СВОЕОБРАЗИЕ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ СОВЕТСКОГО ДИСКУРСА В РОМАНЕ М.Ю. ЕЛИЗАРОВА «БИБЛИОТЕКАРЬ»
SOVIET DISCOURSE IN M.YU. ELIZAROV’S NOVEL “THE LIBRARIAN”

Summary/Abstract: Representation of the Soviet past in modern Russian prose still demands comprehension. This paper is devoted to the analysis of the Soviet discourse in M.Yu. Elizarov’s novel “The Librarian” (2007), the 2008 “Russian Booker” winner. The study is performed using a complex method, which combines discourse, cultural-historical, structural-semantic, and conceptual types of analysis. The Soviet discourse is considered in relation to the national Russian one, which is also presented in the novel. It is demonstrated that Russian and Soviet concepts come into collision. The conflict is realized in a cryptological plot through the image of library, which is emblematic of postmodern literature. The national Russian discourse is embodied in such traditional feminine images as elemental force, proximity to the nature, destructive orientation, and provinces. The Soviet discourse is based on such traditional masculine images as aspiration for orderliness, orientation to logic, and capital. Female and male personifications stand in a symbolical relation with each other. M.Yu. Elizarov introduces the sacral image of the Protection of the Holy Virgin, which is urged to unite the Soviet discourse with the national Russian one. The conclusion is made that the Soviet utopia does not unite with the national Russian tradition despite the introduction of the Protection. The Divine Union declared in the novel remains unrealized.

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