CHAOS AND COSMOS IN THE NOVEL BY V.P. ASTAFYEV “THE SHEPHERD AND THE COWGIRL”

Abstract

The article deals with the opposition Chaos - Cosmos and its functions in the artistic system of the novel by V.P. Astafyev “The Shepherd and the Cowgirl”. War, which brings death and destruction, in the image of the writer, does not relate to the destructive forces of primary mythological Chaos as a special sphere of existence, but to the space of hell, where the natural foundations of both life and death are devalued. Here, paradoxically, any death becomes meaningless, even if it is sanctified by military exploits. The hell of war in the story is contrasted with the images of the House // Cosmos // Paradise as invariant manifestations of natural order, harmony. Their symbolic personification in “The Shepherd and the Cowgirl” is the hut of Lucy. The primordial images of Home // Woman // Man // Love // Paradise are built in the symbolic subtexts of the work into a single cosmized-being paradigm. At the same time, in the initial and final episodes of the story, there is also a reflection of the classical archetypal opposition of Chaos - Cosmos, which performs a world-modeling role. The space of meeting and love between Boris and Lucy is presented here as a space of ambivalent unity of Chaos - Cosmos, while hell and Heaven are devoid of such unity. War, from the point of view of the writer, like the underworld, is alienated from the fundamental coordinates of existence and is an artificially created locus, which in turn alienates human souls from their original natural nature and purpose.