“THE SMALL TEMPLE OF THE SPIRIT”: THE ONTOLOGY OF SPACE AND THINGS IN M. A. OSORGIN’S PROSE
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2019-1-97-104
Introduction. The article investigates the small prose of the representative of the Russian emigration of the first wave of M. A. Osorgin in the aspect of function and semantics of the second half of the 1920s. Materials and research methods. The material of the study is the stories of M.A. Osorgin of the second half of the 1920s - “Pensnes”, “Mother’s Portrait”, “Father’s Diary”, “Things of Man”. The work uses structural semiotic, functional-typological, hermeneutic approaches to the analysis of literary text. Results and discussion. M. Osorgin possessed a strong mindset, a talent for spatial vision and memory, which led to his passion for collecting and special power over him of the things related to the lost past, with dear people and key events of emigrant existence. A great place in the life of the writer was occupied by collecting books (organization and work to save rare books in the “Bookstore of Writers”, which he gave a lot of effort in 1918-22, the creation of personal libraries, despite the numerous travels and two emigrations); Osorgin’s other affection was the sweetheart’s personal belongings. Conclusion. It is argued that the aesthetic novelty and artistic depth in the non-anthropocentric world of the author is achieved through various options of “translation” of empirical things in their artistic correspondence, which allows us to talk about the philosophy and poetics of things in the writer’s small prose. It is proved that in the stories “Mother’s Portrait”, “Father’s Diary”, “Clock”, “Pince-nez” “belonings of a man” are endowed with a status equal to a person, their existence is ontologized (along with nature, the animal world and the human): objects have a unique character, they live their lives, but they are also an integral part of human destiny, “inhabit” significant spaces of human existence, become the starting point of the plot understanding the fate of a loved one and the life of the author-narrator. Traced the changing semantics of things, which from a sign of a lost homeland and childhood (memory) turns into the occasion to reflect on their own destiny and character (self-knowledge of the author), and also allows you to unravel the mysteries of individual existence and the universal ontological connection of the living and non-living existence (“death” thing after the death of the owner and turning into a thing of the past).
Keywords: literature of the Russian abroad, M. Osorgin’s small prose, poetics
References:
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Issue: 1, 2019
Series of issue: Issue 1
Rubric: LITERATURE OF THE RUSSIAN EMIGRE COMMUNITY
Pages: 97 — 104
Downloads: 830