Article

Name: “The end I thought up for myself”: mortal modeling in the literary work of V. M. Shukshin

Authors: Dmitry V. Maryin

Altai State Agrarian University, Barnaul, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper examines how V. M. Shukshin portrays death and uses the technique of mortal modeling in his literary works. Both fiction and non-fiction works, such as letters and working notes, are carefully examined for their depiction of hero deaths and, in some cases, the writer’s own death. In this context, mortal modeling refers to the portrayal of death-related scenes, the dying process, funerals, and the playful reinterpretation or personal experience of these events by the characters or the writer. The theme of death is prominently featured in the late artistic works of Shukshin. During the writer’s final years (1973–1974), seventeen out of twenty-two published stories portrayed death. In his correspondence with friends and relatives between 1972 and 1974, Shukshin also focuses on the theme of death. Moreover, in the letter to V. I. Belov (winter of 1969), Shukshin announces his decision to commit suicide. The problem of creative comprehension of the phenomenon of death by Shukshin is analyzed in the context of philosophical ideas of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The conclusion is drawn that mortal modeling in the literary work of Shukshin functions as a replacement for traditional rites of dying and burial. It also serves to reduce the fear of death, particularly in hospital settings. In the 20th century, this type of death became extremely technological, in isolation from relatives and friends. The departure from traditional patriarchal death rituals emphasizes the shifting comprehension of death during the 20th century.

Keywords: Russian literature of the 20th century, life and work of V. M. Shukshin, epistolary, image of death, aestheticization of death, mortal modeling

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