Зооморфні мотиви в романі А. Володіна "Дондог" (Zoomorphic motifs in the novel «Dondog» by Antoine Volodine)

Abstract

У статті досліджено бестіарний репертуар роману А. Володіна «Дондог», в якому трагічний досвід історії ХХ століття осмислюється в параметрах постмодерністської дистопії. Встановлено, що зооморфна образність роману, яка втілює жах історичного розвитку, тотальність насильства, оборотність концептів кат-жертва, семантично апелює до міфології «нижнього світу» (таргани й інші комахи, щури, кажани, ворони, вовки, собаки) і демонструє динаміку від зооморфних порівнянь і метафор до антропозооморфних образних конструктів. (The article studies the poetics of bestiarity of the Volodine’s novel «Dondog», in which the tragic experience of the history of the XXth century is interpreted in the parameters of postmodern dystopia. We analyzed the system of zoomorphic motifs (zoomorphic parallels, comparisons, metaphors and idioms; animalistic, anthropozoomorphic and shapeshifter images). It was proved that zoomorphization as a part of mortality topic in «Dondog», is semantically based on the mythological structures (such as chthonic mythology of insects, birds, rodents, wolves as the inhabitants of the «lower world») and transgressive mechanisms (e.g. hybridization, monstrosity). The specific dynamics of the bestiary imagery is revealed from zoomorphic parallels, comparisons and metaphors to the creation of anthropozoomorphic image construct (e.g. Dondog – the cockroach, Marconi – the bird, Schlumm – the wolf, Gabriella Bruna – the horse). Numerous and varied demonstrations of the bestiary discourse in the novel «Dondog» actualize the polar opposite meanings: on the one hand, they act as a mean of the character’s identification in a post-apocalyptic society, which depersonalizes a person with its dehumanizing historical practice (a myriad of insects becomes the symbol of impersonality and massovisation) and reduces it to the lower level of the animal evolution («human-cockroach»); the dominance of bestiary imagery becomes also a sign of the total violence and extrapolates the idea of reversibility in the victim-executioner pair. On the other hand, the animals in Volodine’s work («non-humans», «Untermensch») are presented as a sign of exclusion of the majority and their social organization (swarms, colonies, packs, flocks) becomes a positive counter-model for humanity, which survived the bloody collapse of the «egalitarian utopia».