Actualization of Bodily Aspect as Means of Reconstructing Socialist Realist Discourse in Novel “Librarian” by M. Elizarov

Abstract

The ways of representing violence and the role of this category in constructing socialist realist discourse are considered. The novel “The Librarian” by Mikhail Elizarov is chosen as the research material. It is established that the novel synthesizes the tradition of socialist realist novels and genre elements of popular literature, with the author placing emphasis on the representation of violence. The article highlights that violence in the novel is visual and cinematic. It is revealed that the protagonist of the novel plays a significant role in such representation, as the artistic world is demonstrated through their perspective. The article shows that the acts of violence presented in the novel become indexes of a particular “Gromovian” world and contribute to the visual and ideological transformation of characters, as well as an inversion of familiar oppositions. The authors of the article determine that the “Gromovian” world is formed around the Book, which actualizes ideas of the periphery and the “golden age”: it is here where violence becomes a legitimate means of communication with characters from both the “Gromovian” and ordinary worlds. It is noted that violence, both physical and psychological, forms fundamental oppositions in the “Gromovian” world, such as “own” versus “other”, “senseless world” versus “ideal world”, and so on. Finally, it is pointed out that through violence, the socialist realist plot about the “remaking” of the hero and their rejection of their own self for the collective “we” is realized.