MYTHOLOGEME OF AME SLAVE IN LITERARY WORKS OF THE FIRST WAVE OF RUSSIAN EMIGRATION: SPACIAL ASPECT
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2017-11-236-243
The article analyses a topological aspectof ambivalent functioning of ame slave mythologeme in journalism and artistic prose of authors pertaining to different generations of the first wave of the Russian emigration (N. Teffi, I. Ehrenburg, G. Adamovich, A. Kuprin, N. Berberova). An ironic modus of ame slave (being a variant of a Western representation of the Other) in the works of émigré writers does not negate semantic significance of a cultural code conceptualizing a problem of a person’s self-identification in the alien cultural space. Those having the mysterious Slavic soul had different attitudes to attempts of external definition of their mentality. There is a wide range of impressions, from a serious and unconditional acceptance as a given fact (demonstrated by I. S. Shmelyov) to an ironic play upon a meaningless cliché of a mass consciousness (N. Lossky, I. Ehrenburg). Teffi devoted almost all of her writings of the émigré period to parody-like incomprehension of the Western world and mentality on behalf of the ame slave. Her story of the same name (L’ame slave, 1927) contains two tales of excessive Russian trust and marvelous capacity for self-deceit. A somewhat more complex embodiment of the mysterious Slavic soul one may find in the works of Aleksandr Kuprin (The Wheel of Time and Jeannette) and Nina Berberova (Roquenval and Astashev in Paris) where the authors use it to explore issues of émigré existence and national identity.
Keywords: Russian émigré literature, younger Russian émigré prose, works of Nina Berberova, problem of selfdefinition
References:
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Issue: 11, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 11
Rubric: RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉ LITERATURE
Pages: 236 — 243
Downloads: 765