Article

Name: Pelevin’s Intertext in the Mirror of the Reader’s Reception

Authors: Elena S. Tulusheva, Tatyana A. Semenova

Moscow University named by A. S. Griboedov, Moscow, Russian Federation; National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow, Russian Federation; Penza Agrarian University, Penza, Russian Federation

In the section The Plot in Literature and Folklore

Abstract:

The article presents a study of the readership ability to unravel the intertextual code of V. Pelevin’s late novel work. A sociological method was used – a questionnaire, which made it possible to determine the degree of recognition of reminiscences in the works of V. Pelevin. Intertextual and structural types of analysis are also used in order to identify traces of someone else’s word in a postmodern text and to indicate its connection with the plot, spatial and temporal organization of the text, composition or characterization of characters. The subject is the intertexteme in the novel work of V. Pelevin. It is revealed that the primary sources of Pelevin’s studies are recognizable, since the postmodernist refers to literary, cultural, musical cliches, archetypes and iconic quotations. Pelevin’s text is intertextually heterogeneous and has a wide network of borrowings, which indirectly indicates a focus on a wide range of readers: solving the intertexteme and discovering the original source directly depends on the cultural background of the recipient. The article proves that the presented text passages are precisely intertexts, that is, conscious authorial borrowings, and not random coincidences and intuitive embodiment of the national cultural code. Pelevin uses techniques of editing and syncretism, referring simultaneously to a variety of primary sources, combining high and low, thereby creating a polycythe. Intertext, performing a sense-forming function, not only allows you to give a concise characterization of a character, chronotope or situation, but also acts as a semantic duplicate of the plot and narrative vector. Numerous references determine the development of the author’s narrative, giving an additional clue about further events to the reader.

The proposed design of the study and the application of the sociological method to the study of literary text has the potential to further expand and refine our conclusions. The presented results confirm the interest of the readership in the inclusive game, and not only in the Pelevin plot. The designation of the functional nature of Pelevin’s intertexts, including the definition of the intertext’s relationship with the plot, seems fresh and curious.

Keywords: intertextuality, intertexteme, plot, postmodernism, V. Pelevin, reader’s reception

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