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Title of Article

TAJIK LIFE IN RUSSIAN, OR "ZAHHAK" AS A NOVEL ABOUT POWER


Issue
3
Date
2019

Article type
scientific article
UDC
821.161.1
Pages
126-137
Keywords
постколониальная литература, ориентализм, таджики, Заххок, Владимир Медведев, postcolonial literature, orientalism, Tajiks, Zahhak, Vladimir Medvedev


Authors
Shafranskaya Eleonora Fedorovna
Moskovskiy gorodskoy pedagogicheskiy universitet


Abstract
The article studies the plot of the novel "Zahhak" by Vladimir Medvedev, the symbolism of its title, composition, style of narration. The author focuses on foreign cultural issues - the relationship between Russian and non-Russian characters living in 135 post-Soviet territory; on post-colonial change of mental paradigm - from "friendship of nations", which turned out to be a Soviet simulacrum, to xenophobic sentiments, highlights the duality of the attitude towards Russians in a foreign environment, predetermined by the colonial past: on the one hand, the novel perceives Russians as outcasts who have no cultural traditions, and on the other - as representatives of a higher, more privileged cohort. It is noted that the fundamental compositional principle of the novel is the alternation between seven narrators, who differ in their ethnic origin and social status, level of education and narrative manner, but are united by a propensity for reflection and a probable connection with the personality of the author. The author draws a parallel between the storytellers of "Zahhak" and wanderers in Nekrasov‘s works: Medvedev's characters also wonder who could be happy in their country and respond with dramatic life examples. The image of the main character in the novel (Zukhursh?) is considered in the context of medieval mythology (recorded in Ferdowsi's poem "Shahnameh"), as well as in the typological series with a similar image of the king/chief from the prose of Sukhbat Aflatuni ("Clay Letters, Floating Apples"), whose mythopoetics dates back to the totemic (zoogonic) beliefs. The intents of Medvedev's novel are compared with the artistic settings of Andrei Volos's novel -Khorramabad? dedicated to the same topic. The author comes to the conclusion that Zahhak is a novel about power, and medieval Zahhak, a semi-anthropomorphic-semi-zoomorphic monster, is a symbol of power, in any form and in all times and topoi.

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