Article

Name: The Intrigue of Interpretation in S. Nosov’s Novel Firs Fortinbras

Authors: Galina A. Zhilicheva

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Abstract:

The article explores the semantics and operation of the intrigue of interpretation. In contemporary literature, the “role of the reader” within the structure of the “open work” (Eco) is increasingly emphasized. The aesthetic crisis and the conceptualization of the “death of the author” bring heightened attention to the figure of the recipient, sometimes transforming the event intrigue into an intrigue of interpretation, with readers interpreting literary works as actants. Since the situations of perception and understanding by the text's characters are included in the system of episodes, the depicted aesthetic communication correlates with the depicting one, and the intratextual interpreter aligns with the recipient of the artistic whole. In S. Nosov’s novel “Firs Fortinbras,” the intrigue of interpretation complicates the adventurous narrative and leads to the effect of a narrative palimpsest (Genette). The novel's title programs a dual-layered response: firstly, it activates an intertextual-theatrical context (Chekhov and Shakespeare); secondly, it sets a peculiar riddle – we are required to understand why the names of dramaturgical characters from different centuries are combined. The reader becomes a participant in a game communication, with intertext creating a genre expectation of a philological novel, and the combination of the incompatible (heroes of tragedy and comedy) sets an absurdist character to the work. The analysis of narrative features reveals that the hero-narrator reflects on the characters of Ionesco, Chekhov, Shakespeare (the Orator, Firs, Fortinbras) not only because he plays or dreams of playing the corresponding roles in the theater but also because identification with literary images allows him to fill the void of existence, correlate his life with literary analogs, thereby giving it meaning.

Keywords: intrigue, narration, reader hero, intertext, palimpsest, S. Nosov

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