https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3734-1514
Е-mail: zolotova_tatiana@mail.ru Tel.: +7 (8362) 68-80-02
1, Lenin sq., Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation
DSc in Philology, Professor, Department of Russian Language, Literature and Journalism, Mari State University
Almira R. Akhmedzianova
Е-mail: askiprema93@gmail.com Tel.: +7 (8362) 68-80-02
1, Lenin sq., Yoshkar-Ola, 424000, Russian Federation
Senior Lecturer, Department of International Communication, Mari State University
The authors of this article focus on mythological and folklore images and motifs used in modern fantasy novels belonging to the subgenre of Slavic fantasy. The novels selected for the study correspond to two trends in the mass culture of the first quarter of the twenty-first century: 1. the creation of a new type of heroine in the “novel about a girl,” a strong, independent person, actively learning about life and her own place in it within the framework of the “women’s question” as projected onto mass literature; 2. the creation and actualization of a national myth, or an alternative historical utopia. The authors argue that the novels under study belong to the subgenre of Slavic fantasy and identify their main fairy tale and archaic (mythological) plot elements and characters (the main characters, their assistants and patrons, antagonists and wonderful lovers). The plot structure, which is a female path of trials (a kind of quest), is close to both the hero’s route in the interpretation of J. Campbell and the structure of a fairy tale according to V. Ya. Propp, but is not limited to following these structures. M. Semenova and A. Rubanov create their own artistic reality, an authorial myth, in which there are attempts to explain the structure of the world, in which they have their protagonists communicate with the spirit world. The article categorizes the plots of these novels as female quests, and also provides a classification of the functions of wonderful lovers. The conclusion comments upon the predominance of fairy tale motifs in the novels’ plot and image system.
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