The motif of duality in the works by contemporary authors (“The Numb God” by J. Vainonen, “Devastation” by L. Deresh, “Mushrooms of Vienna” by G. Tribuson)

Abstract

The object of the analysis is several works by modern authors whose characters are in conflict with their own self (“Devastation” by Lyubko Deresh ) or with the world (like the violinist in Goran Tribuson’s story, who feels that he is not really the master of the sounds of music, but rather that music possesses him like a toy), or who feel the impossibility of the completeness of their own existence because they do not know their own roots (like the character of the novel “The Numb God” by Jyrki Vainonen).

The considered problem is the peculiarity of the modern interpretation of the possibility of a person’s duality, the reasons for the modern writers’ use of the phenomenon of duality, and the role of the motif in the expression of the author’s concept of man and reality. The purpose of the article is to clarify the basis of the motif of duality in modern works of art, in particular, the connection of this motif with certain groups of myths or mythopoetic representations; as well as its conditions either by the state of the character, who experiences the doubling of his own “I”, or by events that cause the character to be assimilated to someone else.

The main research method in the article is a typological one. The author compares the works from the point of view of the state in which the characters find themselves, standing before the border between existence and non-existence. In addition to the typological method, the mythopoetic method is also used — each of the works reveals the purpose of including the mystical in its poetic structure. In the novel by Deresh, the character finds himself in the Zone, which he imagines to be alive, as something that controls his destiny. In Vainonen’s novel, the character discovers that his father is the god of jackdaws. In Tribuson’s story, the character in a cab without a coach enters the forest, the space of death, where the seasons change in a matter of minutes, and where guides to the underworld await him.

The results of the research prove that each of the presented works are united by the plot motif of self-identification of the characters. Self-identification is understood as the process of discovering one’s uniqueness and at the same time similarity with others, one’s relations with the environment, and the nature of the orientation of one’s own self, that is, self-appointment. The purpose of the process of self-identification is always the harmonization of relations both with one’s own self and with the environment. Duality accompanies the process of self-identification because it gives a person the opportunity to look at himself from the outside. This concerns, first of all, the character by Deresh. That is, the roots of the motif of duality lie in the idea of the soul as the second “I” of a person. Duality in Tribuson’s story is connected with the same ideas. But here the double is something “foreign” to the character. The roots of the motif of duality in Vainonen’s novel are totemic mythopoetic ideas, when all those who belong to the same genus are identical, they are doubles. Therefore, the character and his father are doubles. Despite the different roots of the motif of duality, in all works it is the result of the character’s effort to overcome the state of being on the verge of non-existence, to find meaning in his life.