Article

Name: Paratext in the artistic system of Alexei Remizov

Authors: Elena R. Obatnina

Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The publication sequence and the structure of the first editions of the works of Remizov allow the results of the writer’s creative activity to be considered in terms of his sophisticated pragmatics. The author’s strategy becomes most prominent when considered through the theory of paratext proposed by the French literary scholar J. Genette. This paper reviews the selected “nominations” of paratext presented as theses for the theme development. The structural approach discloses the dynamic connections of the structural paratext elements with the ideological and aesthetic program of the writer’s creativity. This program is based on three main directions of his artistic system: tradition preservation, innovation, and self-representation.

The analysis identifies subtextual elements as indexical and metonymic markers for several thematic creative loci. These are the Old Russian manuscript and book tradition, the cult of the manuscript text as an authentic imprint of the writer’s personality, and the writer’s autobiography. The study focuses on the changes in the functional status of paratext in Remizov’s works as significant events of his creative biography. Consideration is given to the non-verbal elements of paratext in semantically significant elements of a literary work. The motives of the writer’s literary behavior altering the discourse of his paratextual sections are revealed. The paper comprises three sections: 1. Genres of the oral folk tradition and the first printed book in the structure of Remizov’s artistic works. 2. Authorial representation in the structure of Remizov’s book. 3. Author’s “Notes”: the path from the periphery to an independent genre form.

Keywords: paratext, author’s strategies, A. M. Remisov, tradition, innovation, autor’s “Self”

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