Contemporary North Caucasian Romance Myth in the Context of World Literature

Abstract

The article deals with the North Caucasian romance myth of the past three decades in the context of neo-mythologism in the world literature. The purpose of the article is to identify the origin of the North Caucasian romance myth, its mythoephic background, nature and mythologism types. To analyze the problems of myth, folklore and literary relationships in the North Caucasian romance and to identify philosophical and psychological aspects of myth-making by North Caucasian writers we use both folklore and literary aspects and the achievements of psychoanalytic, structural and semiotic approaches. In the Introduction, the theoretical aspects of the problem under study of the romance myth genre from the perspective of the neo-mythologism actualization, the state of the previous study of the problem both in domestic literary criticism and foreign literary research. The bulk of the article is devoted to the analysis of the impact of mythopoetics on the semantics and artistic structure of the contemporary romance myth. During the sequential analysis of romance myths by North Caucasian writers such as H. Beshtokov, M. Bulkaty, N.Dzhusoyty, Yu.Chuyako, D. Koshubaev, N. Kuyeko both common patterns that are typical of their myth making and individual artistic features are considered. In particular, the functional significance of the myth in the contents and structure of romance myths, topic peculiarities, plot structure, image structure, world modeling are identified. The presence of mythopoetic chronotopes in all the romances under study, complex space-time continuum with a typical temporal change of plans and extent of spatial loci is marked. In the narrative texts of the novels under consideration the levels of mythopoetics are differentiated, the implicit nature of mythologism is traced. Such methods and techniques as intertextuality, allusion, reminiscence, code, symbol, myth, archetype, are marked as specific features of the literary text organization. Mythologism types of the works under consideration are identified; parallels between them and the Western European and American romance myth are drawn. In particular, the romance myths by M. Bulkaty “The Seventh Campaign of Soslan Narty”, D. Koshubaev “Abrag”, and H. Beshtokov “The Stone Age” are referred to a mixed type of mythologism and determined within the framework of post-modernism. The novel “The Wine of the Dead” by N. Kuyeko is considered in line with the “magic realism” and comports with the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by G. Marquez. In conclusion it is stated that re-mythologizing the North Caucasian novel and modernization of classical mythology at the turn of XX-XXI centuries caused its certain transformation that has led to the expansion and deepening of its problematics and enriching the genre and stylistic forms. It is established that the myth making nature of modern North Caucasian writers correlates with the main trends of world literature and can be defined as neo-mythologism inherent in post-modernism and magic realism.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s2p259