N. N. Fetisov in Evg. Popov’s short stories: the specifics of parodying the image of a socialist realist writer

Annotation

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of the image of N. N. Fetisov in the collections of short stories “Red-hot iron”, “The Joy of Russia”, “Slow-moving barge ‘Nadezhda’” Evg. Popova. Comparative-historical, cultural-historical, as well as a method of holistic analysis of an artistic work are used. As a result, it was found, firstly, that the figure of Fetisov as a mask of a real author parodies the image of a socialist realist writer and graphomaniac, partly referring to the bases of Rudy Panko and Poprishchin by N. V. Gogol. Secondly, being a part of Soviet reality, Fetisov paints its mythologized image, known from the literature of socialist realism, but at the same time Fetisov’s image is parodic: he appears in a double light — he characterizes himself and at the same time is depicted through the eyes of the “real” author. Thirdly, by deliberately combining the cliches of Soviet speech (literary criticism, public speeches) with elements of the “laughing word”, Fetisov familiarizes and reduces various types of narratives: Gogol’s, Greek mythology and the mythological “morality” (“Fetisov’s Box”), Lenin’s poetic “apology” both nominatively and thematically (“Five Songs about Vodka”).

Keywords

socialist realism, small prose, Evgeny Popov, author’s mask, parody, familiarization.

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