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Abstract: The article deals with the fractal poetics of A. Ivanov’s novel “Shadows of Teutons”. It explains the author’s intention to carry out fractal reinterpretation of history, originating in the writer's previous works (“Dormitory on Blood”, “The Geographer Drank his Globe Away”, “Kitchenblock”, etc.). The study shows that the principle of similarities and overlaps of historical epochs, which interests the author, in “Shadows of Teutons” is not only the plot-forming feature, causing the duality of plot lines and situa-tions, but is also implemented as an object of depiction. The idea of “Shadows of the Teutons” enters into a dispute with the model of history, according to which the world is driven by the law of eternal recurrence. Ivanov not only refutes this understanding of reality, but also shows its conspiralogic nature. In the novel, recurrence is conceptualized as a diabolical force, but the image of Satan is only a metaphor for the inevitable involution of human consciousness, indulging in ready-made truths. The search of Ivanov’s characters for Satan’s sword, their belief in the curse of the Klichowski family, their passion for historical analogies and “ob-session” with the past lead to disastrous failures, ruin destinies and, most importantly, deprive them of the ability to think inde-pendently. The origins of the thoughtlessness of modern man connect “Shadows of the Teutons” with the vampiric theme of “Kitchen-block”. The article proves the writer’s propensity for figurative “coding” of his own position, which is manifested by the opposition of the Marienburg dungeon and the Motlava River. The river, according to Ivanov, marks a different way of thinking and world-understanding and the desire to free oneself from the fractality of consciousness. The reflections on the image of the river, in turn, outline approaches to explaining the movie language of the writer’s new novels.

About the author(s) :

Konstantin S. Kogut
Advanced Educational Scientific Center, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (Ekaterinburg, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5402-249X

 

 

Acknowledgments: The study has been carried out with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 23-28-00905 “Aesthetics and fractal poetics of the new Russian fiction: A. P. Platonov, L. M. Leonov, A. V. Ivanov”.

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 10.10.2024; date of publication: 30.10.2024

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