Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden
The article analyzes the landmark novel of Russian writer M.L. Stepnova, The Garden (2020), which has aroused the public’s and critic’s interest, continuing the “estate text” of Russian literature of the 19th–20th centuries. It is shown that the image of the garden in the work is both national (the...
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Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature
2024-09-01
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| Series: | Studia Litterarum |
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| Online Access: | https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/18_Bogdanova.pdf |
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| author | Olga A. Bogdanova |
| author_facet | Olga A. Bogdanova |
| author_sort | Olga A. Bogdanova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The article analyzes the landmark novel of Russian writer M.L. Stepnova, The Garden (2020), which has aroused the public’s and critic’s interest, continuing the “estate text” of Russian literature of the 19th–20th centuries. It is shown that the image of the garden in the work is both national (the whole tradition of the Russian “estate text”) and universal (the Bible, Voltaire, H.L. Borges, U. Eco, etc.). The key to an adequate reading of the postmodern novel with its “semantic insolubility,” narrative “nonselectio,” experiments on human identity, an invitation to the “alternative history,” etc. is an analysis of its intertextuality, generating original life-creating strategies. There are three concentric circles of intertextuality that diverge in the breadth of space-time coverage: character, author-narrative, and mythopoetic. If in character terms the protagonist of the work — the garden — directly participates in people’s lives, at the author-narrative level becomes an ideologeme, symbolizing with his death under the axes of hired workers the tragic fate of Russia at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, then in the super-author’s mythopoetic sphere reveals the quality of practical immortality, indestructibility. The reason for the suicidal cutting down of the garden of the grown-up Princess Boryatinskaya is the excommunication of this heroine from fiction, primarily “estate,” with its powerful lifecreating potential. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the systematic analysis of the intertextual strategies of the iconic modern novel for the first time and the identification of their three-level structure. The article applies historical-literary and cultural approaches, methods of historical poetics, and structural-semiotic analysis and uses the modernist and postmodern thesaurus paradigms. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3bd053ced6d64492a937955e8046419f |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2500-4247 2541-8564 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studia Litterarum |
| spelling | doaj-art-3bd053ced6d64492a937955e8046419f2025-08-20T02:08:16ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642024-09-019338640310.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-3-386-403Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The GardenOlga A. Bogdanova0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7004-498XA.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, RussiaThe article analyzes the landmark novel of Russian writer M.L. Stepnova, The Garden (2020), which has aroused the public’s and critic’s interest, continuing the “estate text” of Russian literature of the 19th–20th centuries. It is shown that the image of the garden in the work is both national (the whole tradition of the Russian “estate text”) and universal (the Bible, Voltaire, H.L. Borges, U. Eco, etc.). The key to an adequate reading of the postmodern novel with its “semantic insolubility,” narrative “nonselectio,” experiments on human identity, an invitation to the “alternative history,” etc. is an analysis of its intertextuality, generating original life-creating strategies. There are three concentric circles of intertextuality that diverge in the breadth of space-time coverage: character, author-narrative, and mythopoetic. If in character terms the protagonist of the work — the garden — directly participates in people’s lives, at the author-narrative level becomes an ideologeme, symbolizing with his death under the axes of hired workers the tragic fate of Russia at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, then in the super-author’s mythopoetic sphere reveals the quality of practical immortality, indestructibility. The reason for the suicidal cutting down of the garden of the grown-up Princess Boryatinskaya is the excommunication of this heroine from fiction, primarily “estate,” with its powerful lifecreating potential. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the systematic analysis of the intertextual strategies of the iconic modern novel for the first time and the identification of their three-level structure. The article applies historical-literary and cultural approaches, methods of historical poetics, and structural-semiotic analysis and uses the modernist and postmodern thesaurus paradigms.https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/18_Bogdanova.pdfrussian literature of the 21st centurypostmodernity“estate text” literary estategardenlabyrinthintertextualitylife creationmythopoetics |
| spellingShingle | Olga A. Bogdanova Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden Studia Litterarum russian literature of the 21st century postmodernity “estate text ” literary estate garden labyrinth intertextuality life creation mythopoetics |
| title | Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden |
| title_full | Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden |
| title_fullStr | Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden |
| title_full_unstemmed | Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden |
| title_short | Three Circles of Intertextuality: The “Estate Myth” in M.L. Stepnova’s Novel The Garden |
| title_sort | three circles of intertextuality the estate myth in m l stepnova s novel the garden |
| topic | russian literature of the 21st century postmodernity “estate text ” literary estate garden labyrinth intertextuality life creation mythopoetics |
| url | https://studlit.ru/images/2024-9-3/18_Bogdanova.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT olgaabogdanova threecirclesofintertextualitytheestatemythinmlstepnovasnovelthegarden |