Functions of the anthroponyms in the novels by Dina Rubina “Belaya golubka Kordovy” (The white dove of Cordoba”) and “Sindrom Petrushki” (The Punch Syndrome)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the anthroponym function of the name “Silva” in two novels by Dina Rubina: “Belaya golubka Kordovy” (“The white dove of Cordoba”, 2009) and “Sindrom Petrushki” (“The Punch Syndrome”, 2010). The name “Silva” is repeated in the texts of these works and there are two characters which have it - in the first novel it’s a woman, in the second one it’s a man and the functions of these two characters are similar. The plot analysis and the character details comparison allows us to see the function homology: Silvas help to the main characters to “come to themselves”, “see themselves as are” and to “find themselves”. The novels “Belaya golubka Kordovy” (“The white dove of Cordoba”) and “Sindrom Petrushki” (“The Punch Syndrome”) are the parts of the trilogy “Lyudi vozdukha” (“Air people”), the main theme of which is the description of the people who have unusual characteristics. The “Silvas” characters help to the main character to compensate this “unusuality” and to have a chance for a “normal” life. The images of Silvas take to the text the motives of “alien name”, “alien child” and the theme of father-child relationship. Besides the episode function of the “Silvas” both characters concentrate in themselves the motives which are communicated with the fate of the main hero, tragic o happy final of the novel. The name “Silva” also has an intertextual communication with the “Silva” (“Chardash Queen”) operetta, the plot of which is also used in the novels “Belaya golubka Kordovy” (“The white dove of Cordoba”) and “Sindrom Petrushki” (“The Punch Syndrome”) by Dina Rubina.

Keywords

• novel
• motive
• realism
• Dina Rubina
• anthroponym
• postmodernism
• intertext