A Polish Literary Code of the Novel «Flaneur» by N. Kononov

The present article is an attempt to discover a polish “key” from
the Novel “Flaneur” by N. Kononov, a contemporary Russian writer. Attention
is paid on different factual, cultural and linguistic contexts with an accent on the
polish literary tradition and its function of formation of myths Polish motives.
The basis for the Polish-Russian language game in the first chapter of the
novel is the joint protoslavic root of the two languages (see the lexemes «telo»,
«potseluj», «perst’», «bludodej»). Significant representatives of the polish literary
tradition, in a dialogue which takes Kononov, are Kochanowski as the creator
of the classic canon of polish poetry, Mickiewicz as the founder of the opposite
of the romantic movement. Literary contexts of the novel allow the
identification of the onomastic key to Roman Kononov – names "Chloe" and
"Tadeusz". The name «Tadeusz» generates the associations not only with the
Polish young fellow «Tadzio» from the story of Thomas Mann «Death in Venice
», but also with Pan Tadeusz from the national poem by Mickiewicz. This
name is a precedent for the Polish culture as a code of gentry-knight morale and sacrificial struggle for Poland.The etymology of the name testifies to the cult of
the heart in the Polish romantic tradition («Ballads and romances» and
«Dziady» by Mickiewicz, «Voyage to the Holy Land» and «The Spirit King» by
Juliusz Słowacki, «The Wedding» by Stanisław Wyspiański). There is a metaphorical
chain in Kononov’s text – «heart» (yolk) – «protein» («body») –
«shell» («clothes»), which finds figurative analogues in Polish poetry. The heroic
and patriotic connotations of the name «Tadeusz» in the Polish culture come
into contrast with the name «Chloe», which is tabooed in the Polish cultural
tradition, as an evidenced of which is the free translation by Jan Kochanowski
of Horace\s odes «Vitas inuleo me similis, Chloe ...» in which the ancient Greek
name «Chloe» is replaces by the Hebrew name «Neta» what is done by
Kochanowski.With the etymology of the names «Chloe» and «Neta» it is associated
the emergence of one more conceptually significant lexeme in the structure
«green», which is not only the color designation as a characteristic of the
speech painting of the Mickiewicz poem «Pan Tadeusz», but also a synonym
of the word «immature», which is important for characterizing Chloe\s image
in the novel.
In the multicultural paradigm of the Roman Kononov determines the critical
distance in relation to polonocentric picture of the world. From this point of
view it seems that N. Kononov is like W. Gombrowicz, who lead a fierce struggle
with “Polish form”.