Журнал «Филоlogos»

HORROR TRANSFORMATION IN THE ''MRAK TVOICH GLAZ'' BY ILYA MASODOV

Author: Kulikova D.L.

The article deals with the transformation of horror techniques in the novel by I. Masodov "Mrak tvoich glaz". The study of the motives and main images of the work shows that the author turns to popular horror clichés (vampires, werewolves, the undead), in addition, endows them with additional features that are not common of horror characters. Vampirism, shapeshifting (images of partisans-wolkolaks), rising from the dead for Masodov serve as auxiliary motives for the plot, drinking blood can be considered as a concept behind which is the idea of overcoming death. The writer introduces into the text the mythologemes of the Soviet era, which undergo a decline and desacralization: thus, Chapaev becomes an apocalyptic river monster on a dead horse, partisans in the forest are transformed into werewolves who have almost lost their human appearance, leading an endless struggle against the whole world, and symbols (for example, Komsomol badge, pioneer tie) is endowed with ritual functions. Masodov reproduces the archetypes of the Soviet era, such as the archetype of the enemy, the wise father (who is Lenin in the novel), the mother (embodied in the images of the Motherland and Moscow). The writer enters into an intertextual dialogue with his predecessors, in particular, with A. Platonov, which is expressed both at the level of the language of the work and in the motivational assimilation - the image of the pit in Masodov can be read as a metaphor of the grave, and the narrative also includes the motive of the resurrection of the dead, very important for the poetics of Platonov. The terrible in literature rarely dispenses with folklore plots and images; in Masodov's works, we find some echoes with the structure of the tale, because the plot of the novel is based on the story of the initiation of the hero and the elimination of the initial lack, which are the functions of the tale described by V.Ya. Propp. Summing up, we can say that, referring to the imagery of the horror genre, Masodov comprehends the "horrors" of Russian history and modernity, the language of this genre becomes a suitable language for describing it.