The Image of the Ark in L. M. Leonov’s Novel The Thief

Abstract

This article analyses the image of the ark in L. M. Leonov’s novel The Thief as one of the writer’s recurring images (from the story The Departure of Ham to the final Pyramid). The purpose of the work is to determine the semantics of the image, taking into account the political, general cultural, and literary context of the time when the work was written (first published in 1927). There are practically no studies on this topic at the moment. In The Thief, the “ark” mythologeme includes the meaning of a commune house, a space meant for living through hard times, which makes it possible to refer to it as heterotopy in the terms of M. Foucault. Using the structural-typological method, the author identifies universal complexes revealing the image of the ark and its inhabitants within it: the opposition “one’s own” — “other” is overcome due to the free movement of the ark between its poles. The correlation between the original biblical source (the plot of Noah’s Ark) and the author’s version of interpretation helps re-evaluate the issue of the chosenness of the inhabitants of the ship-house and the spiritual leader who united them. The meeting of all the characters on the “ark” — in communal apartment No. 8 at Balueva’s name-day celebration is a significant compositional event, after which the characters must choose their own life paths. The absence of the righteous on this ark is indicative, all passengers are victims of circumstances and belong to the marginal strata of society. Attention to the aspects of Leonov’s text (the motif of an open / closed window, the image of a messenger bird, the speech characteristics of the characters) unveils a completely new interpretation of the salvation situation: the “saved” do not leave the ark upon the end of their voyage but continue to remain on board until the moment they are exiled by fate. As a result of the study, it is demonstrated that in the novel The Thief, the ideas of salvation, chosenness, the choice of the path, traditionally associated with the mythology of the ark receive a qualitatively new interpretation, thereby creating a modernist image of the era of the 1920s.