COSMOGONIC MYTH IN ‘THE TALES ABOUT IGNASUIS THE CAT, FEDYA THE CHIMNEY SWEEP AND THE LONELY MOUSE’ BY L. ULITSKAYA
‘The Tales about Ignasuis the Cat, Fedya the Chimney Sweep and the Lonely Mouse’ (2004) by L. Ulitskaya is a book published in a format of a children’s book, but it has implied sense addressing to an adult reader. Intertextual code in ‘The Tales …’ allows us to find out references to cosmogonic myths. The main character acts in the following roles: a demiurge trying to create her own cosmos (organized reality), a lonely woman trying to overcome her loneliness, and at last a recognizable character of folklore fairy tales who does not possess the abilities necessary for a cultural hero which leads to a catastrophe. Man-made demiurgism of the Little Mouse is held in derision. Also, ‘The Tales …’ itself is read as a work about overcoming the loneliness and about finding of the family. At the base of the author’s concept lays the idea about a wise world structure where even annoying accidents help to acquire harmony and happiness.
Keywords: fairy tales of L. Ulitskaya, literature with double addressing, modern children’s literature
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Issue: 11, 2016
Series of issue: Issue 11
Rubric: PROBLEMS AND RUSSIAN LITERATURE POETICS OF THE XIX-XX CENTURIES
Pages: 143 — 147
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