in the novel “Pobeg Kumaniki” (“Bramble Sprout”)
by Lena Eltang
The novel “Pobeg Kumaniki” (“Bramble Sprout”) by Lena Eltang fits in with traditions of
modernism, where the images of the androgyny are related to the problem of finding and obtaining “intelligible integrity.” The paper analyzes the methods of embodying androgynous
motives (auto-associative intertextuality, temporal and gender variability of perception of reality, Moras’ representation of himself as a woman, the homosexual intention of the hero, the
relationship of duality with different-sex characters, etc.). The novel reveals the androgyny
semantics in the context of the split Self and the search for the fundamental basis that would
unite the parts into a whole. Androgynous motives correlate with the themes of creativity and
love. It is due to the desire to compensate for the brother’s dislike and parting with him that
Moras creates the text. The absence of love is one of the novel’s central manifestations of the
splinter motif (disintegration, separation) that is antonymous to androgyny. The storylines of
the two characters (Forge and Moras) test different ways of achieving integrity. Two vectors
of movement towards wholeness are revealed: one towards complexity, multidimensionality
(combining the diversity of the world and the Self in consciousness and text) and one towards
simplification (the disappearance of fragmentation in the state of the embryo, representing
pure potency). However, all the methods only manifest the limitations of human capabilities.
Androgyny is still an ideal not to be realized during earthly existence. Therefore, the Central
character disappears in the finale.
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in the novel “Pobeg Kumaniki” (“Bramble Sprout”)
by Lena Eltang // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2021. № 2. Pp. 148–160. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/75/11.