THE SEMANTICS OF THE REWRITING SCENES IN V. SHAROV'S NOVELS "TRACT IN TRACE" AND "THE RAISING OF LAZARUS"

Abstract

The research presents typology and semantics of the rewriting plots in V. Sharov's novels «Tract in trace» (1991) and «The Raising of Lazarus» (2002) in two aspects: receptive and historical, or historiosophical. In V. Sharov’s prose, the relation of characters to the text and the word together with the rewriting scenes show the specificity of the national mentality, according to which texts testify the metaphysical laws of historical reality, and the belief that the power of the word can transform reality. The teleological understanding of history was based on the understanding of the text as an instrument of influence on the material world, as a force of history. The article presents three types of rewriting plot in V. Sharov's novels «Tract in trace» and «The Raising of Lazarus». Firstly, correct (calligraphic) rewriting as an attainment to the metaphysical meaning of sacral texts (mythologization and demythologization). The semantics of this plot in V. Sharov’s novels emphasizes the impossibility of reproducing or preserving sacred meanings and transforming imperfect historical reality. Secondly, rewriting can be correction of other people's ideas and one’s own attempt to change life with the help of the text. It determines the conditionality of understanding the text, rewriting, reworking the tasks of the present. In particular, «The Raising of Lazarus» explains Russian people’s sufferings in the XX century. The second type can denote the illusory character of such attempts to change the reality by texts, as it is reality that corrects texts. Thirdly, rewriting, or interpreting texts can denote a deeper understanding of reality (hermeneutic meaning): it signifies a dialogue between the pretext meaning and the meaning perceived by the «rewriter».