Tatyana Tolstaya’s Automyth

Abstract

The article analyses the character of the automyth, created by T. Tolstaya, and its dependence on the creative roles, chosen by the writer (journalist, professor, TV-presenter, blogger). Common features of the writer’s automyth and its particular components, which vary according to the chosen creative role, are revealed. As a journalist, Tatyana Tolstaya creates an image of a harsh, contemptuous writer, who expresses her opinion dogmatically. This image has a major impact on her literary reputation and remains in the following creative roles, bur becomes more variable and multiple. In the TV-program “School for Scandal” Tatyana Tolstaya appears to be, on the one side, arrogant, contemptuous and rude, and on the other side, truly concerned about her interlocutor. However, the writer is interested in daily routine and meanwhile she is concerned with questions of the world order, which subsequently will be important for her autobiographical heroine. In blogs (on Facebook and LiveJournal) the writer’s image is equally ambivalent: on the one side, she exists in everyday life, but also sees the worlds, which adjoin the ordinary reality, and interacts with them. On the other side, her image is sarcastic and openly provocative. As a professor, Tatyana Tolstaya has no orientation to negative perception, which comes naturally to this social role. The analysis concludes that the automyth construction is not only an important part of the writer’s creative strategy, but also a way to create the new prose, which is autofictional.