Article

Name: Children’s books in the artistic structure of the novel “The Gray House” by M. Petrosyan

Authors: Anna L. Kalashnikova, Kapitalina V. Sinegubova

Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper aims to trace how children’s and adolescent literature influenced the novel “The Gray House” by M. Petrosyan, often also perceived by researchers as children’s literature. The intertextual analysis revealed the works that are most significant for the author: “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” by L. Carroll, “The Jungle Book” by R. Kipling, “Lord of the Flies” by W. Golding, “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by R. Bach, as well as the English folk song “The House that Jack Built.” These works are not only mentioned in the novel but also allow certain parallels between the plot and the characters of the pretexts and the novel concerned to be drawn. The quote from the folk song is cited in the title of the novel, immediately suggesting the possibility of intertextual analysis. The earlier works of the author are referred to in the novel as a quotation or a reference to a precedent name, allowing us to recognize the pretext. The structure of the novel incorporates the works with such important plot passages for children’s literature as getting into another world and understanding its laws (L. Carroll, R. Kipling), initiation (R. Kipling), self-identification (W. Golding, R. Bach), finding oneself (R. Bach), finding one’s place in the social hierarchy (R. Kipling, W. Golding). The intertextual component of the novel allows the author to consider the important stages of the formation of the personality of the characters at the level of universal, extremely broad generalization.

Keywords: Mariam Petrosyan, “The Gray House”, children’s literature, allusion, pretext, Carroll, Kip-ling, R. Bach, Golding

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