The povesti of V. G. Rasputin : genre, language and style

Valentin Grigorevic' Rasputin (b. 1937) is widely acknowledged as a major author by both Soviet and Western critics of contemporary Russian literature. His characters and settings deal with the inhabitants of the Siberian countryside (where Rasputin was born, raised, and continues to live), but the themes and questions that he presents in his works have broader import in their complex moral and social dilemmas. This study represents one of the first book-length attempts at a comprehensive analysis of Rasputin's prose style. It considers his four povesti 'novellas' as a unified corpus. Den'gi dja Marii (Money for Maria), Poslednij srok (The Final Hours), Zivi i pomni (Live and Remember), and Proscanie s Materoj (Farewell to Matera) were all written between 1967 and 1976. Since 1976. Rasputin has not published a major work and this hiatus makes it appropriate to treat the povesti as a coherent body of writings. This thesis is composed of two parts. The Introduction outlines Rasputin's personal and literary biographies as well as various critical responses to his works. Chapter I examines some critical approaches to the povest’, Rasputin's preferred genre, and then discusses some general features of the povest' as employed by Rasputin. His four povesti are treated in Chapter II, both individually and with regard to their common aspects of plot structure, conflict, and time structure. As well, recurrent character types, themes, and motifs are outlined, and the characterization of Rasputin's major personages, particularly his heroine, is examined. Chapters III and IV treat two of Rasputin's povesti in greater detail. In Chapter III, the classical literary forms of tragedy and myth are applied to Zivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj respectively. Chapter IV provides a close formal analysis of various stylistic features and devices from which Zivi i pomni are composed. These are identified in separate discussions of language, narrative technique, use of internal speech forms, imagistic devices and figurative language, and use of devices, commonly found in folklore. Zivi i pomni and Proscanie s Materoj generally considered to be Rasputin's most mature and accomplished works and they are juxtaposed and their style analyzed from this point of view. However, the broader purpose of this chapter is to provide a systematic analysis of the most typical and important features of Rasputin's prose style using Zivi i pomni and Proscanie as models for discussion. Elements of style which unite all his povesti include: a narrative text written in flawless, literary Russian into which is blended a distinct mixture of dialectal, jargon, and sub-standard language elements; a close identification of the narrator with the points of view of his characters; lyricism of the narrative text and its attention to minute detail in terse descriptions of landscape and natural phenomena; the reflection of the mood of Rasputin's protagonists in depictions of natural phenomena; the coexistence of Christian symbols and images with folk symbolism and imagery; the use of the dream and dream symbolism, visions, and semi-conscious mental and emotive states that reveal the characters from within. The Conclusion of this thesis discusses Rasputin's most recent works—stories written in the first half of the 1980s, and identifies features of continuity and change between them and his earlier prose. To conclude, Rasputin's place within the Soviet Russian literary process is discussed with particular reference to the "village theme" and "village prose." Common features which unite Rasputin with writers of "village prose" are outlined. Qualitative and fundamental differences are then discussed in some detail. The milieu in Rasputin's povesti is typically Soviet and Siberian, and such localizing features as Siberian dialect and Russian folklore are basic components in his work. However, in its portrayal of psychology and emotions, in its representation of the dynamics of social and personal relationships, and in its emphasis on the ethical dilemmas of a modernizing society, the prose of Valentin Rasputin is accessible to the general and non-Russian reader.Arts, Faculty ofCentral, Eastern, and Northern European Studies, Department ofGraduat