Poetics of A. P. Chekhov Works of the 1890s-1900s: The Spatial Function of Music and the Olfactory Component

About the authors:

Kristina S. Shelemekha, Postgraduate Student, University of Tyumen; nenastnaia@mail.ru

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:

This article studies the spatial function of the music and the olfactory components in the works of A. P. Chekhov of the 1890s-1900s. The expansion of categories lacking physical expression is characteristic of modernist practitioners, among whom is Chekhov, as confirmed by the presence of this phenomenon in his works. The spatial function of music is organized into three models: mimetic horizontal, mimetic ring, and oneiric. The mimetic horizontal model presupposes the remoteness of the music source from the listener and the presence of an obstacle. The mimetic ring model implies that the character is surrounded by smells and sounds, the emotional type of their connection — as a result, the author achieves a feeling of a character being trapped that broadcasts to the reader. The oneiric spatial-musical model is connected with the world of dreams.

The music here is not a conductor but it is included in the general cycle of oneiric impressions. The buildup of musical techniques that organize the space is, on the one hand, on the way of differentiation: the writer works with different sounds.

The smell in the texts of Chekhov is a separate technique. It is expressed syntactically, the odor characteristic is given from a new sentence. In the internal composition of the text, the smell often becomes the “starting” or leading element in the description. In olfactory models, the smell is used as an impulse that stimulates the character’s imagination. Horizontal models allow creating volumetric space surrounding the character. In the division of spatial organization, the smell opens a new place. There is an increased frequency of appeals to the combination of two smells, the union of the lexemes by the conjunction “and”. Oneiric spatial models with the participation of odors became the most effective means of constructing a non-classical type of the image of the world and man by Chekhov.

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