The city as a palimpsest, the city as a ghost : a vision of Venice in the novel "Perverzion" by Yurii Andrukhovych

The role of the physical space in the contemporary man’s experience cannot be disregarded. Among the ways in which the world/space can be conceptualized there is the theory of heterotopias (M. Foucault). The main purpose of this paper is to describe the image of Venice which is a non-place with its melancholy-liminal characteristics created in the novel by Yurii Andrukhovych. It will be especially interesting to show how Venice is conceptualized in the novel of this contemporary Ukrainian writer. Following such researchers as G. Bachelard, I shall try to show that the city space has not lost its significant and symbolic nature (a theory of inner space). On the other hand, while using the theories of M. Foucault, I shall try to present the characteristic features of the city space. Perhaps this approach will indicate how the image of the city is associated with the world of imaginary heterotopias. This last method can also help to find some little-known or even close to the category of non-lieux, non-existent, places in the palimpsest image of the city. Keywords: city, place, space, Venice, Yurii Andrukhovych