“PETERSBURG TEXT” BY TATYANA TOLSTAYA (motifs in the story “The Okkervil River”)

Abstract

In the article devoted to the analysis of “The Okkervil River”, a short story by Tatyana Tolstaya, a variety of motifs are distinguished and interpreted. Those refer the reader to the main motifs of Russian classical literature, however, their semantics is reconsidered by the contemporary writer and presented with different connotations. Saint Petersburg chronotope is analyzed, its simplification and shifts of spatial frameworks are considered. The ironic depreciation of the image of Saint Petersburg – Leningrad sets a playful (derisive) tone of the narration about the “little hero”, Simeonov, a descendant of poor Eugene from “The Bronze Horseman” by Pushkin, as well as Gogol’s and Dostoevsky’s “little heroes”. One of the leading motifs of the narration is that of a circle, closely interacting with the image-motif of the luring “silver voice”. It allows for revealing musical allusions, encouraging the development of the “romancing” intertextuality of the story.

Keywords

• Татьяна Толстая
• современная русская литература
• проза
• постмодернизм
• традиция
• интертекст
• мотив
• рассказ.