The Metaplot of Return in Ivan Zhdanov’s Poetry

About the authors:

Nikolai S. Chizhov, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Department of Russian and Foreign Literature, University of Tyumen; n.s.chizhov@utmn.ru; ORCID: 0000-0001-7636-0780

Sergey A. Komarov, Dr. Sci. (Philol.), Professor, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; vitmark14@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4506-4027

Abstract:

The aim of the study is to determine the features of the return metaplot functioning as an invariant pattern of lyrical eventness in I. Zhdanov's texts. The article explains the relevance of studying the poetics and axiology of creativity of classical and non-classical poets in terms of identifying the leading metaplot embodied by base motives system in the main corpus of their poetic texts. It is established that the metaplot's semantic potential in the poetry of the author of "Air and wind" is determined by the projection on the Christian (the parable of the Prodigal Son story), antique (the myth of Ulysses), and ritual and ceremonial traditions. At the core of the latter lies the myth of the eternal return and the transition of initiation rite, according to which an adept passes the ritual path of spiritual development, which includes the phase of symbolic death and rebirth (the return).

The papers aims to prove that these cultural contexts endowed are given new semantics in the poet's work and become the symbols for return as Zhdanov's person spiritually oversomes individualist isolation from other people, separation from God, and alienation from the natural world in the process of mysterial transformation of life. The article fixes the incarnation of the return metaplot, first, on the level of individual motifs, distributed in the poetic texts of the author according to frequency; secondly, in distinct texts, which reveal one of the metaplot's elements; thirdly, on the text or group of texts level, in which a full or reduced metaplot model is concretized in poetic images.

The authors conclude that the desire for spiritual renewal and the restoration of human consciousness on this basis of the original unity of the people and the integrity of the world is I. Zhdanov's desired dominant artistic thinking, which determines the appearance of the return metaplot to his work.

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