THE SEMANTICS OF THE REWRITING SCENES IN V. SHAROV'S NOVELS "TRACT IN TRACE" AND "THE RAISING OF LAZARUS"

• Main Author: A. I. Pantuhina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kemerovo State University 2018-08-01
• Series: Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
• Subjects: plot of writing; reception; text; modern russian prose; novel
• Online Access: https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/2488

The research presents typology and semantics of the rewriting plots in V. Sharov's novels «Tract in trace» (1991) and «The Raising of  Lazarus» (2002) in two aspects: receptive and historical, or  historiosophical. In V. Sharov’s prose, the relation of characters to  the text and the word together with the rewriting scenes show the specificity of the national mentality, according to which texts  testify the metaphysical laws of historical reality, and the belief that  the power of the word can transform reality. The teleological  understanding of history was based on the understanding of the text as an instrument of influence on the material world, as a force  of history. The article presents three types of rewriting plot in V.  Sharov's novels «Tract in trace» and «The Raising of Lazarus».  Firstly, correct (calligraphic) rewriting as an attainment to the metaphysical meaning of sacral texts (mythologization and  demythologization). The semantics of this plot in V. Sharov’s novels  emphasizes the impossibility of reproducing or preserving sacred  meanings and transforming imperfect historical reality. Secondly, rewriting can be correction of other people's ideas and  one’s own attempt to change life with the help of the text. It  determines the conditionality of understanding the text, rewriting,  reworking the tasks of the present. In particular, «The Raising of  Lazarus» explains Russian people’s sufferings in the XX century. The  second type can denote the illusory character of such attempts to  change the reality by texts, as it is reality that corrects texts.  Thirdly, rewriting, or interpreting texts can denote a deeper  understanding of reality (hermeneutic meaning): it signifies a  dialogue between the pretext meaning and the meaning perceived by the «rewriter».