“The World as a Pomegranate”: Intercultural Symbolism of the Fruit of Paradise

Abstract

The article explores one of the constructive materials, or patterns, of the Armenian text – the image of a pomegranate. Its multicultural genesis is revealed based on Sergei Parajanov’s film “The Color of Pomegranate”. The authors analyze not only the multi-ethnic contexts of the image of a pomegranate but also its different facets: in particular, the role of the image of a pomegranate in liminary situations – rites of passage (using the example of the biography of the artist Alexander Volkov, and the picturesque plots “Pomegranate Teahouse” by A. Volkov and “Rejoicing with a Pomegranate” by Usto Mumin, depicting the painted characters in their liminary stage – the Sufi state of hal, which raises the heroes to the highest level of knowledge). The image of the pomegranate is presented in the reception of the authors of Russian poetic texts: Mikhail Matusovsky, Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, Boris Chichibabin, Fazil Iskander, Gevorg Kubatyan, German Getsevich, Amiram Grigorov, Sergei Gevorkyan, as well as in the translations from Omar Khayyám. The semantics of pomegranate is analyzed in the story “Pomegranate” by the Uzbek writer Abdullah Kahhar, as well as in the fragments of other prosaic texts (Dina Rubina, Timur Pulatov) and the film text “The Tree of Desire” by Tengiz Abuladze. The study reveals the Biblical and Koranic meanings of the pomegranate image. The polyphony of meanings of the image of a pomegranate in different cultures, in different types of art, and in different eras comes down to the homogeneity of the pomegranate, existentially revealed by Sergei Parajanov in the formula “the pomegranate is the whole world”.

Keywords

• pomegranate
• armenian text
• rites of passage
• armenia
• sergey parajanov
• “pomegranate color”
• usto mumin
• alexander volkov
• abdullah kahhar
• russian poets about armenia