GASTRONOMICAL CODE AS ELEMENT OF EVERYDAY LIFE POETICS IN DRAMA TEXTS (ANTON CHEKHOV’S THREE SISTERS AND BETH HENLEY’S CRIMES OF THE HEART)

Abstract

The paper sets out to explore the functions of food discourse in the plays Three Sisters by Anton Chekhovand Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. Based on the critically established continuity between the two plays, the paperlooks at the ways the dramatists capitalize on food imagery to achieve their artistic goals. It seemed logical to discuss thealimentary practices within the framework of everyday life studies, moved to the forefront of literary scholarship by theanthropological turn in the humanities. Enhanced by semiotic approach, this perspective enables one to understand foodproducts and consumption manners as performing a variety of functions in each play. Most obviously, they are instrumentalin creating the illusion of «everydayness» vital for new drama. Then, for Chekhov, food comes to epitomize thespiritless materiality of contemporary life, while in Henley’s play it is predominantly used, in accordance with the play’sfeminist agenda, as a grotesque substitute for the lack of human affection. Relying upon the fundamental cultural distinctionbetween everyday and non-everyday makes it possible to compare representations of festive occasions in the twoplays seen through the gastronomical lens of «eating together». Despite substantial differences, the emphases on alimentarypractices in the plays serve to realize the inexhaustible dramatic potential inherent in the minutiae of quotidian life.