| Article | |
|---|---|
| Article name | The Motif of Losing Oneself in The Novel Generation “P” by Victor Pelevin |
| Authors | Chengdong Zhang .. , zhangcd126@163.com |
| Bibliographic description | Zhang Chengdong. The Motif of Losing Oneself in The Novel Generation “P” by Victor Pelevin // Humanitarian Vector. 2021. Vol. 16, No. 1. PP. 74–82. DOI: 10.21209/1996-7853-2021-16-1-74-82. |
| Section | THE GLASS BEAD GAME: HIDDEN MEANINGS OF THE TEXT |
| UDK | 821.161.1 |
| DOI | 10.21209/1996-7853-2021-16-1-74-82 |
| Article type | |
| Annotation | In traditional Russian literature, the motif of losing oneself regularly serves as the motivation for spiritual transformation and search for salvation of the character, promoting the plot of a literary text and creating new types of characters. However, it is not difficult to notice the transformation in the utilization and implementation of this motif in the plot composition of postmodern texts based on the principle of uncertainty and randomness, which is opposed to the teleology of the classical narrative. The relevance of the topic is due to the insufficiency of research on such changes, especially in the postmodern works by Viktor Pelevin. Though there have been several observations on Pelevin’s textual structure, the role of motifs in organizing and constructing the plot remains outside the scope of researchers’ attention. This article aims to reveal the role and specifics of the motif “the loss of oneself” as a plot-forming component in the novel Generation “P” by V. O. Pelevin. Based on the contemporary motif theory, it particularly pays attention to the context of allomotifs and events associated with the motifeme of losing oneself, following A. Dundes, who understands the motifeme as the basic unit in the paradigmatics of the narrative, and allomotifs as its syntagmatic variants. Through analyzing various variations of allomotifs “the loss of oneself” (losing the feeling of eternity, symbolic death, metamorphosis, manipulation, etc.), the paper attempts to reveal constructive components of the narrative structure in this novel, which determined its artistic semantics. Arguing the tragic essence of the individual value orientation on consumerism in the context of the eschatological media mythology, it also finds out that Pelevin constructs the plot as Tatarsky’s rising up the career ladder, accompanied by the loss of personality, the replacement of Homo sapiens by Homo Zappiens. To achieve this purpose, he widely uses different schemes that implement the emic motifeme through various variations of allomotifs. That’s why, the success of the protagonist in the ending does not mean the spiritual salvation, but the totality of submission to the God of money and immersion in the void, where the way out of the new social and mental impasse is impossible not only for the protagonist but also for the novelist himself. |
| Key words | Victor Pelevin, Generation “P”, motifeme of losing oneself, set of allomotifs, mythopoetics |
| Article information | |
| References | 1. Bart, R. Mythologies. M: Akademicheskiy Proekt, 2008. (In Rus.) 2. Baudrillard, J. In the shadow of the silent majority, or the end of the social. Yekaterinburg: Ural University publ., 2000. (In Rus.) 3. Golubkov, M. M. The history of Russian literary criticism in the XX century (1920s–1990s). M: Akademiia, 2008. (In Rus.) 4. Dundes, A. From etic to emic units in the structural study of folktales. Folklore: semiotics and / or psychoanalysis. M: Vost. lit., 2003: 14–29. (In Rus.) 5. Dzhumailo, O. A. English Confessional and Philosophical Novels. 1980s–2000s. Doc. phil. sci. diss. abstr. M., 2014. (In Rus.) 6. Zharinova, O. V. The Poetic and Philosophical Aspect of Victor Pelevin’s Works: Omon Ra and Generation “P”. Cand. phil. sci. diss. abstr. Tambov, 2005. (In Rus.) 7. Le Bon, G. The Crowd: A study of the popular mind. M: AST, 2019. (In Rus.) 8. Levada, Yu. А. Essays: the problem of human. M: Publ. Karpov E. V., 2011. (In Rus.) 9. Marcuse, H. One-dimensional man. M: REFL-book, 1994. (In Rus.) 10. Moskovichi, S. The age of the crowd: a historical treatise on mass psychology. M: Psychology and psychotherapy center, 1998. (In Rus.) 11. Ortega y Gasset, J. The revolt of the masses. M: AST, 2016. (In Rus.) 12. Osmukhina, O. Yu. The mythopoetic space of the domestic novel at the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries (Based on proses by V. Pelevin and D. Lipskerov). Vestnik NNGU, no. 4–2, pp. 123–126, 2013. (In Rus.) 13. Pavlov, M.Viktor Pelevin. Generation “P” or “P” Forever? Znamia. no. 12, 1999. Web. 09.09.2020. http://www.magazines.russ.ru/znamia/1999/ 12/pavlov.html (In Rus.) 14. Silant’ev, I. V. Fact and motif: on a difference between the historical and literary narrative. Critique and Semiotics, no. 1, pp. 138–144, 2013. (In Rus.) 15. Sokolova, E. T. Clinical psychology of losing myself. M: Smysl, 2015. (In Rus.) 16. Freud, S. Group psychology and the analysis of the Ego. M: AST, 2018. (In Rus.) 17. Frumkin, K. Pelevin: From mysticism to sociology. Svobodnaia mysl, no. 9, pp. 184–192, 2009. (In Rus.) 18. Chernyak, M. Mass literature of the XX century. M: FLINT, 2013. (In Rus.) 19. Shatin, Yu. V. Motif and context. The role of tradition in the literary life of the era. Plots and motifs. Novosibirsk, 1994: 5–16. (In Rus.) |
| Full article | The Motif of Losing Oneself in The Novel Generation “P” by Victor Pelevin |
| 0 | |
| 48 | |
