Firstly, the game inversion creates in the novel by P. Krusanov axiologically ambivalent images of the modern transitional era. Secondly, the inconsistency of the image of the child becomes a means of identifying a modern person with his infantilism, on the one hand, and the cult of creativity, on the other. Thirdly, the child for the modern man continues to be a symbol of hope and spiritual enlightenment.

Keywords: P. V. Krusanov, “The American hole”, child, childishness, play, image, motif, archetype

The motives of the parable of the prodigal son in novels “Number One, or In the Gardens of Other Opportunities” by L. S. Petrushevskaya and “Twins’ House” by A. V. Korolev // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2023. Issue 6 (230). P. 143-151

The evangelical parable about the return of the prodigal son was repeatedly used as the subject of literary contemplation in the Russian classical literature of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The plot of the prodigal son parable is still popular in contemporary Russian literature. For example, the plot was originally interpreted in the novels “Number One, or In the Gardens of Other Opportunities” by L. S. Petrushevskaya and “Twins’ house” by A. V. Korolev. The central conflict “son – father” realized through key evangelical parable motifs of departure, return, forgiveness and love determine the issues raised in these works and their poetics. The analysis of these novels helps to distinguish various types of “dialogue” between contemporary writers and the evangelical text. L. Petrushevskaya inverts the plot of the parable, A. Korolev redefines the evangelical parable in a symbolic way. In general, the plot of the prodigal son parable is comprehended by the contemporary authors as a model for resolving the conflict of the generation gap, as a space for profound sacred meanings, and as a means of expressing the author’s genuine metaphor. The plot variants of the prodigal son parable explicate the meanings realized by the Gospel text on the “profane” and deep levels. Desacralized meaning of the parable can be reduced to the issue of ideal family relationships, which the contemporary writers yearn for and are trying to portray. The deep, Christian understanding of the parable is connected to the idea of the prodigal son’s resurrection understood as a discovery of a “new man” within himself. Number One in Petrushevskaya’s novel becomes the Hero, Valentin Drago of Korolev becomes the Personality. In addition, the evangelical motif of return in the contemporary works represents the authors’ genuine metaphors. The genuine metaphor in the novel of L. Petrushevskaya is the modern person’s acquiring his/her original identity, which is not related to material and hedonistic values. A. Korolev’s genuine metaphor consists in recovering the person’s subjectivity that had been lost because of the processes of standardization in modern society.

Keywords: modern Russian prose, parable of the prodigal son, plot, motif