(“Light Breathing” / “Torpid Smoke”)
The paper discusses the category of narrative intrigue in the stories of I. Bunin and V. Nabokov. Theoretical and historical aspects of the term “intrigue” and its place in Russian and
Western practice are reviewed. Following the concepts by Paul Ricoer, Raphaël Baroni, and Valerij Tjupa, intrigue is defined as a receptive aspect of the plot combining referential
and communicative levels of narration. The analysis of interactions between the “intrigue of
action” and the “intrigue of the word” allows establishing several consistent patterns in the
composition of two narrative fields – that of event and that of discourse. In Bunin’s “Light
Breathing,” the repetition of the word “dykhanie” (breath) and its variants changes the story
of Olya’s life into a story of “vdokhnovenie” (inspiration). The second layer of the story is
formed by anagrams and arranged sequences of sound and structure, enhancing the reader’s
artistic impression. In Nabokov’s “Torpid Smoke,” the narration becomes multi-layered due
to its metapoetical qualities, including the correlation of the poetic intention and the metaphor
of “legkosti/tyazhesti” (lightness/heaviness). The “crisis event” (constitutive for the genre of
short story) is transformed into the event of text-making. In addition to Bunin’s concept
of “legkogo dykhaniya” (light breathing), the story’s “intrigue of the word” also includes the
reflection on Nabokov’s signature concepts (references to L’Inconnue de la Seine and The
Defence). Moreover, the narrator unites the protagonist and the lyrical persona, interchanging
the first- and third-person pronouns.
Aristotle. Poetika [Poetics]. Ttransl. by M. Gasparov. In: Aristotle. Soch.: V 4 t. T. 4
[Works: In 4 vols. Vol. 4]. Moscow, Mysl’, 1983, pp. 645–681.
Broytman S. N. Istoricheskaya poetika [Historical Poetics]. Moscow, RSHU, 2001,
420 p.
Davydov S. “Teksty-matreshki” Vladimira Nabokova [“Matryoshka Texts” by Vladimir Nabokov]. St. Petersburg, Kirtsideli, 2004.
Galatenko Yu. N. Baroni R. Napryazhenie i razreshenie: muzykal’nost’ intrigi ili
muzykal’naya intriga? [Baroni R. Tensions et resolutions: musicalité ou intrigue musicale?]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura.
Seriya 7: Literaturovedenie: Referativnyy zhurnal. 2012, no. 3, pp. 61–67.
Ishchuk-Fadeeva N. I. Intriga [Intrigue]. In: Poetika. Slovar’ aktual’nykh terminov
i ponyatiy [Poetics. The glossary of actual terms and notions]. Moscow, Kulagina Publ.,
Intrada, 2008, p. 83.
Kapinos E. V. Formy i funktsii lirizma v rasskazakh I. A. Bunina 1920-kh godov
[Forms and functions of lyricism in Ivan A. Bunin’s stories of the 1920s]. Dr. philol. sci.
diss. Novosibirsk, 2014, 331 p.
Nabokov V. Torpid smoke. In: Nabokov V. A Russian beauty and other stories.
New York, McGraw-Hill, 1973. P. 25–33.
Ricoeur P. Vremya i rasskaz [Time and Narrative]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Universitetskaya kniga, 1998, vol. 1, 313 p.; 2000, vol. 2, 224 p.
Shmid W. Narratologiya [Narratology]. Moscow, LRC Publishing House, 2003,
312 p.
Shmid W. Proza kak poeziya: Pushkin, Dostoevskiy, Chekhov, avangard [Prose as
poetry. Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Avant-Garde]. St. Petersburg, INAPRESS,
1998, 352 p.
Shrayer M. Bunin i Nabokov: Istoriya Sopernichestva [Bunin and Nabokov: the history of rivalry]. Moscow, Alpina non-fiction, 2014, 222 p.
Sternberg М. Mimesis and Motivation: The Two Faces of Fictional Coherence. Poetics Today. 2012, no. 33, pp. 329–483.
Tamarchenko N. D. Rusckiy klassicheskiy roman 20 veka. Problemy poetiki i tipologii zhanra [The Russian classical novel of the 20th century. Problems of poetics and
typology of the genre]. Moscow, RSHU Publ., 1997, 203 p.
Tyupa V. I. Vvedenie v sravnitel’nuyu narratologiyu [Introduction to comparative
narratology]. Moscow, Intrada, 2016, 145 p.
Tomashevskiy B. V. Teoriya literatury. Poetika [Theory of literature. Poetics]. Moscow, Aspekt Press, 1996, 334 p.
Villeneuve J. Le sens de l’intrigue ou la narrativité, le jeu et l’invention du diable.
Québec, Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2004 p.
Vygotsky L. Psikhologiya iskusstva [Psychology of Art]. Rostov-na-Donu, Feniks,
1998.
Zhilicheva G. A. Intriga kak kategoriya istoricheskoy narratologii [Intrigue as a Ca-
tegory of Historical Narratology]. Narratorium, 2020, no. 4. URL: http://narratorium.ru/2020/11/29/448/ (accessed: 27.02.2021).
Zholkovsky A. “Legkoe dykhanie” Bunina – Vygotskogo sem’desyat let spustya
[“Light breathing” of Bunin – Vygotsky seventy years later]. In: Zholkovsky A. Bluzhdayushchie sny i drugie raboty [Wandering Dreams and Other Works]. Moscow,
Nauka, Vost. lit., 1994, pp. 103–120.
(“Light Breathing” / “Torpid Smoke”) // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2021. № 2. Pp. 123–136. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/75/9.